Silver Smoke (#1 of Seven Halos Series)

by Monica O'Brien

  "I have no idea," Rykken said, his face a bonfire of emotion. "She's coming around I guess." He wasn't sure he wanted to talk to Clara about this, especially since Clara hated just about everyone he cared about, from what he could tell.

  "At least you have blood on your side," Clara teased.

  Rykken locked eyes with Clara, and the glint in her eyes told him she had him right where she wanted him.

  "You didn't know? Brie is a daughter of Michael. They always end up with sons of Gabrielle. It's tradition." Clara smirked. "Or at least it was, before the New Order took over."

  "And you think I'm a son of Gabrielle?" Rykken asked.

  "Well, I can't be sure until we test your blood, and we can't do that because we don't want to draw attention to ourselves with Sirena and Brie here. Plus we don't know what Kennedy wants, or who she's working for, so we can't trust the New Order anyway. But the selkie family from the islands—they were all Gabrielle's children."

  "And the shark family?"

  Clara grinned wickedly. "Leviathan's children."

  The name alone triggered an unearthly shudder within Rykken.

  "He's the archdemon of envy, usually taking the form of a sea monster that guards the gates of hell.

  That's why the shark-men couldn't leave the selkie family alone. They wanted their land and people.

  Leviathan also lusts for the blood of the evil ones on this earth. The shark-men were fulfilling their father's purpose, and the selkies were trying to stop them."

  "Do you think Kennedy is a member of the shark-men family?"

  Clara's lashes fluttered, mocking him. "Good question. I don't know. But it would provide a motive."

  "Don't be sarcastic." Rykken took a swig of water. "I'm asking so I can figure out if this Kennedy chick is out to kill me."

  "I hope not," Clara said playfully. "That would make my job of training you quite complicated." She grabbed another cookie. "Either way, that little tidbit should make you happy. You and Brie might be destined to be together."

  Rykken wasn't sure why Clara cared so much about Brie and him; she wasn't his friend, and she almost seemed to be digging for information.

  "As long as she's not destined to be with Justin, I'm happy." But Rykken had to admit the news gave him hope.

  "That earthlie? You're kidding, right?"

  A twinge of an idea creeped into Rykken's mind. "Cora would know, wouldn't she? How Brie feels?"

  Clara uncorked a round of laughter that had been growing in her belly for some time. "That's cute," she said, her eyes tearing. "You're like, pining over her."

  "I'm glad you find me amusing," he said dryly.

  She laughed again. "Cora knows, but she would never tell you. She tries to be respectful of other people's feelings, usually."

  "Usually?"

  Clara stared at Rykken for a long moment, like she was debating whether to tell him something or not.

  "I've experienced Brie's feelings only once, right after the Homecoming dance," Clara said. "Cora did it. Brie and I were fighting, so she formed a connection between the two of us, without our consent."

  "What does that mean?"

  "It means we shared emotions. I felt everything Brie was feeling, as if I was feeling it myself. She felt everything I was feeling, as if they were her own feelings. Cora wanted us to empathize with each other."

  Rykken struggled to keep the eagerness out of his voice. "And she felt something for me?"

  Clara volleyed the question with a dangerous look. "Yes, the princess couldn't stop thinking about you, even as Thessa was nearly dying." She grabbed another cookie. "We should nickname you 'prince charming,'"

  she said, taking a bite.

  "That's okay," Rykken said, his cheeks flushing again. Or maybe they had been flushed the whole time; on a scale of one to embarrassing, this conversation probably ranked near mortifying. "I don't need a nickname."

  "Shut up. You're delirious with just the thought of her liking you, I can tell." Rykken wasn't sure what to say to that, because his face was so hot and Clara was sort of right—he couldn't wipe the silly grin off his face.

  Clara wiped her mouth. "Oh, by the way, don't tell Thessa I told you," she said. "Thessa is weird about the two of you hooking up." Seriousness had returned to Clara, and her narrowed eyes proved it.

  "Right. She doesn't want us training together."

  "It's not just that." Clara beat her fingernails against the granite. "She won't tell me why though."

  Clara grabbed another cookie.

  "How many of those are you going to have?" he asked.

  "That's the beauty of being a Hallow," she replied, chomping down. "No matter how old you get, no matter how much you eat, you can always morph back into a skinny person."

  *****

  "Thanks for coming over." Brie closed the front door of her house behind Rykken. "I know it's not fun to claw your way through a nosy herd of guys with cameras." "Yeah, it's a zoo out there. The paparazzi practically attacked me, asking me all sorts of questions about your family. Luckily, the security guards at the gate recognized me and let me through without too much hassle."

  Brie gave Rykken a quick once over—the neckline on his soft gray shirt dipped lower than normal t-shirts, revealing the topmost part of his chest. He had on worn jeans with a rip at the thigh, and they balanced low on his waist, revealing a sliver of waist band with the words 'Calvin Klein' on them.

  Brie steadied her breathing. "Glad to hear it."

  "Well, this is not a bad place to be holed up in." Rykken smiled at her, his eyes sparkling.

  "It's better than the boat," Brie said. "Plus I still get out of school this week."

  He looks so good, she thought to herself. She walked toward the kitchen and Rykken followed her.

  "What are you so dressed up for?" he asked.

  Brie felt a flush tickle her cheeks. She wasn't sure why she'd put on her favorite dress that morning—the soft, jade wrap that hugged her waistline and made her chest look bigger. It wasn't like she was leaving the house anytime soon, she just felt like it was a dressing up kind of day.

  "The paparazzi," she said, improvising. "In case they stampede past the gates and come crashing through the doors."

  Rykken nodded. "You look nice." His eyes were warm and his smile was unnerving, like he knew something about her that she didn't want him to. "Has Pilot spoken to you since the accident?"

  "Nope," she said, grabbing a can of soda from the refrigerator and two glasses from the cabinet. "He's still mad at me. He took a bunch of food from the fridge outside with him though. He's been out there all day." She filled the glasses with ice and poured water into one. She poured the can of Coca-Cola into the other glass and pushed it across the counter to Rykken. "James is in LA doing interviews for damage control, and Annie is busier than ever with all the security we had to hire. I think this is the first time I've been grounded, too."

  Rykken stared at his glass of soda, surprised.

  "Oh!" Brie exclaimed. "You wanted Coke, right? I just assumed, but I can get you something else."

  She reached for the glass on the counter, but he swiped the glass before she could.

  "It is what I wanted, but..." He sipped on his soda, a funny look on his face. A smile waltzed across his lips. "Thank you."

  The tension between them was palpitating, pulsing through the entire kitchen. She wasn't sure what to say anymore; she was so embarrassed and nervous in his presence.

  Rykken kindly broke the silence with a subject change. "The Hallows are mad at you," he told her.

  "I know." Brie bit her lip, relieved. "Falling off that boat—it was a stupid, stupid thing to do. The last thing I need right now is to attract attention to myself."

  Rykken set his glass on the counter, empty. "It was an accident though, right?" He spoke softly, moving closer to her. "I know you said you fell, but Brie, if you have any thoughts about dying, you can talk—"

  "Yes," Brie said impatiently. "It was an accid
ent." She was sick of everyone thinking she was trying to commit suicide. She brushed past him to the refrigerator and pulled out a tray of food.

  "Do you want a tomato mozzarella sandwich?"

  "Sure," he said. He looked at the tray in confusion. "Where's the bread?"

  "The tomato substitutes for the bread. The mozzarella is the inside. It's delicious." Brie set a single sandwich of a paper plate and slid it across the counter to him.

  Rykken grabbed the sandwich from the plate and took a bite. His face turned from skeptical to surprised.

  "It is good," he said, still chewing.

  "I made them," Brie said with satisfaction. "The seasoning is what makes it good. All great cooking is in the ingredients—the more expensive and fresh, the better the end result."

  Rykken smiled, taking another bite. "You like cooking, don't you?"

  "It reminds me of my mom," she said. "Some of my happiest memories of her are in the kitchen. She was a bit of a health nut, so she always cooked our meals at home. We lived in the city, but we rarely ate out."

  He took another bite without taking his eyes off her. "Well, you're good at it. Cooking, I mean." It was the second compliment he'd given her in five minutes, and Brie wondered what was going through his mind.

  "Do you want to get started on the song?" she asked nervously. Their project for English was due in a few weeks. Brie had been working on lyrics that captured the feelings between Paolo and Francesca, two characters in Dante's Inferno, in modern terms.

  Rykken nodded his head. "Right. That's why I came over."

  Brie laughed; it sounded like he was reminding himself. He gave her a boyish grin, finishing the last fourth of his sandwich in one bite. They took the stairs two at a time to James' recording studio.

  Brie hadn't been in there in a while, but the room looked much more lived-in than usual. There was a computer and a miniature soundboard, with controls that Brie didn't understand how to work. The floors were a tangle of cords and carpet; several keyboards and guitars littered the lower four feet of every wall and corner of the room. The upper walls were covered in awards—gold records, platinum records, and shelves full of statues that Brie couldn't even begin to name.

  Brie stood in front of a microphone stand with her notes in her hands, and Rykken sat across from her on a stool with one of James' guitars in his lap.

  "What do you have so far?" he asked. He adjusted the strings on the guitar, using a metal clamp to change its tune.

  Brie nerves escalated; what if her song was terrible? "Well, Francesca and Paolo's love was forbidden,"

  she started. "Francesca's husband was Paolo's brother. That's why they were in hell, where Dante met them. So I tried to write about a forbidden love centered around a kiss, where the girl is crying because she knows it is their last."

  Rykken gazed at her, his jaw slightly unhinged. She crinkled her nose, feeling exposed. She wondered if she was reading too deep into the assignment, or reaching too far.

  He pressed his lips together encouragingly. "Why don't you sing the chorus, so I can get an idea of what types of harmonies will go well on guitar."

  Brie closed her eyes, blocking out Rykken and the rest of the world. She had never written lyrics before and never sung for an audience.

  Her lips parted...

  We close our eyes as the rain pours down cold

  We say goodbye to the stories we haven't told

  We may be broken, but I have one last wish

  I want one last crying kiss

  Warm eyes and a soft smile met her when she opened her eyes again. "That was good," Rykken said. "You have a beautiful voice." He tuned his guitar, strumming a string of notes to the same tempo. After several minutes, the tune formed stronger and more fluid. The rhythm coaxed her into adding her layers of vocals.

  "... I want one last crying kiss," she crooned. As the chorus ended, she looked up to find him watching her, his eyes sparkling. She ducked her head.

  "Want to hear the first verse?" she asked.

  "Sure."

  They kept working on the song until they had a chorus, verse, and bridge pattern laid out. He made suggestions to her for some of the lyrics, making them sharper or more interesting as they jammed along.

  A few hours later, her throat had developed an unnatural, scratchy tone. "I need a glass of water," she said. Rykken set James' guitar aside and they walked back upstairs to the kitchen.

  Brie threw back her head, gulping down an entire glass. Rykken stood next to her tentatively, a little unsure of himself.

  "Good session today." The warmth that exuded from Rykken as he spoke reminded Brie of the sun—he was practically glowing.

  "Agreed." She wiped her mouth, then pulled tomatoes, onions, and an eggplant out of the fridge.

  His neck flexed when he tilted his head. "Hungry again?"

  "I have to make dinner," she explained. "You're welcome to stay if you want."

  Guilt bubbled to the surface of Rykken's face. "As much as I want to experience more of your incredible cooking skills, I don't think my presence would help your family situation."

  Brie thought back to the night when James first arrived. Rykken was uncomfortable then, too. "You're probably right," she agreed, not allowing her disappointment to seep into her voice. She distracted herself by searching for their potato peeler.

  Despite what Rykken said, he didn't make any motion to leave. Instead, he leaned against the counter with his arms folded, watching her work. "Have you talked to Justin since you got back?"

  "He's called a few times." Brie pulled out a cutting board and started cubing the eggplant. "He's taking me out for a surfing lesson this weekend," she said carefully, watching Rykken's face. "We were supposed to go when I got back from the cruise, but since I'm back now we're going Saturday morning instead."

  Rykken flinched. "I thought you were grounded."

  "I am."

  "Today is Wednesday," Rykken said skeptically. "Does your grounding end before Saturday?"

  "I don't know. Maybe." Brie tilted her head, plastering a smile on her face. "But it's not like I can't transport out of here if I want."

  She said it playfully, but Rykken's forearms tensed at her words. "I thought you didn't want distractions."

  "I'm thinking of it as a training session rather than a distraction. I don't think I can go underwater again, not yet—so I'm hoping surfing can be a transition for me."

  Rykken slouched against the counter, letting his shoulders drop forward. He opened his mouth, then closed it. Then opened it again. "I don't think you should hang out with Justin anymore," he said. "I told you he really likes you. If you don't like him, you shouldn't mess with him."

  Brie sighed. "I know," she said. "I need an instructor though, and I already told him it wasn't a date and I don't have time for a boyfriend."

  "It won't matter what you told him. You're spending time alone with a guy who likes you, one that you've apparently made out with." Rykken made a choking sound, but it didn't sound deliberate, like he was making fun of her or anything.

  "Stop," Brie said. It was so uncomfortable for her to talk about kissing Justin to Rykken.

  "I can't. You're leading him on."

  "Well, I don't have anyone else to train with," Brie snapped. Two cubes of eggplant shot across the counter; the knife blade edged into the cutting board, leaving a dented sliver. "Pilot isn't good enough to teach me and you can't go to the beach until you have your powers under control."

  Rykken gently pried the knife from her hands and set it on the counter. "I can teach you," he said, letting go of her hands. "I can help you get comfortable in the water again. You just have to wait a few weeks for me to get my powers under control."

  She stewed in fury for a minute, unsure of where to place her hands now that Rykken wasn't holding them.

  She finally tucked them in her apron. It was uncomfortable, but she pretended it felt natural to bend her arms at the odd angle.

  Brie bit her lip.
"A few weeks?" she said with feigned concern. She had a feeling she knew where the conversation was going. "I don't know if Sirena and I have that much time to wait."

  "I don't see why I can't teach you," Rykken said softly, "especially since you can't leave without me.

  You have to wait until I have control of my powers anyway."

  Brie cringed. She hadn't yet figured out how to tell Rykken that he couldn't come with them to investigate Milena's death. "Sirena didn't want to involve any of the other Hallows," she said. "She doesn't even want me to go. I don't know if she'll let you."

  "You need me though, more than you need any of the other Hallows. We can travel underwater where it's safest, and untraceable. I'll have a better sense of direction than either of you. I can be the navigator."

  Brie wrung her hands with every word he spoke. "We might travel a different way. Maybe transporting."

  "You can't transport that far. If you could, you wouldn't have needed a plane to get us home from Moloka'i."

  "Rykken..." Brie could hear the desperation rising in her voice.

  "No," he said, shaking his head vigorously. "This isn't an option. What happens if the media follows you?

  What happens if the New Order finds you and Sirena together by yourselves and figures out who you are?

  You're less conspicuous if I come also."

  He made good points. Still, Brie wasn't comfortable dragging Rykken into her problems. "Maybe you can practice in our pool at nights," she heard herself saying to him, trying to placate him in some way without agreeing to anything.

  "That's a good idea," he said. He grabbed her arms, forcing her to face him. He looked her in the eyes.

  "Once I can control my powers, we can go."

  "It's so dangerous Rykken... please." Brie grasped at anything logical she could think of, any argument that could change his mind. "Look what happened to my mom," she pleaded. "Whatever she was messing with got her killed."

  "I don't care."

  "I can't let you die for my mother's secrets."

  "I can't let you die for your mother's secrets either." Rykken ran his hands up her arms to her shoulders, brushing her hair from her neck. "You're not going to leave without me. I'll follow you if I have to." He took a deep breath, cupping her face gently. "If something happened to you and I wasn't there—"