Ghastly Bespoke was making a new leather jacket for Tanith Low when the phone rang. He set down his sewing equipment, dusted his hands on his brilliantly sewn trousers and went to answer it.

"Hello? This is Bespoke Tailors'?" The voice on the phone was female, smooth and slow.

Ghastly frowned. "Yes? What's your inquiry?"

"I need to meet you."

Ghastly ran a hand down his face, feeling his ridged scars beneath his palm. "Who am I seeing?"

"My name to everybody normal is Melissa Rodgeback, but mages and sorcerers call me Lythia Harpen."

"Great name."

"Thank you. Can I be at your shop in twenty minutes?"

The call was unexpected, but Ghastly had become used to expecting the unexpected. His mother had instilled that in him, at least. And if this Lythia intended to do him harm, he was sure he stood a decent chance. He was a boxer, after all.

"Sure. See you then."

Ghastly put down the phone and raised his eyebrows. Ever since Skulduggery Pleasant had been pulled into the Faceless Ones portal, everyone had been panicking. Even Thurid Guild, although he'd never admit it. Fletcher Renn had called by often. He had even told Ghastly that he fancied Valkyrie Cain, Skulduggery's partner. Ghastly smiled as he remembered this, knowing that Fletcher had obviously given up on Tanith.

Thinking about the coming meeting, Ghastly began to tidy his shop. He didn't usually bother if it was Skulduggery or Valkyrie or Tanith or Fletcher coming over, but he did bother for strangers. Strangers were unpredictable and very often irritating.

By the time he had tidied all that he felt compelled to, Lythia was here. She announced her arrival with a delicate knock on the door. Ghastly went to answer and smiled warmly as the young dark-haired girl came into view. She was like a shorter, blue-eyed Valkyrie. Lythia didn't at all look at his scars like they weren't ordinary and for that, Ghastly liked her already. Judging by her height, she was around thirteen, but appearances could be deceiving. If she had a third name, she was most likely a sorceress. That meant she might be older.

"You are Lythia?" Ghastly asked, out of curiosity.

"I am," the girl replied. "And you are Ghastly. You've no idea how long I've waited to meet you."

"No," the muscly boxer replied. "I don't have any idea. Come in, then. Haggard gets cold at this time of day."

Lythia smiled, and Ghastly wondered how such an ordinary girl had become a mage. She had braces, for Pete's sake. Could she have been any more normal?

"I came purely in interest," Lythia announced. She took off her coat, and, acting on a host instinct, Ghastly held out his arm for it. She allowed him to take it and hang it up. Ghastly muttered as he saw it was an ordinary coat. It was nothing like the ones that he made, the ones that Valkyrie and Skulduggery wore.

"I heard about Skulduggery," the rather pretty stranger said. "I admired and respected him. He made me laugh."

Ghastly dipped his head, trying not to think about it. He knew Valkyrie would have frozen at that statement. He knew that a lone tear would have travelled down Valkyrie's cheek like a cut diamond. Ghastly didn't think it possible she could miss him as much as he did, because she hadn't known him as long, but he guessed their mutual bond was more than he could have imagined.

"I'm sorry. I'm so insensitive." Lythia apologised. Ghastly waved it off and gestured at a chair and she sank into it. He sat in the one opposite, like he always did when Fletcher was here.

"No," he replied. "It's fine. Valkyrie's not going to stop until he's back anyway, so we just have to wait."

Lythia smiled uncertainly. "What happened to Sanguine, by the way? Do you know?"

She spoke like they were old friends, but Ghastly didn't mind. In fact, he appreciated it. It meant there was no awkwardness whatsoever.

"I heard a rumour that when Valkyrie cut him open with Tanith's sword he bled to death," Ghastly said. "But it was probably a rumour he started so that he can strike when we least expect it."

Lythia nodded again. "And what of Valkyie's reflection?"

"She's getting more and more worried about it," Ghastly responded. "The reflection is having more opinions and there are more memory gaps than ever. But I'm sure that Valkyrie isn't letting it bother her too much."

Lythia hesitated. Ghastly suspected he knew what she was going to ask, and he had been waiting for it.

"You want to meet Valkyrie?" he said, beating her to it. Lythia nodded and Ghastly got up. Fletcher had said he was going to visit Valkyrie this afternoon, and she knew he would have been loath to leave earlier than now. He'd still be there. Which worked to Lythia's advantage.

The phone rang twice before it was picked up. "Hello? Stephanie speaking."

"Valkyrie. How are you?"

"Ghastly!" Valkyrie responded, obviously glad to hear from him. "I'm fine. Fletcher's over here, and I find he's not being as annoying as usual."

"It's no wonder," Ghastly laughed. "He likes you."

Silence. Then: "Ah. I see how that works then. I won't tell him you told me."

"You know I really wouldn't care if you did."

"But he would."

"Right. Don't tell him I said then. But just don't be surprised if he asks you out for coffee."

"Should I agree?"

"Your call."

"OK."

"I called to ask something. You say Fletcher's with you? Can you and him teleport here? There's somebody who wants to meet you."

"I assume you're at home?"

"Yes."

"I'll just lock up and I'll be right over. See you soon!"

"Bye," Ghastly said, and hung up. He turned to Lythia. "She's coming as soon as possible. She'll be here in about a minute."

"Let me guess," Lythia said. "Fletcher's with her, and they're going to teleport here?"

"Indeed," Ghastly replied. "How did you know?"

"It explains how Valkyrie's getting here so fast."

"Right on. Do you want a cup of tea? Coffee?"

Lythia smiled, and it made Ghastly smile as well. "Tea, thanks."

Ghastly went into the kitchen. He blinked a great number of times in a short space of time. Why had he smiled? A smile from Lythia shouldn't have made him smile. Obviously she had been seeing China a lot. Maybe she was bargaining for some tutoring from her.

Or maybe he was going slightly insane.

Ghastly didn't let himself ponder it and instead focused on making tea. While he was dealing out tea bags he heard a slight shriek from Lythia and grinned. Valkyrie had obviously arrived.

He walked out to the lounge and indeed, Fletcher and Valkyrie were standing there, pulling coats off. Valkyrie noticed Ghastly and grinned. Ghastly opened his mouth to ask them if they wanted a drink but Valkyrie knew him well enough just to say:

"Tea, please."

Ghastly turned to Fletcher who proceeded to ask for coffee. Ghastly nodded and went back into the kitchen. He returned to find Lythia and Valkyrie talking. He handed drinks to their consumers and leaned against the doorframe. He watched Lythia as he took a sip. Then something came to him. In a gap in the conversation, he asked a question.

"Are you Adept or Elemental, Lythia?"

Lythia raised her eyes to him and they flashed green in the light. "I'm an Adept."

Ghastly nodded. He drank more tea and wondered what this Lythia had trained herself to do. She'd obviously been associating with Skulduggery, as she had known him, and she knew exactly what had been going on in the last few months.

Lythia and Valkyrie resumed talking, and Valkyrie captured Ghastly's chair. Ghastly laughed quietly, then noticed Fletcher watching Valkyrie. He approached the 17-year-old, who nodded at him.

"Valkyrie's really pretty," Fletcher whispered to Ghastly. He looked nervous.

"I don't see her that way," Ghastly replied. "Maybe you do, but I can't agree with that, because I see her as a friend and nothing more. Come. Women seem to be able to hear anything."

Ghastly and Fletcher made their way into the room where Ghastly made suits. Ghastly frowned as Fletcher jumped up and sat on the bench top, but he let the kid be. Ghastly had taken the liberty to teach him the rules of magic, with the help of Valkyrie and Tanith, but he was still a kid.

"She wouldn't say no, Fletcher. She's nice like that," Ghastly put his drink down and folded his arms. "Why don't you just ask her to go with you on a date or whatever they call it?"

"You say it like you're an expert on this stuff," Fletcher shot back. "I never liked any girl, okay? Maybe they liked me" – Ghastly doubted it, but let him continue – "but I'm not the kind that trails after girls with my jaw to the ground, all right?"

"Until now," Ghastly pointed out.

"Yes," Fletcher replied. Then he took his voice down a notch. "You actually think she'd be my girlfriend?"

"She might. Miracles do happen in this world."

Fletcher frowned, but Ghastly could see that he was absorbing all he had said. And then he said something truly amusing.

"But," Fletcher began. "Why don't you go with that other chick? What's her name? Lythia? I keep seeing her glance at you and you can so tell she has liked you, like, forever."

Ghastly laughed for a long, long time. "Fletcher, maybe you and Valkyrie stand a chance. But I've known Lythia for a whole half an hour. Somehow I don't think she would like me after knowing me thirty minutes. I mean, look how long it took me to actually talk to you seriously. About two months."

Fletcher scowled. "At least you do now. That's all that matters. At least somebody takes me seriously."

Ghastly chuckled and gestured for Fletcher to get off the bench. "It's a new suit for free if you ask her to the movie based on Gordon Edgeley's novel."

Fletcher raised an eyebrow, but nodded. Ghastly picked up his tea and drank the last of it. "Go," he said.

Fletcher swallowed hard, but he led the way back to the lounge.

The women looked up as they returned.

"Where did you go?" Valkyrie asked.

Ghastly instead smiled. Then he watched Fletcher. The teenager seemed to be pale and shaking.

Lythia caught Ghastly's eye, and she winked before watching the spectacle about to unfold.

Fletcher had walked up to Valkyrie and was shaking. But at least he was going to ask Valkyrie to the movie, and Ghastly admired that.

"Want to see that film 'bout your dead Uncle's novel, um, Sunday?" Fletcher looked towards the ground and rubbed the back of his neck. Valkyrie looked startled, and glanced at Ghastly, but he retained a neutral expression. She looked back at Fletcher.

"OK."

"What?" Fletcher looked up.

"OK. You're not as annoying, so, OK."

Fletcher grinned. "Let's talk outside." He reached out and grabbed Valkyire's arm, and there was a pop and they disappeared.

Lythia watched the space where Valkyrie and Fletcher had disappeared before looking at Ghastly. He nodded, feeling the sudden tension.

To break the silence, Ghastly asked: "What powers do you possess?"

Lythia stood. "It's easier to demonstrate."

She beckoned and then walked into a room where there was a full-length mirror.

"A reflection?" Ghastly asked. "I've seen one of these before."

Lythia gently shook her head and for the first time Ghastly noticed the copper hints in her hair. He looked on as Lythia approached the mirror. She stepped up to it, and placed her fingers, spread, on the glass, on either side of her reflected head. She began to mutter an incantation in a language that Ghastly didn't understand. Lythia's eyes closed and an aura formed around her. Her hair fanned out with what appeared to be static electricity.

And then she began to change in front of Ghastly's eyes. Hair, once a dark brown, turned pure white. She grew as tall as him. Her nails lengthened. She became slimmer in the legs and bigger in the bust and her waist shrank to an almost scary skinniness. Her jeans and t-shirt faded into a bodysuit of pure white.

And then Lythia turned and opened her eyes and Ghastly recoiled. Her irises were black as pitch, and fierce. Her aura still shone and it didn't take a Sensitive to feel the immense energy that now radiated from her.

"I conjured a new body. This is me." The words flew from bright red lips, past perfectly straight teeth. "I wanted to be a certain way, and so I tried out magic. Once I became an Adept, I made myself this way."

Ghastly stood, stunned. He had just seen a seemingly ordinary girl turn into a potentially dangerous sorceress. "You aren't thirteen like I assumed."

Lythia laughed and the room rang out with a sound that had a slight hiss at the edge.

"No," she replied. "I am decades old. You are the one individual to be granted the honour of seeing me in this form. I intimidate China Sorrows, as she knows I have a secret. This is it. Feel special."

"All right…" Ghastly was blown away. Those black eyes were freaking him out a little. "Do you want to go back to the main room?"

Lythia nodded. "But answer this first. Would you do the honour of tailoring me another of these?" She pointed at her bodysuit. "The snag of this power is that, until I wear a suit created by the one I love, my eyes are black and my hair white. I had no wish to be this particular way, and I didn't realise until it was too late to change. Will you help me? I am ugly in white."

Ghastly opened his mouth to argue that she wasn't ugly at all, that she looked fine, but he was too stunned. Lythia actually loved him?

"So that's why you came," Ghastly said, suddenly realised. "You just wanted my help."

Lythia nodded. "I shall return to the lounge now. But not like this." She again approached the mirror. "By the way," Lythia warned, those black eyes locking onto Ghastly's own, "I usually faint when making the transition back to normality. The immense energy is too much for my usual self. It hasn't killed me yet but it probably will soon."

Ghastly blinked, amazed that she could talk about her own death so affably. Then he watched her place her fingers on the mirror again and mutter that incoherent language again, faster this time. He could see in the glass the pain on her face, until such a light came that he had to cover his eyes and when he dared uncover them Lythia was lying unconscious on the carpet.

"Bloody hell," Ghastly mumbled. "This is going to look weird."

He picked Lythia up, feeling oddly like Gruesome Krav when the Grand Mage had been snatched. He left the room, feeling oddly disturbed. He decided to adhere to Lythia's wishes, but they were odd, he had to admit.

When Ghastly walked into the lounge Valkyrie was standing there but Fletcher wasn't. Ghastly placed Lythia on the couch. Valkyrie stared.

"What?" he asked. He stood and looked at Val.

"What happened to her?" Valkyrie asked, frowning a little. "You knocked her out?"

Astonished, Ghastly let his mouth fall open. Then he closed it again for fear of feeling foolish. "And I would do that why?"

Valkyrie shrugged. "Just wondered how she ended up out of it."

Ghastly sighed. "It is so, so complicated."

Valkyrie shrugged again. "Fletcher kissed me, did I tell you?"

Ghastly started. "What? When? No. You didn't tell me. I've been back in the room for a whole twenty seconds."

"He did. Fletcher asked me if I'd teach him to be an Adept so he could be a mage as well as a Teleporter and I agreed, after much thinking of course. He kissed me and I let him. Ghastly, am I going mad? Am I becoming a lunatic? I let him. I could have slapped him or punched him or blasted him off the roof with a wall of air but I didn't. Help!"

"Valkyrie, calm down," Ghastly stretched out his arms and placed his hands on Valkyrie's shoulders. "Young Fletcher here has admitted he fancies you. He's asked you on a date and you've agreed to that. He's asked you to teach him more magic and you've agreed to that. Now, why would you do either of those things if you didn't like him a bit?"

"Could be psychotic."

"Val…"

"Is this normal? Hating and liking someone?"

"I don't think you hate Fletcher, Valkyrie."

"Then what is it? You tell me."

"You're worried Skulduggery will ridicule you when he returns."

Valkyrie's eyes found the carpet and Ghastly knew he had it right.

"Yeah, that's it," she said.

Ghastly nodded. "Worry about that when you rescue him. There won't be much Skul can do if you drag him out of the portal and then he sees Fletcher holding your hand. Besides, Skulduggery can't control everything you do."

"He doesn't!"

"I'm sure of that too. But be careful that doesn't become the case."

Ghastly withdrew his hands and Valkyrie nodded again.

"Where is Fletcher, anyway?" Ghastly inquired, suddenly looking around.

"Pizza," said Valkyrie. "I sent him to get pizza so I could tell you about that without him protesting."

"Fair enough." Ghastly remembered Lythia and glanced her way. She was still breathing, and back to her normal self. Then he wondered about fabric for her particular clothing and wandered into the other room. Valkyrie trailed after him. Ghastly went looking for a roll of fabric he had bought years ago but never used. He searched for a good ten minutes before finding it. It was exactly the same type of material that Lythia's attire had been. This fabric was a dark green, though.

Ghastly closed his eyes and imagined Lythia in her stark white form again, and, eyes still closed, wrote down numbers. He opened his eyes and marked Lythia's sizes down, and got straight to work. He wanted to make Lythia this before she went. Valkyrie watched on as he madly cut out material and wondered on Earth he was doing. She chose not to ask, however, and just watched.

Ghastly worked for a solid two hours, passing when Fletcher offered him pizza and ignored Fletcher when he kissed Valkyrie on the cheek in his view. If Fletcher was trying for attention he wasn't succeeding.

Finally, thanks to superior sewing skills, Ghastly had finished. By this time Lythia was awake and eating pizza as well. She looked up, as Ghastly walked in and announced, "It is done."

Lythia nodded. Abandoning her pizza, she stood and returned to the mirror. All three people in the house as well followed, Valkyrie and Fletcher out of curiosity, Ghastly out of kindness.

Lythia did her thing, and the two teenagers gasped when she transformed. Valkyrie grabbed Fletchers hand and Fletcher grinned.

The piece of clothing that had been created simply melted out of Ghastly' grip and slowly appeared on Lythia's body, and the three friends watched as green seemed to battle white for supremacy.

Green won, and as soon as it did, a wave of energy flew outwards from Lythia and came towards them. Ghastly dropped flat to the floor and it passed overhead, rattling the doors of the cupboards in the room.

When all was silent, Ghastly looked up. Realising the commotion was over, he got on one knee and saw Fletcher and Valkyrie were lying prone on the ground still. Fletcher was making a show of holding onto Valkyrie protectively. Ghastly rolled his eyes and cleared his throat.

Fletcher's eyes flew open and he got up almost immediately. He helped Valkyrie to her feet and they joined Ghastly as he stared at Lythia.

The sorceress was on her knees and her head was tilted down, her black hair hanging over her face.

"Lythia?" Ghastly asked. "You OK there?"

A nose pierced the curtain of hair and a trembling hand reached up and tucked it behind one ear. A blue-eyed Lythia looked at the trio and slowly got to her feet. "I am fine," she said. "You have made me very happy, Mr Bespoke."

Ghastly smiled. "In turn that makes me happy. I take it you are content with your form now. Anything else I can do for you?"

Lythia walked over, kissed Ghastly on the cheek and hugged him. Because she was in her magic form, her kiss burned and her touch threatened to bruise, but Ghastly chose not to complain.

"You never demonstrated any of your other powers," Ghastly said. "What of them?"

Lythia smiled, and Ghastly blinked as she slowly began to melt into the air. When she had disappeared, Ghastly heard a voice.

"Descendants of Ghastly Bespoke shall be protected by the force that is me. I am watching. No man or beast or god can retaliate, as I can bend a thousand hearts. But the heart I shall have to bend is my own. I realise now I cannot possibly make you love one such as I as I had hoped, for your heart is set in iron. Farewell, Ghastly. Remember the soul you set free and feel safe."

With that, Lythia's presence vanished from the room. Valkyrie and Fletcher started at Ghastly.

"What," said Valkyrie.

"The," said Fletcher accordingly.

"Hell?" They said in unison.

Ghastly sighed. "I believe I owe Fletcher a suit. You, Valkyrie, can be my assistant. I want normality in this place and I want it now. Go."

With that, Bespoke Tailors was running again, without the oddity that was Lythia.

And nobody in Haggard noticed the lone figure standing on the end of the pier, arms outstretched, hair tangling in the wind, laughing as she was taken by the night sky and vanished into nothing.

THE END