Invisible

Invisible Chapter 8

Chapter 8

In This Together

(Mason) 

A little unsure of why Evie is hugging me like she didn’t talk to me in the halls just an hour ago, I look over her head at Robin and Olivia. My curious expression does nothing to inspire an answer.

“What is going on?”                     

Robin’s head dips for some reason. Olivia folds her arm across her chest. Their reactions tell me I’m not going to like whatever they’re about to tell me.

“There’s some guy out front watching the house,” Olivia says calmly.

The tremble in her hands makes a liar out of her, though. She’s clearly pretty worried. Given the way she’s been freaking out about every little thing lately, that shouldn’t surprise me, but this feels different. She’s scared and doesn’t want to show it. That makes me worried.

“What do you mean ‘watching the house?’”

Robin’s voice makes a reappearance as she tells me about seeing the car when they got home and how he’s still sitting there watching the house. At some point during the explanation, Evie stops trying to strangle me, but keeps a hand on my arm to make sure she can hear anything I say. She stumbles when I dart away from her and head for the window. She stays close, though, and discretely touches my arm so she can hear me.

I don’t worry about anyone seeing me standing in front of the window where the curtains are pulled apart. My eyes zero in on the man sitting in his car with his eyes glued to the front of the house. Medium brown hair, average build, youngish but not too young, he’s completely nondescript. The perfect guy to act as a one-man surveillance team.

Spinning around, I spear Robin with a glare. “This guy is a Sentinel?”

“I don’t know. Maybe,” she says. “He might be here to watch me, though. Sometimes they check up on known Caretakers to see if they contact anyone else.”

“Isn’t that what you’re doing,” Evie snaps.

Robin’s eyes water. “I…It’s not…You were never part of our group. There’s no reason to think I would even know any Caretakers in this area. They can’t suspect …”

The usual life and vibrancy that follows Robin around breaks down. Her whole body deflates. Afraid she’ll collapse, I grab her arm and pull her against me. Her weight leans on me heavily as she turns her face into my chest. Caught off guard, I look to Olivia for help. The prickly nature of her stance doesn’t offer much and I figure it’s better to handle this myself.

Walking Robin over to the couch, I gently sit her down with me. “Robin,” I say quietly, “what is going on?”

“I’m so sorry,” she wails. “I should have known better. That’s why we move around so often, to protect the other Caretakers. I never should have talked to you guys at school. What was I thinking?”

Olivia and Evie look like they have a million questions buzzing around in their heads. I can tell that they’re both itching to lay into Robin after that admission. Neither one of them has been terribly keen on her from the start, though. Waving them off before they attack and run Robin off, I gently push Robin to look at me.

“Robin, I’m not following what you’re saying. Why weren’t you supposed to talk to us at school?”

“Because my family is marked!”

We all stare at her, not sure what she means. Our confused expressions make her eyes widen and I get the impression that if Olivia’s family were real Caretakers, they would know exactly what she is talking about.