The Soul Summoner (The Soul Summoner Saga Book 1) (12 page)

"Nathan is not my boy, and I haven't talked to him in a few days. He said he would probably be here though," I said.

"With Shannon?" she asked.

My face twisted into a sour frown. "If I know my crappy luck, I'm sure she'll be with him."

She started laughing again. "She may have to cover a
serious
news situation."

I smiled. "Gridlock and drunk driving at the beer festival." 

We found an open spot on the field, and I set up our chairs while Adrianne went to find our first beers of the day. A band was playing in what was normally the end zone of the football field, and a few people were dancing around the twenty yard line. Local breweries had tents set up all around the sidelines, offering samples and full-sized drafts of their craft brews.

The smell of sunshine, patchouli oil, beer, and marijuana floated through the fall sky and reminded me that I was at home in America's 'Freak Capital.' There were guys wearing broomstick skirts and girls with dreadlocks and facial piercings. Other groups had guys wearing tight pants and Buddy Holly glasses. Some people were dressed like they were ready for Broadway, while others were dressed for a Renaissance festival. Scottish kilts seemed to be popular, and one guy was even carrying around a set of bagpipes. I looked down at my outfit and felt almost out of place. The Brewgrass Festival was people watching at its best.  

My eyes scanned the crowd until they fell on someone, or some
thing
, that made my stomach leap into my throat. I coughed and blinked my eyes.

A man, tall with broad shoulders and shoulder-length black hair pulled back into ponytail, was watching me near a group of tents about fifty yards away. He had dark eyes set above high cheekbones and a square jaw. His gaze fixed on me when we locked eyes; it was like staring into the center of a black hole. 

For the first time in my life, I sensed something I never had before. A stranger. 

"Oktoberfest is out early this year!" Adrianne sang as she lowered a plastic up over my head from behind. "Aren't you excited?"

I accepted the cup and she moved in front of me. When she had passed, the stranger was gone. Adrianne followed my gaze across the field. When she didn't see anything peculiar, she waved her hand in front of my face. "Yo, Sloan!"

I blinked again and focused on her face. She was still waving. "Huh?"

She leaned toward me. "What's up? You look like you've seen a ghost. You're all pale and stuff."

Sweat prickled on my forehead despite the autumn chill. "I think I have."

Seeing a ghost was
exactly
what it felt like. It was reminiscent of seeing Ray Whitmore lying in the doorway of the kitchen on Clarksdale. The dark man could have been an animated corpse. There was nothing in him for me to read.

"Hey!" Adrianne shouted, snapping me back to reality again. "What the hell?" She kept looking around and then back at me.

I pointed across the field. "There was a guy over there. A guy I didn't know." I strained again to see if I could find him.

She laughed. "There are thousands of people here you don't know."

I shook my head and stood up, craning my neck and searching through the crowds. "No. I mean I didn't
know
him."

"What?" She was looking at me like I had just spoken in Mandarin.

I sat back down. "Remember me telling you that I—"

"Hey, hey, hey!" someone cheered, stepping into our circle. It was Mark and Colin.

Adrianne stood up and hugged Mark, the guy with the ridiculously perfect teeth and the douchebag personality. She put her hand on his chest. "I thought you would be here later!"

Mark draped his arm across Adrianne's shoulders and held up the cup in his hand. "Oh no. We got here early and decided to try and make it through all forty brew stations before the day is over." 

I rolled my eyes. "Of course you did."

"Hey, Sloan." Colin opened up an NC State folding chair and plopped it down on the grass next to me. "Whatcha drinkin'?"

I looked in my cup and realized I couldn't remember. I looked at Adrianne for help. 

"Oktoberfest from Brevard Brewing," she answered. "Earth to Sloan."

I shook my head and stood up. "Excuse me for a second," I said. "I'll be right back."

Adrianne followed me and grabbed my arm. "What are you doing?"

I squeezed her hand in frustration. "I don't think you grasp exactly how big this is for me. I've never seen anyone I don't recognize. Ever. In all my life!"

Her face melted from irritation to worry. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm just going to walk around. I'll be back soon and I have my phone in my pocket."

"I'm coming with you," she said.

I shook my head. "No because Dumb and Dumber will follow. Just stay here and entertain. I'll be back in a second."

Her brow wrinkled with worry. "Please be careful."

"Of course," I assured her.

I took off in the direction of the tents before she could protest again. I sipped my beer as my eyes darted from face to face. Halfway around the field, I heard someone call my name. I turned to see Nathan walking hand in hand with Shannon toward me.

I had just passed a guy wearing a fur toga and a Viking helmet on his head, and then there was Shannon dressed in a silky sundress and high heels. Her heels kept sinking into the football field turf with each step that she took.
And I thought I wasn't dressed for the occasion,
I laughed to myself.

Nathan was in his standard tactical attire, except he was wearing a shirt that said "Conserve Water. Drink Beer" and the patch on the front of his hat said "Drinks Well With Others".     

"I was wondering if we would bump into each other in this swarm of drunks," he said as they approached.

I held up my cup and forced a smile. "You found me." 

"You need another beer," he said. "Let's go take care of that."

Shannon looked annoyed, so I agreed.

We walked toward the tents. "Let's see," he said. "Will it be Wicked Weed or Greenman?"

I looked at both tents. "I haven't tried Wicked Weed," I said.

He stepped toward the vendor leaving me alone with Shannon. "Nice dress," I said to break the uncomfortable silence.

She flipped her blonde hair back over her shoulder and angled her face toward the sky. "It's a LULUS exclusive." 

I didn't know or care what that meant, so I went back to searching the crowd for the guy with the ponytail.

"Here you go." Nathan handed me a new full cup. "It's called the Freak of Nature Double IPA. It seemed appropriate for you."

I laughed and shoved him in the shoulder. "Hey!"

"Haha." He sipped on his beer. "This festival is pretty great. Do you come every year?"

I nodded. "Every year since they started it."

He laughed. "I had to drag Shannon here."

A smug "imagine that" slipped out before I could stop myself. 

She huffed and crossed her arms across her chest. 

"You looked like you were searching for someone," he said. "Are you lost?"

There was more than one reason I wished Shannon wasn't there. I really wanted to talk to him alone. "I saw this guy that was really strange to me," I said, trying to use words that Nathan would pick up on.

"Are you kidding?" Shannon asked. "Everyone here is strange."

Nathan nodded toward her. "She has a point."

"This guy was different." I cut my eyes at him, urging him to catch on to what I was trying to say.

We locked gazes for a moment. "What's he look like? I'll let you know if I see him."

"He's about your age and he's really tall. Maybe 6'2. He was wearing a dark blue shirt and blue jeans. And his hair was black, probably shoulder length or so and pulled back in a ponytail."

Nathan was making mental notes. He took a quick look around. "I'll let you know if we see him."

I smiled. "Thanks. We are somewhere around the fifty yard line if you want to come by."

"Oh, we won't be here much longer," Shannon snapped.

I couldn't help myself. "Is there an important lane closure on I-40 that you need to go report?" 

Her mouth fell open.

"I'll call you later," Nathan said, trying to sound defensive but not doing a convincing job of it.

I held up my beer as they walked away. "Y'all be careful. And stay away from 3rd South Street. I heard on the news that it's going to be blocked off all day for parking."

Nathan shot me a scowl over his shoulder and I laughed.

"Thanks for the beer, Nate!" I called after him.

"You're welcome," he replied. "Quit wandering around alone!"

I finished my lap around the field with no sign of the stranger. His face hung in my mind, like it was going to be permanently fixed there for a long time. Adrianne was at her intoxication stage of giggling by the time I returned. My cup was once again empty. 

 Colin stood up. "We were about to send a search party after you."

"Find anything?" Adrianne asked.

I shook my head. 

"I'm about to get another beer. Want one?" Colin asked.

"Sure. Surprise me." I handed him my empty cup and plopped down into my seat.

He looked disappointed that I didn't offer to join him, but I didn't care. 

I closed my eyes and pictured the stranger's dark eyes again. No matter how hard I searched the memory of his face with my gift, I couldn't register his soul. Thinking of the way he had watched me sent chills up my spine. There was some kind of connection there that my brain just couldn't fit together.

Adrianne snapped her fingers in front of my nose. "Hey!" 

My eyes popped open and settled on her. Mark had his arm across the back of her chair. 

"Do you want to go to a dodgeball game tomorrow?" she asked.

"Um. What?" I asked. 

"Adult dodgeball," she repeated.

I cocked an eyebrow. "Does that even exist?"

Mark nodded. "Yeah. Parks and Rec has a league. Colin and I play. We have a tournament tomorrow."

I looked at Adrianne. Her eyes were pleading. I didn't want to go but only slightly less than I wanted her to go anywhere alone with Mark. I didn't trust him. "Sure. What time?"

Adrianne smiled. 

"It's at eleven in the morning," he said. "We'll come by and pick you up."

"No, we'll meet you there. Adrianne promised to go with me to the mall tomorrow, so we can swing by after," I said.

She tugged on his arm. "Oh yeah. Sorry, I forgot."

"That's cool, babe." He was a little closer to her face than I was comfortable with.

My cellphone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out to see a message from Nathan. It said,
Is this him?
A moment later a photo of the guy from behind appeared on my phone. 

I dialed Nathan's number and he picked up on the first ring. "Yes! Where is he?"

"Gone," he replied. "I saw him ahead of us going toward the parking lot. He got into a black Dodge Challenger and took off. North Carolina tags and I got the plate number. Want me to run it?"

"Isn't that illegal?" I asked.

He chuckled. "I'll let you know what I find out," he said and disconnected.

Colin returned with my beer as I dropped the phone into the cup holder on my chair. Mark was whispering in Adrianne's ear. 

"Hey Mark, what's your last name?" I asked.

"Higgins," he answered. "Why?"

I shrugged. "Just wondering." I was just wondering because I really didn't like Mark Higgins. Maybe I could convince Nate to run him too.

* * *

When I roused myself from a restless sleep the next morning, my brain was still churning with thoughts of the soulless man from the day before. His face had haunted my dreams, taunting me with questions I couldn't answer. Who was he?
What
was he?

I might have spent all day lying there obsessing over him, had Adrianne not begun texting me to see if I was up and ready to go. I prayed that I could talk her out of going to the dodgeball game during shopping, but I failed. After a short trip to the mall, I drove to the downtown recreation gym, and for an hour, we watched grown men throw red rubber balls at each other.

I gestured toward the concession stand. "I'm going to go get a drink," I said. "You thirsty?"

"I'll take a Diet Coke," she replied. 

I navigated the sideline to the concession window and got the attention of the girl behind the counter. "What can I get'cha?" she asked, chomping on a piece of bubblegum.

It was very unfortunate that the state restricted beer sales until after two o'clock on Sundays. Alcohol would be the only thing to make adult dodgeball more interesting. "Two Diet Cokes, please." 

My phone rang. It was Nathan. "Where are you?" he asked.

"Dodgeball game," I answered over the sound of grown men screaming and the distinct squeak of tennis shoe soles on a gym floor.

There was silence on the other end of the line. "Did you just say dodgeball?" he asked.

"Yep."

"Swing by my apartment when you're done," he said. "I went by your house and you weren't home."

"OK. Hopefully it won't be too long. But I have to take Adrianne home," I said.

"K," he said and disconnected.

I carried the drinks back to the bleachers and realized the game must have ended since the two teams were shaking hands. I said a silent prayer of thanksgiving. I handed her the plastic cup. "Is it over?" 

"Yep. They lost," she replied.

I smirked. "Shocker."

She threw a discarded piece of popcorn at me. "Be nice!"

Mark and Colin finally came out of the locker room carrying their gym bags. They had both showered and changed into fresh clothes. Mark had more product in his hair than Adrianne and I combined. He dropped his bag on the bleacher seat in front of us and smiled at me. "Who's hungry?" he asked.

"I'm hungry," Adrianne said.

"Me too," Colin added.

I bumped my friend with my shoulder. "I've got to go into work. No time for food."

"I'll take you home," Mark said to her.

I rolled my eyes and stared at Adrianne with blatant disapproval. 

She raised an eyebrow at me. "You don't work on Sundays."