“Brie can’t go anywhere right now because she’s completely defenseless against threats.” Cora spoke soothingly, like a lullaby. “She’s just gained her powers in the last few days. She needs training, guidance—”
“—which I am more than capable of providing to her.”
“Is that why you’ve come?” Clara asked. “To train Milena’s daughter?”
“Do you think I wanted to risk myself by coming here? I came because I watched all the news and all the coverage and I saw all the signs of an archangel descendant who doesn’t know what she is! Quick rise to fame, rapid body changes, a trail of inexplicable events surrounding her.” She ticked the items off on her fingers one by one. She stepped closer to Cora. “Do you really think no one else will notice? Do you really think no one will come for her?”
Clara piped up. “Do you think no one will notice if you cart her off to New York?”
It was Sirena’s turn to be surprised. “Milena had enemies. And anyone who is an enemy of Milena’s is likely an enemy of mine. I need to find her killer.”
“And you need a 15-year old Hallow to do it?” Clara asked.
“I don’t need anyone, I’m trying to do right by my sister!”
“You couldn’t convince Milena to join your cause, so you thought you’d try her daughter.”
“Stop,” Brie said. “This isn’t helping anything.” She heard something brushing through the grass near her and she jumped, rubbing her hands over the skin on her arms. She hated bugs. She hated how the island was full of—
Whoosh!
A chill washed over her as she was pulled into a transport by someone else. His beefy, dirty hand wound around her mouth, stifling any chance she had of screaming for help.
“Stay still,” he growled. “Ain’t nobody who can help you anyway.”
Whomever he was, he had a tight, secure grip on her and was clamping down on her skin hard enough to leave bruises.
Let go! she screamed in silence. Her muscles burned as she struggled against him as hard as she could, but he was far stronger than her, even with her Hallow powers. She felt a stinging on her arm, followed by a stiffness in her leg; both went limp where she’d been pricked.
Had he drugged her?
She tried to fight him again, but it was no use. She couldn’t move her body. In less than half a minute, everything around her aside from the man—the palm trees, the grass, the island, the twins, Sirena—had disappeared.
Chapter 19 - Thessa
La Petita Botiga d’Històries was one of the largest bookstores in the Hallow cities, where one could buy a magical book on how to do just about anything.
In the window, Thessa saw several English-language copies of Noah’s Concordance, a topical listing of all the angels and historical figures in the entire Hallow world. It was the historical textbook they used at Mehlizabeth, the Hallow school, where Hallows could learn to use their powers in a formal setting.
For a moment, she considered purchasing an updated copy for Clara, but decided against it. Besides, if she purchased anything, she would have to provide identification, and when people realized she had returned, even for a few days… she didn’t want to consider the consequences. She spent an hour in the store before leaving empty-handed.
As she left, she noticed a number of people watching her—five in total, dressed in typical Hallow wear and positioned strategically around the front of building. She assumed Vega had sent them, likely because he was wondering why she was still in town. The spies worked hard to blend in, and if it were any other Hallow they’d likely be successful.
Thessa had spent many, many years evading one group or another, though. For all five spiest was their subtle movements that gave each of them away. Losing them felt like child’s play to her.
First, she ducked into a clothing store that she knew had a back area where she could exit. Then, she lifted a few items from the store so she could change her look as she disappeared into the crowd. She casually walked toward the back, like she was going into a dressing room, but when one of the women tailing her was distracted, she ducked into the back room and made a clean break. She snuck into the alleyway and joined the group of people traveling in the opposite direction of the bookstore. She made several more turns, just to make sure she hadn’t missed anyone; but no one else appeared to be following her. She found another clothing store—surely the woman who had entered the store behind her would realize that she was gone by now—and lifted a few more items, this time entering the dressing room to change. The woman had seen her pick up the hat and blouse she was wearing, and she couldn’t take any chances of being spotted in a crowd.
Redressed for the second time that day, she headed down the side road that she knew led to a dead end. It was her ritual to visit there anytime she came to the Hallow cities. Only this time, she wondered if it might be the last visit.
She had not yet heard from Branson. The uneasy feeling in her chest was like nothing she’d ever felt before; she wondered if it meant that she had made a fatal mistake in enlisting his help, and her end was finally here. If it was, she welcomed it. She had lived for over 2000 years, and the last sixty or so without Bes had been her darkest years yet.
At the end of the road that very few people traveled, she finally saw what she was looking for; the Hourglass of Ashes. It was said among the Hallows that the ashes of the fallen were stored in the hourglass, and that once the hourglass was full, the hour of resurrection would be upon them.
She glanced at the inscription at the base of the hourglass. Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust. She touched the glass that held thousands of years of women and men who had been born after her, yet died before her. Their ashes might be trapped in the hourglass, but their souls were in heaven. Where her soul should be.
She found the brick that had Bes Torres inscribed on it and fell to her knees. The air around her whispered, chilling her skin as hot tears stung at her eyes. She hadn’t expected to feel this way after so long, but here she was, crying on the grave of her deceased husband.
“I miss you,” she whispered. Then, louder, “Why did you leave me?” She banged her fist against the brick, pounding it several times before she withdrew her sore hand.
She took a deep breath, exhaling slowly. In a calmer voice, she said, “The girls are okay. Clara is like a computer, as you know. She has an eidetic memory that makes her a sponge for any sort of fact. And Cora… Cora always knows the right thing to say. She can see through people and feel their emotions like they are her own.”
She lowered her voice back to a whisper. “We still fight for the cause. We help those loyal to the Natural Crown. But I worry—not for myself, for the girls. I want them to have their own lives someday—lives that are not full of secrets and missions and hiding. I want them to fall in love and have what we had for so many years.” She shook her head, staring at the ground. “I don’t know if I’ve made the right decisions for them. They do not live among the Hallows. I never wanted them to live under the New Order, especially when Vega would use their gifts for his own agenda. But I sometimes wonder, how will they find love amongst the earthlies? How long will they fight? There is very little hope for the Natural Crown, very little hope for the Hallows to return to the old ways. The girls are young; they don’t even remember the old ways. They are fighting a war that is not theirs. And I’m too old to fight this war anymore.”
She bowed her head, pressing her lips against the cool stone. “There are days when I want to kill myself,” she admitted into the darkness. “But then I won’t be able to see you again.”
A beeping sound interrupted her thoughts, pulling her away from Bes and back to reality.
Clara. She touched her ear and spoke. “How is Brie?” she asked hesitantly, dread in her stomach.
“Someone has kidnapped her. She met with Sirena and Sirena bolted, so there was a chase, and we ended in a spot that was completely unprotected—”
“Who took her and where did t
hey go?”
“We didn’t see him, but he had all the movements of a Hunter. Plus, we know where they’re headed. Someone took a picture of her and posted it online. She should be landing in Los Angeles in a few hours. I’m sending it to you via text, and I’ve already wiped it from online and the person’s device so we don’t draw attention to Brie.”
Thessa frowned. A hunter? That couldn’t be possible. “Where is Sirena now?”
Clara hesitated. “We’re headed to Los Angeles together.”
Thessa sighed. This was the exact sort of situation in which Sirena might do something reckless. “I’ll meet you there. Don’t do anything without me.”
“Thessa, how is this possible?” Clara asked. “No one is supposed to know Milena’s secret. No one has any clue that Brie is a Hallow. And how many Hunters are there in the world? Unless they’re rebuilding their ranks?”
“We’ll worry about that later,” Thessa said. “For now, we need to get Brie back to safety. Once she’s safe, we can plug the security leaks.”
She let go of her ear, severing the connection between them. She had hoped to hear back from Branson quickly, but she could not delay her return to Honolulu any longer.
She would go to Los Angeles, find this man who had taken Milena’s daughter, and silence him for good.
If the daughters of Michael were somehow exposed, it could only mean blowback for the twins. She would not risk the twins’ lives any more than she already had for Milena’s daughter—that was where she drew the line on their arrangement.
She would have to kill anyone who knew the secret and couldn’t be trusted.
It was dirty but necessary work.
She heard a ding on her phone and flipped it open.
That’s when she saw the picture of Brie with a hand in the background. She would have recognized that hand anywhere, even if she hadn’t seen it just a few short days earlier.
Branson.
In her heart, she had known it was him since the mention of Hunters, but the confirmation was still a huge blow.
That liar had pieced together much more than she’d given him credit for…
His agreement to procure the blood for her was just a stall tactic, to make sure she’d stay in the city.
He would have needed to be watching them for days, weeks maybe to piece this together… she had deeply underestimated his hatred of her.
Where would he be taking her? she wondered, before her mind settled on an answer.
To Bristol, who banished him from her portion of the Archworld so many years ago.
He wanted to trade a daughter of Michael for his return to the fold.
Furious with herself for not seeing it all sooner, she kissed the stone that had been laid for Bes, and spoke the words she always did when she visited the hour glass. “See you soon, Theos willing.”
And then she transported away.
Chapter 20 - Pilot
He poured a bowl of cereal and chocolate milk, still feeling destroyed over the situation from the night before.
He hadn’t dreamt of his mother or Trinitas or anything that night, and something in him knew that he would never have that dream again. The dream had led him to Kennedy, and Kennedy had opened his eyes to something… what, he wasn’t sure yet.
The only problem was, he didn’t know how to find her and confront her about what she had done to him. His best bet was to go to Trinitas again and see if she was there, and this time not drink a damned thing anyone handed him.
He shoveled a spoonful of cereal into his mouth and, at the same time, pulled up the Trinitas website on his phone.
What were the chances that she was just hanging out there again, though? She obviously didn’t want to talk to him—if she did, she wouldn’t have tried to make him think he had dreamt the whole thing. It still pissed him off—did she think he was an idiot or something?
He had already looked her up on Facebook, but couldn’t find anything. Maybe Justin had her number or something, though. He would have to ask at school that day.
Annie entered the kitchen, dressed in her usual black slacks and colorful top. “Where’s Brie?”
He shrugged. “Probably still in her room.”
Annie frowned. “I’ve looked everywhere in this entire house. Is it possible that she left for school early?”
Pilot shook his head. “She barely gets up in time to leave as it is. She’s around here somewhere.”
Annie shuffled around the house, calling out to Brie several more times. He ignored it, still eating his cereal and thinking about Kennedy. He might check out some of the surrounding schools, since she probably went to one of them.
Unless she was a reporter, he realized with a sinking feeling. She did basically ask him to spill his guts to her, and then she was horrified when he kissed her.
But then, she wouldn’t have drugged him to try to convince him that he had dreamt up their meeting. And if she had, he would do whatever he needed to get her fired.
“Brie!” Annie yelled up the stairs. “Seriously, I don’t think she’s here, Pilot.”
“She’s here,” Pilot said, drinking some milk from the bowl. He picked up his phone and opened his phone tracking app, which allowed him to find the location of her phone.
He looked down at the dot blinking on the screen.
“Over the ocean?” Pilot said. “She must be on a plane?”
He dropped the spoon he was holding into his bowl of cereal, and it clattered and splashed milk everywhere.
“Annie!” he called out. “Annie, I need you now.”
Annie appeared in front of him, a little out of breath. “Did you find her?”
He shook his head, holding out his phone to her.
“What’s she doing over the Pacific Ocean?” Annie asked. She looked at it again for several seconds. “The trajectory of the line looks like a direct flight from Honolulu to Los Angeles.”
“Los Angeles?” he said, still feeling deeply concerned.
What was his sister doing in Los Angeles?
Chapter 21 - Brie
A rough male voice growled in her ear. "Wake up, ya little princess. We're almost there."
She blinked awake, terrified. She opened her mouth to ask him where she was, but she couldn't move—her entire body felt numb and immobile. She felt the panic rising from her chest as she tried to move each limb and realized she couldn't even bend a finger.
She stared straight ahead at the back of an airplane seat, having no clue how she got there or where they were headed. All around her, people shuffled through the aisle of the cabin, finding amusements in a variety of devices, or best of all, sleep.
She could not see her captor, but she could sense him sitting next to her. "You’ll be able to move again when we land. Not that you’re gonna want to. Yer skin might heal quickly, but it ain’t no fun to get a bruise."
She wanted to scream, but couldn’t. Instead, she attempted to quell her terror by focusing on an escape.
She knew that the minute she got off the plane, someone would recognize her. The media followed her absolutely everywhere, and there was no way they wouldn't see her with a strange man traveling through an airport.
What she needed was a way to get their attention. But how could she do that when she couldn’t exactly move?
Don't give up, she told herself. She was a Hallow—and although she hadn't been trained yet, she had a natural ability that seem to kick in just when she needed it most. The man would make a mistake at some point, it was just a matter of time. She had to be ready to take advantage of any opportunity that came her way.
What could she do to prepare? She tried to make a list in her mind. The first was movement, whether it be in her fingers or her mouth. Being able to speak would help her alert a stranger that she was being held against her will, while being able to move her fingers would let her grasp a weapon if she could get her hands near one.
What else? He had said that she would be able to move as soon as the pla
ne landed. She listened for sounds all around her to give her a time estimate, and sure enough a stranger’s conversation provided answers.
"The captain will turn on the seatbelt sign in a few minutes, so use the lavatory while you still can,” she heard coming from a few rows back, as a mother warned her children. That meant she had only 25, maybe 30 minutes until she regained movement. She wriggled her fingers and twitched her cheeks, testing whether she could feel any movement. The very tip of her pinky brushed against the side of her leg, which gave her the hope she needed to persevere.
What else? she asked herself fiercely, feeling the fight inside of her. She could learn more about the man sitting next to her. The last thing she remembered was being sucked away from Clara, Cora, and Sirena. She remembered that the man had injected her with something, and used some sort of device to force her to transport with him. If she could find the device, she would be able to transport away from him before he even knew what was happening.
Did the other girls know where she was? She was confident that Sirena at least would come after her, if only Sirena had some clue as to where she was. She knew that the girls had seen her disappear, but she didn't know if they knew where she was going.
She didn't know where she was going.
She looked to the far left out of the corner of her eye, across the aisle to the other side of the plane, scanning frantically for an open window. Outside, she saw only clouds and sky, giving her no indication of where they were going. She knew, however, that it was the early morning hours based on the dewy film that covered the windows. They had probably taken a redeye. And if she was lucky, that redeye would land somewhere on the coast of California. She wondered if Sirena and the other girls would figure it out in time.
She felt a small object in her back pocket, irritating her position. Her cell phone! Why hadn’t he taken it away from her? The cell phone wouldn't work this high in the air, and it would probably die soon since it hadn’t charged overnight. But if there was a chance that she could get to the phone, she could potentially get a message out to her brother or someone else.
Instruments of the Angels (Hallows & Nephilim: Waters Dark and Deep #1) Page 29