Chapter 9
A/N I know the wait was too long, I'm sorry. I hope this chapter makes up for it. I promise to update at least once a week.
Beep
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The sound of Valkyrie's heartbeat reminded Kitty of her alarm clock, the morning before Skye came, before she learnt about magic.
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It felt like that was so long ago.
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She resisted the urge to smash this machine as well. Valkyrie's eyes were still closed. Skulduggery, Kitty and Leaf were standing around Valkyrie silently. Ghastly had to leave to do his duties as an Elder.
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After Skulduggery had finished explaining about the curse, no one spoke. Kitty was barely breathing. The silence was depressing. She desperately wanted to say something.
"When will she wake up?" she whispered. Leaf jumped at the sound of her voice. Skulduggery looked up sharply.
"Sorry," she muttered. Leaf smiled slightly.
Skulduggery relaxed slightly. "I don't know. Nye says that her body needs to get over the shock before she'll wake up."
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Kitty scowled. That beeping was so irritating…
Leaf grinned cheekily.
Leaf! She thought. Get out of my mind!
Sorry, he replied. She rolled her eyes.
Yeah right.
"What is it?" Skulduggery asked.
"What?" Kitty replied, confused.
"You rolled your eyes. Why?"
"Oh. Well, while you were gone, Leaf discovered a very irritating new power," she explained, glaring at Leaf. He widened his eyes innocently. "He can hear thoughts."
Skulduggery tilted his head. "Can you hear mine?"
Liaf blinked, like it hadn't occurred to him before. Then he shut his eyes and focused.
"Not really... vague feelings, like worry and love for Valkyrie... You... You're hard to read."
"And yet you can break into my mind with no problem," Kitty grumbled.
Skulduggery ignored her. "From what I know of Sensitives, it will be easier to read the thoughts of those close to you. You've barely met me; therefore my thoughts are hard to read. Kitty is your best friend, so her thoughts are easy for you to read." His tone was curious, but something else. Sort of... wary. Kitty could hear something else in it that told that it was probably a good thing that Leaf couldn't read his thoughts.
Leaf's eyes drifted over to Valkyrie. Kitty knew what he was thinking. Stephanie was their best friend. But they didn't really know Valkyrie.
Leaf? She thought timidly. I don't think Valkyrie would appreciate you trying to read her thoughts.
She felt him half-smile.
"What about you, Kitty? Have you shown any signs of magic?" Skulduggery asked, not taking his eyes off Valkyrie.
She concentrated, then snapped her palm. She was aiming for a breeze around Skulduggery, but her breeze became a gust that blew his hat off his head.
A counter breeze appeared, catching Skulduggery's hat and returning it to his skull.
"Don't try that again," he growled, stroking his hat protectively with a skeletal hand.
"Sorry," Kitty muttered, blushing.
Skulduggery turned to look at her for the first time since she'd come into the room.
"You're very good, for a beginner. Can you summon flame yet?" he asked.
Kitty concentrated as hard as she could, aware of Leaf and Skulduggery's eyes on her. She could do this. She could do this. Kitty focused, and clicked her fingers.
A spark leapt up, but nothing else happened. She sighed.
"I haven't been able to summon fire yet. I tried water, but there were only a few ripples."
"That's normal for a beginner," Skulduggery assured her. "But you seem very advanced with air."
Kitty could feel his non-existent eyes examining her. "I don't know why that is," she replied, trying not to sound nervous.
He opened his jaw, probably about to reply, when the evil-beeping machine started beeping faster.
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The three of them scrambled up to the side of Valkyrie's bed. Leaf's hands were white from clutching the side of the bed. Kitty didn't take her eyes off Valkyrie's face, but she didn't need to look at Skulduggery to feel how tense he was.
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Valkyrie groaned. Her eyelids fluttered, and then, finally, her dark eyes opened. Kitty squealed with happiness.
"Hey," Valkyrie croaked. "Miss me?"
A/N I am sorry about the wait. I have exams and assessments and assignments and sports tournaments that finish at ELEVEN O'CLOCK (On a school night) all dumped on me at the moment, but I am really trying my best! I know that this ff is progressing quite slowly, but that's because it's going to be long.
Some comments for my awesome reviewers;
Nello Orella- Your reviews are always so thoughtful, helpful and bring a huge smile to my face. I don't know how you manage to write such long reviews, but I really appreciate them. Thank you for taking the time and the effort :)
Shadowdawn199- Thanks for the comments. It's really helpful to have the constructive criticism and the support :) I get what you mean about Leaf's name, but I didn't want to change him too much. Kitty's name will be very different though
Justrockzyxxx-You just keep reviewing, and every review makes my day. Thank you for being my first reviewer, and sticking with the story :) And for being a fellow smiley face fan! :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)
Ezzie0215- I love your story, and all your reviews are kind and helpful :) It's so nice that you review practically every chapter :) Plus, you like my three fav book series- Percy Jackson, Heroes of Olympus, and SP. How could you be any awesomer? :)
Mockingjay98- Thanks for the review :) Sorry, no Leaf/Val romance. I have other plans for both of them ;)
Also, thanks to Carolina Blues (Her story, 24 hours, is awesome) and Summer Rosewood for reviewing :) I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
Wow, those all ended up way soppier (and longer) than I intended. Oh well. I should publish this now, so that you don't have to wait any longer.
Sapphire Shadow :)
