Sister's Point of View
A tall thin man in an elegant suit entered the room. He wore a neat top hat at a precarious angle dipping over one eye and had the collar of his sweeping black overcoat turned up and buttoned to his chin. Shadows played about his face making it impossible to get a clear view of his features. He raised a cigar to his mouth casting an amber glow over grinning teeth and ebony eyes. Smoke floated about him, again blurring and confusing his image, he breathed out slowly before saying, "You must be Vicky's sister." His voice sounded like melted chocolate, deep, dark, rich, the words seemed to pour from him flowing and rolling. Strangely it calmed her; it felt safe despite all its mystery. She watched his head twitch to the window where rain ran and dripped obscuring the world outside and under his gaze felt her anger begin to ebb away.
Skulduggery's Point of View
He regarded the girl; she was clothed in a long dress made from lengths of almost shimmering fabric that swirled around her in a phantom breeze. It contained every shade of grey, from a pearly mist on a winter's morning to the charcoal slate of London's rooftops as the sun sets. To complete the scale was the inky hair that came cascading past her shoulders and tumbling to the waist, the blackest of blacks. She stood breathing heavily, a slight flush to her porcelain skin her doe-like eyes noting his every move. Victoria appeared beside him and upon seeing the girl became exasperated saying, "Please Stephanie, curtsey to the man, behave like a proper lady once in a while."
Her eyes widened and the dress churned around her, "I shall not. Not to him. Not to you or anyone else. You will NOT control me." She spat her anger clearly flaring again. Wind buffeted the place outside mimicking her thunderous mood.
"Feisty" said Skulduggery not entirely disapprovingly; in fact there was even a hint of admiration in the short statement.
"Don't even talk to me, I know what you are, you're a doctor." A look of disgust and disappointment passed over the pretty face. "There is nothing wrong with me I..."
Skulduggery interrupted saying, "On the contrary there is something very wrong with you. But that doesn't always have to be a bad thing now does it?"
"You ridicule me." She stated "I don't even know what is happening to me so how can you possibly understand. I command you to leave, leave me alone because you cannot help."Again wind shook the windows and a deep peel of thunder growled in the distance.
At this point Skulduggery did not respond, instead he swept the hat from his head turning down the collar also in one graceful movement. He then, with his free hand, clicked once to bring a bright and fluttering flame there illuminating his face. She took in this new information in silence, her eyes running all over his alabaster skull and exposed vertebrae.
"How do you..." she began "I mean where are..." she stopped again before finally saying, "Why are your gloves not burning?"
Skulduggery tilted his head to the side managing to convey a querying look to the girl opposite him. "I am a skeleton. I am a walking, talking, currently flaming skeleton and you just asked me why my gloves didn't burn." He turned to Victoria "I can see the resemblance already."
"I certainly hope not," snapped the queen haughtily, "I shall leave you two alone to discuss whatever you have in common. I can see you will be as thick as thieves so no breaking of the rules Skulduggery. She does not leave this room, she's dangerous." All of his further protests were cut off and she left closing the door behind her as she went.
Now that the queen had gone Stephanie began to ask questions in earnest starting with the second most important, the first naturally being the questionable survival of his gloves. "What is it that is wrong with me?"
"Nothing you're fine" was Skulduggery's immediate answer, "You're endowed with considerable power and possibly unstable magic but other than that you are tip top, hunky dory, a okay."
Will I become a skeleton? Can I make fire? Where do you come from? How many of us are there? And such other questions were all asked and answered with varying degrees of seriousness. Skulduggery explained after some joking that in fact she would not turn into a skeleton and that he was a special case when it came to magic and appearance. He then did what he did best and began to ask questions of his own; how do you do it?
"Well" she began "I have always been able to do things, special things like topple a vase without touching it or pulling things toward me but then recently it has got more so. I can't control it as well and so Victoria put me in here and the only way I could let it out was the weather." She paused. "I just feel it, clouds, wind and being in this room makes me want to raze this place to the ground."
"That is interesting," murmured Skulduggery "It seems you are an elemental ,like me, but with an affinity for the weather" he continued talking more to himself now "Yes it does make sense, only met one like that before..."
"So what do I do" Stephanie beseeched him, fear in those big eyes.
"Oh, I would say stay in the room, don't leave and cover your powers up until they go away."
"Oh" she replied angrily.
"Just kidding, power like that is too good to waste, learn to control it and you never know it might be useful one day out in the big bad world."
"Yes perhaps if I wasn't stuck in this god- awful room and my sister ever let me out."
"We don't have to listen to her, it's not like she's the queen or anything."
He received a scathing glare for that one but before long it dissolved into laughter that echoed down the palace halls for the first time in a very long time indeed.