21

THE ANNOYING TRUTH

Valkyrie looked at Skulduggery, right in the eye sockets, shocked that he would say something like that. Tunica looked at him as well, thinking he had completely lost it. He moved his hand, putting it in his pocket, and began to speak again. "It all makes sense now. I should have seen this coming."

"Skulduggery," said Tunica, "Have you lost that mind you never had?!"

"I agree with the ice princess here," said Valkyrie, "What on earth are you talking about?"

"Valkyrie, touch Tunica," said Skulduggery.

"What?" everyone shouted.

"Are you trying to kill her?" said Ghastly and Tanith simultaneously.

"Valkyrie, listen to me," insisted Skulduggery.

"I'd rather be a snow woman than have Cain here freeze over…" started Tunica when Valkyrie touched her arm. Tunica gasped and Valkyrie immediately recoiled her hand, but then noticed something happened. Tunica looked at her arm and watched the ice melt away. Mikhail stood up and looked at this phenomenon. Tunica realized how quickly the ice was melting and ran to the back room. Everyone looked at her. Valkyrie looked at her hands and then at Skulduggery. She then walked back into the room with a trench coat on and a set of gloves. "Sorry, just wanted to be safe than sorry. I just realized my clothes burnt off when I caught on fire."

"And the gloves?" asked Tanith.

"Symbols on my hands and arms that can kill. They're symbols representing curses and plagues. Believe me; you don't want to see them," said Tunica grimly. "Skulduggery, how…what…? You're not telling me something and I don't appreciate that."

"Neither do I," said Valkyrie folding her arms.

Skulduggery sighed. "You remember Gordon, right?"

"The author? Yeah, I remember him. He died a few years ago and I went to the funeral with you…"

"You went to his funeral?" said Valkyrie.

"Yeah, I…look, what does he have to do with this?" said Tunica waving her hands up and down.

Mikhail's eyes went wide. "He was an Ancient."

Tunica's eyes then went wide. She looked at Cain. "She's…she's…she's…"

"Yes," said Skulduggery.

Tunica put her arms down and went deep into thought. She stood perfectly still. Valkyrie looked at Skulduggery. "I'm confused."

"I would first suggest touching Mikhail and Angel before I explain."

She ran up to Mikhail and touched him. His arms and hands went back to normal. He looked at Cain. "Thanks."

"What about Angel?" said Ghastly. Skulduggery looked at the floor. "I think he may be slowly travelling to the centre of the earth."

Mikhail looked at the floor and put his hand on it. He whispered a few words and moved. Angel came crashing in. He landed in the chair he was sitting on and looked at everyone, sighing. "That was interesting."

Valkyrie went up to him and touched his arm. He looked at her. "Um…huh?"

"She's an Ancient," said Mikhail.

He looked at his brother. Then at his sister who was standing extremely still, her arms dangling and her shoulders sagged a bit. "I see Tunica is taking it well."

Tunica then stood up straight. Her antennae began to move.

"What's wrong?" asked Tanith.

"Someone's outside," said Tunica grabbing her gun.

She then dropped it and held her antennae and screamed.

"What's happening to her?" asked Valkyrie.

"Something, I don't know, high pitched is irritating her antennae. We can't hear it at that pitch, but she can. You know, like a dog whistle," said Skulduggery grabbing his gun.

"You-you did not just compare me to a dog!" she shouted.

"Angel," said Mikhail.

Angel touched the floor and hesitatingly made the floor invisible. It spread to the door and showed who was outside. It was a woman. She had a light blue dress on that was sleeveless. She had blond hair that looked darker in the night time and on her arms were markings that made an unusual pattern. Angel lifted his hands up and stood. "It's Annoya Ring."

"No, eh," said Tunica sarcastically, "I didn't get that."

She then let go off her antennae and moved quickly out of the way as the door exploded open. "Hey!" shouted Ghastly.

Annoya Ring walked up to the shop and splayed her arms. Everyone feel to their knees holding their ears as noise filled the shop. Tunica tried to reach her gun but it was too far. Annoya Ring walked in and stood on her hand and Tunica screamed. "So sorry, but no guns allowed in this party. Enjoying the music, I hope," said Annoya Ring in an annoying high pitched voice that made Valkyrie's ears hurt even more.

"Go…go…to…" tried Tunica but the noise was too much.

"What's that? I can't quite hear," laughed Annoya Ring.

Tunica rolled over on her back and looked as though she would pass out. Valkyrie tried to summon flame but with the noise in the room, it was impossible to concentrate. Skulduggery and Ghastly tried to stand but the noise grew and they fell back to the ground. Tanith tried to get to her sword but it was too far away. Jack seemed to be short circuiting. The metal-part of him couldn't take the noise.

Tunica then opened her eyes and looked at Annoya Ring. She reached for her gloves. She took them of and threw them to the ground. She then stood up quickly and showed Annoya Ring the symbols on her hands. Annoya Ring screamed and covered her eyes. She stumbled into a chair as the noise stopped. Everyone stood up and armed themselves. When Annoya Ring looked up, she found herself staring into guns.

"Really? Did you think that would work?" said Tunica putting her gloves back on.

Annoya Ring merely grinned. "Did you?"

And in through the broken door crawled millions of cybertronic spiders. They crawled up to everyone. Skulduggery, Ghastly and Valkyrie fried as many of them as they could but there were too many. Angel looked at Annoya Ring. "Complements of Metro. Do you like them?"

Tunica was about to shoot at them when she realized it was a better idea to keep Ghastly's shop in one piece. She wasn't really happy with using her powers again either so she just decided to tackle Annoya Ring instead. She jumped on her but she moved. Tunica ran after her and out the door.

As everyone tried to stop the spiders, Mikhail reached for the potion he was making and grabbed the pot. He told everyone to move and he splashed it everywhere. They watched as the spiders began to slow down. They all then stopped. Everyone looked at him. "It slows down time. We, thankfully, aren't affected."

"Cool!" said Tanith.

There then came a scream from outside.

They went to the door and saw Tunica fighting with Annoya Ring. They both used spells and charms until they knocked each other over. Tunica skidded and hit the stairway in front of Ghastly's shop. Annoya Ring grinned. "See you Friday." And she disappeared into thin air.

Tunica sighed. She rolled over and heaved herself up. She looked at everyone. "I would like you to meet Annoya Ring, the most annoying person you'll ever meet! Besides me, of course. Now, can we go home? I really need I cup of coffee and sleep."

Evey heard of the movie, "The Inconvenient Truth"? Yeah, that's where I molded the name of the chapter from