Invincible (The Aerling Series Book 3) (6 page)

Chapter 7

Stolen

(Olivia)

“That has got to be the craziest thing I
have ever felt,” Sloane says as she lets go of me. “It worked, though, right?”
She looks at me anxiously, begging for an answer.

I have to shake off the weird feeling of
being connected to someone other than Mason. It’s harder than you might expect.
With Mason, I feel his presence like a comforting blanket wrapped around me.
I’ve felt it all my life, though I only realized what it was when I started
developing my powers. My link to Mason is constant. With Hayden, it’s
different. I only feel him when we’re together. Searching him out this time was
bizarre. Purposely reaching out, though… it felt good. Right.

Mason kneels down next to me and studies
my expression. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” I finally say. Looking over at Sloane,
I answer her question as well. “It worked. He heard me. Hayden knows we’re
coming for him.”

Sloane’s shoulders drop in relief, but
everyone else still seems rather anxious. Evie is the one to actually ask what
they’re all thinking. “That’s fabulous, but do you actually know where he’s
at?”

All eyes are on me as I nod. “I know where
we need to go.” Rubbing my temples, I try to sort out the information I gained
while connected to Hayden. “It’s not like it was with Mason. I can’t feel where
Hayden is unless I’m connected to him, but I know what direction we need to go
and a general idea of where he’s at. I’ll have to connect again as we go to get
more specifics, but I think I have enough right now to go after him.”

Mason nods, looking relieved. There seems
to be something else in his expression as well, but I’m still a little foggy,
and deciphering it isn’t happening. When he reaches out a hand to help me up, I
take it gratefully. By the time we’re both standing, everyone is huddled around
us looking more than a little anxious. Again, Evie is the first to speak.

“So, when do we leave?”

Mason sighs next to me. She’s my sister,
though, so I put a hand on his arm and take the lead. “Evie, you’re not coming
with us. And neither are you, Molly,” I add before she can start pleading her
case.

Both girls’ eyes tear up automatically,
but it’s my parents that really get to me. Mom already has tears running down
her cheeks and Dad’s hands are fisted so tightly his knuckles are white. I just
reappeared after three days of them thinking they’d never see me again…or that
I was dead. I’ve come home, and now I’m about to run off again, back to the
people who have already tried to kill me multiple times. How many more times
can I escape them?

“Mom, Dad, it’ll be okay,” I say.

Half a second later, I’m wrapped up in my
dad’s arms as he squeezes me half to death. “I can’t lose you, Olivia.” He
presses his face to my hair so I won’t see him crying. “When you didn’t come
back and your mom told me you never would, I…Olivia, I couldn’t, please. You
can’t do that to me again.”

“Dad, I’m so sorry,” I cry against his
chest. “I should have told you before I left what was going to happen, but I
just couldn’t bear to do it. It was selfish. I’m so sorry.”

“Just…just don’t do it again,” he begs.
“Come home this time. Stay in contact. Don’t make me wonder if I’ve lost my
little girl ever again.”

“I won’t, Dad, I promise.”

He presses me against him a little tighter
before letting up and releasing me. He turns away immediately to wipe away his
last few tears, and I find myself doing the same. It’s Mom’s turn then. She
wraps me up in a hug that promises everything she doesn’t say, that she
understands why we’re leaving, that she hates to let us go, that she has faith
we’ll make it home in one piece. No words pass her lips, but she said plenty. I
pull back and turn to find Molly sobbing in Mason’s arms.

Everyone else is quiet as he tries to
comfort her and promises to call every day. She keeps begging and clinging
until Mason finally says, “Molly, remember what you asked me and Olivia to do
before we left?”

She rubs her fists over her eyes then
looks at him, lip still quivering. “To find our parents and come back.”

“Well,” Mason says, “we did both.”

She nods slowly.

“I keep my promises, Molly. We have to go,
and you have to stay here, but we will come back. Hayden with us.” He hugs her
one more time then says, “I need you to do something for me while we’re gone.”

Not one to be fooled easily, Molly rolls
her eyes. “What? Like make sure Evie doesn’t get into trouble?”

Evie smirks at the insinuation that she
needs looking after, but I just laugh. Truth is, Molly wouldn’t stop Evie from
doing something crazy. She’d be right there with her. Mason laughs at Molly and
shakes his head. “No, I know there’s no hope of keeping Evie out of trouble. I
had something else in mind.”

“What?” Molly asks.

“I need you to help us find the Mother.”

“Huh?” she asks. “How am I supposed to do
that?”

“You’re going to help Evie and her parents
learn everything they can about the Mother. And before you ask, I’m trusting
you with this, because you know more about Aerling lore than any of us here.
The Montgomery’s will help, I’m sure, but you’re the only one who’ll know
what’s true and what’s not.”

“Because I’m a lie detector?” Molly asks.

Mason frowns. “That and because you’re an
Aerling. Next time you get to talk to Conner and Shane, ask them what they felt
when Olivia told them the Māori creation story. Trust me, Mollywog, you’ll
know if what you’re hearing is true.”

Chewing on her bottom lip, Molly looks up
at Mason. “Why can’t I do all of that with you?”

“Because the Sentinels know who you are,”
Mason says. The gravity in his voice cools any attempt Molly was planning to
make at an argument. “They know why I’m back, and they know they can stop me by
hurting you. I’m not going to give them that option.”

Molly’s whole body sags as she realizes
she can’t argue with that. Tears well up in her eyes as she throws herself back
into her brother’s arm. Knowing their goodbye won’t be easy, I nod for Sloane
to follow me. When we’re both off to the side I say, “I’m going to need your
help to connect with Hayden again.”

She nods eagerly. “I can help you whenever
you want. I’ve never helped an Escort locate someone before, but it was…”

“Actually, that’s something I wanted to
ask you about.” I stare at her, wondering at her eagerness. “How did you know
how to help me find Hayden? I could feel you, I don’t know, nudging my power
along or something.”

“It’s hard to explain,” Sloane says. “It’s
my only gift, so I don’t really have anything to compare it to. When I touch
another Aerling or Escort with my power, it’s like I can instantly sense its
potential and where it needs to go or what it needs to do.”

Her eyes are shining as she says this.
Something about the way she’s almost hovering over me, anxious to try helping
me again puts me on edge. It’s almost like she
needs
to help me again. “What
else,” I demand.

I half expect her to stare at me like I’m
talking crazy, but instead she ducks her head as if she’s ashamed of something.
That only makes me more curious and I cross my arms over my chest and glare at
her. “Start talking.”

Sloane opens her mouth, but closes it
again immediately. Her eyes flick over to Mason briefly before coming back to
me. “When I combine my power with someone else’s, I can, uh, kinda access the
person’s, um…thoughts and emotions.”

My eyes widen to the point I think they
might fall right out of my head. “You were digging around in my thoughts and
emotions the whole time you were helping me locate and speak to Hayden?” I
shriek. My parents’ eyes skip over to me, as do Evie’s, but they keep their
distance for now.

“No,” Sloane says quickly, “I didn’t do it
on purpose! I try to stop it from happening, but it’s not easy. Things just, I
don’t know, kind of filter in as I’m helping someone. I didn’t mean to see
everything, but you were thinking about him the whole time.”

“Thinking about who?” I snap.

Wrapping her arms around her body, Sloane
looks away. Her expression is pained and a tear escapes down her cheek.
“Hayden.”

It feels like being stabbed in the heart.
I reach out and press my hand against the wall to steady myself. She saw my
memories of Hayden? She
felt
what I felt while we were desperately
searching for him? How could she do that to me? How could she invade my privacy
like that? Those moments…the basketball park, that day on the front porch, his
kiss goodbye…she saw all of that? I’m not even sure why it hurts so bad to
think she witnessed all of those, except that they were mine. They were my
memories of Hayden, my moments of happiness and comfort and pain. They were
mine, but now she’s stolen that from me.

“I’m sorry,” Sloane whispers. “I tried not
to feel or see anything, but I couldn’t.”

Snapping my fiery gaze up to her, I say,
“You had no right…”

Mason puts a hand on my shoulder. It’s not
forceful, but it’s enough to restrain me. “She said she couldn’t help it, and
Molly says she telling the truth.”

Somehow, that makes it even worse. My
bottom lip begins quivering as I realize we’ll have to do this again and again.
Every time I need to get more information on where Hayden is, she’ll be right
there, siphoning off my memories and emotions.

“I knew why
I
wanted to come help
you find Hayden,” Sloane says softly, “but I didn’t understand why you would be
willing to put off finding the Mother to save this one person, but I do now.”
She looks up at me with understanding in her eyes that tears at my soul. “I
didn’t understand how much you love him.”

“Of course I love him,” I snap. “He’s my
best friend aside from Mason and Evie.”

Sloane looks away, unwilling to meet my
gaze. “It’s so much more than that.” She shakes her head and turns away, not
watching the fallout of her words.

I feel like I can’t breathe as I fight
against what she said. I know my own heart, but Mason’s hand slips off my
shoulder and I panic. Spinning to face him, my breath catches at the way his
sad smile is twitching at the corner. I know he doesn’t doubt how much I love
him. Even if I loved Hayden as more than a friend, I chose Mason. I would never
choose differently. Mason knows that, but everything his parents told us comes
rushing back in and my heart squeezes in agony as I guess at his thoughts.

“No,” I say firmly. “Don’t you even start
thinking like that, Mason.”

“Olivia…”

I shake my head furiously. “Don’t, just
don’t. If you say one single word about what your parents said to anyone else,
I will punch you right in the mouth. And don’t think I won’t,” I hiss. “We are
not discussing this, now or ever. We’re staying together. Subject closed.”

I spin away, livid, terrified, and so
confused I can barely think. My body feels halfway numb as I say another
tearful round of goodbyes to my family, promising we’ll call all the time. Dad
is nearing full time panic mode as we begin to leave, but Mom senses that
something is up. She doesn’t ask, but before we leave, she says, “Olivia, when
you have a few minutes alone, call me. Don’t put everything on your shoulders
if you don’t have to.”

In that moment, I remember the day Mom
stopped me from going to school, after Hayden had kissed me and I was such an
emotional mess about everything that I could barely think straight. She
listened to every word I babbled, took it all in, and somehow set everything
right. Right enough that I could focus, anyway. Knowing that her quiet strength
can overpower so much more than you’d ever think, I give her one last hug and
promise to call as soon as I can.

Soon, we’re miles away, the car quiet with
everyone deep in their own thoughts. I know I should be thinking about how to
rescue Hayden and find the Mother. The fate of an entire world is depending on
us to come through. I have no intention of failing the Aerlings, but as we
drive, the only thing I can think about is how much I never want to have Sloane
in my head again.

Chapter 8

Truth

(Mason)

Watching Olivia and Sloane work to locate
Hayden’s exact position within the compound is troubling. It’s the third time
since leaving Olivia’s house yesterday that this has happen. Each time it’s
worse. Olivia despises having to ask Sloane for help, but she doesn’t have
enough control over her power to do it on her own just yet. Sloane, however, is
more than happy to dive back into Olivia’s mind and feelings despite what she
said back at Olivia’s house.

I don’t think Sloane was lying or being
deceptive when she said she was sorry and didn’t mean to invade Olivia’s
privacy. She seemed honestly affected by the pain Olivia carries over
everything that has happened with Hayden. Clearly, something about being in
Olivia’s memories and emotions gives Sloane pleasure. I’m not sure exactly what
it is, but the expression on her face is verging on blissful.

Not so, for Olivia. The grimace she sports
every time they’ve done this gets worse each time, as if she’s fighting off Sloane’s
invasion while expending everything she has left to find Hayden. I don’t get Sloane
at all, but she’s not really my concern right now. If she gets some kind of
weird joy out of spying into other people’s heads, well, we’ll deal with that
later. It’s Olivia that has me worried.

I get that having someone sift through
your thoughts would be disturbing, but why is she so determined to protect her
memories of Hayden? Is she worried Sloane will see something she doesn’t want her
to see? That Sloane might tell me something I don’t already know? I shake my
head at that, but I can’t help wondering. I saw Hayden kiss Olivia that last
time, but Olivia told me about the other two times they kissed, once the night
the Sentinel attacked the house, and once while I was gone when Hayden was
trying to convince her I wasn’t her only option. That was before he found out I
was an Aerling, and I feel no anger against Hayden for any of those. So, why is
Olivia so upset?

I’m left wondering when Olivia’s eyes snap
open and she yanks her hands out of Sloane’s. She stands and brushes the dirt
off her pants without looking in Sloane’s direction. She turns to me, still
agitated, and says, “He’s on the third sublevel in the west prison block, cell
fourteen. I think he’s…” Olivia’s hard expression falters. “Hayden is hurt. We
need to hurry.”

Her eyes are pleading, forcing me to push
away my other concerns and take her hand. “We’ll get him back. Sloane and I
will be in and out with him before you know it.”

“Wait, what?” Olivia demands. For a split
second, I almost laugh, because she looks just like Evie did when we told her
she couldn’t come. I think better of it, luckily.

“Olivia, how would you ever be able to
sneak in there? There are Sentinels crawling all over this compound. Whatever
Hayden has gone through, it will be so much worse for you.” I doubt I’m telling
her anything she doesn’t already know, but the pain etched in her features cuts
at me all the same. “We’ll get him out, I promise.”

Biting at her bottom lip, Olivia nods as a
tear rolls down her cheek. “I know you will. I’m just so worried.”

“I know you are. It’s going to be okay,
though.”

Olivia throws her arms around me, but
pulls away just as quickly and begins pacing. She still won’t look at Sloane.
Whatever is going on between them doesn’t stop Sloane from walking over to me
and saying, “I’ll follow your lead. I’ve been in the Aerling world for a year,
so I might be a little rusty at being, you know, invisible.”

“I’m sure it will all come back to you as
soon as we’re surrounded by Sentinels on every side.” I say it with as much
confidence as I can, but her confession worries me. “Getting in shouldn’t be
too much of a problem. It’ll be getting Hayden back out. Even if the Sentinels
can’t see or sense us, we have no way of hiding Hayden.”

Sloane’s eyes narrow. She reaches toward
me, but I can’t help flinching away. Hurt by my mistrust, she pulls her hand
back, but says, “I wouldn’t be so quick to limit your powers, Mason. You’re the
heir of Tāwhiri. One of them, anyway. That counts for a lot in our world.”

Not entirely sure what she means by that,
I don’t really have time to puzzle out her cryptic words. I turn back to Olivia
and wrap her up tightly. “Stay out of sight until we get back. If there’s any
hint of Sentinel activity, get in the car and drive away. They can’t sense you,
but they can track you like they would any other prey. I don’t want you to risk
yourself for Robin, but we need her to repair the barrier. I don’t know if
Tū knows we need her to fix things. Even if he doesn’t, Robin knows enough
to cause more trouble.”

“I won’t let them find either of us,”
Olivia says. The heat in her voice makes me wary, and gives me hope at the same
time. She turns her chin up and kisses me fiercely. “Be careful, and bring
Hayden back to me.”

“I…will.” I’ll do everything I can to
rescue Hayden, but her phrasing gives me pause. Again, I don’t have time to
ponder it, so I shake it off and return my focus to Sloane. She’s ready and
waiting. A few seconds later, we’re both trotting toward the Sentinel compound.

It looks like a prison, like the kind
you’d see on some kind of prison break movie. Razor wire tops a ten foot fence.
Armed guards are positioned in watchtowers that surround the compound. Every
gate has secured locking mechanisms. It’s completely locked down, and I’m sure
any human would have a tough time getting in here. Luckily for us, we’re not
human. Sloane and I both call the air to us, using it to lift ourselves over
the razor wire and set us back down in the barren courtyard.

Sloane seems unsure of what to do next
when we get to a door sealed shut by a key card access lock. I’d be lying if I
said I wasn’t pleased with how fast I was able to call up a bit of lightning,
short out the lock, and use Molly’s lock picking tricks to get us both inside.
Deep into the early morning hours, we only encounter a few Sentinels patrolling
the halls. No one sees the elevator door open on its own, and no one sees it
open on the third sublevel, either. Making our way to the correct cell block
and locating Hayden is easy. That’s where things start getting difficult.

“What do we do now?” Sloane asks as we
stare at a bruised and bloodied Hayden out cold on an old cot while a Sentinel
guard stands watch right in front of the cell door. The intensity this guy is
carrying around pretty much guarantees us there’s no chance of him falling
asleep in the near future.

It takes me a few minutes to answer,
mainly because I’m trying to think up a plan. I feel completely stumped until I
remember Cedrick’s last bit of advice on controlling Robin. It should work, but
I need to make sure it won’t end up giving us away, first. Turning to Sloane, I
say, “Check the surrounding area and let me know if there’s anyone close enough
to stumble on a body and raise an alarm.”

Sloane’s eyes widen by a small degree, but
she nods and scurries off. She’s back a few minutes later, shaking her head.
“Hayden’s the only prisoner in this block. There likely won’t be anyone coming
down this way until the next shift.”

“Good.” Sloane’s whole body tenses up as I
walk over to stand directly in front of the guard, as close as I can manage
without him sensing me immediately. I can tell by Sloane’s stillness that she’s
holding her breath, which seems oddly appropriate given what I’m about to do.
It’s times like these that I’m thankful to have the memory of an Aerling. Aside
from the memories lost from the trauma of seeing my Caretaker family murdered
in front of me, I remember nearly everything. Any memory having to do with
power, it’s like it’s stored inside my mind in full HD.

I bring back Cedrick’s instructions, the
memory of it filling me to the point that it’s as though I’m there. I remember
his every move, following it as I call up my power and bring the air in the
guard’s body under my full command. I know instinctively how much I need to
take for him to pass out, and with a flick of my power, I suck it right out of
him. His eyes roll up before he can even process a single thought, and a few
seconds later he’s lying on the ground.

Sloane seems stunned at my display, but I
don’t have time to calm her down. “Stand guard. It may take me a few minutes to
wake Hayden up.”

Nodding, she takes up position dutifully.
The whole getting inside Olivia’s head thing is still bugging me, but I have no
problem trusting Sloane when it comes to rescuing Hayden. That’s the whole
reason she volunteered for this insane mission in the first place. Putting my
faith in her to do her job well, I make myself visible and approach Hayden’s
unconscious form. He doesn’t react at all when I put my hand on his shoulder.

“Hayden,” I whisper. You need to wake up.”
He groans when I shake him gently, but still seems determined to avoid the
waking world. “Hayden, please, we need to get you out of here.” He groans again
and pulls away from me. Sighing, I say the one thing I know will work. “Olivia
is waiting for you, but you have to wake up.”

Immediately, Hayden’ eyes flutter halfway
open. “Olivia?” He looks like he’s either been drugged or simply exhausted, but
he finally begins to struggle up to sitting. He only makes it halfway before I
reach in to help him. He winces when I grab his arm to help keep him steady.

“Where are you hurt?” I ask.

“Pretty much everywhere. Don’t worry about
it. Let’s just get the hell outta here.”

I couldn’t agree more. Hayden leans on me
heavily once I get him up to his feet and my worries about how we’re going to
escape deepen. “Any grand ideas on how to get you out of here without getting
caught by the Sentinels?”

Hayden laughs, or tries to anyway. It’s
too painful. “Would’ve thought you’d have figured that out before jumping in
here to rescue me.”

“Yeah, well, you know how our last
brilliant plan worked out. We figured winging it couldn’t possibly go any
worse.”

A grin spreads across Hayden’s mouth.
“That last plan sucked.”

“No kidding. Let’s hope this one goes a
little better.”

Hayden starts to nod, but suddenly he digs
up a bit of strength and grabs my arm, pointing over my shoulder. I whip
around, sure a Sentinel has somehow managed to sneak up on us, but all I see is
Sloane standing guard. “Hayden, what’s…?”

“Shh!” he whispers. “There’s someone
outside the cell. A woman.”

I couldn’t have been more stunned than if
someone dropped a bucket of ice water on my head. “You can see her?” I demand.

“Of course I can! She’s standing right in
front of us!”

At that, Sloane turns around, looking
equally caught off guard. “You can see me?”

“Why does everyone keep asking me that?”
Hayden asks. He tries to move away from Sloane, but his legs give out and I
have to catch him. His eyes stay pinned on Sloane the entire time. “Who are
you?”

Knowing we can’t sit around chatting all night,
I give Hayden the short version. “She’s an Aerling, Levi’s sister, to be
specific. She came to help rescue you. Everything else is going to have to wait
until we get out of here.”

Even what little I just told him is enough
to shut Hayden up for a good long while. He stares at Sloane in shock as I drag
his barely functional body out of the cell. Sloane isn’t much better, but she
has enough presence of mind to rush over to Hayden’s side and make dragging him
around a little easier on me. Only the sound of our shuffling feet follows us
through the empty hallways. The going is fairly easy until we near the end of
the cell block.

“Can you get to him through the glass?” Sloane
asks in reference to the guard sitting inside the glass booth that monitors the
exit. On our way in it wasn’t that difficult to short the lock and wait until
he turned his back to slip through. That’s not going to happen while we’re
towing Hayden along with us.

Shaking my head in answer to her question,
I know I won’t be able to maneuver my power through the small opening under the
door with enough strength to suck the breath out of his body. My mouth turns up
in a vicious smile as I realize I can certainly do the reverse, though. I can’t
remember where I learned about oxygen toxicity, but the information was filed
away in my brain somewhere and I dredge it back up now. Concentrating, I
separate the bits of molecular oxygen from the surrounding air and start
funneling it into the guard booth under the door.

Oxygen poisoning can kill a human, but I
know I won’t be so lucky with a Sentinel. It should be enough to incapacitate
him for a while, though. Sloane watches raptly as the guard first seems to
experience a high. As I shove more and more oxygen into his booth, things start
to change. The guard stands, noticeably disoriented. We all watch as he
stumbles about for a minute before dropping to the ground as a seizure overtakes
him. We all look away then and slip out the door. I don’t feel any remorse for
damage done to Sentinels, but that doesn’t mean I want to sit around and watch
it either. Unfortunately, he’ll be fine once the seizure ends and the oxygen
levels even back out.

“Mason, two Sentinels, ahead to the
right.”