Echo (The Halo Series Book 2)

by Melody Robinette

  “Seems we made a few enemies tonight,” Aurora muttered to Chord when he fell into step beside her.

  “Who did you piss off?” he asked. She nodded her head towards Luna and Gray. Luna had a tight grip on Gray’s hand and looked particularly downcast. Chord caught her shooting an incensed glance over her shoulder at Aurora. “Ah... Yeah, well, that’s no surprise is it?”

  Aurora shrugged, dismissing it. “I didn’t think the levitating cup thing would be a big deal. It’s just cool, is all.”

  “But would you think it was so cool if the guy you were dating had a telekinetic power that only worked when he locked eyes with his soul mate?”

  She shrugged again. “I probably wouldn’t care.”

  “Well, that’s because you have no heart.”

  Aurora laughed, but didn’t deny it.

  Chord was almost jealous of Aurora’s ability to let things roll right off her back. It was like all the daggers thrown her way turned into feathers on contact.

  They entered the pristine amphitheater to find it filled with apprehensive Halos and concerned Powers. Chord found it refreshing that the angels—at least the Powers—still seemed relatively human. When he’d once thought of angels, before all of this, he’d pictured perfect, untouchable beings who were always cheerful and singing, never worried or bothered by the troubles of the world. But he’d learned on Etheria and Arx Isle this was far from true. They certainly weren’t omnipotent and were just as affected by human problems as the Halos—if not more so. It was their duty to protect, to fight for humans. If humans were suffering, the Powers were suffering.

  Michael and a few of the higher-ups stood on the stage looking somber, and trepidation filled Chord’s gut. He wondered if Caducus had already fallen. He wasn’t ready to fight. Not yet.

  A melancholic Michael walked forward now. When he spoke, the entirety of the amphitheater could hear his voice. “I come bearing bad news. There has been a series of attacks. It's been brought to our attention that the Horns have sought out family members of various Halos, looking to draw us into battle.”

  “Jumped right in there, didn’t he?” Chord whispered to Aurora, who shushed him irritably. Her face twisted with worry and fear, an expression Chord had never seen her wear.

  Exclamations arose around the Halos, and Michael held up a single hand, silencing them.

  “The Powers have determined it is no longer safe for the humans on Earth. Caducus’s fall draws near. It is now time for the nine choirs of Halos to meet with the soul keepers and lock the souls of the world before more innocent lives are lost. Your group leaders will explain this in more detail tomorrow morning. For the time being, we, unfortunately, must inform those Halos who have lost family members and make the proper arrangements.”

  A silver-haired Power approached the section in which Chord and the others sat, struck mute by fear. Chord had never been particularly close to his mom or stepdad. They'd always shown him love and acceptance despite their regular church attendance. They were the kind of Christians who believed in living as Jesus did and accepting others regardless of their so-called sins.

  But they were quiet and liked crossword puzzles and game shows. He’d just never been able to connect with them on a level deeper than child and parent. But that didn’t mean he wouldn’t be crushed if they’d been killed. Especially since it would have been, indirectly, his fault.

  Their group lined up to speak with one of the Powers who was now informing everyone whether their family survived or not. As Aurora reached the front of the line, she looked like she might pass out. Her face had gone bone white, blue eyes like saucers, forehead wrinkled in worry.

  “Hello, Aurora,” the Power said with a muted smile. “Your family was not one of those attacked by the Horns.”

  Aurora clutched at her chest and let out a half-sob, half-laugh. “Thank you,” she said breathlessly.

  It was Chord’s turn now. “Chord,” the angel greeted. “Your family was spared in the attack by the Horns.”

  Relief showered him as he moved to stand beside Aurora, who was slightly less white but still looked sick to her stomach.

  “They’re going about this sort of strangely, don’t you think?” Chord whispered, more to deaden the silence than anything.

  Aurora nodded. “They probably know that it’s better to tell us as soon as possible, rather than let us go on worrying.”

  “Still. They could have sent out Powers to tell us this instead of calling thousands of us together.”

  “Michael probably felt it was his duty to inform us himself.”

  “They need communication devices. Like angel iPhones.”

  Chord noticed each Halo whose family had been attacked was pulled away from the group by the Power delivering the bad news. Each time this happened, another Power would replace them and continued providing the good/bad news.

  Brielle, Gray, Luna, and Logan’s families had all survived, and they came to stand by Aurora and Chord as they waited for Sev. But when he approached the Power, the angel bowed his head, placed a hand on Sev’s back and drew him away from the crowd.

  Sev’s face drained of blood, and Chord’s stomach twisted in pain.

  “Where are they taking him?” Brielle whispered, her hand over her mouth.

  Gray was the one who spoke up, having clearly delivered the same dark news too often during his time as a fireman. “To tell him his family didn’t survive.”

  Thirteen

  GRAY

  Gray watched as Sev walked briskly away from the group of Halos, his shoulders hunched, head bowed. As a fireman, he’d seen the look in Sev’s eyes too many times. It was a look unique to loss.

  “Should we go after him?” Brielle asked the others, her eyebrows turned up in concern.

  “He probably just wants to be left alone right now,” Aurora said.

  “Screw that,” Chord said, abandoning the group and following after Sev.

  Gray, Luna, Logan, and Aurora watched them with downcast expressions. Gray hated seeing others in pain when he knew there was absolutely nothing he could do. It was a feeling of helplessness like no other. And he’d felt it many times. The most recent occasion being when Aurora told him about the unspeakable thing that had happened to her all those years ago. Seeing the pain in her haunted eyes had been excruciating.

  Aurora and Gray connected eyes for a moment as if they’d both been thinking the same thing. “I’m going to bed,” she announced, departing without another word.

  “We all should,” Logan said. “Who knows what Verity will be telling us tomorrow morning.”

  The three of them left the perimeter of the amphitheater in the direction of their town homes. They walked in silence, though Gray had a suspicion Luna and Logan were speaking their twin language silently, using only glances and eyebrow movements. He was too busy being caught up in his mind to care much. Everything from meeting Aurora for the first time, their Stellar training, battles with demons, and Samuel’s evil eyes flashed through his mind. He could only imagine what they had in store for them now. And what the hell had Michael meant when he said the souls of Earth had to be “locked” by soul keepers? Better yet, what exactly were soul keepers, anyway?

  “Gray? Gray.”

  Blinking his thoughts away, Gray turned to see Luna standing alone on the front step of her townhouse looking up at him. Her face held a mixture of frustration, sadness, and adoration all wrapped up together.

  “Sorry.” He gave her hand a squeeze. “I was just thinking about…well, everything, I guess.”

  Luna’s mouth tugged down in a frown. “Everything?”

  “Yeah. You okay?”

  Luna bit her lip and looked to the side, down the channel, with a thoughtful expression before turning back to him.

  “It’s nothing. I’m fine.”

  Uh oh. I’m fine was probably the most complex phrase in the female vocabulary.

  “You sure?” he asked.

  Luna nodded with a tight-lippe
d smile.

  Yeah, she was definitely mad about something. Or maybe she was just upset about Sev’s family and didn’t want to talk about it. But that didn’t seem like her. Either way, she already said she was “fine,” which meant he wouldn’t know what she was “fine” about until the unlikely event where he either figured it out or, more likely, when she blew up about it later. At least, that had been Gray’s previous experience with what was, in his opinion, the more dangerous of the F words.

  “Okay, well, I’ll see you in the morning,” Gray said.

  Luna nodded and allowed him to kiss her on the cheek before she disappeared into her townhouse to most likely tell Logan how not fine she was.

  * * *

  Dawn arrived quickly, though Gray was pretty sure he hadn’t slept through the night. More like catnapped. He couldn’t silence his thoughts long enough to drift off into the peaceful abyss of what his mother used to call Slumberland.

  He needed coffee.

  The Java Shop was always full of Halos at this time, but the coffee stand by the river seemed to have less traffic on this particular morning. He was feeling uncharacteristically introverted at the moment. When he rounded the corner of the library, though, he saw that someone had already beat him to the coffee stand. Judging by the way his stomach did a summersault, he knew who it was before he even saw her face.

  Any thoughts of wanting to be alone vanished.

  Aurora wore a black dress cut just above her knees in the front and layered down to her heels in the back. Ankle boots and smoky eye makeup completed the dark look. He assumed this was her way of displaying her mourning for Sev, which was thoughtful but also frustrating because she happened to look really damned good in black. Guilt permeated his mind. He wasn’t supposed to think Aurora looked good in anything because he was with Luna now.

  He tried to act casual. “Hey.”

  Aurora turned her eyes on him, their blue brought out by the dark makeup. She smiled, catching him off guard. “Hey, you. Did you sleep as awesome as I did?” She took a long gulp of her latte, stepping aside for him to order.

  “If by awesome you mean not at all, then yes.”

  Aurora held up her paper cup. “That’s why I needed this.”

  Gray ordered the largest size the cart had and turned back to Aurora while he waited for the angel barista to pour his coffee. “You would think half-angels would be immune to exhaustion.”

  “I think we partly are,” Aurora said thoughtfully, cradling her coffee in her small hands. “At least, our angel side is. Think about how much training we do every day. We shouldn’t even be able to function, but maybe this average amount of exhaustion is just our human side wearing out.”

  “You could be onto something there.” He took his coffee from the beaming barista.

  “Duh. I’m a genius.”

  Gray’s mouth turned up in a smirk as he flashed her a sidelong glance. This was probably the most comfortable she’d ever acted around him. Apparently, the best way to get Aurora Coel to let down her ever-present walls was for Gray to acquire a girlfriend. Making it magically impossible for them ever to be together. How convenient.

  Speaking of girlfriend, Luna and Logan were now rounding the corner, and uncomfortable feelings of guilt settled in his stomach. He had no reason to feel guilty. He and Aurora were just friends—and Stellars. They’d only been talking.

  Logan looked Aurora up and down and let out a slow whistle. “Okay, I know you, and I butt heads a lot, but I have to take a break from that and say that your dress is effing fabulous.”

  “I guess I can take a break from our animosity as well to say, ‘Thank you,’” Aurora returned.

  Gray looked past Logan and Aurora to Luna, who was staring at Aurora with pursed lips and narrowed eyes.

  Logan leaned against the counter of the coffee stand to order. “I’m guessing you guys got that letter from Verity about meeting in our training room at eight?”

  “That’s why I rushed over here to get java’d up.” Aurora raised her already quarter-empty cup. “In fact, we should probably head there now," she said, glancing down at her watch before looking expectantly up at Gray. His eyes moved from hers to Luna’s and back. Aurora must have realized his predicament and cleared her throat. “Actually, I’ll, uh, just see you guys over there.”

  Aurora revolved in a half-circle, her dress swirling around her like fog, and walked in the direction of their training building. Gray’s gaze remained on her retreating figure, oblivious to the fact that Luna’s eyes were watching him watch Aurora go.

  Fourteen

  AURORA

  “As you probably noticed, Sevastion is not with us this morning,” Verity announced to their little group of Halos in a somber tone. “He is meeting with the others who have lost family members. They are undergoing an intensive grief session with their Guardians.”

  Aurora glanced over at Chord to see him frowning down at his lap. She wondered what had happened the night before when he’d chased after Sevastion. If Sev were anything like her, he would have lashed out at Chord just to be able to release some of his grief on something tangible. But, knowing Sev, he likely didn’t say anything at all…which can sometimes be even worse.

  Verity continued. “The seven of you will leave this evening for England to support Sev at his parents’ funeral and—”

  “All of us are going to England?” Brielle cut in.

  Verity nodded. “The Horns are on alert. It’s safer to travel as a group than alone. The funeral is not your only purpose, though. As Michael said, Earth is becoming too threatening to human souls. Caducus’s fall is near. The actions of the Horns and demons are proof of that. It is time the nine choirs of angels came together, locking the souls of the world to protect them from corruption and possession. Each group of Power Halos will be assigned to two cities, where they will meet with the groups of Halos from the other eight choirs. The mission of the Power Halos—that’s you—will be to protect the other Halos from attacks by the Horns and demons so they can complete their assignments.”

  Logan held up a hand. “I’m sorry, Verity. Can we back up a bit? I don’t think I could be more confused if you were speaking another language.”

  “Here, let me draw it out for you.”

  Verity ripped a paper out of the large leather-bound notebook in her hands and pulled a gold-plated pen from the middle of the book. The Halos leaned forward to see the illustration. She drew three large circles stacked in a vertical line, like an equally proportioned snowman.

  “There are nine choirs in the angel hierarchy, three triads, each closer to the Light. The highest choir is the Seraphim,” she wrote the word in the topmost circle. “They are the guardians of the Light. They will be in the city, communicating with Him. Though you will never see them directly.”

  “How are they going to—” Brielle began.

  “Let her finish her angel lesson,” Chord snapped, earning an eye roll and a pursed-lipped look from Brielle.

  Verity afforded a small smile at the two of them as she proceeded. "The next highest are the Cherubim and the Thrones. The Cherubim—the second highest choir—will be protecting the spiritual sanctuaries. The Thrones—”

  “All religious sanctuaries?” Brielle interrupted, receiving sighs of exasperation from the others. “Like, not just the churches?”

  Aurora resisted the urge to slap herself in the forehead…or maybe slap Brielle in the forehead. Either way, she resisted.

  Nodding curtly, Verity said, “Yes, all of them,” before resuming. “The Thrones are the third highest and the last of the first triad of angels. The job of the Thrones is to pulse positive energy throughout the city, which will hopefully ward off some of the demons, though the Horns are more immune to this due to their human blood.”

  To the side of the top circle, Verity wrote First Triad in a swirling script before moving down the page to the middle circle, writing Dominions. “The Dominions’ duty will be to lead the lower choirs of angels and
guide them in this quest. It is their job to deliver the Key of Light to the soul keeper. These will be the Halos you interact with most, as they are in your triad and are more informed of this quest than even the angels of a lower choir.”

  “Jeez. I didn’t realize angels were so political,” Chord muttered to Aurora, who pretended not to have heard him. She needed all of her focus to comprehend this angel hierarchy business.

  “The Virtues will be in charge of sending spiritual energy to the collective human consciousness, as well as healing those in need through elemental powers. Then comes your job. The Power Halos will, of course, be in charge of fighting all dark forces while simultaneously protecting the other Halos as they complete their missions.”

  Verity wrote Second Triad beside this circle before moving down to the bottommost ring and writing Third Triad beside it.

  “Then we have the Principalities, whose duty will be to influence the humans to travel back to their homes, to the safety of their beds. Finally, the Archangels and the Angels are the last and lowest of the hierarchy. They deal most directly with the humans, protecting them. The humans’ souls will be locked at night, so most will already be tucked safely in their beds, though there are some who do not have homes to go to, meaning their bodies could be in potential danger. While their bodies may be harmed, their souls will remain safely locked in their Celestials until this war is over.”

  Logan placed two fingers to each of her temples, shaking her head back and forth. “What are Celestials?”

  “Soul stars,” Aurora and Gray answered simultaneously.

  At the others’ perplexed looks, Gray added, “Michael explained it to us when we found out we were Stellars.”

  “M’kay…” Logan said. “And what the hell is a soul star?”

  “Everyone has a star belonging to them, connected to their souls,” Verity clarified. “It’s where a piece of the soul resides until the human body dies. That’s how Aurora and Gray are Stellars. Their soul stars—or Celestials—fused together at some point.”