PANDORA

by Rebecca Hamilton

  “I’m sorry,” Robin mumbles against my shirt when her tears finally calm.

  “Sorry for what? You were only seven, Robin.”

  She shakes her head. “No, I can never be forgiven for that. I meant that I’m sorry for ever coming into your life. If that guy was a Sentinel, it has to be my fault that he’s here.”

  “You don’t know that.”

  “Nobody else even knows you’re here.”

  “There’s nothing to say that anything has changed,” I argue, praying I’m right. “More likely than not, with your family having just moved, the Sentinels are just checking up on you.”

  Robin is quiet for a moment. She wants to believe that as much as I do. Bringing her gaze up to meet mine, Robin says, “I won’t make the same mistake twice, but if you don’t want me to hang around you and Olivia anymore, I understand.”

  Olivia and I might have different opinions on this, but I smile down at Robin. “I don’t want to lose my only non-family friend just yet.”

  “Are you sure?” The expression on her face makes it apparent she thinks I might be making a mistake. Despite Olivia’s misgivings, I trust Robin.

  “I’m sure.”

  Robin has a knack for catching people off guard, but I’m shocked when she lifts onto her toes, kisses my cheek, and spins out of my arms. She has her backpack and is halfway to her car before I snap out of it. I watch her drive away wondering what just happened.

  Chapter 11

  Breaking Glass

  (Mason)

  I know I’m dreaming. I know this is another nightmare, but the panic and fear racing through my body feels too real to ignore. Images flash through my mind. Dark hallways, glass breaking, footsteps. The roar of blood rushing through my body makes it hard to hear the intruder. My head whips back and forth as I search for him, as I search for Olivia. I don’t know where she is!

  Not running is painful. I want to barrel through the house screaming her name until I find her.

  All of a sudden, I’m outside, standing in the street, staring at a nondescript sedan filled with shadows. My feet carry me closer, against my will. The shadows start writhing. I fear they are going to come after me. Sweaty hands reach for the car and it takes me a moment to realize they are mine. I try to pull them back. Get away from the car. Run.

  Olivia’s face breaks through the haze of shadows.

  My fingers are tearing at the handle, beating against the glass. I scream her name, no longer caring if I am quiet. She reaches for me. I can’t get through the door! I scream her name again as her face begins to disappear. I can’t stop screaming. I can’t stop her from disappearing!

  “Mason!” someone shouts at me. Their hands claw at me, trying to keep me from saving Olivia.

  “Mason!” the voice hisses again. I can’t see them, but I strike out, desperate to get away and reach Olivia.

  “Mason, please,” a gentle voice whispers in my ear. The ache in the voice breaks through my panic, making me listen, recognize.

  The dream’s power dissolves. My eyes snap open to find Olivia hovering over me . . . no sitting on top of me. Confusion sets in as I realize she has my arms pinned to the bed and is sitting on my chest with her knees on either side of me. I’m too disoriented to really enjoy the moment.

  “Olivia?”

  “Are you awake?” she asks.

  My eyebrows knit together. Am I? Would I be in this position with Olivia in real life? It takes me a moment to answer. “I think so?”

  Olivia collapses on top of me. “Thank goodness!”

  “I’m sorry I woke you again.”

  “It’s okay,” she says. “It just scared me. What were you dreaming about?”

  “Someone had broken into the house. They took you, I think. It was confusing and frightening.”

  Olivia blows out a shaky breath. “You’re telling me. I thought you were never going to wake up. You were scaring the living daylights out of me, Mason!”

  That last part comes out a little angry and she follows it up with a punch to my shoulder. She rolls off of me and sinks into the bed looking exhausted. I’m about to ask her what exactly happened, but when I turn to face her, my mind goes completely blank at the site of a bruise forming on her cheek.

  “Olivia, what happened?” I demand.

  She sighs. “You were having another nightmare. Don’t you remember? It was awful. You were screaming for me and thrashing around like a crazy person. I couldn’t get through to you at all.”

  “No,” I say angrily, “what happened to your face?”

  Olivia turns to scowl at me. “You whacked me when I tried to wake you up and knocked me off the bed. Thanks for that.”

  The blood drains from my fingers, leaving them cold as I gently touch Olivia’s face. She winces, but doesn’t pull away. “Ollie, I’m so sorry.”

  She smiles up at me. “I know. It’s okay. I’m just sorry you were having such a rough night.”

  “Does it hurt?”

  “Stings a little, but I’ll be fine. Really, Mason. It was just an accident.”

  Before I can think about it rationally, I press my lips to her cheek just above the bruise. I hear the sharp intake of her breath and freeze. I should pull back, pretend it didn’t happen, spontaneously fall asleep. I don’t do any of that. I can’t.

  Olivia turns to face me, her eyes wide. The expression on her face is unreadable. I can feel my heart rate speeding up as panic sets in. What have I done?

  Olivia’s lips part to say something, but she never gets the chance. The sound of breaking glass yanks us both up to sitting as everything but fear leaves our minds completely.

  “Mason!” Olivia squeaks. “There’s someone in the house!”

  “I know,” I whisper back.

  I start to swing my feet over the side of the bed, but Olivia clamps down on my arm with strength born of terror. “Don’t go.”

  “Stay here.”

  “No!”

  Prying her hands off of me proves nearly impossible. “Olivia, let go, I’m just going to scare him off. He won’t see me.”

  “What if it’s a Sentinel?”

  “It’s not a Sentinel,” I say, though I hardly believe it myself.

  “Who else would it be?” she demands.

  “A criminal,” I hiss at her. She’s wasting time! He could be halfway up the stairs and on his way to Olivia! “Olivia let go!”

  Her hands clamp down tighter and she screams.

  As the shrill, piercing noise of Olivia’s scream dies, everything happens at once. I finally break out of her grip, Olivia’s dad’s bedroom door crashes open, and the noises from downstairs intensify as the intruder makes a run for it.

  Olivia’s dad and I crash into each other as I come barreling out of my room. Confusion and panic grips him because he doesn’t immediately understand what just happened. Grabbing his shoulder, I steady him and say, “It’s just me, sorry.”

  Relief droops his shoulders, but it’s short-lived. “What is going on?”

  “Someone is downstairs,” I say, “or was. I think Olivia’s screaming scared him off.”

  The downstairs area seems abnormally quiet now.

  “Still,” he says, “get me your bat.”

  It only takes me a few seconds to dash back to my room and grab the bat. Olivia’s dad takes it and brings it over his shoulder, ready to swing. I’ve seen him hit a ball, and I know he can do damage, but I still step in front of him and start down the stairs. Olivia hisses at me from the top of the stairs, telling me to get back, but I don’t listen. I do spare a moment to hope her dad doesn’t realize she just came out of my room again.

  My heart speeds up with every step, but I make it to the bottom of the staircase without having a heart attack, so I figure things are going pretty well so far. Part of me wants to stop and take a few deep breaths. Olivia’s dad won’t know I stopped, though, and will probably end up running into me, so I keep going.

  From playing hide and seek outside on sum
mer nights, I know my night vision is quite a bit better than anyone else’s. I can see the living room and dining area as I slip quietly into the foyer. Nothing. The dining room has some vicious rose bushes beneath each window, so I take a logical guess and move toward the living room. Still nothing.

  When we reach the kitchen, I can hear Olivia’s dad stop behind me at the same time my feet come to a halt. Glass from the open back door sparkles in the moonlight. He curses and the bat falls from his shoulder. He brings it back up right away.

  “We should check the rest of the house just to be sure,” he says.

  Feeling more secure, we split up and make sure the rest of the rooms are empty and undisturbed. Ten minutes later, we’re back in the foyer empty handed.

  “Is he gone?” Olivia asks from where she’s huddled on the stairs.

  Her dad nods. “Go call the police and tell your Mom everything’s okay.”

  Olivia darts back up the stairs.

  “Is this the work of those Sentinels you told me about?” he asks.

  “I don’t know, but it’s possible,” I admit. I wanted what I said to Robin earlier today to be true. I wanted it so badly.

  “The police are on their way,” Olivia says as she comes back down the stairs. Her dad pulls her into a hug, but she wiggles out of his embrace after a moment and wraps herself around me.

  Olivia’s dad doesn’t say anything about the way Olivia holds me, but he watches her carefully, no doubt picturing my arms locked around her body as well. I’m beginning to think he saw Olivia come out of my room.

  “Mason, was this the dream you were having?” Olivia asks. “Did it come true?”

  “What?” Olivia’s dad demands.

  I shake my head, trying to reject the idea.

  “You said you dreamed about someone breaking into the house and taking me,” Olivia pushes.

  “Nobody took you,” I say fiercely. “I would never let that happen.”

  Olivia pulls against me more tightly. “I know, but you dreamed about this . . . and it came true.”

  “It was just a coincidence,” I say desperately.

  My nightmares can’t come true. They can’t. Olivia has to stay safe. No one can hurt her. Nothing bad can ever happen to her. My hands press Olivia against me. My fingers tangle in her hair and cradle her against my heart. Breathing . . . it’s not working right. I can’t get enough air suddenly. My chest starts heaving.

  “Mason?” Olivia asks as she tries to pull back. “Mason, calm down!”

  “Mason?” It’s her dad’s voice now. His hand grips my shoulder. “Son, what’s wrong?”

  Olivia stops trying to pull away from me and starts whispering. “It’s okay, Mason. Nobody took me. Everything is okay. Please calm down. It’s okay.”

  I struggle to control my breathing as red and blue lights start flashing through the living room windows. Olivia’s dad walks to the front door, leaving Olivia to calm me down. She pulls me out of the foyer and into the living room. We’re huddled on the couch before I finally begin to relax.

  “You called me Ollie again,” Olivia says quietly as her dad talks to the officers.

  “Did I?” I can’t remember. Everything seemed too chaotic when I first woke up.

  She rests her head against my shoulder. “Yeah, you did.”

  “Does it bother you when I call you that?” I ask.

  Her hand slips into mine. “No.”

  The conversation between Olivia’s dad and the officers quiets as he leads them to the broken windows in the back door. Olivia’s mom makes it down the stairs with a wide-eyed Evie in tow. Neither of them notices us on the couch and they walk toward the noise, leaving us in the quiet of an interrupted night.

  “Would it bother you if I called you Ollie more often?” I ask, not really sure why I’m making the request.

  Olivia is quiet for a moment before saying, “I would like that.”

  I pull her against me even more, and we hold each other until the police and the fear leave.

  Chapter 12

  Selfish Choices

  (Olivia)

  “Someone broke into our house last night,” I snap at Robin when I finally corner her.

  “What?” she squeaks.

  My eyes bore into her. “Someone. Broke. Into. Our. House. Last. Night.”

  Robin fumbles with her backpack and almost drops it. “Olivia, that’s terrible! Is everyone okay?”

  “We’re fine, but I want some answers.”

  I watch as Robin’s eyes dart around for help or reassurance that I’m not crazy. She doesn’t find any. “Answers about what?” she asks.

  “I think it was a Sentinel that broke into our house last night.”

  “And you think I had something to do with it?” Robin asks, clearly confused.

  “No,” I snap, although the thought had crossed my mind many times. Mason talked me out of the idea, but I’m still not completely convinced. “But I want to know how Sentinels find Aerlings. The truth this time.”

  “What do you mean? I told you how they find them.”

  Robin tries to back away, but I won’t let her get away from me. “After the police finally left, all I could think about was how there had to be some other way for the Sentinels to find Aerlings. It couldn’t just be luck and tabloid stories. There has to be something else that draws them to Aerlings. I simply can’t believe there isn’t something more.”

  “Don’t . . . don’t you, um, have to get to class?” Robin asks.

  “Mason will let me know what I miss. You, on the other hand, have a free period right now, so don’t think you’re going to escape answering,” I say.

  Robin’s mouth opens. It closes right after. Something seems to go out of her as her head drops. “Can we go somewhere else to talk?”

  The practice gym is empty this hour, so I turn on my heel and head in that direction, knowing Robin will follow. I don’t look back to make sure. The shuffle and squeak of her sneakers dragging her after me is confirmation. I don’t really need it, though, because I know she understands that if she doesn’t tell me, her friendship with Mason will be over. It’s obvious that she cares about him and doesn’t want that to happen. So she follows.

  My nose wrinkles as the smell of old sweat that always seems to permeate the practice gym hits my nose. I toss my backpack down. Robin slumps to the first bleacher, her own backpack landing at her feet with a thud.

  On the way over here, a dozen questions about Sentinels were running through my mind. When I open my mouth, none of those questions come out.

  “Mason told me about Eliana,” I say quietly.

  Robin’s head pops up. The surprise on her face doesn’t make sense to me. “He did?”

  I nod. “We don’t keep secrets from each other.”

  “He told you everything?” Robin asks, her hands trembling.

  “He told me how you told your friends about Eliana and the Sentinels killed her the next night. It was clear how much it affected you. He was pretty upset himself just telling me about it. I know he believes you.” I take a deep breath, trying to keep my opinions from overruling everything else. “Mason told me that you offered to step back and stay away from him in order to protect him and he told you no.”

  Robin shudders and wraps her arms around her body. “You disagree with him.”

  It’s not a question. The temptation is there to agree, to tell her to back off and get out of our lives. I’m not sure that sparing Mason’s feelings is worth the risk, but he asked me to try. Being wrapped up in his arms last night as we waited for the police to leave made it impossible to deny him anything.

  “I don’t trust you like he does,” I admit. Robin holds her breath. “But I don’t think you’ll hurt him either.”

  Robin’s breath stutters out haltingly.

  “That may change, though, if you don’t tell me how Sentinels really track Aerlings.”

  Her posture makes it obvious that she isn’t any more keen on telling me now than she
was in the beginning, but she squares her shoulders and opens her mouth. “They can feel them,” she says simply.

  Goosebumps pop up all over body. “What do you mean they can feel them?”

  “It’s not something I really understand,” Robin says with a shake of her head. “Sentinels look like anyone else, but there’s something about them that lets them sense when an Aerling is near them. I don’t know if it’s something they’re born with or a talent they develop, but it’s their biggest tool in finding Aerlings.”

  “Why didn’t you tell us this when we first asked?” I demand.

  “All it was going to do was scare you both. It doesn’t help you keep him safer,” Robin argues. “Unless you plan on locking him up in your house so no one can ever come in contact with him, but given how you’ve practically done that already, maybe you will.”

  I tried to give her some latitude because Mason wants her around, but she just hit my last nerve. My palm knocks into her shoulder angrily. There’s no guilt when she falls back between the two bleachers, scraping her back on the one above her.

  “How dare you judge us!”

  Robin winces as she pushes herself back up to sitting. “Do you know what Mason told me yesterday?”

  I don’t answer.

  “He told me that I was his only friend,” Robin says, shocking me.

  “What? Why would he say that?” I ask. “Mason is my best friend.”

  Robin folds her arms across her chest. “He said he wasn’t sure if you could count family as friends, and since the only friends he’s ever had were his family, I was his first friend.”

  I don’t count?

  Grabbing her backpack up off the ground, Robin stands stiffly. “You claim you’re trying to protect Mason, but I wonder if it isn’t just selfishness fueling your choices. Seems to me like you’re afraid that if he actually has the chance to live his life, it won’t be with you.”