Invincible (The Aerling Series Book 3)

by DelSheree Gladden

  “Clearly, that isn’t true,” Olivia says softly. “From what Tū said, it sounds more like he was imprisoned to stop him from making things worse.”

  “Is he still imprisoned?” I ask. My eyes dart from Mason to Olivia. “Tāwhiri is gone…or dispersed between the two of you or whatever actually happened with that. If his power put the Father under house arrest, did it stick when he gave himself up to you two?”

  Olivia’s nose crinkles while Mason’s face scrunches in thought. Olivia is the first to speak. “I don’t think Tāwhiri would have done what he did if it meant setting the Father free. He must have been able to imprison him without the use of his power, or kept some of his power there to hold him. I think he’s still locked up.”

  Dropping onto the bed, I run one of my hands through my hair. “Well, there’s really only one way to find out, isn’t there?”

  The fear and shock in Olivia’s features pulls me up a bit. “Go back?” she squeaks. “But, that will be three days gone, at least. We can’t lose that much time.”

  “What choice do we have?” I argue. “We have no way to track the Mother, no clue where she’s at or going to be, either. Tū apparently can’t help us even if he wanted to, and we’re running out of time. Going back and getting some answers from the Father is the only option.”

  Everyone is quiet for a few minutes as our brains soak up all the new information we’ve gathered today. Even once everything seems to settle into place for Mason, he doesn’t speak right away. His eyes meet mine and a silent conversation passes between us. I nod, suspecting I know exactly what he’s about to say, promising I’ll take care of Olivia.

  “Time isn’t something we can waste,” Mason says calmly, “but we need answers. Olivia and Hayden need to go to the Aerling world while Sloane and I stay here to search for the Mother and track down a few other answers.”

  Olivia’s mouth drops open. The outrage on her face is almost laughable. Nothing is really humorous in this situation. Olivia isn’t sharing in my musings, however, because she’s too busy glaring daggers at Mason. “I’m not leaving you. That was the deal. We’re not being separated again, ever.”

  “I can’t go back,” Mason says softly. Olivia starts to argue, tears in her eyes, but Mason shakes his head. “I can’t risk going back and getting trapped there. If the Mother somehow manages to fix the barrier on her own, our chance to end this will die. I may not be able to come back. You and Hayden can cross regardless, but Sloane and I…Olivia, it’s just too big of a risk. We can’t go back.”

  I half expect Sloane to make some kind of argument as well, but she only sits down next to me on the bed and leans against my shoulder. Feeling her weariness and fear, I put my arm around her. I’m not looking forward to leaving her behind any more than I am Mason. They’ll be at risk without Escorts here to hide them. Mason is right that it’s a risk we can’t afford not to take. There have been so many lies, we have no way of knowing what’s true and what is rhetoric at this point.

  Cedrick told them they had to sacrifice Robin to repair the barrier, but the Mother created the barrier. She wants it in place to keep the Aerlings weak and under control. She wants it put back together. I highly doubt she’s sitting around waiting for us to hand over Robin in order to fix things. Maybe Cedrick truly believes the only way to repair the barrier is with Robin’s life. Maybe he’s lying through his teeth to get us to do what he wants and dispose of a traitor.

  Trust no one. That’s pretty much become my new motto. With the exception of the three people in the room with me who aren’t hogtied with bonds of air, we’re on our own in this. The only answers we’re going to get are the ones we drag out of people by force. It’s time to change tactics. No more chasing hints and clues. No more trusting the answers that come easily. Mason and I glance at each other again, coming to an agreement. Tū wants us to find the truth, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do, no matter what it takes.

  Chapter 18

  Nothing Good

  (Olivia)

  “I don’t want to go,” I whisper as I lay next to Mason. I don’t know if Sloane and Hayden are asleep or not, but I don’t care. Pulling closer to Mason, I press my face against his chest and close my eyes as his arm tightens around my shoulder.

  “I know.” That’s all he says. I know there must be more burning on his lips, but he won’t let himself say it. Telling me to stay…we both know that would be a mistake. The answers we need aren’t here. Only the Father can sort this out.

  Mason turns just enough to press his lips to my forehead. I want to be strong and brave and put on a good face, but I can’t. I’m too worn out from this war to pretend anymore. All I want is to be with Mason, to be safe again. What really breaks my heart is that I don’t know if I’ll have that even if I do everything right. If we figure out this mess and save both worlds, will Mason just be pulled away from me again? Forever this time? This seems to be a battle of wills, the Father and Mother against the rest of the Aerlings, but I’m terrified that Mason and I will be the ones stripped of choice.

  “Stop thinking about it,” Mason whispers. “Rest. You’ll need it for tomorrow.”

  “I can’t. There’s nothing else in my head right now.”

  Mason rubs his hand up and down my arm slowly. “I’m not thinking about tomorrow,” Mason says. “I’m thinking about a thousand tomorrows from now, of what we’ll be doing in five years.”

  “Neither of us has any idea what will happen over the next week, let alone five years from now,” I say with an edge to my voice I can’t contain. “They’ve taken that away from us.”

  “They’ve taken nothing,” Mason argues. He doesn’t say anything else for a while, and I don’t respond, because if I do I know the only thing to come out of my mouth will be negative. Mason kisses my head again. “What you said back at the cabin, about me having to decide…”

  Another pause from him. This time I’m not so patient. The cloying anxiety of waiting for his answer refuses to let me wait. “And?”

  “When I thought Tū had taken you away today…even though I didn’t think he’d hurt you, I knew right then that a life without you just wasn’t possible for me.” Mason rolls onto his side so he is facing me. “Even though it might be the right thing to do, Ollie, I just can’t.” His breath hitches and he swipes at his eyes. “Holding you back is a horrible thing to do. I know that. I should be stronger, or better, or more selfless, but I’m just not. I need you. I need you more than the air that makes me who I am, that gives me my power and my life. Maybe I need all of that right now, to save both our worlds, but I don’t need it to be happy. I just need you.”

  His lips brush against mine, and in the dark I don’t need to see his tears. I can feel them being pressed between our faces, mingling as the fear and hope pour out of us in the face of so many unknowns. In the face of another parting that will put us both in danger. A million thoughts are racing through my mind, even more emotions all trying to get out at once, but Mason pulls back and speaks before I can say a word.

  “I don’t know what’s going to happen. I haven’t got a clue what we’re going to find out and how what we learn might change things,” he whispers, “but if I get stuck in the Aerling world in the end and I can’t give up my power for you without dying, it will mean never being physically closer than this. I just…I need to know if that will be enough for you. I can’t ask you to give up on the dream of having a family. You have to tell me right now if you can live with that. If not, I’ll understand, Ollie. I will. I would rather spend the rest of my life missing you than knowing I took something like that away from you.”

  Holding his breath when his words run out, Mason waits. My heart is breaking and leaping at the same time. Breaking because I know he what he’s suggesting is a very real possibility. Leaping because I know he’s choosing our love over everything else. Speaking over the emotion choking me is not easy.

  “Having you…in my life…will always be enough,” I say haltingl
y. My heart hurts at the thought of not being with him. It’s more than the Aerling-Escort bond. This goes beyond teenage lust driven by hormones. I stood on the brink of death, willing to give my life for his. That’s not something you can ever take back. He is my heart and soul and I will never choose anything other than spending my life with him.

  “You have to be sure,” Mason pleads.

  Kissing his lips lightly, I whisper, “I’ve been sure since the moment we met. Before I understood how deep my feelings for you were, I never planned on leaving you behind or going my own way. Even if we were never more than friends, it was going to be you and me until the end in my mind. You seem to think this is something new for me to consider, but it’s not. I made my choice almost thirteen years ago. I’m not changing my mind now.”

  “But things have changed since then,” Mason says

  “Yeah, they have.” I pull him closer so there is barely any space left between us. “Before, life was repetition and pranks and goofing off. I couldn’t even decide on a major because it didn’t really seem to matter. Now, I’m not burying my head in the sand anymore. Life matters. Love matters. Caring about something bigger than myself matters.

  “Mason, this is what I want. I want to spend my life with you, not only because I love you so much it kills me to think of leaving tomorrow and not having any promise that you’ll be protected, but because this is what I want to do with my life. I don’t want to drift through life anymore. I want what I do to matter. With you, I can do that. It might cost me my life. It might mean never having the perfect life I’ve pictured. I might mean losing everything. I might mean all of that, I don’t know, but I do know it will mean making a difference in a lot of people’s lives. Ours included. I can’t walk away from that any more than I can walk away from you.”

  The expression on Mason’s face is impossible to describe. I don’t think he’s ever looked at me with so much love and pride before. His hand slips behind my neck as he pulls me in, closing the last of the space between us. I know he’s done arguing with me about this when his lips touch mine. The hesitation and fear is gone. The wondering and uncertainty no longer make him hold back. This kiss is one of resolution. A promise. We’re in this together until the very end, no matter how soon that may come.

  “Not that I don’t appreciate that you two have worked things out,” Hayden drawls, “but I can hear you.”

  Mason pulls back, but we’re both grinning. “Sorry, man. Didn’t mean to wake you,” Mason says.

  “Oh, you didn’t,” he grumbles. “Not much chance of me sleeping tonight. Not when I’m going to be sucked into a vortex of death in the morning.”

  “It’s not that bad,” I argue.

  Hayden sits up halfway to glare at me in the dark. “That’s not what Mason and Sloane said. No air while we’re traveling between worlds? What’s up with that?”

  “It’s the barrier,” I say. “It’s meant as a test for Aerlings. If they aren’t connected to a wind spirit on Earth, they don’t survive the trip. Their power kind of, well, rubberbands back to Earth, taking out the Caretakers who failed them. Escorts can get through because of the mark we’re given as babies. Our power is linked to both the human world and the Aerling world. I have more than others, so it protected Robin without me realizing what I was doing.”

  “So I couldn’t do the same thing?” Hayden asks.

  Shaking my head, I say, “No, only Tāwhiri’s power allowed it. It’s almost as if…”

  I sit up as a thought hits me for the first time. The rest of what I just explained, it wasn’t something I learned from Sloane or anyone else. The first time I crossed the barrier, desperation and instinct made my powers kick in subconsciously, leading me. The second time, I remembered what I had done before and everything was clearer. I could take the same steps consciously, controlling them more finely. It was like the Montgomery’s and Parker’s said all along. I would know what to do when the time came. The power was given with the exact code written into it for getting Aerlings home. The only thing the Escort really had to do was be willing to make the sacrifice.

  Pondering the way my power works, how having power given to me directly from Tāwhiri changed what I could do just enough to bring Robin across…understanding slaps me across the face in that moment and I want to kick myself for not having seen it earlier.

  “So, did you just zone out, or are you going to share what’s got you looking like a mackerel?” Hayden asks drily.

  Turning to Mason so abruptly I startled him, I demand quietly, “Did Tāwhiri seem at all freaked out about Robin when he showed up?”

  Mason’s face scrunches in thought. “No,” he says slowly. “He never even mentioned it, actually. He just started talking about us and what we needed to do.”

  “Like he was prepared for it, right?” I’m nearly bouncing up and down, energy buzzing through me like a lightning bug on crack. “Like he expected this to happen and he was just telling us the next step in his plan.”

  I’m trying not to yell and wake up Sloane, but my agitation is hard to control. Hayden must sense it too, because he gets out of his bed and comes over to ours. His glance over at Mason says he’s lost, but Mason is nodding.

  “He knew what giving you his power would allow you to do.” He says it almost like he’s relieved to have figured it out. I’m right there with him.

  “Exactly.”

  Hayden drags his hands down his face. “What?”

  Turning to Hayden, I try to contain my excitement long enough to explain coherently. “Tāwhiri knew I’d be able to bring someone non-Aerling across the barrier if he gave me his power. He’d tried everything else to stop the war, but nothing else had worked. The Aerlings are too weak to fight anymore. They’ve been stripped of their full power for so long, they can’t do even a fraction of what they once could. All his other plans failed, so I was his last resort.”

  I stare excitedly at Hayden, but he’s still just looking at me, waiting for more. “Tū killing the Aerlings was never the biggest threat. Yeah, he wants us to stop his brother, but even more, he wanted us to find the Mother.”

  “But, he told you that you have to repair the barrier, right?” Hayden’s whole face scrunches as if thinking this late at night is a painful process.

  “He told us to stop Tū from destroying the Mother. Cedrick is the one who told us we have to fix the barrier, not Tāwhiri. I think Tāwhiri wanted the barrier to be broken. That was his last chance at a plan, to destroy the barrier and send his two chosen heirs to set everything right,” I say in a rush.

  Now Mason seems puzzled. “But if the Mother and Father are the ones who screwed everything up, why wouldn’t he want Tū to destroy the Mother? Wouldn’t that fix everything?”

  I have to think about that for a moment. The answer is buzzing around in my head somewhere. I just have to dig it back up! What is it? Think, Olivia. It’s there somewhere. I scour every last speck of information I’ve accumulated since all of this started, replaying it in my head as I search for the clue I know is hiding just out of reach. Oddly, my thoughts are pulled back to that strangely beautiful valley Tū took me to. That’s when it hits me.

  “It’s the power,” I say softly.

  Hayden and Mason look at each other, then back at me. Neither one says anything.

  “When Tū took me, he made a comment that really bothered me, but now, I understand what he meant by it…at least partially.” Sitting up more straightly, as if that will help me form my thoughts better, I look at both guys waiting for an answer. “When I asked Tū how he could excuse himself for killing Aerlings, he said they were just power, like their lives didn’t matter. Only the power mattered.”

  “It’s physics,” Mason says in astonishment.

  Hayden nods, equally amazed. “Energy can neither be destroyed nor created. The law of conservation of energy.”

  I’ve never been particularly good with the sciences, which is possibly why I’m just realizing this now, but I nod in agr
eement. “I think the power of the Aerlings in finite. There’s only so much to go around…and the Mother and Father hold the biggest portion of it. Tāwhiri held a lot too, but he was weak when we met compared to what he once was. Tū, on the other hand, has been gaining strength this whole time by killing Aerlings.”

  Mason looks like he’s going to be sick—so does Hayden, actually—but they both keep it together. “So, killing another Aerling…the power…it goes to the person who killed them,” Mason says.

  “If Tū defeats the Mother, he’ll take all her power.” Hayden runs his hands through his hair. “He’ll be unstoppable.”

  Nodding slowly, I carry my thoughts out to the finish. “Tāwhiri didn’t ask us to fix the barrier. He asked us to stop Tū from destroying the Mother so we could do it instead.”

  Neither of them says a word. Mason’s face has gone pale in the already haunting moonlight filtering in through the edges of the curtains. The slight shake of Hayden’s head tells me he’s having a hard time wrapping his head around this too. Maybe I should be struggling with this more than I am. A life is a life, no matter what the person or Aerling has done. Destroying a life is a serious thing, but I don’t feel anxiety about this mission. I just feel peace.

  “This is the only way to save both worlds,” I say calmly.

  “I know,” Mason whispers, “but it’s still…why did she create the Caretakers if she didn’t really care about anything other than feeding her own greed?”

  Saddened by the answer, I swallow a lump of hurt before saying, “She was just protecting her own interests. The Aerlings who come to Earth and return home on their birthdays successfully leave a portion of their power behind. I think she can harness that. It might even sustain her.”