Invincible (The Aerling Series Book 3) (30 page)

Chapter 32

What Kills Her

(Hayden)

Diving for Olivia, I barely manage to
catch her before her head smacks into the ground. I don’t know what to do as
her entire body shudders in my arms. I try calling out to her, but she doesn’t
respond. The adrenaline high I was riding during the fight gives way to panic.
Mason crashes into us before I can say or do anything.

“We have to get her back to the Aerling
world,” Mason says frantically. His hands are pressed to her face, his eyes
closed as he tries to do…something. I have no idea, but I’m really freaking
out.

Sloane is the next to drop to the ground
next to us. Her hands dart in as well and her breath catches in shock. “She’s
dying, Mason. She can’t hold this much power. It’s going to kill her if we
don’t get rid of it soon.”

“I know!” he snaps. His eyes lock with
mine. Fear and anger makes his voice sharp. “Take us back!” he demands.

Scrambling to get a hold of myself and my
power, I briefly wonder if the barrier is still in place, if I can even still
get us back to the Aerling world. I have no idea, but I have no time to worry
about it. Digging down through my own fear, I wrestle my power and shove it out
and around the people huddled near me. Giving of myself to protect them comes
so naturally. A sigh starts to slip from my lips, but the fear of losing access
to air chokes me as we’re drug through whatever weird space there is between
worlds.

It only takes a few seconds to realize it’s
easier than before…and that I can breathe. Gulping in a huge breath, the
disorienting feeling I was expecting never comes. Instead of feeling like I’m
about to die, a sense of peace and rightness wraps itself around me before we’re
dropped onto the grassy expanse of the grove.

Mason yanking Olivia out of my arms brings
me back to the situation at hand. A second later, he’s grabbing me as well,
panic tearing him apart. “How do we get rid of it?” he nearly shouts at me.
“What do we do?”

I don’t know why he thinks I would know.
All I can do is shrug as my panic slowly begins to consume me. “I have no clue,
Mason. I thought you’d know once we got here.”

“I’m trying,” he cries. Agony twists his
features as he drops his head to rest against Olivia’s. “It’s trapped. It won’t
leave. I don’t want it! How do I get it out of her, Hayden? She’s dying! She
said I had to take it out, but I can’t! It’s not working!”

Tears start pouring down his face as he picks
Olivia up and cradles her in his arms, devastated and helpless. Sick at the
thought that I may be forced to sit here and watch my friend die while I do
nothing, I look around for Sloane, hoping she’ll be able to do something, but
all I see is her backside as she rushes out of the grove.

“Sloane’s getting help,” I tell Mason.
Clamping my hand down on his shoulder, I lend him whatever support I can.
“She’ll be okay. Cedrick will know what to do.”

“I shouldn’t have done it,” Mason cries as
he rocks back and forth.

“Done what?” Everything he did, he had to
do it. There was no other way. I saw him hesitate before sucking Tū dry of
all his power and destroying him, but there’s no reason for him to feel guilty
over whatever happens to the Sentinels. They made their choices. It was war and
they lost. None of that is Mason’s fault.

Sobbing, Mason says, “I knew she couldn’t
hold so much power.” One hand swipes at his eyes as he tries to clear away his
tears, but more keep falling. “I promised myself I would take it all, but I
couldn’t. I tried to hold every lost drop of it, but there was just too much. I
panicked when I thought it would tear me apart and I threw it at her. This is
my fault.”

Completely broken, Mason doubles over.
Olivia hangs lifelessly in his arms. I can feel the power buzzing through their
veins. Mason is holding an impossible amount, but Olivia is fairly bursting
with it as well. I don’t have Sloane’s talent, but I can feel how desperate the
power in both of them is to escape. Mason is stronger, more capable of holding
it, but it’s slowly tearing Olivia apart.

“It’s not your fault,” I say quietly. I
don’t know if Olivia will survive this. The thought of losing her breaks
through the adrenaline and shock and amazement that the barrier is finally gone
and the war is over. Everything pours out of me as tears stumble their way down
my face. She chose this path, and I know she doesn’t regret a second of it.
Only knowing Mason blames himself for this would cause her pain.

Forcing Mason to look at me, I wait until
he actually sees me. “This isn’t your fault.” I hold him in my gaze, making him
listen to me. “This isn’t your fault. None of it. Not the war. Not Olivia. This
isn’t your fault and she knows that. She would have given up anything for you. Anything.”

“But I promised I’d protect her.” A new
batch of tears careen down his cheeks.

“She chose to follow you. She chose to
fight,” I remind him, though my own pain is pouring out as well. “She chose
you, Mason, and that’s never something she’ll regret. The cost of being with
you never mattered to her. She chose
you
.”

Mason nods, but I can tell he’s barely
holding it together. Both of our heads jerk back up as Sloane comes barreling
into the grove, Cedrick trailing behind her. Some other people I’ve never met
before rush in behind them. Everyone’s faces light up with panic as soon as
they see and feel what has happened. Cedrick and Sloane are the first to reach
us. Sloane collapses next to me, breathing hard, while Cedrick kneels carefully
beside to Olivia.

“Any change?” Sloane whispers. Her face
falls when I shake my head. Fingers strangling each other’s, we both turn to
Cedrick, hoping beyond all hope that he has the answer.

Before he says anything, a woman kneels
down next to him. Her hands gently brush across Olivia’s skin. Cedrick reaches
out and touches Mason’s shoulder. “Mason, this is Emma, our most talented
healer.”

“But she’s not hurt,” Mason says. “It’s
the power. I don’t know how to get rid of it without hurting Olivia even more.”

Cedrick nods slowly. “I know. The power
has already done damage to Olivia’s body. Emma will restore what she can. If
she can heal her enough, maybe Olivia can tell us what she needs.”

Shaking his head in confusion, Mason says,
“I know what she needs. The power, I have to get rid of it before it kills her!
Just tell me how to do it!”

“We don’t know the answer, Mason,” Emma
says softly. “It’s never been done before.”

At the risk of interrupting, I say, “Why
would Olivia know?”

Cedrick frowns, worrying everyone
gathered. “Except for giving up power in death, as Tāwhiri did, only
Escorts are capable of giving power. It’s how they mark and transport Aerlings.
We’re not meant to give up our power. I don’t know what needs to be done.”

“Hayden,” Mason says, grabbing me roughly,
“you’re an Escort, too. What do I do? How do I get rid of the power? I can’t
rip it out of her. It will kill her!”

Shaking my head, I’m completely at a loss.
“I don’t know. I mean, when I brought us back, I just pushed my power out and
let it fall over you guys, but it always comes back. I don’t know how Olivia
gave me part of Tāwhiri’s power before. It felt right, natural, but I
don’t know how to do it.”

Mason’s shoulders sink. His whole body
loses its tension as he sags in defeat. Cedrick is there to keep him from
falling apart completely. “Let Emma try. If anyone knows what to do, it’s
Olivia. Just let Emma try to heal her enough to wake her. It will only be
temporary, but it might be enough.”

Nodding, Mason turns to Emma and begs,
“Please. Please don’t let her die.”

Emma nods, but her hands are trembling as
she reaches forward and places her hands on Olivia’s head. We all watch her
breathe in. Her chest expands as she holds the air inside long enough to form a
plea. I recognize what she’s doing immediately. Confirmation that the barrier
is indeed abolished hits me as her expelled breath solidifies into the shape of
wind spirit.

The spirit makes her power swell, and I
feel it settle over Olivia like a blanket. The buzz of power at work captivates
everyone. Our eyes and hopes are glued to this woman as she tries to fix
Olivia’s battered soul. As I stare at my friend, limp in Mason’s arms, I hold
my breath. It seems like the time to pray, but to who? The gods of this world
are dead. All we have left is a liberated group of Aerlings who are still
reeling from having their entire world ripped apart. Olivia has survived so
much. Winning the war can’t be what kills her.

Chapter 33

Fade

(Olivia)

It hurts. Everything hurts so much. Pain
ripples through me over and over again and I’m powerless to stop it. The power
is begging for release, and I try, but it’s too late. Nothing responds. Not my arms
or legs, my own power, nothing. My body is slowly being consumed by the immense
power bashing around inside of me. My own innate power has been smothered,
rendered useless. There’s nothing I can do to save myself.

I suppose that should scare me. Instead, I
feel oddly at peace…except for the pain.

We won. The Aerling gods are gone. Their
children are finally free. The barrier is broken—that, at least, I could feel
as we traveled between worlds. The power trapped on Earth will make its way
back here to renew the Aerling world and protect it. Both worlds are safe. The
cost was my life, but I’m okay with that.

I was prepared to die the day I took Mason
home. It hurt to know I would be leaving him, and it’s torture now to know
he’ll have to go on without me. That’s worse than what all this power is doing
to me. Cringing as more of my body and soul are ripped apart, that is the one
thing I wish I could change.

Mason will feel responsible. It will eat
away at him. If I could do anything to change that, I would, but all I can do
is hope that Sloane’s calming touch and Hayden’s friendship and support will
get him through this. I whimper as something bursts and pure agony washes over
me. If I could scream, I would, the pain is so great, but it’s trapped in here
with the power that won’t leave until it tears its way out of me.

This is my own fault. Why didn’t I better
explain to Mason how to get rid of the power beforehand? I’m not even
completely sure I know, but I was able to give Hayden part of Tāwhiri’s
power, and that didn’t even want to leave me. This, the tangled up power of three
demented gods and one would-be failed savior, all of this power is desperate to
be free. Those holding it may have lost their purpose and become twisted by
their own desires, but the power itself is pure. It remembers the reason for
its design and is begging to be able to burst out of me and fulfill its
purpose.

If I had any strength left, I would grant
its wish.

Gasping in shock, something within me
responds. Air rushes into my body as my lungs expand hungrily. More power
pushes in, and I try to shove it away in a flat-out panic. I can’t hold any
more! Fear makes me blind, and it takes me a moment to realize this power isn’t
trying to invade and take up residence. It’s trying to help!

Realizing that, I do what I can to give it
purchase, to let it in and try to make a difference. Desperately, I hope
someone here in the Aerling world knows how to get the power out of me, but I
realize that’s not what it’s trying to do. Bits and pieces of my body and soul
are stitched back together. It’s a valiant effort. As soon as something is put
back together, it’s just ripped apart again. My body shudders as fear swallows
me up all over again.

The hope that I was going to survive and
not leave Mason is dashed to pieces. I am aware enough of my body to feel tears
running down my cheeks. How could they give him hope like that only to fail?
Just let me die. Don’t hurt Mason any more than he’s already been hurt. Please!

Just as the plea for death forms, a new
power rushes in behind the first. Recognizing it immediately as Sloane’s, I
tentatively grasp back onto my hope and pray this will work. Sloane’s power
must be mixed with Hayden’s, because it’s more than it should be, but together
they guide the foreign power through healing me. They’re still wildly
ineffective as everything they repair is torn back apart, but it sticks
together for longer…long enough to give me the strength to open my eyes.

Red, swollen eyes greet me as Mason hovers
over my body. Joy explodes onto his face when my eyes open, but he sees the
fear in mine and freezes. “I’m dying,” I croak.

Tears spill over his cheeks with abandon.
He nods. “I know, but we’re going to save you.”

“The power…it’s killing me. Have to…get it
out.”

“How? How do I get rid of it, Ollie? I
don’t know what to do.”

My body convulses as the healing loses
ground to the power again. I feel something warm and thick slide down my cheek
and I don’t need the copper taste in my mouth to tell me it’s blood.
“Pull…it…out,” I gasp through the blood and pain.

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.