my shorts, I quickly checked my messages. To get out of the way of the swelling pedestrian traffic of the fairgrounds, I stepped closer to the wall of one of Madame Tan’s tents.
“Please, follow me,” I suddenly heard her melodious voice, muffled by the fabric of the tent.
Madame must be taking another group on the tour of her “little menagerie.”
“For my treasured VIP clients, I have something especially precious to see...” she murmured. Her voice trailed off, lost in the textile bowels of the tents.
There’d better be something “especially precious” for a ten-thousand-dollar ticket. I scoffed to myself, suddenly feeling like some second-class citizen, denied entry into the place reserved for the crème de la crème.
In addition, my curiosity about what could possibly be worth that much money for a brief observation made me wish I had X-ray vison to peer through the tent walls. It was just some fabric, after all. Not even that thick or impenetrable.
Squinting over my shoulder, I furtively inspected the weatherproofed canvas of the tent wall behind me, taking a few steps backwards to get closer.
A distant sound of music filtered through, slow and beautiful.
The desire to take a peek, if only for a second, burned through me.
What if I could sneak under the bottom edge?
The lower end of the canvas all around the tent had been weighted down by long bags of sand. Moving them would take effort and time I was afraid I didn’t have. Anyone walking along the main path could peek around at any moment and find me re-arranging sand bags I had no business touching. Someone from Madame’s staff could easily see me here as well.
I slid my gaze along the end of the canvas to one of the support poles. Moving closer I lifted the long rubbery flap over it. It protected the seam where two wall panels overlapped underneath. The two sides were clipped together.
The clip proved easy enough to open, creating a gap that I might be able to slide through and into the tent.
That was it.
It was simply meant for me to sneak in, wasn’t it? In and out before anyone noticed—I had no intention of staying to watch the whole show. I just wanted to know what it was all about. There were enough partitions inside the tents to hide me from Madame and her muscle man. I could do it.
I quickly glanced around to make sure no one had noticed my snooping. Close to the back of the tent, by the high chain-link fence separating the fairgrounds from the parking lot, I was fairly out of sight.
With a bracing breath, I squeezed through the gap and into the fragrant semi-darkness of Madame Tan’s menagerie.
Just one look, then I’d get out before Fleur was back. We would get some ice cream afterwards, and no one would ever need to know where I’d gone while she was using the bathroom.
Inside, I found myself in a dark, stuffy place behind yet another fabric partition. Just about three feet wide, it appeared to be a corridor, stretching along the outside wall in each direction. Following the music, I headed right, grateful for the rubber soles of my sandals that allowed me to pad along noiselessly.
The sound of music intensified, then the murmur of voices mingled in. One stood out above the rest—the melodious voice of Madame Tan who sounded as if she was telling an enchanting tale of old.
“Water Fae would probably be referred to as ‘sirens’ in your world. They are known for their enthralling voices and ethereal looks...”
Up ahead, I came flush with the thick velvet curtain blocking my way. Eerie, blue-green light cut through the darkness in the narrow gaps on each side of the curtain where it met the canvas walls of the corridor.
“Although their appearance closely resembles human, Olathana Ocean Fae are not intelligent or even self-aware,” Madame continued with her narration. “In fact, their IQ level is below that of a dog...”
Something must have happened behind the curtain because a series of loud gasps and murmurs reached me. The light in the gaps intensified.
Unable to stand the suspense of not knowing any longer, I leaned closer, tugging the curtain aside a little, just enough for me to peek through.
A large, tall water tank stood in the middle of the next room. Shimmering green and blue light shone from it, piercing through the waves of the fragrant smoke that curled over the heads of six people sitting at the bar in front of