Prologue

"Time to get up, Tiger!"
   Tiger Reynolds groaned, pulling himself out of bed. It was the second wake up call from his mum, and he knew there wouldn't be a third. Stumbling to his dresser, he started pulling out clothes, then headed for the bathroom. Once he'd showered and brushed his teeth and hair, he felt much more awake, though no less reluctant to go to school. He was in year five, and loathed his teacher, who was a stickler about silence in class and perfection in the work. He wondered if his mum would know if he swanned off school. Probably.
   Going downstairs to the breakfast table, he was surprised to see a plate of pancakes in his spot.
   "Happy birthday, Tiger," his mum said, smiling.
   Tiger grinned, delighted. "I forgot!" He was eleven today!
   "You did not," his mum laughed, coming to kiss him on the top of the head as he sat down.
   "I did, though. Thanks, this is great." He smiled up at her as his older sister, Lani, eighteen, came in, followed closely by fourteen year old Brody, who lit up at the sight of pancakes.
   "Do I get some?"
   "Of course," his mum said. "Lani?"
   Lani shook her head, unsmiling as she sat at the table. She was going through her emo phase, which had started ages ago. Tiger wondered if it would ever end. She ran her black-nailed fingers through her red-dyed hair, which she'd wanted blue, but Mum had said no. Originally, she'd absolutely forbidden all hairdye, only relenting to the less wild color after days of Lani's begging.
   Brody, on the other hand, was more into football, and dressed most days in one of his many jerseys, much to his mum's exasperation. She preferred Tiger's button up shirts.
   "Are you going to wish your brother a happy birthday?" she prompted Lani and Brody.
   "Happy birthday," Brody said, nicking a bite of Tiger's pancakes.
   "Happy birthday," Lani said, actually breaking a smile. She'd always had a soft spot for Tiger, who she'd doted upon when he was a baby. In fact, she was the one who'd given him the nickname Tiger, deciding when she was ten that three year old Tyler was more like a cute little tiger cub than a person. And the name had stuck.
   Tiger grinned at her, then pushed Brody away from his food. "Go get your own, lazy."
   Brody laughed, running to where a plate of finished pancakes waited on the counter.
   "Since it's my birthday, can I skip school?" Tiger asked his mum, giving her puppy dog eyes. "Please?"
   "No, you may not," his dad said, swatting him on the head as he passed. "We're already giving you a party on Saturday. What do you need a day off for?"
   "To...think about how special my birth was?"
   Brody snorted. "Trust me, it wasn't that special."
   "I think you're thinking of yours," Tiger shot back, kicking him under the table.
   Kicking him back, Brody said, "Mine was the miracle of life. Yours was only a let down afterwards."
   "Enough, you two," their mum ordered. "Brody, be nice to him on his birthday, please."
   Sighing as if it were a great ordeal, Brody rolled his eyes. "Okay..." He glanced at Tiger. "You're such a wonderful human being and your birth was sort of a miracle, as well."
   Tiger snickered. "Better be nice to me for the rest of the day, or I won't let you have cake at my party."
   Watching them shove playfully at each other, laughing and yelping, Lani shook her head and looked down at her phone. "You're both daft."
   Finishing their breakfast, Tiger and Brody ran upstairs to get their book bags and jackets, then put on their shoes at the door. Lani, already dressed and ready, waited by the stairs, texting away on her phone. Tiger hoped he'd get a phone for his birthday. So far, his parents had told him he was too young for one, but maybe this year. He knew he'd get his gifts that evening, once his parents got home from work, and though he never got many (it was a rule that they should only get a few, meaningful presents at each holiday, rather than a million they wouldn't use), he was excited to see what his parents and siblings had got him.
   "Do you have everything you need?" his mum asked him and Brody as they stood up. "Not forgetting anything?"
   "I've got everything," Tiger said.
   "Me too," Brody said.
   "Okay. Have a good day." She kissed them both, and touched Lani's arm (Lani had begged off from too much parental affection, which her parents said was a teenager thing).
   "Bye," they said. "Bye, Dad!" they called, and their dad leaned over the banister.
   "See you later. Happy birthday, Tiger."
   Tiger grinned. "Thanks!" As he headed out the door, Lani put a hand on the back of his neck.
   "Going to have all your friends sing you happy birthday?" she asked as they headed to her car.
   Smiling, Tiger said, "The class'll sing it. But Mr. Bryant says we shouldn't focus too much on birthdays because it's a 'distraction'." He wrinkled his nose. "I can't wait till I leave his class."
   Brody, opening the passenger side door, threw him a grin. "Next year you'll get to have a whole load of teachers to hate."
   "At least there's a variety," Tiger pointed out, making Lani laugh a bit. A rare treat. They all got in her car, and Tiger looked back at his house as she turned on the engine and pulled away from the curb. He couldn't wait until morning was afternoon, and he was coming back home again. School sounded awful when he had a birthday celebration waiting for him afterwards. It was going to be a long day.

Excerpt from the Burnley Express newspaper: Police sent out an Ambert Alert yesterday in Burnley and surrounding areas in Lancashire for eleven year old Tyler 'Tiger' Reynolds after his parents notified the authorities that he had not come home after school. His sister, Lani, 18, who was to pick him up after school, told responding officers that he didn't meet her in their usual place outside of the school, and she couldn't find any sign of him. Upon asking his teachers, she found he had not come back to class from the lunch break, and Lani immediately went home, thinking he'd left school on his own. Finding the house empty, she called her parents, mother Rayna and father Daniel. The parents called the police, and an Amber Alert was sent out. Authorities say he was last seen on the pavement outside his school, talking to an unfamiliar man there. Friends of the boy told officers that the man had called Tyler over to ask him directions. The bell rang while they were talking, and the friends lost sight of him in the rush back to class. They don't know whether Tyler went with the man, or came back inside. They say the man was middle aged, tall, with brown hair starting to recede, wearing a white t-shirt with writing on it and a hoodless quilted jacket. Tyler was wearing a button-up blue plaid shirt and khaki trousers with dark green canvas trainers. He has dark brown hair and brown eyes, is 4' 8", about seventy-five pounds, with a slim build. Authorities strongly believe he was the victim of an abduction, and is not a runaway. The Reynolds say he vanished on his brithday...