Valkyrie Cain woke up to the sound of a quiet vibrating sound. She checked her phone to see that Skulduggery Pleasant was calling her.
"This better be really important." Valkyrie sighed.
"Of course it's important, I'm calling." Skulduggery said from the other line.
Valkyrie frowned. "So what your saying is that, if Ghastly or Tanith were to call, it wouldn't be as important as you calling?"
"Of course, I'm very important you know."
Valkyrie closed her eyes. "Oh my God. You ego is planet sized even at this ungodly hour. Which reminds me, why are you calling?"
"We have a case!" Skulduggery announced.
Valkyrie waited for him to continue, he didn't. "And..." She prompted.
"It's a really important one, so get dressed and get ready to go I will be there in fifteen minutes."
Valkyrie sighed. "Fine, but at least tell me what the case is about."
"The Hourglass." He replied.
She sighed in frustration. "I'm going to need a little more than that."
"The hourglass is a type of magic passed on from mother to daughter when the daughter turns 18. There was only ever one family line that held that type of magic. We need a person that possesses Hourglass now." He explained.
Throwing the covers off her, Valkyrie stood up. "So we're just tracking her down? Well that will be easy."
"You'd think so wouldn't you, but like everything else, it's not that simple."
"Why?"
"She's dead."
"Dead?"
"Yes."
"How dead?"
"Very dead."
"How do you know she's dead?"
"Because she was my wife." Skulduggery replied.