A/N If you don't like long author's notes, look away now.

OMG! I'm so, so, sorry! I know, 3 weeks is unforgiveable. If I actually still have any readers, I apologise a million times over. My personal life sort of exploded. End of middle school, goodbye-presents for four of my best friends, a ton of homework, my birthday (happy birthday to me!) and about a million other things all happened at once. But I have some great news! It's the holidays! So I can update way more regularly :) To make up for my ridiculously long absence, I give you a ridiculously long chapter :)

I'm going to try and write a Christmas fic, so look out for it :)

One other thing; I spent a few minutes planning each chapter. This will a) help prevent writer's block b) make everything more exciting and with more action. So good news for you :) This chapter may seem a little like a filler, but it's really important to the plot. And Skul's plan will be revealed next time :) :)

Enjoy :) :) :)

Chapter 12

A spark leapt, twisting in the air and growing into a flame that flickered and danced in the air.

Skulduggery flicked his wrist, and the flame in his hand went out. Kitty blinked, shaking her head to rid herself of the hypnotic trance the flickering fire had put her into.

"Now you try," Skulduggery nodded. Kitty looked to Valkyrie for help, but she was staring at her just as expectantly as Skulduggery was. Well, as expectantly as Skulduggery would stare if he could.

Swallowing, Kitty held out her hand hesitantly.

"Just click your fingers," Valkyrie instructed gently.

Kitty focused all of her concentration on her fingers, until she was barely aware of Valkyrie beside her. She was about to click when she had another idea, and closed her eyes.

She tried to feel the heat of her skin, the energy and magic. It was in there. She just had to unleash it.

Her fingers snapped, and a tiny spark appeared and grew, until Kitty could feel the heat on her face.

She opened her eyes and gasped. There was a small inferno burning in her hand, and beyond it she could see Valkyrie grinning at her.

To her surprise, Kitty realised that she was grinning back, even more than Valkyrie. Holding a flame in her hand was so much more exciting and overwhelming than she'd realised. Then again, so much had happened in the last few days, she was sort of used to being overwhelmed.

She rotated her hand, trying to see if the flame would stick to it. It did. Kitty laughed.

There was a sound behind her and she jumped, whirling around and instinctively bringing her hands up.

The fireball launched itself through the air, heading straight towards a certain skeleton.

Skulduggery ducked just in time, but he didn't quite get down low enough. The fire hit his hat and caught.

Valkyrie cracked up laughing behind Kitty as Skulduggery tore his hat off and raised a hand over it. Water droplets appeared and rained down on the ruined hat, putting out the fire.

Kitty's hand was over her mouth, and her eyes were wide.

Skulduggery glared at her.

Kitty swallowed.

"This was my favourite hat!" Skulduggery scowled grumpily, holding up the blackened material accusingly. "Do you know how hard it is to find a good-quality hat? This could've lasted me for years!"

"Sorry," Kitty muttered.

Skulduggery still glowered at her, and probably would've said more, but Valkyrie stepped forward and out a hand on his arm. She was still trying not to laugh.

"Leave poor Kitty alone, she didn't mean to. It's your fault for startling her."

Skulduggery sighed wearily. "Why do young girls always attack my hat?"

"Because it's stupid," Valkyrie muttered. Skulduggery slowly turned his head to her. Valkyrie rolled her eyes.

"C'mon, let's just do the training."

Skulduggery turned back to Kitty, and gazed at her silently for a few moments.

"What?" Kitty said self-consciously.

Skulduggery tilted his head. "You seem to have an unusual talent with air magic. Maybe we should stick with that for now."

Kitty nodded in agreement. Setting fire to something else didn't seem like a good idea. "So what are going to teach me?"

XxXxX

Valkyrie soon got bored of watching Skulduggery show an uncertain Kitty various air techniques. She tapped Skulduggery on the shoulder and pointed to the kitchen. He nodded once, and tilted his head in that exact way that meant he was smiling at her. Something fluttered inside her stomach, but she ignored it.

Valkyrie slipped silently into the kitchen, grabbing an apple. She ate as she wandered, looking around the house. She knew most of it by now, but there was always another living room hidden somewhere.

She opened a few doors and found herself standing in Skulduggery's study. Valkyrie wandered in. they didn't often come in here anymore. There was nothing they really needed it for.

She looked at a couple of books on the bookshelf, and wandered over to his desk. She opened a few drawers. There was only boring files.

Valkyrie opened another drawer, and found a stack of photo albums. She blinked. Valkyrie opened one, and saw a picture of Ghastly, Tanith, Valkyrie, Skulduggery and Fletcher on top of the Eiffel tower at night. That was the time Fletcher had teleported the five of them there for Tanith's eighty-fourth birthday.

A lump rose in her throat as she looked at Tanith's laughing face, and her arm slung across Valkyrie's shoulder.

She shook herself and flick through the rest, finding photo after photo of her friends. Some with China. Some before Fletcher. Some when Ghastly was a statue. The Requiem Ball, training sessions, random moments... Look, this one had Ravel and Echo-Gordon in it. And this one was of Valkyrie when she was twelve.

She finished that photo album, and looked at the others. They were just the same.

She opened the last album- this one looked the oldest- and was taken by surprise. There were no pictures of Valkyrie, or Ghastly, or Tanith, or Fletcher or even China.

The pictures in here were photographs of painted portraits. They all seemed to be of the same people; a tall, handsome man, a beautiful woman and a young girl.

Valkyrie paused on a painting of the three of them. The beautiful woman, who had long wavy auburn hair and warm hazel eyes, was sitting on the right. On the left was the tall man. He had a confident aura about him. His dark-brown hair was neatly cut, and his bright blue eyes were looking proudly and adoringly at the young girl in-between them.

The girl was about three or four years old. She had the brown hair and startlingly blue eyes of her father, and the warm, if childish, smile of her mother.

The three of them were obviously a family. With a shock, Valkyrie realised that she was looking at a photo of a painting of Skulduggery and his family, before he'd died. She wondered what the girls name had been. Emerald? Sophie? Anza? Ellia? Clara? Jasmine? Olivia?

The blue eyes looked familiar. Valkyrie was sure she'd seen them somewhere before…

"Valkyrie?" asked a velvety voice from behind her, and she jumped, twisting around.

Skulduggery saw the photos in her hand, and sighed softly. There was silence for a minute.

"Sorry," muttered Valkyrie, unable to meet his eyesockets. "I didn't mean to- I mean-" Her cheeks felt scarlet.

"It's alright," Skulduggery said gently, taking the album from her hand. "You don't need to apologise."

"What were their names?" Valkyrie asked hesitantly. For a moment she thought that he wouldn't answer.

"My wife," he said softly, "Was called Lillia Rosewit. A beautiful name, I always thought, and one that suited her. She was caring, kind, intelligent, beautiful and brave. Like you."

Valkyrie didn't know what to say. Did he really think that she was beautiful and brave?

"And then there was my daughter," Skulduggery continued, not taking his eyes off the picture. "She was too young to choose a name- only four and ten months when she died- but her given name was Katharine. We used to call her Kate."

Valkyrie smiled slightly. "That's a lovely name."

"Thank you," he replied, so quietly that she could hardly hear it. There was silence for a moment. Then the door creaked open.

"Can I come in?" Kitty asked, poking her head around the door.

"Yeah, sure," Valkyrie said distractedly. Skulduggery snapped out of his mood and started to clear the photographs up.

Kitty made her way carefully to the desk, stepping over files on the floor. She noticed the photograph and picked it up.

"Who's this?" she asked, examining it. "The woman's really pretty."

Skulduggery chuckled slightly as he closed the bottom drawer, and straightened up.

"'Pretty' doesn't do her justice. That's my wife and daughter, before they died," he explained, the tinge of sadness in his voice drowned out by the love.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Kitty muttered.

Skulduggery shook his head. "Don't be. Maybe when we're not in the middle of saving the world, I can show you a picture that Valkyrie's uncle gave me of her at this age," he teased. Valkyrie swatted his arm and glared.

"Don't you dare."

He tilted his head. "Kitty could show us a photo as well."

Kitty looked at the floor. "I don't have any," she admitted. "I was adopted when I was little, and I don't have any photos before then."

Valkyrie tilted her head, just like Skulduggery. "I didn't know you were adopted."

"Yeah, well," Kitty shrugged. "Not many people know." she paused. "Um, Skulduggery, I managed to float a few centimetres off the ground. What do I do now?"

Skulduggery tucked the photo safely away and turned to face her. "Show me then."

Kitty closed her eyes and took and took a deep breath. Her arms were by her sides, with her palms parallel to the ground. Her brow furrowed in concentration. She snapped her palms, and her hair whirled around her face as the air currents changed. Then slowly, slowly, she rose off the ground. Not far. Ten centimetres at the most.

Valkyrie was very impressed. Her friend really was a fast learner. How did Kitty learn to lift her own weight in one day?

"Well done," Skulduggery said. Kitty opened her eyes and lost her concentration. She yelped as she fell to the floor, just managing to get her legs underneath her in time.

Valkyrie started laughing again, and Kitty did too. She doubled up on the floor, clutching her stomach. Valkyrie soon joined her.

Skulduggery stood over them and shook his head. "Three year olds."

A/N Wow, it was hard to think of an ending for that. I need your opinion on something. Should this story have a happy or a sad ending? They're both equally exciting plots. I WILL update more regularly. In fact, I may actually have this story finished before Christmas. Lots of love to my wonderful reviewers. You keep me writing :) Although, more reviews are always welcome… ;)

SapphireShadowgirl