Chapter Two.
"I thought we'd brought her up better than that!"
"I'm sorry to be the bearer of such bad news." Sherles told them. "All I can do is tell you about things as they happen. I don't know whether your daughter knows exactly what is going on, and what Cipher stand for. We've been suspecting that they've been planning a comeback, but they seem to be extra cautious at the moment. We can't even do anything yet. We're keeping them under surveillance and don't want them to know about it. We want to find out as much as possible before we move in so we can smash them for good. Even if we wanted to go in now we couldn't. They haven't done anything wrong."
Officer Sherles and Jonson rose. "Well, we have other people to speak to and investigate, and I have your PDA number. I'll contact you if anything comes up. If you see or hear anything relevant-you may see certain incidents or occurrences in a different light now you know about your daughter-please contact me right away." Sherles gave Cyril, who was still comforting a shocked Rachel, his PDA number and he and Jonson left.
Cyril helped Rachel into her chair, and she looked up at him, her face streaked with tears.
"Where did we go wrong, Cyril?" she asked. "Why would she, how could she, after my experience? I thought we'd brought her up better than that."
"Rachel, Tobianna was only eight when Lovrina did what she did to you, and we didn't take you to see the children until we'd reversed what she'd done to you." He didn't mention the psychological effects-the nights Rachel sat up in bed, screaming silently, the nightmares he'd hugged and soothed her through, the daytime flashbacks they'd struggled to hide from the children. "We decided it was best not to scare or upset the children by telling them exactly what had happened to you. We told them you'd been kidnapped by bad men, and hurt by a bad woman, but that was it. The subject never came up again, Rachel, so Tobianna may not even realise that these are the same people who hurt you."
At that moment, their fifteen-year-old son Alex, closely followed by his seven-year-old brother and sister, Lugianne and Julian, came in. The twins had been born a year after Rachel's ordeal, and had actually helped her cope with the after-effects, giving her something else to focus on and think about. None of the three knew any more than Tobianna what had happened, and Cyril, in light of what had happened, decided that that needed to change. He asked them all to sit down, and gave a greatly edited account of what had happened to Rachel nine years previously. The twins nodded, then asked if they could go out and play with Amber, Alan, Lawril and Gemma, Julie's four, but Alex looked at his parents suspiciously, waited for the twins to go out, and asked "What was that all about? Why tell us now, and what were you hiding from the younger ones?" Cyril sighed.
"I had to edit your mother's ordeal for the sake of the twins, and we'd rather not discuss it now, when they could come in and overhear. When they've gone to bed, we'll talk to you about it and tell you whatever you want to know. You're fifteen now, close enough to an adult to be trusted as an adult. I will tell you now that it concerns your sister Tobianna, but don't breathe a word to the twins." Alex nodded.
"Okay, I understand." He said.
Five minutes later, their twins, and Lawrence and Julie's four children, came in. Amber and Alan came over, and Cyril gave Amber a hug. Alan had decided he was too old for hugs from men, so Cyril put his hand on his shoulder and gave it a squeeze in greeting, because although both he and Amber possessed thumbs, they still had wingtips instead of fingers, so a manly handshake was impossible. Lawril was still young enough at 13 to accept hugs, and Cyril hugged both he, and Gemma, Lawrence and Julie's youngest, who was just two months younger than Cyril and Rachel's twins.
Gemma was a tiny version of Julie herself, down to her bird-toed feet, crest, and green eyes. The other three all had Lawrence's eyes, and Lawril had his hair and facial structure as well, and even Amber and Alan had Lawrence's lips, and Alan also shared his chin. Gemma, however, had nothing visible of Lawrence about her. She was so like her mother she could have been cloned from her. However, there was one thing that Gemma had of Lawrence's that none of his other children had, and that was his head for figures. Gemma found mathematics a joy, took to multiplication and algebra like a Lugia to water, and was often to be found helping Cyril's twins with their homework. Cyril privately thought that, given a few more months, she would probably be helping Alex with his homework. Privately, Cyril thought Gemma might very well follow in her father's footsteps, doing stocks and shares, and probably making a pretty profit.
Rachel had managed to pull herself together, and went out to get the children a glass each of fruit juice to drink. These she brought out on a tray, a brightly-coloured straw sticking out of each. This was not only something she did for the children's enjoyment, but to save Gemma the embarrassment of trying to drink from a glass with her mouth. Although the middle of her lips were flexible enough to use a straw, the corners, like Julie's, were slightly stiff, and fluid was wont to dribble from the corners if she tried to drink without a straw. As she grew older, she would, as Julie had, learn to drink without this happening, but until then, straws saved her a lot of embarrassment, and not a few tears.
That night, when the children had all gone to bed, Cyril and Rachel called Lawrence, Julie, Alan, and Amber over. They sat Alex, Amber, and Alan down, and Cyril told them about Officer Sherle's visit, and what he'd told them about. Then, in a halting voice, Rachel spoke, for the first time in seven years, in detail about what had happened to her while in Cipher's clutches. Mindful that the three children in front of her were adult or almost adult, she spared them nothing, at times having difficulty telling them particularly painful details of her ordeal. She explained that this was the first time Alex had heard all of it, and that Tobianna was unaware of the majority of what she had just told them.
"We don't know why Tobianna has joined with these dreadful people. We're wondering if she knows exactly what she's got herself into, or if she thought she could cope and has gotten in too deep. There is a possibility that she knows what she is doing and doesn't care, but Cyril and I would like to think we brought her up better than that."
"You have done, Mum, Dad." Said Alex. "I know my big sis, and she wouldn't join with creeps like that if she knew what they were about, unless…." He tailed off, unsure if he were speaking out of turn.
"Unless what, Alex?" Cyril asked. "You're sixteen soon, and we value your input. She's your sister. And there's probably plenty you know about her that we don't. Spit it out son, unless what?"
"Unless she's gone in to find out what they're doing, and try to put a spanner in the works herself." Rachel looked both relieved and scared at the same time.
"It might explain it alright, Alex, but what if she's caught?" Alex made a rude noise.
"Tobianna's the best dissembler I know! I've seen her tell the most outrageous untruths with a totally straight face! If they do find her out-which they wont-, she'll leave a few bruises on anyone who tries to stop her. Tobianna's a tough fight, and she doesn't always abide by the Queensbury Rules,if you know what I mean." Seeing the confused look on Alan's face, Alex translated. "You know Tobianna, Alan, she's not averse to fighting dirty, as you and I learned." He winced in remembered pain. "The hard way."
"You mean you brawled with your sister?" Cyril said, shocked.
"Not now, Cyril!" Rachel said. "Let's keep focused."
"Okay." said Cyril. "But I shall be having words with you, young man."
"Don't bother." Said Alex. "I'd never fight with other girls, only Tobianna, and after the last time, I'm leaving her well alone!" He sighed and looked around at the others.
"Well, whatever Tobianna's doing, we need a way to work out what's going on, what she's doing, and if she could use help, and how to get it to her. My suggestion is to get some others over who know about Cipher and could input ideas. How about we invite the Ashes over, and then we can all throw in our ideas and perhaps work something out?
"Okay, but we'll call them tomorrow. It's getting late, and we should all get some sleep."
Julie and Lawrence left with their eldest, and Cyril, Rachel, and Alex headed to bed.