Tethered

Chapter One

Everyone in Aunt Sara's house loved Emmy, the little children especially. She took great care in helping raise them and making their childhoods as happy as possible but as Sara housed foster placements sad goodbyes were too common.

Emmy had watched children come and go her entire life. It was gut wrenching sometimes watching the little boys and girls come and go but some part of it made her feel selfishly grateful. She herself would have been a foster kid had Aunt Sara not formally adopted her. She was lucky, and she felt bad every time she saw children leave and a little part of her was happy she'd never have to go through that.

Ethan, one of the younger children and currently the only boy in the house was glued to her as she made breakfast. Emmy agreed to wake up early and make him special pancakes in celebration of completing his first full week of kindergarten.

"They're rainbow!"

"I put in the magic ingredient" Emmy smiled and shook the bottle of rainbow sprinkles she was holding. Thank god there was enough left over for the twins when they decided to wake up. Last time Ethan had gotten a special breakfast and not them there had been some cat fights.

"Thank you, Emmy" Ethan spoke around his mouth full of pancake as he scarfed it down as fast as he could. Normally Sara was a little strict about sugar before noon but Emmy knew that Ethan deserved it.

He'd only been at the house for a little over a month but he'd really come out of his shell. Getting him to school was a battle for the first few days but he'd warmed up to it, coming home his fourth day rambling about his friend Max and how excited he was to go back. Emmy had laughed on Saturday when Ethan pouted that he couldn't go to school over a weekend.

While Ethan was tackling his first year of kindergarten Emmeline was familiarizing herself with her first year of high school. She didn't particularly mind any of her new teachers, but she was sad to leave her favorite middle school English teacher who never called on her unexpectedly in class or made her do any public speaking.

As she watched Ethan eat his breakfast she laughed, wishing she could go back to kindergarten instead of dealing with icky calculus and biology.

Looking at the clock Emmy knew there'd be hell to pay if she didn't go wake up the twins soon. They always liked to have time to meticulously braid each other's hair each morning and god forbid they run out of time before having to leave for school.

"Getting the twins?" Ethan asked, smacking his lips around his fork.

"Mmmhmm" Emmy mumbled, wiping off the counter and refolding the dish towel on her way up the stairs. The twins, Rosie and Riley were the only other children besides Ethan in the house and the biggest handful.

Their attitudes, while sometimes annoying, were something Emmy loved because even though they flipped flopped from foster home to foster home they still had such lively personalities. The very first night they were here they begged Aunt Sara to get them some pink paint so they could paint the walls of their room.

Aunt Sara, seeing the tutus and tiaras they were both wearing and the worn out look of the placement worker had immediately obliged, saying the only room fit for such two beautiful princesses was a pink one.

Rose and Riley met their new favorite person that night.

Creeping in their room on light feet Emmy shook both of them away, ignoring their grumpling and dramatic eye rolls. While Ethan was a morning person, the twins were most certainly not.

"Come on, Rosie," Emmy coaxed, promising colorful pancakes would be waiting for them if they got up.

It was a slow process, but eventually she had them all up on their feet and heading out the door for school.

The twins, being older, walked themselves to the bus stop while Emmy walked with Ethan, making sure he was safely handed off to the driver before waiting on her own bus.

While September was usually a little warm, this year they'd had an unexpected cold snap and Emmy had to pull her winter coat out of the closet a month early. It was a little small on her now after years of use, the sleeves stopping before her wrists and the zipper broken but Emmy knew that Sara's money was a little tight right now, and the most important thing was making sure the younger kids had winter clothing.

She pulled the material tighter around herself and stuck her hands in the pockets, trying to preserve body heat as she waited on the sidewalk.

She didn't notice the man come up behind her, only jumped when a big arm grabbed around her waist and she was pulled into a chest. Emmy yelped, frantically jabbing her elbows into the person behind her and desperately trying to twist out of his arms.

The man, someone very tall and very unfamiliar, grunted a few times before tightening his grip and sneaking a hand around her jaw in just a tight enough grip to keep her from thrashing as he placed a rag over her nose and mouth.

Emmy continued to scream through the material but the man was relentless.

"Just take a deep breath," He soothed, his voice low and calm despite what he was doing to her.

It took all but two seconds for Emmeline to slump down in his arms and her breathing to even out as she went unconscious. Whatever chemical he used made her feel sick as her eyes went black around the edges before she went fully under.

The second she did, the man swept her up into a bridal carry and paced across the street to his car where he placed her securely in the back seat. He stared at her in the rear view mirror for a long time before pulling away from the curb and setting his navigation system to take him back to the airport.

The plane was waiting just as he left it. A few black SUVs lingered on the runway as men patrolled the area while waiting for their arrival. Emilio pulled up as close as he could to the aircraft before gently easing Emmy out of the car.

The guards stood stoically off to the side, Emilio finding it amusing that they must be at least somewhat surprised that they were sent to America to assist in the retrieval of an ordinary girl.

Emilio knew she wasn't ordinary, although that was a secret very closely guarded by her family. She'd been a mystery to them for so long that when they discovered where she was they had a plane and a team of guards ready to go retrieve her within 12 hours.

The pilot nodded to Emilio as he boarded and set Emmy on a sofa with a seatbelt on, doing the most he could to make his cousin comfortable for the flight. They had twelve hours to spend together, and she'd likely only be asleep for the next two.

He couldn't wait to see her eyes for the first time. Their first meeting was an unfortunate circumstance he admits. But someone had to do it, and her grandparents had insisted on either one of her brothers or cousins go to America themselves.

Emilio couldn't wait to be back in Italy, once the plane was in the air he started counting down the minutes until they'd land.

Several hours later he really worried for a little while when she wasn't waking up. He couldn't fathom having given her too much to the point of harm. He'd sat there staring at her, rubbing his temples for god knows how long while she lay motionless.

He noticed the poor state of her jacket and a particular paleness to her face that suggested she didn't do well in the cold. Emilio clenched his teeth when she shivered for the first time, and called a flight attendant to get her a blanket.

He snatched it from her hands when she tried to lay it over Emmy herself, scurrying to the front of the plane when Emilio insisted she not touch her.

That had been a full hour ago, and Emilio wouldn't lie that he was restless. He even went as far as checking her pulse every few minutes just to reassure himself even if it was ridiculous when he could see her breathing.

He'd have to call the doctor to take a look at her once they landed. He deeply regretted not having one on board.

Just as Emilio's worrying was hitting its peak Emmy began to twitch, rolling over in her seat to reposition her head. Emilio froze, and silently moved across the aisle so he could sit across from her.

Unfortunately he didn't get a chance to calm her down before she started hyperventilating because she had woken up and the first thing she saw was a window full of clouds.