Silver Smoke (#1 of Seven Halos Series)

by Monica O'Brien

  Clara began reading the speech that Cora and Sirena helped her write. The three of them decided that the funeral was the best place to do damage control and upload the fake story into people's minds. The speech was carefully crafted to have the right amount of logic and emotion, the latter of which was not Clara's strong point. Clara was a surprisingly good actress though, probably from years of being a Hallow.

  But the presentation cast a new wave of guilt over Brie, because Clara was still protecting her.

  Maybe she was protecting herself too, a little. Either way, Clara's last goodbye to Thessa was a complete lie. This was Brie's fault too.

  Then, Rykken stood up. There was a ripple of interest through the crowd over the new Hallow who was so precious that someone as ancient and important as Thessa might sacrifice her life for him. He was also young and attractive, which didn't go unnoticed by the women near Brie. All Hallows were attractive by nature, but Rykken's tan skin contrasted so nicely with the hood, highlighting his eyes and lips. This, combined with the rest of the outfit, reminded Brie of their time together—specifically his passionate, soft kisses that were the perfect combination of angel and fire.

  Plus Rykken had this pure goodness about him that was impossible to ignore. He was the only reason she could handle the news that she was a Trinity, the only reason she wanted to keep fighting.

  Rykken started reading his rehearsed speech. When he had finished reading it, he looked up.

  "Thessa still lives inside me though," he said, going off the speech they had so carefully crafted. There was a murmur through the crowd, and Cora turned sharply in her seat. "The memories Thessa left me with are so beautiful and rich in detail. Her visions of the future are so vivid and fluid." Rykken stopped, looking out into the crowd. Brie felt a sense of foreboding, starting in her stomach and traveling through her chest. The entire assembly was buzzing, but not because they were interested in Rykken. The sentiment seemed... angry. Outraged. Brie saw Clara drag her pinched fingers across her lips, signaling to Rykken to shut up.

  What was Rykken talking about anyway? Thessa left him memories and visions?

  Brie didn't have much time to think about it, the next part happened so fast. Rykken dropped to the floor, moaning and holding his head with both his hands.

  Brie's scream was only one of several that echoed off the walls. Several people rushed forward to help Rykken, but Brie backed away toward the doors. Just before she turned, she saw Clara, glaring at her with daggers in her eyes.

  *****

  Rykken heard Brie scream, but he couldn't tell if it was part of this new vision or if it was real life. The visions had hit him sporadically ever since Thessa had passed her powers on to him. Usually they happened at night, when he was sleeping, but this one must have been triggered by the room full of Hallows humming about his latest revelation, which he hadn't realized was a secret until a few seconds earlier.

  Cora was the first to reach him, sending calming waves over him that only created a dim layer of padding between him and the panic-inducing images that played out in his mind. She helped him stand up, but it was no good. All he wanted to do was run out of the cathedral, back to his house where he could examine the vision again without so many eyes watching him.

  Cora grasped his arms. "What is it?" she asked. Rykken just looked at Cora, afraid to say anything.

  The vision hit again, and Rykken's outer senses dulled as he slumped over. In the background, someone spoke, silencing the crowd. He could vaguely feel someone guiding him as he walked.

  But his main focus was the vision. He saw Brie holding a glinting emerald over Kennedy, stabbing her repeatedly, her hands covered in blood. Then, the scene changed, and he saw himself sitting on a bench with Sirena in a park that he didn't recognize, kissing her passionately, his fingers running through her blonde hair. The scene changed again, and Kennedy was back, alive and wild, taunting Brie. The two of them circled around each other, both ready to kill.

  Then, a girl he barely recognized filled the vision—it was an older Brie, with long locks the color of metallic steel cascading past her shoulders. A bright light reflected off her tresses like a knife glinting in the sun. She wore a long dress the color of midnight, and her eyes were empty, holding pools of silver with specks of green the same shade as the emerald dagger she held in her hand.

  "I did it for you," Brie said, with the same disconnected tone Kennedy used. "Everything I've done, I've done for our love."

  Not you! He shouted in his mind, wishing he could change the circumstances, the outcome. This isn't you!

  But like Thessa said, visions weren't meant to be changed. They only helped the seer prepare for the inevitable.

  Brie screamed, and the vision went black.

  *****

  The funeral had been such a terrible idea, and Brie hated herself for going and barely escaping. She worried about Rykken, though she knew he was fine—Clara and Cora would have taken care of him, or they would have come to her house to tell her in person if he was hurt. She spent the rest of the night tossing in her bed, wondering instead about how much trouble she might be in the next morning. Clara, Cora, and Sirena didn't tell her the consequences of getting caught at the funeral, not because they assumed she was good at following instructions—they all knew that wasn't true. The reason they didn't tell her was because the consequence was obvious—death. If she had been discovered, the other Hallows would have killed her.

  All of Brie's reasons for going to the funeral seemed silly now. She wanted to show her respect for Thessa, but getting caught would have been a terrible way to repay the person who died for her mistakes.

  Brie curled up in her bed, digging her knees into her chest. She threw the covers off her body for what was probably the fiftieth time in several hours. Her body fluctuated between hot and cold, never settling on a comfortable temperature.

  When Rykken got home at dawn, Brie flew into his arms without even a hello.

  "How is your head?" Brie petted his dark, thick hair, checking for bumps or signs of blood. "I was there last night."

  Rykken seemed surprised, and a little concerned. "I didn't know." He had the strangest look on his face, like he was seeing her for the first time.

  "You didn't tell me that Thessa passed her memories on to you."

  "She gave me her abilities too." Rykken put his hand to his head. "Now, I get visions at the most random times. That's why I collapsed." He twisted his fingers through her hair, winding the streak of silver strands in his hand. "You shouldn't have been there."

  "I know—I wasn't thinking. I wanted to say goodbye to Thessa and..." Brie stopped talking. Rykken had taken a step back from her. He hadn't kissed her yet, and he didn't even seem that interested in what she was saying.

  "I don't think I can leave with you and Sirena," Rykken blurted out.

  Brie's heart stopped. She backed away from him until she hit the wall. "Why?"

  He folded his arms in front of his chest. With his wide stance, he looked almost... intimidating. "Clara says it's uncommon for Hallows to die for one another, and even rarer to for them to pass on their gifts.

  Thessa was one of the oldest Hallows alive—so naturally, everyone wants to know what she sees in me. I have a target on my back, and you and Sirena are on the run. You need stealth and secrecy, and you can't have that if I drag all my problems along."

  Brie sat down on her bed, trying to recover from his news.

  "Brie?"

  Brie looked up, realizing that she had been silent for several minutes. "I'm thinking." He sat down on her bed next to her.

  Slowly, she spoke. "That seems logical," she said finally, though emotionally, she was devastated.

  He nodded. "Alright then."

  Brie exhaled; she didn't realize she'd been holding her breath. "But how will we keep in touch?"

  "We won't." He took her hand in his, pressing his fingers lightly into her palm. "We have to sever communication while we're apart."

 
; Brie took a deep breath. "I can do that. It's just a little long distance, right?" She tried to calm her thundering heart, but it wanted to jump out of her skin.

  Rykken's eyebrows formed a single line, splitting his face. "We can't contact each other until your mission is done; until you've found all the stones. The Hallows will never accept you otherwise."

  "But it could take years for me to..." Brie trailed off, realizing the true meaning of his words. He wasn't just talking about the trip. He was breaking up with her.

  "Why?" she asked, absolute panic shaking through her body. "I—" I love you. But she could never say that to him out loud. "I thought we were doing so well," she finished. They had been, she realized, until they found out she was a Trinity. The Hallows will never accept you otherwise. Rykken was a Hallow, probably an important one—and he would want a Hallow. Not a damaged, broken Trinity.

  "We don't belong together," Rykken said, a twinge of regret in his eyes. He gave her a sad, boyish smile that said, Oh well. This, more than anything, unnerved her. Because if breaking up was just an unhappy misfortune for him, then nothing they had together had been real enough in the first place.

  Brie turned away from him. "Okay," Brie said, trying to accept that she would face her demons alone.

  "I'll always care about you," Rykken said distantly, with the tone of someone who would say anything to soften a blow. "I don't regret these last weeks."

  "When I leave," Brie said slowly, "I might not ever see you again." Brie felt dumb and slow, each new realization leaving her with less and less ability to think straight.

  "You're not going to lose me forever."

  "You're right," Brie said, anger trickling into her voice. "I won't lose you because I never had you,"

  she said quietly. "Just the illusion that I did."

  Rykken's face registered hurt, before his expression darkened. "This isn't easy for me either," he said quietly. "I'm trying to think of you. I'm trying to protect you."

  "Well don't go killing anyone to protect me," Brie said coolly. "The nightmares that come with snuffing the life out of someone are surprisingly scary."

  Rykken looked like he could either kiss her or slap her. Before he had the chance to do either, she transported away, to a place where she could finally let the tears fall.

  *****

  The first night Pilot smoked, he opened the balcony door to let the stench clear, but today he didn't bother. Originally, it was because he wanted to keep the blinds closed and the curtains drawn, so that even in the middle of the day, his room would be dark. But now, he realized he liked the silver smoke that filled his room; it wafted around him ironically, reminding him of his terrible mistakes. Images of the USS Arizona Memorial flashed on TV, causing Pilot to grab the remote. Within seconds, the screen was blank. He had seen the newscast several times already and listened to the earthlies'

  theories on what the sign meant. The building structure had been repaired by a team of Hallows within the first 24 hours of the accident, but the symbol couldn't be removed. The Hallows instead tried to paint over it, lessening its presence in the memorial. Luckily, the symbol didn't affect earthlies.

  Kennedy's body was never found, though the Hallows were certain of her death anyway. No supernatural being could survive three stabs to the heart, they said.

  Pilot hadn't talked to anyone about Kennedy since the night of the accident. Most of the Hallows forgot his involvement, and Brie and Rykken were so wrapped up in their own drama with each other that neither of them had checked in to see how he was doing.

  He didn't blame them. Part of him felt guilt toward them, and part of him felt anger. Shame, regret, remorse—Pilot had given up trying to sort out how he should feel about Kennedy. The truth was he missed her, and he wasn't getting her back.

  Cora, his angelic savior, hadn't stopped by either. He was fairly sure that he'd shown her too much when he opened his feelings to her. He wondered if she'd ever speak to him again.

  He sucked from his pipe, covering the carb hole until just before he felt the hit. He exhaled, filling his room with more smoke.

  When he finished the last of it, he lay down in his bed, but he didn't dare go to sleep. That would only start the nightmares again, and if there was one thing he couldn't take it was reliving Kennedy's return in his dreams.

  *****

  "Brie, are you there?" Pilot knocked on Brie's door, but she didn't move to let him in. The day before, Sirena had sat down on her bed, a hard look on her face.

  "You have one day to mope," Sirena told her. "The next time I come in here, you better be packing." Then, Sirena walked out without so much as a sympathetic look.

  Now, Pilot opened the door tentatively. When he saw her still in bed, he barged in.

  "Mail call," he said, tossing a yellow-orange envelope in her direction. She let it hit the top of her comforter, not bothering to free her arms from the depths of her bed sheets, where she had spent the last 24 hours or so curled into a ball.

  Pilot's fists clenched as the envelope hit the floor.

  "Stop with the melodrama," he said, ripping the sheets from her bed.

  "Hey! I could have been naked under here."

  "But you weren't," Pilot said. He held his nose. "Though you do need a shower."

  "And you need to try sleeping," she replied, observing the bruised-looking patches around his eyes.

  "Can't," he said, a small grin on his lips. "I feel better when I'm awake."

  Brie sniffed at the air. "Is that smoke?" she asked. "You have some nerve saying I need a shower. You reek."

  Pilot sighed. "Just open the damn mail Brie. It looks important."

  Something in Pilot's tone made her sit up. He sat next to her on her bed as she ripped open the envelope.

  She pulled out the contents, a magazine with her picture on the front, rehashing the stunt she pulled on the cruise.

  She barely looked at the cover before tossing the magazine across the room and falling back onto her pillow, burying her head in the slight arch of its shape.

  Pilot walked across the room. "There's something else in here," he said, shuffling around beyond Brie's line of vision.

  "I don't give a shit," Brie said, wishing she could reach her iPod without getting up. She wanted nothing more than to blast music, tune everyone out, and cry into her t-shirt some more.

  Pilot sat down on her bed again, bouncing her roughly. "Wake up! Stop feeling sorry for yourself and look at this."

  She threw her pillow at him. "What do you want from me?" she asked. She threw another pillow, and another.

  He grabbed her hands, pressing her arms into her sides. She could have broken free with her powers, but something about his grip caught her by surprise. He had always been stronger than her. He had always been the older one and the one in control. She realized now that she wanted him to keep trying to control her.

  She was afraid of pushing him away, like maybe he would give up on her too, the way Rykken had.

  When she stopped struggling against him, he released his grip on her. She yanked the magazine from his hands. The magazine was open to the main story, featuring James, Pilot, and her, but was obscured by black, permanent marker written all over it.

  "This was my signal," she read out loud. She picked up the eight by ten photograph that bookmarked the page. In the picture, Brie and Adele sat with pale makeup pressed into their skin, wearing the most ridiculous dresses. Their photographer posing next to them as Shakespeare. She turned the photograph over.

  "This is yours," she continued reading out loud. At the bottom there were six words: New York City. I'm expecting you.

  *****

  Sirena hated digging through Thessa's private thoughts, but she had no choice. The day that Thessa had taken Brie's blood—after Brie, Pilot and Rykken had left—Thessa had walked over to her dresser and pulled a strange contraption from one of the drawers. "I want to give you this before you leave," she said. "It's called a Mnemosyne and I invented it."
>
  "Nee-MAH-sin-nee?" Sirena said.

  "It's a diary," Thessa said, "but it also contains all my thoughts over time, as I reflected back on each of the memories. I've lived so long, I thought it could be useful, if something were to happen to me."

  She unfolded the mnemosyne and flattened it on the table.

  "Touch it," she said.

  Sirena placed her hand on the object. In her mind, she saw images of memories flashing. She could hear the words, similar to a video, but there was also an additional audio layer of reflection over the original track. It reminded Sirena of watching a movie with the commentary feature on.

  Sirena pulled her had away from the pad.

  "Pretty neat, huh?" Thessa folded the mnemosyne up and held it out to Sirena.

  "Do you expect something to happen to you?" Sirena asked, taking the device from her and slipping it into an inner pocket of her jacket.

  Thessa cocked her head to one side, with a slight smile. "Best to be prepared," she had said.

  Now, the mnemosyne was Sirena's only hope to help Brie. Sirena felt naked without Thessa's counsel.

  She had avoided the New Order for nearly one hundred years, but only because she had help. Her oldest friend Margarita had helped her once or twice, but Thessa was the pro at survival—she could think her way out of any situation. She was Sirena's safety net.

  Sirena sighed, setting her fingers on the mnemosyne again. She kept returning to the scene of Rykken and her speaking on a platform to an audience of Hallows. The way she was looking at Rykken in the vision... well, it wasn't a friendly look.

  It was hard for Sirena to imagine loving any man, but if she were to choose her future husband, it wouldn't be Rykken. His connection with Brie was one of the only reasons she tolerated him; otherwise, she found him quiet and full of angst, with an average ability in using his Hallow gifts and a weakness for her niece. It was hard to imagine Rykken growing up to be the warrior in the vision, the leader who would lead the Hallow people into a new, less volatile government.