Silver Smoke (#1 of Seven Halos Series) (39 page)

Milena stayed in New York City, a major port of theirs, and Sirena stayed on a small island in the middle of the Pacific called Guam. I visited them when I could to explain things to them and coach them through their first years with Hallow powers.

Not long after the New Order took over, they held a meeting to destroy Michael's arch. What once was a symbol of birth for the Hallows was now a symbol of division between them.

Of course, you can't actually destroy Michael's arch—you can take it apart and you can separate the stones, but the stones themselves are unbreakable. There was a council to decide how to get rid of Michael's arch for good. The meetings were held in absolute secrecy from the general Hallow public, but Bes and I were among the few invited to attend them.

The council decided that an appointed seven from the group would each be entrusted with one stone, which he or she would hide in an undisclosed location. The head of the council appointed a stone master, who would distribute the stones to the seven chosen by a secret ballot. Only the stone master would know who had each of the stones, and each of the seven chosen would know where one stone was, but not the other six. It was the perfect solution of checks and balances.

Naturally, Bes and I each vied for one of the seven spots, but neither of us was chosen. We were thankful though, several months later when the seven chosen stone-bearers returned from hiding the stones and the head of the council held a dinner to honor them and the stone master. The dinner was a secret also, of course, until the next day when the entire Hallow community found out that all eight had been murdered, to ensure that the arch was truly lost forever.

Bes and I were feeling overwhelmed at this point. We tried to piece together any snippets of information we could about the locations of the stones, but there was no chance. The members chosen to hide the stones were the most loyal of the council—they truly hadn't spoken the whereabouts to anyone or left any record—not a crumb of trail for us to follow.

A few years passed, and we learned of new sorts of cruelties, much different from the cruelties of the monarchy. The New Order leaders were chosen by vote, but that didn't mean the leaders were always the best for the job. Often, they used propaganda to gain their votes. The political field had turned into a popularity contest, where few Hallows truly understood the issues and few cared about the direction of the organization. Mysterious deaths cropped up, starting with any pure-blooded Hallows who had gained their pure blood from the arch in recent years, followed by members of the families who bred their children to be pure-blooded. The darkness of that time period motivated many of these remaining pure-blood Hallows into hiding. Bes and I kept a network of communication open for these families, but we couldn't gain the trust of all of them in order to organize them. Our efforts to infiltrate the New Order had failed on a different level that we hadn't taken into account. We were so ingrained in the politics that we ourselves were pawns, not to be trusted by either side, not really.

Eventually, any semblance that we would lead a revolution against the New Order disappeared; we became comfortable with finding places for ourselves within the New Order hierarchy. It was the second time for me to start over, giving up on things I couldn't change. The New Order had risen to power and was more powerful than the government they'd overthrown. The only difference between the two was that the New Order was easier to game because it relied less on luck and more on smarts and strategy. I only hoped to keep the few I was able to hide alive, and to keep my ears open for anyone else I could help.

A new, twisted challenge soon emerged—a grave shortage of men. A disproportionate number of unwed female Hallows now existed thanks to the New Order's extermination of pure-bloods from Michael's arch.

This, coupled with the natural shortage of male births due to male twins being less common than female twins, had dwindled our numbers greatly. And now there was no arch to create new Hallows from humanity or infuse our ranks with strong, pure blood.

Bes was called upon to marry. He was married to me, but the New Order annulled our marriage because I couldn't bear children.

He said we could run away, but I wouldn't let him. I told him to go to his new wife. We were both so tired of the politics of the Hallows, tired of seeing all of our friends and everyone we loved die, century after century. He took his wife, had the children the New Order wanted, and died shortly after.

A few years after Bes, my best friend Magda had children—two twin girls, with the most beautiful almond eyes, skin the color of coffee, and heart-shaped faces. When they grew up, I trained them, and we noticed that their powers were unique and unlike anything we'd ever seen before. They were the most powerful young Hallows I have ever trained, aside from Milena and Brie.

Magda had seen what had happened to me, Bes, and countless others. She didn't want her children's powers to be used by the New Order, so when she died, I took the girls with me, away from Barcelona.

We found Milena and Sirena. I told Milena the story of the stones, but by then she had already fallen in love with an earthlie named James. She didn't know her real parents or her aunts or even her twin sister.

She had grown up in the earthlie world and that was where she felt she belonged. She wanted to get married to James, have children, open an art gallery in New York, and continue her charity work.

I was disappointed in her, but I could only hope that she'd change her mind. Sirena was slightly easier to convince. We stayed long enough to watch Milena walk down the aisle toward her soul mate from the balcony of the church, hidden behind the choir.

After that, we went our separate ways. The twins and I headed out to meet some of the families in hiding, while Sirena went to see others. Very few of the families were interested in fighting the New Order, and by that time many of their children had married earthlies as well, letting their blood lines die.

We were stuck again, with no further course of action. There were so few people who had experienced the atrocities of the New Order outside of the capital, and even fewer who were willing to take a stand for a new government that could easily be equal to or worse than the current one. None of us had the vision needed to rally others to our side. It was at times like this that I longed for Bes, with his beautiful words that could convince anyone of anything.

After Milena had children, she called me. She was leaving James due to his work schedule and exposure to the media. She wanted to form an escape plan for her two children, both under two years old, in case the New Order found her. I should have known then that something was strange about the request, but I didn't put things together until after Milena was already gone and we discovered you, Brie. We formulated the plan that you all already know about...

*****

Thessa slicked the needle out of Pilot's arm and covered the penetration point with a bandage. Sirena, Brie, and Rykken were hanging on to Thessa's every word, but something about the story seemed off to Pilot. He drifted from the chair to the couch, leaning back into the pillows to counter the dizziness of losing so much blood at once.

"I've thought about Milena's map and all the trips she took," Thessa continued. "They were after she had already given birth, so her Hallow powers would have been slowly dwindling. But I wonder, was there a chance she was looking for the stones so she could start a revolution? And why would she be looking for the stones without us? I still haven't figure it out yet, though I can't imagine what else she would have been looking for." Thessa's eyes slid over Pilot as she looked at the other three. He tried not to let it get to him, but the lack of attention only reminded him of how out of place he was in this new world.

"It's an interesting theory," Sirena said. "I wish Milena had just been honest with us—that would make this whole mess much easier."

Rykken plopped down the chair Pilot had just vacated. "I want you to draw my blood too," Rykken said, holding out his arm.

Thessa looked at him with surprise, then gave him a single nod. "We'll test my source's trustworthiness with your blood, first," she said, jabbing a fresh needle into his arm.

If Thessa's statement worried Rykken, he didn't show it. It didn't matter anyway—all three of them handed over their DNA, and if the source was bad all three would have to contend with the New Order.

Brie paced the room, passing behind Pilot on the couch. She seemed completely healthy, like the blood drawing hadn't affected her at all. "So if you're right about Milena and she was looking for the stones, how would she go about finding them? Thessa, you said yourself that you and Bes had no idea where to begin, and you were there when the stones were first scattered. How would Milena even have a chance?"

"She wouldn't," Sirena said, her eyes narrowed. "Maybe that's why she died—she snooped too much and got caught."

Thessa seemed to contemplate this. "I guess you'll find out," she said. "If you still plan on going, that is. Maybe this answer satisfies your curiosity."

"It's not an answer," Brie said, a determined look in her eye. "It's a theory." Sirena nodded, but Thessa's worry lines deepened.

When Rykken's blood was drawn, he steadied himself out of the chair. "I'm going to head home," he said.

"Thanks for having us, Thessa."

Thessa nodded and looked at Pilot. "Please let me know if Kennedy visits you again."

Pilot wasn't sure that he would; he didn't feel comfortable turning Kennedy in. What if the Hallows hurt her? Pilot was still convinced that Kennedy had an explanation for everything the Hallows accused her of.

Pilot refused to travel using Brie's power again, and Rykken didn't want to go to his own home for dinner, so they walked several miles back to the van Rossum house. Brie and Rykken were completely absorbed in a discussion about Milena's motives for searching for the stones when Pilot interrupted.

"Why are you doing this?" Pilot asked Brie.

Brie spun around sharply, though he wasn't sure if her surprise was over his question or because she had just remembered he was there.

"Doing what?"

"Messing with these powerful stones." Pilot flexed his shoulder blades back, moving his arms to loosen the tension in his neck. "The New Order has nothing to do with you and you're probably going to get yourself killed."

Brie stopped walking. "Aren't you curious what happened to Mom?"

"Is that what this is about? Mom?" Pilot shook his head. "What do you think you're going to do, find these stones when Thessa couldn't? Make sure that Mom's death wasn't in vain?"

Brie folded her arms. "I was considering it."

"You don't even know that she was looking for the stones! It's just a theory that Thessa came up with."

And now that Pilot thought about it, the theory was completely illogical. Finding the stones was Thessa's goal, not Milena's. Hadn't Thessa said as much? That Milena wanted to get married and have children?

Pilot put two fingers to his right temple. "Can't you see?" he asked. "The Hallows are manipulating you.

You heard all the terrible things they did to their own people. How do you know you're on the right side, Brie?"

Brie forehead creased with genuine worry, as if she was questioning herself. Finally she said, "Mom's letter."

Pilot bit the air he exhaled. "Mom's letter?"

"
You know that the person most like me will find you, and help you complete the work I've started
," she quoted. "The person most like her is Sirena, her biological twin. She
wants
Sirena and me to complete her work."

"She could have meant anything by that," Pilot said, though now he was the one in doubt. It all made his head spin anyway—how did Milena know that Brie would have powers and he wouldn't? Did Milena know she was on a suicide mission before she wrote those letters?

"I need to do this," Brie said, walking backwards so she could face Pilot. "I need to know the truth about what happened with Mom."

"This isn't a game or some curious itch you need to scratch!" Pilot grabbed her by the arms, wishing he could shake sense into her. She yelped under his firm grip, even though he knew he couldn't be hurting her. Rykken's arms tensed, but he didn't make a move toward the siblings. "This is insane," Pilot railed.

"All of it. You need to think this through Brie. You are only fifteen years old, they can't expect you to

—"

"Sirena thinks—"

At the mention of Sirena's name, Pilot let go of Brie, practically pushing her away. He walked past her.

"Don't talk about Sirena anymore."

Brie was quiet for a minute as she fell into step with him. "Maybe
you
should talk to Sirena. She's your family too."

"No.
You
are my family. Sirena is the one taking my family away." Pilot rubbed his eyes, feeling panicked. "There is no way I can go with you, is there? Not as a human... as an...
earthlie
."

Brie shook her head sadly. "I'm sorry Pilot. I don't know how I could protect you or how you could help."

How you could help.
Pilot was helpless in the Hallow world. He was a burden.

"I'm going with them though," Rykken said. He said it with a reassuring voice, but something about that sentence just fueled Pilot's anger.

"Don't get me started on
you
." Pilot turned to Rykken. "You knew she was planning this suicide trip and you didn't tell me!"

Rykken clenched his mouth, as if he wanted to say something, but couldn't. Brie glared at Pilot, then grabbed Rykken's hand and pulled a few steps ahead. Pilot let himself fall behind them.

Pilot wished he had something to punch, and right now the back of his best friend's head looked pretty inviting. Consciously, he knew he was misdirecting his anger, but at that moment he didn't care. He felt like his sister and his best friend were leaving him at the same time, becoming a part of this new world that excluded him. Together.

Then there was Kennedy. Kennedy was part of Silver Smoke, which was part of the Hallow world—a world he should have been a part of. He was Milena's son—why didn't he have powers? Was it because of what Thessa had said about the sons of Michael?