Hehe, third ever story :D It's a Skulduggery Pleasant one (obviously) and Val's around 19, Fletcher is 22 to those who don't want to do the maths. I hope you like it! :) Please review!

There was a loud scream coming from somewhere nearby. It came as a shock to Valkyrie to find out that it was her own. The mad Adept coming towards her was the cause of at least 6 attempted murders. He wasn't the kind to give up, although he wasn't the brightest. His name was Rory Darkness.

Knowing Skulduggery, he's probably tying his shoelaces, like what he did when I was hanging over a building at thirteen with Scapegrace trying to kill me. Valkyrie thought, bitterly.

The insane idiot was holding a knife and was coming ever closer. Valkyrie was just glad that she was wearing her protective clothing, and also that she was now living at her own house, once her uncle, Gordon's. No matter what though, it would never stop being Gordon's. The one thing that was bad was that they were outside and it was pouring with rain. Val's hair was plastered to her scalp.

She backed away another step. In the distance, Tanith was standing and looking at her, while waiting impatiently for Fletcher, Ghastly and Skulduggery to appear. Valkyrie pushed at the wind and threw him backwards, against a wide tree trunk. Rory just got up and started towards her again, with a mad grin. Valkyrie started to feel panicked now. Luckily, the others were beginning to head this way now, holding their fingers to their lips. She instantly understood and kept her gaze on the Adept in front of her. It wasn't very hard to do.

Fletcher suddenly appeared behind her and softly took her hand.

"Let's get out of here." He whispered before teleporting them to where the others were standing.

"Are you alright, Valkyrie?" Asked Skulduggery urgently.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a small cut." She replied, touching the small gash on her forehead that she had gotten earlier. (Before this story started :D)

"Are you sure that that is it?" Tanith said.

"Yes, I'm absolutely sure. The rest are the ones from old fights. I didn't feel the need to visit Kenspeckle for those."

"Alright, let's beat this bad guy and then get you checked out."

"Whatever."

All five of the team moved towards their opponent who looked confused as to where his "prey" had gone. He noticed them and started loping towards them. The five crouched into familiar fighting stances and prepared to fight against another enemy.

The fight was over in about fifteen minutes. There were a few scrapes, cuts and bruises but nothing serious. They still got into the Bentley and headed over to Kenspeckle Grouse's though. There was nothing wrong with being careful.

Within an hour, they had all been healed and were just relaxing.

"So how come he got you then?" Fletcher asked.

"Erm...well...I-I was facing the wrong way." Val eventually admitted.

There was a silence, which eventually led to rapturous laughter that wouldn't even stop when Valkyrie hit Skulduggery and Fletcher hard on their arms.

"Very clever, Valkyrie Cain!" Skulduggery remarked which led to an extra hard elbow in the stomach area.

I know, a rubbish ending, but endings are hard to come up with XD Anyways, once again, please review!