Silver Smoke (#1 of Seven Halos Series) (25 page)

Brie regretted ever giving Sirena the idea to take her out. It had all started after James'

housewarming party, when Brie jumped in the pool. Then, she wished she could breathe underwater, and even tried to change water into oxygen. She told Sirena her idea a few days later.

"You're going about it all wrong," Sirena had said. Breathing underwater was one of Sirena's specialties, and changing water into oxygen was too difficult to do for long periods of time. Sirena promised that she would take Brie out to sea for lessons.

"It's in your blood," Sirena had said. "You're an innate, right?"

Brie wished now she hadn't mentioned it.

Swimming in a pool was one thing. Wading through the ocean near the shore and letting waves crash over you was okay too. Even watching pretty fish from the surface through a snorkel mask was fun.

Floating aimlessly under water, surrounded by unfamiliar sea creatures and vegetation, moving too slowly and not having a clear idea of which way was up or down? Not fun. Brie tried not to panic thinking about it. Panicking consumed more oxygen—that much she was sure of.

Sirena looked back and swam toward Brie. It was at that moment Brie noticed she had stopped, frozen in the water, drifting slightly downward to the ocean floor. There were bubbles everywhere and she had spotty vision; the tank clung to her uncomfortably and the mask blocked her peripheral eyesight. Sirena grabbed Brie's hand, shooting her a look that said, What are you doing? Brie grabbed Sirena's outstretched hand, gripping it tightly. Sirena pulled on Brie's hand, attempting to loosen her grip, but Brie couldn't relent. She was scared—more scared than she'd been since first finding out about her Hallow powers.

Sirena put her hand on her chest and began breathing in and out very slowly, taking long pauses between each inhale and exhale, just as she had shown Brie before they took the dive. Brie mimicked her, clutching Sirena tightly with one hand, the other hand on her own chest. Sirena held onto Brie firmly. As Brie got a feel for the breathing pattern, her body relaxed some, and Brie loosened her grip on Sirena.

Sirena shrugged Brie off, rubbing her arms where Brie's nails dug in. Then, she put her hand over Brie's mouthpiece, signaling that she wanted Brie to try breathing without the air tank. Brie shook her head. She wasn't ready to try anything more advanced than breathing like a normal human with the tank.

Sirena nodded in understanding. She made a motion with her two fingers like two legs kicking in the water. Sirena wanted them to swim again now that Brie was breathing normally. Brie nodded and followed Sirena in the direction she had motioned.

Brie focused on her breathing. Inhale one two three four... Exhale one two three four.... she repeated the pattern over and over again as she swam. She couldn't hear anything but the sound of her own breathing. The ocean was quiet, which some might consider peaceful; but Brie couldn't.

Once Brie felt comfortable breathing, she tried to focus on her fins, flicking them slightly up and down. When she had first gotten in the water, she moved them back and forth as swiftly as she could. This didn't help her move faster, however, or in the direction she wanted. She learned to flick her legs instead of beat them.

She tried to focus on Sirena rather than let her vision wander to her surroundings. She knew if she got too caught up in the ocean, she'd have another panic attack.

Finally, Sirena stopped and turned around. She smiled, pleased that Brie managed to keep up this time. She swam back, putting her hand on Brie's mouthpiece.

Brie took a deep breath, remembering Sirena's instructions. Sirena told her to think like a fish might think of the ocean—as a source of life, safety, and food. Brie tried to pretend that the salty seawater was her normal atmosphere. She imagined the oxygen in her tank going stale, aging her mouth and limbs with every intake and leaving a bitter taste on her tongue.

Brie closed her eyes, and opened her mouth as she held her breath. She released her mouthpiece, setting it adrift, letting it float limply to the side of her body along with all her other gear. She inhaled, letting the water fill her mouth. She meant to fill her nose as well, but found that she couldn't inhale through it anymore. Brie held the water in her mouth for a few seconds before spitting it out.

She repeated the technique a few times with success. It was exactly how a fish would breathe. As Brie held the water in her mouth, she tried to think of herself absorbing the oxygen from the water. It was an odd sensation—not quite comfortable, but she also wasn't choking for air. She could breathe, but not very deeply. There was something unsatisfying about underwater breathing that Brie hadn't expected.

Brie opened her eyes to see Sirena smiling at her, her hair billowing softly behind her. The sight of Sirena made Brie's stomach churn in a way that reminded her of feeling car sick. She concentrated on her breathing again, not looking around at the water that surrounded her. She knew the next step would be moving and breathing at the same time.

But Brie didn't get to the next step. As she focused into the abyss, letting her mind drift, she noticed a pair of deep brown over-sized eyes in the distance, sparkling beyond the point where Sirena was floating. These eyes were not human, but they focused in on Brie like a human might, staring her down, questioning her.

The eyes blinked. Brie let out a soundless scream into the deep ocean.

*****

Brie grabbed onto Sirena as the ocean water filling her lungs. She tried to cough, but only managed to inhale more water. The water viciously stung at her nose, her gums, and her throat before Sirena shoved the scuba diving mouthpiece into Brie's mouth. Brie grasped at it with her teeth, but she could barely inhale. Sirena put her hand on Brie's upper middle back and the water drained slowly from Brie's lungs, allowing her to breathe normally again.

Brie inhaled from the mouthpiece greedily, her panic full-blown. She looked all around her for the body that belonged to the eyes, but saw nothing.

Sirena grabbed Brie on both sides.
Calm
, she mouthed. She looked at Brie's pressure gauge. The arrow pointed to the red, meaning the tank was almost out of oxygen. Sirena locked eyes with Brie and pointed up. Brie nodded emphatically. She wanted to get out of the water.

They made their way to the surface slowly, pausing around fifteen feet deep to avoid the bends. When they surfaced, Sirena said, "What the hell was that?"

A wave rushed over Brie's head, and she clenched down on her mouthpiece, afraid to let go of the only reliable air source she had. Sirena grabbed her wrist and Brie felt a tugging sensation; seconds later, they were standing in the Sandy Beach Park parking lot.

With the weight of her scuba tank on her back, Brie collapsed against Sirena's tomato-red Pontiac convertible. The metal burned against Brie's wet body, irritating her already-rosy skin.

"Are you okay?" Sirena asked.

Brie dropped the mouthpiece from her lips, gasping for air. "No," she said. "Didn't you see them?"

Between heavy breaths, Brie told Sirena about the bodiless eyes that followed them in the ocean.

"It was a seal," Sirena said, helping Brie out of her scuba gear. "I watched it swim away." She lifted the air tank into her trunk.

"Do seals blink under water?" Brie asked, shivering. The sun was bright and warm on her back, but she couldn't shake the terrible feeling that festered in the pit of her stomach.

"No one was watching us," Sirena said, frowning. She grabbed two beach bags from the trunk, before slamming it shut. "You seem shaken up."

"Ya think?" Brie picked at the paint on the hood of the car with her fingernail. She flicked the red flakes sideways, revealing slate-coated metal underneath.

Sirena swatted at Brie's hand, brushing the flakes off the hood with her palm. "You know we still have to go out there." When Brie didn't respond, she held a beach bag out. "Are you going to make it through today?"

Brie wrenched the beach bag from Sirena's hands and slung it over her shoulder. "I'll make it." She dreaded Sunday afternoons at the beach, but they were practically a requirement at Punahou, especially for her group of friends.

Throngs of people covered every speck of space on the small beach. No one noticed Sirena and Brie as they treaded through the crowd in silence, Brie digging her toes into the sand with each step.

It was high tide, and the beach was dotted with orange flags and warning signs about the strong current and dangerous shore break. Teenage girls in teeny swimsuits competed to see who could show off the most skin, and lifeguards yelled at ignorant tourists to get out of the water.

The ocean was the lightest of blues and large walls of snow-white water sprayed everywhere. The waves towered over the surfers and boarders, and Brie had to squint her eyes to make out who might be among the brave few who would tackle them on a day like this. She spotted Justin and a few other guys she recognized from her school, surfing the 15-foot waves all the way to the shoreline where they broke.

Pilot was easy to spot—he was the silhouette figure whose tan was more Italian than the dark skin tone of the locals. She worried about him. He hadn't been surfing as long as the local boys, and she didn't want him to get in over his head. She wished Rykken was out there to coach him, but she couldn't find her brother's best friend anywhere.

She had tried to call Rykken the night before, but he didn't pick up or return her messages.
Why
should he?
she thought. It wasn't like they would even talk if they didn't have Pilot in common. She knew she had no right to be concerned about Rykken, so she tried to push her worries out of her mind.

Down the beach, Cora and Clara lounged on beach chairs under an umbrella. A large group of girls surrounded them on towels laid out over the sand, like paperclips drawn to a magnet. None of them were stupid enough to get in the water—those waves could injure someone who didn't know what she was doing.

Brie let herself fall behind as Sirena headed toward the group. "Brie, aren't you coming?" Sirena called back.

"Go on without me." Brie didn't want to face the twins yet, not after what happened the night before.

Sirena stopped walking and backtracked. "You still owe them an apology."

Brie tossed her hair over her shoulder. "They still owe me answers."

Sirena grabbed Brie's elbow. "And
answers
require
responsibility
." Sirena sighed. "That's why sometimes it's better not to have the answers."

Brie let Sirena guide her toward the girls. "I can handle responsibility."

Sirena stopped, facing Brie. "The Hallows don't seem to think so."

Brie made a face. "How do I get them to trust me then?"

Sirena bit her lip. "If you want the Hallows to trust you, stop acting like an angry, reckless teenager. Don't tell Rykken unnecessary details about the pendant; don't yell at us when we have to take away Pilot's memories to keep him safe. We're all on the same team here."

Brie shifted her weight to one leg, putting a hand on her hip. "You sound like my mother."

"I'm trying to help you." Sirena ran her hands over her hair and shook it out. It came out almost completely dry. "Apologize."

"Okay!" Brie stalked toward the group of girls, leaving Sirena several paces behind. But she didn't have far to go, because Cora and Clara were walking toward them already, probably eager to keep Brie out of earshot from the other cheerleaders.

"I'm sorry," Brie blurted out when the three of them met in the middle. "I don't know what happened last night, but I shouldn't have gotten mad—"

"Forget about that," Clara said, grabbing Brie's elbow with a firm grip. She steered Brie in the direction she and Sirena had just come from. "We need to talk to you before—"

"Clara thinks James adopted you," Cora blurted out.

Brie's jaw felt like it had detached itself and fallen onto the beach.

Sirena, who had just caught up, looked surprised also. "Why do you think that?"

Clara gave Cora a dirty look, and turned to Sirena. "I've been sorting through the information I found when I raided James' den. This morning when we were talking to Thessa, I realized there were slight inconsistencies in James' documents."

Brie folded her arms across her chest. "How is this just coming out now?"

Clara ignored her, still looking at Sirena. "We obviously considered the possibility that Brie was adopted before," Clara said, "but the government records I checked to see that you were James' true child were forged. This document is real." She held a document out to Sirena.

Before Sirena could take it, Brie snatched the paper from Clara, holding it on both sides so it wouldn't blow away. She skimmed the gold and black lettering on it, but barely registered any of the words on the page.

After a minute, she handed the paper to Sirena. "I'm adopted. Great."

Sirena looked at the paper and handed it back to Clara, who folded it into three pieces. "It explains a lot. You don't look that much like James, for one. You have Hallow powers and Pilot doesn't."

"Not only that," Cora said, "but your Hallow powers are well beyond anything Thessa has seen in a young Hallow. It's impossible for you to have an earthlie father, no matter how powerful Milena was."

Brie waved her hands. "It doesn't matter. James isn't my real father, with or without that document."

Sirena twisted her mouth to the side, her eyebrows forming v-shapes at the ends nearest to her nose.

"This isn't necessarily a bad thing. Your real father could still be alive, and if he is, he's probably a Hallow."

"And he hasn't talked to me for fifteen years," Brie added. "Some father."

Sirena tapped her cheek. "Maybe he couldn't."

"Either way, we need to find out who your father is," Clara said. "He probably knows more about Milena's motives than anyone, and he might be able to tell us what Milena was looking for. Thessa is leaving tonight to find out what she can, starting with a list of pure-blooded Hallow men I narrowed down. I'm trying to convince her to let me go with her, but—"