“So you see, it wasn’t a kidnapping. The kid came willingly, plus they treat her like shit in her home,” Mitch said around the chunk of cereal bar in his mouth.

I nodded emphatically in agreement.

“Plus, you know I’ll take care of her. Zaq was never injured too much and now he’s retired with a wife and a kid on the way! And, he’s got a nice job at that big fancy museum down the road!” Mitch wheedled with a hopeful smile.

“You don’t have to tell me that, I was at the wedding too! But I was also there when he got shot in the leg and had to miss one of his exams!” Betty snapped.

“Ah, but you got that rearranged for us and he aced it in the end! You said it yourself, you didn’t expect him to do that good.”

“I did not!” she cried looking personally affronted. “I always expected him to do well.”

“But not to get damn near full marks. Highest out of all the kids you look after, right? I must be doing something right,” Mitch grinned, sensing that he had won her over.

Not that she was ever really against him.

Betty sighed heavily, her gaze falling on me.

“And you really want to go with him? You know you’ll still have to study and it might be dangerous where you’re going?” Betty asked.

“She’s already outrun some of the Sterlings anyway,” Mitch added, his voice rising teasingly.

Betty’s eyes bounced between us.

“They were some of Sterling’s people?” Betty asked, her body strangely still. “In this country?”

“Oh, yeah,” Mitch said with a tilt of his head. “They followed me from Italy.”

Betty’s eyes flickered to the window and then to her screen.

“Have you brought them to my doorstep again?” she asked, finally moving again and tapping on the phone again. “Kelly, I don’t want any more visitors today. We might have some trouble, some of the Sterlings have been spotted in this country again.”

A guttural word was growled through the phone and I wasn’t sure what language it was but I was pretty sure it was a curse.

“I’ll tell Dan downstairs to keep an eye out for them,” she said finally.

“Thanks,” Betty said before looking back at Mitch. “So, have you brought them to my doorstep?”

“Shouldn’t have, changed the car along the way, doubled back, took scenic routes and wasn’t followed as far as I can tell, but you know the drill. You got a backdoor out of this place?” Mitch asked.

“Of course I do. Did you really think I started working in an office and immediately forget everything I learnt out there? I’ll have Kelly take you out that way,” she said with a nod. “Now, we need to get this mess cleared up before you can leave.”

Mitch nodded grimly.

“We have to be on the road soon anyway. If we don’t get to the next location before them, there’ll be nothing left for us.”

“Well then, we better get started.” Betty pulled her keyboard closer and started typing. “Damn this two-factor authentication. Every time I log in, I need to do this damn thing on my phone.”

Her phone lit up and she poked at it briefly before glancing back at the screen.

I waited patiently despite desperately wanting to get up and go around to her computer screen to find out what she was doing.

“Do you want Mitch in here for these questions or would you rather him wait outside?” she asked me.

“Oh, ummm…” I glanced at him and he smiled kindly.

“I don’t mind, kid. I can wait outside,” he offered.

“No, I think it’s okay, I don’t mind if you stay,” I decided.

“Alright, what’s your surname, Grace?” she asked after a period of typing.

“Grace Holliday,” I answered quickly.

That wasn’t my surname, I had no clue where it came from.

“And you were placed at… Nina and Arthur West’s house four months ago?” she read.

“That’s right,” I lied.

“You told Mitch that they weren’t very good to you. Can you elaborate on that some more, please?”

“Oh yeah, just they didn’t always have food for us, weren’t particularly nice, there were a lot of other kids there,” I listed, not sure where the words were coming from but they felt right.

A flash of guilt went through me for a moment at the thought of getting someone in trouble but I pushed it away.

“They’ve got… four other foster kids there, is that right?” Betty asked, glancing at me.

I nodded.

“And do they usually have food for the rest of the kids? Treat them okay?” she asked, her tone entirely non-judgemental.

“Yeah, I think we just clash. They don’t really like that I’m a vegetarian I think,” I said with an awkward shrug.

“Oh,” Betty said, her gaze flying towards the tray of food and drink perched on the corner of her desk. “I am so sorry, I didn’t even think to ask.”

I watched in confusion as she poked the phone again.

“Kelly, can you bring in some non-dairy milk, please? We still have a few bottles in the fridge, don’t we?” she asked.

There was a pause before the phone beeped again.

“Yeah, we’ve got a couple of options. I’ll bring them in now,” Kelly replied.

“Oh… you don’t need to do that,” I said awkwardly, not liking putting people out even in my own imagination.

“Don’t be silly, we don’t mind! I know some people don’t like to drink dairy milk, especially vegetarians, I should have really asked already,” Betty smiled as the door behind us opened and Kelly walked in with a tray of labelled glass bottles.

I watched uncomfortably as she crossed the room and placed it on the table, winking at me.

“Thank you,” Betty said as she started to leave.

“Not a problem. Also, I spoke to Dan. He knows the situation now,” Kelly said before ducking out of the door.

“Oh, wonderful. Okay, I just need to reactivate your status as a foster carer and ask Grace a couple of questions. Do you mind heading out to the hall for this bit?” Betty asked with a smile at Mitch.

“Not at all, give me a shout if you need anything. Do you need me to do the interview again or we good from last time?” he asked, standing and plucking another cereal bar from the tray.

Betty scanned the computer screen.

“Should still be good but I’ll let you know?” she asked.

“Not a problem. I’ll be just down the hall if you need anything,” he said, shooting me a grin before exiting the room.

Anxiety churned in my stomach and I turned back to Betty, unsure of what to expect.

“You don’t need to look so scared,” she said with a gentle smile. “I bet you’ve had dozens of interviews with social workers before.”

“Is that what you are?” I asked before I could stop myself. “I mean… it just said ‘Child Protection’ on the door but I wasn’t sure.”

A small smile started on her face.

“Yes and no. I trained as a social worker and that is part of my job now but I work for an external agency. We handle the more… difficult cases. The complex ones that need a little more hands-on support. It’s my job to deal with the more legally or ethically dicey cases, and you definitely fall into my caseload now,” she explained.

“Is that what I am now?”

Her head cocked to the side causing her dark brown hair to spill over her shoulder.

“You’ve gone on the run with an older man you’ve only just met. You’re not exactly an easy case anymore,” she said, her eyebrow rising at me.

“Umm…” I said, unable to think of anything to say in response to that. She made it sound almost… inappropriate. “But it’s not like that. We aren’t in a relationship or anything.”

Betty laughed easily.

“I know, darling. Mitch is a good man, despite all the hassle I gave him. But, looking at it with no knowledge of him, it wouldn’t look good.”

“Oh,” I said quietly.

In real life, I would have considered that and been worried about it but in my fantasy, it didn’t matter.

“Yeah and soon, he’ll want to take you abroad. How do you think that’s going to look in the press? An older man takes a young, at-risk teenage girl abroad to chase nothing more than rumours. Granted, he’s good so you’ll find what you’re looking for nine times out of ten but, still.”

My mouth went completely dry and, for a moment, I debated opening my eyes and coming out of the daydream but Betty burst into laughter.

“I’m messing with you! That’s where I come in, I’m here to make sure that it’s all legal so you won’t get any hassle!”

“Is that… okay?” I asked uncertainly.

“Of course, this isn’t the first time I’ve had to do it. Barely even the first time I’ve had to do it this month,” she muttered, looking back at her screen. “Are you sure that this is what you want to do? It’s going to be dangerous and it’s a lot of physical work, running, climbing. You’re not scared of heights, are you?”

She paused, her fingers stilling over the keyboard as she eyed me carefully.

“No, Mitch asked me that too. Why is it such a big deal?”

Betty chuckled softly and shook her head.

“Of course, he asked too. We knew a kid back when we were in the Sterlings together, Roger. He was new to the whole thing, not a fan of heights but he didn’t tell us beforehand.”

“What happened?” I asked, brushing over everything else she said.

I’d ask more about it later but for now, I just wanted to know about Roger.

“He died, sweetie. He froze crossing a canyon out in some desert somewhere, we couldn’t get to him quickly enough and he couldn’t hold on any longer.”

She looked down, her hand moving quickly on the table, tracing a shape that I barely noticed.

“Oh,” I said softly.

“Yeah, pretty rough way to go.”

I nodded, unsure of what else to say and preoccupied with the mental image of him falling to his death.

But, surely, in this fantasy, I couldn’t be hurt. I’d just wake up, right?

“You know you’ve still got to study, right? And that it’s going to be a lot of independent work, reading out of textbooks, listening to lessons, that kind of thing?” she asked after a pause, going back to her questioning.

“Yeah, Mitch said.”

“And you’re okay with that? Do you get carsick?”

“Umm… a little but normally it isn’t too bad.”

She nodded, typing rapidly.

“Okay, so for travelling, you’ll mainly need audiobooks and videos. What about reading on planes, boats or helicopters?” she asked. “Any of that make you ill?”

I thought back, trying to remember the last time I’d been on any of those.

“I’m fine on planes and boats, I think. Not sure about helicopters, never been on one before.”

She nodded.

“It’s not too dissimilar to a plane. Once you get used to it, you should be fine. And what kind of learner are you?” she asked, her fingers poised over the keyboard again as she waited for my answer.

“Umm… I don’t know,” I said with a bit of a shrug.

“Okay, how do you like to learn? Do you like to have it all written out prettily with mind maps and diagrams, do you like to have someone explain it to you or do you prefer to read it from a book?”

“Read from a book,” I answered immediately.

“Ah, an independent learner, good. So, I’ll make sure you get all of the information you need. You’re in the middle of doing your GCSEs, right? Just completed the first year?”

“Umm, yeah,” I said, sitting up a little taller.

Her eyes bounced back and forth as she read from the screen.

“Okay, you’ve done pretty well, clearly struggling more in a few subjects. It seems like Maths, French and Physical Education aren’t going too well for you. What’s going on there?” she asked.

My heart dropped into my stomach. It felt as though I was getting my grades in real life and I had nothing to say.

“Generally, when a person isn’t doing that well, it’s due to one of four factors. You’re not enjoying them, you’ve got a bad teacher, you’re bored of what you’re studying or you are actually struggling. Which is it of those?” she asked, her voice interested.

“Um, it varies, I think. I really don’t like my French and P.E. teachers so I don’t think that helps and we never actually do anything interesting in the lessons. Plus, it’s never any good sports, just hockey and netball!” I said, the words rushing out of my mouth.

“And you’re not a fan of hockey and netball?”

“No, it’s so boring. You have to just stand on the court or field and wait for the ball to come near you!”

Betty nodded.

“And what about French?” she asked. “Same issue? Not learning anything good?”

“Yeah! We just go over vocab and tenses again and again and the teacher thinks that it’s going to magically teach us how to speak French properly!”

“It’s pretty useful to know to get a basic understanding before you try to speak in full sentences, isn’t it?”

Her tone wasn’t dismissive or belittling. It sounded like she actually wanted to hear my thoughts on it.

“I guess,” I allowed. “But, we never get to go any further than that. We just spend the entire class having to memorise the words!”

A sigh slipped out of Betty’s lips.

“That is one of the worst things about school in this country, and in most countries, I guess. They don’t teach you how to learn or how to apply the information. It’s strictly a test of memory, which rarely comes in handy in the real world,” she said, her voice surprisingly passionate. “What about Maths? Bad teacher?”

“No,” I said. “He’s fine…”

“Okay, so what’s the problem there?”

“It’s boring,” I said quietly, looking down. “I find most of it really interesting but then once I’ve finished all the questions, I just need to sit there and wait for everyone else to be done.”

It was the truth. In real life, it always went that way. I would find it interesting when he was explaining how to work stuff out and then he’d either go on about it for so long that I’d get bored and tune out or we’d get to do questions and I’d have to wait for ages for everyone else to catch up.

He always told me off for not paying attention too; and when I said that I’d finished all the questions, he told me to just look through my work and double-check my answers, which was so boring. I’d already done the questions once, I didn’t want to have to do them again.

“So, you get bored of it easily which means that you rush through your work, don’t check your answers and then lose interest in the topic?” she guessed with alarming accuracy and a tilt of her head.

I nodded, peeking up at her worriedly and not sure how she’d react to it.

“Well, being out in the field will be more interesting to you I’m sure, but you’ll need to learn to check your maths and all of your answers. In school, if you get a question wrong, the worst thing that can happen is you lose some marks. Do you know what could happen out there?” she asked.

I shook my head, fascination flaring in me.

It felt a little like I was being told off but she was being so nice about it so it didn’t bother me too much.

“It sounds very dramatic, but it could mean that you die. Or, in my case, you could lose a toe.”

My mouth dropped open.

“You lost a toe?” I asked.

“I did. Made a silly mistake, miscalculated how much weight something could take and next thing I know, it had to be amputated.”

“Why? What happened?”

“Stupidity on my part, mostly, but you learn quickly out there. You have to.”

I nodded, desperate to hear more but not wanting to be rude or to pry.

I wasn’t sure how a miscalculation could ever lead to needing an amputation or what that miscalculation could be but I wanted to know.

“Any other questions?” she asked with a gentle smile.

I bit my lip.

I had so many other questions but I felt weird asking them. It felt like a really personal thing and I barely knew Betty.

Finally, I shook my head.

“Do you have anything you want to ask about Mitch?” she asked.

My heart leapt.

Yes, so many things.

“How long was he working with the Sterlings? You said that’s how you two met, right?”

She chuckled lightly.

“I don’t actually know the answer to that. He was an established member of the team by the time I joined but yes, that’s how we met. Even then, he took people under his wing. I think that’s why they hated him so much,” she said with a smile and a shake of her head.

“Really?” I asked.

“Oh, yeah. Looking out for others isn’t exactly the kind of thing they like. I honestly don’t know how they do it but they have an almost endless supply of new recruits so anytime one dies, they’re able to get someone to fill their spot without much trouble.”

It felt like my heart slowed for a moment as I processed that.

“Do they die often?”

“Yeah, pretty often. It comes with the job,” she said before catching herself. “But, Mitch will look after you. He had a kid, Zaq. He came to him under pretty similar circumstances and he made sure he was alright.”

I sat up straighter.

“Yeah, you two mentioned him earlier. Who is he?” I asked.

“Another reckless kid who Mitch took under his wing. But, he joined in a pretty different way. He was working in a harbour after he ran away from his foster family and heard Mitch talking too loudly whilst trying to impress someone. That little terror hid on his boat and Mitch didn’t realise until he was far enough out in the sea that getting rid of him would have been a death sentence.”

Betty smiled fondly and I found myself feeling strangely jealous.

I wanted someone to talk about me like that.

“That kid had a talent for getting himself into terrible situations. Mitch decided to keep him on after that, obviously, but not a month went by that he didn’t do something that made me want to strangle him.”

“Really?” I asked, truly intrigued by him.

“Oh yeah, he was reckless as hell and too intelligent so he generally knew when a risk would pay off. There were a few times when it didn’t, like that time he got shot right before one of his A level exams and the time I got a call from a hospital in Thailand after he’d lost Mitch in a bet. Even I don’t know that full story and I just don’t want to. I truly don’t know why he would use Mitch as a wager, but… most of the time, his risks paid off.”

My tongue darted out to wet my lips and longing filled me as I listened to Betty speak.

It sounded terrifying but so fun to live the life that Zaq had lived. I wanted it and I could have it, at least in my dream.

“Anything else?” she asked gently.

“Ummm… Is there anything I need to do? Like, do I need to speak to my foster parents and let them know I’m okay?” I asked, a faint hint of worry entering me as vague faces crossed my mind.

I wasn’t sure how I knew, but they were the faces of Nina and Arthur West.

“Nope, I can sort all that. It shouldn’t be too difficult because they haven’t gotten the police involved so I can simply call them and let them know that you’ve been reassigned to a different home,” she said with a smile.

Sadness washed through me.

“They didn’t even report that I was missing?” I asked, looking down so that Betty wouldn’t see the tears that threatened my eyes.

It was stupid. I didn’t know them and they were made up! But I still felt so rejected.

They didn’t even notice that I was gone.

“I’m sorry,” Betty said softly.

I sniffed and shook my head.

“It’s fine,” I lied.

She started talking again, her tone soothing, but loneliness burnt in my stomach, leaving an empty pit of nothingness.

I shook my head as anger washed over me. That wasn’t the point of my daydream, to feel even more alone and sad, it was meant to be an escape.

I blinked, wrenching my eyes open and staring down at the empty page of French homework as faint dizziness made the lines swim across the page.

I sighed and reached for my pen.