Sighing when I don’t smell burning plastic, I roll up to sitting and contemplate putting my feet on the floor. Given how just sitting up made my head swim, walking to the bathroom seems likely to end me, but know I can’t stay in bed no matter how much I want to avoid Hayden today.
I groan when I finally stand up and my stomach rolls. By the time I make it to the bathroom and step into the shower, I feel like giving up. I press my head against the cool tiles on the far side of the shower. Blinking as a drop of water slides into my eye, I try to clear the blurriness. I blink again when it doesn’t go away. And again.
A strange sense of panic builds in my chest as I can’t clear my vision. I rub my eyes and drag my hands down my face to get the water off me. My breathing escalates as my vision continues to worsen. I gasp, but I can’t get any air. I am reaching for my towel when everything around me freezes. I stare through blurry eyes at the water drops hanging suspended. Mason’s face flashes in front of my eyes and a sharp stinging pain stabs into my middle, dropping me to my knees.
“Mason,” I whisper, “Mason.” I cry his name over and over again as the pain and nausea slowly lessens. Water pours over my body once again, but it can’t wash away the sense of impending danger clinging to every inch of my skin.
By the time I feel well enough to stand, I am frantic to know what’s happening to Mason. I speed through toweling off and throw on whatever I grab from my closet. I am rushing down the stairs only a few minutes after leaving the bathroom. Mom tries to offer me some breakfast, but the mere mention of food brings on another wave of nausea. I press my hand to my stomach and try to resist the urge to vomit.
“Olivia, honey, are you okay?” Mom asks.
“Yeah, you look like crap,” Evie chimes in.
My eyes snap over to hers. “Shut up. I’m still mad at you for yesterday.”
“What happened yesterday?” Mom asks. Her eyes immediately go to Evie with a warning look.
Evie smirks. “Olivia can’t handle competition, that’s what.”
“Leave Hayden alone,” I snarl. “He’s not interested.”
Mom’s eyes narrow as she looks at her youngest daughter. Evie is either oblivious, or pretending not to see her. “You’ve already got Mason. What do you need Hayden for?”
“He’s my friend.”
“That’s not what it looked like yesterday out on the porch.” Evie glares at me, a mixture of jealousy and disappointment in her eyes.
Spinning away from her, I tell my mom, “You’re going to have to take her to school today, because I refuse.”
I storm out of the kitchen and dash out the front door. Before I can get completely away, Mom slips out the door behind me.
“Are you doing okay, Olivia? You really don’t look like you’re feeling well.”
“I’m not, but I need to be at school today. If I start feeling any worse, I’ll come home, but I need to get some assignments turned in.”
Mom nods. She knows school has been a struggle for me lately, but she’s been understanding about everything. “What was Evie talking about? The comment about the porch, I mean. Is everything okay with Hayden?” She pauses and seems to reconsider her last question. “Is everything okay with Mason? I know it’s been confusing when it comes to Mason lately.”
“Hayden is the one who’s confusing me!” I complain. A growl of frustration slips past my lips. “Can we talk about this later? I need to go.”
“Sure,” Mom says. “Have the school call me if you’re not feeling well.”
“I will.” I turn away, but before I take a step, I turn back and throw my arms around my mom.
Startled, it takes her a moment to respond. She lovingly puts her arms around me and strokes my hair. She doesn’t pester me to tell her what’s wrong. Instead, she just holds me. “Everything is going to be okay, Olivia. You’ll get through this.”
I look up at her with tears in my eyes. “What if I can’t?” Tears spill down my cheeks. No matter how fast I brush them away, they just keep coming. “What if I can’t figure out how to send Mason home?” My face crumbles as my fears surface and bubble over. “What if I do figure it out?” I whisper.
Mom gently brushes away more of my tears. Concern fills her eyes. “What do you mean? I thought you wanted to help Mason get home?”
My chin trembles as I battle with myself. I don’t lie to my parents. I can appreciate the fact that they’ve already been where I am. Normally, I share my struggles with them openly, but telling them everything involved with sending Mason home was just too hard. I didn’t want to scare them, or give them any reason to stop me. I can’t keep all of this in, though.
“Helping Mason get home… I don’t know what’s going to happen to me if I do. I mean, I’m doing it regardless, because I love Mason and if I don’t, Mason will die, but I’m scared, Mom.”
“Why are you scared?” she asks. Her fingers tremble as she pushes back my straggling hair.
I close my eyes. I can’t bear to look at her when I tell her. “If I fail, I’ll stay here.”
“If you don’t fail?” Mom asks quietly.
“I won’t be coming home,” I say. My chin quivers and I feel a new rush of tears fill my eyes. “I may go with Mason, or I may die. I don’t know what will happen, but I will never see you again.”
Taking a deep breath, I try to calm myself back down. “I would give anything to keep Mason safe. I love him so much.”
“But you see a chance at another life here with Hayden,” Mom says, sad understanding in her eyes.
My expression twists as guilt stabs into me. “I’m willing to die if it means saving Mason’s life. I am. It’s just… why does Hayden have to be here, tempting me to change my mind, to let Mason die? Why can’t he just leave me alone? I don’t want to be with him, but he won’t go away!”
Mom takes my hands in hers and waits for me to meet her gaze. “What are Mason’s thoughts on you giving up your life for him?”
“If he knew for sure, he’d never let me do it, you know that. But neither of us knows. We won’t know until we’re in that exact moment. We’re just going to have to choose and trust that it will turn out okay.” I sniff and rub at my puffy face.
“I don’t want to say goodbye to you,” Mom says. Now she’s the one with tears in her eyes. “I want to tell you that you should listen to Mason and stay safe, but I know what that would do to you. You have always had such a compassionate soul. Giving you the advice to risk your life for someone else isn’t something I ever thought I would have to do. I don’t want to think about losing you in any way, but I… I’ll support you no matter what you choose to do.”
I lose every last shred of composure I had and fall into my mom’s arms sobbing.
“Come on, let’s go inside,” Mom says. When I try to protest, she shakes her head. “Evie can turn in your assignments and I’ll call the school.”
She refuses to listen to any more of my arguments and pushes me back into the house. A few minutes later, Evie has all my assignments in hand and is marched out to the car by Mom. I, on the other hand, am left sitting on the couch with the remote and a box of tissues within arm’s reach. I think I might have stayed there all day if not for the sudden wave of pain that grips me.
Curling into a ball, I hold my stomach and groan in agony. I breathe in and attempt to focus on a painting above the entertainment center. Another fierce pain stabs at me and I cry out. Fear that I am losing my mind grips me as a dozen voices start whispering a single word. Mason. Mason. Mason.
I stumble up from the couch and cling to the doorjamb. My eyes lock on my keys sitting on the hall table, but I can’t force my hands to let go of the wall. I clench my teeth through the pain, riding it out until it dulls enough to let me cross the hallway and get my keys. I am so desperate to make this stop, I burst out of the house, barely stopping to lock the door behind me, and stumble into my Jeep. The immediate pain slowly begins to fade as I drive, but the sickening feeling in the pit of my stomach
urges me to keep going.
By the time I make it to the nursing home, I feel clammy and weak. My hands shake as I try to smooth my hair and pinch some color back into my cheeks. I walk as steadily as I can up to the reception desk and ask where I can find Robin’s grandmother. The lady at the desk eyes me with a wary expression, but at least she doesn’t refuse me.
The desire to run down the hallway to her room would have been impossible to resist if moving didn’t make me want to hurl. I keep my steps even as I approach Mrs. Montgomery’s room number. I knock as soundly as I can manage and wait. Her weathered voice calls out for me to open the door and come in, but it takes a moment before I can manage to step forward.
When I cross into the room, Robin’s grandmother stares at me in surprise. “You must be Olivia.” Her eyes narrow a bit as she looks me over. Her wrinkled face turns down in a frown. “The illness has started, hasn’t it?”
I shrug helplessly. “I don’t know. I think Mason is in danger. I feel like I have to warn him, but I don’t know how.”
After I tell her everything I have felt, heard, and seen since I woke up this morning, she calmly says, “Yes, you definitely need to warn Mason. Something is coming for him.”
“How?” I demand. “I have no idea where he is or how to get a hold of him! How am I supposed to warn him of anything?”
Robin’s grandmother looks up at me, her expression completely serious. “You have to tell the wind.”
Pressing my hand against my forehead, I try not to scream. “What?”
“Tell the wind.”
“Tell the wind what?” Has she slipped away? Does she have any clue what we’re talking about right now? Please, I beg, please don’t abandon me just yet.
Robin’s grandmother sighs. “You must whisper the warning to wind. Mason will hear it. The wind knows him. It will carry the message to him.”
I sigh, not even bothering to express how insane that sounds. “How will I know if it works?”
“You’ll feel better.”
“Okay,” I say, breathing in deeply. “Thank you.”
I turn to leave, but I can’t go without asking one more question. “Mrs. Montgomery, will sending Mason home kill me?”
Carefully, she regards me with cool eyes. “Would it keep you from helping him?”
“No.”
“Then why does it matter?” she asks.
I fold my arms around my middle and look down at the floor. “I just want to prepare myself.”
“What do you need to prepare for? If you die, then there is nothing left for you to do.” She taps her fingers against the arm of her chair. “What you should be preparing yourself for is if you survive. That will be a much more difficult fate than death.”
“What do you mean?” I ask.
“Robin told me that you found the story of Tāwhirimātea.” She pauses to take a drink. She sets the glass back down and looks up at me. “You didn’t find the whole story, though.”
I lean forward eagerly. “So it does have something to do with Aerlings?”
“I will tell you the rest of the story if you will answer a question for me.”
I nod eagerly. “Sure. I’ll answer a question.”
Robin’s grandmother smiles the type of smile that would make any person wary, but I don’t care what game she’s playing at right now. I just want to hear the story. I think she knows this, and she seems to take pleasure in playing on my fears.
“The Māori creation story,” she begins, “tells of Ranginui, sky father, and Papatuanuku, earth mother, who were the primordial parents. Living in the sky, they lay locked in a tight embrace, their sons forced to exist in the darkness between them. Eventually, their children grew unhappy. They wished to live in the light, but they did not agree on how to gain what they wanted.
“Tūmatauenga was their fiercest son, and devised a plan to kill the parents. Not all of his brothers would go along with his plan, though. Tane suggested that they should not kill their parents, but only push them apart. Their father would remain in the sky, a stranger to them, while their mother would be pushed down to earth to nurture them. All but Tāwhirimātea agreed to this plan, and Tane eventually pushed their parents apart and separated them, each brother being able to live in the light and rule over a part of the natural world.
“Only Tāwhirimātea, who was against the plan, stayed in the sky to comfort his father and punish his brothers,” she says, “but you’ve already heard that part of the story.”
I nod, fascinated by what she has told me. “Yes, Tāwhirimātea had many children and built them into an army to battle his brothers. He beat all but Tūmatauenga. They still fight today as weather and man.”
Robin’s grandmother nods slowly. I wait for her to continue, to tell me more about the story or why she thinks it’s real. When she just continues to sit there nodding, I try to be patient. I only last a few minutes before bursting in on her silence.
“How much of this is true?” I demand.
Startled, Robin’s grandmother looks over at me. Her nearly nonexistent eyebrows knit together. “Can’t you figure that out on your own? It’s fairly obvious.”
My mouth pops open, but I don’t know what to say. Maybe it’s obvious to her! She’s been studying the Aerlings for decades! I’ve had a few weeks, for crying out loud. Finally, Robin’s grandmother sighs and shakes her head.
“I believe Tāwhirimātea is the equivalent of the god of the Aerling world.” She shakes a finger at me gently. “Tūmatauenga, you must at least understand that he is the creator of the Sentinels.”
I must understand that? I’m really not so sure it’s that simple, but I don’t argue for fear of not getting the rest of the explanation. “Sure, that makes sense.”
Robin’s grandmother eyes me as if she knows I’m merely placating her. She huffs, but continues. “When Tāwhirimātea and his brothers first escaped the darkness of their parents, they came down to Earth to rule their domains. Tāwhirimātea left his children on Earth until it was time to battle his brothers. Tūmatauenga also came to Earth, and I believe he created children as well. The Sentinels. After all, he was fighting his brother and needed an army in order to beat him. Neither one could win. The battle is still raging not only here, but possibly in their world as well. That is what you need to prepare for.”
“How?”
“That is not something I can tell you, Olivia. Your powers are your own and you alone are responsible for developing them.”
My eyes close in frustration. I swallow several of the comments that leapt to the tip of my tongue after what she said, and try very hard to be polite. As I breathe in slowly, another thought occurs to me and I don’t hesitate to ask about it. “If Tūmatauenga and Tāwhirimātea came down to Earth, doesn’t that mean that their mother was sent here as well? The story said they pushed her down here to Earth to nurture them.”
“That is true,” Robin’s grandmother says. A smile creeps onto her lips. “I wonder, how did the earth mother fulfill her role as nurturer? How did she care for the offspring of the one son who is trying to avenge what was done to her?”
My eyes widen and I smile. “The Caretakers? You think the Caretakers were created by the earth mother to protect the Aerling children sent here?”
Robin’s grandmother shrugs, but I can see the confidence in her expression. “It is a possibility.”
I rub my hands up and down my arms, feeling cold from this strange illness. I try to take in everything she has told me. There’s so much to consider. Could it really be true? On the surface, it sounds like exactly what most people claim it is. Legend. Myth. Fantasy. But Mason is real. Sentinels and Caretakers are real. Maybe the story of Tāwhirimātea isn’t true exactly the way it is told, but I can’t deny that so much of the story fits and makes sense. I can’t pass it off.
“Now, you agreed to answer my question,” Robin’s grandmother says. The same disturbing smile she wore earlier makes a reappearance.
Suddenly, I
feel rather against the idea of answering whatever question she has, but I know I can’t refuse her. “Right. Ask away.”
“Who gave you the book about the Māori?”
The urge to refuse her broadens and wraps itself around me. I want to lie, but I realize she’s testing me. What will happen if I fail? I have no idea why she would care that Hayden gave me the book, but I can’t risk her refusing to help me anymore with Mason.
“My friend, Hayden, gave it to me. It was his dad’s.”
“Where did his father get the book?” she asks.
My arms wrap more tightly around my body. I can see the door out of the corner of my eye. “Um, I think he said his dad did a year of college in New Zealand. He brought it back with him.”
Robin’s grandmother nods, but her expression gives away nothing. She seems to savor the bit of information for a moment. Eventually, she looks back up at me with a question in her eyes. “Why are you still here?”
“Huh?”
“You need to warn Mason. You must hurry.”
Needing no further encouragement, I step toward the door. “I will,” I say. “I’ll warn him.”
I slip out of the room and hurry toward the exit. I rush out of the building to my car, all the while wondering why Robin’s grandmother was so keen to know where I got the book and why she seemed so pleased to find out.
Chapter 15
The Stalker
(Olivia)
I feel like an idiot. I also feel like I am two seconds away from puking, which doesn’t help. Am I crazy? Sitting on a bench at the park, I silently wonder if something is supposed to happen. I wait. My eyes dart around, but I don’t know what I’m expecting. It’s wind, for goodness sake. It’s not going to tell me what to do. I reconsider my approach and close my eyes. Wind isn’t meant to be seen. It’s felt.
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