Forgotten Souls (The Saving Angels 2)

"Actually, you look ridiculously hot," I added. "Shawn may have a stroke when he sees you in this."

"Well, I guess it’s a good thing I have some crazy healing touch," Sam quipped mischievously.

"Oh, he'll want your healing touch somewhere," Lynn piped in, coming up on the other side of Sam and linked her arm through hers. I did the same on the other side. We studied our reflection in the trio of mirrors and started giggling.

We couldn't have looked more different if we tried. Lynn all decked out in her Goth gear, Sam with her fancy prom dress, and me with my customary shorts, Roxy t-shirt and ultra comfortable Reef sandals. We were the oddest bunch ever.

Still giggling, Sam turned to me, thrusting an armful of cocktail dresses she had set on the back of one of the chairs into my arms. "Your turn. Get in there and find the perfect dress. We're not leaving until you have the best dress," she said with a smile, shooing me toward her now vacated dressing room.

Sighing with what I hoped sounded like great reluctance, I trudged into her dressing room, closing the door hard behind me to show I wasn't happy. In all honesty, I couldn't help the giddiness that raced through me as I hung up the beautiful gowns on the hook on the wall. I took a moment to clean up the tangled mess of dresses Sam had left in a heap on the floor.

This time I did sigh for real. Sam and I shared many traits, but messiness was not one of them. I was perpetually neat and couldn't stand trampling through clothes on the floor.

Once I had Sam's discarded pile hung up on the proper hangers and right-side out, I placed them on the hook on the opposite wall. Finally, I turned to the lovely dresses waiting for me to try them on. I ran my fingers over the fine material, trying to decide which one to try on first. I chose a mint green one that looked like a dress I had seen in a movie, when I was younger.

After stripping down, I slid the dress over my head, adjusting it as it slid into place. I turned around and looked in the mirror. Ugh, the green material of the dress washed all the color from my face, making me resemble an asparagus. The bodice of the dress definitely called for someone more endowed than I was. I quickly jerked the dress off and reached for the next one. By the time I hit the fourth dress, I was ready to cry. Being flat chested was not a benefit when trying on dresses that called for humongo boobs.

"Krista, come on we want to see them," Sam said, knocking on my door.

"Forget it, I'm not going," I said, cracking the door open an inch. "You have to have some kind of Hooter's chest to wear any of these," I said, thrusting my discarded pile into her hands.

"Okay, I knew most of those were a no-go, but I wanted to give you a selection. Honestly, the only dress I want you to try on is the light pink one," she said, pointing to the last dress hanging on the now near empty hook. "Go on, try it on," she continued, pushing me back into the changing room. "And you better come out and show us."

I turned to the last of the dresses and dug out the light pink one that had enthralled Sam so much. There was no denying it was a beautiful dress, but the question was, would it remain beautiful on a ruler like me? I slid the satin dress over my head, relishing the feel of it on my skin. It was by far the softest piece of clothing I had ever tried on. The bottom of it swished softly against my ankles. I turned around with trepidation, hoping it looked half as good on me as it felt.

I was shocked when I saw my reflection in the mirror. I looked like I belonged in a different time period, waiting for my carriage and prince to show up. The lighting of the dressing room, which had made all the other dresses look harsh on me, seemed to enhance this one. The slight padding in the chest gave me the curves God had neglected to give me. The two inch shoulder straps held the dress in place and gave me the reassurance that the dress would not slip off. My favorite part, though, was the airy skirt that floated around my ankles.

Glancing one last time in the mirror to reassure myself that my eyes hadn’t played tricks on me, I opened the door slowly and stepped cautiously out. I couldn't help the smile that spread across my face as Sam and Lynn squealed in delight.

Grinning more broadly, I joined them at the trio of mirrors and once again was amazed at how the dress seemed to have transformed me.

"You look beautiful," Lynn said, giving me a quick hug.

"Are you sure you don't want to go too?" I asked, suddenly completely on board with the whole prom thing.

"Ugh! No way. I didn't even go to my own prom. Why would I want to go to yours with kids I don’t even know? No offense."

Sam and I tried to protest, but we all had our painfully shy moments, and neither one of us would have relished the idea of spending an evening with a bunch of kids we didn’t know either. By the defiant look on Lynn's face, I knew there was no way we would change her mind.

Sam and I changed and paid for our gowns. After that, we hit the shoe department and in a short time, both of us found shoes to die for. Sam wanted to linger at the perfume counter, but Lynn had exceeded her shopping patience by then.

"Come on. We told the guys we would meet them in the food court over an hour ago and I don't know about you two, but I'm flippin' famished," she said, rubbing her flat belly.

At her words, my belly gave a resounding groan as if it understood. Laughing, we linked arms and headed off to join the guys that were supposed to be trying on tuxes, if they made it out of the game store, that is.

We reached the food court only to discover the guys were well on their way to gluttony. We spotted them first, but as if sensing us, they turned to watch us as we approached, anxious to be reunited.

I sighed with relief when Mark's yummy chocolate eyes met mine. Through the shopping extravaganza, I hadn’t been able to shake the nightmare I had during my brief nap outside the dressing room. Sure, I was tired with all the schoolwork and searching we had been doing lately, but except for the dark turn our dreams had taken before we moved to Santa Cruz, I've never had a nightmare my entire life.

I reached out and grasped Mark's hand in mine, relishing in the liquid heat that spread through me. His touch sent my heart racing in so many directions, that at times I had to laugh at the sheer joy of it. I glanced up to receive my customary kiss and gasped in horror when I saw red reflecting in his left pupil.

"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked as I took a step back.

"Krista, what's wrong?" he asked again, taking a step toward me, the red disappeared from his eye.

Feeling like a fool, I realized the red was a reflection of the neon lights from the burger place on the other side of the food court.