Freakshow, the ringleader of Circus Gothica was the coolest person Sam had ever met. The show had come to town that week, and Sam had gone to every show. On the final night, at the end of the last show, Sam did something impulsive, she went backstage of the circus.

Slipping through the rows of crates filled with props and supplies for the circus, she drank in the site, crates full of skulls to ones filled with black spiked outfits, Sam was surrounded by sites she found just as wonderful as the one from the rows of seats. She peaked out around a corner to see the ringleader sorting the money earned by the show.

Someone pulled Sam's shoulder, pushing her out into the open in front of the ringleader.

"Found this kid spying on you, boss." One of the performers had a heavy hand on Sam's shoulder, keeping her from running away, not that Sam had any plan to do that.

Freakshow stood up, leaning over Sam, and smiled.

"Hello little one, not done with the show, I see." He waved away the burly performer "leave us, this girl has done no harm."

The other man released Sam and walked away, rolling his eyes and muttering about how he doesn't get paid enough. Sam looked up at Freakshow, not sure what to expect.

Freakshow smiled. "Now child, you seem like someone who knows dark magic when she sees it. Did you enjoy my show? I saw you come every evening this week."

Sam nodded, smiling. "I love this type of stuff, and your show was amazing!"

"Wonderful! We could use more passionate youth such as yourself. I can see you are a sneaky one, slipping back here, I admire that."

"Huh?" Sam was confused.

"You have spunk kid, you plan on keeping up this rebellious phase?"

"It's not a phase!" Sam snapped instinctively, regretting it as soon as the words left her mouth. This wasn't her parents she was talking too! Stupid! She looked down, ashamed.

Freakshow leaned back and laughed, as if she had told him the funniest joke in the world.

"Give me a second, little one." He said once his laughter died, still smiling an amused smile. He turned around and walked up to a trunk full of books. He pulled a few out to get to one below it. The book was large and old, in good condition as well. He walked back to Sam, holding out the book for her to see.

"This book is very powerful, and has taught me many important lessons. I want you to have it"

Sam took the book from him, holding it out in front of her, staring at the cover in disbelief.

"You are really giving this to me?" She asked.

"Of course child," said freakshow "I have already read that book so many times I have every page memorized, someone such as yourself could benafit from it much more than I could these days"

He patted Sam's shoulder softly, and began to lead her out of the tent.

"You have a lot of potential my child, use it wisely"

Sam didn't go home after that, excited to show someone the book she called up Danny and Tucker and they desided to meet in the park. Sam found a spot the jungle gym and waited for the boys.

Danny showed up first, running when he saw Sam. Breathing heavily he stopped in found of her. He grinned a beautiful grin, full of excitement. "Is that the book?" He asked, pointing at the large hardcover in her lap.

"Duh," said Sam, holding out for him to take. "Isn't it the coolest?"

Danny took to book from her, turning it around so he held the it the right way. He stared at the title, reading the cursive writing with slight difficulty. "Life in death" he said quietly, clearly impressed by the pure aesthetic the large purple cover gave off.

"Can I look through it?" He asked.

"Of course, I'm too scared to open it myself. I can't believe he gave it to me, he said it was a book on the supernatural"

Danny hummed approvingly, gently opening the cover, then turning the first page. The paper sliced through his finger, giving him a paper cut. Danny hissed in pain, immediately bringing his finger to his lips to suck on the cut.

Sam took the book from him, looking at the first page, the corner of it had a tiny blood stain on the very edge that cut Danny. Sam frowned, but held back any complaints. Fanny didn't mean to damage the book, and it was only a tiny mark of the edge of the first page. Sam flipped through a few more pages, settling on a random one. It was a spell for summoning ghosts.

Danny leaned over Sam's shoulder, looking at the book that had inured him. He skanned the text next to the diagrams. "You planning to sumoning a dead relative or something?" He asked wile his finger was still in his mouth.

"I'm not planning on anything yet, I just got the book, I need to read more." Sam replied, her own finger tracing the circles drawn on the page.

"HEY GUYS!" Danny and Sam turned around to see Tucker running up to them. Danny grinned and went over to greet Tucker. Sam smiled a little sadly, sometimes she felt like a third wheel with those two. She knew that Tucker most likely felt that way with her and Danny. The two boys had their arms around each other's shoulders, Danny chatting happily about what a cool book Sam was showing him.

Walking up to Sam, Tucker's eyes were drawn to the large purple hardcover within Sam's arms. Sam handed it over to him to see. Tucker took it from her, opening it to flip through.

Tucker flipped through the pages quickly, skanning a page now and then. "So this is one of your goth things?" He asked

"I told you over the phone, the ringleader of Circus Gothica himself gave this to me, so be gentle with it." Sam snapped.

"Yeah Tucker," joked Danny, "be careful, I cut my finger on the thin pages, don't want the same for you."

"I'll be fiiiiiine" Tucker landed on a page on mummies, grinning as he looked over the diagrams on the different ways to preserve a body. He handed the open book over to Sam. "I like the bog mummy"

Sam found the diagram for bog mummies interesting as well. "Is that what you want us to do with you when you bite the dust?" She asked him playfully.

Tucker laughed loudly.

The hour after that was full of bog mummy jokes, climbing on the jungle gym, and lying on the grass worn out from running around. As the night went on it became colder, thus the trio went their separate ways to return to their homes. Sam snuck into her house without her parents noticing. Tucker's mom was still up, but it wasn't a school night so she let him go with a warning to not to stay out so late next time.

Danny didn't make it home.