Jessica was up again. The blow on her forehead was hurting her like mad and she made to touch it with her right hand but ended up holding her right elbow with her left hand. She must have bruised her elbow when she fell. She moved her arm slowly to see her elbow. It was only bruised. She touched her forehead with her left hand and took it off immediately. It was really painful, but at least she didn't seem to be bleeding.

The first sentiment she really experienced was one of intense fear. She felt paralyzed for a few seconds as she wondered what had happened to Maggie. After a minute of panic, she realized she had to react and pushed back all these thoughts, all her emotions at the back of her head; she would deal with it later. At once she fumbled with the zip of her bag and retrieved her iPhone. She touched the screen to call a number and realized that it wasn't operating. There was nothing displaying on the screen. Recalling her fall, she realised her phone had probably been broken when she had crushed on her bag.

She took a few steps back towards the main street she regretted so much they had left and looked around her. People were passing by without taking any notice of her. Life was going on as if nothing had happened. Then her eyes fell on the street sign. It wasn't that far. She could be there in less than five minutes. Feeling a bit relieved now that she knew what to do she started running faster than ever.

A few minutes later she was running up the stairs of the National History Museum of London on Cromwell Street. Realising it wasn't opening hours yet, she hammered frantically at the window-panelled door at the entrance till a guard came. Recognizing the young girl, he opened the doors.

"Hello Jessica. Why are you in such a hurry?"

"George!" she was out of breath "I need… to see…"

"Over there." the man answered the unfinished question.

"Thank you!" Jessica ran all the length of the entrance hall and started climbing the stairs, desperate to reach her goal. Suddenly, she spotted a middle-aged women walking with a pile of documents on the balcony of the upper floor.

"Mum!" she yelled.

The woman stopped, took a step towards the banister and looked at the young girl.

"Jessie?" Harry glanced at her watch. A quarter to ten. What was her daughter doing here? She was supposed to be studying.

"You gotta come now. I need your help."

"I have a job to do here Jessie!" Harry was a bit fed up with her daughter showing up unexpectedly at the museum every now and then, asking her for a ride or for money. She had to understand you couldn't leave your work like that.

"You don't understand. It's Maggie, there was… She's…" Jessie couldn't find the right words. She couldn't bring herself to say it aloud, afraid that it would make the situation real.

Harry frowned. She couldn't see her daughter very well from where she was standing, but there was a kind of distress and panic in Jessie's voice that made her wonder what could have happened to Maggie.

"What happened? Is she alright?"

"I…" she couldn't answer that. She didn't know if Maggie was alright. She didn't know where she was and who these men were. She didn't want to think about it. She lowered her head, her vision blurred as tears welled up inside her eyes. She had problem breathing, her legs were so weak. She took a shaking breath and looked back at the balcony.

"Mum, please. Mum… I need you!" she screamed falling on her knees as the full impact of what had just happened hit her for the first time. It was like a tidal wave crushing on her heart, on her brain, on her whole body and she felt that there would be nothing left but ruins and rumbles. Tears began flowing, rolling on her cheeks and splashing on the clean marble floor of the museum.

When she had seen her daughter fall to pieces like that, Harry had let go of all the documents she had been carrying and ran down the stairs separating them. Her heart was pounding in her chest and she could feel her body tremble from within.

Once she had joined her daughter, she knelt and took her in her arms. Jessica hid her face in her mother's neck and held tight to her. Harry caressed her hair soothingly and tried to keep her voice calm.

"What happened? Talk to me darling."

"We... we were" Jessie's voice came in between sobs. "We were walking and … we were laughing… and these men came…" her voice trailed off as she couldn't suppress a new wave of tears.

"Men? What men?" Harry was really worried now.

Jessie shook her head. She didn't know who these men were.

"Did they hurt you?" Harry asked taking her daughter's face in her hands to force her to look at her. At that moment her eyes widened as she noticed the dark place around her right eye and on her cheekbone. She hadn't seen it in the distance but now it was unmistakable. She ran a finger on the bruise and Jessie grimaced.

"They punched me when I tried to help Maggie." she explained in an almost calm voice. "They took her, mum. There was nothing I could do… They took her."