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

Hannah as we headed to his secret spot, but the talking stopped completely as we got to the bottom of a hill.
    “We have to go up. Are you good to climb?”
    He stood looking up the hill, hands on hips. He seemed pumped and ready to go. I figured if he could do it, then I could do it.
    “Sure, I’m game.”
    I’d no idea what I was getting myself into by agreeing to this adventure. The climb was not an easy one. My knees were getting scraped, my hands were muddy from grabbing roots and trees to pull myself up. I did it though, and without Gray’s help. He was leaning against a rock, as I got to the top. He had a bottle of water in a small pack I hadn’t noticed he was wearing. He took a sip and handed it to me. I sat beside him and tried to not guzzle down the whole bottle. The difference in gravity really hit me on the climb. I hadn’t done anything that taxing until now, and it felt good.
    “Where to now, Boss?”
    He chuckled. “Are you always this impatient?”
    “Yes. Had will vouch for that too.” I grinned knowing Hadraniel would find it funny. I had to have a mass of patience in order to complete this job. Collecting souls was a job that couldn’t be rushed.
    “Well, you see that tree up there?” He pointed to a tree up another small hill that looked to be dying. It was the only tree up there. “We are going to go sit there. The view on the other side of the tree will be like nothing you’ve ever seen before.”
    I didn’t have the heart to tell him that I was sure I had viewed sights more breathtaking. I was sure I would still love the view. Earth’s landscape never failed to bring me happiness. I felt bad that Hadraniel wouldn’t see this view with me, but I had gotten some good information, however small it was, about Gray. As we headed to the tree, Gray’s face grew pensive, almost solemn.
    “Why the face?”
    “This was my brother’s favorite place to go. His name was Oliver. He was three years older than me. He had Down ’s syndrome, and we came here two or three times a week. I usually brought him up with a four-wheeler, because of that climb. He loved it up here. He would describe what he saw to me, and I would draw his world. I had a picture book for him that he would flip through when we couldn’t get up here. He’s part of the reason I want to study art so much.”
    “Where’s your brother now?”
    “He got sick one day. We took him to the hospital after he got really tired and wouldn’t answer us. They ran some tests, but couldn’t find anything conclusive. We stayed at his bedside every day, rotating between me, Mom, Dad and Hannah. Oliver loved Hannah.” He gave a small, sad smile. “After a while, he slipped into a coma, and still we had no answers. I was coming in to relieve dad from his shift when he died. Dad said it was peaceful. One minute he was breathing and the next, he wasn’t. My parents decided not to do an autopsy. There was nothing we could do for him. I decided to go into teaching, to teach art, so that kids who couldn’t normally express themselves could learn different outlets.”
    I quickly wiped the tears away before he noticed them. Here I was judging him for being normal, and he was anything but. He had a beautiful soul. Even if he did nothing else important, he deserved to be saved. We reached the top of the hill and I gasped. In front of me was a waterfall, a valley full of the most beautiful flowers, and a creek running through the valley dividing it into two sections.
    “Wow.”
    Gray smiled. “I told you. I love it here, but my purpose today was to actually see if there was any change in the landscape after that quake we had earlier. You see, this place was created almost as an oasis of sorts after a collapse of a cave many, many years ago. It has an eco-system unlike any other, so I figured if anything was changed, it would be here. Because of the recent rumblings we’ve been having, I started studying the chances of the New Madrid fault