"You okay?" Mark asked as he cranked the air up to high and adjusted the middle vents so they would blow directly on me.
"Yeah, I feel much better. I wish I could have helped her more, but maybe it's not too late. Haniel neglected to tell us that leaving a forgotten soul unfiltered would leave us feeling so lost. I felt like I had climbed to the top of a mountain only to be pushed back down before I could reach the top," I said to Mark, trying to explain why I felt so mixed up.
"Well, let's go see what we can dig up," Mark said, plugging the address into his navigation unit.
The directions appeared on the screen in front of us in a few seconds, pointing to a destination less than a couple of miles away from where we currently were. Mark pulled out of the dirt lot and turned in the opposite direction that we had taken to get here. After a mile, the soft voice from the navigation unit told us to take the next right. Mark turned down the dirt road and after a hundred yards the voice prompted us to turn left. Mark obliged, and after one last turn we pulled into a wide open space with signs that indicated that it was used for carnivals and circuses that passed through town.
Instead of brightly colored circus tents or rides and concession stands, one lone, massive white tent sat in the middle of the empty space. A trailer was parked off to the side near the brush, but other than that, the space was a ghost town.
Mark shut off the engine and we both cautiously climbed out of the vehicle. Mark grabbed my hand pulling me slightly behind him. I was grateful for his protection, as I suddenly became assaulted by several mixed emotions from the tent in front of us. The emotions ran the spectrum from animosity all the way down to the deepest of despair. I took in a shaky breath as I studied the makeshift structure. I couldn't place what was going on here, but something was definitely off.
"Do you want to wait in the car?" Mark asked me, with concern laced through his words.
"No, I'm fine. Let's get a little closer and see if I can pick up anything useful."
"Okay, but stay behind me."
Nodding my head, I trailed behind him as he approached the tent cautiously. Peering into the dim interior, we saw that several rows of benches made from wooden planks and cinder blocks lined the center of the tent, while a makeshift pulpit of sorts stood near the far wall. We spotted a handful of people working at a table on the far side of the tent, but obviously unaware of our presence, they never looked our direction.
Mark took a cautious step inside, but pulled back quickly when we heard an engine behind us.
Tuning around, we took a step away from the tent. I gripped Mark's hand tightly in my own as we faced the oncoming vehicle in front of us.
Chapter 7
"Can I help you with something?" A man that looked to be a couple years older than us, covered in tattoos, asked, getting out of the passenger side of the vehicle.
Mark took a casual step in front of me blocking me partially from view.
"Yeah, we got this flyer over at the farmer's market," Mark said, holding up the orange flyer.
I let out a relieved breath that he had remembered to grab it out of the Navigator.
"I see we mixed up the days when we looked at it," Mark added.
"I'd say the times too," The man said with sarcasm lacing his voice.
"Yeah, that too," Mark said laughing to ease the mood, but I could feel the tension flowing off of him.
"Why don't you come back tomorrow," the driver said in a friendlier tone. "Alan's a real visionary," he added, lowering the tailgate of the pickup truck to unload the supplies piled up in the back.
"Sounds good," Mark said mimicking the driver's laid-back manner as he scooted me toward the Navigator. Opening the door for me, he used his hands to propel me into the seat and closed the door behind me in one swift movement, taking me away from any possible threat.
I watched through the window as Mark shook their hands and came around to his side.
"You okay?" He asked, still smiling for their benefit as he put the SUV into drive and pulled out of the dusty lot.
"Yeah," I said, glancing out the rear window. I was relieved to see both men hard at work unloading the truck. It's not like I had expected them to be following us, but seeing them disregarding our visit made me feel much better.
"Did you get anything from them?" he asked.
"Well, I was scared to let their feelings in, but they both had a similar vibe to the girl from the market," I said. "What are we going to do?" I asked after a few minutes.
"First thing we're going to do is sit down with Haniel and the others. This is a prime example of what we were created for."
I nodded my head in agreement, glad that we were both on the same page.
We arrived back home a half an hour later to an empty house. I had to swallow back my disappointment when I realized all my friends were gone. I was anxious to hash out what we had seen and what I had felt with our group.