Chapter Nine

A/N: Thanks to TheDarkMistressBellatrix and wwejackass for reviewing the last chapter.

The world had stopped turning, and Julia could not believe how things had turned from brilliant to terrible in just a few short hours. She had been looking forward to bringing Maddy home, to take another step into becoming a permanent fixture in the young girl's life, and now look what happened. She had disappeared, just as she had done all those years ago, and once again, Julia had not a clue where she had gone to.

David, who was still sobbing at what he saw as his failure to protect the child, had not seen the person who had taken her from the school premises, leaving his mother back at square one in regard to finding her daughter. She did not blame him, not in the least, as she blamed herself entirely, but he was not helping her to locate her child, nor to lift her spirits at all in regards to everything being alright in the end.

Seeing as only one of them could do so at present, Julia began to think of all the likely places her daughter could have gone to, although from what the distraught young Collins had told her, she had been taken by a stranger, meaning that she would not be in any of these places. Still, she persisted, in case the boy had been wrong in his sadness, and had actually seen Cairan taking Maddy home for some reason. It was extremely unlikely to have happened in that way, but still she clung to the hope, as it was her best chance to find her missing child.

"Come on, David." she beckoned, reaching out a slender hand to her son, who wiped his eyes with a tissue then took the hand. "We're going to find her."

Though she had no real plan of action in which to accomplish her goal, Julia had come to the conclusion that going to Angel Drive would most likely be the best idea, and so had set off from the school grounds before her mind had a chance to talk enough sense into her to make her sit down and think of a proper plan.

However, when she had reached the beginning of the road, something began to draw Julia down to the beach, despite the fact that her common sense told her that Cairan had most likely forgotten about their arrangement and had taken her home himself. But it was a strong feeling, coming from deep within her chest, that told her a clue would lie at the beach, and she had always been more influenced by her heart than she had been by her mind. That was why she had decided to heed the emotion and go down to the beach to investigate.

At first, even she thought she was mad for doing so. There was no evidence at all that the beach could have anything to do with her finding information about Maddy's disappearance. However, her instincts had told her that it may hold an answer, and so she continued to look, as David did, not once questioning him mother's judgement, as the trust he had in her was so great.

However, at the point where she was almost ready to give up and return to Collinwood, a tiny glint of hope came to light, as the sun began to set in the sky, colouring the waves of the water in oranges and purples and pinks, the young Collins came across something hidden in the sand that was the most substantial piece of evidence that they had found in all of their searches.

"Mom!" the boy exclaimed, his face lighting up as he turned it to face his mother. "Mom, look what I've found!"

At the sound of her young adoptive son's voice, Julia had approached him without hesitation, to see whether he had, as she had hoped, found a valid cause for them to keep searching the sands and sea. Surely enough, and to her relief, they had found one.

Lying deeply buried in the sand, barely visible except for the shine it gave off in the sunset, was a beautiful necklace on a dainty chain. The pendant was a heart made of silver, and within it, encased in the flowers that edged the heart, was written a letter in a swirling, dainty script. The letter M.

"This is Maddy's necklace." she breathed, pulling it from its covering and holding it to her chest, as if she could summon her daughter back to her just with the power of her wish and with the necklace itself. "She must have been wearing it when she went to school this morning, Kathy said that she's never taken it off, not since she was a baby, when I gave it to her for her first Christmas."

Unbeknownst to her, as she was concentrating so intensely, the woman had begun to cry, the pain of her loss mirroring the pain that she had felt when she had returned to Cairan's house that fateful night. She did not notice until she saw the teardrops slide across the kiss that rested underneath the 'M' of the pendant, causing more of them to fall, creating a type of a waterfall across her cheeks.

"We'll find her, Mom." David told his mother, in a drastic attempt to convince the woman, as well as to cease the tears that marred her face. "I promise that we'll find her."

"I hope that we will, David." was her reply, though her voice was saddened and so terrible to hear that the boy could quite willingly have closed his ears and ignored the tone, were it not for the fact that she most certainly needed to be comforted. "And I hope that we'll do it soon."

Suddenly, just as the dark haired boy wrapped his arms around his mother, a shadow was cast over the pair of them. They froze, unable to even breathe, despite the fact that the beach was a perfectly safe place, but eventually turned.

For David, there was no effect to turning, other than that he now knew the appearance of the man that stood over them, who was not threatening at all by sight. For Julia, however, the situation was graver, delight, fear and shock overcoming her all at once. It took her a good minute before she could even summon the courage to speak his name.

"Caleb."

A/N: Please review!