Disclaimer in Chapter one.

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Sarah Carter: HEWRO SARAH! :D Hehehe. I'm sooooo happy you liked it! And I'm sure you will LOVE this one, you are in the chapter after all ;) Love you 5Ever!

Chapter is dedicated to my bested bud Sarah Carter. Hope you like it ;) 3xxx


Chapter 12.

Autumn stumbled backwards, toppling over the back of the sofa and landing on her back awkwardly. The bracelet was still firmly wrapped around her wrist, as if it the serpent really was alive and was twisting itself around its prey to strangle it to death. Come to think of it, she is beginning to become fully aware of her dislike of snakes. Ghastly yanked her to her feet and this buzzing feeling was making her restless, causing a vase to smash onto the floor, shattering on impact. The elder sighed and tried getting his fingers underneath the trinket in attempt to pry it away from her skin – it was no use, she felt the cold taking over her and her mind began to feel dark, miserable… evil.

She could hear Valkyrie yelling at her, she was shouting something like… Stay in control, you control it not the other way round. Like that was supposed to help. The darkness was beginning to seep out of the bracelet now and she stumbled away from Ghastly, clutching her arm and shaking it. She didn't know why she thought that would work but she was panicking, people do stupid things when they panic. Autumn looked up to gaze at them, Valkyrie was still shouting orders, Skulduggery was buffing his gun as if this was her own fault and she should deal with the situation on her own; she briefly heard the comment, "She got into the situation, she can get out of it." Autumn growled and angry rose within her and she lifted her hand to shout at him but instead dark shadows shot towards him and hit him full on the chest which then threw him backwards over a small chair to hit the far wall, quite hard too.

"Skulduggery… I didn't…" she whimpered, that's it – this wasn't happening again not this time not ever. Somewhere inside her was that fire and it was bright and warm, the only thing that would rid of the darkness, or so she thought anyway. After a few moments of searching she felt the warm tingle spread through her and she welcomed it, embraced it and took control. Instead of the shadows whipping around her, they slowed and began to gently drift back into the bracelet – the only hint that she was using another power was the burning blue glow in her eyes.

"Well looks like you didn't need my help after all." Valkyrie just watched her gain control, completely ignoring Skulduggery who was clambering up off the floor.

Autumn blinked a few times and the bracelet loosened its death grip and returned to a normal item of jewellery. Whatever she did, she was in control of it now; she still felt the cool metal against her skin but all the dark thoughts, the misery was burned up by the fire within her and now she really understood the urgency of the situation. Autumn needed to train herself, she needed to become the dominant one – she needed to learn how to wield this power that surged through her.

Slowly, nervously, she looked up and forced a smile. The three of them were staring, Ghastly had his arms crossed and muttered "I told you she could do it." She was pretty sure she heard Skulduggery curse something rude to him but she ignored it. Valkyrie was staring at her; the only emotion she was expressing was surprise.

"I'm sorry… I should have listened to you but I didn't and I know… Your always right blah blah blah but I don't understand this world…" She paused and took a step forward and the detective took a step back. "But… I'm willing to learn, as long as you three will teach me…?"

The three of them stood silently for a moment before a large heavy knocking on the door could be heard. Without confirmation a young girl walked in, she looked the same age as Autumn but she couldn't be certain. The girl has light blonde hair and her eyes were the palest silver she has ever seen – she was slender and the most identifying characteristic she had were the light blue symbols and patterns that were tattooed into her skin, they spread from the very ends of her finger tips; up her arms and ended at her collar bones. On most people it would seem horrifying to Autumn but on this person – they seemed to work somehow.

"Aqua Moon! What have I told you about barging in here without me saying the words, come in?" The elder walked forward and the blonde girl shied away from him.

"I'm sorry Elder Bespoke… Sir. But I heard a smash and then a large bang; I came as quickly as I could to investigate…" Her voice was English like Autumn's and Skulduggery walked past her and towards Aqua.

"Why are you here anyway? Your China's student are you not? Aren't you supposed to be… sorting books or making tea?" The detective tilted his head at her and brushed some dust off his shoulder.

Aqua immediately tensed up, her fist clenched ready to strike. "I don't sort books skeleton or make tea… Actually sometimes I do but still I am a trained sorcerer. You idiot." From the facts she has gathered so far, she can tell the detective and her don't get on to well.

"Does he always do this? Wind her up?" Autumn whispered to Valkyrie who was now standing at her elbow.

"Well… Whenever she is around, yes." Valkyrie looked at her and smiled slightly, changing the subject. "Necromancy is a dangerous discipline, I know some things that I am willing to teach you but I'm not promising A* results."

"I'm not expecting A* results, I'm more of a B grade student." She grinned and Valkyrie laughed and rolled her eyes.

"Then I expect we will be just fine." The two of them turned their attention back to the two bickering children just in time to see Ghastly intervene.

"I'm going to bang your heads together in a minute if you don't stop arguing!" The elder raised his voice slightly as he puffed his chest up so he looked bigger, scarier.

Straight away Aqua returned to a normal bubbly state and completely ignored Skulduggery. "Actually there was another reason I came here… I can't quite remember what it was…" Aqua's attention swayed for a moment as she stroked her chin, imitating a beard. "It was something about cats… I think it was cats… Bats maybe… Rats?..."

"Tw—" Skulduggery was about to say before Ghastly stopped him.

"I have a feeling it wasn't that word."

Skulduggery shrugged, loosing complete interest in their petty argument. He will carry it on when Ghastly wasn't around.

"Anyway… how's your training going with China? I see you have added more tattoos." Ghastly gestured to her collar bones and the blonde girl immediately smiled.

"Yeah! They were done yesterday, I haven't started to use them just yet though but all my magic is strengthening, which is great. But China has been quite… I dunno, distant? It's like something really important is on her mind but every time I ask – she just smiles and changes the subject." Aqua stuffed her hands into her pockets and when Ghastly wasn't looking she stuck out her tongue at Skulduggery. The detective just stood there, tilted his head and walked away – standing beside Valkyrie.

"Well, I'm sure whatever it is – it will pass. China isn't one to dwell on a problem for long, she will solve the issue soon I'm sure."

To Autumn, she now saw the side of Ghastly who knew exactly what to say to make someone feel better, at first she was surprised to find Ghastly was in charge of something big, he didn't like ordering people around but as he spoke to Aqua… He became the person the blonde girl wanted him to be, and currently it was comforting.

While the two of them were talking Autumn whispered to Valkyrie, she had wanted to ask this question for a while now. "Are her tattoos… Magic or something?" it was a stupid question and she knew it but still she was curious to know the answer.

"Well—" Valkyrie began before Skulduggery interrupted.

"Aqua is an adept – her magic is wielded through the symbols etched into her skin, each symbol can be used as an offense or a defence tactic, for example some will hurl out shockwave energy and others will boost her speed or strength. Though unlike China she chose to show her tattoos, China's are invisible." The detective stood there, still as ever and the two girls gazed at him. Valkyrie rolled her eyes and looked back at Autumn.

"What he said."

Autumn smiled and looked back at the girl, her eyes still amazed her – in her opinion they resembled the moon because it reflected any light that hit them, giving them the appearance of a slight glow.

Aqua stood there and nodded, her hair bouncing over her face causing her to brush her fringe back. "I understand… I think…"

Ghastly's head slumped forward and he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Do I have to go over it again?"

"No… No I have it, if I forget which I will – I will get China to call you." Aqua smiled and bowed her head before leaving. The elder clicked the door shut behind her and locked it, making sure no one else strolled in without his permission. Ghastly turned and clasped his hands together, rubbing them.

"Right, where were we?"

Autumn stood there in silence as did Valkyrie. The only person who spoke was Skulduggery but that was no surprise, he always had something to say.

"Autumn was going to apologise for throwing me into a wall." The detective peered round his partner and tilted his head, waiting.

"You're a very hard man to like Mr Pleasant…" Autumn paused and sighed, tucking her ginger hair behind her ear. "My deepest apologies Skulduggery, I didn't mean to throw you into a wall…" She stepped in front of him and looked up with the sincerest of faces. "Next time I will aim for a window." She grinned and skipped over to Ghastly who was smiling.

Autumn could see the smile trying to spread across Valkyries face and Skulduggery just stood there, silent before he crossed his arms. "I have a feeling about you and I…"

"You do?" The red haired girl raised an eyebrow suspiciously.

"Oh yes. I now agree to training you in magic and in combat." He stepped forward, leaning over her. "But more in combat, it would be nice to show you that I'm better than you. Obviously I already am, but just in case you didn't already know. You're hardly the brightest button in the box."

Before she could retaliate, the detective strolled over to the door. "Well I would love to sit down and talk to you both but we have a job to do. Whoever this Ruess is, he want's you for a reason and it's our job, as detectives to solve this mystery." The skeleton unlocked the door and walked out; Valkyrie looked at Autumn and smiled.

"Sorry about him, he is a bit dramatic sometimes. I will come see you later." Valkyrie walked out the room and shut the door, leaving Ghastly and Autumn to talk.