As Patrick swivelled the stroller to push it towards the car, both babies kept their eyes on Harper until the last possible moment.

Chapter 21

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

They strapped her down. Like a madwoman. They injected her with something, and now she was floppy, her head swimming. They loaded her into the ambulance, and she was relieved that she couldn’t see the green of the stroller anymore, her husband’s distraught face or the terrible vision of whatever was behind the eyes of either of those babies, where her sweet little boys should have been, and were not.

Bang bang went the doors and she thought they would drive off immediately but someone was talking to her. The words were indistinct. Maybe they weren’t talking to her at all. She kept saying the boy’s names, Morgan, Riley, where are you?

One of the paramedics was shining a light in her eyes. “Don’t you worry, love,” she heard. “You’re safe now. Can you take a deep breath for me?”

Pretending to be nice, she thought. A minute ago you were gripping me so hard it hurt. I could hurt you, too. I could bite you. I might do it.

“Where are my babies?” asked Lauren. Maybe she knew. Someone knew.

“They’ll be following on soon, petal. Your husband’s got them.”

“No, no, no,” said Lauren, shaking her head, “you don’t understand. That wasn’t them. Not my boys. They’ve been taken.”

Someone else spoke. A man’s voice, from somewhere above her head.

“Yes, love, that’s right, but we got them back. They were taken, but then they were found. And we got the woman who took them, too.”

Lauren turned her head slightly. She couldn’t see his face but she could read the word POLICE in white writing on the shoulder of his uniform.

“I told you, that wasn’t them,” said Lauren, “whatever was in that stroller. They’ve been swapped. They’re evil, those things, they’re not my babies.”

The paramedic and the police officer said nothing.

“Did you see them?” said Lauren, “did you look at them? They weren’t human.”

“You’ve had a bad experience, Lauren,” said the paramedic. “We’ve given you something to calm you down.”