Forgotten Souls (The Saving Angels 2)

My emotions swelled at his words as hope erased the last traces of anxiety from me. We would save the forgotten souls and we would do it the right way, with the help of our Archangel.

"You okay?" Mark asked, sitting beside me on the couch, gently rubbing my back.

"Yeah, I'm just glad Haniel agreed. I didn’t want to have to hardball him, but truthfully, I knew one way or another we weren’t going to just leave them."

"Well you certainly got through to him. I think he likes you."

"Oh gross, he's like a father figure to me," I said, horrified at the suggestion.

"Not romantically, silly. I meant he likes you because you're special," Mark said, nudging me with his shoulder.

"I'm not any more special than any other Guide," I said, indicating my two other friends who were too busy playing the Xbox with the guys to pay attention to our conversation.

"You're wrong Krista," Mark said passionately. "We all see it, and one day you will too. You're like a light we're all drawn to."

"That's sweet, but you just feel that way because your heart and soul are connected to mine," I said embarrassedly, trying to take the spotlight off of myself.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night," Mark said chuckling, letting the uncomfortable subject drop.

***

School the next day was torture as I anxiously awaited the opportunity to beef up our training. Every moment that the forgotten souls remained with Alan would make it more difficult to win them back. We had exactly three afternoons of training to get into tip top shape before my mom was released from the hospital and my free time was cut drastically.

I had mixed emotions about my mom returning home. Part of me had missed her immensely during the month she had spent in the hospital, but a bigger part of me would miss the freedom I had begun to take for granted.

Mark and Shawn picked Sam and me up as soon as the last bell echoed through the hallways.

"Hey, how was your day?" Shawn asked, giving Sam a quick peck.

"Boring. No drama to keep us entertained and help pass the time," Sam grumbled, climbing into the backseat next to Shawn.

"Let me get this straight. You hate the drama, but you missed it today?" Shawn asked incredulously as he burst out laughing.

Sam started laughing too. "What can I say? There's no rhyme or reason to the way my brain works."

We all laughed.

Mark stopped briefly at the hospital on our way home so I could visit my mom. I had skipped seeing her over the weekend and knew I was in the doghouse over it as soon as I stepped into her hospital room.

"Sorry Mom," I said, pecking her on the cheek.

"Where were you all weekend?" she asked, clearly upset with me.

"Mark took me to the farmers market off of Highway 1, just past Aptos. We had such a fantastic time that we went back again yesterday with the others," I said apologetically, trying to pacify her.

My ploy worked and she finally dropped her frown. "I guess that’s reasonable, it's not like it's your job to keep me entertained," she said, sounding down.

"Mom, you know I love to visit you, and FYI, it is my job to keep you entertained. It’s the least I can do after you spent my entire life entertaining me," I said, trying to cheer her up. "Why are you so down today?" I asked, empathetic to her sour attitude.

"I'm sorry, honey, I don't mean to sound so grouchy. I’m just discouraged that I'm still cooped up here. The usual recovery for a splenectomy is a couple of days in the hospital and yet I've been here over three weeks."

"Mom, you're forgetting your other injuries. You were in a major accident for goodness sake. Plus don’t forget, you got that infection a couple weeks ago that set your recovery back even further. You heard your doctor. Having your spleen out is going make you more susceptible to every germ and infection out there. I, for one, am happy they're being cautious," I said, pulling up a chair close to her bed.

"Alright, enough of my drama as you like to call it," she said, making me laugh. "So the farmers market was fun?"

"It was pretty cool. I liked the idea of shopping outside. It was like visiting one massive garage sale. Once you can handle an outdoor excursion, I'll take you down there so you can see it firsthand," I said, hoping that would help shake her out of her funk.

"That would be great. Just like old times when we would spend the summers trolling yard sales back home," she said. "So, are you getting excited about graduation?"