Falling (The Soul Collectors Series Book 1)

by Tara Benham

  “It’s safe. I assure you.”

  I smirked. “You a mind reader?”

  “No, but I could see you assessing the situation. Want to tell me what you were doing upstairs?”

  “Mission research.”

  “Anything I can help with?”

  “Maybe. I mainly just ended up with more questions than answers.”

  “Well let me hear some of these ‘maybes’, we’ll see if it’s something I know.”

  “Okay, I’ll ask them all at once; you answer where you can. What effect will there be on the valley during the earthquake? How much are demons taught about fallen angels? Who would know how to erase an Angel? Are you given mission files? And if so, what do yours say about Gray’s brother, Oliver?”

  He took a few bites. I couldn’t tell if he was trying to decide which questions to answer, or how to answer them. I joined him in eating. I could wait for the answers. He took a few more bites, this time I think it was more because it was delicious. I understood completely. I was filling myself on venison. I hadn’t had deer before, but it was quickly becoming a favorite. I reached for my glass of water just as he was beginning to answer.

  “I’ll answer the easiest question first. Depending upon where in the valley you are, it should be completely safe. However, I came upon a sink hole when doing land navigation with Had that could be a potential hazard. As for Gray’s brother, I didn’t know he had one. Do you have information in your files?” He genuinely looked like he had no clue about Oliver.

  “Gray was telling me about him one day last week.” It wasn’t an inadvertent side step from the question.

  “Almost any fallen angel would know how to erase an Angel seeing as they were once Angels themselves. Depending on the level of duty of the demon, they would know too. What is the obsession with the Fallen? This is the second time you’ve brought them up.”

  “Not really an obsession so much as a theory. Is Meph a Fallen?”

  Declan’s laughter was loud, and he had laid his head on the table and was wiping tears from his eyes. That was my answer I suppose.

  “Mephistopheles is most definitely not a Fallen. He was trained strictly to be a soul collector. As for learning about Fallen Angels, there really isn’t much to learn. They were once Angels, and now they are not. On rare occasions, new ones will show up. Angels that made mistakes or chose to leave on their own accord. There are also Fallens who don’t associate with us in Hell at all, and just roam Earth doing as they please. Usually they don’t cause any harm, but sometimes they do. That’s when we have the responsibility of taking them down. As a matter of fact, that was my duty before I was assigned this mission.”

  “Had you completed your prior mission before getting assigned this one?”

  “Ah-ah, Bay. I cannot reveal all of my secrets, just like you are not revealing all of yours.”

  This was new information. I needed to add a side note to my list to see if his prior duties were why he was in need of saving. Maybe he had completed enough good deeds to allow him to be saved? From all of my research and confirmation from Father Paul, Declan had to be a Fallen. Did he either not know it, or did he refuse to admit it for whatever reason? I had never met a Fallen Angel before, but from all of our teachings, they usually are quick to brag about being one. I finished the lunch he had made us and excused myself back to my room, grabbing the laptop on my way up. I needed to complete more research. Declan didn’t seem to mind that I was leaving him to fend for himself. For all I knew, he may have started doing his own research from the small bits of information he had gotten from me during lunch.

  The weak fall, but the strong will remain and never go under! ~Anne Frank,

  My research last night had only gotten me so far, and by the time I went to sleep, I was unable to see clearly. I needed to go to the bookstore and check out some of the books that might help as well as talk to Gray again. Maybe I could get some insight about Oliver without giving away too much. I hoped I would be able to see Hannah as well. I wanted to see how she was doing. I hadn’t heard from her since the first night I told her about my mission. I know she had gone to spend time with her family, but surely she would want to know about the progress of everything. I went to the café first, but Gray was not in yet. At the bookstore, there was a new store owner. He was not friendly and seemed more concerned with reading than with helping the customers. I wandered down the aisle to the Natural Science section to find any books on earthquakes that maybe we had missed the first time. Scanning up and down the shelves, all I was finding were books that we had already read through. Finally, I found a book about seismology and predicting earthquakes and decided that I would start there. I headed to the back table area when I realized the tables had been taken out.

  “This is a bookstore, not a library. If you want to read a book, you need to buy it.”

  “Okay, then I need to buy this book.” How annoying. I missed Mr. Whitstock. I headed towards the front of the store with the stocky man following behind me, breathing heavily.

  “This place would have closed soon if I hadn’t taken it over from that old Whitstock. For years he treated this place more like a library. He was running it into the dirt, and I’m glad he had to leave.”

  His words struck a chord with me. It had never occurred to me that Mr. Whitstock might have been placed in people’s memories if Father Paul created him, or that Father Paul could have overtaken his body temporarily. This gave me an entirely new theory about Oliver. I really needed to find Gray or Hannah, or both. I quickly paid for the book and made my way towards the café. Just as I was about to cross the street, I heard my name. Hannah was making her way towards me in a hastened manner.

  “Hey! Bayla! I’m so glad that I found you. Listen, my grandmother fell and is in the hospital in Ohio. We are heading to visit her, but I wanted to let you know I will be back for Friday. I gave you my word. I don’t know if I necessarily believe everything about what you told me, but I believe in you. I didn’t want you to think I was running away or had shared the secret.” Before I could say another word, she hugged me and made her way back down the street to where her parents were waiting for her.

  Hopefully she was telling the truth. Inside the café, Gray was tying his apron around his waist. I headed to the bar area to sit, so I wouldn’t have to share a table with anyone who might show up. Plus, this would give me a bit of privacy when discussing Oliver with Gray. He put a cup of coffee in front of me and indicated he would be back after doing some waiting duties. He had taken to covering for Hannah this week. The place was slowly filling up with the usual morning crowd, and I knew I would have limited time with him. I didn’t really have anything else to do, so I decided I could wait around. Listening to the talk of the town might provide some much needed input.

  Before, on other missions, when I worked alone, I spent a lot of time in open places such as cafes, market places, or whatever public gathering area was popular for the era I was in. I found that people usually wanted to talk, to me, to each other, just in general. Given time and patience, you could almost always learn something new or helpful. If my theory of memories being altered was correct, then Oliver might never have existed. If that were the case, then why would Gray be so special? I had been banking on the fact that maybe his future work with children was what was going to make him some major historical figure, but if the whole backstory wasn’t real, what was the purpose?

  “Did Hannah find you?”

  “She did. I was sorry to hear about her grandmother.”

  “Yeah. She was not happy about having to leave. She had to beg her parents to be able to get back by Friday. I told her I didn’t think anyone would fault her for missing the camping trip and that we would have more, but she was adamant.”

  “That’s what she said to me, too.” I shrugged. I didn’t want him to think I knew too much about why she was stressed about the whole weekend. “While we are alone, I wanted to make sure with you that it was still okay to camp in Olive
r’s valley.”

  “It’s fine. I think Ollie would have loved to camp down there. I’ve thought about bringing my sketchpad and pencils with me. Maybe I could find some inspiration over the weekend.”

  “I think that sounds like an excellent idea.”

  “I’ll be back. The customers await!” He bowed and winked before making his way to a table that had just been occupied by some of the locals.

  “Can I join you, Angel?”

  “Mephistopheles!” I almost fell off the stool. I realized everyone had turned to stare at me after my outburst. I lowered my voice. “What are you doing here?”

  “Just doing a friendly check-up on my little brother. Have you seen him lately?”

  “Not since yesterday afternoon. Afraid he’s going to fail this mission?”

  “Not at all. I have complete faith in his talents and abilities. I can see he has already been able to win you over.” He shook his head amused. “My little brother may be more evil than I have ever been, wouldn’t you agree?”

  “I don’t know what you mean.” His words stung.

  “Of course you do, Angel. You just don’t want to admit it. Well, good luck. I’ll see you on Saturday to collect my souls.”

  With that he was gone, and everyone was still staring at me. Meph was beyond humanly handsome, especially to those not used to seeing a full-fledged demon. Had Declan really pulled the wool over my eyes? Was he using his charms to completely enamor me? This mission couldn’t end soon enough. I was getting tired of the mental game that was being played and I didn’t understand. That is probably the most Meph has ever spoken to me in the years that we have been collecting souls side by side.

  “Who was that guy?”

  Gray’s voice startled me. He must have made his way towards me some time ago, because he was really close. “I don’t have a word to define him. He’s just someone with whom I have had the displeasure of meeting occasionally on various missions with my parents.”

  “Are you okay? You seem really shaky.”

  “I’m fine. I just wasn’t expecting to find him here. I really need to get back to my cottage. I’ll catch you later. Bye, Gray.”

  “Bye, Bayla. Be careful on your way home.”

  I waited until I was out of sight of the main street of the town before I took off running towards the cottage. The further I could get away from Meph and his words, the better I would feel. He didn’t seem to be wanting to frighten me or attack me. It was almost as if he was warning me, which made it that much worse. He was in the woods that day we went searching for details about Haddy. Had he been there to meet someone? Was he looking for me? I just didn’t know anymore. I was almost to the cottage when I realized that Declan was probably still there. I wasn’t ready to face him yet either. I stopped, looked around my surroundings and decided to walk towards the waterfalls. I needed time to process everything. Plus, it might do me some good to read outside for a while. A different view could give me a different perspective on things.

  I made my way to the waterfalls that ran through the woods. I found a nice sunny spot where I could prop up against a tree. I pulled out my book and took a seat. Between the sound of the falls and the heat from the sun, I was starting to relax. The book wasn’t really that interesting of a read, and before long, I could feel my eyelids getting heavy. I closed my eyes, listening to the sounds of everything around me. I knew it wasn’t safe to sleep, but I could rest. I was thinking about earthquakes, and how caves are supposedly a safe place to be. I remember how I had read about a river south of here reversing directions from an earthquake many Earth years ago, creating a lake. A lake...water! My eyes flew open. Why hadn’t I thought about that before now? The mission files stated that the whole area was going to flood. The water would have to come from somewhere. I got up too quick and had to use the tree as balance until I was no longer dizzy. I left the book there, knowing I would have to come back by this spot to get home. I followed the creek upstream, trying to find its source.

  It seemed to take forever before I came upon a large river. It was fast-moving and quite wide. Prior research of the state let me know it was the Green River, but I didn’t remember seeing that it was so close to this area. If the river flow were to reverse direction, it could definitely flood this area if the ground collapsed. Since this area would be lower, the water would be trapped, keeping the river from returning to its original direction of flow. I needed to follow the path and see if this would also affect our valley. We did not need to be trapped down there if it were to start to flood.

  As I made my way back to where I had started, I noticed something that sounded like footsteps. I stopped to listen, and they seemed to stop too. I turned to see if maybe there was some kind of animal, but I didn’t see one. As I turned back around, I came face to face with menacing gray eyes. He looked angry. His eyes were blazing, nostrils flaring, and his lips were almost white, they were mashed so tightly together.

  “What are you doing Bayla? Why are you out here traipsing around in the woods alone? I heard about Meph coming into town looking for me. Do you not understand the trouble you could have gotten into out here alone?” He didn’t step away from me, so I backed up.

  “This whole scene is getting old, Declan. It’s like déjà vu every time you find me out by myself. I have done so many missions alone and have yet to get myself killed. Besides, you could win, and this whole matter would be over.” I pushed past him. I needed to follow the creek to see if it led to our valley.

  “You’re right. I don’t know why I even bother. I guess I should just leave you alone. I mean obviously you protected Hadraniel so well.’

  I stopped. I was seething. How dare he even think of blaming me for what happened to Had! “Go to hell, Declan.”

  “Fine by me. It’s where I’m from anyway, so I know it’s not any worse than being stuck here with you.”

  “UGH!”

  I was pretty sure I broke every branch on the ground on my way to the falls. I was so angry that anyone could have easily tracked me if they’d had the notion. I didn’t care. He was infuriating. I tried to save Hadraniel. I couldn’t. I wasn’t to blame though for him getting hurt. I was nowhere near him when he was injured. Both of us had been to the valley before without incident so neither of us thought it was unsafe. I would never have intentionally let anyone hurt Hadraniel. I was fighting tears by the time I reached the second set of waterfalls that fell into our valley.

  I sat at the edge watching the waterfall. The creek was back to a slower pace than it was when Had and I were here just a few days earlier. It seemed like ages ago. I knew that the cave was behind the falls now, and I knew from what I had read in the book that caves were one of the safest places to be, but would the cave be high enough if the valley started to flood? Would the group be able to get there quick enough to save themselves? I needed to be able to get them there without having to rely on Hannah. She was brave for taking on this challenge, but if things went bad, I didn’t need her feeling guilty. Just as I was planning on heading back, I had a thought about rerouting the creek into the sinkhole. Surely it was a possibility that would keep the valley from flooding. But that would be a lot of work for only one full day. I just didn’t see how that was a viable plan. No, I needed to get back to the cottage and research the lake that formed a century ago to see if there was something there that would be of help. Answers were coming, but so were more questions.

  First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do. ~Epictetus

  Back at the cottage Declan was stomping around, slamming cabinet doors and banging things on the counter as he cooked dinner. I don’t know why he stayed. He knows Meph is still out there. He’s probably just worried about me, but I’ve told him several times that I can take care of myself. Stupid conscience was nagging at me to remember that while what Meph had said rang true to that theory. However, Declan’s actions had never been anything but helpful. I sat at the table with my laptop stealing glances as I
researched the lake and the backflow of rivers. Occasionally, I would glance up at him over the top of the screen. He was cute when he was mad. His brow furrowed and his face scowled.

  “You can make your own plate this time.” He harrumphed as he sat at the far end of the table from me.

  “Thank you.” It took everything I had not to laugh at him. Here was this big, evil demon that Meph was warning me about, and he was pouting.

  “What are you researching?” he asked. I thought it was telling that even though he was cranky with me, he was too curious to mind his own business.

  “Rivers that flow backwards.”

  “Is that even possible?”

  “Yes. It’s happened before not far from here.”

  “What’s the reason behind this research?”

  “The river here could reverse and flow into the valley. Because I know the town floods and becomes an inland sea of sorts, I assumed that it would be because of the river. If we are in the valley and it floods, we have little hope.”

  “Were you at the last event?”

  “I didn’t have any mission for that earthquake, so I didn’t know the effects. Usually I don’t have humans to save. I only have to collect the souls and ensure that the event happens as history has written it.”

  “How does history write something that hasn’t happened yet?”

  “Well, on Earth it may not have happened yet, but in Heaven time moves differently. I have only technically worked this job for four years, but thousands of years have passed.”

  “What was your first mission?”

  “I worked the destruction of Pompeii. I had to ensure that no one survived.”

  “Wow. Did you lose friends?”

  “No, I don’t usually make friends...for good reason. Well, I never made friends before this mission. Haddy changed my perspective on things. I was detached from all emotion and feelings from this job. It was the best way to keep from letting any of those feelings get in the way. I had a mission to make the event stay the course, collect the souls afterwards. Today, at the café, that’s the most that I have ever spoken to Meph in all the years of doing this job. In Heaven, my roommate is this perky Delivery Angel. I always assumed we were roomed together so that we got to see both ends of human life. She brought new life and I brought them out at the end of their life. Now, I’m starting to see they were hoping she would teach me how to connect with others. I must say I preferred the other way better. Less stress, less turmoil over whether I was doing something correctly.”