Invincible (The Aerling Series Book 3) (13 page)

Chapter 15

Just Power

(Olivia)

Nothing is working. I’ve tried everything
I can think of over the last two days to make some kind of connection to the
Mother. All I’ve accomplished is giving myself a massive headache. I know my
pacing has got to be driving Mason nuts, but I can’t help it. There has to be
some way to make contact with her. I’m just not seeing it.

“Hey, why don’t we go for a walk?” Mason
says as he comes up behind me and wraps his arms around my waist.

“We don’t have time for a walk.” I don’t
mean to snap at him, but the stress is really beginning to affect me. Robin
glaring at me from the corner isn’t helping. Neither is Hayden and Sloane
brainstorming over at the table. They’ve been awfully chummy lately. “Fine,” I
finally say, “let’s go before my brain melts.”

We make it as far as the cabin door before
Hayden calls us back. “You guys have got to see this,” he says when we reach
them. He turns his phone toward us, the screen lit up with images that makes my
heart stop.

“What happened?” The smoke and mangled
buildings immediately make my mind jump to some kind of terrorist attack.

“It was an earthquake,” Sloane says.
“South of San Francisco.”

I lean in closer to see the pictures
better as Hayden clicks through them. Homes and businesses are completely
destroyed. Those who still have homes are without power. More pictures show
fires that broke out, ruined streets. At the bottom of the article, the writer
mentions the need for volunteers to help with displaced families and in
cleaning up some of the rubble where things are stabilized.

“We should go,” I say. The other three
people at the table all look at me with curious expressions. I know it seems
like a random thing to say, but the thought process that lead to it starts
spilling out of my mouth. “The Mother is supposed to be a nurturer, right? And
possibly stay by the coast. I doubt she has the same travel restrictions as the
rest of us, either. If she’s really who and what the Aerlings believe her to
be, she would be there, right? She would want to help during a natural disaster
like this.”

Even though I’m still skeptical about Sloane,
I turn to her for her thoughts. She knows more about this stuff than the rest
of us. Sloane’s lips press together as she thinks. “It’s a good idea. If the
Mother is there, even if we don’t find her, I think Olivia would be able to
feel her presence. It might be the best chance we have to come into contact
with her.”

She looks to Hayden, but he only shrugs.
“Sounds better than sitting around here, but what do we do with Robin? Driving
to San Francisco from here will take us a while. Flying would be a better
option, but we can’t really fly anywhere with her trussed up like a pig.”

“Just leave her here,” Sloane grumbles.
She despises Robin and has no qualms about making sure she knows it. She’s only
been living back in the Aerling world for a year, but her sense of loyalty to
them is pretty firmly in place.

Mason frowns. “I wouldn’t be against that
if we knew how long we’d be gone. If it was only going to be a day or to, fine,
we could set her up so she’d be okay. Any longer, though, and we risk her
escaping. Not to mention it wouldn’t be humane.”

Sloane and I both sport a sour expression
at that. Glancing away from her, I look back to Mason. “Could you possibly keep
her secure through the airport and during a flight without anyone realizing
there’s something wrong?”

I can see the wheels turning in Mason’s
mind. He considers my question for a few minutes before nodding. “I can do it.
We need to get there fast if we’re going to have any chance of contacting the
Mother. I’ll take care of Robin.”

With that decided, everyone bursts into
motion. We’re packed and ready to go fifteen minute later, on the road while my
dad scrambles to buy us all airline tickets. The expense has got to be nearly
giving him a heart attack. I would feel more regret about that, but I know he
has money stashed away for emergencies. This probably wasn’t even close to what
he originally envisioned using the money for, but it definitely fits the bill
given that the world might end if we can’t stop the Aerlings from getting
massacred by Tū.

An hour later, we’re standing in line at
the Casper airport to claim our boarding tickets. Thankfully, the process is
wrapped up quickly. I think everyone in our group keeps a wary eye on Robin. I
can’t see her bonds any more than any other regular person, but Mason explained
what he did. The ball of air shoved into her mouth is pretty effective as a
gag, especially with an additional band of air wrapped around her mouth and the
back of her head. With her hair up in a ponytail, only the most observant would
notice the indentation where the air is pressing her hair flat to her skull.

The most impressive set of bonds are those
keeping her from making a run for it. A central band of air at her waist
connects bands of air that are statically charged to each of her hands and
feet. If she tries to run, the friction will increase and zap her. I almost
hope she tries it, even though that would mean explaining what happened.

Mason’s threats and the bonds keep Robin
perfectly in line all the way through boarding. As soon as we’re seated, Mason
pulls out Cedrick’s handy little trick and drops Robin into a carefully
monitored sleep. We don’t hear a peep out of her until we land and Mason wakes
her up. Even then, she’s too groggy and disoriented from her forced nap to
offer much resistance.

It’s late in the evening by the time we
finally make it to the volunteer center where some of the earthquake victims
are being housed and treated for minor cuts and scrapes. The volunteer
coordinator sitting at the welcome desk is having trouble staying awake as we
walk up. The second she catches sight of us, though, she takes us in warily.

“Hello, can I help you?”

Hayden steps forward with a warm, charming
smile that almost makes me laugh. “Yes, we’d like to see about volunteering.”

“You would?” the woman asks. No doubt a
group of random teens aren’t the usual fare.

“Of course,” Hayden reassures her. “We
heard about what happened and wanted to lend a hand, plus, we have a bunch of
community service hours we need to do for one of our college classes.”

I never would have thought to say
something so seemingly superficial, but Hayden’s pretend reasoning actually
makes the woman relax. “Of course. We can sign whatever documentation you need
us to before you head back home. We’re always happy to help encourage young
people to volunteer, even if it is a requirement.”

“Great,” Hayden says, grinning. “What do
we need to do to get started?”

Suddenly, the lady looks tired again. Grabbing
a stack of packets, she hands three of them over, one for each visible person.
“Inside you’ll find all the necessary paperwork to become an official
volunteer. Read through everything, sign and date, and then bring it back to me
in the morning.”

I half expect her to shoo us away after
that so she can go back to trying to not fall asleep, but she surprises me by
standing. “I can give you a tour now while it’s quiet, so when you get here in
the morning you won’t be wandering around lost.” She gestures for us to follow
her, and continues talking as we walk behind her.

Hopefully the others are listening,
because I have no clue what she’s saying. I’m too focused in on pushing my
power out from me and splashing it around the halls. Every step we take, I push
out more power, nudging it along, begging it to find something. The tiniest
breeze sends a shiver through me. I stop and turn abruptly more than once as I
try to search out what I’m so desperate to find. The tour is over before I’m
finally forced to admit defeat.

“Anything?” Mason asks as we all pile into
a cab.

They all look so hopeful, but a shake of
my head lets everyone down. “Not a single hint of Aerling power anywhere in
there.”

“We’ll try again tomorrow,” Hayden says.
His unfailing positivity makes me smile, but I fear tomorrow won’t hold
anything more for us than the realization that we wasted a huge amount of time.

***

By early evening, we’re all losing steam
and hope. The shelter took in twelve more families just this morning, and finding
room for them isn’t easy. I was put in charge of helping the women and children
get cleaned up and settled, with Sloane helping me silently all day. I’ve
barely seen Mason or Hayden all day. One of them was sent off first thing to
help unload relief supplies and the other was recruited to help with
distributing water to those still in their homes, but without electricity or
water to cook and wash with. I can’t remember which one is doing what, but they
look exhausted as they wander back into the main room.

“Did you guys finally get a break?” I ask
as I approach them. Mason wraps me up as soon as I’m within reach. I can’t help
notice that Hayden heads straight for Sloane, though he keeps his hands to
himself.

“Just finished unloading the last supply
truck, so we’re done for the day,” Mason says. I guess he was on unloading
duty. Pushing him to sit down on a nearby chair, I begin to rub his tight
shoulders.

Hayden hops up on the table where Sloane
and I were organizing care packets full of personal hygiene items and leans his
head against the wall. “Man, riding through the streets to deliver supplies to
people was nuts. Even the houses that weren’t damaged that much, the utilities
are all jacked up. It’s a mess. People have no idea how long they’ll be without
water and electricity. A lot of the families had kids, too. They were all
pretty freaked out.”

Even though Sloane and I still have our
issues, working with her all day has made it pretty obvious that she is a
deeply emotional person. I saw her nearly break down more than once when
families came in after having lost everything. She’s a natural caregiver, and
even I have to admit, a good person. I find myself being less irritated than
usual when she gravitates toward Hayden and rests her head against his
shoulder.

“We haven’t had any indication at all that
the Mother was here,” Sloane says. The fear and confusion in her voice draws
everyone’s attention. “I don’t understand why she wouldn’t be here. There’s so
much suffering. This is the biggest shelter in the area for earthquake victims.
Short of being out there searching for survivors, I don’t know where else to
look. She should be here. She should want to help these people.”

I’m caught off guard when tears start
rolling down her cheeks. Hayden reacts immediately, pulling her into an
off-kilter hug. I’ve been in that position with Hayden more times than I care
to admit. For once, instead of being jealous or angry, I’m glad. Knowing Hayden
will take good care of Sloane, I turn to Mason and say, “Sloane’s right. The
Mother isn’t here.”

“What does that mean?” he asks.

I wish I had a different answer, but I
don’t. “It means she’s not the kindhearted Mother Theresa the Aerlings pretend
she is. She’s not here to protect humans. Maybe Aerlings, sure, but not the
rest of us. She’s protecting herself. Wherever she is, it’s somewhere she won’t
draw attention.”

“Somewhere Tū would never think to
look for her.”

I wish I knew.

Abandoning Mason’s shoulders for now, I
take a seat on his lap and lean my head against his chest. For just a moment I
block out everything and simply listen to his heart beating. It’s so comforting,
I begin to doze off. Why can’t it just be like this? Calm, easy, simple. Whose
idea was it to scramble up two whole worlds and dump the problems off on a
couple of teenagers? Then again, if they hadn’t, I would have spent my life
without Mason. The tradeoff just isn’t worth it. It never is. I’ll take two
messed up worlds over not having him in my life.

“Olivia,” a voice calls out.

My head jerks up from Mason’s chest with a
start. I look around, finding an equally exhausted Lindsay, the woman in charge
of the group I was assigned to. “Yeah?”

“I know your shift is just about over, but
we just had a woman and her two sons come in. I’m getting them checked in, but
most of the others have already gone home. Would you mind making up a spot for
them?”

“Sure, no problem,” I say. I’m dog tired,
but I really am happy to help. Lindsay rushes away to get back to what she was
doing and I pull out of Mason’s arms.

“I’ll help you,” Mason says.

Pushing him back down into his chair, I
shake my head. “You’re ready to drop. I can handle this. I know where
everything is, so it’ll just take me a few minutes. Be right back, promise.”

He lets me go more out of being too tired
to stop me than anything else. I completely understand. I’m about ready to fall
asleep on my feet too, but I hurry toward the supply bins lining the hallways
and gather up everything I need for three cots. I’ve got two done in a matter
of minutes, and am almost done with the third when a noise draws my attention.
There are a few people sleeping in adjacent cots, but when I look around,
everything seems peaceful.