Echo (The Halo Series Book 2)

by Melody Robinette

  When he dropped Luna off at her and Logan’s room, she watched him go with a chest full of air and butterflies. It was easy to believe she could acquire wings someday because right now, she felt like flying.

  “So?” Logan said when Luna entered their dark bedroom. “Are you married yet?”

  Luna laughed breathlessly and collapsed onto her bed, facing Logan. “Not yet.”

  “Well, what happened? Are you official? Are you in love? Dish the deets, twin.”

  Luna rolled her eyes playfully at her sister. “He just told me that he really likes me, and he wants to spend more time with me.”

  “What does that even mean? Did you ask what that means?”

  “I asked if that meant I was his girlfriend.”

  “And?”

  “And he said, ‘If you want to be.’”

  Logan frowned. “That doesn’t seem very romantic.”

  “Well, you weren’t there. It was romantic. It was just the way he said it in that quiet voice he gets when he’s being serious, and the way he smiled at me, all lopsided and stuff.”

  Making a gagging noise, Logan said, “Okay, stop. Yuck.”

  “Sorry.” Luna chuckled, her cheeks warming with blush.

  Logan’s amused face fell into a slight frown. “I, uh, I should probably tell you I talked to Aurora.”

  Luna’s stomach twisted uncomfortably. “About what?”

  Logan examined the ends of her black and blue hair to keep from looking at Luna. “Basically, I told her you and Gray were kind of together now.”

  “Why did you do that?” Luna said, her voice shaking now from building anger and nerves.

  Her sister shrugged, still not making eye contact. “I just thought she deserved to know. I would want to know if my soul mate was dating someone else.”

  “They aren’t soul mates,” Luna snapped. “They’re Stellars.”

  “You say potato, I say—”

  “You had no right to tell her, Logan,” Luna interrupted. “It’s not her business whether Gray and I are dating or not. He doesn’t belong to her.”

  Logan sat up, folded her legs beneath her, and fixed Luna with an earnest stare. “Listen, Luna. Whether you like it or not, Gray and Aurora have a strong bond. Like, literally. And, if you were smart, you would get Aurora on your side. Hating her or being jealous of her—especially when it’s this obvious—will only make things harder for Gray. I’m not saying you have to like her or care about her in any way. I’m just saying you should at least act like you do. Trust me. If you really want to be with Gray, then you’ll talk to Aurora.”

  Luna’s stomach burned with the thought of talking to Aurora about this. She didn’t see how it was any of her business. She didn’t see how it would make things better for Gray. Why would he care so much? How could someone as sweet and considerate as him care about what someone so callous and cold thought about his love life? They had been officially dating for an hour or so, and this was already driving her insane.

  “I’m sorry I talked to Aurora without telling you first,” Logan crooned. “I just did what I thought was right. You don’t have to talk to her if you don’t want to. I just think it would be a good idea, that’s all.”

  Luna heaved a resigned sigh. “I’ll talk to her.”

  * * *

  Luna found Aurora sitting in her spot on the tree branch at the top of the highest hill in the little Halo town. With her pale blue dress, blonde hair, and sketchbook in hand, she reminded Luna of her favorite story as a child. Alice in Wonderland.

  Aurora hadn’t heard her approach, and in her solitude had shed her usual mask of aggressive strength and indifference. With a jealous twinge in her stomach, Luna noted just how beautiful Gray’s Stellar truly was. Her golden hair and porcelain skin had an almost ethereal glow, and her dark blue eyes shone like precious stones in the light. In the dusk sun, it wasn’t difficult to imagine her as an angel with powerful, feathered wings and a halo of gold.

  Aurora wasn’t beautiful in an obvious, Victoria’s Secret Model way. She was beautiful in the way a rose is beautiful.

  Simply and effortlessly.

  Unfairly.

  “Aurora?” Luna hated how her voice shook when she was nervous.

  Aurora jumped slightly, and Luna watched as the blonde quickly fixed her hardened mask back in place. “Hey, Luna,” she said. Luna may have been imagining it, but she thought she detected something beneath her words.

  “Hey,” Luna said. Something was intimidating about Aurora Coel—an inner strength that oozed out of her pores, bathing Luna in insecurity. “I, uh, wanted to talk to you about something.”

  “About you and Gray?” Aurora guessed.

  Luna knew she probably looked pathetic, wringing her hands and biting her lip.

  “Um, well—” Luna’s voice wavered again.

  Aurora hopped off the branch and came to rest against the trunk of the tree. “It’s okay, Luna. You don’t have to be nervous around me. I’m fine with it. You and Gray, I mean.”

  “You are?” Luna looked up at her uncertainly. She wished Aurora’s tree spot wasn’t situated at the top of a hill. Luna was on lower ground, and it made her feel tiny.

  Aurora smiled then. A genuine smile, but Luna couldn’t help but think she must have pitied her somehow.

  “I am,” Aurora said. “Gray and I were never dating. We’re just Stellars. That doesn’t mean we have to be romantically involved, despite what many people think. In fact, that would just make things much more complicated, to be honest.” She was quiet a moment before she continued. “It’s better this way—Gray and I just being friends. Really. Gray needs someone like you.”

  “Someone like me?”

  “Someone kind hearted. Like Gray. Like you.”

  “Oh.”

  “You’ll be good for him,” Aurora said with a small, almost melancholy, smile.

  Luna realized then Aurora must have thought she wasn’t good for Gray—because she was hardened and stony and he wasn’t. This should have made Luna feel better, but it made her feel even more insecure.

  Aurora clearly cared about Gray more than she was letting on because she valued his happiness more than her own. It was also clear Aurora didn’t even realize this herself.

  But Luna did. To her, it was glaringly and painfully obvious.

  She just hoped it wasn’t obvious to Gray.

  Ten

  GRAY

  A cheerful looking Aurora breezed into the room Monday morning where Gray, Abigail, and Patrick sat waiting for her. Good, Gray thought, she hasn’t heard yet. He’d been wracking his brain for the words to tell his soul mate he was sort of dating someone else now. He kept trying to work up his nerve, but every time he started her way, he was distracted by Chord or Sev or Luna.

  Or more frequently, his own cowardice.

  If he was honest with himself, he didn’t know what he was doing with Luna. It wasn’t exactly fair to start a relationship when his heart was still tangled up in the convoluted web that was Aurora Coel. But one minute he was hanging out with Luna and the next thing he knew, they’d agreed to be boyfriend and girlfriend, which was probably the most high school thing he’d done since…well, high school.

  “Good morning, Aurora,” Abigail said civilly with an underlying hint of caution.

  “Morning!” she answered, sliding into the chair beside Gray, handing him a steaming cup of coffee. “Thought we might need this today.”

  Gray cocked a brow, taking the drink. “Thanks.”

  “So," Aurora turned to face Abigail and Patrick, who both looked nonplussed at her radical change in demeanor, "what’re we learning about today?”

  "Today's topic of discussion is connecting without physical contact,” Patrick said with a stern edge to his voice. “There will be no trust fall today.”

  Aurora chuckled and shrugged. “It’s whatever. So, connecting without physical contact, you said?”

  “Your abilities are strongest when you are physically
touching,” Abigail said. “But there are ways to harness your Stellar powers simply by making eye contact. I don’t know about you two, but when Patrick and I lock eyes, there is a physical energy that washes over us. Something we can feel. Well, that energy is something we, as Stellars, can harness.”

  Aurora’s eyes cut sideways to Gray’s and he felt the surge of energy Abigail mentioned.

  Aurora made no gesture or expression to indicate whether or not she felt anything at all. She merely threw back the rest of her coffee and stood. “Sweet. Let’s do this.”

  Abigail and Patrick exchanged a glance and mimicked her stance, looking to Gray to follow suit. He sighed, setting his full cup of coffee on the ground by his chair and came to stand beside Aurora.

  “To start,” Patrick said, “we will position you across the room from one another. Have you experimented with your Stellar powers much? Do you know of your capabilities?”

  “Only in battle and—” Gray hesitated when he realized he'd been about to mention the time he and Aurora had kissed and effectively sent the remainder of the demons on Etheria to commit suicide off the edge of the ship. Aurora pursed her lips and shot Gray a warning look. “And, uh, well that’s about it,” he finished lamely.

  “Okay, well there are certainly more benefits that come with being a Stellar than just fighting demons,” Abigail said. “Gray, you stand here,” she pointed to a spot near one wall.

  “Aurora you can go over there.” Patrick waved a hand towards the other wall, opposite Gray.

  Gray and Aurora made their way to their designated spots, watching the angel Stellars expectantly. Abigail swiped a vase full of silver roses—a color Gray had never known flowers to be—off one of the windowsills and placed it on a high table in the middle of the room. She took a step back. “There.”

  Gray and Aurora exchanged a perplexed look before Aurora said, “Pretty…?”

  Abigail walked to Patrick's side, threading her arm through his. “Now, I want you to make it move.”

  Aurora’s brows met. “Me?”

  “Both of you,” Patrick answered.

  “How?” Gray asked.

  Abigail’s lips turned up in a petite smile. “Eye contact.”

  Gray and Aurora glanced from the two Stellars, to the vase full of flowers, and finally to each other. His hazel eyes united with Aurora’s blue ones and held on tightly, unsure if she could stand to look at him for longer than a few seconds at a time. But her gaze was steady. The warming connection Gray felt every time he looked at Aurora took over then, making him feel like he could do the impossible—including move a vase full of flowers through joint telekinesis. But after a few excruciating minutes of eye contact, the vase hadn’t budged a centimeter.

  Aurora spoke out of the corner of her mouth, “Nothing’s happening.”

  “You’re only focusing on each other right now,” Abigail said. “You need to move your bond to the vase.”

  “Could’a told us that first,” Aurora muttered loud enough for Gray to hear her from across the room.

  “You needed to allow your Stellar connection to grow strong and intact first,” Patrick cut in. “Patience, Aurora.”

  Aurora’s eyes, still on Gray, narrowed slightly. Her cheeks tightened as she clenched her teeth, but remained silent.

  “Are we supposed to look at the vase now?” Gray asked the other Stellars.

  “Keep eye contact with one another, but make a note of the vase in your periphery,” Patrick said. “Picture it lifting into the air.”

  The connection constricted as they focused their energy on one another. Gray pictured the vase hovering upwards and, to his astonishment, it did. Aurora breathed in sharply, and the vessel wavered in the air.

  “Careful,” Abigail said in a soft voice. “Don’t break your bond.”

  Gray's eyes cemented on Aurora. He hadn’t ever thought about how intimate eye contact truly was. Though they were across the room from one another, he felt like he was standing right in front of her, her breath on his face. Some say the eyes are the windows to the soul—perhaps that was why Stellars could harness their energy through them.

  The vase remained suspended, rising an inch or two as each minute ticked by until it was several feet above the wooden table.

  “I have to admit I’m impressed,” Patrick said. “After last week’s lesson, I didn’t expect you'd be prepared to harness your energies so effortlessly.”

  “Well, it probably helps that Gray has a girlfriend now,” Aurora said matter-of-factly.

  Gray’s heart dropped to his stomach, and the vase full of flowers came crashing with it, shattering over the table into a thousand pieces. Water spilled across the wood and onto the floor, flowers dangling off the edge.

  “You know about—” Gray began.

  “Logan told me, and then Luna told me,” Aurora said, seemingly undisturbed by the broken vase. “I’m fully informed.”

  She didn’t seem mad. In fact, she didn’t seem upset at all. More like relieved and slightly entertained by Gray’s reaction.

  Abigail set astonished eyes on Gray. “You have a girlfriend?”

  “I, uh—”

  “With someone other than your Stellar?” Patrick cut in, Abigail’s arm still woven through his, making their thoughts on this abundantly clear.

  “It’s not a big deal, guys.” Aurora rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. “It’s better this way, don’t you see? Now Gray and I can just focus on being Stellars and using our powers to fight demons. We don’t need to be together romantically to do that. It’s fine.”

  “It’s just surprising is all,” Abigail said tightly, placing a hand on Patrick’s. “I’ve never met a pair of Stellars who weren’t—”

  “Can we use our powers to clean this up?” Aurora interrupted, pointing at the dripping vase.

  Patrick waved a hand over the mess, and the flowers stood upright, water swirling in mid-air around the stems, pieces of glass—dust and all—flew up and fused together until the vase was whole again.

  “Uh…thanks,” Aurora said.

  The vase experiment had been enough for this particular lesson, Abigail and Patrick decided. They excused Stellar Halos for the day. Gray left first, Aurora trailing behind him. They walked side-by-side along the silver sidewalk leading to their townhomes.

  Gray still hadn’t spoken more than two words since Aurora’s revelation. He didn’t know what to say to her. Sorry for not telling you about Luna, but looks like you’re okay with it anyway, so guess it doesn’t really matter, huh?

  “So, why didn’t you tell me?” Aurora asked him once they'd traveled several blocks. “Did you think I’d be upset?”

  Yes.

  “No—I mean, I don’t know. I guess I was trying to find the right words. I didn’t know how you’d take it, to be honest.”

  “Well, I’m happy for you, Gray.” She flashed him a seemingly genuine smile. “Really, I am. Luna’s a sweet girl. She’ll be good for you.”

  You mean she will be better for me than you, Gray thought.

  “Yeah,” was all he could say.

  “See you later.” Aurora left him where the sidewalk split, leading up to that damned tree she liked better than any Halo or angel on the island. She turned around to walk backward up the path and called out, “We should practice that eye-contact thing later, though. That could really come in handy.”

  “Sure.”

  The fact that she was okay with him and Luna—happy, even—made him feel strangely disenchanted. What had he wanted? For her to cry and throw things at him? For her to scream at him in the pouring rain that she loved him and how dare he date someone else? Well…maybe. But, one thing was for sure—this was definitely not what he'd wanted.

  After all, indifference would always be more painful than anger or cutting words.

  CHORD

  Distracting. Ha! Sev thought he was distracting? Sitting across from Betsy McBreathestooloud, Chord had to call bullshit on that excuse. Sev’s new litt
le girlfriend was the worst kind of distracting.

  Maybe she didn’t talk a lot or interrupt Sev’s reading, but she sounded like an asthmatic trying to breathe through a straw, which was strange because Halos didn’t have health problems like asthma. Maybe it was the way her chin—or lack thereof—burrowed into her neck that caused her to breathe like that. Maybe she was just turned on by being near Sev or books or both. Either way, it was more than distracting. Chord could hardly concentrate on the wings of the demon he was sketching.

  “Were the Wahst demon’s wings more leathery or feathery?” he asked Sev, more to drown out Betsy’s incessant breathing than anything.

  “Leathery,” Sev muttered absently, not pausing in his continuous writing.

  “Thanks.”

  Sev grunted.

  Chord rolled his eyes, and his gaze landed on Betsy again. Her extreme overbite wasn’t her only undesirable quality. Her hair was mousy, and her eyes were too small. Her shoulders hunched forward as if she’d spent her lifetime walking with her head down. The more he looked at her, the more unattractive she became. And it wasn’t just because he was gay. He knew when girls were attractive. Hell, every girl in their group was hot in their own way. Even Brielle—when she wasn’t talking. But not Betsy. Even with a full-blown teen movie makeover, she would be hopeless.

  Betsy cleared her throat forcibly as she turned the page of her Jane Austen novel—a book Chord suspected she was only reading because her new boyfriend was British—and Chord had had enough of the girl.

  Sighing loudly, Chord pushed his chair away from the table. “Okay, I’m done for the day.”

  Sev glanced up from his writing for the first time all day. “You’ve only done one and a half sketches.”

  “Yes, well…” Chord’s eyes moved from Sev to Betsy, who was ostensibly uninterested in Chord’s departure. “Maybe I’ll just work on it outside. Go bother Aurora or something.”

  “Why would you want to work on it outside?” Sev said incredulously. “The elements could compromise the image.”