Invisible

Invisible Chapter 14

Chapter 14

On Our Own

(Olivia)

                                      

When I finally start to pull out of Mason’s arm, he pulls me back in tight against his chest. No one says anything as he holds me a few more minutes. Slowly, his arms begin to loosen from around me. Now I am the one trying to hold onto him. We pause, halfway between pulling closer and letting go. A sound from somewhere in the room tips the balance and we lean back. Our hands stay fastened together.

“Mason,” Robin says quietly, “I’m so sorry about what happened to your family, but I don’t understand any of this.”

“What’s to understand,” Evie snaps. “Those Sentinel freaks found his family, probably because some other supposedly trustworthy Caretaker betrayed them, and they killed Mason’s family. Seems pretty straightforward to me.”

Mom puts a hand on Evie’s shoulder and pats her gently. It’s obvious Evie wants to continue harassing Robin, but Mom’s soothing presence is hard to ignore. Evie eventually sits down on the coffee table with an annoyed thud. She lets her gaze slip from Evie to Robin.

“Not that I want to start an argument, but it would appear that Evie is right. What happened to Mason sounds like it happens fairly often.” Mom glances in Mason’s direction with a sad expression, so deep you can almost feel the weight of it on your skin.

Robin shakes her head vehemently. “That’s just the thing, though. What happened to Mason does not happen regularly. Or ever. Like never ever. Sentinels don’t kill Caretakers. It’s never happened before. It just isn’t done.”

“You said yourself that they’re complete psychos,” I remind her.

“Complete psychos when it comes to killing Aerlings. I have never once heard of Sentinels killing Caretakers.” She shakes her head and rubs at her temples. “I mean, why would they? Caretakers are potentially very useful. They can lead them to other Caretakers, but even if that doesn’t happen, they know that family will get another Aerling eventually.”

“Really?” Seems like leading a lamb to the slaughter. If the Sentinels already know that family is a Caretaker, all they have to do is wait for the next one to show up.

Everyone else seems to be thinking the same thing. Robin waves us off, explaining quickly. “Not right away, of course. That would be stupid. It usually takes generations before that family is allowed to have a new Aerling, along with name changes, relocation, the works. Because of what happened to Eliana …” Robin pauses for a moment, taking a deep breath. “Because of her death, I’ll never raise my own Aerling. Not unless they’re really desperate and have no one else. Even if that happened, I’d have to leave my life, start over somewhere new, as someone new, in order to protect the Aerling.”

“You would do that?” Mason asks.

Robin doesn’t even hesitate. “Of course I would. I know I screwed up with Eliana, but this is my family’s heritage. It’s what I’ve been raised to do, to believe in. It’s my purpose.”

“So, why did the Sentinels kill Mason’s Caretakers?” I ask.

Shaking her head, Robin says, “I have no idea.”

Evie’s hackles start twitching again, so I beat her to the next question. “There has to be a reason. How can we find out what they wanted with Mason’s family? Surely there must be some kind of records we can look at that might give us a clue.”

“Records?” Robin shakes her head. “Maybe at some point there were. You know, before the whole split thing happened. Nobody keeps records like that now because it would be too easy to get into.”