Free Circus of The Darned by Katie Maxwell

hand," one of the Vikings said. The others looked impressed.

    "Ew!"I said, giving him a glare. "I don't know who you are—"

    "His name is Isleif," Eirik said helpfully, strolling over to stand next to me.

    "—but that's just gross. Moving on… you're all going to have to behave yourselves, or else I'll…
    I'll…"

    Eirik raised an eyebrow. "You'll what?"

    "I won't call the Valkyries to take you toValhalla ," I said. "So everyone had just better straighten up, OK?"

    "What is she talking about?" one of the shorter Vikings asked another.

    "We're supposed to be good," the second Viking answered with a disgusted look on his face.

    "That sucks," the first answered.

    I raised an eyebrow at him. "Sucks?"

    "Just because we're dead doesn't mean we don't keep current on what's going on in the world, goddess," Eirik answered."Would you like to see us line dance?"

    "No!" I shuddered to myself. "Just… behave, OK? I'm working on getting you toValhalla as soon as I can. I just need to figure out how to summon the Valkyries first. Hopefully, that'll be before tomorrow night."

    The Vikings looked disappointed, a couple of them pouting, but they did as I asked.

    "Why tomorrow night?" Eirik asked as his men started cleaning up the mess they'd made. Peter gave Eirik a wide berth as he went to check on Soren.

    "That's when I have—" Everyone, and I do mean everyone—from Absinthe climbing down off her trailer to Ramon, who was helping Mikaela pick off sticky blobs of peach—stopped what
    they were doing and looked at me. It was like a TV commercial or something. "Er… I have a
    thing I'm doing."

    "A thing?"Eirik frowned, scratching his chin with the handle of his sword. "What sort of thing?"

    "Kind of a date," I said as quietly as I could. I may have to live and work with these people—the ghosts aside—but they didn't need to know every little thing about me.

    "A date?"Eirik asked in a voice that could probably be heard inDenmark . "You have a date?
    You mean with the Dark One?"

    "You're going on a date with Benedikt?" Soren asked, limping over, an odd expression on his face. Peter went to check on his sister and the others."A real date? Not just hanging around with him?"

    I sighed. "Yes, I'm going on a date, a real date."

    "The kind where you—" he waved his hands around vaguely—"do things?"

    "How do I know? I've never been on a date before!" I said, just wishing everyone would leave me alone. Honestly, it was just a date!

    "You've never been on a date before?" Eirik asked, pulling up a chair. "You need advice." He said something in what I assumed was ancient Viking to the others. They stopped what they were
    doing and made a circle around me. "The goddess is going on a date.Her first date."

    "Ahh," the Vikings all said, looking at me like I was a boar about to be roasted.

    "A first date.That is very important," the one named Isleif said. He was just as tall as the rest, but really big around, as well. Unlike most of them, he also had a beard, the sides of which were done up in a braid. He plopped down on another chair and put his hands on his knees. "I will give you the same advice I gave my daughter Anna."

    "This I have to hear," Sorensaid, his arms across his chest as he gave me a belligerent look. I wanted to tell him to knock it off, too, but I didn't. I've never had a crush before—Ben aside, and he wasn't exactly a crush—but I imagined it wasn't a good feeling if the person you were
    crushing didn't feel the same way about you.

    "I appreciate the offer for advice, but I don't really think I need—"

    " 'Anna,' I told her—you understand this was close to nine hundred years ago, but you girls never change—'Anna,' I said, 'you are twelve now, ready to be wed. Your skin is the color of the richest curd, your teeth are strong enough to tear a leather thong, and your breasts are like two little apples, ripe for the plucking.' Then I told her—"

    "Twelve?" Soren interrupted, looking