Forgotten Souls (The Saving Angels 2)

"No, but the way they are spread out over several counties almost makes it look random. Besides, all you hear about on the news anymore is violence, so it's not like these incidents stick out. The only reason I started finding them is because I was really looking. After Alan did his speech on the whole 'are you sick of blah blah' rant, I started thinking he could definitely be using forgotten souls for something like that."

"Wow, Sam, that's impressive," I said, admiring her ingenuity.

"It was nothing," she said, looking a little embarrassed by the praise. "A couple things I did find interesting, though. Each one of the attacks occurred the day after a revival, and tonight must be the last revival at this location."

"How do you know that?" Robert asked intrigued.

"The attacks or it being the revival's last show?" She asked for clarification.

"The last show."

"Oh, I pulled the permits online and this site is booked to host a fair next weekend."

"Damn, girl, you really did your research," Shawn said affectionately.

"I just wanted to give us a rough idea about what we could be facing. Besides, it's not like I did much, the Internet did most of the work for me," she said, with now flushed red cheeks.

"Whatever, you still connected the dots," he said, giving her a loud smacking kiss on the cheek. "You did good babe."

I sat studying the big tent in front of us as we waited in a small line of traffic filtering into the dirt parking lot. Sam's findings went a long way in confirming that my instincts had been right, that we were indeed needed in this situation. Innocent people had died or been hurt, and all signs seemed to point to the occupants of the tent in front of me.

"I guess we should get in there," Mark said, opening his car door.

Sam and Shawn climbed out my side of the vehicle which faced the tent. Lynn and Robert discreetly climbed out on the other side which opened near the woods. We had decided that we would look suspicious walking in together, so Lynn and Robert would follow us into the tent after a few minutes. We knew that time was crucial, and Lynn would be of better use if she was with us the instant we entered the tent, but Haniel had advised us to avoid drawing too much attention to ourselves.

"And do not separate from your Protectors under any circumstance. You cannot do your job effectively if your Protector is not there with you," he stated, leaving no room for argument.

Taking his words to heart, we decided the next best thing would be for them to follow us in.

The tent was noisy when we entered, with different groups of attendees scattered about chatting amongst each themselves. Mark and I separated from Sam and Shawn once we got inside, deciding each of us would take a different direction. Mark and I approached a lone girl standing just inside the entrance of the tent. She was dressed in all black and had dyed her cropped hair orange. She had a tattered knapsack slung onto her back and clutched a Monster energy drink in her left hand while her right kept the straps of her bag from slipping. The despair she felt was tangible, to the point that I felt like I could taste it. The images began flooding my mind as I attempted to make a connection with her. It took every bit of concentration I had to filter the negative emotions I was now feeling. She was obviously a runaway as I sensed a heavy feeling of homesickness. Suddenly, I was no longer in the revival tent, but what seemed like an abandoned building with boarded up windows. The smell of urine was overwhelming as rats scurried across the trash-covered floors. There she was, frightened and huddled in a dark corner. I could feel her every emotion as if we were sharing the same mind. She was afraid to fall asleep and starved from not eating for days. I trusted the weeks of training with Haniel, embracing the horrific images and replacing them with my own.

All of a sudden we were no longer in the abandoned building. I stood in front of a woman, maybe in her thirties at most. She was wearing an apron, pulling fresh baked pies out of the oven. The kitchen windows were open to let the cool autumn breeze find its way inside. A little girl ran into the bright room, dragging a doll with tattered hair across the floor. The woman turned, smiling, to pick up the girl with outstretched arms and covered her neck with kisses, making the young child squeal with delight. Suddenly the image blurred and I began to once again hear the rumblings of several conversations at once. I felt Mark grab my arm to hold me up.

"Krista, are you okay? You looked like you were losing your balance," he asked concerned.

"I'm fine, but that felt like it took forever. Is she still here?" I asked, regaining my focus.

"She's over there. What do you mean it felt like forever? Your eyes were only closed for a few seconds."

I found myself more concerned with the girl than what Mark telling me. I looked to my right to see her quietly exit through the open tent flap.

"Did you see that?" I asked Mark enthusiastically. "Come on."

I made my way over to the two guys standing a couple feet away. Mark instantly engaged one of them in a conversation while I worked my magic on the other. His emotions were different than the girl I had left, and the animosity he emitted was warranted as his images flashed in front of me. Once again, I took them in, filtering them with the happy ones while washing away all the ill feelings that were attached to them. Mark stopped midsentence as I turned to his friend and started the process again. It amazed me how readily my soul embraced the images and emotions that it had shied away from the last week. I felt jubilant as I moved on. I had previously perceived the emotions as heavy and draining, but instead, they acted like an energy source that propelled me forward.

I lost track of time as we made our way around the tent doing the job we were created for. I was so focused on the task at hand that Mark had to tug on my arm to get my attention.

"Krista, we gotta go. The revival will be starting any minute."

"Just a few more, please," I begged, looking around at the few remaining forgotten souls on our side of the tent I hadn’t gotten to yet. "I haven’t found the girl market yet and I don't know if Sam or Lynn have either," I whispered, looking around at a tent that was now emptier than it was earlier.

"Krista, they're already outside waiting for us," Mark said, grabbing onto my hand and dragging me toward the exit.

I looked behind me helplessly, feeling awful for the few souls I had been unable to save. Haniel had warned us that we couldn’t save everyone and that even one soul saved was better than none.

We were almost to the exit when I heard Alan's voice behind us encouraging the few followers we had left behind us to find seats. We picked up our pace and reached the exit with a sigh of relief.

"Not leaving so soon are you?" A voice boomed across the tent as a huge body stopped in front of us, blocking the exit. I recognized him instantly as the guy who had watched us so intently the week before.