Circus of The Darned (12 page)

change my clothes.

During the summer, GothFaire ran from six at night until two in the morning, which seems like

a weird time to run a fair, but given the bizarre nature of the attractions—most popular were the piercing booth (couldn't get me near that with a ten-foot pole), aura photographs, and my

mother's potions and spells—the fairgoers liked that we were open so late. I only worked four

hours, from the Faire opening until ten. After that I was free, although the rest of the Faire was going full blast.

How is it going
?a voice asked me a couple of hours later.

I looked up from the hand I was reading, smiling at Ben standing next to the line of three people waiting to have their palms read.
Are you checking up on me
?

Yes. Do you mind?

I thought about it for a moment as I explained to the man in front of me what his lifeline

showed.
That depends. Are you checking up on me to see if I need anything
—
like a break, or a
drink, or something like that
—
or are you checking up on me just to see what I'm doing
?

The former.

Then I don't mind.

Do you need a break, or a drink, or something like that?

Naw.I only have an hour to go, and things will slow down in a half hour once the magic shows
start. What have you been doing?

Are you asking because you are concerned about my well-being, or are you inquiring as to how
I've kept myself busy?

I smiled. I
wanted to know if you're all right
.

Ah. I
am,
thank you. I feel much better. And since I can feel your curiosity, I'll add that I've been
sleeping since you and Imogen returned. I woke up a short while ago, and now I'm here to see
how I can help you. Do you wish for me to continue hunting for Tesla?

Hmm
.I finished the reading for the man before me, smiling when his girlfriend, who was next in line, told me she liked my lace gloves. I
think that's pretty much a lost cause, don't you? We both
looked last night,
then
you looked some before you went all mysterious and almost got yourself
killed
.

I think Laufeyiarson has hidden himself and Tesla very well, but if it would make you happy, I
will continue to search for them.

No. I don't think searching is going to find them
. I spent the next few minutes simultaneously reading a woman's palm, and telling Ben what happened with Tallulah.

Sir Edward didn't say what sort of being the thief was
? Ben asked when I was finished.

No. He just said powerful. Tallulah made it sound like bad news. You didn't
… er…
you know,
kind of know what he was?
Because you're a vamp and all?

Ben gave me a look.
Being a Dark One is not synonymous with omnipotence, Fran
.

I love it when you talk with big words. OK, so how do we hunt him down?

I will try to talk to Sir Edward and meet you in an hour, when you are finished.

OK. But I'm going to find Tibolt between shows and get his help getting rid of the ghosts. I don't
think I can go through another day like today.

Ben laughed into my head and did something he'd never done before—kissed me.Mentally. Or

rather, he remembered what it felt like for him to kiss me. I gasped as the sensation filled my head of just what he felt when we kissed.

"Are you all right?" the girl in front of me asked as I grabbed a palm-reading flyer and started to fan myself.

"Just a little hot."I made a face at Ben,then turned my attention back to the girl's hand. "Let's see, we were on the Mound of Venus, weren't we?"

An hour later I folded the midnight blue velvet cloth that I used to read people's hands ("Make your space your own," Mom always said), counted out the money, putting it into the GothFaire bag before tucking it away in a lockable metal box I'd picked up in Berlin.

Soren was giving Bruno a last-minute check to make sure the horse's harness was clean. I waved

at him as I hurried to drop off the cash box at the trailer. "Have you seen Tibolt?" I asked, stopping for a moment.

He pointed past me. "They just finished their act."

"Thanks!" I popped into the trailer, stashed my money box in its usual place, hurriedly gave Davide some cat food and told him that no, he couldn't go outside when the Faire was open, and

hurried out to find Tibolt.

Circus of theDarned people didn't have trailers like the Faire folk. Tibolt had a sleek black RV

with a satellite dish clamped onto the top. Ramon and Mikaela had a silver RV, and the three

people who worked behind the scenes for them—I never was quite sure of their names since they

didn't speak much English—all .shared a third RV, much more battered than the other two. I

knocked on Tibolt's door, a little surprised when Mikaela answered it.

"Hullo, Fran. Have you come to see Tib?"

"Yes, if he's not busy."

"Sure.Tib? Fran is here for you."

I climbed into the RV, making a mental note that this is what Mom and I needed if we were

going to stay with GothFaire. The interior was done in black and red, with gold trim on the black

wood paneling. Overhead, a long light hung from the ceiling, while a full couch, two recliners, and a TV made up the living room part. Tibolt was stretched out on the couch, sipping a drink

while Ramon sat at the table going over a map ofEurope .

"Hi, everyone," I said, feeling a bit out of place in all this opulence. "Tibolt, I came to give you back your pendant, and also to ask if you wouldn't mind using it to get rid of the Vikings. I like them and all, but they pissed off Absinthe this morning, andraised a bit of hell in town, so I think it's best if they were sent toValhalla ."

Tibolt waved his drink at me. "The pendant is yours now. I meant to tell you that earlier, but forgot."

"Mine? I don't think so," I said, pulling the chain over my head. "It's gotten me in enough trouble."

"Regardless, the
Vikingahärta
is dead to me now. It has forsaken me for you."

"Dead?"I looked at the pendant in my hand. It vibrated slightly, as if it was charged with power.

"It doesn't feel dead. It's kind of… humming."

"Yes. Let me see it." He held out his hand for it. I plopped it onto his palm. He closed his eyes for a second, then opened them and shook his head, offering me the pendant again. "No, it's as I thought—the
Vikingahärta
has no power for me. It can serve me no purpose now, so you may have it."

"I don't want it!" I said, protesting when he sat up to shove it back into my hands. "It looks valuable and really old. My mom would freak if she found out you gave it to me."

He made a funny little half smile. "Then your mother must understand that in this, we have no choice. The
Vikingahärta
cannot be used by just anyone—the bearer must be sympathetic, open to its abilities. It has chosen you to act through, which is why I said earlier that only you can get send the ghosts toValhalla . I can do nothing."

"But—I don't have the slightest idea what to do to get them there," I said, my heart sinking. I'd never be rid of the ghosts without help!

"Tib, there has to be something you can do," Mikaela said as he stood and stretched. I narrowed my eyes for a moment, wondering again why the Tibolt magic seemed to have faded.Ever since

he'd given me that pendant… hmm. Unobtrusively, I set it down on the back of a chair.

"No, and I'm tired of you nagging me about it. Isn't it enough that I'm being unfairly punished by the master?" Tibolt snapped, turning to scowl at me. My knees almost melted at the sight of him—he was gorgeous, so very gorgeous even when he was mad. I wanted to run over and throw

myself on him… eek! Quickly I grabbed the pendant, sighing in relief when Tibolt's attraction

faded into normalness.

Clearly he'd cast some sort of glamour on himself to seem irresistable. I wondered if a bit of that had wonked up my mom's invocation, or if it was the valknut that had thrown her off?

"You're being punished for your own folly," Mikaela said, frowning just as much as her cousin was. "You have no one to blame but yourself for what happened, so blaming Loki or anyone else for your troubles is just denial."

"I know that, you stupid witch!"

Mikaela gasped. Ramon stood up and said, "You will not talk to her that way."

"Don't tell me what to do!" Tibolt yelled as he went toe-to-toe with Ramon. "I'll call her whatever I like!"

"Er," I said, uncomfortable. I had a feeling I was indirectly the source of the argument—or rather, the pendant was—and I would be better off elsewhere. I tried to edge around the two men but they blocked the aisle to the door. "I think I should probably leave now. If you'd let me past…"

"You're lucky I am a priestess and not the witch you claim, because if I were, your ass would be so cursed!" Mikaela said,poking Tibolt in the chest and ignoring me just as the other two did.

"You have no powers over me," Tibolt answered, narrowing his eyes at her. "I am a mage of the fifth level."

"And I am the high priestess of Ashtar," she snapped back, giving him another poke in the chest.

"Your magic has no effect on me."

"Um, guys? Can I get by, please?" I asked.

"Magic is wasted on the ignorant," Tibolt said as he slammed down his drink and started toward the door. His insult made Mikaela gasp in surprise again.

"Tibolt—" Ramon started to say, but stopped when Tibolt snarled something in Swedish and slammed his way out of the RV.

"I'm sorry," I said quietly, slipping the pendant over my head and scooting past a black-faced Mikaela. "See you guys later."

Mikaela muttered a few things in Swedish, stopping suddenly to call me back. "No, Fran, wait! I will help you with the ghosts."

"You will?" I climbed back into the RV, hesitant because I didn't want to cause any more problems.

"Yes, I will. Tibolt is not the only one in the family with powers, and since he is to blame for the

situation, and he refuses to help you, I will." She looked at Ramon, who nodded. "And so will Ramon. We will help you send the ghosts toValhalla ."

"That's awfully nice of you," I said, touching the valknut. "But how are we going to do that?"

"It's very simple," she said, pushing past me to leave the RV. Ramon and I followed. "You know about the Valkyries, yes?"

"Yes," I said, though I was far from an expert on Norse mythology."Kind of. Ben told me the other night that they're warrior maidens who swoop down on horses and pick out dead warriors

to take to heaven, which is calledValhalla ."

"Close enough. Queen of the Valkyries is Freya, goddess of love."

"Oh?" I wondered what the goddess of love had to do with dead Vikings.

"Yes. So there's our answer." She ran up the steps to her RV, quickly returning with a tapestry bag. She hurried around the front of the trailer, toward the stretch of woods in which I found

Ben. "Come on, we don't have long before our act is on again."

I looked at Ramon. He took my arm and hustled me after Mikaela.

"There's our answer? What answer?" I asked, stumbling over an unseen root. "You don't mean—

"

"Yes," Mikaela said, spreading out a cloth and laying out a bowl, candle, and small bouquet of flowers. "We're going to summon Freya and ask her help."

Chapter Ten

Crash!

"I was at a party!"

Bang!

"A very nice party!"

Kerwhang!

"InVenice !The city of love! And there were four lovely mortal men practically
drooling
on me with desire!"

Crack. Tinkle, tinkle,
tinkle
.

I peeked through the fingers I'd slapped over my eyes when Freya, goddess of love, warrior

queen, and evidently Venetian partygoer started her hissy fit. The tinkling sound came from the crystal goblet Mikaela had set out as part of the summoning equipment. Freya crushed the goblet between her hands and sprinkled the glass shards on the grass at Mikaela's feet. I had to give

Mikaela credit—it took guts to stand up to a really pissed-off goddess (even if she did look like she belonged on the E! channel modeling the latest fashions), but Mikaela didn't budge an inch

when Freya got mad at her for being summoned.

"Goddess Freya, I am sorry for disturbing you—"

"And you, you mortal priestess of Ashtar, you think nothing of summoning me from
the
party of the year? Did I mention Elton John was there?"

Mikaela flinched slightly when Freya shredded her invocation cloth. "I'm very sorry, goddess, but this is an emergency."

Freya threw down the cloth, spinning around to glare at Ramon, who stood a few feet away from

Mikaela."You! You are a priest?"

"Yes." Ramon looked like his usual implacable (and silent) self. He didn't even blink when Freya marched over to him.

I was having a hard time wrapping my brain around the idea that first of all, all those Norse gods like Odin and Thor and Freya really existed, and second, that they would look like fashion

models. Then again, maybe it was just Freya—beautiful, raven-haired, elegant Freya—who

looked like a model. Maybe the rest looked all wispy, and had big beards and wore horned

helmets and things.

"Hrmph.Not worth my time." Freya dismissed Ramon and turned to consider me. I thought about clamping my fingers together again so I wouldn't have to see through them, but decided

that was too cowardly. Instead I dropped my hands and tried to smile at the irate goddess.

"Hi. I'm Fran," I said politely as she stalked over to me. "I'm not a priestess or anything."

Her eyes narrowed as she examined me from head to foot. "You are something. You are mortal, but you have been touched by an immortal being."

"Well… my boyfriend is a vampire," I told her, praying she didn't call down lightning to smite us, or any of the other godlike things that I'd read about a few years back in a mythology class.