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.Gils had on a red T-shirt withthe word SEX made up by lizards shaped like letters, and Ljot evidently wanted to go swimming,because he wore a pair of speedos, flipflops, swimming goggles… and nothing else."You aresummoning Loki? It is Freya you want.She is the queen of the Valkyries."I gestured toward Mikaela and Ramon, who were on their knees collecting the debris fromFreya's hissy fit."She was just here.She told us she doesn't go toValhalla anymore because thereare no CSI guys there, and that we'd have to ask Loki for help."" CSI?"Ljot asked, adjusting his swim goggles."TV show.""Why did the goddess Freya tell you to summon Loki?" Eirik asked, slapping at a mosquito.Idon't know why, but the thought of a ghost with a mosquito bite had me giggling to myself."Because this is evidently his.Or was his.Or has his power or something," I answered, standingup to show him the valknut."So I'll have to try to get him to help, whoever he is.""You do not know Loki, god of mischief?" Gils asked,disbelief plastered all over his face."Nope.I'm not really hip to all the gods.Who is he? And why didn't Freya like him?""That would be because of Asgard.Sit, and I will tell you the story of Loki and Freya," Eiriksaid, making himself comfortable on a fallen log next to me.Ljot and Gils sat on the grass,putting on comfortable "about to hear a story" faces.Mikaela rolled her eyes as she dumped allthe debris into a cloth bag, but she and Ramon sat cuddled on her casting blanket to listen."Who's Asgard?" I asked, taking my seat again on the tree stump."Asgard is a place, not a person.It is where the gods live.Loki was at first a god of muchmischief, always pulling jokes on the others, using his powers of transformation to get himselfout of trouble.One day, when the gods were constructing Asgard, they found they needed moremoney to build the wall around it.Loki had the idea of hiring a giant to do the work, and thoughtup a plan to have the giant work without paying him.He offered the giant the goddess Freya ifthe wall was completed on time.At first the gods were skeptical, but Loki assured him that hewould make sure that the giant did not complete the task on time, so that the gods would nothave to pay him for his work.""What a creep," I said before realizing I was talking about a god."Er… nice creep, of course.""No, he was not nice," Ljot said grimly, shaking his head."The giant had a stallion to help him build the wall.Three days before it was to be finished, thegiant was almost done, and the goddess Freya was beside herself with anger at Loki.With thegods behind her, Loki had no choice but to transformhimself into a mare, and entice the giant'sstallion away.The giant missed the deadline, and was furious.He tried to take Freya anyway, butThor stopped him.Freya never forgave Loki for using her in such a way.""Ouch.It was nasty of him to set that up, knowing the giant was going to do all the work and notget paid.I don't blame Freya for being ticked at him." I was about to add that he'd get sued up theying-yang if he tried something like that now, but remembered in time that we were talkingabout stuff that happened probably thousands of years ago.Now you see why my brain had sucha hard time coping with the fact that all these Norse gods were real people.So much formythology."Well, I don't look forward to having to ask him for help, but if there's no other wayto get you guys to Valhalla, I'll just have to gird my loins and tighten my belt and grit my teeth,and all that stuff."I stood up and stretched.Even though it wasn't yet midnight, I was tired."We will help you," Eirik said, standing and carefully brushing off the seat of his pants."Sinceyou will need Loki's goodwill, tonight we will offer a sacrifice in his name to make sure that heviews your request for help with favor.""That would be a nice change," I said, stifling another yawn."But what sort of sacrifice are youtalking about? More mead like Tibolt used?""Traditionally we sacrifice a slave," Ljot said, peering through the goggles as if he expected aslave to pop out of the woods and volunteer."But you have decreed we not kill anyone," Eirik said quickly when I turned around to yell athim."So we will, instead, offer a smaller sacrifice.""Like what?" I asked, suspicious."You guys aren't going to kill another rabbit like you didearlier?""The rabbit was on the stringy side," Gils said, picking his teeth."No, no rabbit.The sacrifice has to be something worthwhile," Eirik said, shooing me towardthe trailers.Mikaela and Ramon had already gone off to get ready for their next show
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