Read Online Falling (The Soul Collectors Series Book 1) by Tara Benham - Free Book Online Page A

saved Gray. I hung my head, taking deep breaths. I felt an encouraging hand on my shoulder before Father Paul spoke.
    “For He knows all things, O ye of little faith.”
    I looked up as he made his way to his seat. My eyes caught Had’s and noticed a glimmer of recognition in them. If he had figured out who Mr. Whitstock really was, he was smart enough not to say anything. He looked at me for some answer, but I went back to saying a prayer for guidance and breathing through this new feeling. My body and mind felt like they were spiraling. Everything started closing in on me, and felt like I couldn’t breathe. It was beginning to be too much. I jumped up and ran towards the door. I needed air. I heard Hadraniel somewhere behind me yell my name and Father Paul telling him to let me have a moment. Nineteen years...I had been alive nineteen years and had never felt this way before. I had read about this feeling when studying humans. It was classified as stress or anxiety. I was pretty sure I was close to a panic attack. I cannot fail, I cannot succeed. Elder Michael had to have made a mistake. Maybe, he knew I would fail and was trying to teach me a lesson in humanity. I didn’t know, but I felt completely lost.
    Sitting outside seemed to help some. The breeze was nice in the shade, as it was a little too warm out today. I had just leaned back against a tree on the sidewalk with my eyes closed, when I heard footsteps approaching. I looked up just as Gray was stooping down to be level with me. He was dressed in casual clothes so I assumed he was not heading to work.
    “Hey. You okay?” His voice was steeped with concern.
    “Yeah, just got a little overwhelmed with the study session going on, so I came out to rest my eyes and brain.”
    “Studying already? Classes haven’t even started yet.” His eyebrows creased in concern at the possibility of how nerdy Hadraniel and I might be. It made me giggle.
    “Not for school, things for our parents. What are you doing? No work?”
    “Actually I was heading somewhere alone, but would you like to join me? It’ll give us a chance to talk, give you a break and I can show someone new my love of this place.” He was grinning a boyish grin now.
    “How could I not join you after that mysterious invite?”
    With that he stood, and as he rose, he grabbed my hands and helped me off the ground. He suggested that I may want to let them know I was leaving, but I waved it off. I needed the time away from that whole situation, and this gave me a great opportunity to learn about Gray. I needed to know what made him so special that I needed to risk all these things to save him.
    “So, where are we going?” I asked. He kept a decent pace that let me walk comfortably. He was so tall that I would have had to run to catch him if he walked any faster.
    “That’s a secret.”
    “Ok, why are we going there?”
    “Another secret.” He was enjoying this, keeping me in the dark. His eyes danced with amusement.
    “Fine. Can you tell me about what you’re planning on studying in school then?”
    “I’m going to double major in art and teaching.”
    “Art? What kind of art?” I had assumed music because of his band and his talent.
    “Drawing, mainly, but I love to paint, sculpt, all things artistic. The teaching degree is so I can provide a living for Hannah when we get married.”
    Hannah had mentioned that she and Gray had been together for a long time, I just didn’t realize it was that serious. From my understanding, average ages for humans to marry changed from century to century. I’m pretty sure the current society would agree that nineteen was pretty young to get married. He seemed to be a normal human male. Normal goals, normal talents, normal, normal, normal. Why then was he needing to survive this catastrophic event? In our mission files, it was stated in no uncertain tones that collecting his soul was not an option, he must survive the event. We chatted some more about him and