Disobedient

Chapter 9

Violet's pov

"Eat up, brat," the man snaps, tossing a McDonald's bag at me. I frown at him, but grab it. I hate McDonald's, but I'm starving.

"When can I go home?" I ask softly, the words just coming out of my mouth before I can stop them.

The man grins wickedly, "We'll see. But for right now, you're going to stay right here and lure those other kids right to me."

My eyes widen in horror, "What other kids?"

"Carter and Piper Hemmings, Jasper Irwin, Cassidy Clifford, and Barry Hood," he answers. I gasp as soon as he mentions my best friends and brother.

"Please," I beg, "leave them alone. I don't know what we did, but leave them alone." I knew that if we all went missing, our parents would go crazy. Especially if my parents lost Barry right after me.

"I can't. They're already on their way. Right to me," he snickers. The turns on his heel and marches back upstairs, laughing softly to himself. I lower my head as tears start to run down my cheeks. I just want to go home and be with my family and friends.

~

Barry's pov

"What did we find?" I demand, rushing over Carter.

"We'll look at the hotel. Too many cameras around here. The police can get access to any of these and find out where we're going," Piper warns. I groan, but stop pestering Carter and Piper.

"Oh my gosh! You're Barry Hood. And Cassidy, Carter, Piper, and Jasper! Can I get a picture with you guys?" A teenage girl asks, her eyes wide. I exchange a look with Piper, who was hesitating. She was trying to find a way to let the girl down easily so that she doesn't give us away. That's when another great idea pops into my head.

"We'd be happy to take a picture with you. But if you post it anywhere, can you tag us and make sure that you don't mention NYC. Say a different place, like Colorado or something," I bargain. The girl nods and pulls her phone out, ready to snap the picture. Piper sends me a look of admiration. I grin back at her and move to the girl's right side.

"Are you guys running away from home or something?" She asks, sliding her phone back into her pocket.

"Sort of. We're looking for Violet. She's missing and the cops aren't really doing anything," Cassidy explains. She nods.

"Call me if you ever need help, okay? And my name's Kyla by the way," she tells us.

"Why are you helping us this much? I mean, you got the pictures and agreed not to rat us out, why are you offering more help? Not that we're complaining or anything," Carter assures her. Kyla smiles.

"My mom is a huge 5SOS fan. They're the only reason she's alive. If it weren't for them, then neither she nor I would be here. So this is kind of my way of saying thank you to them, even though now that I think about it, I'm saying thank you by purposely leading them away from their missing children," Kyla points out, laughing. Carter bursts out into a fit of giggles, staring at her. Kyla gives him a shy smile, waves to the five of us, then turns and jogs down the street and disappears into a building.