Uncle Gordon

Valkyrie had a lot of her mind, she needed to go somewhere peaceful and talk to someone who could help her. She remembered whenever when she was younger and when ever she was upset or sad for some reason, she would always go and seek comfort from her favourite Uncle, Gordon Edgley.

Of course, the body of Gordon was now six feet under, but that didn't stop Valkyrie talking to him.

She walked to Gordon's estate, the two storey, grand building that was her second home and in the near future would become hers. She didn't like that though. She could never own something that belonged to Gordon. She didn't want to replace everything Gordon placed his signature on. Valkyrie entered the security code and went into the hall. She immediately climbed the staircase and hurried into the late Gordon's office. His things were still there, untouched since he passed away. She skipped past the desk and straight to the wall of bookcases, found the false book and pulled it. A secret passage way opened and she was yet again welcomed with the magical objects Gordon secretly possessed all these years.

She wasted no time to open the case to the stone where the apparition of Gordon appeared, smiling at her.

"I'm so glad your little visits are coming so frequently these days." Gordon smiled to his niece.

"Hello, Gordon. Yes, it seems I have more spare time these days." She smiled sadly.

Gordon started walk towards her, but then stopped abruptly. "I always forget I'm not real." He previously had his arms in the air to embrace but they now hung loosely at his sides. "But, I'll give you a virtual hug."

Valkyrie laughed, "No, really, Gordon. You know I'm not a hugging person. Besides, things are not all that bad."

"No?" Gordon asked sceptically. He looked at Valkyrie as she stood there saying nothing.

"How's school?" Gordon smirked.

This caused Valkyrie to react. "Urgh, I hate it! Honestly, it seems a million more time as boring after all the investigating. I wish I could keep working for the Sanctuary."

"You were never academic, Valkyrie. But I bet you can throw a good punch or two." He mimed a right hook, his fist hitting the air. Valkyrie shook her head, amused and slightly embarrassed. But she was laughing, a rare thing these days.

Valkyrie scanned Gordon's many selves of books which contained all things magical and vital to any investigation.

"Do you know where we could find any Trolls?"

Gordon raised an eyebrow, not dislike the way Valkyrie did too. "Trolls are mischievous creatures and money grabbing snitchers. No wander they went to nick Skulduggery's skull, but I always wandered, if Skulduggery won back the other skull through a poker game, how on Earth did he win it without a skull in the first place?"

Gordon frowned, walking to where Valkyrie stood, searching for a book about Trolls.

"I guessed he got someone to do it for him." Valkyrie replied half minded.

"Yes, but how?" Gordon pointed out a spine of a book on a nearby shelf Valkyrie hadn't got to yet.

"Thanks," Valkyrie murmured and walked to the book.

Gordon continue to ponder, "If Skulduggery needed to tell someone to win it for him, how did he tell them? He had no mouth!"

Valkyrie sat down on Gordon's desk, scanning through the pages of the book. Chin in her hands.

Gordon realised Valkyrie had lost interested in what he was trying to figure out and joined Valkyrie at her side.

He looked down sadly. "maybe we would never know how he did it, never know where he went in those five years and we would never know how he came back to life the way he did."

Valkyrie stopped reading and looked forwards, she starred at the lined books on the opposite wall and thought about what would happen if she could never find his original skull. She regretted not knowing more about him, his past life, his family he was so quiet about, the mystery of how he knew the Necromancer, Wreath and where he went in those five years. She should have known him better. Skulduggery knew her inside out but Valkyrie had never taken the interest in to how he felt.

Most times, Skulduggery didn't want to express in what he felt and about his life. Valkyrie remembered the man who had changed her life, her guru in magic and most of all, a dear friend.

She and Gordon were deep in their own thoughts and memories of their enigmatic friend, Detective Skulduggery Pleasant.

Than, waking up the spiritual Gordon with a start, she thump the surface of the desk with her fist and said determinedly. "One day we will ask these question and he will answer them to us. He will come back to us."

Through the empty weeks, she had not cried, she had willed herself not to cry, that Skulduggery wouldn't want her crying over him. But now, Valkyrie shed her tears with passion and sadness. She saw the tears drop onto the mahogany surface and stain the wood darker than the original shade.

Gordon looked helplessly at her, for he couldn't comfort her.