Circus of The Darned Read Online Free PDF Page B

tonight. I beg your indulgence."

    "Of course, you have it," Desdemona said. She sat near me, which was good in one respect (I didn't like the way she kept shooting little glances at Ben), but for some reason, tonight her
    nearness made me feel edgy. I scooted a bit away from her, hoping no one would notice.
    Wiccans were very big on maintaining contact in a circle. To back away from someone was an
    insult.

    Mom took a deep breath and gave it another shot.

    "From sea and mountain, desert and trees,

    By staff and sword and a mangy dog's fleas.

    Heed our plea!"

    Silence fell on the circle.

    "Oh, dear," Navy said, leaning over to talk to one of the local Wiccans. "That's not right, is it?"

    "Earth, Fire, Water, Air," Mom said grimly, her hands fisted as she started the invocation to the god.

    "Elements of the stars conspire,

    God, father of all, come to us!

    Don't worry about being male, we'll make no fuss.

    Guard us within from all threats beyond

    I wonder if there are leeches in yonderpond?

    By wand and cup and ball and bat

    I just know these pants make my butt look fat.

    Heed our plea!"

    Desdemona burst out into laughter at the invocation. I wanted to giggle as well, but one look at the horror on my mother's face killed all thoughts of that. Clearly something was up to throw my mother so far off the track. I couldn't ask her what was wrong, though, because right at that
    moment, things got really weird.

    "Goddess above—is that what I think it is?" Mikaela asked, pointing at me.

    "Huh?" I asked, looking down at myself to see if I'd spilled something on me. Ben stood up, staring past me. I turned around to look and saw a thin, pretty woman with lots of long blond hair in the shadow of the tent behind me.

    "It's a huldra ," one of the local Wiccans said, her voice all hushed with awe.Or something.

    "Is that a tail ?" I asked as the stranger bent down to pick up something from the ground. I could have sworn there was a cow's tail popping out from under her long skirt.

    "Yes, huldra have tails," Mikaela said, also getting to her feet. "They are spirits of the wood.A type of nymph, actually. They are supposedly harbingers of disaster, appearing briefly to warn of impending danger,then disappearing just as quickly—"

    "Hey!" I yelled, jumping up as the woman snatched up the purse I'd set down in order to join the
    circle. "That's mine!"

    "Franny, no!Do not break the circle—"

    I knew it was bad to leave a circle before it had been formally unmade, but I couldn't just let the woman—spirit, nymph, whatever she was!—run off with my purse. It had all my money in it, for
    one thing, and for another, I just don't like people stealing from me. So I bolted after her as she raced past the main tent, heading straight for a small clump of scraggy trees that marked the
    boundary of the archaeological dig.

    You should never run after a being you do not know , Ben chastised, his dark shape leaping past me after the blond huldra.

    You're so cute , I thought at him, puffing just a little as I jumped over a fallen tree trunk. Ben was faster than me (he had longer legs plus that whole immortal thing going for him), but I wasn't
    going to just stand around and let him be Mr. Manly and get my purse back. Anyone who had to
    the nerve to steal from me had to deal with me , not my boyfriend.

    The archaeological dig was at the far edge of the island.

    It didn't look like much—a bunch of deep trenches and areas where square blocks of stone had
    been dug out and revealed, but evidently it was hot stuff archeologically speaking. Right in the center of the dig, in a ragged rectangular spot framed with bits of stone that Imogen had told me was the long house (the main living place of the Vikings who built this area), Tibolt and his gang were having their blot , also in a circle. Because the trees surrounding the area made it dark, they'd lit a few torches and stuck them in the ground, the light cast by them making odd little