“I know killing innocent children is wrong!” Hayden shouts.
I see his fist start to move. A frenzied plea to stop him is on my lips, but knuckles meet flesh before I can utter a single word. The breath is sucked out of me as the fury-backed punch lands. The entire room seems to be void of air in that second. Irate, red-faced, Tū absorbs the blow as his power coalesces in his right hand. Shock and fear on a level I have never before experienced drops me to my knees. He’s going to kill him. That single phrase echoes in my mind as tears begin rolling down my cheeks.
Unmoved by Hayden’s blow, Tū wraps his hand around my friend’s neck before he can recover from his attack. I almost scream. If I had any air left in my body I would have. Instead, all I can do is watch as Hayden’s body is slammed to the ground. Tū has him pinned beneath him a split second later, and I swear he’s about to start breathing fire like some kind of mythological…, uh, like the god he is. When his lips part, I almost duck to shield myself, but all that fires past his lips are words laced with fury.
“Do you understand, now, how insignificant you are in comparison to my power? Do you see how little I care about what you think of me or the actions I have taken to keep both of our worlds from falling into the abyss?” Tū yanks Hayden’s head up a few inches and slams it back down. “You are nothing! You mean nothing!”
“Maybe so,” Hayden wheezes, “but for all your power, you can’t do this alone. You need us as much as we need you.”
Red flashes through Tū’s features, his jaw grinding together as he stretches his neck to contain his fury. Yes, he asked for our help, but to him this was never a team effort. It was simply us following his commands and doing what he wanted. When he first began this never-ending quest for answers, he passed it off like he was toying with us. That was never the case, even more so now than it was then. He hates the idea of actually having to rely on someone, to admit his own weakness, but this is the only way and he knows it.
“Tū, we have to work together,” I whisper when I finally find my voice again. “It took all of your siblings…”
“Except Tāwhiri,” he growls.
“It took all of your combined power to separate your parents. All that’s left is yours and Tāwhiri’s power, but combining just those two holds so much more potential than what you had with your other brothers, right? Because you’re twins?”
I say it with only half-confidence, because it’s the best I could interpret from what the Father said, but Tū’s reaction tells me I’m right. Drawing on that for courage, I say, “Tāwhiri hated what you were doing to the Aerling children, but in this one thing, he realized you were right. He couldn’t sit by and expect you to handle this on your own. That’s why he gave up his power to Mason and me.”
Relaxing his grip on Hayden’s throat enough that color floods back into his face, Tū continues to hold him captive, but directs his gaze to me. “Did you tell the Father who you are?”
“Yes.”
“Then you know,” Tū says. “You know why my brother chose you and your Aerling to hold his power.”
“Yes, I do.” I take a deep breath, hoping he’ll confirm what I’m thinking, but he remains silent, his intensity demanding my full answer. “Blood allows power to expand more than two unrelated Aerlings, but the bond between Aerling and Escort trumps even that. It doesn’t make us invincible, but it’s more power than she’s had to face before, right?”
My hope of sounding confident and in control is ruined by that last word, that plea to be reassured that I’m not wrong, but I don’t care. I just need to know. I’m drowning in fear that no matter what we do, it won’t be enough. The fate of two worlds is on our shoulders. Maybe it won’t matter if we fail, because we’ll all be dead, but the weight of that responsibility is slowly crushing me. I just need to know that there’s some hope of winning.
“My brother finally showed wisdom when he chose you, Olivia,” Tū says. The sneer in his voice is hopefully more for his brother than for me, but I’m going to take that as a compliment whether he means it as one or not.
“Then you’ll help us?” Hayden rasps.
The sound of his voice produces no emotional response, but Tū does finally remove his hand from Hayden’s throat. Standing and towering over the both us of, his eyes fix on mine. “We will help each other.”
Chapter 24
Tempting
(Mason)
“I don’t want to set foot in a car for at least a month after all of this is over. Traveling by car is not one of the things I miss about being on Earth,” Sloane complains.
Being in a car has never bothered me particularly, but I’m in complete agreement. All this driving has left my muscles tight and aching. I feel exhausted, too, which certainly doesn’t help the situation. “Let’s just hope they’re back and we can all take a break for the rest of the night before we have to move on to…wherever this thing takes us.”
Sloane nods in agreement and gets out of the car. I wish we were at least back at the cabin. It was only an illusion that we were safe there, but it was a comforting illusion. I’ve come to hate hotels. You can never know who’s in the room next to you, what they might be plotting, or even control who has access to the building you’re sleeping in. Every Sentinel on the planet, or the Mother, could walk right in and kill us in their sleep. An electronic key card certainly isn’t going to stop a bullet or an Aerling god. I can’t bring myself to suggest we leave as soon as Olivia and Hayden get back. One more night. I can handle that.
Getting out and following Sloane into the hotel, we’re both quiet as we trudge back up to our room. Exhaustion is dragging me forward, thoughts of a bed to fall into calling to me. I had a bed last night at the safe house, but sleeping with my seven-year-old sister has never been a pleasant experience. I woke up with an arm in my face or elbow in my side more than once. I love her, but she is the worst to share a bed with. Denying her request when I knew I had to leave her behind again the next morning was impossible, though.
Luckily, Sloane pulls out her key card and unlocks the door before I have to make an attempt. She pushes the door open and gestures me through as she stuffs the card back into her pocket. I only get a step inside the room before I’m floored by the sight of Tū standing over Hayden laid out on the floor while Olivia is on her backside in front of them both. Power rushes to my aid before the conscious thought to call it even solidifies in my mind. I’m hurling a massive blast of wind before anyone has a chance to react.
Jumping up and spinning to face me, Olivia’s eyes widen in shock. Then she does something completely insane. She steps in front of my attack! Panic sends adrenaline coursing through my body. In a desperate act, I scatter my power before it hits her, begging it not to hurt her. She ducks against the attack, but it barely does more than ruffle her hair when it reaches her. If I weren’t so startled by the fact that I managed to cancel such a devastating attack in a fraction of a second, it probably wouldn’t have taken me as long to realize Tū is nowhere in sight.
“Where’d he go?” I demand.
Olivia’s spins around, but instead of looking frightened by everything that just happened, Tū disappearing included, she just huffs in frustration. “Why did you attack him?”
I’m too stumped by her irritation to answer right away. I have to glance over at Sloane to double check that I’m not going crazy. Sloane only shrugs, as lost as I am. Turning back to Olivia, I say, “What do you mean why did I attack him? I walked in to find you on the ground, Hayden on his back like he just lost a fight, and Tū standing over you both like he’s about to kill both of you!”
Biting at her bottom lip, Olivia’s shoulders relax. “Yeah, I guess that all looked pretty weird.” She sighs and shakes her head. “He wasn’t trying to hurt us.”
“Speak for yourself,” Hayden grumbles as he rubs at his neck.
“What did you expect him to do when you got in his face like that?” Olivia snaps. “He’s an Aerling god, for crying out loud.”<
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Hayden just rolls his eyes and stalks away. Intercepted by Sloane, he puts aside his frustration as she checks him over for injuries. My attention goes back to Olivia. “What was going on here?”
Practically collapsing onto the nearest bed, Olivia shakes her head. “Tū agreed to help us fight the Mother.”
“Really? How’d you manage that?”
“We finally figured out what he wanted us to, that his parents are psychotic and they have to be stopped,” she says, “not to mention that the thing you did with Sloane to save that guy works even better between twins, and even better than that when we’re talking about an Aerling and Escort sharing power. With Tū, we’ve got enough power to face the Mother so long as you can access Tāwhiri’s power.”
“Me? Does that mean you figured it out?” I ask excitedly.
Olivia frowns. “Well, kind of. I used it to get into where the Father was being kept, anyway. I haven’t tried to use it again yet.” Running her hands through her long hair, she breathes out slowly. “What about you? Please tell me you learned something that will help us end this soon. I don’t know how much more of this I can take. If I never see another Aerling god again, it’ll be too soon.”
“Ditto,” I say and I slip onto the bed, pulling Olivia against my chest. For a minute, all I can do is press my face to her hair and breathe in her scent. “I missed you,” I whisper even though we have more important things to discuss.
Turning in my arms, Olivia kisses me softly. “I missed you, too, even though it was only a few hours for me. I don’t like being so far away from you.”
“Mmm…” My lips find the space behind her ear, making Olivia lean into me even more. “I don’t like being any further away from you than this.”
“As much as I don’t want to discourage you,” Olivia whispers, “we’re not alone and you haven’t told me what you found out.”
I have to hold back a frustrated sigh, but I know she’s right. “What we learned,” I say, still holding her close, “is how to find the Mother.”
Olivia nearly jumps out of my arms. I have to catch her before she falls off the edge of the bed, she turned around so fast. Her eyes are wide with excitement. “You what? Really? How? What do I need to do?”
Her demand for answers gets interrupted by Hayden and Sloane coming over to join us. I don’t say anything about it, but I can’t help noticing how Hayden’s arm curls around her waist when they stop in front of us. Sloane turns into his embrace just a bit, but her attention is on Olivia. “Why don’t we all start at the beginning so nothing gets left out?”
Nodding eagerly, Olivia gets herself situated and stares at everyone else, clearly ready for answers. Explaining what we learned about sharing power doesn’t take long, since Olivia and Hayden learned some of the same things from the Father. What proves more difficult is trying to tell Olivia about feeling the connection to the first parents’ power. Eventually, Sloane just says she’ll have to show Olivia like she did Molly and me, but Olivia is practically buzzing with excitement by the time we finish our explanation.
Ready to move on to what she learned, Olivia opens her mouth to speak, but Sloane cuts her off. “We learned one other interesting thing,” she says quietly.
Her eyes dart over to Hayden before coming back to me. I can see her take a deep breath, like she’s worried about Hayden’s response. I can’t imagine what she might be concerned about since Hayden seems just as taken with her as she is with him, but I smile to prod her on anyway.
Blowing out her nerves, Sloane continues. “I asked Mr. Parker if he knew why you could see me.” She’s mainly speaking to Hayden, now, but Olivia leans forward in interest.
“And he knew?” Hayden asks. His eyes are glued to Sloane by this point. I almost feel like I’m intruding on something. The urge to laugh strikes me, but I keep my mouth shut.
Sloane nods slowly. “Yeah. It’s blood, I mean, the connection is because of my blood. And Levi’s. It’s…he said an Escort, well, it can switch, you know, like find a new, uh, Aerling.”
The way Hayden’s brows scrunch together makes it pretty clear he didn’t catch most of what Sloane just said. Deciding to save us all from another awkward speech, I say, “When Sloane’s Escort died last year, your connection to Levi switched to her. You’re Sloane’s new Escort, Hayden. That’s why you can see her.”
The way Hayden’s eyes widen gives me a moment’s pause. Maybe Sloane was right to be worried about his reaction. I’m somewhat shocked by that until his grin grows as big as his eyes. “Are you serious?” he demands, though he’s not looking at me.
Sloane’s head bobs up and down slowly. “Uh huh. Is that…okay?”
“That’s freakin’ awesome,” Hayden says with a laugh.
All of Sloane’s uncertainty vanishes as she throws her arms around Hayden, grinning for all she’s worth. I still want to laugh, but I’m even more surprised by the happy expression on Olivia’s face. Sloane was worried about how Hayden would react, but my main concern was with Olivia, especially after how she handled Sloane seeing into her memories. I pull her against me, glad she’s not upset by their newfound connection.
“So, tell me what else you learned,” I say to her.
Sloane and Hayden only half listen as Olivia walks us through her conversation with the Father. I’m mildly surprised to learn he isn’t nearly as cold-hearted as the Mother is, but it doesn’t come as a shock when she explains his eventual betrayal and what it cost Tāwhiri and the Aerling world.
“We can’t keep the Father imprisoned like that,” I say after everything sinks in.
“What do you mean?” Sloane demands. “It’s not like we can just let him loose!”
Hayden and Olivia share a look that I can only guess at. My guess, though, is that they realized the same thing I did before they left the Aerling world. Not only do we need all the power Tāwhiri left behind to hold the Father in his prison, we need so much more than that. We need the Father’s power as well.
“Before I left his prison,” Olivia says, “I realized we could only beat the Mother with all of Tāwhiri’s power. I was able to get most of his power back once I manipulated the prison and handed over the responsibility of keeping an eye on him to Cedrick and a whole squad of very capable Aerlings. When the time comes, Hayden will be able to go back and bring him to us.”
“Will Hayden be able to cross the barrier with him?” I ask.
Stepping forward, though not letting go of Sloane, Hayden says, “We think so. The Father was never linked to an Escort. It should work the same as an Escort taking an infant across.”
“That will be another three days, though,” Sloane says with a pained expression. Not only is she no doubt worried about Hayden being gone that long, three days may as well be an eternity if we find the Mother and have to attempt holding her.
The time clearly has Olivia worried as well, but she says, “I couldn’t risk bringing him back with me. There’s no way the four of us could have controlled him. It took half the Aerling soldiers in the whole world just to subdue him. If we knew how to take his power, I would have, but I had to leave him for now. I didn’t know what else to do.”
“It’s okay. We’ll figure it out when the time comes. We still have to find the Mother first.”
Olivia nods, but I can tell she’s still worried about it. Tightening my grip around her shoulders, I try to comfort her. We’re so close. All we need is a few more pieces to this screwed up puzzle and we’ll be ready to end this.
“Where’s Robin?” Hayden asks.
I was so startled by Tū being here when we arrived that I completely forgot to bring up our least favorite companion. “She’s not here,” I explain. “We left her with the Caretaker Officers after meeting Molly and Olivia’s family.”
“What?” Olivia explodes. “How could you do that? We can’t trust them! She’s going to get away. We have to keep her near us, Mason! What were you thinking?”
She’s up off the bed, pacing,
freaking out. When we left her house after coming back, she didn’t even want the Caretaker Officers to know we had come back. I understand her distrust. It’s not like I actually trust them either, not completely, but we couldn’t keep dragging Robin around the country. It wasn’t safe.
“Olivia, just listen to me for a minute,” I plead. She spins away from me in frustration, but turns back immediately afterward. Not wasting my time, I say, “Her blood is the only way to repair the barrier. If we know that, so does the Mother. We’ve all pretty much agreed that the barrier has to come down, but that’s the last thing the Mother wants. Keeping Robin with us, exposing her to being captured…it’s not safe.”
“But the Caretakers?” she says, exasperated and frightened. “We can’t trust them.”
“Not completely, no,” I agree, “but if there’s one thing we can count on them for, it’s being irrationally dedicated to their purpose. Robin already has more than one black mark against her with them. Now, she’s put every Aerling on the planet at risk. When the Caretaker Officers with your family found out about that, it took more than a polite request to stop them from killing her right then and there.”
For a long minute, no one says a word. Sloane and I discussed this pretty heavily before turning her over, but it wasn’t an easy decision. We both knew it was the most logical thing to do, the safest, but part of me didn’t want to let the conniving little psycho out of my sight. I’m not the only one who feels that way, apparently.
“Maybe letting them wouldn’t have been such a bad thing,” Hayden says quietly.
Sighing, my shoulders fall. “It was tempting, believe me.”
Olivia’s jaw tightens. Her struggle to control her emotions is likely no easier than controlling her tongue right now. “Then why didn’t you just let them deal with her?” she asks tightly.
“Because I couldn’t be sure we knew everything,” I admit. We’ve been lied to so many times about so many things. “They’re holding her in case we find out something else and we need her.”
Invincible (The Aerling Series Book 3) Page 21
