Valkyrie and Skulduggery got out of the Bentley outside the new Sanctuary building.

"So what exactly are we doing here?" Valkyrie asked.

"To celebrate Erskine becoming the new Grand Mage," Skulduggery replied.

"What? Was that huge booze out with Erskine and Ghastly not enough?" she asked. He gave her a look.

"You talk as if I was drunk. I can't drink. So it wasn't a booze out for me." She pulled a face. If Skulduggery had eyes, she was pretty sure he would have been rolling them. He looked forward. Valkyrie was going to but for some reason she couldn't quite tear her eyes away from Skulduggery. His white face was shining in the moonlight. It made him almost sparkle.

"You know, Edward Cullen ain't got nothing on you," she said, instantly cursing herself. What the heck was that? She asked herself. Skulduggery turned his head to her.

"Excuse me?" he said, his head tilted to the side.

"You sparkle," she replied dumbly. Skulduggery looked away. Valkyrie looked down. She felt like an idiot now. What the heck was she thinking? Her eyes glanced back over at Skulduggery for a split second, she wondered what he was thinking. He probably thought she was stupid. Well, she was stupid.

They wandered into the building and through into the main room. People of all ages were wandering around wearing long fancy dresses and tuxedo's. Valkyrie felt out of place in what she was wearing. A black dress with a tutu skirt that came up to an inch above her knee. Ghastly had made it specially for tonight. She was still wearing her boots. She looked to her left to see Skulduggery watching her as she messed with the skirt of her dress. He didn't say anything for a second, his mouth open like he debating whether or not to say what he had been planning too.

"You look fine," he said finally. Valkyrie frowned slightly. That was a lot of effort for 'fine.' "In fact," he added. She looked up. "You look nice, really nice." She looked beautiful. That was what be really wanted to tell her, because she did. Her brown eyes twinkled in the dim light and her hair was shining. She was smiling, and her smile was the most beautiful thing Skulduggery had ever seen. But, of course, those thoughts were forbidden to leave his mind.

"Thanks," Valkyrie mumbled, slightly embarrassed. "Where do we go now?" Skulduggery shrugged.

"Wander round?"

"Sure." The pair wandered round the room together. Valkyrie pointing to people she didn't know. Skullduggery informing her of their identity. They were about half way around the room when Skulduggery stopped in his tracks. His eye sockets were fixed forwards towards where some guy wearing a dark brown suit was talking to a woman wearing a dress very similar to Valkyries expect dark blue with a black waist band.

"Memory Shore," Skulduggery said loudly. The woman turned around. She looked in her early twenties. She had very dark hair that was curly and came down to her chest. She smiled at Skulduggery when she saw him and her bright grey eyes gleamed as she did so.

"Skulduggery!" she cried, she threw her arms around Skulduggery beaming. "Long time no see! How've you been?"

"Oh fine, and you?" Skulduggery replied, the smile clear in his voice.

"Good."

"I was expecting you at the two grand mage meetings, you didn't turn up," Skulduggery said. Memory bit here lip.

"I…forgot."

"You didn't come because you thought it would be boring?"

"Basically."

"Well, that's not shocking. So, how's the north west?" Memory ignored him as her eyes wandered to Valkyrie.

She gasped. "Oh! And you must be Valkyrie Cain," she cried, bouncing over to Valkyrie. "The woman that's got ol' Skuldug in a frenzy." Skulduggery literally yelped. Memory spun round, looked at him, the spun back. She bit her lip and pulled an innocent face. "Oops." Valkyrie was confused. What was Memory on about?

"So, who are you?" Valkyrie asked, avoided the awkward silence that was bound to follow.

"My names Memory Shore," she said. "I am very important in many many ways, in many many many sanctuaries." She grinned.

"What do you do that's important?" Valkyrie asked.

"Well," she began. "I act important, I speak like I'm important, and people treat me important." She gave Valkyrie yet another dazzling smile. Valkyrie couldn't help but smile back.

"So, are you actually important?"

Memory smirked. "Not in the slightest, but I get invited to all the important meetings, which makes me important." She grinned before gasped at the sight of Ghastly walking into the room. "Ghastly!" she shrieked, charging over to him. For the first time Valkyrie realised she was wearing converse sneakers. It made her smile.

"Care for an explanation?" Skulduggery asked over her shoulder, making her jump.

"Uh…Yeah."

"Well, Memory is a very interesting woman. For one, as her name says, she unforgettable."

"Adept?"

"Oh, no. Elemental, it's just her personality that makes her unforgettable."

"Oh."

"And she's very clever. Over many, many years of pretending to be important and acting like she was important, people finally started accepting her as important. Now, as she said, she gets invited to all the important meetings and is involved in all the important things. The people that know her secret, like me, don't say anything because, to be honest, without her being involved with all the important situations, wars, murders or whatever, we'd all be doomed."

"We've survived for the last four years without her," Valkyrie reminded him. Skulduggery snorted.

"Not really, I mean, I call her all the time and a lot of the things people do are based on stuff that she's already done. Not me obviously."

"How old is she?"

"137."

"She's younger than you."

"I'm well aware of that. She may be younger, but she's almost as brilliant. Not quite, but almost."

"That's very…nice of you."

"What do you mean?"

"You never call anyone brilliant."

"I do."

"No, you don't."

"Don't I?" Skulduggery sounded slightly hurt. Valkyrie looked away, she gazed around the room. "Valkyrie?" She looked back at Skulduggery. "You're brilliant," he told her. She could tell he was smiling. She almost blushed as she smiled back at him.

"Thanks. So are you."

"I know." That made Valkyrie laugh.

Memory came spinning back over. She was literally spinning, spinning around in circles as she walked. She frowned at Skulduggery.

"What horrible things have you been telling Valkyrie about me?" she asked. "Hm. Hm. Hmm."

"Nothing," Skulduggery told her innocently. She raised an eyebrow.

"Well that's a lie." Valkyrie could almost see Skulduggery smirk as Memory said that. Valkyrie felt a pang of jealousy. It was clear the two had known each other for a long time. "So, what has he been telling you?" Memory asked, turning to Valkyrie.

"Just explaining what you told me," she replied.

"Okay!" Memory grinned. "So, what are we doing here?"

"We're celebrating the new grand mage," Skulduggery answered. Valkyrie thought he sounded sick of answering that question.

"Oh yeah, Erskine… He hates me," Memory said. She seemed sad that he hated her.
"No he doesn't," Skulduggery insisted. "He just finds you annoying." Memory gave him a look.

"No, you find me annoying. He hates m- Ooh, and he's right there." She had thrown her hand to the side and now looking where she had thrown it she realised that Erskine was right there. She turned away in embarrassment. She caught Valkyrie's eye, she raised both her eyebrows and gritted her teeth slightly. Valkyrie laughed. Memory laughed too.

"Oh dear," Skulduggery said. He turned to Erskine. "This is your fault," he decided as Valkyrie and Memory fell about laughing. Erskine opened his mouth and frowned.
"What'd I do?" he asked, his voice an octave higher than usual. This made the girls laugh even more. "Is this women, or is this just Memory?" he asked staring as the two women doubled over, tears of laughter streaming down their face. He looked at Skulduggery, Skulduggery looked at him. They both nodded.

"Memory," Erskine said.

"Memory," Skulduggery agreed. Memory looked up from where she had collapsed on the floor and frowned.

"'Scuse me! Valkyrie was laughing too," she reminded them. Valkyrie nodded.

"She was laughing because of you," Skulduggery said. Valkyrie shrugged and nodded again.

Two minutes later and Valkyrie and Memory had finally managed to compose themselves and had stood up.

"So," Memory said, looking at Erskine. "Why do you hate me again?" she asked. Erskine raised an eyebrow.

"I hate you?" he asked. He didn't hate Memory, why on earth would he hate Memory?

"Well, you act like you do," Memory muttered. Erskine didn't know what to do. He wanted to tell Memory that she'd got it all wrong. That he didn't hate her. He'd known Memory for years and she was one of the most amazing people he'd ever met.

"I don't hate you," he told her. By this time Valkyrie and Skulduggery realised they weren't wanted and had walked backwards slowly. When they reached far enough way Valkyrie asked.

"You think something's going to happen there?"

"Nope."

"Oh, why?"

"Because Erskine has the brain of a shrimp when it comes to women and he just doesn't have the guts to say what he wants to."

"Oh." Back with Erskine and Memory, Erskine was beginning to feel really awkward.
"Then why do you always ignore me?" Memory demanded. Again, he was stumped over what to say. He wanted to tell her the truth but he didn't at the same time. He just stood there and watched her as her frown turned into a glare and the twinkle in her eye turned into a gaze of immense anger. That was the thing about Memory. Stunning and mood lifting when happy, but terrifying when angry.

"Fine," she said coldly. "See if I care." She stalked off leaving Erskine feeling like a piece of dog dirt on someone's shoe.

Skulduggery and Valkyrie sat on two chairs at the edge of the dance floor. Valkyrie had her knees up into her chest and was sat contently staring at the people dancing. Skulduggery watched as Valkyrie's eyes trained on a couple who were falling over each other's feet and laughing to their hearts content. Watching them was making her smile. The pair had been sat in silence for around ten minutes when a boy around two years older than Valkyrie came up to them. He was tall and pretty cute. He had short brown hair and incredible blue eyes. He smiled at Valkyrie nervously.

"You want to dance?" he asked. Valkyrie was shocked, but she nodded slowly and climbed out of her seat. Skulduggery was in a state of denial as the boy led Valkyrie up onto the dance floor. What about Fletcher? What about him? He watched angrily as Valkyrie and the boy danced slowly around the room. He recognised the boy, he was the son of Geoffrey Scrutinise. Skulduggery felt like slapping himself in the jaw. Had he really just left Valkyrie go off and dance with some guy she'd never even spoke to before. He stood up and headed onto the dance floor. He arrived at where Valkyrie and the boy were dancing.

"Mind if I steal her?" he asked. He didn't wait for an answer as he pushed in-between the two until he was in the boys place. Valkyrie was bright red. Or was Skulduggery just imagining things? No, she was definitely blushing.

"Was that necessary?" Valkyrie asked, avoiding making eye contact. The situation was awkward enough already without having to make eye contact. Valkyrie could feel herself blushing, she didn't know why; it was only Skulduggery for God's sake. But the way he'd pushed in between her and that boy, Danny. It was like… No, she pushed the thought out of her head. The pair didn't even dance to the end of the song. Skulduggery led Valkyrie back to their seats. Valkyrie was yawning loudly.
"You look tired," he commented. She nodded.

"That's 'cause I am."

"You want to go?" Skulduggery asked.

"No. Wait until he's done the speech thing." Valkyrie was glad that it didn't take long before Erskine stood up on the stage to do his speech. He didn't look good though. His hands were shaking and he looked like he was about to be sick.

"Um…Lady's and Gentlemen, I am very glad that you could all be here tonight…because…Uh, this is obviously a very important night for me…As you know, I've been elected as the new Grand Mage and I must say I'm…thrilled…at such an opportunity. Thank you for those of you who voted for me and to those who convinced me to take the job. And again…thanks for all being here…and congratulations to Ghastly and Madam Mist. Uh…have a good night." Erskine scurried off the stage, nearly falling over twice.

"Well that speech wasn't at all awkward," Valkyrie commented sarcastically. Skulduggery nudged her on the arm.

"Can we go now?" he asked. Valkyrie pulled a face but nodded. As the pair were heading towards the door who would jump in front of them, blocking their path, but Memory Shore.

"Can I stay with you tonight?" she asked. She seemed a tad more subdued than she had before. Her eyes kept glancing round the room, like she was following someone with her eyes. Valkyrie didn't even have to turn around to know she was following Erskine. Skulduggery looked down at Valkyrie, who shrugged.

"Yeah, sure," he said. Memory grinned. Her grin made her look as beautiful as anyone on the dance floor, but that twinkle in her eyes that made her look like the most beautiful, was gone.

"Thanks," she replied. She followed Skulduggery and Valkyrie to the Bentley. Skulduggery opened the door for her.

"Front or back?" he asked. Memory gave him a look.

"Are you forgetting? The front is always Valkyries spot, duh." She climbed into the back of the Bentley leaving Skulduggery with a face that if human would surely have been bright red. Skulduggery was glad that Valkyrie hadn't witnessed that little exchange as she clambered into the seat beside him. She was curious enough already, without having ammunition thrown to her.

Twenty minutes later and the trio pulled up outside Skulduggery's house. Valkyrie jumped out of the car and ran to open the front door. She pulled out a set of keys from her pocket, unlocked the door and sauntered in. Memory giggled at the scene.

"What?" Skulduggery asked, eyeing Memory carefully.

"She's got keys to your house," she murmured, a gleeful smile on her lips. "It's so cute!"

"What are you talking about?" Skulduggery didn't understand Memory sometimes.

"Oh don't deny it! I know exactly how you feel for that woman!"

"Girl," Skulduggery corrected.

"And when did you start calling her a girl again? You always call her a woman when you talk to me! So don't go all 'she's a little girl and I'm a 200 year old skeleton' on me!"

"Be quiet!"

"Not until you admit it!"

"Admit what?"

"That you love Valkyrie Cain!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb with me Pleasant. I have heard the way you talk about her, your voice goes all soft, like you're talking about the most important thing in your life. I have heard the things you've done for her, and what she's done for you. You never stop saving each other's lives! I've seen your obvious jealousy when she danced with that boy. Cutting into their dance, not smooth Hun, and, I saw how you looked at her tonight. So many beautiful women in the room. China Sorrows was stood talking to her at one point for god's sake! But you couldn't take your eyes off her. So do not play dumb Pleasant! I know your mind and I know you, so don't try to fool me with your silly presence! You won't win!" Her logic was impeccable. It was extremely frustrating. After that giant speech Skulduggery just could not be bothered arguing. Like she said, he wouldn't win. Especially since everything she said was true. He had been staring at Valkyrie for most of the night. Even China hadn't been able to tear his eyes away from her. He had been jealous. She was the most important thing in his life. Did he really love her?

"You know, she probably heard every word of that," Skulduggery said simply. Memory smiled at Skulduggery's surrender. Ah, she was a genius.

Valkyrie hadn't heard any of the conversation. She wished she had though. Memory and Skulduggery walked into the room slowly. Memory was beaming her head off, her eyes gleaming again. Skulduggery on the other hand had his head low and his shoulders slumped.

"What's up with you?" she asked. They both stared at her.

"Did you hear our conversation?" Skulduggery asked. She shook her head. Skulduggery instantly straightened up and Memory groaned.

"Good. It was private," Skulduggery said.

"Ugh. Back to square one," Memory muttered, glaring at the floor.

"Memory. Which room?" Skulduggery asked.

"This one's fine."

"Valkyrie sleeps in here."

"There's two sofa's." Here we go again with the logic.

"Fine." He walked out of the room quickly. Memory slumped down on the sofa opposite Valkyrie. They lay silent for a minute. Tossing and turning. Then they both sat up.

"Can't sleep?" Valkyrie asked.

"Not a wink," Memory replied. The two women ended up making a little den on the floor with the sofa cushions and the blankets. They lay there and talked.

"So how long have you know Skulduggery?" Valkyrie asked.

"137 years."

"That's your age."

"Yes?"

"You've known him since you were born?"

Memory nodded. "Practically."

"Oh." There was a silence. "Are you not going to ask me how long I've known Skulduggery?"

"No." Memory frowned.

"Why?" Valkyrie asked.

"Because I already know."

"You do?"

"Yep. You've known him since you were twelve years old. The day of your uncle's funeral to be exact. Then you met him at your uncle's house where he saved your life. You fainted, he caught you. You wanted to find out about your uncles death and single handily, much to Skuldug's impressment, figured out he was killed. You then went through a load of crap together, saved the world loads of times, and saved each other loads more. You saved him from the faceless ones, thanks for that by the way, he saved you from…quite a few things. You make a very good team, the smarts and the smarter. Oh look, and here we are, back in the present." Valkyrie stared at Memory in shock.

"How did you know all that?" she asked.

"He told me. Duh." She frowned at Valkyrie like she was saying the most obvious thing in the world.

"Oh," Valkyrie muttered. Skulduggery told Memory everything. They seemed really close. Valkyrie didn't like it. She thought she'd been Skulduggery's best friend. Apparently she'd been beaten to the post. Skulduggery had Memory. Maybe they were more than friends. It wouldn't surprise Valkyrie after the way he acted around her. Valkyries breathing wavered. Memory frowned again.

"I've upset you haven't I?" she said. She sounded hurt. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean too." Valkyrie looked down at the floor. She couldn't believe that she'd been that stupid. Of course Skulduggery would have other friends. People that he…loved. She was one of his close friends of course but she'd been silly to think that they could ever…Never mind. It didn't matter anymore.

"No, it's okay," she mumbled. Memory put her arm around Valkyrie.

"What did I say?" she asked.

"Nothing. I just…realised something that's all."

"What did you realise?" Memory squeezed Valkyries shoulder. Valkyrie knew she was going to have to say it eventually. Memory would get it out of her somehow.

"That Skulduggery's in love with you." Memory tensed very suddenly. She dropped her and to her side and then covered her face with her hands. She started wailing. Valkyrie didn't understand what she'd done to make her upset. Then she realised Memory wasn't crying, she was laughing. Memory stamped her foot on the floor and lay back on the cushions laughing her head off. Every time she nearly composed herself she would look at Valkyrie and start laughing all over again.

"What's so funny?" Valkyrie asked. Memory finally sat up and wiped her eyes. She had ended up crying, with laughter of course.

"I just can't believe that…" she started chuckling a little again. "I can't believe you thought that!" She shook her head, still chuckling. "You are actually quite stupid at times."

"I'm not stupid!" Valkyrie protested.

"You've got to be to think something as ridiculous as that!" Memory started laughing all over again. Skulduggery appeared at the door. Valkyrie looked at him and automatically blushed.

"What's funny?" he asked. Memory sat up and looked him in the eye. Her eyes were twinkling. If she didn't say it soon she was going to start laughing again.
"Valkyrie thought you were in lobe wif m," Memory's laughter kind of drowned out the last part of the sentence. Luckily Skulduggery caught on to what she said. He chuckled slightly. Valkyrie was so silly. What on earth made her think that? Him and Memory? Pffft. The very thought.

"It's not a hard mistake to make!" Valkyrie cried, crossing her arms. Skulduggery laughed a little more.

"Val, you really do have the brain of a shrimp sometimes." He laughed again. "Why on earth did you think that?" he asked.

"You always call her and you tell her everything and you're really close friends and like she's beautiful and stuff!"

Memory snorted. "Babe, I may be beautiful but he's seen me as a little toddler walking round with just a vest on! We're close friends sure but that doesn't mean that he loves me, and, finally, he calls me all the time to talk about you! He tells me everything about you! Basically I'm the one he calls when he wants to say the things he doesn't have the guts to tell you himself!" Memory grinned at Valkyries expression. Valkyrie was on the verge of either laughing, crying or puking. What was Memory going on about? Not having the guts to tell her what he wants to say? Only wanting to talk about her? What? Valkyrie was confused, and Skulduggery was leaving.

"SKULDUGGERY!" Memory yelled. "WILL YOU ADMIT IT OR DOES YOUR PHONE CALL SELF HAVE TO DO IT FOR YOU?" Skulduggery vanished from the doorway, his hands on his face. "Fine. Phone call self it is."

"What's going on?" Valkyrie asked nervously. Memory dug her phone out of her pocket, pressed a few buttons before handing it to Valkyrie.

"Listen," she stated. Valkyrie took the phone.

"Hello Memory," Skulduggery's voice said.

"Oh, hey Skulduggery. How are you?" Memory's voice replied.

"I'm fine thank you, and you?"

"Great. How's Valkyrie?"

"Being nosy as usual." Skulduggery had a smile in his voice.

"Anything interesting happened to her lately?"

"She's broken her arm." Oh, so this was from last week after Valkyrie broke her arm fighting off Crux, again.

"How'd she do that?"

"She was fighting off Crux again. She's really good now you know. She barely needed my help and other than a broken arm she's totally fine! I was watching from round the corner, she was actually terrifying!" Skulduggery was still smiling.

"Terrifying?"

"Terrifying. Beautiful, as usual, but terrifying." He thought she was beautiful 'as usual?' So he thought she was beautiful all the time? Valkyrie gulped.

"Anything else happened? A bit more, you know, Valkyrie wise?" Skulduggery snorted at what Memory had said.

"How do you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Ask the questions you know I want to hear?"

"I'm clever. Now go on, I'm interested."

"Well, last week Ghastly made Valkyrie a dress for the party."

"The party?"

"To celebrate Erskine and his grand magehood." Skulduggery really must have been getting sick of saying that.

"Oh yeah. I'm going to that! Anyway, carry on."

"So anyway, Ghastly made her a dress. We went over to his so she could try it on." Valkyrie remembered this. It was five days ago.

"Nice?"

"The dress was lovely."

"No! Did she look nice?"

"Oh! Oh my god Memory, she looked stunning. So beautiful it was unreal. It was really lucky Fletcher weren't there, he would've punched me for staring so much!" He had been staring at me? "I mean, she'd had a broken arm up in a sling and a black eye the size of a mountain but yet she was still the most beautiful thing in the room!" That was true. Not the beautiful bit, Valkyrie had had a black eye and her arm in a sling, and he still thought she was beautiful?

"But who was in the room?"

"Me, Valkyrie, Ghastly, Erskine and China." Again, true.

"Oh my god! You just said she was the most beautiful person in a room that included China? God, you love her!" Valkyrie gulped again and blushed deep red. Skulduggery can't have said all this, surely. She heard the front door slam and the Bentley engine roar to life.

"Where's he going?" demanded Memory. She looked completely outraged. "He can't leave!"

"Memory! Have you faked this phone call?" Valkyrie asked.

"Will you be quiet! You know this is just me having a silly fantasy that can never become reality," Skulduggery's voice said through the phone. Valkyrie's heart nearly stopped. A silly fantasy? He thought that it was just a silly fantasy, that she would never be…Valkyrie stood up.

"No, it's true!" Memory cried. Valkyrie shushed her.

"Come on," Valkyrie said. She stalked out of the front door and onto the street. She called Erskine. "We need picking up!"

"Uh…What?" Erskine replied, slightly confused.

"Come to Skulduggery's house. Now!"

"I'm just turning the corner. I was planning to thank you for-" The car had just turned the corner.

"Oh, you're here!" Valkyrie cried, putting the phone down. Erskine pulled over at the side of the road.

"What do you want?" he asked.

"Give us a lift. Follow Skulduggery," Memory yelled. Erskine looked at her; he was remembering his incident earlier in the night. "Erskine! This has nothing to do with you and me! This is Valkyrie and Skulduggery we're on about here. Come on! Get with the big picture. Please!" Erskine looked at Valkyrie. He knew everything. Skulduggery had been hesitant to deliver but had finally spilt the beans.

"Fine." Valkyrie and Memory jumped into the car instantly and they set off after the Bentley.

They drove into Haggard.

"Oh dear," Valkyrie muttered as she realised where they were heading. Ahead of them, the Bentley turned the corner onto the sea front. "Stop here," she told Erskine. "I know where he's going." Erskine pulled over and Valkyrie climbed out of the car. She walked slowly round the corner. As she predicted, the Bentley was parked up at the pier and Skulduggery was leaning over the edge at the very end of it. She bit her lip, took a deep breath and walked towards Skulduggery. It was really cold and she was there wearing a t-shirt and a pair of blue pyjama bottoms. In Skulduggery's hands Valkyrie noticed a black box that he was twiddling with. She didn't know what it was but he seemed very intent on keeping it safe.

"Hi," she muttered as she approached.

"Hello," he replied. He wouldn't look at her.

"What's the matter with you?" she asked.

"What do you think?" He still wouldn't look at her. "I'm so stupid!" He wasn't really talking to her when be said that, he was just kind of cursing under his breath.

"No you're not," Valkyrie said anyway.

"Valkyrie, I'm presuming Memory filled you in, using my 'phone self'?"

"Yeah."

"Then you know that I most definitely am stupid! Many people have seen many weird things in their time, but I think the skeleton detective that fell for his human partner beats it all." He looked down. "I'm just ridiculous. I'm sorry that you had to find out, any respect you ever had for me has now disappeared because you know about the stupid, impossible dreams that run through my head." Valkyrie wanted to cry. He was upsetting her. He thought that she thought he stupid, that he was an idiot. She didn't think that, she never would, she thought just the opposite. Skulduggery was still messing with the black box.

"What's that?" she asked. Skulduggery looked at what she was gazing at and shrugged.

"It was going to be your Christmas present."

"Can I see?"

"Might as well." He handed the box to her. Valkyrie unmatched the little clasp and lifted up the lid of the box. She was close to gasping. Inside the box was a thin silver chain that had a tiny teardrop shaped jewel connected to it. The jewel was beautiful, it glittered in the light and sprayed tiny shards of light all around.

"Its a real diamond," Skulduggery muttered. Valkyrie closed the box and held it out for him. He looked puzzled.

"You said I couldn't have it, since it wasn't Christmas," she explained. She hadn't asked to have it, just to see it.

Skulduggery looked like he would've been smiling. "Have it," he insisted. He took the chain gently out of the box and motioned for Valkyrie to turn around. She did so. Gently, he took the chain and hung it around Valkyries neck. He barely touched her at all but as his fingers skimmed across the back of Valkyrie's neck sparks were sent hurtling through both their bodies. He quickly clasped the necklace and his hands dropped. Valkyrie turned round.

"Does it look okay?" she asked. Skulduggery didn't do anything for a minute, then he nodded.

"It looks beautiful," he mumbled. "So do you." He nearly slapped himself in the face. "I'm sorry. That was stupid. I just, can't help it." He paused again. "You're just so, perfect." Valkyrie snorted. "You are, Valkyrie. You're perfect. You're brilliant, amazing, and beautiful. I'm just stupid. Stupid to think anything could ever…" He trailed off. He was about to say something else but Valkyrie slapped him on the arm.
"Can I speak now?" she demanded. Skulduggery nodded slightly. "Good!" She didn't end up speaking though. She wrapped her arms around Skulduggery's neck and before he could say another word about how he was stupid or how she was perfect, she kissed him. It was odd; she'll give you that. It was basically just kissing teeth. Part of her was slightly freaked out by the fact, but the other part, the part that mattered, was sending fireworks shooting off around her body. She was kissing a skeleton, so what, he was kissing her back. She was cheating on Fletcher, so what, she was kissing Skulduggery. Skulduggery didn't know what to do, the woman he loved was kissing him but he didn't know what to do. He wanted to wrap his arms around her and keep her close but he doubted that she knew what she was doing. Valkyrie pulled away from Skulduggery, still breathing hard.

"You know. Many people have seen many weird things in their time, a skeleton detective falling for his human partner is nothing compared to a human partner who fell for her skeleton detective," she told him. Skulduggery stared at her.

"What?" alive, he would have looked gob smacked. "But I'm a…"

"Skeleton. I know," Valkyrie replied.

"But…Why…Uh…Skeleton…Um…Why…"

"Skulduggery, shut up," Valkyrie said.

"Why?"

"Because you're really annoying."

"But, I'm confused."

"Why're you confused? You're amazing, you're a genius, you're charming, brilliant and generous. You're sweet, funny, kind. What's the problem?" Valkyrie told him.

"I'm a skeleton." He sounded depressed. Valkyrie grabbed his hands and entwined her fingers into his.

"I love you for who you are. Not what you are." She kissed him again and this time, Skulduggery didn't hesitate to make sure she stayed close.

"It worked!" Memory shrieked. Erskine looked at her. She was beaming down at the pier where Valkyrie and Skulduggery were kissing. Her eyes were shining and her smile was forcing the stars into a state of jealousy. She looked back at him.

"Yep," he mumbled. Memory sighed.

"Why do you hate me?" she asked, straight out, no pretence, just straight out.

"I don't. I told you."

"You do. You wouldn't act the way you do if you didn't."

"Memory! I don't hate you!" he insisted. Memory frowned.

"Fine." She turned back to the new couple. She didn't say anything.

"Why do you think I hate you?" Erskine asked.

"Because you always avoid me. You always ignore me. You refuse to make eye contact with me. You won't talk to me for more than a minute."

"I avoid you, because I don't know how to react around you. I ignore you, because I'm trying to force my mouth to say something but nothing comes out. I refuse to make eye contact with you, so you won't see how embarrassed I get. I won't talk to you for more than a minute, because then I get tempted to tell you everything," Erskine explained. Memory looked at him.

"Tell me what?" she asked. Erskine stayed silent. "Erskine! I know you don't hate me now so what is it that makes you not want to tell me something?" He still stayed silent. "Erkine! Tell me wha-"

"CAN I KISS YOU PLEASE?" he shouted, cutting Memory off. He then looked down at his feet.

"No," Memory replied simply. Erskine swallowed.

"Oh. I'll just go back to the ca-"

"I get to kiss you first," Memory said. Erskine turned around slowly. Memory put her arms around his neck and kissed him. After a second of shock, he relaxed and put his arms around Memory's waist. When they broke apart Memory smiled.

"So that's why you hate me!" she exclaimed. Erskine smiled wryly and bent down to kiss her again.

"Oh my!" Valkyrie cried, looking over Skulduggery's shoulder.

"What?" he asked.

"Memory and Erskine!" Valkyrie replied. Skulduggery turned to look as he saw two of his closest friends kissing next to Erskine's car.

"Thank god!" he exclaimed. "That took him long enough!" Valkyrie laughed. Skulduggery absentmindedly twiddled with one of Valkyries fingers which were still entwined with his. "Two couples in one night, huh? Love is having a good day," he muttered as him and Valkyrie walked up to the car.