Saving Rain: The First Novel in The Rain Trilogy by Karen-Anne Stewart Page B

something in the other that can somehow mend at least a small part of what has been pervasively mauled and soiled by the wickedness of too many men to remember, faces of men that the emotionally wounded and scarred girl would give ten years of her life to forget.
    After they search each other silently for several moments, a gruff cough interrupts their silent quest for redemption. Raina breaks their fragile connection and gives the agent at the table a warning glare. Sensing that the girl feels more comfortable in her chosen corner, she crosses her legs and sits on the floor facing her. “Mi nombre es Raina, piensas que puedes ayudarme?” she starts, treading softly and carefully, introducing herself and then eliciting for the girl’s help, desperately trying to give her back at least a tiny fraction of power that has been robbed of her time after time.
    It takes a moment, but the girl finally gives the slightest of nods that if she wasn’t paying close attention, Raina would have missed altogether. “Como te llamas?” Raina tenderly asks her name.
    “Claudia.”
    Hearing the girl’s quiet, sweet voice sends a calming relief soaring through Raina. “Mucho gusto Claudia, que bonito nombre,” she continues the tentative introductions, giving Claudia all the time needed to find a comfortable pace.
    Claudia’s shy smile encourages Raina to continue. “Cuantos anos tienes, Claudia?”she asks her age, dreading the answer.
    “Diez y seis.”
    Sixteen, too young to have even heard about of this kind of hell. Raina feels a sharp stab to her heart as she looks into this young girl’s eyes and witnesses an encompassing, dark emptiness. She says a silent, fervent prayer that Claudia will find her way through the darkness with God’s help.
    Raina continues with easy, non-probing questions for a while, noting and ignoring the aggravating impatience of the callous agent clearing his throat, sitting four feet away from them. She turns away from Claudia, making sure she can’t see her shoot a last warning to the agent, her jade eyes spitting fire. As Raina spends time building a rapport with Claudia, she eases into the more difficult questions, backing off when she senses she is asking too much, too soon. She expertly redirects the necessary but offensive questions in the mildest manner possible, eventually finding a path of communication that offers Claudia a sense of security while easing her resistance in giving the horrific details needed to help track down the monsters responsible for her sobering fragility. After hearing the disturbing nightmare this poor girl, and so many others like her have survived, Raina’s emotions are exhausted to the point of numbness. She reassuringly squeezes Claudia’s hand and whispers encouragement of courage and faith, praying she is giving at least a spark of hope, knowing that Claudia has a long road ahead of her.
    The psychologist takes over, and Raina steps outside, giving her full report to Agent Lawson as he tucks the recording into an envelope, dated and categorized. His impatience is still clinging to him, rubbing Raina dangerously close to blurting out exactly what she thinks of his flippant attitude. As the last of the details have been translated, Agent Lawson pushes it too far as he mumbles under his breath, “About time.”
    Raina’s last thread of reserve snaps, exposing all of her frayed nerves and emotions, and she unleashes her anger onto the unexpecting agent. “You may see this everyday, and maybe it has made you so numb you have become indifferent, but I can assure you that the girl in there, the girls in all of the other rooms, are anything but indifferent,” she scolds. Her voice is strong and booming as the rush of emotions swirling around like a typhoon inside of her fuels her anger. She stands on her tiptoes so she is at her fullest height as she continues her verbal admonition. “They have been through hell on earth and are at the brink of completely