Setting her down on her feet, I squat down to face her eye-to-eye. “It means that when I’m here with Olivia, I can’t access my power except the little bit I need to stay alive.”
“But…” Her worry deepens into fear. “How will you train me?”
Pressing her close to my heart, I stroke her hair gently. “Molly, the barrier is gone. You don’t need to be scared of failing to reach your full potential. You have all the time in the world to train. I’ll still teach you. We’ll just have to go back to the Aerling world to do it. We’ll take you soon. You want to meet our parents anyway, right?”
I expect excitement from that last question, but I’m caught off guard when she bursts into heavy, wracking sobs all over again. “I don’t…want…to go…away from…you,” Molly bawls.
She’s too upset to talk to or listen to an explanation, but before I can even try, Olivia’s dad bursts in. “The Aerling children here, what’s going to happen to them? Will they all be taken away? The Parkers and Montgomerys, they’re both worried someone is going to come and take their children away.”
Olivia steps out of Evie’s strangling grip and puts her hand on her dad’s shoulder. He mentioned the Parkers and Montgomerys, but I can tell from the fearful way he’s looking at Molly that he’s not just scared for them. It fills my heart to know Olivia’s family has taken in my little sister so completely already, and Olivia echoes that sentiment.
“Dad, no one’s going to take Molly or any of the other Aerling children away. Yeah, the parents are eager to see their kids again, but we already discussed it with Cedrick,” she explains. “It would be too traumatic to uproot them all so suddenly. The Caretakers are the only family these kids know.”
“What’s going to happen then?” her dad asks. Molly’s head pops up, begging the same question.
Olivia smiles down at Molly, winking at her like they share a secret. “Visitation, to start with. Escorts will play taxi driver and help shuttle the parents back and forth to get acquainted with the kids. The Aerlings here will be able to choose whether to stay or go once they’re old enough. It will all work out. Some of them, I’m sure,” she says, glancing down at Molly again, “won’t want to leave their families here.”
As Molly takes in everything that’s been said, her still-teary eyes focus on me. “I can stay with you? For always?”
“If you want, Mollywog. I’ll always take care of you.” I kiss her forehead before looking at her again. “If you ever want to go with our mom and dad, though, that will be okay, too. I’ll come visit you all the time.”
A new round of tears spill over her cheeks, but this time they aren’t filled with sadness. I pull her back into a hug and cradle this precious little girl. I don’t know if she’ll choose to stay with me forever. The Aerling world and real parents who love her will be a big draw. I don’t know that I could ever fulfill that role on my own, but if she chooses to stay, I’ll do my best for her. Looking at the people gathered around me, I know I won’t have to do it on my own.
“So, how does all this explain Sloane?” Evie demands, one hand on her hip as she stares at Sloane with narrowed eyes.
I almost start laughing when Hayden’s hand slips into Sloane’s and Evie nearly loses her cool. “Uh,” Hayden says, his eyes darting around, “it’s kinda a long story, but what Mason and Olivia did…uh, yeah.”
“You and Sloane?” Evie says, choking on the words. Throwing her hands up, they slam back down on her hips. “Does anyone else think that happened a little fast? Your brother is going to freak!”
Trying really hard to control her laughter, Olivia wraps her sister up in a squeezing hug. “Evie, Hayden became Sloane’s Escort. It’s like Hayden said, there’s a lot more to their story than you realize. Be happy for them. I am.”
Evie’s eyes snap up to her sister’s, and I realize then the reason for her outrage. There was a time that Evie tried to convince Hayden she was plenty old enough for him and would have been more than happy to fill the spot Olivia refused to take in his life. It was a passing thing, one Olivia shut down just as quickly as Hayden, but I thought for a moment that Evie still harbored feelings for him. As she sees her big sister’s obvious happiness for her friend, I realize that wasn’t it at all. She was only worried about Hayden moving on and hurting Olivia. I smile, glad to be back with my family.
There’s still so much to explain, so much work to do to sort everything out, but soon the excitement of our arrival begins to mellow and we all head inside for some much needed rest. I want nothing more than to collapse on the couch and watch TV for the rest of the day, enjoying the fact that everyone I care about is safe and happy.
That fantasy gets put on hold as soon as I see a burly Caretaker Officer standing in the living room with Robin kneeling at his feet. I’m not the only one taken aback, but since I feel like this is something I need to take the lead on, I turn Molly over to Olivia and step forward.
“The war is over,” the officer says. “Her actions have been judge by the Caretakers. She has been labeled as a traitor and condemned to death.”
More than one gasp rises from behind me, but I keep my expression even.
The Caretaker in front of me clearly heard the reactions from behind me as well. He doesn’t falter in the face of them, but he does say, “Despite the ruling handed down, the Caretaker Council also felt that you should be given the decision of what her final punishment should be. Our laws dictate death, but there has already been too much killing. If you wish to grant clemency, we will honor your decision.”
Shocked that this is being dumped in my lap, underneath the fear of having to make such a decision, there’s some relief that they hadn’t already executed her. Squatting down in front of her, I flinch when Robin meets my gaze. The haunted expression in her eyes says she knows everything. The war is over. She lost. Not just the war, but everything. Her family will never accept her again. The friends she thought she had among the Sentinels are gone, most of them dead now. The glorious future she’d envision has been replaced by one of captivity. Even if I allow her to live, she’ll never be free.
“Mason,” Molly whispers from beside me, “I have an idea.”
I turn to face her with a questioning glance. “An idea for what?”
Her trembling hand points at Robin. “Let’s make her forget.”
Olivia kneels down next to us. “How?”
“It’s like feeling lies,” Molly says quietly. “I can turn it around.”
Not sure what she means, I ask, “How would that make her forget?”
“Instead of feeling the lies people speak, I can turn what they think into lies.” Her eyes dart up to Evie. “I did it on accident the first time.”
Olivia’s parents chuckle behind their hands. Evie turns her nose up at their mocking, and I remind myself to ask for the full story later. Turning my attention back to Molly, I say, “Are you sure about this?”
She nods and slowly moves closer to Robin, her shaking hands extending to touch her head with one finger, like she’s afraid Robin will bite her. Access to my power is cut off while I’m here, but I can still feel Molly using hers. Focusing, I follow the steps she takes. She once explained to me the different ways truth and lies felt to her power. I can’t do what she can, but I watch in amazement as her power infiltrates Robin’s memories and changes the shape of them, from smooth and flowing truths to spiny lies that stick and cling together, turning her memories into a mess of confusion.
When Molly jumps back, her power follows. She presses herself against my side and stares at Robin fearfully. We all wait with baited breath to see if it worked. Slowly, Robin’s eyes roll open, confusion and fear fill them in an instant. “Where am I? Who are you people?”
That’s all the confirmation the Caretaker Officers need. The one holding her grabs her by the arm and begins leading her out of the house, off to…I have no idea, but I know they will care for her in whatever manner they see fit. The second officer who had been silently guarding the door steps
forward before following his partner outside. “Thank you,” he says, “for this, for not letting our Aerling children be taken away without warning, and for everything else. The Caretakers owe you all a debt we can never repay.”
And with that, he’s gone. They’re all gone. Sentinels, Caretakers, gods, everyone. At last, it finally feels like the war is truly over. Excited chatter begins almost immediately after the door closes behind the Caretaker Officer, everyone talking at once. It’s not about the remaining questions I’m sure everyone has, or plans for what has to happen next.
Evie is telling Olivia all the school gossip. Molly is begging for a cookie even though it sounds like she’s had about a dozen already. Hayden and Sloane are talking about going to a movie this weekend, after she meets his family. I think I hear the phrases “catching up on homework” and “planning for college” come out of Olivia’s dad’s mouth before she rolls her eyes at him while smiling. Only Olivia’s mom is sitting quietly, taking in the happiness and lack of fear.
Olivia slips up behind me suddenly and wraps her arms around my waist. “I don’t know how I’m going to go back to school after everything we’ve been through. It seems so inconsequential now.”
“Not to your dad.”
Chuckling, Olivia reaches up and kisses my cheek. “You heard the college comment, I’m guessing?”
“He’s just ready for things to get back to normal,” I say. “We all are.”
Nodding, Olivia smiles. “He’s going to fight us about living together if we decide to go to college away from home.”
“Not that I’m all that eager to leave home right now,” I say, “but that’s a fight he’s going to lose. I’m not letting you out of my sight.”
Kissing me again, Olivia is grinning when she pulls back. Her eyes leave mine as she turns to look at her parents. They’re busy getting a movie started for everyone while we wait for the Parkers and Hayden’s family to arrive, but her dad pauses in what he’s doing and looks over at her. She’ll always be his little girl, but there’s acceptance and joy in his eyes rather than worry. Snuggling against me even closer, Olivia says, “Maybe it won’t be a fight after all.”
“I don’t think it will be,” I say.
As if he knows exactly what we’re talking about, Olivia’s dad holds up his left hand and taps his ring finger as he gives me a serious look while nodding in his daughter’s direction. Olivia and I both bust up laughing. Molly steals his attention after that, but I keep my arms around Olivia, savoring the fact that we survived, that we still have a chance to live out all the dreams and plans we thought we had lost what seems like forever ago now.
Being an Aerling once seemed like a curse. The pranks we pulled gave us a lot of good memories, and being Olivia’s sole focus for so long certainly wasn’t a bad thing, but never truly belonging tore me down. When the truth started unraveling and we learned our true purpose, the curse only seemed to expand, to make me feel even more like I was something out of place, meant for a specific use that would ultimately break me down to uselessness.
The journey didn’t break me, though. Not the way I expected. Yes, I was torn down, over and over again, but I was rebuilt into something better. Something that isn’t out of place anymore. Something that truly belongs. Pulling Olivia over to the couch with me, we settle in for whatever syrupy cartoon movie Molly picked out and just breathe.
THE END
Acknowledgements
Thank you so much to my Wattpad readers for hounding me until I got this book finished. I left them hanging for way too long, but they forgave me and gobbled up the new chapters the second I had them posted. Their love for Mason, Olivia, Molly, and Hayden spurred me to finish the story so they could know once and for all, what happens at the end!
I’m especially grateful to one of the readers I met on Wattpad, Sneha Mohite, for her help answering questions on Wattpad, her enthusiasm for all my books, and being the first to give me feedback on the ending. As she knows, I agonize over ending a series no matter how many times I’m forced to do it.
I also owe a big thanks to Nikki Jeffrey for fielding the literally hundreds of messages that came in, and keep coming in, asking about this series. She has been so kind to help me out so I could focus on writing. She’s a life saver!
Most years I participate in NaNoWriMo, but this year my goal was to finish this book by the end of November, and I don’t think I would have made it without the awesome lady known as SeriouslyGina and her band of NaNo pirates! Late night Google chats kept me writing and got me moving on this story, so thank you Gina!
Thank you as well to my husband for his support and his encouragement to finish writing this book and stop dragging my heels over it. He also pulled me away from it when I needed a break because my brain was fried and I just wanted to curl up with him and watch a movie.
About the Author
DelSheree Gladden lives in New Mexico with her husband and two children. The Southwest is a big influence in her writing because of its culture, beauty, and mythology. Local folk lore is strongly rooted in her writing, particularly ideas of prophecy, destiny, and talents born from natural abilities. When she is not writing, DelSheree is usually reading, painting, sewing, or working as a Dental Hygienist. Her works include Escaping Fate, Twin Souls Saga, The Destroyer Trilogy, and Invisible. Look for, Wicked Power, the next book in the SomeOne Wicked This Way Comes Series, and Soul Stone, book two in the Escaping Fate Series, coming 2014.
Connect with DelSheree online at:
http://www.delshereegladden.com
http://delshereegladden.blogspot.com/
Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/DelShereeG
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/AuthorDelShereeGladden
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/DelSheree
Google+:
https://plus.google.com/+DelShereeGladden/posts?cfem=1
Goodreads:
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4305414.DelSheree_Gladden
Also by DelSheree Gladden
Escaping Fate Series
Escaping Fate
Soul Stone
Oracle Lost
(Coming 2015)
Twin Souls Saga
Twin Souls
Shaxoa’s Gift
Qaletaqa
The Destroyer Trilogy
Inquest
Secret of Betrayal
Darkening Chaos
Someone Wicked This Way Comes Series
Wicked Hunger
Wicked Power
Wicked Glory
Wicked Revenge
(Coming 2015)
The Aerling Series
Invisible
Intangible
Invincible
The Date Shark Series
Date Shark
Shark Out Of Water
Invincible (The Aerling Series Book 3) Page 29