Ok. Dark Days is officially the most amazing book ever. I swear to god. I freaking cried. VALDUGGERY! And..uh..fletchyrie. Feck. But I THINK it'll turn into valduggery…it BETTER… *evils to Derek*
The reason I got it early was cause Derek sent me a copy because im not here when it's released. I nearly died when it arrived yesterday. I spent 5 whole hours straight reading and finishing it. I cried. God knows why though but Derek Landy is a bloody GENIUS.
Yeah, so, theres quite a few spoilers here but not really in this chapter- the leaving and necklace thing isn't in dark days. I made that up. but the bit about 'until the end' in the sanctuary is true.
Enjoy, kiddies! And read Dark Days. It is amazing. Seriously.
Chapter One- Until the end
It was raining when Valkyrie arrived at the pier. She stood watching the waves crash against the pier, her hair whipping over her face, the rain trickling down her protective clothing.
She saw skulduggery come and stand beside her, hands in his pockets, scarf flying about in the wind. She smiled up at him. He just looked out at the sea.
'What's up?' Valkyrie asked eventually
Skulduggery looked at her now
'I want you to do something for me' he said, and he sounded like he was about to cry, if he could cry.
Valkyrie frowned, reaching out to him instinctively. She brought her hands back, and put them in her pockets, mirroring skulduggery's posture without thinking.
'What do you want me to do?' she asked, afraid of the answer.
Skulduggery made a sound like he was taking a deep breath.
'I want you to leave all this. Go home' he said, nearly inaudible above the sounds of the wind and rain.
Valkyrie paled.
'W-what?' she asked quietly
'I just desperately need you to be safe Valkyrie; I can't do that if you're in the world of magic. You deserve to be normal'
'Skulduggery, you can't…I can't…please Skulduggery! Don't do this. Please!' Valkyrie said, panicking. He'd left her once, when he was stuck in that hell hole portal for almost a year. She couldn't live if he left her again.
Skulduggery took her hand for a moment, then let go. He didn't say anything.
Valkyrie rushed to continue. To convince him to stay
'And you promised me skulduggery; you promised we'd be together. You said until the end'
Her shaking hand pulled out the necklace she always wore around her neck, and showed it to him, her eyes pleading.
Valkyries mother had bought her a little set of silver friendship necklaces in the shape of skulls. Valkyrie knew Melisa had probably hoped Valkyrie would give the other necklace to Hannah Foley or some other idiot like that, because of valkyries lack of friends, but valkyrie had given it to skulduggery and engraved 'Until the end' on the back of the little skulls on both their necklaces using a compass tip. Skulduggery had never taken his off and neither had she.
Skulduggery's right hand fluttered to where the little chain was. His hand brushed over it.
'Valkyrie please' he said softly 'I can hardly do this, but I have to go. You have to be safe and normal.'
'I am safe' valkyrie said 'Ok, im not normal, but I'd be dead if I wasn't around you. I feel alive when im with you, I feel happy and safe and I feel I belong. I can't go back to living my old life. Because it wasn't living. I was dead'
'I can't…you need to be safe'
'We made a promise. In the sanctuary, we promised we'd be together until the end. And we will be. I know we don't break promises like that. I save you and you save me. That's how we work.'
Skulduggery looked at her for a long time, before stepping towards her and pulling her to his chest
'Until the end' he whispered in her ear
'Until the end'