by Tiffany King
Taking my normal stance, I stood at the edge of the pool on tiptoes and placed my arms above my head, well aware of the fact that Mark was checking me out, much as I had done to him. Smiling briefly, I bent my knees and pushed off the side off the pool, cutting through the cold water in one movement. I swam the length of the pool and kicked off the side, propelling me back toward the other end of the pool. My lungs threatened mutiny as they burned for oxygen, but I pushed forward, finally reaching the point I had started from. I broke through the surface, gasping for breath, no longer feeling the cold water as I completed my ritual. I had learned long ago that by escalating my heart rate, the chill of the water would dissipate quicker and I could enjoy myself.
Mark swam to my side. "You look like a porpoise swimming under the water like that," he said huskily, wiping a drop of water off my forehead with the pad of his thumb.
I wanted to make a joke out of his comment, but his hand slid down my cheek, circling around underneath my hair until it rested against my neck. I sighed against his lips as he placed them on mine. Releasing the side of the pool, I wrapped my arms around his neck, anchoring myself to him. Our legs tangled together under the water as Mark deepened the kiss. We began to sink beneath the surface when he took his own hand off the side of the pool. Kissing him with the water surrounding us was a sensation like no other. My lungs craved air while my heart craved even more contact.
After a few moments, my lungs won and we finally broke the surface. "Wow," I said, looking at Mark.
"Yeah that was pretty wow," he said in a strangled voice.
"Race you to the other side," I said, laughing at his expression. I felt extremely powerful knowing my kisses impacted him so intensely. I surged away from the side of the pool and smiled under the water when I felt the water move behind me indicating he was close on my heels. My hand reached the wall on the shallow side of the pool a fraction of a second before his.
I broke the surface, gasping for air and laughing at the same time.
"You cheated by distracting me like that," he said, mock growling at me as he started to stalk me across the shallow end.
Giggling uncontrollably, I backed away from him. I climbed up the steps backwards as he closed the distance between us. My feet hit the patio a split second before he could reach me as I turned and raced around the pool, cautiously trying not to slip. Mark's hands reached out of nowhere and grasped me around my ankles, sending me sprawling back into the water and his waiting arms.
"I see how it works. You entice me with your mermaid-like-allure and flee when the water gets a little warm," he whispered in my ear, making goose bumps pop up on my arms.
"Mermaid allure? Being an Angel isn't enough? You need a mermaid too?" I teased sliding my arms back around his neck.
"Well, mermaids are pretty hot," he teased back, dropping his head in for another kiss.
"Cannonball!" a voice screeched out seconds before water cascaded over us as a huge weight dropped in the water right beside us.
"Shawn!" I sputtered, spitting out the mouthful of water I had ingested from the wave he had created. "You're such a dork," I added, heading for the steps to get out of Dodge while Mark and Shawn tried to dunk each other under the water. Robert joined the fray doing his own version of a cannonball as I exited the pool.
"Boys, you gotta love 'em," Sam said, handing me a towel so I could wipe the water off my face.
"How right you are, though it's a good thing they're cute," I said, trying unsuccessfully to sound disgruntled.
"I'm going to go take a quick shower. See if you can corral everyone together, Mark and I have something to talk to you guys about," I said, heading into the house.
I took a quick shower, taking only a few minutes to wash the chlorine out of my hair. I was anxious to talk to Haniel and my friends. The images I had received from the unknown girl had haunted me the entire afternoon. I yearned to erase them from her memory and replace them with new ones that would give her peace.
Within ten minutes I was dressed in a pair of comfy cut-off sweats and one of my favorite hoodies. I walked out to the living room barefoot and was pleased when I saw my friends waiting for me.
"What's going on Sis? Mark wouldn't tell us anything until you were done," Shawn said, sounded stressed.
"Is Haniel here?" I asked, ignoring my brother's question for the moment.
"I haven't seen him," Sam said, looking at us curiously.
"We can at least fill them in and when Haniel shows up we can get his input," Mark suggested.
"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.
Chapter 8
The next morning rolled around bright and early, and my doubts reared their ugly head once again. In the light of day it seemed crazy to doubt Haniel, who had been doing his job for so many years. Who were we to doubt an Archangel? As quickly as the doubts filled me, another, more disturbing, image took over of a young girl cowering in fear. Even if we were going to fail, could I really live with myself if didn't at least try?
Finally reaching a decision, I climbed out of bed and got dressed with determination. We could do this. Sure, we might not do it with as much finesse as more experienced Guides, but we could manage to save one forgotten soul, I thought to myself. Besides, I had bigger fish to fry this morning, and it started with waking the beast on the other bed in my room.
I had been given the unfortunate and dangerous task of waking Lynn up.
I glanced over at her and saw she was still buried in her comforter, snoring lightly, looking all sweet and innocent, but I knew it was all a ploy. Lynn was the heaviest sleeper I had ever seen, and for whatever reason she always came up swinging when you tried to wake her. The guys liked to tease her about it, saying she must be channeling her inner "Protector" when she was sleeping, but I had my own theory. I believed Lynn submerged herself so firmly into her shared dreams with Robert that she resented any interference.
Reluctantly, I walked to her bed, pausing long enough to pick up an empty hanger off my bed. I had learned the hard way that a hanger was the easiest way to wake her. Using the rounded curve of the plastic hanger, I gently poked her in the arm hoping for the best. My hopes were dashed when she didn’t even flinch.
Great, this was going to be tough morning. I sighed and prepared myself to poke her again, only harder. This time I was unprepared for the swinging arm that seemed to come out of nowhere.
The plastic hanger flew out of my hand from the impact and crashed into the wall behind me. Sighing, I used my own hand to shake her once, jumping back before my hand was threatened. "Lynn, it's time to get up," I said, finally resorting to an annoyingly loud, bossy voice that I knew drove her nuts. I hated for her to wake up cranky, but seriously, enough was enough.
"Leave me alone," she mumbled, rolling over to the other side of the bed away from me.
Grimacing determinedly, I smiled briefly at her mistake as I placed my hands on her backside and shoved her off the bed with one mighty push. Turning quickly, I fled to the other side of the room as she sat up sputtering.
"What the…?" she said looking like a madwoman. Her short, cropped haircut stood out in every direction, while her face resembled a patchwork quilt from all the lines covering it from being buried in the comforter she had slept on.
I couldn't help the giggle that escaped me at her ruffled appearance. "I tried to wake you gently," I said, backing out the door as she advanced toward me. I slammed the door behind me and raced down the hall, putting ample distance between us. Glancing behind me to make sure I was home free, I ran smack into Robert.
"What's so funny?" he asked apprehensively, glancing behind me, obviously suspecting the answer.
"Um, good luck with that one," I said, racing toward the living room as Robert intercepted Lynn.
"Whoa, what happened?" I heard him ask as I opened the patio door.
"I think Krista is ready for a dip in the pool," I heard her answer as I quickly closed the door behind me, smiling with sinister pleasure.
"What are you smiling about?' Mark asked from the patio table, setting the book he was reading aside.
"Lynn. She wasn't overly crazy with the method I used to wake her up," I said, smiling even wider.
"What did you do, dump water on her?" he asked, smiling also.
"Um, nope. I might have pushed her out of her bed," I said, feeling a small twinge of guilt creeping in.
Mark burst out laughing at my admission, which made the guilt switch to unease. If the guys thought it was funny, I was doomed for sinking to their level. I would have to sleep with one eye open so Lynn wouldn’t be able to retaliate.
Lynn's revenge was put on hold as we all got busy getting ready. Haniel had planned on a training session at ten a.m., so we wanted to be out of the house before then. The guys were convinced that once he realized we had completed our mission, it would show Haniel we were ready to take on more complicated missions.
I wasn’t as convinced, but I kept my concerns to myself as we piled into Mark's Navigator.
The ride to Sam's house was noisy, as the guys pumped themselves up for what we would be facing later that evening. I laughed at their antics, along with Lynn who thankfully seemed to have forgiven me for the wake-up call. Though they appeared lighthearted, I could sense the same unease that I felt circulating around the vehicle. The fact that they weren’t a hundred percent confident actually reassured me. I couldn’t help feeling that too much cockiness was just asking for trouble.
Mark pulled up the SUV in front of Sam's house and Shawn jumped out to get her. Sam, threw the door open before he could ring the bell in her usual exuberant way. She bounded down the walkway beside Shawn. We couldn't help but laugh as she practically bounced with excitement.
"Hey guys, what's so funny?" she asked as she slid into the third row seats with Shawn.
"Nothing," Robert always the pacifist of our group said, not wanting to hurt her feelings.
"Okay," Sam said, looking at me puzzled. "Well, I don’t know about you guys, but I'm ready to save some souls," she said, moving on.
"Hell yeah I am!" Shawn said, agreeing with her sentiments.
Their excitement was contagious, and the last of my doubts were pushed aside as I relished the thought of changing someone's life forever. The whole Angel thing definitely had its perks.
Mark pulled the vehicle into the same dirt lot we had parked in the day before. I had an odd sense of déjà-vu as we all piled out of the vehicle. Sure, I had just been here the day before, but as my friends and I walked toward the entrance, I felt like we had all done this already. I couldn’t help wondering if that was a sign that we were on the right track. Maybe this was God's way of telling us we were exactly where we were supposed to be.
My friends were excited about the same sights and smells that had enticed me the previous day. The market had lost some of its appeal for me as I searched for the unknown girl in vain. Sam and Lynn had to repeatedly tell me to slow down as I tried to hurry down each row. Finally exasperated, they told Mark to hold my hand so it would anchor me to them.
"It's fine if we don't find her here," Mark whispered in my ear, picking up on my anxiety. "I wouldn't be surprised if she's at the fairgrounds helping to set up the revival. Who knows how many people are involved in the whole thing. It could be
just the handful of people we saw and the girl, for all we know. Well, that and the ringleader they mentioned, of course."
"I know," I said. "I was just really hoping to find her here this morning so we could do our thing and be back at your house before Haniel suspects anything," I added, acknowledging again the fact that I thought it was wrong that we were misleading Haniel. I had grown quite attached to our Archangel and I felt guilty for deceiving him.
The morning moved at a snail's pace for me as my friends "oohed" and "aahed" over each stand. I tried to keep my impatience at bay, knowing that the previous day I had been the same way. I was relieved when noon finally rolled around and we could break for lunch. Mark guided us to the same spot we had eaten at the day before, so that our large group could eat under the willow tree in peace without having to scrounge for a big enough table for all six of us.
"Corn dog, or do you want a burger and fries?" Mark asked me once we were settled on the soft grass under the sweeping branches.
"Burger and fries would be great."
"I want the same," Sam said, laying her packages behind her.
"Not me. I think I want one of those gyros from that stand," Lynn said, pointing to the stand across the way.
"Ohhh, I want one of those too," I said, changing my order. "But I don’t want any of the veggies."
"Of course you don't," Lynn said laughing, "That would almost be considered healthy if you got it with all the veggies."
"Exactly," I replied, smiling at her mischievously.
"Well, I still want a burger. I don't know how you guys can eat a cute wooly lamb," Sam said shuddering.
"It's not like a burger is much better," I said, teasing her.
"I know, I know, but I can't give up beef and besides, I don't know any cute cow songs like, 'Mary had a Little Lamb,'" she said, smirking at me.
"Great, now I'm going to have that lullaby stuck in my head while I'm eating," I grumbled.
"Not me," Lynn said. "I'm more worried about who's handling my food than what I'm eating."
