The Enemy Within

Chapter 4

Toby started getting undressed while the bath filled with hot water. Alice sniffed at his clothes.

"What a stink!" She pulled a face. "What kind of place were you paddling in?"

"It was a pond," Toby recalled with no apparent effort, "like the one in the park you used to take me to. But this pond was very muddy."

"But all your clothes smell of it," his mother complained. "Did you fall in?" Then she added, as another thought struck her: "Ponds can be much deeper than you might think. They can be dangerous places."

Toby frowned, trying to remember. "The water was very green. I was scared of going in very far, but then someone got hold of my arms and pulled me down."

His words rocked her on her feet. It took her a moment to grasp the implication.

"What do you mean?" she asked, horrified. "Who pulled you down?"

Toby shrugged. "Don"t know. Someone. I couldn"t see."

Confused and shocked, she struggled to stay calm. "Listen, Toby. We looked for you all over the field, but we didn"t see a pond."

"That"s "cos you"re not an explorer," Toby stated emphatically.

"I was too, years ago! And your dad still is and he didn"t see a pond either."

"You"ve got to have special eyes to see it," he replied with studied seriousness, "and Dad hasn"t got special eyes."

The conversation was growing stranger by the minute. She did her best to keep abreast of it.

"I"d forgotten about your special eyes. You"re very lucky to have them. But your special eyes didn"t see who pulled you in?"

He thought for a moment. "Can"t remember. It happened too fast."

Their conversation was going nowhere. Exasperated and worried, she gave up asking and lifted him into the bath. His weight made her gasp with astonishment.

"My goodness, you"re heavy!" she exclaimed. "You must be full of pond water!"

He sat in the bath while Alice washed him vigorously. She had put his toy boat on the side of the bath and reached for it. She was surprised he hadn"t asked for it.

"Do you want your boat? I think it could do with a good wash too."

"Don"t want boats!" he snapped at her. "Toy boats are for stupid little brats!"

For a moment she was too taken aback to respond. It was as if she had a stranger"s son sitting in the bath. She found her voice at last.

"That"s no way to talk to me!"

He looked immediately contrite. "Sorry, Mum. Don"t know why I said that. It just came out all by itself."

She looked closely at his back as she washed it and noticed a large bruise-like shadow, like a birthmark, below his right shoulder. She tried in vain to wash it off. She became anxious.

"You"ve a bruise here. Did you fall and hurt yourself?"

"Course I didn"t!" he snarled. "Don"t ask stupid questions!"

She was about to protest again at his rudeness when Will, looking relaxed in T-shirt and leisure trousers, stepped into the room.

"Everything okay in here? I thought I heard shouting?"

Alice pointed to Toby"s back. "Just look at this mark. Is it a bruise?"

Will peered at Toby"s back. "Can"t see anything. What am I supposed to be looking for?"

She looked again at Toby"s back. As she did so she had the curious premonition that she wasn"t going to see the mark this time – and, sure enough, she couldn"t.

She stared at Will in dismay. "I don"t believe it! I can"t see it now."

"It was muck," Will said dismissively. "You washed it off. It"s gone."

She gave him an angry, confused look. "But I saw it! I really did see it!"

He shrugged. "Well, it"s gone."

"What"s gone?" Toby asked with genuine puzzlement.

"It"s the secret mark the great Khans give to those who"ve crossed the Kyzylkum!" Will stated solemnly, looking down at his son.

"How come Mum can see it and you can"t?" Toby wanted to know.

"Mum was a great explorer when she was young, just like you." Will gave Alice a fleeting smile.

"Was she better than you?" Toby asked.

"She must have been," Will conceded.

Toby got out of the bath and Alice wrapped him in a towel.

"That"s enough travellers" tales." She turned to Will. "Is his supper ready?"

"Keeping warm."

As soon as Will had left the bathroom Alice looked at Toby"s back again, but she couldn"t find the mark.

* * *

Will was seated in an armchair, staring at the glowing coals of the open fire, which crackled comfortingly in the grate. Alice came in and sat opposite.

"He went straight to sleep." She still sounded troubled.

He yawned. "Not surprised! Won"t be long myself. I feel shattered."

She looked at him for a long moment. "What if…?"

He frowned at her. "What if what?"

whatShe hesitated, then took the plunge. "What if it"s her?"

her"Her?" He seemed genuinely perplexed.

Her"Your ex. Trying to drown Toby. To get at you. At us. To take revenge because she thinks we"re happy."

"You"re paranoid! She"s materialising in the fields with murderous intent, is she? Oh, come on! She doesn"t even know where we are!"

"Bit of a witch, wasn"t she?"

"She did horoscopes and Tarot readings. That"s not unique. I saw no sign of broomsticks or effigies with pins in them!"

His mocking dismissiveness did nothing to ease her state of mind. All her old anxieties seemed to be resurfacing. She had no defence against them. "But it could be her though, couldn"t it?"

He stared at her with an expression of exasperated disbelief. "Look, Alice, there"s a restraining order against her. She"s not allowed anywhere near me. It was a fling - or so I thought – between two consenting adults. How did I know she was going to cling on? We"ve been through all that. It"s over. Let"s drop it!"

She felt crushed and confused. He got up and poured himself a whisky. He returned to his seat and sat sipping his drink, deep in thought. He looked up at last.

"There has to be a rational explanation for this afternoon. Maybe I had a momentary blackout. I"m pretty sure I didn"t. But it"s all I can think of."

She suddenly felt ridiculous and ashamed. She was imagining things. It had happened before, during Will"s so-called fling. She was about to apologise but checked herself. Something definitely wasn"t right with Toby. She felt it in her bones. “I don’t know what to think, Will. I’m too tired to think. I’m going to bed.”

flingShe left the room, her movements feeling slow and heavy, as if she was weighed down with new uncertainties. He sipped his drink and watched her go.

* * *

On her way to bed she looked in on Toby. She needed to be reassured by his physical presence. She looked down at the sleeping form in the bed, huddled under the duvet. But her doubts were not dispelled. Something still nagged at her.

She pulled back the covers and looked closer. To her horror she saw that the figure in the bed was not Toby. The boy in the bed appeared to be a few years older. He was bigger and his hair was a lighter colour and not curly, like Toby"s.

The boy suddenly woke and sat up, staring straight at Alice. His eyes were disconcertingly pale. His face was narrow, with a savage, voracious cast. The face twisted into a menacing sneer.

"Get away from me, b***h!" he snarled.

Alice screamed.

A moment later Will burst into the room. "What"s happening now?"

"It"s not him!" she blurted out. "It"s not Toby!"

He looked down at the bed, where Toby slept peacefully.