Chapter One: Are we there yet?

"I don't see why we have to go." Valkyrie asked, pouting as a thin man drove.

"Because we were invited," Said Skulduggery as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, "We have to go."

The young girl looked at her partner with a sceptical glare, as if trying to figure out if it was indeed her friend inhabiting this body. "Hello?" She called, thumping a hand on her friend's skull, "We never go," She paused, "Ever."

"It's a ball," Skulduggery cried, "You know, like a dance, don't teenagers like dances?"

"Some teenagers." Valkyrie muttered.

And of course, some teenagers did. The teenagers who liked to put on more make-up than clothes. But, fortunately, Valkyrie Cain was most defiantly not one of those girls. She was more the type of girl who wore black, killed baddies, and whose best friend was a living skeleton.

And she loved it.

Even if Valkyrie did not have the most conventional of lives she was happy, simply because she felt alive, which was ironic considered the present company. She wriggled in her black dress, which was far too tight for her liking. "Why isn't China coming?"

She saw Skulduggery's grip tighten on the steering wheel. His black gloves tightening, allowing his knuckles to show. "Because she wasn't invited," he snapped his face to look at Valkyrie, "Must you insist on acting like a three year old?"

"Yes." She answered bluntly.

Skulduggery took a turn sharper than necessary, sending Valkyrie into the car door. She cursed and rubbed her shoulder regretfully. She shot the skeleton a sharp glare. "What was that for?"

"Talking."

"You talk all the time." She protested.

"I'm allowed to talk."

"Why?"

"Because," he replied, "I'm cool." Valkyrie snorted.

"You," She pointed at him, "Are not 'cool'"

Skulduggery reached in to a pocket, pulled out his revolver and pointed it at her head in one smooth movement. "Now am I cool?" He asked her, his eyes still on the road.

"Yes." She told him steadily, her eyes on the barrel of the gun. Skulduggery tossed the revolver into the back seat. "Relax," he told her, "It's not loaded."

Valkyrie glared at him and crossed her arms over her chest. She wasn't in the happiest of moods. Her dress nearly reached her ankles and her heels did not offer her the best support. If twigs could offer support. It was times like these when she missed her Bespoke made fighting clothes.

"It's unfair." Valkyrie stated out loud.

"Yes," Skulduggery said, "Extremely so."

"You don't even know what I'm talking about."

"Of course I do," Skulduggery continued, "You were simply referring to the fact that we have to drive 180 miles to their function in which we were invited to. If you ask me those people need to look up the definition of invite because it is to our effort that we have to go to their tedious event."

"No," She said slowly, "That's not was I was to referring at all."

"Oh," Skulduggery said, "Well it's unfair all the same."

"I meant that you still get to wear your suit, and I have to wear a dress."

"Suits are proper dress attire for a formal function," Skulduggery lectured, "Ghastly's fighting clothes, are not."

"But still," Valkyrie insisted, "A dress, Skulduggery, a dress."

"Oh whoop," Skulduggery rattled off, "Live with it."

At that comment, Valkyrie settled into an annoyed silence. She gazed out the window, watching the claim night had made on the surrounding trees. There weren't any other cars on the highway, and she could hardly see the moon in the cloudy skies. It made her shiver when she thought of the type of creatures that came out at night.

"Cold?" Skulduggery asked, "I told you to bring a jacket."

"Are hoodies appropriate attire to wear to a formal function?" Valkyrie asked, mocking his earlier words, "Because that's the only jacket I had."

"Useless," Skulduggery muttered, "My sidekick is useless."

"It's just a jacket," she complained, "It's not like I made you lose a leg or anything."

"You've made me annoyed," The skeleton man sulked, "That's close enough."

"I hate you sometimes." Valkyrie admitted.

"I know," Skulduggery replied, "Everyone does."