Tunica was quiet, until she sneezed.

"Bless you," said Valkyrie.

"Thanks," said Tunica wiping her cold nose.

Valkyrie and Tunica were sitting on the park bench watching the young people skate on the frozen lake. Valkyrie was wearing a scarf with her black outfit. Tunica wore a scarf too with a black jacket, a skirt and stockings. She also had her black boots on. It was cold and there was snow everywhere. The couples that skated together cuddled up to stay warm. They smiled as they skated. Tunica had a sip of her coffee. She looked at Valkyrie.

"What's up?" she asked.

"What do you mean?" asked Valkyrie looking at Tunica.

"You seem awfully quiet and I annoy people when they're quiet. I always want to know if I can help."

"I'm fine. Cold, that's all."

Tunica looked at her. Valkyrie sighed. "Why do you do what you do?"

"Okay, you've lost me. Actually, you never had me."

"Why do you save the world and beat up bad guys when all it gets you is…pain. There's no fame or fortune in it so why do you do it?"

Tunica looked out at the young people skating, trying hard not to make eye contact with Valkyrie. "Well, why do you do it?"

Valkyrie went quiet. She didn't quite know how to put it.

"I'm quite sure you do it for the thrill, right?" Tunica said looking at her.

Valkyrie looked up. Tunica smiled. "Well, you're a kid, and I don't mean that in a bad way, so of course you do it for the thrill. I do it because…I don't know, actually."

"You don't even know?"

"I suppose I do it because it's the right thing to do. If you have the power, I say use it. I used to do it for the thrill but now, because I'm older, I do it because it's right," Tunica took a sip of her coffee and got up. She stretched.

Valkyrie looked at her, curiosity playing on her face. She found Tunica a very strange person. Then, they saw the couples screaming. They all skated away as the Twins came skating passed at lightning speed. Tunica sagged and growled. "Man, here we go again."

The Twins waved at them and skated passed. Skulduggery was following behind them, skating too. He looked weird, wearing his normal suit with disguise off and on skates. Tunica nearly laughed.

"Well don't just stand there," he said to Valkyrie and Tunica. "I could use a hand here."

Valkyrie and Tunica ran for the changing area and found two pairs of skates there. Tunica snapped her fingers and the skates appeared on her feet and in their spot where they were came her boots. Valkyrie scowled, cursing herself for not knowing that spell.

"We'll slow them down. Catch up and catch them," said Tunica as she skated onto the lake. She caught up with Skulduggery.

The Twins were fast, even on ice. They managed to dodge Tunica and Skulduggery's fire balls, but they weren't that far ahead. The two of them were up in front and Skulduggery and Tunica close behind. Valkyrie was behind them, trying to catch up. She had skated on ice before but was much better at swimming than skating. She was hoping she wasn't going to relive her broken leg which she got the last time she tried to skate. Tunica jumped ahead and landed heavily on the ice. It looked as though it would crack. She was skating in front of the Twins and turned around, skating backwards now. She clicked her hands and flames appeared in her hands. She pressed them in front of her on the ice and then skated away. The Twins jumped up and missed the two holes in the frozen water. Tunica cursed. She hated it when that happened. The three of them skated past the holes, Valkyrie just missing the edge, and tried to catch up again.

Now it was the Twin's turn. Out nowhere, a huge hole appeared in the ice in front of Tunica. She couldn't avoid it in time and fell in. Skulduggery and Valkyrie skated past the hole and stopped themselves. They skated up to it and called to Tunica. Her head splashed up out of the freezing water and she gasped for air.

"Cold!" she managed to shout out.

"Valkyrie, stay here with Tunica. I'll…" started Skulduggery when Tunica shouted out. "No! G-go and c-c-catch them to-together. I-I'll catch u-up. GO!"

Skulduggery and Valkyrie looked at each other and they skated after the Twins. Tunica shivered, took a deep breath and disappeared into the ice.

Skulduggery and Valkyrie tried to catch the two of them but one of them, the woman, had disappeared in all the confusion.

"Guess we're just going to have to settle with him," said Skulduggery.

The two of them caught up with him and Skulduggery went faster. He jumped up and onto Jess. He flung him off after a quick struggle between the two and Skulduggery went flying into the snow.

Valkyrie slowed to a stop. Skulduggery looked up, lying flat on the ground. Valkyrie grinned.

"I thought you were supposed to be graceful," she said trying not to laugh.

"We'll talk about this later. Try and catch him. I'll catch up as soon as I can feel my legs again," said Skulduggery. And with that Valkyrie went skating again.

She was far behind him. She wouldn't be able to catch up and it was getting close to the edge of the lake so he would be able to escape. Even though it would be hard to run away in skates, she was sure he would find a way. She put her hands behind her and concentrated. She splayed her hands and flew towards Jess as the air rippled behind her. The two collided with each other. They flew across the ice. He got up quickly, surprisingly and tried getting to his feet. Valkyrie got up and clicked her fingers. She summoned flame and hurled it at Jess. He fell backwards. He got up again and looked at her with bitter, angry eyes.

"Alright; no more mister nice guy," and was about to throw something, that almost looked like a black rock at her, when a hand burst through the ice and grabbed his arm. It pulled him down and Valkyrie could hear the bone crack in his elbow. He howled. Tunica jumped out when the hand disappeared and Skulduggery skated up to the three of them. Tunica was shivering and drenched in ice cold water from head to toe and Skulduggery was wobbling trying very hard to stand. Snow covered the top of his hat. He shook his head and the snow fell off.

"W-what h-h-happened to y-you?" asked Tunica, her body vibrating.

"Hit a really big rock in the snow," he said barely. "Jess…what ever your last name is, you're under arrest."

"Bloody cops," Jess managed to say and fell over, unconscious.