37. Friends, Part 3

Day 3

This time, Joshua wasn't staring at her when she woke up. Valkyrie was pretty relieved; she had worn a t-shirt and flannel pajama pants to bed just to be sure. She stumbled downstairs, the aftertaste of sleep still lingering in her mouth.

In the kitchen, she grabbed an apple before sitting on the counter. Joshua came in through the door a minute later, holding a bagel and a fresh cup of coffee.

"Morning!" He said cheerfully, sitting down at the table.

"Mmph." Valkyrie mumbled, leaning over and taking his coffee. She drank the whole thing in two gulps, and tossed him the empty cup.

"Hey, I payed for that!"

Valkyrie rubbed her eyes, shaking the last dregs of sleep from her head before responding.

"I needed it more." She jumped off of the counter, and turned to leave. Joshua got up as well, looking down at her. She had to restrain herself from pushing his head down so they were looking eye-to-eye.

"Hey, how old are you?"

Valkyrie ignored him, and stepped to the side. He blocked her. She sighed. She could just shove him into the wall like yesterday, but she did just drink his coffee and she was still a bit tired.

"22."

"Really? I thought you were my age, 27."

Valkyrie pushed past him.

"And that five-year age gap makes you even more of a creep."

Joshua just laughed, and put his arm out before she could leave for work.

"You aren't actually going to leave in your pajamas, are you? Crazy girl."

Valkyrie was too busy running upstairs to slug him, but she did retort, "Too crazy for you" as she raced out the door.

Valkyrie ended up getting to the office at eight. Skulduggery wasn't there yet, and as she fished through her pockets she realized that she had left her keys on the kitchen table. She groaned. Why hadn't she listened to Skulduggery when he tried to teach her how to pick locks all those years ago?

She slid down and sat on the floor in front of the office. Valkyrie sighed audibly, and closed her eyes. Just then, she heard footsteps and a familiar voice.

"Pretty girls shouldn't sigh like that. What's wrong, beautiful?"

Valkyrie cracked an eye open, and glared at Joshua.

"What're you doing here?"

The boy smiled, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

"Well, I was bored, and I wanted to see where you work, so I followed you here."

Valkyrie closed her eyes again and leaned her head back.

"Well, you aren't welcome here."

She heard a click, and got up to see Joshua waving a bent paperclip in her face.

"I'm not welcome here?"

Valkyrie rolled her eyes and pushed the door open.

"Fine. Do you take your coffee black or with cream?"

"What can you do, anyways?"

Joshua tilted his head from where he was on the couch. Valkyrie elaborated.

"I mean, you're an adept, right? So what can you do?"

Joshua scratched the back of his head.

"I can take people's faces."

Valkyrie stared at him.

"What the hell?"

Joshua amended his statement.

"N-no, not like that! I mean that I can shapeshift for like an hour at a time. Like, I can change into somebody else, but only people I've seen before and know their names. I can also mimic voices if I've heard it before."

Valkyrie thought about it for a moment.

"Then, can you do Skulduggery?"

Joshua didn't look too pleased with the idea, but he nodded. He closed his eyes, and suddenly his flesh was melting and burning, revealing the bone underneath. His bones slowly stretched and grew, so that he was a little taller. His cheekbones got sharper, and then Valkyrie was staring at Skulduggery. Wearing Joshua's clothes. Valkyrie never thought that she would see Skulduggery in jeans.

"There." Joshua said. Valkyrie met his eyes, startled. His voice was low and smooth like Skulduggery's.

Skulduggery- no, Joshua- laughed.

"I told you that I could mimic voices."

Valkyrie rolled her eyes, and got up to shove him. He grabbed her arms as she pushed him, and pulled her towards her. The unexpected tug made Valkyrie lose her balance, and she ended up sprawled on the couch right next to him. Her head was smushed into his sweatshirt, and she noted that even though he looked like Skulduggery he smelt like coffee and tangerines instead. And, though he looked like a skeleton, he still felt like himself.

She heard the familiar click of the office door open, and frantically sat up. Skulduggery just stood there without saying anything. He silently stepped towards Joshua, then slammed his fist into the other sorcerer's stomach. Joshua groaned, and his skin crept over his bones until he looked liked himself again.

"I thought you knew better than to trust lookalikes of me."

Valkyrie glared at Skulduggery, though the effect was dulled by her blushing.

"Skulduggery! You knew it was him! You just felt like punching him, didn't you!?"

Skulduggery shed his coat and left it on the desk.

"Eh. Something about his face just makes me want to hit him, that's all." He pointed to Joshua. "Out."

Joshua stayed seated.

"I can't get up... I think you busted my spine, too..."

Skulduggery sighed.

"Fine. You can stay there, but no distracting Valkyrie."

Valkyrie started protesting, while Joshua silently cheered.

"But-"

"No buts. Did you finish the paperwork last night?"

Valkyrie thought about it.

"Well, no, but you did it for me, so..."

Skulduggery fiddled with the bottom of his dress shirt.

"So Joshua can stay. Anyways, we're supposed to pick up your jacket, aren't we?" (AN: pretend that Ghastly's alive)

Valkyrie jumped up and ran out the door. After a few seconds, she popped back in.

"Hurry up! Aren't you two coming?"

It started raining as soon as they reached the parking lot. Joshua tried to give Valkyrie his sweatshirt, but Skulduggery glared at him and plopped his hat on her head instead. When they reached the Bentley, Valkyrie and Skulduggery took their respective seats. Joshua stood right outside, the rain making his hair stock to his forehead. Valkyrie glanced at Skulduggery. He sighed, and unlocked the car doors.

Joshua slid into the seat behind Valkyrie.

"Seat belts," Skulduggery reminded them.

The rain made a soothing rhythm against the roof of the old car. Valkyrie found herself watching the light reflected in the raindrops on the window. It was lovely, all the golds and reds and greens. She rolled down the window, and stuck her head out. The air was cool and it smelled like the earth. Little droplets of water slid down her eyelashes, and she smiled.

"It's beautiful," she said.

Skulduggery gave a small nod.

"Yes, you are," Joshua agreed.

Valkyrie ducked her head back in, blushing. There was a lot of traffic ahead; some kind of commotion. Suddenly, the car stopped. Valkyrie looked to Skulduggery, who was getting out of the car.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

Skulduggery pushed through the crowd, and Joshua and Valkyrie followed after him. When they reached the edge, Joshua threw up next to her.

"There's been a murder."

Three girls. All siblings, walking back home from grade school. They had just happened to go into the sweet shop when it was being robbed, and the thief had shot all of them.

It didn't make Valkyrie feel any better to know that the culprit gad been caught and arrested, or that he was to be tried the next week. Joshua tried to make her feel better, and Skulduggery gave her his coat along with his hat, but she ignored both of them.

The whole car ride back, she didn't say a word. The Bentley suddenly felt too small and stuffy for three people. She made Skulduggery stop the car halfway and got out to walk. Valkyrie trudged back to Skulduggery's house alone, kicking at pebbles. The rain was just grey now, grey and cold and washed everything away. Like the little girls' blood.

What was she thinking? There was never anything good without something bad.

She got back to the house long after the rain stopped and went immediately to her room. Joshua tried to hand her a cup of hot chocolate, but she pushed him away and didn't look back.

She didn't need any more rain in her life.

I don't know how clear this chapter was. It ended up a lot longer than I had planned...

-ravenwings52