So, we're taking a bit of a break from romance for now :)

Thanks to Valkyrie Smith for this idea!

Val's 17/18

"Alice... Alice get away from my hat... Alice, I'm warning you! Alice! Alice!" yelled Skulduggery desperately, as Alice crawled closer to his hat.

He was at the mansion with Valkyrie and the rest of the Dead Men, except for Anton, who was stuck at the Midnight Hotel somewhere in Africa, and Alice. Valkyrie's parents had had to go abroad to America for a week, due to a death in the family, and although the death had been on Desmond's side and he wasn't very keen on the person to begin with, Melissa had insisted that they went out of respect. They had left Alice in Valkyrie's care. However, she and the other Dead Men were fighting boredom, so had arranged to meet up at the mansion, where they could amuse themselves.

That was why Alice was currently crawling gleefully towards Skulduggery's hat, where Valkyrie had tossed it on the floor, while the others watched on, amused. She reached the hat, and put it in her mouth as best as she could, and began chewing. Skulduggery let out a mournful wail, whilst the others laughed at his discomfort.

Half an hour later, when Skulduggery finally managed to prise his hat out of Alice's hands, and mouth, Valkyrie noticed Alice gazing at her building blocks. She picked her up and set her down in front of her building blocks, of which she had a few dozen. She looked at them, smiled, clapped her hands and pointed at Dexter. "Play!" she said happily.

Valkyrie laughed. "She wants you to have a competition with her," she explained to a confused Dexter. "Who can build the highest tower?"

"Me!" exclaimed Alice happily.

Dexter came over, and shook his head, determined not to be beaten by a one year old. "No, me!"

"Ready?" asked Valkyrie. Everyone gathered round.

"Three, two, one, GO!" she yelled, and they got straight to work.

Alice's strategy was fairly clever; she would make hers in a large pyramid shape, to ensure that it was secure. Dexter, however, stacked one block on top of the other, no matter how unstable it was.

Soon, he needed to stand up to continue his tower. Valkyrie checked her watch. "Thirty seconds left," she told them.

Alice needed to stand up now, too, and she was desperately trying to reach up and build her tower bigger. Ghastly kneeled beside her and gently lifted her up. She squealed in delight, now able to reach the top of the tower, and continued to build it up.

"Five seconds," called Valkyrie.

Suddenly, Dexter's tower collapsed, having gotten too high and being too unstable. He jumped back in surprise.

Valkyrie's watch beeped, at which point Alice's tower was much taller than Dexter's non-existent one. Alice cheered, and Ghastly put her down on the ground again.

Valkyrie scooped her up. "Alice you beat Dexter!" she cheered, and put her down in front of Dexter, who was starting to sulk. However, no grumpiness could survive against Alice's adorable face, and he soon was picking her up and swinging her around.

"What next?" asked Skulduggery, who had watched the whole thing with a skeletal smile.

Alice started squirming in Dexter's grip, and he quickly put her down, where she hastily crawled over to a couple of puzzle cubes, where the aim was to try and put the correct shaped block into the correct shaped hole, e.g. the pyramid would go through the triangle hole. She eagerly picked them up, one in each hand, and tried to crawl back to the others. She found that she couldn't, as her hands were full, so Skulduggery walked over and swung her into the air, carrying her back to the others, while Alice was laughing in delight.

Once she touched down on the floor again, she placed a cube in front of Erskine. "Race!" she said.

"You want to see who gets it done first?" asked Erskine.

"Yes!" said Alice.

"Okay, you're on," he said, determined not to lose, so he could rub it in Dexter's face.

"Three, two, one, GO!" said Ghastly, and Alice got to work, quickly putting in the correct shapes, working fast and efficiently.

Erskine, on the other hand, sat there confused, trying to fit a cube into a circular hole.

"It's not working!" he said, frustrated. Dexter and Saracen laughed at him, whilst Ghastly looked on in bewilderment.

"Erskine, you're Grand Mage of Ireland, and you can't even do a puzzle cube," Skulduggery remarked. Erskine grumbled nonsense at him.

Annoyed, and seeing that he was losing, Erskine took one of Alice's shapes and hid it behind his back, so she wouldn't be able to win. He got back to work on the cube, finally figuring out that it belonged in the square hole.

By this point, Alice was almost done, and was hunting for the final shape. The others, except for Erskine, helped her. In the end, it was Saracen who found it, thanks to his mystery magic, and he pulled it out from behind Erskine's back and popped it onto Alice's lap. She squealed again in delight, and put it in the final place on the cube.

"Winner!" she yelled. "Win, win, win, win, win!"

Valkyrie picked her up and spun her around. "Yup, you won again Alice!"

"Dexter Vex and Erskine Ravel... Outwitted by a one year old," said Ghastly, laughing. Dexter and Erskine just sat there glaring at everyone, particularly Alice.

Suddenly, Alice spotted her miniature rocking horse. "Play!" she squealed, and then pointed at Saracen.

Saracen gulped. "Uh, I'm not sure that I'd be able to fit on that, Alice..."

"You mean you're too fat to!" exclaimed Erskine.

"Oh yeah? Well, why don't you go sit on it, then?" Saracen challenged.

Alice laughed and nodded. "Play! Grand Mage play rocky horse!"

"Here we go again," Erskine sighed.

The next two questions are a bit longer than the others, so I'll ask them in separate updates.

Q21: What would be your dream cast of the main characters if a film was made? (you don't have to mention them all, just one or two ideas, or say if you agree with my suggestions)

Valkyrie: not sure, maybe Jennifer Lawrence.

Skulduggery: animated realistic skeleton, with the velvet voice of David Tennant.

Ghastly: Vin Diesel, he just needs scars and he's perfect.

Dexter: Theo James (OMG GOOGLE HIM, THEY ARE IDENTICAL! AND GORGEOUS!)

Anton: Ben Barnes (did anyone else see him as Prince Caspian? Hot hot hot! I know Anton's meant to be older, but, y'know, they can take a few liberties ;))

Saracen: Hugh Jackman (he is a spitting image of Saracen)

Erskine: no idea... Oh! Orlando bloom?

Tanith: Alicia Silverstone maybe. (She was awesome in Stormbreaker)

China: 100% Katie McGrath (she is perfect! Loved her as Morgana in Merlin; perfect hero turned villain)

Sanguine: Chris Hemsworth