Tethered (Book Two of The Invisible String Series)

The Runaway: Part One

The producer from earlier steps forward, but still just out of sight of the camera that's trained on us, pointing to the bowl of candy that someone places in front of us. "So basically we're going to do a version of Never Have I Ever, but instead of drinking you're going to have to eat one of these pieces of candy...that are either really sour or really spicey."

From beside me Noah lets out a snort, eyeing the candy with a grin. "Oh no. Skylar doesn't handle spicy things very well. This should be interesting."

Sky retaliates by giving her husband a loud smack that has us all laughing, and I move to pick up the first question card, knowing that if someone doesn't get this going then we're all bound to just sit here and goof off. "Alright, children. I am gonna go first. Never have I ever...gotten a tattoo. Ha! I am safe."

I watch as Skylar and Leon both have to eat a piece of candy, and end up laughing right alongside Noah as the two end up practically spewing said candy back out and into a provided trash can with scrunched up faces. We go a few more rounds, answering more questions and none of us are safe from the punishment. Some of the questions are tailored specifically for tour information, and the interview ends much quicker than I expected it to.

Since we're free for the rest of the afternoon, I decline the lunch invitation that Skylar and Noah give me, deciding that I want to just head back to the house and be a bag of lazy bones for the rest of the day. Which I fully plan on doing. Thankfully traffic isn't too bad for a Friday, so I make it home in record time.

Just as I move to sling my leg over the seat of my bike, I hear my phone's general ringtone and quickly move to pull it out, sliding the helmet off my head when I recognize the number flashing across the screen. Why the hell is Liv's social worker calling me? We have a meeting scheduled to sign all the paperwork to file for custody of Olivia next week. "Nancy?"

"Y/N, hi. I'm so sorry for calling you out of the blue."

Frowning, I settle my weight on the bike completely upon hearing her distressed tone. "No, it's okay. What's going on?"

"I was just wondering if you've heard from Olivia today?"

"Uh, no. I haven't. Our weekly calls are on Tuesdays. Why? Is everything okay?"

The woman on the other end of the phone sighs, my answer obviously not being the one she wanted to hear. "Damn. I don't want to alarm you, but...Olivia ran away from the group home last night."

For a moment I swear that the blood in my veins ice over from the sheer amount of panic I feel upon hearing the social worker's words, my mind racing to a thousand and one scenarios that I quickly try and shut down. "Okay, we gotta back up a bit. What the hell happened? How did the group home lose a whole-ass kid?!"

"I don't know, I've been trying to figure that out myself. They said one of the caretakers said she didn't come out of her room this morning for school, which I was alerted to and when they went to check her room, all of her stuff was missing. None of the other kids, or the workers, saw where she went. I had hoped that she would have possibly reached out to either you or Lizzie."

I shakily bring my hand up to move my hair out of my face, my brain still trying to process everything that I've been told. There's no way this is fucking happening. I mean I just spoke to the girl three days ago. "I don't understand. The last time we talked to her everything was fine, or at least I thought it was."

"I think I might know why she's runaway. I informed the staff at the home that you two were planning on taking her in, but never mentioned your names for obvious reasons, and one of them apparently mentioned it to her and noted that she was upset."