Intangible (Invisible #2 SAMPLE)

Intangible Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Heaviness

(Olivia)

No matter how many times I look at my phone, more texts won’t magically appear. The night Mason was taken away, I received a text from a random number letting me know he was safe. There’s been nothing since. It’s killing me to not know.

“We’re running out of time,” Robin says before taking a bite of her roast beef sandwich. “Aside from my parents telling us that sending Mason home is an inborn ability and you’ll know what to do when the time comes, we’re no closer to figuring this out.”

“Do you really think it’s something I’m born with?”

Robin looks thoughtful. She shrugs. “I don’t know. It would make sense. Caretakers and Sentinels are born with their abilities. Why not Escorts?” She tosses her sandwich back down, irritated. “That doesn’t mean I believe them that you’ll just magically know what to do. I think they don’t want to tell you yet because they think you’ll go after Mason and try something crazy.”

“I would.”

“I know,” Robin says.

It makes me sick to my stomach to think about the bruises Robin showed us. The night I ended up in the hospital after the Sentinel stabbed me in the arm, I was so scared and angry that Mason was being taken away from me that I lashed out at Robin and basically blamed her for everything. I certainly don’t think she helped the situation, but I am beginning to realize that the Sentinels had found Mason before Robin ever moved here.

When we realized they were using our neighbor’s house to spy on us, nobody thought at the time to consider how long they had been there. It wasn’t until after Mason left that Mom finally got a hold of the Dewalt’s daughter and found out they had been in Florida visiting her for nearly a month. Yet in all that time, their newspapers never accumulated in the driveway and their mail was taken out of their mailbox each day. More likely than not, the Sentinels had been watching us for a long time.

I feel a sense of guilt for my outburst, now. Some of the blame does fall on Robin’s shoulders, but nothing she did was worth being beaten by her parents like that.

“Someone has to know how I’m supposed to help Mason get home,” I say, getting back to the topic at hand.

“Maybe,” Robin says, “we should approach this like teaching an Aerling how to control their power.”

“Huh?”

Robin shrugs. “If it is an ability you’re born with, my guess is that you need to learn how to control it. Mom and Dad took on a lot of the responsibility for training Eliana because I was still young, but I watched every lesson and even started to teach her on my own before… before she died. We could try, anyway. I’m not sure what else to do.”

“Really? How? When?”

“Today after school?”

I nod eagerly. Who knows if Robin can really teach me anything, but I’m already feeling desperate for a path that will lead me back to Mason. Even if it doesn’t work, maybe it will distract me. “I’m in.”

Robin lets out a nervous breath. “Good.”

To be honest, I still don’t fully trust Robin. She may be lying to me about a great many things. I have no way to know. What I do know, though, is that she is as desperate to get away from her parents as I am to save Mason. Not the strongest of bonds, but it’s enough for now.

“Sorry I’m late,” Hayden says as he slips into the chair next to me.

Mine and Robin’s eyes lock for a moment before darting over to Hayden.