As promised, super early chapter! I mostly wanted to get it out of the way, seeing as this one is... fun. You'll see what I mean, heh heh.

It was Thursday. They had five days left on their case, and they were practically where they first started. The key was to get through this hologram conference call with Hansard without showing any of this.

"Is it me," Valkyrie said, walking past the belly of the Sanctuary at a brisk pace, "or have we been late to just about everything lately?

Skulduggery inclined his head towards her. "The problem here is that Mr. Kray is one of those annoying people who are actually on time."

"I hate those guys," Valkyrie said, and then realized she was talking to the air. She backed up, glanced down a hall, and saw Skulduggery's figure strolling down it. She ran to catch up to him, and was just at his side again when he reached the door and unlocked it with a card key.

Familiar sigils were on all four walls of the room, and Valkyrie realized this must have been where Ghastly and Erskine contacted them before. It was smaller than the one in the Alps, and she had to stand shoulder to shoulder (or, well, shoulder to mid upper-arm) with Skulduggery to be in the center of the room. The symbols took their time to light up, fading in gradually like an old light bulb.

It flickered once more, and then there was Hansard's figure in perfect quality before them. The hologram was close enough to touch, though she didn't want to put her hand through Hansard's chest today. Valkyrie could see the freckles on his nose with perfectly clarity, and the light indents of glasses frames at the corner of his eyes. She hadn't even known that he wore glasses.

"Good afternoon, Detectives."

Valkyrie raised her left hand to wave, then caught sight of the bandage still on the wrist of that arm and quickly switched to her right. Skulduggery's head tilted towards her, inquisitive, and she starting talking to distract him.

"Any more information for us?"

"That depends. Do you have any for me?"

Valkyrie pressed her lips together, but Skulduggery answered for her.

"We do," he said. "But an alternative perspective would be nice."

Hansard pulled his arms up to his chest, almost defensively. "The scouts I sent out have had no luck whatsoever."

Valkyrie raised an eyebrow. "Have they talked to the mermaids?"

The blonde looked surprised. "No, they haven't," he said, dazed. "Have you?"

"We were considering it," said Skulduggery.

"…I find that hard to believe, Detective, but I would be pleasantly surprised if you did." Hansard said, and Valkyrie found herself wondering how well known that story of Skulduggery and Ghastly was.

"Of course. We have a source that they might be hoarding some of your cargo in a collection of grottos near Haggard. Now, if we do decide to follow that route, we'll need a few days to compensate…"

Hansard's image shook its head. "No. No can do. I can't extend the deadline. The merchandise must be returned by Monday."

Valkyrie bit the inside of her cheek to stop herself from sighing aloud. "Alright. Fine. We'll do our best. There's not much to go on here, Hansard."

Hansard closed his eyes, expression either peaceful or a very forced calm. "I am sure of the Sanctuary's best detectives will manage just fine on one case. Although I'm not getting the status reports that I was hoping for. I'm not sure how much effort the two of you have put into the case so far." Hansard stared down his nose at her, brown eyes haughty, and Valkyrie face heated with anger.

She shifted, baring her teeth, ready to spit angry words in Kray's smug face, until she felt Skulduggery bony fingers around her arm, physically pulling her back a fraction.

"Valkyrie," he said, so low and with so little movement that only she noticed. His voice was a warning.

She started, as if jolted by electricity. A rush of cool washed over her, extinguishing her anger and the heat blasting through her body, as suddenly as it had came. She blinked, stunned. Hansard was staring at her if he had expected this, and so she felt no need to apologize. Even with the random rush of anger gone, he was still rude and smug and awful.

"I'd suggest you'd make a move on the case. Before it is too late." Hansard said smoothly, and his hologram's eyes flicked towards where Skulduggery's hand still held her. Skulduggery didn't let go, and instead turned to look directly at him.

"We will manage this case as well as we always do, Kray, and we will have your cargo back to you in a few days time."

"Thank you," Hansard said coolly, and his image flicked off without another word. Skulduggery let go of her arm.

Valkyrie resisted the urge to make a rude gesture towards the spot where his hologram had been. She sighed, angrily, and turned to Skulduggery.

"God, he's turning out to be exactly like his dad. Rude and pompous and a…" She trailed off, making a frustrated noise. "I hope he gets fat and ugly like him, too."

Skulduggery tilted his head, looking completely thrown. "Where is this coming from? I didn't think you hated him quite this much."

"That was before I had to work with him," she answered, deciding not to mention her random flash of anger.

"So it has nothing to do with him not taking your number?"

"No. And don't talk about that," she snapped.

"Yes, dear, sorry, dear." Skulduggery said quickly and Valkyrie struggled not to smile, pressing her lips together to keep one from escaping.

"I can arrange this so you don't have to talk to him anymore..."

"No, no, it's fine. I want to see the look on his face when we finish this case and he has to pay me all of that money. I want that money. And his watch. Can we ask for his watch?"

"Why on earth would you want his family's watch?"

"Because then I could pretend I stole it."

"Or you could actually steal it."

Valkyrie gave in and laughed. It was tempting. She pulled her hair out of her eyes.

Skulduggery traced the movement, his skull tilting to the right as her arm dropped back to her side. "What is that?"

"Huh?"

"On your wrist," he said, grabbing her arm again. She winced, trying to pull out of his grasp.

"Nothing, really."

Skulduggery pulled her towards him gently, and pulled her sleeve back. He cupped the back of her hand with his own, and raised it to his face. She looked away as he examined the bandage stuck to the pale skin of her wrist.

"Did you get attacked by a mugger again?"

"What?"

"You're healing it the mortal way. Why?"

"Because it won't heal the magic way," she muttered.

Skulduggery's eye sockets peered over her curled fingers. "And why didn't you tell me you had a wound that wouldn't heal?"

"Because I wanted to relax for two days," Valkyrie muttered, hanging her head.

Skulduggery sighed. "May I?"

"Go ahead."

He pealed off the large band-aid with a caution that came with someone who wasn't used to them, and revealed the large bruise beneath. It had colored rings, and looked like she had used her wrist as a hammer. And then was bitten by spiders. Ten spiders.

Skulduggery had gone silent, and it then that Valkyrie realized she really should have said something before, when she realized the bite wasn't going away as it should. He recognized it. And that was not a good thing.

"…How bad is it?" She asked, wince in her voice.

"Um."

Valkyrie's forehead crumpled. "I really don't like the sound of that."

"No, it's not… it's not, ah, deadly, it's just… I don't know how to say this."

"Say what?"

"…Um."

Valkyrie took her wrist back, and hid the wound with her sleeve, as if it would make it go away. "Just explain. Tell me the whole thing."

Skulduggery still looked awkward. He held a hand to his forehead, as if pinching the bridge of a nose that no longer existed. "Give me a second."

"Just say it!"

Skulduggery exhaled. "Do you remember when we hunted down Ed Stynes in April?"

"Yes," Valkyrie said, not liking where this story was going.

"You're not a werewolf," he said quickly, and she sighed with relief. "But, ah, do you remember what I said about werefish?"

"…Uh huh."

"The thing," Skulduggery said, moving his hand through the air as he spoke, "about werefish, is they have more than one name. The mortals had chosen a different one when they had discovered the legend, and, despite some mage's beliefs, they do have a profound influence on us. So that name stuck, and the word 'werefish' faded to obscurity. But it was still accurate. They shared traits with werewolves, a similar transformation from human to hybrid, that hybrid being a combination of human and animal. It was accurate. But it was just that it wasn't the most attractive name, and it fell out of favor. I wasn't lying to you that day. Werefish exist, and…" He trailed off. She could hear him swallow. "And you happened to be bitten by one."

Valkyrie felt herself going very, very pale. "And the mortal name for werefish…"

"...Is mermaid, yes."