Chapter 35
Helpless
(Mason)
I am covered in dirt and sweat by the time I finish digging the hole. The girls wanted to help, so it would get done faster, but I didn’t want to risk anyone seeing them. If someone spots a shovel hovering in the air, they’d likely just pass it off as a trick of the light or the late hour.
Exhausted, I toss the shovel aside and head back to the Jeep. Time to get the body.
Robin jumps out of the driver’s side and rushes over to me. Olivia is a little slower, needing Evie’s help. Is it just the moonlight that is making her look so pale? A tightness in my chest jolts me toward her. She said she was fine before we left the house, that the cut wasn’t that bad. I stumble over to her, afraid she was lying.
“Are you okay? You look pale.”
“I’m fine,” she says.
Evie let’s go of Olivia’s elbow and crosses her arms over her chest as if daring me to contradict her sister. I want to, but I don’t want to be caught standing around the construction site for too long. I grit my teeth and promise myself I will not let Olivia slip away from me later. Whatever that psychopath did to her, I will make it right.
“Mason,” Robin says, “you’re going to need help lugging this guy over there. He weighs a ton.”
She says this as she tries to drag the plastic wrapped-taped up-heap toward the edge of the Jeep. The yellowish dome light casts heavy shadows across her face. For a moment, the effect gives me pause, because in the harsh light she looks more like a corpse than herself. I shake off the disturbing image and step up next to her.
“You guys stay here.”
Robin and Olivia both try to object, claiming I’ll need their help. No offense to them, but neither one would be much help right now. Olivia looks ready to pass out and Robin’s slender arms don’t give me much hope of her being able to heft this guy. Gripping the body under the shoulders, I yank him out of the bed and sling him over my shoulder.
Again, this would look really bizarre if someone spotted me, but I’m not as worried about that as I am getting this done and over with. I want Olivia back home and resting as soon as possible. All three girls troop back into the Jeep obediently as I carry the body over to the hole. There is no ceremony as I drop him into the ground. My aim isn’t quite on and he lands half in and half out of the shallow grave.
I want to get out of here, but a sudden wave of white hot anger stabs at me. He is the reason Olivia is hurt. He’s the reason Evie was tied to a chair. He’s the reason my life is in danger. I can’t contain my fury in that moment. My foot crashes into the body, kicking, shoving it toward the hole, hoping it will somehow take all the other Sentinels with him.
I already lost one family to these sickos. My heel snaps down on his skull. I don’t care that one push would have been enough to get him into the grave. I don’t care that he can’t feel anything anymore. I don’t care that none of this will stop the next Sentinel from coming after me. Every furious, pent up emotion clambering around inside of my head explodes out of me. My foot crashes down again and again. A primal scream rips out of my chest.
The body is in the hole, has been for a while, but I stomp on its chest one more time, letting everything go. Covering the body takes no time at all, but it steals what little strength I have left. I slump to the ground next to the grave and bury my head in my hands. How did our lives come to this? Why couldn’t they just leave me alone?
“Mason,” Robin says softly from behind me, “are you okay?”
I don’t look up. My face stays buried in my hands. “I don’t know how to fix this, stop this from happening again.”
The night is quiet for a moment. A breeze rolls through the site and I notice for the first time that it is beginning to get cold.
“There is no way to stop it,” Robin finally says, “not if you stay here with them.”
My eyes spear her angrily. She holds her hands up in her defense, but doesn’t back down.
“I know what I said earlier, but you aren’t being realistic, Mason. Nothing is going to stop them from coming after you again. This douche bag disappearing will be all the confirmation the Sentinels need. They’ll come after you, kill whoever they need to in order to make sure they get you this time.” She touches my shoulder softly. “I know you don’t want to hear this, but you know it’s true.”
I press the palms of my hands into my eye sockets. The pain does nothing to block out the truth of her words. Still, I can’t bring myself to admit it. “I just have to be more careful. I can hide. I can protect them. Whatever I did tonight, I’ll do it again.”
“You don’t even know how you did it!” Robin argues. “You’re going to bank on your ability to miraculously create some sort of air dagger the next time Olivia is in danger? We’re talking about her life, Mason. You can’t do that. There’s only one way to protect her, and you know it.”
“I’m not leaving!” I growl angrily.
Robin stares at me like I’ve lost it, which maybe I have. She stands up and crosses her arms over her chest. “You are leaving her, Mason, or did you forget that little tidbit of information. When October rolls around, you won’t have a choice. Your birthday means going home, and yeah, maybe she’ll get to go with you, but maybe she’ll die trying. I have no idea. What are the chances of her making it to your birthday to get you home if you stay with her? If she’s not there when the time comes, bad things happen, Mason. You have to go home, or you die. Do you understand me?”
Her words pull me to my feet in a flash. My hands grip her shoulders and pin her against the edge of the temporary construction office. She winces as her head slams into the metal wall.
“What did you just say?” I demand. “I’ll die?”
“If Olivia’s not there to take you home on your birthday, you don’t go home. You can’t stay here either. You’ll die, Mason.”
My fingers dig into her shoulders. “When were you going to tell me this?” I yell angrily. “How many other answers are you hiding from me? What else have you lied about?”
“I haven’t lied about anything!” Robin snaps. “I just found out about you dying if you don’t go home. My grandma told me this afternoon when I went to see her. I was planning to tell you tomorrow.”
She wedges her hands against my chest and shoves me back a step. Her glare matches mine. “I’m trying to help you, Mason, so how about you stop being such an idiot and listen to me.”
“I’m not leaving Olivia,” I snap.
Her eyes narrow. “Then you’re going to watch her die.”
Half a dozen angry retorts are waiting on the tip of my tongue, but none of them make it over the brink. The idea of walking away from Olivia makes me physically sick, but I don’t know what else to do. Anger falls away from my body slowly. My shoulders sag. My stomach twists as I summon up the courage to form new words, frightening words.
“Maybe you’re right.”
Robin sighs, a certain level of satisfaction reflected in her eyes. I stare at her, not sure if there’s something else, but before I can figure it out, Olivia steps out from behind the office. Wide, terrified eyes pierce me.
“What?” she shrieks. “What? You’re leaving? What is she talking about? Your birthday? Dying? How long have you known? When …” Her voice trails off, ending the string of half-formed thoughts. Her eyes turn glassy, reflecting the moonlight and intensifying the pain in her eyes. “Mason, you can’t leave me, please.”
The ache in my chest that has been tormenting me since Robin first explained what had to happen doubles, triples, until it nearly drops me under its terrible weight. I stumble over to Olivia and throw my arms around her. I expect her to do the same, but she yelps in pain and pulls back, tucking her left shoulder out of sight. She tries to hide the pain, but her left hand is trembling and a fresh trail of blood leaks out from under her sweatshirt.
Her hands try to fight me off as I yank at the zipper
. Her one good arm bats at my hand, but I shove it away easily. She groans in agony as I slide her arm out of the black fabric. Weakness like I have never before experienced saps my energy entirely. One knee buckles at the sight of her torn flesh. Cut in no way describes what happened to Olivia. Her gaping biceps is swollen and inflamed, blood still seeping out from a nasty clot of half dried blood.
A sickening image forms in my mind as I picture the Sentinel stabbing his knife into her arm without remorse. My hands fall away in shock. My fingers look black in the moonlight with Olivia’s blood covering them. Only then do I realize her sweatshirt is soaked through. How much blood has she lost? I knew she looked pale. I knew she was in pain, but I wanted to believe her when she said she was fine. Getting rid of the body blinded me to the truth.
“We need to get you to a hospital,” I say shakily.
My whole body feels as cold as stone. Olivia is shaking her head. The way her pink lips stand out so starkly against her skin tightens my resolve. Olivia tries to protest as I scoop her into my arms and demand everyone get back in the Jeep. I ignore her voice and focus instead on her breathing. It seems too shallow, too labored as I get us both into the Jeep.
Robin speeds through town to the nearest hospital as Evie calls her parents and tries not to sound hysterical. We’re halfway to the hospital when Olivia stops trying to change my mind. For the first five seconds, I feel relieved that she isn’t arguing. It only takes that long before I understand that it wasn’t her choice to stop arguing.
“Olivia!” My voice is high and tight as panic takes over every thought.
Evie snaps around from the passenger’s seat, her wide eyes scouring her sister’s body. “What happened? Why isn’t she moving? Is she breathing?”
My head starts shaking back and forth. I don’t know! Hastily, I lay her down on the seat with trembling hands. My blood is pounding in my ears as I lay my cheek next to her nose. I hold my breath, terrified.
Short, warm puffs of air pulse hesitantly out of her body and fall against my skin. I want to scream in relief, but they are too shallow and weak. Shaking so badly I can barely control my movements, I try to touch her face gently. My hand looks so dark against her skin!
“She’s breathing,” I manage to say, “but it’s weak. Oh, Olivia, please hang on. It’s going to be okay. Everything is going to be alright. Please, please.”
Everyone lurches forward as Robin screeches to a halt in front of the Emergency Room. She and Evie leap out of the Jeep and rush around to my door. I try to push them back, unwilling to let Olivia out of my arms, but Robin yanks my hand away.
“You can’t carry her in, Mason! What will that look like?” she demands.
I know she is right, but my hands stay clamped around Olivia’s body.
“Please, Mason. Let us take her inside. You have to trust me. I’ll keep her safe.”
“Trust you?” I ask. How can I? I have no idea what else Robin has lied to me about. Can I really trust her?
Do I have any other choice?
Robin and Evie pull Olivia carefully out of my arms. I stumble out after them, leaving the Jeep door open. Together they lug Olivia into the ER while I trail behind, helpless, left alone to watch the blood drip from her fingertips.
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