Chapter 34
The Line
(Mason)
Exhaustion fills my body. My mind stirs, telling me to wake up, but my body has no intention of doing as it says. Underneath my exhaustion is a sense of satisfaction, of rightness. Something feels different, like I have discovered something important. I can’t pinpoint what it is, though, and my thoughts transfer to something more concrete. To Olivia.
The memory of her pressing herself against me in a desperate, apologetic hug before she left tonight stirs more memories. I remember Hayden then, and her leaving with him… her asking me to wait for her. The delight that request brings to mind is shoved away as images of what happened next assaults me.
Sitting with Evie on the couch, watching a movie, I should have known the volume was too loud to let me hear anyone approaching. We were too absorbed in the show to notice the quiet shuffle of his steps. I saw the butt of the gun too late to do anything to stop it.
Instinct I am not proud of sent me jumping away from her, protecting myself from being discovered instead of catching her as she slumped sideways to the cushions of the couch. I did no better in preventing Olivia from being hurt. The curtains were closed, opening one to signal her would have revealed myself to the Sentinel. Pain wells up inside my chest, tightening it nearly to the point of breaking as I relive my selfish actions.
“Olivia! I think he’s waking up!” Evie yells.
I feel hands press on my face and arms, but I don’t want to open my eyes. I don’t know how to face them after failing them so blatantly.
“Mason,” Olivia whispers, “please wake up. Please wake up.”
It’s her sob that finally pulls my eyes open. The pain in her eyes is overwhelming as she hovers over me. She is all I can see, all I can feel as her fingertips press gently against my cheek.
“Are you okay?”
I just stare up at her. No. My chest constricts as I bring my failure to the surface. “I didn’t protect you,” I say through the pain. “I’m so sorry, Olivia.”
Her face scrunches as if she’s confused about something. “What are you talking about? You saved me and Evie. We would be dead if it wasn’t for you.”
My head starts shaking back and forth. No, I let them both get hurt. I wasn’t careful enough and he snuck up on Evie. I wasn’t selfless enough to warn Olivia. I stood by and watched them both be attacked. My eyes dart over to Evie and see the evidence of my betrayal, a trail of blood running own the side of her neck. I push myself up to sitting and shove Olivia’s hands away from me.
“I should have stopped him from hurting you, but I protected myself instead,” I argue.
Evie and Olivia share a look. They both shake their heads. Evie turns to look at me and asks, “Don’t you remember what happened?”
“He snuck up on us and hit you, and then …”
“No,” Evie interrupts, “after all that. After we woke up and he cut Olivia.”
“What?” I demand.
Olivia turns away from me, just slightly. She speaks before I can do anything. “Mason, you attacked the Sentinel.”
“I did?”
Evie nods. “Yeah. He’s over there if you don’t believe us.”
I turn, not sure what I expect to see. The body of the Sentinel lies on the floor of the hallway. The dull sheen in his eyes makes it clear that he’s dead. Confusion sets in as I scour his body for signs of what happened. There are no bruises or cuts on his exposed skin, no blood pooling under his body.
The front door slams open, stealing everyone’s attention. My eyes widen as Robin comes barreling into the room with a frantic look in her eyes. She skids to a stop. Her mouth falls open at the sight of us on the floor next to the body of the Sentinel. Her already pale skin turns even whiter. Nobody says anything as she backtracks a few steps and shuts the front door. Her fingers turn the deadbolt as if acting independently from her brain.
“What happened?” she squeaks.
“What are you doing here?” I counter.
Robin swallows hard. “Olivia called me. She said you’d all been attacked and you weren’t waking up after you did some crazy thing with the air and killed the Sentinel. She told me to get over here and I came.”
There’s more than one surprising bit of information in all of that, but I latch onto only one. “I did what?”
Olivia’s fingers wrap around mine, something Robin notices. Olivia’s other hand presses against my cheek and turns me to look at her. “Mason, you killed the Sentinel. You saved Evie and me from him.”
“How?”
She shrugs. “I’m not sure I can explain it. You did something to the air. It got cold and the air in the room got all… dagger-like.”
“What?” Robin and I ask at the same time.
Evie tries to explain. “Yeah. All the air swished over to your hand. It turned white at first, then it looked like glass, and it turned into a knife. A big knife. You held up in your hand like this.” She pauses to demonstrate. “Then we both thought you were going to drop it, but you didn’t. You stabbed it right into that guy’s heart, and when you did, the knife thing exploded, or turned back into air. I don’t know. But it did the trick. That guy’s totally dead. We checked.”
My body slumps. I did what? I try to bring up the memories, to understand what Evie is talking about, but I come up blank. I remember him taunting me, telling me that if I didn’t reveal myself to him he’d kill Olivia and Evie. I was on the verge of giving him what he wanted. I was so terrified of them being hurt, but I knew Olivia wanted me to stay put and wait it out as long as I could. I knew she would die to protect me, but I could never let her do that.
The memory of her scream shoots through my mind. My skin hums. The sound is etched into my mind. It wasn’t a scream of fear. It was a sound of agony so rich it went straight to my bones. I remember standing, Olivia yelling at me, and me stepping forward.
My mind starts to twitch, an attempt to scatter my memories, but I refuse to surrender.
The air suddenly felt different after she screamed, like it wasn’t just atoms and particles. It felt alive. It felt sentient. I can’t explain how it happened, but my fury called the air to me once I had the Sentinel under my control. It pressed in close, like a second skin, familiar and right. I wanted to hurt him and the air gave me a way to do it.
As the memories crowd back into my mind, a strange sensation settles over me. The feeling that I have discovered something important returns, yet the why behind the feeling still escapes me.
“I… I don’t know how I did that,” I say quietly. My eyes are drawn to the body lying next to us. I half expect to shiver or feel something, but I don’t.
Olivia turns to Robin. “Do you know how Mason did this?”
“I have no idea,” Robin admits. She bites her bottom lip. Her eyes drop to the side.
That’s all I need to see to know she’s hiding something. My free hand grips her arm tightly. She doesn’t look up until I yank her closer to me. Her eyes are wide behind her glasses, worn and scared. Robin licks her lips and takes a deep breath.
“You know…the special Aerlings I mentioned… I’ve been,” she stammers, “uh, learning more about them.”
“And?” Evie demands. “Spit it out Robin!”
“It’s not just that their especially talented. They’re important. More important than I realized. They’re part of the ruling class of Aerlings.” She gulps. “I’ve tried to find out more, but even Caretakers don’t know very much about the Aerling world. I have no idea what it means to be a part of the ruling class, but I know it means that the Sentinels will do everything they can to kill those Aerlings. This won’t stop. Another Sentinel will come. They’ll keep coming until Mason is dead.”
Nobody says anything. Olivia’s fingers tighten around mine until our fingertips are beet red and throbbing with pain. “It won’t happen,” she finally whispers. “I won’t let them take you away from m
e.”
I squeeze her hand tighter, but I don’t say anything. I can’t. She’s hiding what the Sentinel did to her, but it won’t leave my mind. I can’t shake off the guilt of knowing she was hurt because I am in her life. Robin’s words echo in my mind. This won’t be the last time we’re attacked. How many more times can we escape the Sentinels’ fury?
“What do we do about him?” Evie asks, pointing at the body.
Olivia’s eyes drift over to the man who attacked her twice. “Maybe we should call Mom and Dad.”
“No!” Robin yelps. “They can’t tell the police. If the Caretakers in the police force find out, there’s nothing my parents will be able to do to keep Mason here. They’ll take him away. We have to take care of this ourselves.”
“How?” Olivia asks. “What on earth are we supposed to do with a dead body?”
Robin’s shoulders bob up and down in defeat. “I… don’t know.”
“I do,” Evie says, surprising everyone.
All eyes turn to her expectantly. She doesn’t disappoint.
“The new addition to the library,” she says, “they’re pouring the foundation tomorrow morning. Elizabeth’s mom is the director and they have this big to-do planned tomorrow and Elizabeth has been trying to convince all her friends to volunteer. All we have to do is dig a hole big enough to fit him in and cover him up with dirt, and tomorrow he’ll be gone. Forever.”
Slowly, everyone else’s heads begin to nod. I don’t move. Not because I don’t see the wisdom in Evie’s plan, but because I can sense the line we are about to cross. Disposing of the body irrevocably draws Olivia and Evie into this world of Sentinels and Aerlings, Caretakers and laws we don’t fully understand. There will be no going back. They were not born to this life, but it is about to become theirs.
I look into Evie’s eyes. Her firm devotion won’t back down no matter what I say. She nods when our eyes meet, and I turn to Olivia.
It isn’t just strength I see in her eyes. It isn’t determination alone. It’s what I have spent twelve years hoping I would one day see in her eyes. Her unconditional love wraps around me and I know that if given the choice of safety over being with me, she wouldn’t even have to consider her answer. Olivia will walk with me to the end, no matter what.
The breath in my chest stutters, the depth of her love almost frightening because I understand what this may cost her. “Olivia …”
She shakes her head and pulls my forehead to hers. “Don’t even think it,” she whispers. There are tears in her eyes as she holds me. “Nothing will stop me from being with you. Nothing.” She gasps in a breath and presses her lips forcefully to mine. “I love you, Mason. I love you and I’m not going anywhere.”
Emotion renders me speechless. I could forget the air dagger, the body, the blood, everything in that moment. The strength it takes not to scoop her into my arms and run is almost more than I possess. Evie’s quiet voice is the only thing that stops me.
“Mom and Dad will be home in an hour. We need to get rid of him now.”