It was midnight. Valkyrie Cain sat on the end of her bed, head in hands trying to stave off the waves of tiredness that were threatening to over come her. She was dressed in her work clothes, garments so black that she was almost invisible in her darkened bedroom. She had feigned illness earlier that evening and retired to her bed room long before her parents made their own way to bed, that had been a couple of hours ago and now everything was silent in the Edgely house hold. A slight creak emanated from the corner of her bed room, Valkyrie looked up. Her reflection, dressed in her pyjamas, was sitting on her swivel chair by the desk, she had let it out of the mirror just after she had gotten up, managing to catch a few hours of sleep before it was time for work, and now it was swivelling itself back and forth on the chair, an annoying habit it was starting to develop.
"Stop that" Valkyrie hissed,
The reflection stopped and looked at her,
"Sorry"
At that moment a beam of light cut through the darkness from that gap in her curtains. She stood and tiptoed to the window, a car parked by the pier flashed its head lights once then turned them off. Skulduggery.
Valkyrie turned back to the reflection,
"Get in to bed, stay there until mum comes to wake you"
The reflection got up and padded to the bed, folded back the covers and got in,
"Will you be well tomorrow?" it said as Valkyrie opened the window, she thought for a moment,
"Yes, normal school day, just pull the uniform over the pyjamas"
"Ok" and with that it lay down and closed it's eyes.
Valkyrie climbed out of the window and, balanced precariously on the sill, managed to shut the window before dropping to the ground using the air to cushion her landing. She looked to her parents bedroom window, no light, no movement, she hadn't woken them. She moved quietly to the end of the driveway, looked cautiously around then darted across the road to the pier. The Bentley, sleek and imposing waited for her, she opened the passenger door and slid in to the leather seat.
Skulduggery Pleasant greeted her brightly from the drivers seat as he started the engine,
"Good morning"
He got a yawn and a half hearted smile in response,
"Catch much sleep did ya?" the brightness in his voice edged with concern,
"A little, I'll be fine once we get going"
"Right, ok" he said he looked around the car nodding his head as he went through a mental check list,
"Seatbelt?"
"Yes Skulduggery"
"Good" he said putting the car in gear and pulling on to the road. As he was driving he reached across and opened the glove compartment took out a file and handed it to her.
"Case briefing is as follows" he said as she opened the file examining the photographs and paperwork within.
" A large smuggling operation has been uncovered at Dublin docks"
"The contraband?" Valkyrie asked,
"Magical creatures of various species"
Valkyrie stared at him,
"Wha?"
"You heard me" he said amusement in his voice, "and do shut your mouth, the gold fish look is very unbecoming"
"Magical creatures? Like leprechauns and stuff?"
"Yep, and unicorns, phoenix, selkies, minators etcetera" he reached across and flipped the page, Valkyrie stared at the black and white photograph. It was of four men attempting to pull and push a horse shaped creature, that was digging in its heels up a gangway and into a large crate. But this was no ordinary horse, the long pointed horn protruding from the centre of its forehead was unmistakeable, straight out of legend...a unicorn. The next photograph showed a water tank with a seal floating forlornly in the middle...a selkie? The next, a large bird cage, the winged creature within composed of flame and smoke,
"A phoenix" she breathed,
"Yes indeedy, cool huh?"
Valkyrie blinked and shook her head, incredulated,
"Yeah...I just didn't realise that these things existed, except in story books, you know?"
Skulduggery glanced at her and cocked his head to one side,
"What did I tell you not long after we met?"
"Yeah I know, 'better get used to that feeling'"
Skulduggery nodded,
"Anyway" he continued, "The creatures are being shipped in and out all over the globe, mainly to private collectors and individuals within magical communities and some will be sold on on the Grey Market"
"Grey Market?"
"The magical equivalent of the black market" he waved a gloved hand dismisivley, "but the main problems are that ,one, all of these creatures are endangered and two, some of them are being sold to non magical buyers, as can be expected an awful lot of money is changing hands and there is a risk that our world will be exposed. So we have been asked to...disrupt this operation and eventually shut it down, other teams have been dispatched world wide to retrieve the animals already sold and return them to their natural habitat and sanctuaries across the globe are offering their help"
Valkyrie nodded, this was a good case, well worth their time. She turned to the next photograph, in this one, a handler looked to be mid way through turning to run, his terrified face looking over his shoulder as a black shape leapt towards him from the top of a crate, moving so fast it's form was indistinguishable.
"Whats that?"
Skulduggery glanced across,
"Ah, that I have a theory about"
Valkyrie waited, then looked at him one dark eyebrow raised,
"Are you going to share your theory genius?"
"No"
Valkyrie sighed,
"Fine"
"But the man you see in the photograph turned up later, alive but very torn up, not pretty. The report said it looked like an animal attack, but all dangerous creatures were accounted for. This thing has been plaguing the smugglers for weeks and every time the handler is left alive but very sore and some of the creatures go missing, sometimes just one or two, other times a handful, whether to liberate them or for their own financial gain...we don't know"
Valkyrie nodded and touched her fingers to the shape on the photograph as if touching it would help her understand it, her deep brown eyes moved to the man, his face slack with absolute terror, eyes wide in sheer panic. What ever this thing was she hoped to what ever God there was, that it was on their side.