Silver Smoke (#1 of Seven Halos Series) (16 page)

"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 manifested 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.

"The map," he heard Cora say. "Brie thought it was important."

Clara scoffed, but Pilot's heart filled with dread. Brie
knew
about this?

Pilot crept toward the room, peering in. The room had changed a bit since he'd seen it last. There were papers everywhere—a sure sign that James was home and roaming the study frequently. One wall held a giant map that looked like mere decoration at first glance, but Pilot knew that there were tiny pushpins all over it, marking all the spots James had travelled during his lifetime.

Pilot watched Clara touch the map, then other various objects around the room—James' computer, his file cabinet, his bookshelf. Her eyes would go completely white, even the pupils. Then, she would blink and she was back to normal.

The other girl, Cora, stood near the door watching her silently. It struck Pilot as strange that she didn't move to help her sister, yet she didn't seem to be watching the door. Clara was making no attempt to stay quiet, as Pilot could hear the sounds of rustling paper even from where he was standing. The girls seemed completely unconcerned that they might get caught, which unsettled Pilot almost as much as Clara's eyes going white whenever she touched certain objects.

Pilot was scared and unsure what to do next. There was nowhere to hide in the hallway, but he couldn't enter the study without them noticing. He wasn't sure he could sneak away either; he was too close, and they would probably hear him before he was down the hall.

Before he could make a decision, Cora spotted him.

"Pilot?" she said.

Pilot backed down the hallway toward the door to James' suite. Clara came out into the hallway, and the three of them stared at each other.

"I thought you said no one was upstairs," Clara said to Cora.

Cora's eyes were still trained on Pilot. "I didn't sense him." She turned to Clara. "I still can't."

Sense? Pilot couldn't make sense of their conversation. "What are you doing up here?" Pilot asked.

Cora gave Pilot a pained look. "Do something, Clara." Her voice wavered with panic.

Clara closed her eyes, but nothing happened. She opened her eyes, glaring at him. "My powers don't work on him either."

"I'm going to call the cops," Pilot announced loudly. He turned around, but before he could even take a step, Cora was in front of him with her hands on his bare arms. A calm warmth spread through his blood.

When he opened his eyes, Clara stood before him. "Now it's my turn," she said. Clara touched him, and Pilot's mind went black.

CHAPTER SEVEN

James extended his hand to Brie. "Nice game, sweetheart."

Brie thought she could hide out inside the screened-in porch after their volleyball set, but James had her cornered near the towel stand. "Hah," Brie said, wrapping a bright pink towel around her body.

The transition from the heated pool to the cool evening left her shivering. "Maybe you'll bring yours next time."

James chuckled politely. He reached his hand out further.

She gave a loud sigh with her whole body breathing in and out. She held a limp hand out to James.

He grabbed the tips of her fingers, extending her arm toward him and moving it up and down before letting go. James' hands were cool to the touch, his fingers rough with callouses. "When did you learn to serve like that?"

Brie hesitated. She didn't have a great serve; she had used her powers to control where her spike landed. She realized she could return the ball with her mind even when her hands didn't make contact with it at quite the right angle.

"Sometime in the past fifteen years," she said. "Add it to the list of things you've missed out on."

James tilted his head, smiling at her. She caught a whiff of leather on his body.
That's impossible,
she thought
.
James wasn't even wearing leather today, so why did he still smell like it?

"Well, I'm proud of you, sweetheart. You're discovering activities that you like, finding out things that you're talented at..."

Brie held her hand up, palm out. "Stop, please." It bothered Brie that James wasn't getting angry about anything she said. Didn't he see that she hated him, and that they would never, ever be like normal fathers and daughters were, no matter how many games of volleyball they played together?

James reached for Brie's head and attempted to ruffle her hair. "We have to start somewhere, sweetheart. I'm being honest with you." He dropped his hand; Brie's hair was wet and heavy, falling in clumps onto her shoulders and back. Unmovable, like her heart.