you did your best to spoil it or take it away from me – I hate you!’ Connie, too, was now in tears. She lunged at her sister, but both women were stopped dead in their tracks by a girl’s anguished scream.
‘Stop it, stop it, stop it!!’ Staggering from the punch that Belinda had made, Abi pushed her way through the dancers to get to them. ‘How could you! In front of everybody. And saying those horrible things about Daddy! I hate you both. You’re so selfish, neither of you care about anyone else but yourselves. This is my birthday and you’re ruining it!’ She screamed again at the top of her voice. ‘I’m sick of both of you – the party’s over!’ And with that, she ran off.
‘Abi, darling, come back!’ Connie shouted. She started to run after her, but tripped and fell, landing on her knees in the sand. Jem shot past her, calling Abi’s name. When Connie looked to see where they’d gone, Abi had been swallowed up by the darkness.
Hearing the commotion, Dorothy rushed over.
‘What’s going on?’ she demanded.
‘We’ve upset Abi,’ said Pru, deflated and ashamed. ‘She’s run off.’
Henry and Belinda had appeared and were helping Connie to her feet.
‘Where’s Greg?’ said Henry.
‘The last time I saw him, he was down by the water with that secretary of his,’ said Pru.
‘Shut up!’ screeched Connie, putting her hands over her ears, her mascara running towards her chin. ‘Shut up. Stop saying these horrible lies. Just because Merlin fancied me more than you. Greg loves me and would never ever be unfaithful to me.’
‘Never mind Greg,’ said Dorothy, ‘he can take care of himself. It’s Abi I’m worried about.’
Francis was directing Merlin and some of the boys to shine the disco lights in the direction Abi had run to, but they weren’t powerful enough to illuminate much beyond the party zone.
Everyone was calling Abi’s name. Some of the drunken teenagers thought it was all a joke, until Henry barked at them to shut up or else no one would be able to hear if Abi was calling for help.
A few minutes later Jem ran back, chest heaving, barely able to get the words out: ‘Has she come back, Poppa?’ Grim-faced, Henry shook his head. ‘I ran down to the seashore, right to the cliffs and then all the way along, calling and calling, but I couldn’t see her.’
‘Maybe she’s gone back to the house,’ said Pru.
‘Wherever she’s gone, we need to find her,’ said Francis.
‘All she had on was that flimsy mermaid costume, it’s not safe for her to be running around in the cold and dark,’ said Dorothy, her arms around a sobbing Connie.
Everyone looked to Henry. He strained to see beyond the lines of fairy lights. It was pitch-black out there. She could have stumbled from the cliff path in the dark, fallen on the rocks. If they didn’t find her soon, she might get caught by the turning tide. He beckoned Francis and Jem and instructed them to get a search party together. Pearl and her boyfriend set off to find some torches. Merlin was ordering people to go and turn their car headlights on to light up the night and help the search.
The only thing that mattered now was to find Abi.
*
Blinded by tears, Abi had run to the seashore, then across the shallows to the sanctuary of the cliffs. All she could think of was to hide in the darkness and leave the ruins of her birthday behind her. She stubbed her toe on a boulder and fell forward into black space before landing in a rock pool. Limpet shells rasped against her cheek. Scrabbling to stand up, she put her hand to her face and felt the sting of blood. An agonising pain shot up her foot and Abi realised that she must have hurt her ankle badly when she fell. When she tentatively tried to put weight on it, an excruciating pain shot through her and she felt as if she would pass out.
Sinking to her knees, Abi began to crawl. It took her a moment to realise that the dark opening ahead of her was the entrance to the cave that led to the undercliff boathouse of Atlantic House. She crawled inside, in utter agony, and collapsed on the damp sand. Then she started to call for help.
All she heard in return was silence, broken only by the wash of the tide.
Shivering with pain and fear, Abi began to sob.
*
‘Here,