Silver Smoke (#1 of Seven Halos Series)

by Monica O'Brien

  "It doesn't work like that. You can't apologize for something you don't even think you did wrong."

  "But Pilot wants us to be friends, so I'm trying to make things right between us."

  Rykken cringed, a glimmer of hurt in his eyes. "You also can't apologize to someone to make the person you care about happy."

  "Why do you hate me?" The words tumbled out of Brie's mouth against her will. She wanted desperately to know the answer, but she regretted asking it instantly.

  Rykken locked eyes with her, intense and brooding as ever. Her body tensed, and she cowered away from him—but he didn't yell. He also didn't deny it. "You represent everything I hate."

  Brie put her hands on the kitchen counter to support her anxious body. "And what would that be?" she asked quietly.

  "Everything," Rykken said. "You're superficial. Your dad buys you whatever you want, and you're terrible to him. You get anything else you want with your looks. Everyone at school wants to be friends with you because your dad is famous, and you let them so you can feel special."

  "What don't you get about my life?" Brie asked. "I didn't ask for any of this."

  "Well I didn't ask to be found in a dumpster nearly dead when I was two years old. I didn't ask for my parents to abandon me. I didn't ask to be brought up in foster care my entire life." Rykken shifted his attention to the floor, stirring his foot around one of the tiles. "But I don't let it be an excuse.

  I used my Hawaiian heritage to get scholarships, and I worked my butt off to get into Punahou so I can go to a good college."

  Brie tried to hide her pity from her face. "It's not fair to assume my life isn't hard just because yours has been harder," she argued.

  "That's not my point." Rykken picked up a magazine lying on the counter, and held it in front of Brie's face. "My point is why is this always an excuse for your actions?" On the cover was a picture of Brie holding a hibiscus over her mother's coffin. It wasn't a cover she had seen yet, but the image gripped her. She didn't know if he meant that she used her fame as an excuse or her mom's death as an excuse. Probably both.

  Rykken drilled into her eyes expectantly. "I don't know what to say," Brie confessed.

  He scoffed. "Don't say anything then. At least you're consistent."

  For some reason, this comment more than any of the others made Brie furious. She was done apologizing to Rykken and side-stepping the eggshells of his broken ego. She tried to think logically.

  What was the minimum she needed tonight?

  "Fine," she remarked, in a tone as businesslike and free of emotion as she could muster. "We don't have to get along and you don't have to like me. I'll just get to the point." Her voice was steady, but her entire body was shaking. "I need to see that pendant we found last Saturday."

  "What?" Rykken looked truly dumbfounded, like she'd slapped him in the face again.

  "I need to borrow it." Brie racked her brain for an argument that would resonate with Rykken. "I can't explain why, but if you care about Pilot at all, you'll give it to me."

  "What does Pilot have to do with the pendant?" Rykken seemed extremely tired all of a sudden.

  Brie wondered how much she should say. "I'm using it to protect him," she said quietly. "You can't tell him though."

  "I won't, because I'm not giving it to you. I don't care what you need it for."

  She walked over to him and grabbed his arms. "Look at me," she said desperately, searching his eyes.

  " Everything depends on you giving me that pendant."

  "Why?" he asked, still not looking at her.

  "I can't explain it to you. I just need it."

  Finally, he met her eyes. It only took one second for Brie to see his answer.

  "Fine," Brie said, backing away. "I won't bother you again." Rykken said nothing as she turned and walked away from him.

  "And by the way, I hate you," she said, her back to him as she opened the glass door to the balcony.

  "I know."

  "And I'll never forgive you for this."

  Brie stalked off outside, fuming. She barely heard Rykken's mumbled reply, "That was the point."

  In an attempt to hide her tears, Brie half skipped, half-jogged to the deep end of the pool.

  "Brie!" someone shouted across the yard. Brie ignored the voice and climbed the high dive ladder.

  Once at the top, she did a running jump and dove headfirst into the water.

  *****

  As Brie stormed out of the kitchen, Rykken leaned against the stainless steel refrigerator door, crushing an empty soda can in his hand. What was that? He had no idea where all that anger came from. But that wasn't completely true—he did have some clue, didn't he? Rykken was on the defensive as soon as Brie had tried to take the pendant from him, making up some absurd excuse about why she needed it to play on his emotions. As much as he hated the pendant, he didn't want her to have it. If it was bad for him, he'd rather find a way to destroy it than let anyone else own it.

  Absentmindedly, Rykken pulled his spoon out of the sink and dipped into the macaroni salad again.

  Rykken looked around. It was hard to believe Brie had even set foot in a kitchen, much less prepared the delicious salad he was eating. She didn't seem like the domestic type. He turned around and opened the fridge, pulling out another cola even though he wasn't thirsty. He cracked it open and thumbed through the magazine on the counter, not really looking at the pages. He wasn't sure if he should leave now or wait for Pilot to come after him. There was no way he wasn't going to hear about what had just happened.

  The door opened, and Pilot entered. "Hey guy."

  Rykken's throat constricted. "Are you here for Brie?"

  No," he said. He smiled. "She just did a flip off the high dive. Such a show off." Pilot chuckled as he opened a bag of potato chips and poured it into a bowl. "James is too busy signing autographs for the cheerleaders to be a good host. I guess someone has to be the adult around here." Pilot's gaze flitted across the counter. "Are you actually reading that trash?"

  "Brie didn't say anything to you?" Rykken asked, ignoring his question.

  Pilot grabbed a handful of chips and shoved them into his mouth. "Nove, whud vood zhi zhay do mwe?"

  "Dude, that's disgusting." Rykken laughed in relief. "And no, I'm not reading this idiotic crap. Do you want help carrying anything?"

  Pilot swallowed loudly, smacking his lips. "Can you grab some more burger? Eric volunteered to barbecue, but he destroyed the last batch." Pilot paused. "Actually, Brie did say something to me earlier. She doesn't hate you. And she wishes you didn't hate her."

  Rykken stopped in the middle of the kitchen, almost dropping the tray of burgers he had just pulled from the fridge. "She said that, huh?"

  "Yep." Pilot grabbed the burger tray, holding it steady. "Did she apologize for the face slap?"

  "I mean, yeah."

  "So are you two cool now?"

  "Yeah," Rykken lied. "Of course."

  "Good." Pilot looked around. "While we're here alone—the pendant." His voice dropped to a whisper.

  "Did it..."

  Rykken cringed. He reached into his shirt and pulled out the heavy emerald pendant with the silver crescent moon encrusted in the center. "Did it what, Pilot?" he asked. "Did it appear out of nowhere and attach itself around my neck while I was sleeping, even though I threw it into a fire at least five miles away?" Rykken heard his voice rising.

  Pilot stared wide-eyed at the pendant. "Can you take it off?"

  "Of course. How else would I throw it in a fire?" Rykken slipped the pendant off his neck and set it on the table. Pilot reached his hand out to pick it up, then withdrew.

  "Afraid to touch it?" Rykken smirked.

  "No," Pilot said defiantly. "I already have, haven't I? At the tonkatsu place." He picked up the pendant, letting it spin around its own chain.

  "Look at me," Rykken said. Pilot had trouble tearing his eyes from the pendant. "You can have it.

  But promise me you won't put
it on."

  "Sure." Pilot seemed dazed, dazzled by the glint of the silver moon. The pendant looked rather plain to Rykken though; he couldn't see what had captured his interest initially.

  Rykken's head cleared, like he had shaken a cloud of fog from his mind and an invading force from his body. "I'm serious, dude. There's some freaky shit going on with that pendant." Rykken felt better than he had in days, but he had a terrible feeling about giving his best friend the pendant. "Maybe I should take it back," he said. Brie's words struck Rykken, echoing in his head. If you care about Pilot at all, you'll give it to me.

  "Like hell you will," Pilot said. He slipped the pendant into his pocket.

  Rykken recoiled. "Don't put it on. Actually, don't wear it at all, anywhere on your body."

  "I'm not! I'm taking this upstairs so I can show Annie later." Pilot put his hand on the pocket where he'd just put the pendant. "I also want to see if it fits with the book, but not right now."

  Rykken shook his head back and forth, trying to figure out what had just happened. Everything depends on you giving me that pendant. What had he done?

  Pilot stared back. "Can you take all this stuff out to the party?" he asked, gesturing at the food sitting on the counter. "People are hungry."

  "I don't think I should leave you alone with the pendant."

  "Why? Is it going to attack me?" Pilot laughed. "Dude, back off. I'm not stupid. I'm not going to put it on." Pilot walked toward the stairway. "I need to put it away for safekeeping."

  Rykken started to follow him, but stopped. He knew from his experience that force wasn't the way to fix this. He also knew that there was only one other person he could go to for help, who might believe him.

  *****

  Submersion underwater calmed Brie's mind and heart. It was hard to keep track of all the people she was avoiding: Rykken because he hated her, Sirena because Brie hadn't secured the pendant, the other Hallows because their practices had gone so poorly that week, and James because... well, she always avoided James. They couldn't hassle her underwater though. Brie knew that up above, laughter rippled through every conversation, and the entire backyard smelled like a mixture of barbecue, insect spray, and Tiki torches.

  She knew that the soft Christmas lights that decorated the palm trees danced off the water, lighting everything up in blues and greens. She knew that the darkness would galvanize everyone's courage and ignite their flirty sides.

  She also knew that she couldn't line up the people she was avoiding and face them in succession.

  Brie understood Pilot's point about confronting her demons one at a time, but it hadn't worked out for her so far in practice. In practice, people were difficult and unpredictable and mean. Like Rykken.

  If it weren't for that pesky detail of breathing, Brie would probably stay under the whole night.

  That gave her a thought: could she breathe underwater? She wasn't wearing her necklace because it was a pool party. She concentrated as hard as she could on turning the water around her into oxygen, separating the particles in her mind as she inhaled.

  She choked on a mouthful of chlorinated liquid—except she was already submerged, so it was difficult to even choke.

  Brie surfaced on the side of the pool, admitting defeat. At least she had avoided tears. Shaking out her hair, she made her way to the ladder a few feet away. Before she could start climbing, someone spun a cannonball into the pool right next to her, creating a huge splash.

  Brie ducked under water momentarily; she and Justin surfaced at the same time.

  "What's up, Manhattan?" He grinned, but his gaze made her a little uneasy.

  "Not a whole lot." Brie smile politely. "Justin, right?"

  "Yeah, that's right." Brie noticed a unique curve of his eyes when he smiled a certain way that made him look softer, sweeter. He's cute, she thought.

  Justin laughed nervously. "I wasn't sure you would surface. Are you a professional breath-holder?"

  "Swimming is in my genes." Brie giggled, even though she hadn't said anything funny. She always giggled when she was anxious.

  "Mine too," he replied. "I never see you out though. Why don't you surf with the rest of us on the weekends?"

  Brie looked away, not sure she could hold her smile in place. "I've been busy the last few months."

  "Oh, right." Justin adjusted his swim cap. He didn't look nearly the same without his dark, curly locks sticking out. "I didn't mean to be insensitive about your mom."

  Brie treaded a little harder in the water. "It's fine. I went through a depressed stage, but now I'm coming to terms with her death."

  "Well," Justin said, "welcome back to the land of the living then." Brie smiled; she liked that he said exactly what he meant, exactly when he wanted to say it.

  They stared at each other for a moment, before Justin finally looked away, grinning. "We should get a game going," he said, eying the volleyball net. "Hey Eric! Get a group together, we're playing volleyball." He looked at her. "You're on my team."

  "I'm terrible though. Are you sure you want me?"

  He winked. "That's one thing I'm sure of." Brie's eyes widened, but Justin laughed it off. He swam closer to her. "I'm a good enough player for both of us," he murmured. "I'll take my chances."

  "Got my partner," Eric called over to them. Brie looked up; James was on the other side of the net at the opposite end of the pool.

  "You don't play volleyball!" Brie said, shocked that James was their opponent.

  James shrugged, giving her a haphazard smile. "Neither do you, sweetheart." He hurled the volleyball over the net to Justin harder than necessary, almost hitting him in the chest. "You serve first," James said, his expression vehement.

  Justin, who had quickly moved out of reaching distance to Brie, took his place toward the back. He seemed as shaken up by James' presence in their game as she was.

  Justin served the ball to Eric, who volleyed it. Brie was seething; she jumped up, channeling every last bit of anger she had into spiking the ball over the net, right into James van Rossum's head.

  *****

  The pendant transfixed Pilot's attention. The glimmer of the crescent-shaped moon reflected off his bedroom walls, forming starry illuminations above even with his bedroom lights off. He traced the smooth surface of the emerald. He stood up from his soft leather chair and put Hawaiian Myths and Legends back on his shelf. It looked out of place, but not because it was old. It was the only book on the shelves, surrounded by his music collection and audio system.

  He had tried to fit the pendant to the imprint on Hawaiian Myths and Legends without success. Pilot started by taking the pendant off the chain, but each end of the chain was too large to slip the pendant from it. Not only that, but the pendant didn't quite match the imprint on the book; there were slight inconsistencies that made Pilot think the pendant might truly be one of a kind.

  Pilot flumped back into his chair. He knew he should forget about the pendant and go back to the party, but like Rykken had warned him, the pendant kept drawing him back in. He thought about bringing the pendant with him, but he wasn't about to wear it after Rykken's warnings.

  He overheard voices down the hall and wondered if Brie had some of her friends upstairs in her room, at the other end of the house. The voices sounded female so he ignored them, instead sitting in his self-inflicted darkness, struggling and fighting against the pull of the pendant.

  The voices grew louder, until they were right outside his door.

  "I don't want to be here anyway," the first one said.

  "Thessa asked us to," the other replied simply.

  "Only because of her." Pilot recognized the voices. These were friends of his sister. He relaxed, leaning back as far as he could in his chair.

  "Clara, why do you hate Brie?"

  Pilot sat up again, his chair making a crunching noise as he rushed back to upright position.

  "I don't understand what Thessa sees in her. Sure, she's an innate, but still. Her gifts haven't even mani
fested yet."

  One of the girls stopped moving. "You do know that Thessa doesn't like her like that, right?"

  "What is that supposed to mean?"

  "Clara..."

  "I am not―" The girl paused. "I've already told you, it's against the law. I don't care what you sense. Now let's get this over with."

  The second set of footsteps moved again, scuffling away from Pilot's room with the first one.

  Pilot got up from his chair as silently as he could. He set the pendant messily on top of the imprint of Hawaiian Myths and Legends. He crept toward his bedroom door and peeked outside to see the two girls at the end of the hallway where the door to James' suite was. It was those gorgeous twins from the cheerleading squad that Pilot often saw Brie hanging out with. What were they doing upstairs without her?

  One of the girls jiggled the knob on the door.

  "Let me see it," Clara said, pointing at the lock a few feet above it.

  Pilot watched as the girl held her hand over the lock, not touching it. A second later, he heard a click. Clara removed the lock and opening the door. Pilot's eyes gaped open in disbelief. What had just happened?

  Pilot snuck down the hallway after them. He entered James' private suite even though he wasn't allowed. He wondered if he should call the cops... but these were Brie's friends. Or were they?

  Pilot hid in the shadows of the hallway with his back against the cool white wall. He wondered if the paparazzi would ever go undercover at a high school. He remembered watching a story on the news where a cop went undercover at a high school and busted a group of guys selling drugs in the locker room. That stuff never happened at his school in New York; the kids were too rich and if they wanted drugs they could usually get them from their parents.

  But here? Maybe. If there was anyone who wanted to be at this party more than his entire high school, it was the paparazzi.

  The girls stopped at the first door in the suite—James' study. "You know I wouldn't care if you were," the first one said.

  Clara placed her hand above the door again, as she had before. "Shut up, Cora. I'm not." Pilot heard a click, and they entered James' study.