When Eloise arrived, Zach was prowling mad circles around the park while interrogating anyone who looked old enough to speak. The latest recipients of the ferocious fatherly concern — of which he had considered himself incapable up until that point — were the twins Cameron had played with until the boy had vanished a half-hour before.
–Zach!†Eloise called, interrupting a rambling account of the kids’ game of hide-and-seek.
With a heavy sigh, Zach said, –Thank Merlin you’re here. I’m going out of my mind here, and these tiny little terrorists are not remotely helpful.†He glared at the twin girls, who had moved on to the swings, to punctuate his point.
Eloise didn’t speak for what felt like an eternity to Zach. He had been waiting for her to set into him like a starving dog on a bucket of steak, but her silence spooked him more than any words that could’ve possibly come out of her mouth. Then she started to cry, and he realised how utterly incorrect he had been in that assumption. –Oh, gods, what do I do?†he murmured.
–You lost him!†she shrieked, her reddened eyes glaring at him accusingly. –Just when I thought you’d grown up enough to make it two days without someone wiping your arse for you, this is what you do?â€
Well, she wasn’t crying anymore, Zach marked dryly.
The shame her words brought on stuck to him uncomfortably. –I just zoned out for a minute . . . I didn’t think —â€
–No, you didn’t think!†she shouted. –Do you have any idea what sort of twisted people roam around London? There are kidnappers, child molesters, drug dealers, serial killers — all sorts of nutters who could do horrible things to a defenceless child.†She grabbed his shoulders and shook him remarkably hard for someone of her diminutive size. –It only takes a few seconds.â€
Pushing her away from him, Zach felt something cold and scratchy catch in his throat as he said, –Don’t you think I know that?â€
He could see her fighting to maintain control as several by-standers, who had already become interested in the policeman who had shown up and was looking for Cameron, turned to observe what no doubt looked like a domestic. Without a thought to how it might’ve looked to spectators, Zach closed his arms around Eloise and hugged her to him tightly. –I have to find him,†he said, half to himself and half to her, and with a surprising amount of resolve. –I have to.â€
Eloise didn’t yell or push him away anymore; she latched onto him with equal force. Zach would’ve found the gesture bizarre if not for the clawing need brewing in his gut to tear the landscape apart until Cameron turned up, happily eating dirt or playing with a stray cat and not being abducted by a paedophilic, drugged up, child-napping murderer like Eloise feared.
At the moment, he almost forgot that Eloise had only known Cameron for a week, yet had hated him for half her life before then. Somehow, she was the first person he thought to call in times of trouble, and he felt like he deserved every reprimand she gave him for this catastrophe because what she said mattered. He had never actually known anyone who held that sort of power with him; the burden it carried was a heavy but welcomed one.
Determination caught hold of him after that thought. He stepped back, took a deep breath to calm his shaking nerves, and said, –I’m going to look some more. Stay here in case he comes back so he has someone he knows around.†Glancing at the onlookers, he pointed towards several of them. –You, you, and you: check the north end by the stream. You lot, talk to the kids. You, with the mobile phone, ring the police. You, check the car park.â€
To Zach’s everlasting surprise, every one of them complied. At the very least, as fellow parents, they would have understood the frantic need to see the situation resolved. Fellow parents, he scoffed to himself as he jogged off towards the little copse of trees in the middle of the park. Some parent he was, losing his kid on the first public outing since that distant-feeling visit to social services.
–Cameron!†he cried, over and over again. At this point, Zach’s legs felt like they were on fire from the unusual amount of exertion, but he trekked on with the aid of an Anti-Inflammation Charm and a hearty supply of willpower.
It wasn’t until Zach’s voice refused to respond with much more than a whisper that his legs followed suit, soon followed by his determination. He leant against a tree and slowly, achlingly, slid downwards until he sat dejectedly at the base of the trunk. Something hot and angry itched at the back of his eyelids, which was when Zach realised that he was actually in tears. The strange thing was that he didn’t even care.
–Daddy?â€
Zach’s head whipped to his left, where he could have sworn he heard Cameron call for him, but there was nothing there. Convinced his conscience was taking the mickey out of him, Zach resumed his brooding pose, only to hear it again.
This time, he knew he wasn’t imagining things; only nutters hallucinate stuff like that. –Cam, buddy, you there?†He looked around him frantically, yet he could find no sign of Cameron other than the tell-tale beckoning.
–Daddy, I need help. I think my body runned away.â€
An inappropriate guffaw escaped Zach’s mouth before his mind began conjuring all the beastly things that phrase could have meant. –Where are you?†he said cautiously. –I can’t see you.â€
He felt a subtle weight ease down into his lap, and instinctively, Zach put his arms around a very tactile, very invisible child. –What the hell?â€
–We wanna play hide and seek,†Cameron babbled. –I hided and wanted to be iviz-bull real bad and then I was ivis-bull.â€
Zach laughed until he couldn’t breathe. As he wiped tears from his eyes, this time from relief, he struggled to regain his breath. Finally, he was able to mete out, –Of all the . . .â€
After a full minute of gasping hysterics, Zach was finally able to pull out his wand and cast a quick, –Finite incantatem,†and Cameron became visible once again. He scooped the boy into his arms and staggered to his feet and back towards the play area of the park. The first person he met along the way was a police officer. –Found him. He was playing hide and seek and hid a little too far into the trees. Gave us both a scare, I reckon.â€
The older man grinned. –Great to hear it, lad. What with all the lunatics out there these days, better safe than sorry. I’ll go on ahead and stop the search, and you and your missus can take the boy home.â€
Zach was about to correct the officer’s misnomer but stopped himself. –Thank you,†he said instead. –I think that’s enough adventure for one day.â€
As the police officer whisked off, Zach put Cameron down and held his hand as tightly as he could without breaking something. They proceeded back towards the park as fast as Cameron could trot on his short, chubby legs. It seemed that they were both exhausted.
However, once they broke through the treeline and Cameron locked his eyes on Eloise, he took off like a hex towards his nanny. Zach, winded but relieved, jogged after him. A swarm of parents and onlookers set upon them, all giving some variation of congratulations — though for what, Zach didn’t know. For not being the worst parent on the planet, he supposed.
As he watched Eloise cling to Cameron and hold him tight, wet-cheeked with a grin on her face, he thanked whatever divine powers that gave a rat’s arse about humanity that Eloise had barged into his flat not even a week before. He was thankful she had reconsidered slamming the door in his face. He was thankful she knew one end of a cleaning spell from the other. Hell, he was even thankful for bloody oatmeal.
Unduly amused by that last thought, Zach grinned and squatted down next to where Eloise knelt, covering her hand with his. –Since I probably ruined your day, how ‘bout I make up for it and take you both out to dinner?â€
Eloise gave him a tight smile and replied, –I would like that.â€
–Accidental magic, huh,†Eloise mused after the ridiculously cheery waiter at Tangerine, a popular restaurant in Diagon Alley, had just delivered their drinks. Taking a sip of her mug of Butterbeer, her lips twitched into an infectious smile. –Can’t believe neither of us thought of that.â€
Zach chortled as he adjusted the straw in Cameron’s milk. –I don’t think him turning himself invisible was remotely on the list of horrible things running through my head.â€
Exhaling heavily, Eloise pushed her drink away from her and looked squarely at the empty plate in front of her. –I’m sorry I was so cross. You couldn’t have known, and I jumped to some pretty scary conclusions. It isn’t my place, and I shouldn’t have done it.â€
With a start, Zach blinked at Eloise in surprise. –You’re sorry? Why would you be sorry?†He scratched his chin in curiosity. –Just because I’m a rubbish parent doesn’t mean you should let me stay that way. I don’t want to go to Azkaban for child endangerment any more than the next bloke, so I need you to keep my head in the game.â€
As soon as the words left his mouth, Zach knew he had phrased that incorrectly, and the subsequent darkening of Eloise’s countenance reaffirmed that notion.
–You — you only want me around to keep Child Protection off your case? Is that really all you need me for?â€
Zach could see Eloise struggling to remain calm in the packed restaurant, so he knew that the next thing he said had to be the right thing or Mount Crazy was going to blow its lid. And he would’ve deserved it, too. –That’s not why.†Choosing his words carefully, he continued. –Cameron needs you because I have no bloody idea what I’m doing. I can barely take care of myself!â€
Eloise seemed to accept this answer, but the frustration and stress of the earlier fiasco worked its way into his blood and ate away at his composure. Thrusting his fingers into his hair, he hissed, –I ate bloody oatmeal for you! I sodding hate oatmeal!â€
–He does,†Cameron chimed soberly.
As she regarded him carefully for several seconds, Zach prepared himself for another scathing tirade about his lack of responsibility, maturity, and no doubt a host of other failings he was too stupid to realise or understand. He hated to admit that she would probably be right.
Or not.
A most unladylike snort came from Eloise as she rested her forehead on the table and cackled loudly, which didn’t go unnoticed by the surrounding tables. Acutely aware of several strange eyes staring at him, Zach turned and stuttered, –She’s, er, got a condition. It — it comes and goes.â€
Soon, though, Zach couldn’t help but laugh along with her, as well as Cameron, who likely didn’t understand the adults’ amusement but enjoyed it nonetheless. It was nearly time for their entrees before their table slipped back into calmness.
Once their meals were delivered, Zach watched with what dangerously resembled a smirk as Eloise tucked into her pineapple chicken curry with gusto. The dish probably had more fat and calories than a lorry full of oatmeal, but he supposed that most of the best things in life were inherently bad for a person.
However, as he strayed a glance at Cameron digging his fingers through chicken and steamed carrots, Zach wondered if that were true at all.