Forgotten Souls (The Saving Angels 2)

"That works," I said, agreeing with him. So for the next fifteen minutes, Mark and I took turns filling our friends in on what had transpired while we were at the outdoor market. Everyone remained quiet as I told them about the awful images I had gleaned from the girl, and how bad it left me feeling when I didn’t have the chance to help her.

"It was different than when we train with Haniel. You know how the images fade as soon as he pulls back?" I asked them. They both nodded their heads. "Well, hers didn't. They seemed to have pierced my soul and I can still feel them there," I said miserably.

"That is because you did not filter them," Haniel's voice said from behind me. "If a Guide does not filter the emotions appropriately they can fester in their soul, proving to be quite painful," Haniel stated in his no-nonsense way. "Untrained Guides are advised against accepting the emotions of forgotten souls inside them for that reason."

"So, she was a forgotten soul?" I asked.

"It would appear so," he said.

"So, when do we go in and save her?" Sam asked in an excited voice.

"You will not be going in."

"What? What do you mean we're not going in?" Shawn asked incredulously.

"You are untrained and unprepared for dealing with a situation such as this."

"That's crazy. Mark and I faced worse than this less than a month ago and you didn't care how untrained or unprepared we were then. Why the sudden concern now?" I asked angrily.

"Krista, we cannot interfere in matters that concern The Dark One. This law was written thousands of years ago. We had no control over that situation, but this one we do. You are not ready to use your gifts," he said, turning on a heel and leaving us abruptly.

No one said anything for a few minutes after his departure.

"What are you thinking?" Mark finally asked me while I paced back and forth.

"I think it's crap. We were created for a reason. Sure we've just started training and its tough filtering a soul appropriately, but are we supposed to just abandon that poor girl?" I said, still pacing restlessly in front of them.

"Then let's go do something about it," Shawn said, jumping to his feet.

"What?" I asked, looking at him surprised.

"You're right. You and Mark managed to outwit Mark's dad a couple weeks ago which makes me believe that you both have mad skills. Who's to say Haniel is right about this?"

I looked at my brother incredulously. Was he joking? Defying Haniel just didn't seem like the best idea. It wasn’t like we would be able to hide it from him after all since he had access to our every thought.

"No, but we could avoid him before we go and he wouldn't know until after the fact," Mark said, picking my doubts thoughts out of my head as he stood up to join Shawn. "I don't see why we can't go to the revival tomorrow night and try to find that girl. You guys can work your magic on her and we can be out of there before anyone knows. We can deal with Haniel when we get back. Besides what's he going to do? We're just trying to do our job here," he added defiantly.

"I'm in," Lynn said, still sitting on the couch.

"Me too," Sam piped in.

I sat back down on the couch, astonished at how quickly all my friends had jumped on board. "What do you think?" I asked Robert who had remained quiet during the whole conversation.

"Well, I agree with Haniel that we're probably not ready for a mission. You're the only Guide so far that has been able to filter the emotions somewhat," he said.

"That's true," I said, agreeing with him.

"But…," he continued on. "I do think if all three of you work together, you should be able to filter one girl's emotions. You three won't be going up against a powerful Archangel like you do during training."

"So we're going to do this?" Shawn asked, sounding excited. I shouldn’t have been surprised at his enthusiasm. I knew he had been itching for some action since Mark and I had been held captive. The training with Haniel had only intensified it and I knew he was ready to go out and prove his worth.

I perched on the couch, listening to my friends as they hatched out a plan for the next day. It was decided that we would head to the farmer's market first thing in the morning to avoid Haniel and maybe, if luck was with us, we would run into the girl also.

"If we don't run into her, we can hang out at the market until the revival thing starts at four," Sam said.

We discussed our plans during dinner and by the time I headed to bed I was convinced we could do it. The guys were right. With three Guides filtering her emotions, it would be a piece of cake. I felt relieved that by this time the next day we would be able to give the poor girl some relief from her torment. Not to mention the fact that there would be one less forgotten soul that The Dark One could prey on. >Instead of brightly colored circus tents or rides and concession stands, one lone, massive white tent sat in the middle of the empty space. A trailer was parked off to the side near the brush, but other than that, the space was a ghost town.

Mark shut off the engine and we both cautiously climbed out of the vehicle. Mark grabbed my hand pulling me slightly behind him. I was grateful for his protection, as I suddenly became assaulted by several mixed emotions from the tent in front of us. The emotions ran the spectrum from animosity all the way down to the deepest of despair. I took in a shaky breath as I studied the makeshift structure. I couldn't place what was going on here, but something was definitely off.