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Her Royal Highness, the Lady Sylvia descended in a blaze of fury into Lumière International School.
‘WHAT DO YOU MEAN MY SON IS MISSING?’ she roared as she barged through the double doors into the headmistress’s office.
Francesca Fontaine and Victoria Mills turned at the sudden intrusion.
‘Calm yourself, your highness,’ the frazzled secretary pleaded as she trailed in the wake of Paul’s mother’s fury.
She ignored her and marched to the headmistress’s desk. ‘Where is my son? How do manage to misplace a Crown Prince?’
The headmistress turned to her poor secretary. ‘Thank you, I’ll handle it from here.’
The secretary nodded and quickly scrambled out of the office, shutting the door behind her.
The headmistress then turned to her distraught guest. ‘I’ll pardon your intrusion and rudeness because I am well aware and understand fully your distress. However, let me remind you that you are the wife of the Ashanti King and mother of the future king. Carry yourself with the grace and control befitting your station.’
The fire still blazed in her ladyship’s eyes but she took and a deep breath and nodded. ‘Where is my son?’
Before the headmistress could answer, an argument could be heard from behind the office doors.
‘What do you mean I can’t just barge in, my son is missing?’
‘Madam please-‘
The doors swung open and Charles’s mother strode in followed by a plump woman with a face which smiled easily though her face was the farthest thing from smiling as she walked in.
The harassed-looking secretary looked apologetically at the headmistress. ‘I’m sorry ma’am, I tried to stop them.’
The headmistress nodded and dismissed her with a wave.
‘What happened? What’s going on?’ Charles’s mother demanded.
‘What happened to my boy? Where’s Noel?’ the other woman pleaded frantically.
‘Ladies, please calm down we-‘ The headmistress was cut off as the doors flew open once more to allow a weeping woman to fly in.
‘My boys headmistress,’ she wailed. ‘Where are my lovely boys?’
‘Calm down Maria, as I was just about to say we have everything under control.’ She turned to the others. ‘Now that you are all here, if you will please take a seat.’
She waited patiently until they had all been seated before continuing. ‘As I was just telling Victoria, your children were at the hangar today after school to carry out their punishment.
‘According to their companion, who was not supposed to be there, they were working when he discovered an abandoned helicopter. For some reason, they decided to board it and take off into the air for a parachuting adventure.
‘As ill-advised as their decision was, they had the common sense to turn back when a fog started to roll in. However, when the craft got back, your sons were nowhere to be found.’
Maria choked and Noel’s mother let out a faint gasp.
‘If their pilot is to be believed,’ the headmistress continued. ‘It seems that they jumped off the helicopter whiles it was still in the air without his knowledge. He came to me quickly to report the incident and Mister Rand is currently with experts as they try to plot his flight path.’
The headmistress voice turned grave. ‘I’m going to be honest with you, from what I gather, he doesn’t know where or when exactly they got off and he flew almost the full extent of the estate and even beyond. Your children could be anywhere in the Wild Forest.’
Maria let out a sob and the others’ faces turned pale. Victoria kept her composure and turned to the headmistress.
‘What is the plan?’
‘The police have been called and are conducting a thorough search of the forest.’
‘The police?’ Lady Sylvia’s voice was strained. ‘The Crown Prince is missing and you call the police? Forget about it, I don’t need you. I’ll look for my son myself.’
She stood up to leave and Charles’s mother followed suit. ‘So will I.’
The headmistress frowned but it was Victoria who spoke.
‘Sit down.’
They paused before resuming their seats.
‘Our children are missing and I understand your impatience but this isn’t the time to be divided. Amongst ourselves, the resources we can command are immense and so we need to pool our energies and resources and work together.’
She turned to Lady Sylvia. ‘Your highness, the royal family can use their influence to command the military to join the search. The Wild Forest is extensive but with the combined manpower of the police and the military we would be able to cover large areas quickly.’
Lady Sylvia nodded and Victoria turned to Charles’s mother. ‘Charlesetta, you have great influence with foreign powers, would you be able to convince them to spare some of their air and land forces to join the search?’
Charlesetta nodded. ‘Yes, but how would we be able to explain and allow foreign forces within national borders?’
‘I’ll sort that out.’ She turned to Samuel’s mother. ‘Sandra, you are a doctor and own many hospitals and pharmaceutical companies. When we find them, we would need to be ready to treat any injuries they sustain. We need you to keep the best medical team and medicines you can find on standby in case it becomes necessary.’
Sandra nodded. ‘You’ve got it. We have just produced some groundbreaking antivenoms. They’re not in the production stage but I can have a few batches produced immediately. I have a feeling we might need them.’
‘There aren’t any dangerous animals in the forest are there?’ Maria asked shakily.
‘The Wild Forest is home to many species, some of which I’m afraid are quite dangerous to humans.’ The headmistress spoke up. ‘There are bears, wolves, mountain lions and many venomous snakes.’
Maria moaned and clutched her breast.
‘That’s where you come in Maria,’ Victoria said gently.
Maria looked up and nodded. ‘How can I help?’
‘If we are able to bait a few of the wild animals to specific points in the forest, it won’t be much at least it would make our children relatively safer.’
Maria nodded eagerly, quickly getting where Victoria was going with this. ‘I made a fortune in the food industry by not only catering to humans but animals too. I have experts in the field and we would be able to lure them to the points with food and other baits. Don’t worry, I have an idea.’
Victoria nodded. ‘Then let’s get to work.’
The headmistress stood up. ‘It’s late, nothing productive would be done tonight. I suggest you all go home and rest so you will have enough energy to find your sons tomorrow.’
They all stood up. ‘With all due respect headmistress,’ Victoria said, speaking for the group. ‘We are not leaving till our children our found.’
The headmistress sighed. ‘Very well, you may stay in our guest house. I’ll have my secretary show you the way.’
They all nodded gratefully and turned to leave, already making urgent phone calls on the way.
Back in the forest, the boys were quarrelling amongst themselves as they tried to figure out what to do. It went on for a good while until Jayden had had enough.
‘Enough,’ he snapped, halting their quarrel.
He glanced at each of them. ‘We’re going to have to think rationally. How many of you have camped before?’
All of them raised their hands except Noel.
Jayden rolled his eyes. ‘Let me rephrase, how many of you have camped before? And I mean real camping, not your fancy excuse for it.’
Charles, Leo and Cam dropped their hands, which left Paul and Samuel. Jayden raised a questioning eyebrow at both of them.
‘There’s a forest on my family’s country estate and we have a retreat up in the mountains.’ Samuel explained. ‘We stay in the woods there for most of the summer.’
Jayden turned to Paul.
‘As the Crown Prince, I had to learn the ancient hunting and survival techniques of my people and I’ve lived in a forest by myself for three days as part of the rites of passage.’
Jayden nodded. ‘That makes three out of seven. Not bad. This is what we’re going to do. Cam, Leo, climb the trees and get down the parachute cloths and strings. We would need them to make makeshift tents.’
He turned to Paul. ‘You are in charge of food. Go around and forage for some, you have practical knowledge of forests so you know what’s edible and what’s not.’
He paused for a second and added, ‘Take Charles with you.’
‘What? Why?’ Charles sputtered in protest.
‘Someone has to keep an eye on you and keep you out of trouble. Also I can’t stand the sight of you.’
Charles folded his arms defiantly and glared at him. ‘Who made you the leader?’
Jayden fixed him with a bored gaze. ‘By all means, if you have a plan tell us what to do.’
Charles glanced down and said nothing. Jayden rolled his eyes and turned to Samuel. ‘You’ll come with me to collect firewood.’
Samuel nodded but said nothing. Noel turned to Jayden. ‘What about me?’
‘Stay here and help Cam and Leo set up.’ He looked at them all as he continued. ‘It’s getting late, don’t go far and be careful. Most importantly keep an eye out for snakes.’
They all nodded and quickly got to work. A few hours later, they were all huddled in their crude tents as it rained heavily. As the thunder roared in the distance, they each felt their eyes close one by one as they were lulled into a restless slumber. Each wondering if they would ever be able to make it home.
AUTHOR’S NOTE: So this update was slightly delayed. Sorry about that but I’ve been busy recently. Hopefully I’ll have a bit of free time before end of sems hit.
The moms are working together which is cool. We’ll get to see a bit of mom power.
How many of you have been camping? I haven’t. I don’t know if I’m sad or happy about it.
Lemme know what you think in the comments and don’t forget to light up that little star below if you enjoyed the book.
Toodles.
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