“Tū did not choose to banish himself here,” the one Sentinel snaps. “He escaped his parents to have freedom! Instead of being free to make his own choices, he was imprisoned here on Earth, locked away from his home and family. Cast out for wanting more than a life of slavery.”
I just stare at him. Part of me knows I have very little knowledge about what’s actually going on with the Aerlings and Sentinels, but this guy is really tough to just believe straight out. The basics of this story isn’t unique to the Māori. It’s in every culture and religion around the world. Good and Evil, God and the devil. Tū seems to want to be cast in this righteous light, but I’m not buying it.
“He rebelled. What did he think was going to happen?” I ask.
“Rebellion,” Levi’s killer scoffs. “That word is a matter of whose side you’re on. You, little Aerling Escort, have no idea what’s really going on, no clue who is right or wrong or which side you should be on.”
Tensing up at the mere sound of his voice, I force myself to face him. “I know precious little about the war between you guys and the Aerlings, and you’re right that I have no clue who’s in the right, though I don’t think you’ll ever be able to justify killing innocent children. What I do know, is whose side I should be on.”
Levi’s killer twists his mouth into a vile grin. “You would choose the Aerlings just because you were born to serve them? Are you truly as sheep-like as we’ve been told so many times?”
“I’m not choosing the Aerlings,” I growl, hating him more and more with every word that slithers out of his mouth. “I’m choosing my friends. I choose to protect their lives over my own. No one is forcing me, no compulsion or duty is choosing for me.”
The other Sentinel laughs. The harsh, abrasive sound of it makes me want to turn away from his poisonous self, but I turn to face him instead. His laughter mellows into a condescending smile. “You only think you are making the choices. That is how the Mother and Father work. The let you believe you have free will. They are clever enough to give you just enough freedom to make it believable, yet the leash only gets tighter the more you fight for independence.” He grabs my chin, yanks me forward until we are inches away from each other, and then shoves me away in disgust. “Humans are weak and foolish, but the Aerlings and their toys are even more pitiful because they willingly subject themselves to a life of slavery and dependence.”
“Sheep,” Levi’s murderer spits.
Struggling away from my captors, I force my aching body to stand, to face them head on. “You want to talk about sheep? Look at your own reflections, you delusional lemmings. You’ve never even set foot in the Aerling world, none of you! The Sentinels were created on Earth. You don’t know the truth of what happened between Tū and his parents any more than I do! All you have is what your master has told you, and you follow it because you’re his creations and you have no other choice, no other purpose in life. Tū never wanted freedom, he wanted control, and he has it over you. All of you. But it isn’t enough. No, now he has to gain control over everyone else, too. Over humans, over Aerlings, over whatever he touches. You all were just the first stepping stones to his empire of subjugation, and you’re all too stupid to see that.”
Knuckles meet skull before I can even process the sight of the main Sentinel’s punch winding up. My legs turn to jelly immediately and I crumple to the ground. I can feel the pain, but after three days of being tortured, this is hardly the worst I’ve endured. Suffering through it, I stare wide-eyed and slack-jawed at my captor’s scuffed tennis shoes. For some reason, it seems off to me that he’s wearing tennis shoes, but my thoughts are too fuzzy to think of why.
Another pair of shoes joins the first. Then two pairs of knees appear just above me. All I can do is stare, blink, and suck in labored breaths that seem to hurt more than the Sentinel’s blow. I don’t resist when hands grab beneath my shoulders and lug me back into the chair. Throbbing begins the second I’m upright, forcing my hands to my head to cradle it, though it does no good.
Hayden.
My head jerks up at the sound of her voice. The movement sends me reeling, but my eyes search as my vision swims. I don’t understand when all I see is the gray block walls of the interrogation room filled with two Sentinels, myself, and the chair I’m sitting on. Where is she?
Hayden, her voice whispers again. My heart is racing now, verging on full blown panic.
Hayden, she says, her voice stronger than before, we’re coming.
It makes no sense, but if there is one person in this world, or any other, that I have complete faith in, it’s Olivia. The pain and fear all slip away as her words settle over me. Whatever the Sentinels do to me, Olivia is coming, and I have no doubt she will make them pay for the last three days. Both Sentinels stop talking when my bleeding mouth turns up in a wicked, vindictive grin.
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 i
t 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. Do
n’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.
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