Prologue
Instruments of the Angels (Hallows and Nephilim: Waters Dark and Deep #1)
The whispers from the crowd of high school teenagers signaled their arrival before the flashes from the paparazzi did.
Three motorcycles pulled into the parking lot—a flashy Ducati sports bike, a brand new Kawasaki, and an older classic black BMW model.
A handsome, athletic senior named Justin Kane grinned as he dismounted the Ducati, wearing dark jeans with his worn leather letter jacket. He turned to wave at the paparazzi, though they weren’t there for him.
A junior named Rykken Camacho stumbled off the BMW, but managed to catch himself in time. He wore a medium gray fitted hoodie paired with faded, ripped, washed out jeans. He spared the paparazzi one stony glance before taking off his hoodie to use as a shield over his head and shoulders.
Pilot van Rossum swung his leg casually off the Kawasaki, despite his fitted gray jeans clinging to his frame. He spoke to his younger sister who sat behind him on the bike briefly, before turning to the paparazzi. He yelled at them, cursed at them, and gave them the middle finger as their cameras flashed away.
Justin stared at the girl too, before averting his gaze as her brother glared at him. Rykken offered her coverage under his hoodie, but she clearly and insistently gestured that she didn’t want his help.
She dismounted the bike, took off her bike helmet, and pulled her wavy brown hair from its ponytail, letting it cascade down her back.
The paparazzi clicked, clicked, clicked, while the high school teenagers’ whispers jumped to a feverish pitch of excitement at their first real glance of her—Brie van Rossum, daughter of rockstar James van Rossum and New York socialite Milena van Rossum.
But her parents’ positions in the earthly world were the least interesting thing about her. She was also a secret princess of the descendants of the archangels and archdemons that made up the Archworld—though she didn’t know it yet, and her high school peers would never know.
The three male teenagers moved toward the school, and while each was attractive in their own right—the cool kid, Justin, the golden boy, Rykken, and the dangerously smooth one, Pilot—it was obvious that Brie was the mystery that the high schoolers wanted to unlock. They wanted to be close to her, wanted to befriend her, and wanted to understand what was so special about her… And at the same time, they wanted to take her down a notch or two.
She held her hands over her face as she turned away from the paparazzi, clearly uncomfortable with having so much attention on her. She shrunk behind her brother and his friends, following behind them toward the school, as if she could hide the sparkle in her green eyes, the graceful ease of her movements, or the striking otherworldliness of her features.
The whispering halted as they approached the school's entry doors, which were wide open to allow for traffic flow. The three guys parted ways upon entering the building, leaving Brie exposed at the entrance of the school. She stood still in the doorway for several seconds. She wore high-waist capris, an oversized blouse, and a light sweater cardigan that she pulled tighter around her body. The entire school seemed to breathe in as she stood in those doors, her hair whipping around her head as a breeze swept by her.
Brie visibly inhaled, then exhaled, then stepped over the threshold in her Sam Edelman boots.
Time seemed to speed up as a teacher hurried past her to speak to the paparazzi outside—they weren’t allowed to set foot on DeRosa Academy’s private property, but several had approached the school anyway. Another teacher closed the doors, hurrying Brie along to her first classes, or her locker, or wherever high school students went upon starting their first day at a new school… Then hurrying everyone else along too, especially if she caught them staring at Brie.
And she stood in the corner observing the scene and taking in every detail. This was her first up-close glimpse of Brie van Rossum, and the girl was every bit as magical as she suspected. The unmistakable and alluring glow that she emanated had the markings of a powerful Hallow, a descendant of archangels. Brie was likely experiencing the beginnings of her powers and probably knew that she must be different somehow, beyond her fame and celebrity in the earthlie world.
She noted how effortlessly Brie van Rossum had swept through a room of people, garnering their undivided attention even when she wasn’t trying to command it. She was like her mother—admired just for existing, loved just for showing up. A twinge of jealousy shot through her, then shame, as she had nothing to fear. She would not let this child make her question her own rightful place within the Archworld.
She saw twin cheerleaders coming down the hallway and knew she had lingered too long. If she was to complete her reason for coming here, she could not have the twins’ interference.
She transported through the wall behind her, through lockers and into an adjacent hallway. She knew her disguise would only hold for so long—a few more hours at best.
A warning bell to signal the start of classes dinged loudly throughout the hallways. Several minutes passed as the loud teenage chatter dulled to echoing clangs of locker doors shutting, and shuffling of feet making their way to classrooms and desks.
She stood quietly in place, waiting for silence, a dimension above the physical reality and invisible to watchful teachers shooing students from the halls. She had grown used to the quiet passing of time over the last century. A few minutes were merely a blink when she finally had a purpose.
She could feel that now was the time—possibly the last chance she’d get—to fulfill her destiny and make her life mean something.
She heard a disruption in the adjacent corridor, then the twins’ voices, and knew that this would not be the exact moment. The twins could not know she was in Hawaii. They could not know that she knew the truth about Brie van Rossum.
And they definitely could not know that she planned to kidnap her and take her away from this place, to find a murderer.