Page 51 of Soul of Shadow
“It was an honest mistake,” said the blond one, holding up two huge, calloused hands in defense. “We both had a bit too much ale that night, and—”
“Youhad too much ale that night.” The dark-haired one crossed his arms. “I don’t imbibe in excess the way you do.”
“Regardless,” said the blond, “Vidar and I got into a little tiff—”
“Alittletiff?” asked the dark-haired one, whose name was presumably Vidar. “You flipped a table onto my head, Bjorn!”
“It’s no worse than any of the usual bar fights in Valhalla,” insisted Bjorn. “Besides. The fight wasn’t what got us kicked out. What got us kicked out was what happened afterward, with the chalice.”
“Youknowwe didn’t touch Odin’s chalice. We were set up. There were at least ten other men that night who—”
“Sorry,” Charlie said louder than she normally would have. “Not to cut in here, but I actually had a question for you.”
“Oh?” Bjorn turned to face her. “Ask away, young maiden.”
This earned another eye roll from Vidar.
“What do you know about night mares?” she asked.
Both men widened their eyes. “The mare,” whispered Bjorn. “Humans turned to beasts. Agents of fear and chaos, not to be trifled with.”
“Why do you ask?” Vidar watched her closely. “Are you aware of a mare of night living in this town?”
“Do you need our services in slaying it?” added Bjorn, pulling out his sword and holding it up to the sky, as if posing for a photo.
“Put the sword away, Bjorn,” said Vidar.
“I don’t know of any mares in town,” Charlie said quickly. Sure, she was suspicious of Elias, but she didn’t want to set two blood-hungry Vikings on him. At least, not yet. “But I’ve heard… stories. I know they give bad dreams to humans and thrive on fear. What I don’t know is… how dangerousarethey? I mean, they live partly in human form, right? So, they must experience normal human emotions. Empathy, kindness. Stuff like that.”
Bjorn and Vidar both shook their heads violently. “Whenever a new mare of night appears on Asgard, they leave a trail of bodies in their wake,” said Vidar. “In Valhalla, there were whispers of a mare wreaking havoc on your country’s middle-west region. Stealing and murdering, leaving gruesome scenes in his wake. The rumors said he was out for revenge, but for what, no one knows.”
Charlie shivered. Was he talking about Elias? She couldn’t help but hope that he wasn’t.
“I took out a few mares in my day,” said Bjorn. “That’s what got me into Valhalla in the first place. I died while facing a particularly nasty one.”
“Oh, really?” Vidar turned back to Bjorn. “Is that so? Because last week, you said you fell at sea, fighting the Kraken.”
“I never said that,” said Bjorn, appalled. “I said Ialmostdied doing that. Our voyage was set on a course to intercept the beast, but I managed to sneak off at the last minute. The other men…”
But Charlie didn’t stick around to hear the rest. As the Vikings were busy arguing, she inched slowly backward, then turned and ran back to the dress shop.
Inside, she spotted Abigail and Lou browsing the racks closest to the windows. They waved her over.
“Did you have a good conversation with the stop sign?” Lou asked.
Charlie blinked. “The what?”
“The stop sign.” Lou leaned over and pointed out the window, down the street toward where Bjorn and Vidar still stood arguing on the corner—right under a stop sign. “It looked like you were talking to it.” She looked back at Charlie, raising her eyebrows. “Has finally getting a boyfriend caused you to hallucinate?”
Charlie nearly let out a crazed laugh.You have no idea, Lou.
“Oh, no,” she said, finding a lie as easily as she had with her mom the night before. “I was on the phone with Elias. On speaker.”
“I didn’t see you holding your phone,” said Abigail.
Charlie just shrugged. When it came to lying, less was always more.
Lou and Abigail exchanged doubtful looks but let it go.
