Falling (The Soul Collectors Series Book 1) by Tara Benham Page B

found that tremors such as the one that occurred concurrently with my handshake with Declan were normal precursors to large earthquakes. From what we could find, there would be a few more before the final catastrophic one. Unfortunately, based on the research we completed, it seemed as if no one in the news or seismology departments in the local area seemed to be tracking or predicting the one that was quickly approaching. We ate in silence before heading to town to meet Mr. Whitstock.  The walk into town was silent. Hadraniel still wasn’t very happy with me or the decision I’d made last night. He felt that I hadn’t carefully considered everything before making the wager, and that his opinions had not been heard. I tried to explain to him that I had a plan, and I would give him more details later, but that wasn’t good enough for him. He threw it in my face that I thought I was better than him, to which I readily agreed. Upon further reflection, this may not have been a tactful admission, but I had only meant better in the sense that I had more experience with missions than him.
    The bookstore was quiet when we entered. The bell above the door tinkled, alerting Mr. Whitstock of our arrival. He didn’t look surprised at all to see us; he simply smiled, motioned for us to follow him as he took off towards the back of the bookstore. This area was set up with tables for people to sit and review books, enjoy a cup of coffee and chitchat. We were the only ones in the whole store. He had several books laid out, pages marked, and four steaming cups of coffee already sitting on the table awaiting us. I noticed the fourth cup just as Declan came from over from another aisle.
    “You two are later than I expected, but the coffee's still hot. I found a few more books I thought you might find of interest. Sit, and enjoy! I doubt there will be much traffic today so we can do as much research as you need.”
    Mr. Whitstock sat, glasses sliding down his nose, in front of book labeled “Limestone Caves”. The book in front of me was labeled “Kentucky Fault Lines”. Declan was reading about campsites in the area, and the remaining book where Had sat was labeled, “Angels and Demonology”. I stared at Mr. Whitstock. This man definitely was not as he appeared to be. He caught me staring, wiggled his nose and pointed to my book indicating I needed to get to reading. He left little room to allow me to question how he knew as much as he did. Then it hit me! The wiggle, the wink, the familiar grin...Mr. Whitstock was Father Paul. The realization made me gasp aloud. Both boys glanced up at me. Mr. Whitstock simply shook his head slightly warning me to not mention this discovery at all. I had never been given help before on any case, and now I had a Blue-in-Training, Father Paul and a demon. This mission’s level of importance just increased greatly, meaning that my deal yesterday just became even more of an issue. I pretended that the coffee I had sipped was hot, and the boys went back to reading their books. I decided I needed to read too, since “Mr. Whitstock” took the time to personally select these books for us to review.
    Hours passed, as we each finished our books and traded with each other. We took breaks to stretch, to eat, and to discuss any new discoveries that we made. Declan was pleasant today, and seemed to be very honest in sharing his findings. Pure mystery, this one. Mr. Whitstock, as I decided to continue to call him to avoid exposing him, only occasionally provided his input. He allowed us to discuss our opinions freely with each other. He had to have invited Declan, and with the conversation we had yesterday, I now knew my suspicions were true. I had another mission to save Declan as well...though why I still couldn’t figure out. I had never known the whys behind any of the missions that were deemed rescues versus soul retrievals. I just completed the mission and returned home. However, I couldn’t seem to