Mason’s eyes swell to the size of saucers. “I can’t! It’ll kill you, Ollie!”
“I’m already…dying.”
“No,” Mason begs, “please. There has to be another way.”
My head rolls back and forth slowly, barely moving a fraction of an inch. “Do…it.”
When he shakes his head again, I try to lift my hand to grab him, shake him, make him listen to me, but it falls back down before it makes it an inch. Thinking I’m trying to touch him, Mason takes my hand and presses it to his face. It takes all I have left to move my hand so I’m gripping his chin. The silence around us is eerie, a death watch.
“Hardwin,” I wheeze.
Mason’s brow furrows at me saying his last name. He shakes his head, not understanding.
Speaking is killing me, using up the tiny amount of life I have left, but I have to do it. “Brave friend,” I say sluggishly, begging him to understand. “Tāwhiri…named you. This…be my brave…friend. Trust. Save me.”
“It won’t save you,” Mason cries. “It will kill you.”
I only make it halfway through shaking my head before giving up. “You…are…strong enough. Save me…please.”
It’s all I have left. My eyes flutter closed, returning me to the blackness and the pain. They don’t stop trying to heal me. They’ll never stop, but they’ve lost too much ground. The power is winning, and I can’t fault it. The Aerlings need it. We need it. I want to live, but I want our worlds to survive even more. Exquisite pain like I have never known before wraps me in its embrace as the last of my life begins to fade.
Chapter 34
Even
(Mason)
Terrified of losing her, my head darts up to search the people around me for help. That can’t be the answer! Every face I meet only looks back at me with despair. They can’t help me. No one can. I don’t know what to do. This will kill her. This will kill Olivia and I’ll be the one who steals her life.
“I’ll guide you,” Sloane says softly. Her hand lands on my shoulder, followed closely behind by Hayden’s on the other side.
Looking up, I see that Sloane’s other hand is still resting on Emma’s arm, lending her guidance and support. Dividing her power, she can’t do it. She already told me that when we rescued the man from the fallen building.
As if reading my thoughts, Sloane whispers, “I won’t let you down, Mason. I won’t let Olivia down, either.”
“She said it would work,” Hayden says as his grip tightens on my shoulder. “Olivia said you could do this. She has faith in you. Have faith in her.”
I do have faith in Olivia. I trust her with my life. But it’s her life in my hands now, and I don’t know if she’s right to trust me. The rush of pulling in power is sickening and exhilarating at the same time. Once I start, I can’t stop. I don’t know how to stop!
“We’ll do it together,” Sloane says calmly as her power begins flowing into me.
Right away, calmness spreads with the touch of her power. It’s not nearly enough to overtake the all-consuming fear raging through me, but it is enough to dull the edge and let me focus. Somehow, my mind clears. I send myself back to that moment in the field before I started stripping away the Mother’s power.
Olivia disappears from my mind. Not by choice, but by necessity. All my focus is harnessed as I pull in all the awful power raging inside of me. Hugging it to my core, I keep it safe even though the pain of trying to control so much nearly breaks me.
Fear spikes through me as I prepare to start pulling. The most precious thing in any world creeps back into my mind and all I can do is hope she was right to put her faith in me. Sloane’s power reaches up in a comforting touch and wraps itself around mine. I can feel Hayden’s there as well, supporting and enhancing Sloane’s power. I am terrified of failing, but hesitating will kill Olivia just as surely.
With a prayer to an unnamed god on my lips, I beg, “Please let this work.”
My wind spirit wraps itself around me as I begin pulling. A terrible scream is ripped out of my mouth as the power begins flowing in. I feel everything it was doing to Olivia as the torrent slams into me. It’s too much! Panic makes me try to stop it, but I can’t. It won’t stop coming! Only Sloane’s power holding tight to mine, guiding it and keeping it steady, keeps me from losing it.
I keep pulling and pulling, soaking it up like a man dying of thirst, but I’m already so full I’m terrified I will burst from the pressure. My fear only grows when the mixture of power I threw at Olivia during the fight begins to dry up and I can’t stop drinking. Tāwhiri’s power comes next, speeding through me to merge with the half I already have. I beg for that to be the last of what I take, but my soul turns to ice as I start drawing on Olivia’s power, desperate to stop, but completely unable to halt the flow.
“It’s okay,” Sloane whispers beside me, but I rebel against her comfort.
“I’m killing her! I’m taking her power!” I say in panic. My eyes pop open and I see Olivia’s body relaxing into utter stillness. “No! I have to stop!”
I turn to Sloane, begging for help, but she only shakes her head. “This is how it has to be, Mason. Trust me.”
Furious that she isn’t stopping me, I lunge at her, but my power snaps back at me in a devastating blow as the last of Olivia’s power smashes into me. She’s gone! Even without touching her I can feel her life force resting inside of me instead of her own body. I stole it! I reach for her, desperate, mad with grief, incensed that they all told me it would be all right and it’s not!
Hayden tackles me to the ground before I can touch Olivia. His forearm rests against my neck, choking me, holding me. “Listen to Sloane! She’s trying to save you both!”
What does he mean? Frantic, I try to throw him off me, but the power ricocheting around inside of me intensifies and it starts trying to find a way to escape! Screaming, I lose all connection with reality as I try to fight it off, stop it from ripping me apart. It’s all useless!
“Keep going,” Sloane begs, her voice right next to my ear so I can hear her over my own screaming. “Let go of the power, Mason. Get rid of everything you don’t need.”
“How?” I beg as the pain tears me apart.
“The same way you took it from everyone else,” she says hurriedly. “Pull it from yourself and let it go. That’s what Olivia was trying to tell you, but you have to hurry. We’re running out of time!”
Time for what? my crazed mind wonders, but Sloane’s power bashes into me again, forcing my thoughts to the power and nothing else. I have no clue if she’s right, but I’m desperate to get all of this horrible power out of me, so I do the only thing I can.
I grab hold of everything trying to kill me and start tearing it out.
Ripping away the Mother’s power, I scream in agony as it scrapes its way out of me. Just a small section at first, even that is torture, but I keep going. I pull more and more, forcing it to let go of me and find escape. I’m ready to fall over in exhaustion before I get the first piece to the edge of my range of power and desperately shove it away from me.
That’s all it takes.
As soon as that one bit escapes, everything else start pouring out of me in search of freedom, eager to escape the trap of being held for eternity against its will. Collapsing to the ground, I am powerless to stop it now. The Mother’s power escapes, followed by the Father’s. Tū’s is next, then Tāwhiri’s begins to fade as well, but Sloane’s frantic voice pierces my foggy mind with a plea.
“Don’t let it all go!” she begs. “Stop it from taking everything or you’ll both die! Hold onto Olivia’s power, and yours. Keep part of Tāwhiri’s, too! Don’t let it all go, Mason!”
Scrabbling, I have no idea why she wants me to keep part of Tāwhiri’s power, but I grab hold of the last bit and struggle to keep it from leaving me. Holding onto it takes all my strength, and the vacuum of power traveling out of me searches for something more. Mine and Olivia’s power begins slipping away, succumbing to th
e promise of freedom.
Throwing in everything I have left, I latch onto those three bits of power and fight to keep control. They want to escape, but I can’t let them. I don’t even know why, but Sloane is yelling at me to hold on as her power stretches as much as it can to help me.
“Close the gateway!” Sloane shrieks. “Hurry!”
I have no clue what she means, but she must, because her power starts prodding mine, guiding it to stop the outward flow of power and begin rebuilding the natural barrier that keeps my power within me. It feels like ages before the world around me stops trying to suck up my life force. All I want to do is fall over and not move for a year when it finally snaps shut without stripping me of everything I held onto, but Sloane yanks me back up and shoves me toward Olivia.
“Give it back. Hurry, Mason! There isn’t much time left! She’s almost gone!” Sloane’s terrified eyes push me to act.
I reach for Olivia’s body, amazed it’s still here and not vanished into ether when I took her power. “How?”
“Use what’s left of Tāwhiri’s power to build a bridge. His power is what’s making all of this work,” Sloane says in a mad rush. “Do it now!”
Refusing to let Olivia slip away from me again, I accept Sloane’s power as it rushes into me, and together we use what little I still hold of Tāwhiri’s power to form a bridge between Olivia and me. That’s as far as I need Sloane’s help, because I know what to do now. Olivia’s power eases away from where I was cradling it and flows slowly back into her body. My eyes are closed, but I can feel it seeping in, helping Emma’s power repair and heal all the wounds she’s been forced to endure since the day we were thrown into this war of lies and power.
The last of her power has almost left me, when something instinctual stops me and keeps it from leaving. Sloane didn’t pull away once Olivia’s power began returning to her body, and I feel her tense beside me. In that moment, I understand something I never could before. I thought the ban on humans and Aerlings having a relationship was something the Mother created to punish people who sought to escape her. It’s not.
Holding both mine and Olivia’s power in the proverbial palm of my hand lets me see the truth. The ban wasn’t the Mother’s doing. It wasn’t a ban at all. Humans and Aerlings aren’t kept from mixing because it’s a betrayal of their world. It isn’t a betrayal at all. It’s simply a choice. One that requires a sacrifice to be made.
Despite what the Mother and Father have done, how much of this world they corrupted, the power I held within me was pure. It isn’t based on fear or greed or selfishness. When Olivia and every other Escort is faced with the choice of saving themselves or saving their Aerling, survival is based on love and selflessness.
The answers have been here all along, but it took this moment to see them clearly. Saving me changed Olivia. Sloane told me that the power turned her less human and more Aerling, but that’s not exactly true. She didn’t change, she merely opened herself up to becoming more than what she already was. Now it’s my turn to do the same for her.
Instead of returning the last of her power, I hold it close, next to my heart where it will always be safe. I never want it to leave me, but I can’t leave Olivia incomplete. Taking hold of my own power, I don’t send it through the link. I didn’t need the link in the first place. All I needed was to be willing to sacrifice part of myself for her.
Leaning down to her flushed cheeks, I stroke my fingers across her skin softly. Her eyes move beneath her eyelids and her breathing escalates, but her eyes don’t open. They won’t, not until I finish giving her what she needs.
No one moves to stop me when I press my lips against hers. As our mouths meet, so does our power. The small piece of Olivia’s power I kept back is pulled loose, and I almost panic. Before I can react, everything changes. My power rushes into her and hers into me, mixing, blending, becoming something entirely new. Part of who I am as an Aerling is stripped away, but it doesn’t scare me to let it go. Essential parts of Olivia flow freely over to me and fill in everything I’ve given to her.
There is no longer her power or mine. It is irrevocably combined. It was never about choosing a side. It was about becoming something more.
As our newly intertwined power settles back into our bodies, forever linked, Olivia’s eyes flutter open in shock. I have no doubt she can feel what just happened, but her first thoughts aren’t about power. “You saved me,” she cries. “I knew you would.” Her hands reach up and crush me against her, our mouths meeting, begging to never be parted.
“You saved me first,” I say between kisses. “We’re even.”
Olivia pulls back, laughing as tears run down her cheeks. “We’ll never be even, but I’ll never stop trying.”
“Neither will I.”
Chapter 35
Breathe
(Mason)
No one inside has noticed us yet. It’s almost a relief. I think we all need a second to take in the fact that we’re home, for good. I pull Olivia closer and kiss the top of her head. For good isn’t exactly accurate since we have a lot of work to do still, and big portions of that will require trips back to the Aerling world. There won’t be any more running or hiding, though. In that respect, it’s over and we’re free to live our lives however we please.
“Mason!” a little voices shrieks. Even through the window Molly has her face and hands pressed up against, we can all hear her joyful screeching and see the crocodile tears streaming down her face.
Olivia releases me as Molly sprints away from the window. Seconds later, she is barreling through the back door. Dropping to my knees, I wrap her up the second she crashes into me. Her hysterical sobs wrack both our bodies and I do my best to comfort her.
“Mollywog, it’s okay. We’re home. It’s over. You’re safe now. We’re all safe now.” She keeps sobbing, and I keep rocking her back and forth.
Not surprisingly, Molly’s screaming roused the rest of the house, and soon after, everyone begins piling into the backyard. Olivia is attacked by Evie, who is also sobbing so hard Olivia can barely keep hold of her. I stand, Molly still in my arms, and am immediately welcomed into the massive group hug going on. I laugh when I find Hayden squashed in next to Olivia, her mom’s arm around his shoulders as tears spill down her cheeks.
“Your family will be here as soon as they can, and the Parkers,” Olivia’s mom says to Hayden. “We called them both the second we heard Molly start shrieking. She’s been parked at one of the windows waiting for you all to come back since you left. When things changed…” Choking up even more, Olivia’s mom shakes her head and can’t continue.
Taking over for his wife, Olivia’s dad says, “We didn’t know what was going on, but the Caretakers felt what you did. Somehow, they knew the Mother was gone. Then the Sentinels started dropping like flies…we knew you had done it, Mason, but there was no way to know what had happened to any of you. The Caretakers didn’t think you’d made it.”
“The Sentinels…” An odd pang strikes me as the reality of what Tū’s betrayal cost hits me. “Are they all dead?”
Some,” Olivia’s dad confirms, “but not all.”
“The young ones seem to be the only ones who’ve survived,” Evie breaks in. “Their memories are all jacked up, but from what the Caretakers can tell, the ones who survived are ones who’ve never killed an Aerling. They can’t know for sure, but the ones they know have killed Aerlings are all dead. Including the one who killed Levi,” Evie says to Hayden.
I know part of Hayden wanted to be the one responsible for exacting justice from Levi’s killer, but instead of being upset, he only looks relieved.
“You should see the news coverage!” Evie says. “Nobody has any clue what’s going on and everybody’s freaking out about germ warfare or something.” Evie shakes her head before leaning it against her sister and pulling in closer. “It’s weird just sitting here knowing the truth but not being able to tell anyone.”
Olivia lays her head against her sister
’s, smiling. “Well, that’s not exactly a new thing for our family.”
Chuckling, I start to say something when I realize Sloane is standing off to the side just watching our reunion. Gesturing for her to come over, everyone around us jumps when they see her. Sloane is even more shocked that they can see her, but I’m not. “Everyone, this is Sloane. She helped us through all of this, and she doesn’t have any family left, so I thought maybe she could be a part of ours.”
“Why can we see her?” Olivia’s mom asks. She shakes off her amazement a second later and says, “I mean, of course we’d be happy to have her stay with us for as long as she wants, but I am curious. She’s an Aerling, right?”
“I am,” Sloane begins, “but I…well, I mean.” Her face flushes scarlet and I step in to give her a break.
Looking toward Olivia’s dad, I say, “Remember how I told you Aerlings and humans weren’t allowed to mix?”
He nods slowly. “Yes. I’m still wondering what that means for you and Olivia. Are you home…to stay?”
“I’m not going anywhere,” I say, glancing over at Olivia with a smile. She returns it wholeheartedly. Turning back to her dad, I finish my explanation. “There wasn’t really a ban. It just worked differently than anyone realized. We can be together, but there’s a cost.”
“What cost?” Evie demands. Her eyes are narrowed, lasered at me and Olivia in quick succession.
I appreciate that she’s feeling protective, but I can only smile. “I had to give up being a full Aerling, and Olivia gave up being completely human.”
“What does that mean?” Olivia’s dad asks warily.
“Nothing bad, I promise,” Olivia tells her dad. “It just means that now we’re part of both worlds. Mason doesn’t have to make himself visible anymore. When he’s here, he’s part of this world. When he goes back to the Aerling world, he’s part of that world.”
“What does that mean?” Molly asks quietly.
Invincible (The Aerling Series Book 3) Page 28
