Invincible (The Aerling Series Book 3) (14 page)

As I reach for the blanket I was laying
out, a form moves to my right. Jumping, I spin around and very nearly scream.
The scar running down his face sends a shot of terror through me like nothing
else can. I stumble back and nearly fall over the cot. My body weight shoves it
sideways until it crashes into the next one and I bang my elbow on the edge.

“Olivia, please,” Tū says with a
condescending laugh. “You have no reason to fear me.”

“Like I’m really going to believe that,” I
snap. “The memory of you attacking me in the park is still a little too fresh.”

Tū shrugs, as if my concerns are of
little importance to him. “At the time, it was necessary. Mason seemed to have
no hope of mastering his power by his birthday. Killing him was seeming like
the more likely option, but getting to him was more difficult than expected. We
needed you.”

As bait, I realize. The goal that night
was never to kill me. He probably could have done that quite easily if that’s
what he’d been after. They wanted me alive, to draw Mason out so they could
capture him, see if he was capable of taking Robin back and breaking the
barrier, and if he wasn’t, they’d kill him. That one bit of understanding pulls
me back up to my feet, fists clenched.

“Get away from me, Tū.”

He smiles in a way that makes goose bumps
pop up all over my skin. “So you
did
figure out that one bit.” He
laughs, though it’s no more pleasant than his smile. “I had wondered if you two
would be bright enough to realize who I am.”

“You gave us some pretty big clues.”

“Who says I was ever trying to hide my
true identity?” Tū asks.

I don’t respond to that. What would I even
say?

“Have you figured out the rest?” Tū
asks, this time more earnestly.

“The rest of what?” I ask.

He moves faster than I can react to, his
hand clamping down on my shoulder. Light flashes in front of my eyes.
Terrified, I blink rapidly to clear my vision and almost faint when I open my
eyes again and find myself nowhere near the shelter. The only thing keeping me
from passing out is the absolutely overwhelming beauty of this place. Crisp
green grass brushes at my ankles, soft and luxurious. Dancing in a soft breeze,
millions of wildflowers dot the open expanse, growing right up to the edge of a
velvety forest. The evergreens look soft, like I could bury myself in their
boughs and never feel a single prick. Brilliant emerald leaves of deciduous
trees mix with the rest of the forest to create something both exotic and
familiar. It’s breathtaking.

“Where are we?”

“This,” Tū says, “is the place we
created for our mother. We could not live in the perpetual shadow of our
parents’ control, but we still cared for them both, in the beginning. Tane and
I prepared this place for her, full of beauty where she could care for the life
on this planet, but she spurned it. She ran.”

Trying to shake off the mesmerizing
quality of this place, I put my fear aside and look at Tū squarely. “Can
you blame her for running? Her own children tried to kill her, and then
banished her here. Why would she stick around where you could find her again?”

For once, Tū looks truly weary. “You
never answered my question. Have you figured out the rest of the lies?”

“The lies about what? The Mother?” I ask
carefully.

“The lies about everything,” he growls.
“Everything has been twisted to fit their will, to convince others of their
righteousness while condemning anyone who dared oppose them. This war is their
doing! They caused it with their selfishness and greed!”

My eyes widen as the air around me grows
agitated. Sparks of electricity burst all around me as the temperature
plummets. “Why don’t you…” My lips are frosting over, but I force them to work.
“Tell me your side, then. Then me what they did.”

He opens his mouth to speak, but nothing
comes out. Fury rises in his eyes and I fear he’s about to take his anger out
on me, but he turns his head up and screams. Torment pours out of him.
Lightning flashes everywhere at once, rocking the ground beneath our feet,
tearing up this wondrous place. Gale force winds crash against the forest. Huge
trees are uprooted as he continues to howl out his fury. If I weren’t petrified
into stillness, I would have collapsed.

Finally, his raging ends and he turns his
fiery gaze back to me. “Tell you?” he demands. “Tell you?” His hands crash
against his head, fingers tangling in his hair as if tearing it out would solve
everything. “Do you think I would play these games if the solution were that
simple, stupid little
human
child? Do you think I would let them
continue to tear apart my home and family if I could simply set it all right
with words?” His frigid hands grab my face. I’m so terrified I can’t even
react. He crowds in close, his icy breath washing over my skin, causing it to
frost over. “She bound me before she ran. I can’t speak a word about what she’s
done, no matter how hard I try. This is the best I can do, Olivia. You must discover
the rest on your own. You must uncover what she has hidden and save what is
left of both worlds.”

“But…you…but the Aerling children. You’ve
been killing them,” I say. He wants me to understand, but nothing is making
sense. “How you claim to have done all of this for altruistic reasons while
killing the Aerling children?”

“They are just power!” Tū says in
exasperation. “Their lives matter little in the face of this war. You must…”
His eyes bulge as he tries to continue speaking. Another frustrated growl bursts
out of him, but all he can say is, “What I do now, I do to end the war.
Tāwhiri believed he could solve it by staying in our home and controlling
the Father, but he was wrong. He was too limited, too weak to do anything more
than hold off the inevitable. We have both run out of time. If you do not stop
her, the Mother will sacrifice your world to save hers.”

I feel like the breath has been knocked
out of me. “What?”

“I can tell you no more!” Tū nearly
screams. His hand clamps down on my shoulder again, rough and frightening, and
then the destroyed valley vanishes from sight, consumed by the darkness.

Chapter 16

Rebellious

(Mason)

A sound from somewhere to my left startles
me about of my half-sleep. Heart racing, I look around for the source. Hayden
and Sloane are still talking over by the work table, but Olivia is nowhere in
sight. Not sure how long I’ve been out, I glance at my phone. Half an hour?

“Shouldn’t Olivia have been back by now?”
I ask. “She said it’d only take her a few minutes to get those cots set up.”

Hayden checks the time as well and frowns.
“Maybe Lindsay needed her help with something else?”

“We should go look for her,” Sloane says.
The worry on her face amps up my own concern.

Without another word, we all file out of
the little work room and start scanning the rooms and halls for any sign of
Olivia. Fifteen minutes later, we all come up empty. Where could she have gone?
I can’t think of a reasonable excuse for her taking off without telling anyone.
Even if she had stumbled upon the Mother somehow, wouldn’t she have called?

I spot Lindsay heading down the hall with
a stack of clean sheets and run over to her. “Have you seen Olivia? We can’t
find her anywhere.”

Despite her clear exhaustion, Lindsay
stops and thinks. “I saw her in the gym about half an hour ago. She was talking
to a man, but everything seemed fine. I just assumed it was one of the
residents.”

“What did the man look like?” I demand.

“Well,” Lindsay begins, her expression
more worried by my intensity, “he was tall, muscular, well kept. I didn’t see
his whole face, but aside from his scar, he didn’t give me any reason to be
concerned.”

Everyone’s faces drain of color. “Scar?”
Hayden chokes out.

“Yeah.” Lindsay is looking even more
freaked out, but she draws a line down her face with her finger, mimicking
Tū’s scar exactly. “Is everything okay? Really, they were just talking
normally. I didn’t think twice about it.”

“Uh, everything’s fine,” I lie. “Maybe
they just stepped outside for a few minutes. If you see Olivia again, tell her
to call, okay?”

Lindsay blinks several times before responding.
“Sure, okay.”

No doubt we only take her worry up a notch
when we all bolt away from her, but I don’t have time to deal with that right
now. We all burst out of the shelter and stare at the street uncertainly.
“Should we split up?” Sloane asks,

“No.” I shake my head, dismissing the idea
immediately. “If Tū is out there, we can’t risk it. We’ll stay together
and find her.”

“Where would Tū take her?” Hayden
asks. “And why?”

Not to hurt her, I tell myself. That can’t
be the reason. He said he wanted us to discover the truth. He’s not trying to
kill us right now. We’re doing what he asked. He’s not going to hurt her.
“Maybe he wanted to show her something, some hint.”

“Why not just tell all of us?” Sloane asks
as we run, searching the streets and alleys.

I have no answer for that. Maybe because
he didn’t want to risk us attacking him? Perhaps she was the only one he was
able to catch alone. I have no idea. Focusing on anything other than the fact
that he has Olivia is next to impossible. Before I realize how far we’ve gone,
we’re edging up to the disaster area. Rubble from partially damaged buildings
clutters the sidewalks, spilling into the street further down where crews have
yet to clear a path.

Is there a clue somewhere in this
destruction? Did he bring her here for a reason? Did he bring her here at all?
I just don’t know. The expressions on the others’ faces says they’re stuck as
well. “Stay close, but spread out a little. Listen for any sounds. Maybe he’s
holding her in one of the ruined buildings for some reason.”

Sloane and Hayden nod. They fan out far
enough that we can cover a bit more ground, but still within seeing and hearing
distance. The winter light is fading fast. The rescue and cleanup crews have
all either gone home or moved to a different area. No one is around to see us
creeping through broken buildings. There’s no way we can leave her out her with
Tū all night. We’re staying until we find her.

“Mason!” Sloane cries out suddenly. “I
hear something over here!”

Hayden and I nearly crash into each other
trying to get to her. Our feet scuffling against the asphalt and broken cement
drown out any noise. Even my breathing seems incredibly loud at first. Hayden’s
chest is heaving as well, but everyone’s eyes are glued to a collapsed section
of a small shop. “It sounded like a voice,” Sloane whispers.

I can’t see anything. The interior of the
shop is bathed in dark shadows. Huge chunks of the block wall has collapsed.
The aged look of our surroundings says these buildings were built long before
earthquake building codes were enforced. I can’t imagine anyone still in there,
not alive anyway, but before I give up, a quiet murmuring catches my ear.

“Did you hear it?” Sloane whispers. I nod
while Hayden shrugs in confusion.

As quiet as it was, it’s no surprise his
human ears can’t pick it up. The sound comes again, barely louder than before.
Someone is definitely in there, but it can’t be Olivia. Turning to Sloane, I
see the same realization in her eyes. Staying to help this man means delaying
our search for Olivia. What will that mean? Neither of us knows, but we both
nod and step forward. Olivia would never forgive us for leaving this person
behind.

Hayden doesn’t seem to get what’s going on
completely, but as Sloane and I start forward, he follows. Once we get into the
building, I realize the damage is worse than what I originally thought. Old,
massive ceiling beams have fallen onto the rubble-strewn floor. The floor is
partially collapsed as well. It hasn’t fallen into the basement below, but it’s
on the verge. When it does, it will take everything and everyone with it.

Sloane stays back a little while Hayden
and I pick our way through the mess and attempt to find a safe route to
approach the source of the voice. By the time we’re right on top of the pile of
blocks and wood, Hayden finally hears the small voice moaning in pain. He
reaches for one of the beams lying across the blocks, but he can’t get enough
leverage to lift it more than a few inches. He tries several times, the impact
of it falling back down causing the blocks to shift dangerously.

“Plan B?” Hayden says.

“And that would be?” I ask.

He points to me and Sloane. “You two are
the ones with super powers. How about putting them to use on this stuff. We’re
not getting him out otherwise.”

I feel stupid for not having thought of that
on my own. Nodding, I gesture for him to move out and for Sloane to join me.
Other than giant pieces of hail, I don’t know how skilled she is with her power,
but she’s all I’ve got. “On three, wedge some air beneath this beam here.” I
point to indicate the beam trapped beneath another heavy piece of wood. “I’ll
try to lift the top one, but if that bottom one shifts it could send everything
crashing.”

Sloane nods and begins to focus. It seems
to take her longer than I would have expected, but a few second later she has
invisible bands of air wrapped around the lower beam to keep it from shifting
when I make my move. Getting my own carefully controlled stream of air
positioned isn’t hard, but the second I start lifting it, the pile shifts and
the slap of rubble crashing to the basement freezes us both.

“We need to be able to shore up the
floor,” Sloane says.

I agree with her, but when I try to hold
one portion of my power and the air I’m controlling steady in one place while
moving it in another, I nearly lose control of everything and send this poor
guy under the rocks down to his death. I could never do the whole pat your head
and rub your stomach thing, and this is proving just as impossible.

I look to Sloane, but she shakes her head
immediately. “There’s no way I can do that. My control isn’t anywhere close to
yours. I’m more likely to accidentally kill him.”

Not sure where that leaves us, I wish for
the millionth time since leaving the Aerling world that they hadn’t heaped the
fate of the world, of both worlds, solely on our shoulders. Breathing in
slowly, I hold the breath, taking comfort in the feel of it filling me. As I
finally let it out, I say more to myself than anyone else, “I need help.”

Those three words, uttered in
near-hopelessness, do something completely unexpected.

My breath condenses as if it were a cold
morning back home, but it doesn’t dissipate. It expands. The hazy white of the
foggy breath blossoms into a burst of air, water, electricity, and purpose. My
eyes are fixed and wide as I stare in recognition. How did my wind spirit
manage to get here? I reach out to…touch it? I don’t even know. It responds to
me right away. In a flash, it’s at my hand, waiting. For what, I’m not entirely
sure. Hoping for some help, I turn to Sloane for answers.

“You have to command it,” she whispers.
The awe in her voice is echoed in my head. All Hayden can do is stare at the
wispy white creature.

“How do I command it?” I ask.

Sloane blinks slowly. “The same way you
called it.”

I almost tell her that I haven’t got a
clue how I called it, but the memory of holding that breath, of the plea I pushed
out along with it, crowds to the front of my head. Pulling in a deep breath, I
put my desire into my words and say, “Support the floor from below.”

The spirit whips away and disappears
through a miniscule hole in the rubble. I can’t see it any longer, but I seem
to know exactly when it’s in place and ready to go. Sloane and I go back to our
original plan of lifting the beams one at a time. We get a little further than
before, but the cracking and snapping of the floor and rubble calls us both to
a halt.

“We need more help,” I grumble under the
strain of holding the beams. “Call yours,” I demand.

Sloane bites at her bottom lip. I can see
the fear that she won’t be strong enough to do what I’m asking, but I urge her on.
She has to be strong enough. There’s no choice anymore.

“Breathe in deeply,” I say with as much
patience as I can muster. “Form the plea for help in your mind, breath it out
with the air and speak. Command it to come to you.”

Following my instructions exactly, Sloane
jumps in shock a few seconds later when her wind spirit materializes in front of
her. Slipping under the effort of holding the beam with just my power, I grunt
in impatience. Sloane snaps out of her amazement and ushers her spirit over to
help mine. For a moment, I think it’s working. The two beings stop the creaking
a groaning of the floor, but before I can even make another move, the back
corner of the floor collapses and sends up a crash and bang as it hits the
basement.

“Help each other!” I beg in desperation.

It was really just a crazy, frantic thing
to yell, but it works. I can’t see the spirits melding together, but I can feel
it. Judging by the look on Sloane’s face, she can feel it, too. There is a
strange squelching feeling as our wind spirits push together, but I’m more
focused on what happens next. Not only does combining give them the ability to
work as one, it does something to the power they contain. Joined, they drawn on
the air and power around them, becoming stronger and more able. Their power
flattens out, stretching firmly across the damaged section of floor.

 I don’t know how long it will last, but I
hope it’s enough to get the job done. “Hayden, be ready,” I beg. Turning to Sloane,
I say, “All at once. Beams, bricks, blocks, everything.”

She shifts and we both maneuver our power
to encompass more than just the beams. Her body is shaking as we lock eyes. One
nod and everything moves. Dust flies as we lurch and yank, pulling the ruined
materials off the person buried beneath them and tossing them carelessly to the
side. Choking on the dust, I send a small blast of air out from my body to
clear it. When it does, Hayden has the victim and is dragging him to a safer
section of the floor.

“Did you see a woman?” Hayden asks the
man. “Blonde, thin, short. Or a man with a big ugly scar?”

The poor guy is barely coherent. He stares
at Hayden pleadingly, begging for help, but he shakes his head back and forth
slowly. He’s completely out seconds later, having spent what little energy he
had left to catch our attention. Hayden sighs and pulls the unconscious man
into his arms. Sloane and I follow behind, my thoughts racing even more than
before. What just happened?

“How did we do that?” Sloane asks as we
walk.

My shoulders bob up and down helplessly.
“They just did what I asked, but I have no idea why it worked, or why they were
more powerful together than separated.”

“It was like the more air and purpose they
had, the more powerful they became.”

“Yet…” My brow wrinkles as I consider.
“They’re separated from the Aerlings who made them because of the barrier. This
can only happen when we have access to our wind spirits. Direct access. Leaving
them behind limits them so much.”

“But, we have to leave them here or we’ll
die without a connection to the human world,” Sloane argues.