Silver Smoke (#1 of Seven Halos Series) (33 page)

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—"

"Pilot wouldn't blame you," Brie interrupted, not wanting him to finish his sentence. She turned her face to the side, and he dropped his hands.

When she looked back, Rykken was glaring at her. "It's not about Pilot and you know it." His Adam's apple moved up and down, full of emotion.

She watched him for several minutes as he paced around the room, picking up random objects and setting them down again. It was the closest they'd come to talking about what was happening between them. It was more than a crush, more than an attraction. They were standing at the edge of a line, but it was the type of line you couldn't come back from once you crossed it. And what good would crossing it do? It would only tie her to the island, let her talk herself out of leaving—because he couldn't come with her. She cared about him too much.

Watching him bounce around the room was miserable, so she forced herself to return to her chopping. The tension between them reminded her of a wave, sucking in the coastline, building momentum as it moved toward the beach. She wondered how long they could go on like this. The thought only exacerbated her twisting stomach, forcing it to tumble over itself.

Rykken had stopped pacing. He was standing next to her, watching her chop. "I'll be here tonight," he said with determination. "Midnight. You're an innate, so I'll need your help figuring out how to control my transformations."

She nodded ever so slightly, so unsure of her voice that she didn't think she could speak without losing her resolve. She felt his breath on her head, but he didn't touch her. A minute later, he was gone, leaving her with a feeling of emptiness, like he'd taken her soul with him.

Brie didn't know much about waves, but there was one thing she was sure of. No matter how long they built up for, or how high they towered, they always broke eventually.

Rykken was in a new, post-water polo schedule with a singular goal—to control his seal powers whenever he was near water. He slept in a little more on weekdays, rode his bike to school, went to classes, then went to Clara's house to learn about the Hallows. The lessons were surprisingly interesting, and Clara was impressed by his progress and memory.

"So much better than Brie," she had said. "The princess probably doesn't remember which limbs to put her socks on in the morning."

After his Hallow lessons, he went home to nap before completing his homework. He usually ate dinner on his own a little after his foster parents went to bed to avoid them. His foster mom didn't remember what had happened in the bathtub—Clara made sure of that—but she still remembered how she felt about Rykken. She was scared of him, and she knew he was different than other people. But she couldn't remember what about him made her so uneasy, or why she wanted to toss him out of her house like a pair of old, dirty boots. She was speaking with their family counselor and they were reconsidering his living arrangements. He had no idea where he would go if she kicked him out—probably to another foster home until he was eighteen and could finally be free of the system.

After dinner, he slept again. Around midnight, without fail, Brie texted him when the paparazzi risk was at a minimum and the rest of the family had gone to bed. He snuck out and rode his bike over to the van Rossum's pool to practice controlling his seal transformations.

It was easy working with Brie. He could see why she was an innate—she looked at problems from several different perspectives until she found the right solution. Most people who couldn't master a skill would try harder and practice more. That's how Rykken excelled in both sports and school. Brie wasn't particular good at either, but now he understood why—if something wasn't working for Brie, she disregarded the rules and tried a different way of thinking about it until she found a path to her end goal.

The hardest part of working with Brie was talking to her about anything other than staying human when he was submerged in water. Their family situations were depressing, the trip they were going on was terrifying, and their feelings for each other... well, they hadn't broached that topic since earlier that week when she rejected him in her kitchen.

Saturday night came, and Brie said he could come over early. She met him in a simple tank top and shorts, but the sight of her caused a stir in his chest. She opened the gate for him like she always did, letting him in through the back entrance of their property. "No Saturday night plans?" Rykken asked.

Brie's lip curved upward at the corner, showing her dimple. "Not tonight. Pilot is on a date though."

Rykken watched her carefully. "Did you enjoy your surf lesson morning?"

"I cancelled."

"Cancelled?"

"Yep," she said. He wanted to press her for more information, but didn't. He wasn't sure the reason mattered anyway.

They walked through Annie's garden of plumerias, pink cottage roses, and hibiscus, to the area closer to the pool near the house. Brie sat at the edge of the pool soaking her feet. He sat down across from her, letting his feet sink into the water slowly.

The first night they practiced, this very act of dipping his toes in the water started the seal transformation on the lower half of his body. The weight pulled him under into the natural water pool until his entire body was submerged, turning him into the slippery sea mammal. It must have been comical to watch, but to Brie's credit, she didn't laugh. She immediately jumped into the water and guided his body to the steps, helping him out of the pool. Uneven strips of fabric from his swimsuit floated to the surface of the pool from when he transformed, but Brie had thought of that too. She didn't giggle or look or get squeamish at all. Instead, she tossed him another pair of water polo briefs the van Rossums kept stockpiled next to the towels.

He tried to enter the pool without transforming a few more times with no success.

"I think it's because you're fighting the transformation," Brie had said. "Instead, imagine that you are okay with the transformation of your toes, as long as you can change back before you fall into the water."

"That's cheating," Rykken said. "I'm still transforming."

"But if you do it fast enough, it will look like you didn't change at all," Brie said, amusement lighting up her face. "And eventually, you won't change, because the transformation back will be so fast."

She made him sit on the topmost stair of her pool, holding onto the rail for balance. He let his feet transform into a tail, then transformed them back into his feet. It was a much simpler process to go from seal to human underwater than he expected.

Over the next several nights, they practiced transforming underwater for speed, then for large amounts of body surface exposed. Eventually, he could transform from full seal to full human form in a few seconds.

Tonight, his feet slid into the water with no repercussions. He could tell something was bothering Brie, because she didn't congratulate him or even look up. He racked his brain for what it could be, until he realized that just about anything could be bothering her at this point. Both their lives were such messes.