“What about Robin?” he demands. “You two seem to be all about weird projects only the two of you know about!”
“Robin has her own motivations for helping Mason, and I couldn’t trust her not to stop me from going after him.” I cringe as more confusion than ever clouds Hayden’s expression. Knowing I am close to losing him, I make a promise I never thought I would make. “Hayden, I promise I will explain all of this to you after we find Mason.”
“After?”
My arms pull more tightly around my middle. Speaking is suddenly a struggle. “There’s not… enough time. We… we have to… hurry. Please!”
“Hurry where?” Hayden demands. “I have no idea where we’re going!” He points a finger at me. “Neither do you, do you?”
“I do!”
Hayden’s eyes narrow.
“I don’t know exactly where he is, but I can sense what direction we need to go.” Hayden’s mouth opens, but I cut him off. “I know this sounds completely nuts, but I’m telling you the truth. I’ll tell you the rest as soon as we find Mason. We’re running out of time, though. Please just trust me on this, Hayden. I’m begging you.”
Hayden drops his head to the steering wheel. I expect more arguing, but when Hayden pulls himself back up there is a look of determination in his eyes. He doesn’t look at me. His eyes are fixed straight ahead. I don’t know what just happened with him, but I fear asking will only make the situation worse. Holding my breath, I wait for him to speak.
“Which way do we need to go?” Hayden asks stiffly.
I hesitate a moment before saying, “North.”
Without another word, Hayden pulls back onto the highway. The headlights have been cutting through the dark night for a long time before I notice that the pain is barely more than a dull ache. It takes me another minute to realize that the pain stopped the minute Hayden spoke. I look over at him, not hiding my stare or my mounting desire to know who or what Hayden really is.
Chapter 20
Red
(Mason)
“Mason, what’s wrong?” Molly asks.
Startled from my thoughts, I jump a bit. “Sorry, what?”
Molly crowds in close to my face. She stares at me, poking my cheek until I snap out of my daze. “What’s wrong with you tonight? You just stopped talking in the middle of a sentence,” Molly complains.
“Something’s wrong,” I say distractedly.
I can’t pull my mind away from the strange sensation wrapping itself around me, tightening until breathing becomes difficult. I can’t remember what Molly and I were doing. The twisting sensation builds, and I am forced to press my palms flat on the carpet to keep from doubling over.
“Mason?” Molly squeaks. “Are you okay?”
I shake my head. “I think it’s Olivia. Something is wrong.”
“Wrong? Is she in trouble?”
“I don’t… know.” My words come out haltingly as my arms weaken.
Molly’s eyes dart from me to the doorway. “Should I go get Mrs. Parker?”
I don’t even have time to answer before the feeling vanishes. When I don’t respond right away, Molly jumps to her feet. I catch her before she runs off, though. My breathing slowly returns to normal as I try to figure out what just happened. Molly tugs on my arm again, her expression pleading.
“Wait a minute,” I say. “Just wait.”
Looking annoyed the way only a seven year old can—a snarl that is more cute than offensive—she plops back down on the floor in front of me. We were supposed to be working on sharing our power. It’s the only time over the last few days that we’ve been left alone. The practice session was going well, if a little one-sided. Sharing my power with Molly is instinctive. Her returning the favor is not so easily accomplished.
Molly rocks back and forth impatiently. “What?” she demands.
“I’m sorry, Molly. I didn’t mean to scare you,” I say.
This isn’t the first time I have felt something like this, some warning that Olivia was in danger or hurting. This was the worst, though, and it has left me shaken. Running to Mrs. Parker won’t tell us anything I don’t already know. Olivia is in some kind of trouble. What I need is to find out more.
“Molly,” I say, “I think I need your help.”
Her eyes brighten. Fear and excitement play on her features. “For what?”
“I need my little lie detector,” I say.
“Huh? Why?” Molly asks.
I’m not sure this will actually work, but I want to give it a try. If we fail, I’ll try asking the Parker’s if I can use their secret phone again. I’m not scheduled to call Olivia for another hour, but I think Molly can help me figure this out.
“You know how you can feel the changes in air vibrations when people speak depending on whether they’re telling the truth or lying?”
Molly nods slowly.
“Can you show me how you do that?”
Shrugging, Molly says, “Maybe.”
Both of us fall back into a concentrated trance a few seconds later. I can feel Molly calling up her power, and I do the same. My lips turn up at the feel of her power brushing up against mine. It’s slightly fizzy nature mirrors her personality so well. We have been working on seeing each other’s powers so we can hopefully learn to use the other person’s abilities better when we share our power. It hasn’t been as easy as I expected, but we’re making progress.
“Tell me something true,” Molly says.
“The Parkers have four biological children.”
Instantly, I feel Molly’s power buzz against mine. She holds it out like a sheer cloth in front of her. Each individual fiber that makes up the cloth leads back to her soul. My words slither through her power without trouble, like water through splayed fingers.
“Now tell me a lie.”
“Shane and Molly are best friends.”
Despite Molly’s annoyed huff, she stays focused on her power. I feel the difference when the lie seems to stick on some of the threads of her power. The vibrations the lie causes aren’t smooth like the truth was. Its rapid oscillations get caught up on the threads as if they were burrs.
After watching Molly’s demonstration, I feel even more confident about my plan. Time for the next step. “Okay, Molly, this time I want you to try and see if you can listen to my thoughts and do the same thing.”
“What?” She stares at me with her nose scrunched like a little rabbit.
“I’m going to form my thoughts into vibrations so you can hear them with your power. Ready?”
Molly frowns. “Um, okay.” She pushes her power further out from her body until it is nestled around my head. It’s an odd sensation.
Focusing all my power on this one thought, I carefully form one single truth into a small rope of vibrations and send it Molly’s way. I could just say it, but this will be much more effective in difficult situations if we can do this without anyone knowing, or from a distance. I hear her giggle a moment later and know it worked. “What did you hear?”
“A truth. Molly is my sister.” She grins. “I like that truth a lot.”
“Me too,” I say with a smile. I refocus, this time coming up with a lie. It’s a little easier this time to form the words and push them toward Molly. Her head bobs up and down eagerly a moment later.
“A lie this time. You said ‘I don’t like Conner,’ but I know you really do. He’s super nice.”
I nod in agreement, but my mind is already jumping ahead to the next step in this plan. “Okay, this may be a little harder. I’m not even sure if it will work, but we have to try. I’m going to think about Olivia and the weird feeling I just had. When I think about what it might mean, you try to listen with your power and see whether or not what I’m thinking is true. Okay?”
Molly scrunches her face. “I’ll try, but it sounds kinda weird.”
“If it doesn’t work, we’ll go get the phone early.”
“Okay,” Molly says slowly. “Let’s try.”
I realized I could do this a few days ago. Not using Molly to guess the future, but replaying events that had already happened. It doesn’t work for everything. The only moments I’ve been able to replay are the ones that involve power. Since I’m sure what just happened had everything to do with my connection to Olivia, I close my eyes and focus on bringing it back up.
Almost at once, the queasy, squeezing feeling wraps itself around me. Instead of wavering under the onslaught of undesirable sensations, I take them in and put everything I have into figuring out what they mean. Olivia may not be sending the feeling intentionally, but something wants me to know she is in trouble. Once I am completely encased in the sickening feeling, I start thinking.
Olivia is in danger.
Molly is silent for a moment. I can feel her power struggling to make sense of my words and weigh their worth. “Nope,” she says. “That’s not it.”
I try again. Olivia is sick?
She shakes her head again.
She’s scared?
That one stumps Molly for a moment. “Yeah, but I don’t think that’s all of it. What she’s scared of is more important.”
She thinks she’s going to be in danger or get hurt?
Frustrated, Molly growls. “No,” she says, her voice sounding rather annoyed. “Mason, I don’t think it’s her that’s in trouble.”
A sinking feeling drags my stomach down to my toes. I don’t bother with the thoughts this time. I just say it out loud. “I’m the one who’s in danger.”
Molly starts nodding, but her expression is grim. “Yep.”
I don’t really need Molly to confirm this next thought, but I say it anyway. “The Sentinels are coming for me.”
When I open my eyes, I see Molly’s big eyes filled with tears. Her head bobs only once before she flings herself into my arms. “Mason, I don’t want them to get you. You have to stay with me. You have to!”
As I stand, I sweep Molly into my arms. She wraps her legs around my waist, matching her arms strangling my neck. Her tears roll down my neck as I hold her. “Hey, it’s okay. They aren’t here yet, and I don’t plan on letting them take me away from you.” I push her chin up so she is forced to look at me. “Why don’t we go call Olivia and find out what she knows? How does that sound?”
Silently, Molly nods. Then she wipes her nose with the back of her sleeve. Ignoring the snot covered arm she wraps back around me, I start down the stairs. I suspect I’ll find Mr. and Mrs. Parker in the living room, where we’ve been spending the majority of our time lately in order to be close to the panic room. As soon as I step into the room, everyone is suddenly alert. Mrs. Parker is the first to stand.
“Mason, what’s wrong?”
All I have to say is, “They’re coming,” and everyone hurries toward the panic room. The smaller kids are picked up by the older ones. Shane and Conner take up positions by the front door. Mrs. Parker reaches for her husband. I want to simply follow them down the stairs, but I put a hand on Mr. Parker’s forearm. He looks at me questioningly.
“I need the phone. Olivia may have more information.”
He looks reluctant, but he lets go of his wife and tells her to get the children settled. Shane and Conner seem intent on watching the door, but Mr. Parker is in no mood for taking chances. He orders them into the panic room as well and then leads me back to the wall safe in his office. It only takes him a moment to unlock the safe and extract the phone. He sets it in my hand just as the sound of splintering wood ricochets through the house.
“Run!” Mr. Parker yells.
He doesn’t need to tell me twice. We both sprint for the door. I can hear his feet pounding against the ground right along mine. I can hear Molly’s terrified breaths pulsing in and out of her trembling body. I can hear the unfamiliar sound of heavy boots storming into the entryway.
We are only halfway across the living room when the scarred Sentinel steps into view. I know I should run, but my feet stop moving. Mr. Parker screams at me to move. Molly just screams. I want to run, but I can’t. He can’t see me. I know he can’t. He shouldn’t even be able to feel my presence from that distance, but somehow he knows exactly where I am.
Maybe it’s because we’ve met before.
Suddenly, I am five years old again. The images I have tried so hard to forget slam into me. I watch the knife take my Caretaker father down. The crying, frightened child in me begs me to forget, to not see it again, but I don’t try to stop the memory this time. The bits and fragments that usually plague my dreams now coalesce into one fluid scene. The child’s eyes leave the knife and follow them back to the source.
He stares down at my Caretaker father and sister with cold eyes, not caring for their pain. The scar is not there when I look at him, but the cruelty is. Their lives mean nothing to him. All he cares about is finding me. I see myself moving toward my little foster sister who was dropped when the knife hit. I shake my head, warning myself to stay back, but I cannot control the past. As soon as I touch her, the not-yet-scarred Sentinel clamps down on my wrist and everything goes white.
“Mason!” Molly screeches.
The sound is enough to yank me out of the past and into the all too real danger of the present. My eyes widen at the sight of the Sentinel only a few feet in front of me, a second away from reaching Mr. Parker. Molly’s nails dig into my neck as she begs me to do something! It is her terrified whimper that finally jolts me into action.
Power rushes to my call. The hand not clutching Molly sweeps away from me in a rush. A blast of frigid air slams into the second Sentinel and sends him flying into a wall. I yell for Mr. Parker to run. He looks back at me, but I shout again, “Get to the panic room and protect your family!”
Fear and agony flash across his features, but he bolts for the hallway. Molly screams again as a hand reaches out for her and I spin away. The moment’s hesitation after Mr. Parker ran makes me too slow. I feel helpless as Molly is ripped out of my arms.
A furious scream is drawn from my body as my power lashes out at the scarred Sentinel. I expect him to fall, to drop Molly and slam into a wall. My shock nearly lays me out as he withstands the blow. Molly’s wide eyes fill with tears. I can see it in her eyes. She knows she is about to die.
I can’t move as the scarred Sentinel slides a dagger from the sheath strapped to his thigh. Power builds around me. My hands ball into fists, fury making my knuckles crack, as the gathering air creates a halo around my hands. I’ve stopped him before. I know I have! I couldn’t save my Caretaker family, but I escaped when he came for me the first time. I have to do it again! I can’t let him take away anymore of the people I love!
The scarred Sentinel raises the knife. I scramble to bring back the memory. I have to know what I did! Or how to create the blade I used to kill the last Sentinel. Anything! That has to be the white flash Olivia mentioned! I have to remember, but I can’t. I can’t bring it back!
The knife drops.
Molly’s eyes roll back in her head.
I scream and do the only thing I can.
My body bursts forward in a display of brute force backed by power. My shoulder slams into the Sentinel’s sternum and my hands wrap around Molly’s limp body. Adrenaline screams through my veins. I feel the wall of muscle I slammed into give way just enough.
His grip loosens.
I pull and spin.
He lunges for us both.
The hit put him off balance just enough that he stumbles. It’s only a fraction of a second, but it is enough to put me out of his reach. Desperation launches me out of the room. There is a Sentinel rushing through the front door. The power still buzzing through my body explodes outward and the nearest window shatters in a spray of glass. There is a moment of regret for the destruction, but I think the Parkers will understand. Icy air hits my lungs as I fling Molly and me through the window frame and onto the lawn.
I don’t stop.
I run as far and fast as I can.
I run until I finally stumble an
d fall.
Molly tumbles from my arms, jolting her back to consciousness. She cries out as she skids across the sidewalk. I reach out for her, but my supporting arm buckles. Molly scrambles over to me, shaking me and begging me to look up at her. I try. I do. Silently, I wonder my side and arm feel so cold and why I can’t feel my fingers anymore. I don’t resist as Molly pushes me onto my back. Even her gasp doesn’t affect me like it should. The only thing I am aware enough to take in is the red covering her hands. For a moment, I think she’s been hurt, but when she touches my numb arm and it comes away with more red, I realize the blood is mine.
I try to get up, but there is no strength left in me. I fall back to the ground and beg, “Olivia, I need you.”
Chapter 21
This Moment
(Olivia)
“No, no, no, no, no,” I whisper as the pain returns full force. I curl in on myself. The pain tries to steal my focus, but I refuse to give in. I can’t let it beat me. I have to find Mason before it’s too late.
“Olivia, talk to me,” Hayden demands. “What’s happening?”
“They’ve found him!” I don’t know how I know, but I have never known anything as surely as I know this.
Hayden curses, which surprises me. His fist slams into the steering wheel. “Is he okay?”
I shake my head and Hayden steps on the gas.
Signs of a decent sized town have been teasing us for the past twenty miles. I see a billboard indicating we’re only two miles away from Burger King and I pray it means we’ve almost reached Mason. My phone starts buzzing again, like it has been for the last few hours. My mom’s number staring at me only makes me turn it over. I can’t explain this right now.
My arms cinch around my knees as blinding pain cascades through my body. The pull that has been yanking us down random roads and through towns of every shape and size for hours suddenly becomes a noose around my neck.
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