Prompt: All the statues in a major city go missing

Janet switched the television to mute. The reporter standing in front of the empty pedestal didn’t have anything new to say and was looking increasingly uncomfortable.

She didn’t blame him; the Albert Memorial minus Albert and his attendant symbols of the Empire was an eerie place.

The whole country had been in uproar since just before dawn, when the cleaners in Trafalgar Square discovered Nelson and his Lions had gone on holiday, the street sweepers outside Buckingham Palace couldn’t find Victoria, and Parliamentary Security had to report King Richard the Lionheart (and horse) AWOL.

Every statue in the City of Westminster, plus a few others, had disappeared.

The armed forces had been mobilised, although no one was quite sure what they were meant to do. The Thames was being scanned and dragged, lorries the length and breadth of the country were being stopped and searched, and yet beyond a few unnaturally deep footprints in St James Park. There was no sign of anything unusual.

Janet poured herself another cup of lemongrass and ginger tea. It was the most soothing concoction she had to hand. Magic always left her queasy and last night’s effort, even with the support of all the major covens, had been a strain.

If her calculations were correct, the now-ambulatory bastions of British History should be arriving in <insert misbehaving location of choice> in…5, 4, 3, 2, 1…