When Lucia woke up, staring at the white wash ceiling with bright lights starting back down at her, she wondered where she was and why. Then she remembered – she'd just had an operation. An operation that involved taking out her heart, carving something into it, and then putting it back. She moved her head, and saw that someone was moving metal trays tinged with blood out of the room. She looked around a little more, and then slowly, tried to sit up. Her chest was warm, and ached, but it wasn't painful, just like Valkyrie had promised her, she hadn't felt a thing. The last thing she remembered was lying downand having a needle stuck into her arm, presumably containing anaesthetic, before falling asleep (and having a strange dream, this time about flying nyan cats taking over the world). She could hear voices in the other room for a moment, and then Valkyrie walked in.

"Wakeywakey,"

"Hi. Did it work?"

"Perfectly. Let's try it out, just to be sure. Misery, walk over to that widow." Lucia did nothing but look at her mother as Valkyrie nodded satisfactorily "Brilliant. See, I told you you'd be fine."

"You told me I'd be cut open."

"And so you were. Oh, here," Valkyrie reached into her pocket and pulled out a small plastic bag, "Take one of these. It'll help with the pain."

"I'm not in pain."
"You will be if you don't take one soon."

"You said the operation was painless!"

"I never said about after the operation. Now take the leaf."

"Mum… are those drugs?!"

"No," Valkyrie said, rolling her eyes "they're healing leaves. Trust me, you'll learn all about them once you start working with Jade and Kenspeckle. Just take it. Chew slowly and it'll last longer." Lucia took the packet cautiously and took one of the leaves out, looking at it. It looked like a mint leaf, but didn't smell or taste like it. She chewed slowly, as Valkyrie had told her, and then swallowed. It did seem rather refreshing. The ache in her chest, although it hadn't been overly bothering her, disappeared almost immediately.

"Good. You can get up and changed now."

"Changed?" Lucia questioned as she stopped up,

"Well you don't expect to be wandering around the Sanctuary in a hospital gown, do you?" Lucia looked down, and saw she was indeed in a hospital gown. A plain, respectable one. Valkyrie gestured for her to wait there, and then disappeared through the door, returning a moment later with a package. She held it out to her, and Lucia took it.

"What's this?"

"A present from Ghastly – Elder Bespoke to you. Open it." Lucia wondered by an Elder she didn't know would give her a present, but opened it anyway. Inside was a pale red jacket that faded to white from the elbows down, and a pair of dark blue trousers that looked like jeans. They were soft, exquisitely made for sure.

"Before he was an elder Ghastly used to be a tailor. He made them for you."

"He made them, for me? Why?"

"They're made of a special material. They're fire proof, bullet proof, you can't tear or rip them, they absorb impacts like punches or falls, and they very rarely get smelly or dirty. It's called protective clothing. To keep you safe."

"Why red and white?"

"Well, you're working in a medical bay. White and red are traditional. Go on, go and try them on. There's a bag of normal clothes for you to put on underneath in the corner over there. Remember to pull the curtain back around your bed – Clarabelle has a tendency of walking into the wrong room at the wrong time." With that, Valkyrie left, and closed the door behind her. Lucia looked down again at the clothes, and then turned and put them on the bed. Grabbing the bag, she pulled the bed-curtains shut and got changed. The jacket and jeans fit perfectly, like they'd been moulded to her shape. They were soft and incredibly comfortable. When she drew the curtains back and stepped out of the door, Valkyrie looked at her, and nodded approvingly.

"Red suits you."

"Thanks. I'll have to thank Ghastly. These are amazing,"

"He's a very good tailor," Valkyrie agreed, then she gestured for Lucia to follow her, and they walked further into the medical bay, where Jade and an old man that she recognised as Kenspeckle Grouse were stood talking – she'd been introduced briefly before the operation. When they noticed them approaching, they stopped, and turned to look at them.

"How are you feeling?" Kenspeckle asked her.

"Good," she nodded "Thank you."

"You're welcome," he replied, and then looked at Valkyrie "and you? Any injuries since I last saw you?"
"You saw me less than five minutes ago,"

"You could do a lot in five minutes."

"No, I have no new injuries." Valkyrie said with a sigh.

"I got them!" A female voice yelled excitedly before running in, tripping over a trolley and sprawling flat on her face with a groan.

"And that," Valkyrie said, "is Clarabelle." Lucia looked from the figure getting up off the floor with crazy blue electric hair, blood on her nose, and then turned to Valkyrie with a look that said 'are you serious?' Valkyrie raised an eyebrow at her daughter as Jade went to help Clarabelle up.

"Hi Clarabelle." Valkyrie waved, and Clarabelle grinned, blood slowly trickling down from her nose towards her mouth.

"Hi Valkyrie!" She said in a nasally tone, still sounding incredibly excited. Kenspeckle scowled as Clarabelle sat on one of the hospital beds, swinging her legs.

"We use more bandages on you than all the patients put together," he grumbled, and for a moment, Clarabelle looked emotionally hurt, before Jade passed her a wet cloth, and she began to wipe away the blood with it. Kenspeckle looked at her.

"Not broken, just bruised. We'll put some Cat's Claw on it to reduce the swelling. Try not to fall over for the rest of the day."

"Yes sir." Clarabelle replied, sticking out her bottom lip as if falling over had been all she'd been planning to do all day.

"Cat's Claw?" Kenspeckle turned to Lucia as she spoke.

"It's a medicinal plant," he explained "traditionally used for reducing inflammation in a disease called 'dengue'. Since then it's been modified to work on other injuries and diseases as a general anti-inflammatory. The vine has thorns that resemble cat's claws, hence the name."

"We'll get going now," Valkyrie said with a smile, steering the conversation away from the strange sounding medicine. "There's plenty of time for learning that stuff later. We'll see you in the morning. Thanks again, Kenspeckle."

"Not a problem," he said, trying to maintain a grouchy face, but a small smile still crept its way into the corners of his mouth. Lucia followed her out of the medical bay, waving goodbye.

"Have you thought about your name yet?" Valkyrie asked her as soon as they were out of the door.

"My name?"

"Your taken name. You have to have one before you can start working."

"But, I don't know. I like Lucia."

"So do I, but you can't keep it, no matter how much either of us likes it. You have to pick a taken name. By tomorrow if possible. We need to start training you right away." Lucia watched her mother glumly, feeling a little out of her depth.

"How did you pick your name?"

"Me? Well, Skulduggery said I had a talent for causing Cain – as in, causing trouble, and my dad was listening to 'Rise of the Valkyrie's' on the radio while I was thinking about it. It just seemed to fit, so I became Valkyrie Cain."

"It was as simple as that?"

"Well, no, not really. I was being held captive at the time I thought of putting the two together. But once I'd done that, I was free, and managed to get away."

"Captive? By who?"

"Our now Grand Mage. She wasn't back then, of course. China used to own a big library full or rare and ancient texts. One of a kind mostly. Irreplaceable. The Sanctuary used to go to her. Her magic means that to everyone, male and female, she appears to be the most beautiful woman on the planet. You instantly fall in love with her, which means, she often got people to talk to her, give her important information. If we had a lead running cold, it was China we went to for the latest rumours. In fact, her library was where I first started trying to do magic."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I was tried to move the pages of a book with the air, until Tanith found me and told me I should start smaller. From then on I practised with a paperclip." There was a moment of silence between the pair.

"Why isn't she there now?" Lucia asked. Valkyrie sighed through her nose.

"The library was blown up years ago by a rival of hers. She lost everything she had in there. All her books, her possessions, her dignity and… a few other things. She stayed out of society for a while, and then made a comeback when the Sanctuary needed a new Grand Mage. She was appointed, and she's stayed here ever since."

"Did any of the other Grand Mages make it this long?" Valkyrie thought for a moment.

"One did, but I only knew him for a short while before he was assassinated. After that, no. They all died within a year or two."

"So, why-"

"Why has China lasted so long?" Valkyrie finished her sentence with a small smile."It's very difficult to assassinate China Sorrows. As well as using her beauty to persuade people not to kill her, she's an extremely skilled fighter. There are symbolic defences everywhere in order to maintain maximum security. She's pretty, but she's not stupid."

"And the others were stupid?"

"No, the first wasn't. But he was getting very old. The others were. I mean, a friend of ours, Erskine Ravel, was the Grand Mage during the time when I had left, during the time when I met your father and had you kids, and he wasn't stupid. But he was very active, he didn't just order people to go on missions, he went on them with them, which meant he was in more danger than the other mages. He died before I came back and China took over from him." Lucia's head was swimming with thoughts of assassinations and dangerous missions. It was a conspiracy wrapped in death and destruction. She was beginning to realise why her mum had left in the first place, but, that question hadn't been properly answered, no by Valkyrie herself. But, there was also a better time and place for such questions, and this wasn't it.

"So, what do you think you'd like for a taken name?" Valkyrie asked her, steering the conversation back to the original topic.

"I don't know," Lucia mumbled. If she was going to be a healer, it would make sense for her new name to medical related. But she just couldn't think. A whole new name was like a whole new life. Was she ready for that? "What kind of names have other people taken?" It couldn't hurt to have a few examples…

"Well, everyone you've met here has a taken name. You won't find out their given names unless they tell you."

"Like, Magnus is really Alex."

"Yes, like Magnus. But I don't know Tanith's given name. Or Ghastly's. Or even Skulduggery's. They could be anything. Remember, people won't compare your old name to your new name – and there have been some pretty weird new names."

"Like, China Sorrows," Lucia said with a small smile. Valkyrie tilted her head.

"I was thinking more of people like The Torment, or Frightening, or even Vaurien Scapegrace and Thrasher."

"Those are actual people?" Lucia said sceptically, and was surprised when Valkyrie nodded.

"Yep, I've met them all."

"A guy called himself 'The Torment'. His first name is 'The'?"

"Yeah."

"That's stupid."

"Well then don't pick a stupid name." Valkyrie chuckled. "You have tonight and tomorrow morning to think about it. Take your time."

Lucia stared out of her bedroom window and sighed. Her mum had dropped her off, and she and her dad had had a 'little talk' again, before she left. After she was gone, he asked her how the operation went.

"Good," she had nodded, "there's no scarring or anything, and it doesn't hurt," which was partly true. It didn't hurt, but Valkyrie had only told her there wouldn't be any scarring. She hadn't actually checked yet. John looked worried about her, but plastered on a smile anyway. It only faltered when Carol was due to come home from a friend's house. He had pulled Lucia aside, and whispered quietly to her that he had told Carol about her dropping out of school, but that was all he'd told her. And Carol wasn't happy about it.

The three of them had sat in silence at the dinner table that night, Lucia trying to avoid her sister's stare whenever it came up from the ground. Carol ate quickly and disappeared to her room.

Lucia remembered watching her out of the corner of her eye as her sister stalked past her and hurried up the stairs away from them both. Her face had been blank, but her eyes had been furious. Carol didn't like not being in control. She didn't like not having all of the information. And she probably didn't like the fact that Lucia was allowed to drop school, and she wasn't.

Shortly afterwards, Lucia had retired to her own room, and now here she was, sat at the window, thinking about the evening, her sister, her new life, and most importantly, her new name. She had to think of one, and fast. But nothing seemed to fit. Sarah? No. Megan? No. She wanted it to be unique. Who could argue that 'Clarabelle' wasn't unique? Or 'Kenspeckle'? And no one could argue that 'Valkyrie' wasn't a memorable, individual name.

She sighed and was just about to pull away from the window when a small robin landed on a tree branch outside of her window. She watched it for a moment, analysed how its feathers were preened beautifully, its scarlet chest a speck of colour in the otherwise dull landscape as grey clouds drew in overhead. And then it spread its wings, and was gone, as the first drop of rain began to fall against the window pane.

She pulled away and retired to her bed, throwing the covers over her, even though she was fully dressed, and sank into the warmth. Valkyrie Cain suited her mother so perfectly, as if it should always have been her name.

As sleep overwhelmed her, she dreamt she was a large bird, soaring through the sky, a seemingly endless radius of buildings below her, vast blue sky above. And then, as the end of the buildings was in sight, the blue overhead turned to grey as if a shadow was standing over her, and a giant paw swept her out of the air, only when she span around to look, it was no longer a paw – it was a long vine with cat's claws growing out of it, making a mewling, hissing sound as they slithered and lashed around her. She flapped her wings furiously and snapped at the vines, only for the world to spin slightly. Her feet clenched automatically, and as she looked down to see what they had clenched on, she saw that she was no longer a large bird, and was in fact, very small. She could stand easily between the claws on the vine, and not get hurt. Out of danger, she spread her wings again, and took off.

Lucia woke up dazed (and slightly confused as to why she had not had her recurring cats-as-the-supreme-overlords-of-the-world dream), but as she rubbed her eyes, a small thought drifted away, the thought that the bird she had been in her dream was surely a robin.