Echo (The Halo Series Book 2)

by Melody Robinette

  “I can’t tell you how I’ve missed this. You were always my favorite toy.”

  Claw-like hands moved from her neck to the back of her head, so he had total control over the direction she faced. But her eyes remained stubbornly set away from his, landing on the demon-dogs behind him…and then something else appeared. A vision in red and black, dark curls and hazel eyes.

  Gray.

  David’s words had masked Gray’s soft footsteps, so neither of them had heard his approach. Now her Stellar stood at the top of the metal staircase, blazing eyes on her. The demon dogs were blocking his entrance. Aurora had to keep David talking.

  Regretfully, she moved her gaze back to his icy stare.

  “So, you’ve always known you were a Horn. Even back then.”

  “No, no. I didn’t know then.” His left hand began to move from the tight grip on her arm to her waist, before sliding down even further. “I knew there was something…different about me. Something dark. But you knew that too.”

  “Didn’t exactly take much thought,” she said bitterly. “Your actions were enough for anyone to know you were the scum of the earth.”

  David’s grip on the back of Aurora’s head tightened, and her eyes moved back to Gray. He’d climbed up on the banister behind the demon-dogs, still unaware of his presence, eyes on their master.

  Gray’s gaze was serious, intent. She watched as he held his sword out in front of him and realized what he was asking her to do.

  Tethering their Stellar connection almost immediately, he let go of the sword. But it didn’t fall. It remained suspended in mid-air.

  “Scum of the earth?” David continued, oblivious to Aurora’s Stellar or the deadly weapon making its way slowly forward. “How very touching. Tell me, though. If I was the scum of the earth, would I have gotten you a gift?”

  “A gift?” Aurora didn’t break eye contact with Gray as the sword moved high and slow over the demon dogs. “What sort of gift?”

  “It’s not here. It’s back in Seattle.”

  The mention of her home, the city in which her mom and Daniel resided, made a sick, sinking feeling settle into her stomach. “I don’t want anything you have to offer, David,” she said through clenched teeth.

  The sword made it over the demon-dogs, and their red eyes quickly registered its presence, but the absence of a swordsman seemed to confuse them. They watched the object move through the air with tilted heads.

  Aurora imagined long lolling tongues falling out the sides of their mouths. But these weren’t adorable rescue dogs. Black smoke furled out of their agape muzzles.

  “Oh, I believe you’ll want this gift,” David continued. “I know how important family is to you.”

  A number of things happened all at once. At the mention of her family, the Stellar connection was immediately broken as Aurora pulled her gaze away from Gray to stare in terror at David.

  Realizing too late what she’d done, she expected to hear the sound of a clattering sword, but David’s quick hand had reached out behind him and caught the handle of the weapon before it could fall.

  His right hand moved from the back of her head down to her neck, gripping tightly as he swiveled, sword outstretched, pointing at Gray who’d begun to charge, slicing through one of the demon-dogs with his crux.

  A trail of burning fire erupted along the spine of the demon, and the other, surprisingly, remained where it was, black teeth bared, more smoke pouring from its mouth.

  “Not so fast, fireman,” David warned. “I’m afraid you’re not as clever as you think you are.”

  Gray continued forward. Instead of moving to hit him, David did what he knew would stop the other Stellar; he held the blade against Aurora’s throat.

  Slamming to a halt, Gray moved his hands up in surrender. “Okay, okay!” he said desperately. “Don’t hurt her.”

  David inched closer to the railing with Aurora clutching at his arm, trying to avoid slicing her own neck with the sharp sword. “Why would I want to do that?” he sneered. “I still have use for her.”

  Suddenly a blinding light fell from above, and David used all his strength to hurl the sword upwards as he pushed Aurora away from him, leaping over the railing into the belfry below.

  Aurora crashed onto the grated metal ground, watching through the slats as one of the mesh coverings in the windows of the belfry was ripped out by the taloned claws of a winged demon.

  Flashing her one last cold look—the hint of a smile behind his eyes—David mounted the demon and escaped out the window.

  A strangled scream sounded from above, and Aurora’s head snapped up to see Keva hanging over the railing of the spiral metal staircase with the sword David had thrown embedded in her sternum.

  The blinding light that had fallen from above, Aurora realized, had been Keva’s staff, now clattering to the ground and rolling until it hit Aurora’s splayed fingers.

  Then the light went out.

  Twenty-Six

  GRAY

  Gray reached Aurora's side, wrapping his arms around her until their combined energy made the tower tremble.

  Demons could be seen falling, stunned, off the clock tower like bugs being zapped by an electric trap. The tower continued to shudder after all the dark creatures had left it.

  Gray worried maybe their Stellar power was becoming too intense for stable structures; then he realized Aurora was the one trembling. He squeezed her tighter, pulling her small frame onto his lap.

  He couldn’t imagine how seeing David for the first time since that day he broke her, was affecting her right now.

  The fact that she was allowing him to hold her like this was unfortunately not the best sign. When Gray had laid eyes on the vile man, he’d wanted to charge at him, kill him. But if he’d learned anything during training, it was not to let anger or emotions affect one’s judgment in battle. Charging at David had the potential to cost him everything.

  “Keva,” he heard Aurora say in a small voice. “Is she—?”

  Gray looked up at the highest metal staircase where the Dominion Halo lay draped, blood dripping down like soft rain. Her green eyes were open and staring in that characteristic, lifeless way.

  Gray knew. He'd seen it too many times. “She's gone.”

  Instead of this crushing her like Gray feared it might, Aurora heaved a deep breath and pulled slowly away from him. No trace of tears in her eyes. Either she was even stronger than he thought, or this event had rocked her to the point of numbness.

  She spoke in an echoing voice—or perhaps that was because of where they were. “We should bring her body to the other Dominions.”

  And so they did.

  The soul keeper was nowhere to be seen. Gray and Aurora gave it up as another angel thing they weren’t meant to understand yet.

  Walking—and in Gray’s case, running—up the stairs had been difficult enough; but, now, carrying the body of an exceptionally tall Dominion without stumbling down them was even more challenging.

  When Aurora and Gray made it to the bottom, they came upon a large group of Halos from all of the choirs huddled and speaking in confused whispers. They’d been taken aback by the demons’ sudden departure from the clock tower.

  Apparently, not everyone knew what Aurora and Gray were…or what they could do together. Perhaps that was best.

  The group turned around when the Stellars emerged from the bottom of the tower, and one of the Dominions gasped, shaking their head.

  “Keva. No. She can’t be—”

  Gray handed over Keva’s still body and stood back, unsure of what to do now. One of the other Dominions, the man with the long blond hair, approached them.

  He spoke in a deep register. “We’re due to leave for New York this morning.”

  “Already?” Aurora said in a weary voice.

  “It won’t take long for the people of the world to learn about the cities being locked. They will think it’s some sort of an outbreak or plague sweeping the world. And you know how pan
ic makes them behave.” He said this as if denying he was half human too. “Swiftness is key to the success of this mission.”

  Reluctantly and numbly, Aurora and Gray left in search of the rest of the Power Halos. They found them sitting together on the grass. All appeared to be, for the most part, unharmed.

  When the two of them approached, Luna let out a sob and ran to Gray, flinging her arms around his neck, almost hitting Aurora in the process.

  He obligingly put his arms around his girlfriend as he watched his Stellar join the rest of the group, still looking numb and absent of emotion. Her empty eyes cut back to him, their gazes locking.

  With a shock, Gray realized their connection somehow communicated feelings as well. That was the only way to explain it.

  He could feel her.

  Aurora felt like a dormant volcano, like everything she wanted to feel was bubbling just beneath the surface.

  Twenty-Seven

  GRAY

  The Angel and Archangel Halos were left to clean up the destruction of the city, and the Powers filed back onto Echo as the sun exploded just above the horizon, cutting through the thick London fog.

  And, without even giving them a chance to get used to the idea of another oceanic journey, the boat pulled away from the dock and moved down the Thames, leaving the London skyline behind.

  Once again, a thin layer of tension—be it awkward or sexual—lay over their convoluted group. Gray, Luna, and Aurora. Chord and Sevastion. Even Brielle and Logan were acting strangely.

  They all avoided any further awkwardness by retiring to their own rooms, sleeping off the nightlong battle.

  Gray slept longer than he had in days—weeks even. The previous day's battle had pushed his body and soul to the limit.

  The next time he awoke, it was late afternoon of the next day, and he was staring out of his porthole window at the familiar sight of the New York skyline. Something felt different about it, though. Or maybe he was the one who was different.

  Last time he’d been in the city, he’d been a naïve, twenty-six-year-old fireman who thought angels were nothing more than a nice idea.

  Now, he saw the city in a different light. A dangerous light. The energy of the people hummed, sending invisible waves of vibrations into the air. Without even seeing a single individual, Gray knew word of what was happening around the world had reached them.

  The urge to leave the ship and lock the city as quickly as possible spread from his core to the tips of his extremities.

  The other Halos didn’t seem quite as eager as he was, though.

  Chord gave him a once over when he showed up on the deck. “Why are you already wearing your armor?”

  The others, still dressed in pajamas and holding steaming mugs of coffee turned to look at Gray. Aurora and Luna sat at separate tables, but their chairs were nearly back-to-back, so when their heads swiveled in his direction, they looked like a broken mirror.

  “The sooner we lock the city, the better.” Gray swiped a sugarcloud off the plate in the center of Aurora’s table. “The people are already starting to panic.”

  “How do you know that?” Logan snorted. “We haven’t even disembarked yet.”

  “Just trust me.”

  Throwing back the rest of her coffee, Aurora stood, the blanket encircling her pooled in the chair and draped to the ground in a woolen waterfall. “Let’s get ready then. We’ll stop at the firehouse first, then maybe one of the other Halo choirs will come find us. Hopefully the Dominions and not the Virtues.”

  A crease formed between Gray’s brow. “What?”

  “The Virtues are creepy.” Aurora stepped over the blanket and moved to clear her plate and empty mug. “Little children dressed in Victorian clothing who speak like adults? Straight out of a horror movie or something.”

  “No,” said Gray. “I meant, what do you mean we’re going to the firehouse first?”

  Aurora stopped in front of him, her sapphire eyes brighter than usual in the golden afternoon light. “Don’t you want to see them?”

  Gray’s face felt inexplicably hot as the others watched him. Did he want to see the guys at the firehouse? He wasn’t sure. They knew him so well—and at the same time not at all. But they would probably notice something was different about him. Something off.

  Chord answered for him, draining his coffee too. “Yes, you do. And, if not, I want to see them. I love a man in uniform.”

  Sev’s eyebrows rose as his gaze cut to Chord.

  Aurora laughed at this. “Then let’s go put on our uniforms. Under our clothing, of course. You look only slightly obvious in that, Gray.”

  She placed a hand on his forearm as she passed by and, despite the thickness of his armor, he could feel her touch down to the bone. Judging by the darkening look in Luna’s eyes, she knew he did too.

  LUNA

  Gray’s firehouse was located only a few blocks away from the new World Trade Center building. Luna knew he had lived in New York during the 9/11 attacks, but she hadn’t asked him any further questions because she thought it was rude to pry.

  Now she kind of wished she had.

  Word of the “sleeping cities” had evidently made it to New York, and people were undoubtedly unnerved by it. London—along with a handful of other major cities like Beijing, Sydney, and Tokyo—had been locked.

  This was a good thing to the Halos, of course, but the people of the world were petrified.

  Their group stopped at Gray’s favorite hole-in-the-wall pizza place for dinner, and the establishment’s little television up in the corner of the cramped room blasted out the news.

  The patrons ate their slices with unblinking eyes fixed on the screen as an overly-made-up news anchor stood in the deserted downtown street of Dallas, Texas, which had recently been locked.

  Everyone thought there had been some sort of major virus outbreak that hit people in their sleep and kept them from waking up. Scientists and researchers had already flocked to the cities to conduct studies on the sleeping bodies. No conclusive evidence had been found, according to the news anchor.

  “Bizarre,” a local with a thick Brooklyn accent said through his pizza. “So freakin’ bizarre.”

  The Halos shifted uncomfortably in their seats and ate faster. Chord practically inhaled his third slice of pepperoni before muttering, “Let’s get out of here.”

  The big-city smell of garbage, food, and car emissions wafted through the air. As their group walked down Canal Street, Luna inched closer to Gray, longing for him to take comfort in her.

  She could tell he was on edge about seeing his firefighter friends again. His eyes locked straight ahead, strong jaw clenched.

  Finally, she worked up the nerve to reach out a hand to clasp his.

  Gray’s response was unsatisfactory, to say the least. He merely flashed Luna a tight-lipped smile and accepted her hand in his, though he didn’t return any pressure or fix her with one of his intense looks.

  She couldn’t help but think that if Aurora had been the one grabbing his hand, he would have done all those things and more.

  The bitter taste of envy filled her mouth like a slowly dissolving pill.

  She’d never hated a person before, but the longer she was around Aurora, the more intense her feelings of dislike became. For the most brief of moments during the battle yesterday…she’d almost hoped Aurora wouldn’t come back from the bell tower.

  “It’s right up there,” Gray said suddenly, nodding his head at a sandy-bricked building with two large red doors, where Luna assumed the fire trucks left from.

  Her heart jumped at the thought of seeing the place Gray had lived for so many years.

  Long ago, she and Logan had visited a firehouse in Alaska on a class field trip. They’d even taken them into the part where the firemen lived when they were on shift.

  Several kids asked where the moms and children stayed; the firemen had laughed and explained that they only lived in the firehouse when they were on duty and that they al
l had homes outside of the firehouse.

  Gray was an exception to this rule—at least that’s what she had gathered from what little he’d told her. She imagined him walking the rooms, the ghost of the firehouse, without a home to go to.

  And in the hidden part of her mind that she wouldn’t share with anyone, ever, she pictured him coming home to her.

  Most of the girls she’d known back in Ketchikan had big dreams and aspirations—careers they wanted to get into, goals they wanted to accomplish.

  But Luna had been the odd one out.

  She had been the girl who wanted to get married and have kids and stay at home. Cleaning, doing laundry, cooking dinner. Logan used to make fun of her and say she was setting feminism back by fifty years.

  But, as the group of Halos approached the firehouse, the image of Gray leaving here and coming home to her, to a hot dinner she had cooked, flooded all her senses. She could practically smell the roast beef and see the flickering of the candlelight.

  Luna was pulled violently from her daydream as a loud chorus of “Gray!” and “Sonny!” assaulted her ears.

  Big arms engulfed Gray; pats on the back and chiding jokes were thrown his way as their group was welcomed into the firehouse.

  “How was the cruise, Sonny?” one of them asked as they all entered the large living area, then taking in the six other Halos added, “What, you bring back the whole boat?”

  Gray pulled up a chair next to the biggest of all the guys—Luka, she thought she heard him say—and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.

  “Nah. I met these guys at different times on the ship. We realized we’re all living in New York, so we formed a big group of Yankees. Oddly enough, none of us are from here originally.”

  Luna shifted uncomfortably on the couch next to Logan, trying to fit in as she studied the planes of Gray’s face while he talked.

  Aurora had taken the seat beside Gray before Luna could, and now she had to silently and invisibly battle the demons inside her that made her want to push Gray’s stupid Stellar onto the floor.