The witch was an odd looking gal, Valkyrie thought dully. She was in the center of the Dead Men, shrieking words in an old language that none of them knew. Skulduggery whistled and Dexter, Ghastly, Erskine, Ezra, Valkyrie and Skulduggery himself summoned magic quickly, and then Skulduggery yelled
"Now!"
Everyone unleashed. There was mostly fire, mixed in with a pale blue energy stream, a long flash of lightning and a stream of bright, white hot gold. The horrible creature gave one last scream, that turned to gargles as she turned to dust.
"She was ugly." Valkyrie said, then frowned. She hadn't wanted to say that. She had thought it, but she intended to keep it just that; a thought. The Dead Men looked at her.
"We'd best get going, can't have that creepy spider bitch waiting." Anton said. Then he frowned.
"I think I know what's going on..." Skulduggery said, looking between them.
"Of course you do, you know everything." Ezra said mockingly, then looked shocked. Skulduggery tilted his head at his little sister, and Valkyrie knew he was raising an eyebrow despite the lack of them.
"Thanks for your input, Ezra. Nice to see you've finally grown a back bone. The witch cast a truth spell on us. That's what she was screaming."
"Why?" Erskine asked.
"For how long?" Dexter followed. Skulduggery shrugged.
"I don't know." He said.
"This sucks." Ghastly said.
They sat in silence on the way back, not trusting themselves to speak.
"Who is going to debrief Madame Mist diplomatically in this state?" Ezra asked.
"You should, you're the nice one." Erskine said.
"You and Dexter." Ghastly agreed. Ezra shook her head and Dexter looked up.
"No, absolutely not. I'll say something that'll get me fired, I know it." Dexter countered.
"Me too. I say nice things, that isn't always what I'm thinking." Ezra said.
Valkyrie chuckled, imagining Ezra arguing with Mist.
"What if we explained why we can't see her in a note. was a success, that's all we have to say." Saracen said.
Valkyrie took her phone out and started an email.
Dear Madame Mist.
I am speaking on behalf of the Dead Men. The mission was a success. Sort of. We are unable to attend the debriefing today, sorry. Sort of.
From Valkyrie Cain.
She reread the message to the group and they nodded. She hit send. Ghastly turned left instead of right, heading to his shop, away from people. The continued in silence for the rest of the way. They sat in the back room of the shop in silence, no one daring to speak in fear of what they might say, about each other and everyone. Ezra was bouncing her leg, her fingers tirelessly twirling her hair.
"That's it." She said abruptly, getting up and walking to a cupboard. Everyone watched her suspiciously. She picked up as many bottles of alcohol as she could carry. She passed a bottle to everyone, rum or whiskey or tequila or vodka, Anton was holding a bottle of Absinthe.
"Why...?" Dexter asked, holding up his bottle of whiskey.
"We don't know how long this lasts and we cannot sit around in total silence for the rest of our lives. So," she opened her bottle of tequila, "We drink. Get everything out in the open." she finished, taking three large gulps. She screwed her face up, coughed, then wiped her mouth. Valkyrie shrugged. She hadn't ever really got drunk before, even though she was twenty one. She took a long sip of her vodka and it took her all not to sputter it back out.
"Everything is easier when you're drunk..." Ghastly said, downing a good quarter of his rum.
"I feel vastly left out of these bad habits." Skulduggery said.
"You're the one that just haaaaad to go and DIE!" Ezra said, taking another huge drink.
"I'm starting to think this isn't a good idea." Skulduggery said, staring at his friends as they drank quickly.
"We can hold our booze just fine, you were always the one throwing up or passing out." Anton said, cautiously drinking the luminous green liquid.
"Yeah, that's right! I remember you had seven rums and passed out. We all went strong the rest of the night! Hell, your little sister out drank you!" Erskine said, barking out a laugh. Valkyrie was laughing now too, they all were.
Valkyrie's chest felt warm, she felt happy.
"Remember when I said I had those three warlock girls? I lied guys. They looked at me for a second and I ran as fast as my legs could take me." Saracen said breezily, smiling at the memory.
"I fancy Tanith Low." Said Ghastly, swaying slightly, his bottle nearly empty.
"I always thought that." Ezra said, smirking.
"Everyone did, sister." Skulduggery said. He was sulking that he was left out.
"The circumstances were awful, but i'm glad we came together. I don't know what I'd do without you guys." Ezra said. Valkyrie giggled.
"Billy-Ray is hot." Valkyrie said, nodded.
"Yeah he is!" Ezra agreed, stretching over Ghastly and Dexter to clink bottles. Valkyrie laughed even more.
They talked for ages, hours. Being totally honest and happy and content. It wasn't much of a curse. Valkyrie could see how it could be, but so long as they kept themselves relatively isolated from the outside world they would be fine.