Chapter 225

Valkyrie's POV

Kitana didn't waste time fulfilling Elsie's prediction. She'd had a call at barely past eight-thirty in the morning after getting only five hours of sleep fully clothed, though she had been wrapped around her fiancée at least. A sorcerer on watch saw a girl matching Kitana's description, and not long later, the receptionist called them that she had been logged in at registration along with the two boys.

She'd gathered whichever of her brothers had been home at the time, Erskine and Dexter once again, and they left with energy bars to eat on the drive over.

The school had seven foot high, deep green fencing around it, as most schools did in Ireland, and it was a nice one with a large grassy field in the back and big trees around the outskirts boarding onto a sheep field. It was a large school with over five-hundred Secondary students within. There were more in the entire school system though. In a separate building within the same grounds, there was a Primary school, a pre-school and a nursery, alongside the A-Level's program for people aged sixteen to eighteen. Overall, there were over a thousand children aged two to eighteen on the property, plus support staff and teachers, some of whom the receptionist told them were pregnant. In fact, the class Kitana and Seán were in first thing was taught by a pregnant woman.

Around the back of the school grounds was a supermarket halfway finished with some renovation, with a small car park in which they pulled up. Here, they found five people, their bodies torn apart and ruptured. Dexter muttered something under his breath and Erskine exchanged a look with Valkyrie before they went to the fence.

"It looks quiet," Erskine said quietly.

"We should wait. Reinforcement will be here in ten minutes," Valkyrie said.

"Yeah," Dexter agreed before climbing the fence. Valkyrie and Erskine followed quickly.

"It doesn't feel fair," Valkyrie said quietly, "that those people trained for probably their whole lives, and those three teenagers just woke up one day and were stronger than us all combined."

"Not necessarily," Erskine said with a smirk in his voice. "We can kick some pretty tough ass. There's no reason we can't kick theirs."

She threw him a Dexter-worthy smile. "I like your thinking."

They got across the back field quickly and assessed the large school. The building they were looking at was the assembly hall and P.E. department. Behind that, at the front of the property, was the actual classrooms. On their right was the attached Primary school. At the front of the Primary school was the nursery and Pre-school, with children aged as young as one to four. It wasn't that far from the Secondary school, but she supposed it would be difficult for the three teenagers to get over to those kids. The teenagers in classrooms near them were far more at risk, regardless of age.

"What's the plan?" Valkyrie asked as she continued the walk.

"We go in there and we evacuate each room as quietly as possible," Dexter told her.

"That's actually a good plan," Valkyrie nodded.

"On the surface, perhaps."

"It has very few details, like how to achieve it," Erskine finished for him.

"We could set off the fire alarm?" Valkyrie suggested.

"We don't want to cause any panic," Erskine said, shaking his head.

"They wouldn't panic at the fire alarm, surely?"

"They might be trigger happy, or maybe the running around would excite them," Dexter said. "I don't think that's a good idea."

"So, what, we knock on every door and ask every teacher?"

The men were silent and Valkyrie took that as a sign it was the plan.

It wasn't hard to get into the school as they could go around the back building and straight into the main building beyond. The school was split into three blocks from what they could see, though as they were B, C and D, she assumed there was an A block somewhere else. Meaning Kitana, Seán and Doran could be anywhere in those blocks. And each block was two stories. And not all of the classrooms had windows that could be climbed out of. They'd have to pick a block and hope.

They went for D block on the end, going straight for the first classroom. Dexter instantly opened the door and stuck his head in. The teacher turned around.

"Can I help you?"

"Can we have a chat outside, please?" Dexter asked with a smile. "Sorry to interrupt."

The man tutted and came outside, closing the door behind him. "What's this about?"

"My name's Daniel, I'm here as part of an emergency testing initiative. This is a surprise testing day, nothing to panic about, but we are testing your ability to deal with a real emergency. We need you to evacuate your class as soon as possible."

"I'm sorry, what? Did the headteacher send you? Why isn't he here?"

"Because this is a test and in a real emergency situation the headteacher wouldn't be with you, he'd be elsewhere. That's why we're here instead. Act as if we aren't though, we're just assessors," Dexter said cheerfully.

"Where's your visitor passes?"

"Mine's in my pocket. I don't mean to alarm you, but if you don't begin evacuating in the next thirty seconds, you're going to fail."

"What? Now just hold on there–"

"Twenty-five seconds."

"But where? To the first drill places?"

"In this type of emergency, you need to take the class silently to somewhere out of view of the school. Think a school shooter type situation, you don't want to be in view."

"A school – I could take them to the back of the school–"

"Not next to the car park 'round the back," Valkyrie said instantly.

He glanced at her and then to Erskine and back to Dexter. "Well, I could take them to the nature pond?"

"Sure, as long as it's far away from the school it'll be fine. Please begin."

Valkyrie nodded as the teacher went back inside and began telling his classroom in a quiet voice that they had to silently put their things on the table, put their blazers on and to follow him. Some kids started giggling and asking why, but he shook his head and Dexter pretended to look away as he mouthed it was a test and to be quiet. The class silently stood for the teacher, though there was a small giggle from one girl and their chairs were loud and their footsteps made a lot of noise.

Valkyrie left them and walked down the corridor, looking through the glass plane of each classroom. Three full classrooms and then she caught sight of a teacher standing ridged. She poked her head around to see some of the students and noticed they were tense, sweaty and pale. She backed away quickly.

"Erskine," she said under her breath. "They're in the last classroom. By the fire exit. Right there."

"Oh no," he said as some kid threw a bottle and it landed in the bin, getting his friends to jeer. "They're going to notice."

"Yeah. These guys need to be gone and we need to work something out."

"We could evacuate them through the windows?"

"The windows on this ground floor are actually one story up. It's, like, a hill build. Downstairs can get out the windows. And the fire exit has an alarm on it," Valkyrie said. "I'm not sure what we can do."

He was silent for a moment and Dexter came over. They repeated it for him. "We don't evacuate then. We act," he said.

"What's the plan?"

"Cloaking Sphere," he demanded, and Erskine looked at him blankly. "Erskine, I told you to get the Cloaking Sphere."

"I don't remember this."

"I literally told you. Valkyrie was there too."

"I was there, he did tell you to get it."

"You left to get it."

He shook his head. "I have no idea what you're talking about. I don't have it."

"Oh Christ," Valkyrie said as the last student left the hall and the doors closed behind them.

Dexter shook his head and put his hands together. "Right, we'll have to work suddenly before they notice. Opening the door and suddenly shooting one of them won't work, they might not know we're here yet but I doubt they're that delusional."

Valkyrie bit her lip. "I actually think it would work if I used my magic. But I don't know if I could knock them unconscious. I still keep frying people's brains or barely putting them on their knees or utterly killing them. But I could kill or fry whichever I see first."

"We're not killing them. Not until they try to turn on the other students."

"They have turned on the other students. I don't know what they're doing in there, but they're scared stiff. I say I open the door and kill one of them and dive back out before they get a chance to react and they'll be so mad the other two will come for us and not the students. That's what we want, right?"

Dexter and Erskine thought for half a second and then looked at each other. Dexter spoke again. "Try to put one unconscious. If it fries or kills them, that's how it is. But don't go for that. That's not our aim at all. Okay?"

She nodded once. "Got it. Just try to put them unconscious. Even though I don't think I've managed that without frying someone's brain yet. Sure."

The men nodded and got their guns out and stood behind a pillar each out of the way. Silently, Valkyrie crept up on the classroom and opened the door, let it swing in.

"Hmm? Who's there?" Kitana asked. "Teacher, whose there?"

Valkyrie was already hiding out of the way. He told Kitana there was no one there.

"What? Then why did the door open? Mr Teacher-Sir, why would the door open if someone wasn't there? Come in whoever's at the door!"

Valkyrie didn't do that but did hear as the teacher tried to bolt from the room only to get thrown into something and Doran then laughing.

Kitana began back with her speech, and Valkyrie peeked her head around the doorframe to look in. She could see Seán closest to the door with no one in front of him or around him. He'd taken a desk to himself and his partner was on the floor. She didn't think twice, just put her hand by her head and sent a shot of white power into the room and right into Seán's torso. He jolted once, getting Kitana to stop her speech, and then fell onto the floor.

"Seán?" Doran asked. "You okay bro?"

Seán didn't make a sound and Valkyrie couldn't be sure what that meant, but she really doubted no one noticed a bright light shoot in from the door so she stood and got herself ready. Out of habit she looked up at the ceiling. It was tall, almost as high as the ceilings at Grimwood Manor. She wanted to jump in the air and disregard the mortals that might see but was conflicted over if that was the right course of action. That was taken right out of her hands when Kitana flung her body around the door, her blonde hair swinging into Valkyrie. Kitana's eyes widened and she looked up at Valkyrie's blank face.

Then Kitana's pretty face screwed into one of annoyance.

"Oh. You."

Kitana was wearing Valkyrie's jacket.

Valkyrie punched Kitana in the face.

Doran was right behind her and came out with his chest puffed up and angry. His hands glowed and Valkyrie threw herself sideways to escape his onslaught of laser-like beams. They were thin, pale blue, not like her magic but still destructive. He looked like he was specifically trying to make them look cool rather than do the job, but then, he had natural power. Power Valkyrie couldn't dream of. It was almost awe inspiring, except he was evil.

Dexter and Erskine came out of hiding with their magic flying, trying desperately to take them out.

A student stood at the door, watching with their mouth open. She pushed him back in and screamed "Everyone get under the tables!" and there was a mad dash to get under. She then jumped over a boy and got to Seán, who was mumbling gibberish. She snapped shackles on him and left him there, jumping back out the door as soon as she could.

They weren't there. She ran to the double doors at the end of the hall and went back out into the courtyard between the main school building and the gym. Smoke rose from a scorch mark in the wood. She passed through and heard a crash. She ran into the gym building and found a door off its hinges and went through, finding her brothers, Kitana and Doran in the assembly hall. There was a flash of light and she heard Erskine cry out. She crouched behind some stacked chairs and looked through the gaps.

Erskine was on the floor with a deep glare on his handsome face, staring defiantly at the two teens. Dexter was on the other side of the room, hands up by his head. Kitana had her glowing hand facing Erskine and Doran's were on Dexter.

Kitana turned her head to Doran and scowled. "Would you please learn to aim?"

"Don't blame me," Doran said defensively. "I smacked my head when this guy threw me into the wall!"

Kitana turned to Erskine. "So what are you two? And that girl, isn't she our age? And that other guy from before, did we kill him?"

"We're the Dead Men," Erskine said without pain or hesitation. "We're a suicide team."

"So you're here to kill us?"

"No, we're here to stop you. Purely because we want to not kill you. That girl is your age. She's our sister. The other Dead Men are our brothers."

"You're related?" Doran asked, looking between the two. "You don't look related."

"They don't mean that type of brother," Kitana said exasperatedly. "They mean like soldier brothers."

"Oh, cool!" Doran grinned. "How many people have you killed?"

"In the thousand by now," Erskine said darkly, a little more quietly.

"Awesome!" Doran said. "So, like, why aren't you trying to kill us?"

"Because you're young," Dexter said seriously. "You're not adults yet and you've been given insane powers without training. We don't blame you for going wild with them. We don't want to kill you for having a normal, human response. But we can't let you continue either."

"If it's such a normal, human thing to do," Kitana said back, "why is it so bad? Surely if it's natural, it's good."

"Not always."

She paused to think of it for a moment and then shrugged. "I don't care. How many Dead Men are there? Are they all going to find us after we kill you?"

"They will destroy you if you kill us," Erskine said bluntly.

"No they won't," Doran grinned. "We stopped you easy, and we'll stop them too. We're way more powerful than you!"

"You're actually not," Erskine said slowly, getting to his feet. The teens let him. "You got your powers from Argeddion, right?"

They both looked at him now, and Doran's arm lowered slightly from Dexter. "How do you know about that?"

"We've met him. We know all about Argeddion and how he gave you powers. He gave others powers too. Thirty-seven of them are in a safe place, unconscious while we work on a cure. You realise Argeddion is dead?"

Kitana shook her head. "He's not dead. He's invincible. He gave us these powers, he gifted us. He chose us."

"He did. However, he was just a man. He was a man that was captured thirty years ago and kept in a coma he couldn't get out of. And in that coma, he gifted you powers because he was still able to mentally do things. He chose you, yes, but he was weak by himself. He was a pacifist and I doubt he wanted you to kill people."

"How did he die?" Doran asked slowly.

"I killed him," Dexter said, getting their attention back on him. Both of their arms were lowered now, taking in the story. "We couldn't let him continue giving powers out. He died instantly. And if you don't stop, we'll be forced to kill you too."

The teenagers stopped to think, obviously disturbed by the news.

Then, Doran spoke. "If you killed him, then we'll kill you. We'll avenge Argeddion!"

Doran had his hands by his side, clenched and angry, but Kitana's were up at Dexter now. Erskine locked eyes with her through the gap in the chairs and she stood, felt the powers in her arm, and send a stream at Kitana at the same time Erskine threw Dexter out of the way with the air.

Her energy hit Kitana but now her dose was too low and though it sent her to her knees, she instantly turned to Valkyrie. Doran sent energy beams at Dexter and he slid out of the way by inches, before Doran turned on Erskine who thrusted into the air out of the way of Doran's magic. Kitana was right when she said Doran's aim wasn't great and Valkyrie couldn't be happier for it. She kept her attention on Kitana as she sent a beam of energy at her. Valkyrie threw herself into the air, shooting out a stronger bolt of white light in Kitana's direction.

Kitana shouted Doran's name and he turned to her, then raised his arms up to Valkyrie also and she got worried for a moment before her brothers attacked them both with their magic. It only got through for a moment before they pulled up force fields to stop them, but it succeeded in pushing the two together. Valkyrie dropped to the floor and stood in a triangle formation around the two to make it harder for them to get hit.

"This doesn't have to be difficult," Valkyrie said calmly. "If you let us remove your magic, we'll let you go free."

Kitana snorted a laugh. "Yeah, sure you will."

"We can work something out," Erskine continued, moving their attention.

"We'll help you have normal lives," Dexter said.

"You killed Argeddion. We shouldn't trust you," Doran glared, fury in his voice.

"We only did it to save more people," Valkyrie said.

"You were with him?" Kitana asked snappily.

"No," Valkyrie admitted. "But I agree with him."

"We're going to kill you all," Kitana snarled. "I'm going to blow you up, starting with you."

Valkyrie looked in horror as Kitana trained her eyes on Erskine and put her arm out. Valkyrie pushed her magic out but it couldn't get through their force field no matter how much power she put into it – in a moment of desperation, she did the stupidest thing she could.

She pulled on Kitana's magic like Solomon had taught to do with his own.

Kitana fell to her knees with a pale face and Valkyrie almost did the same, feeling a strange and unnatural magic fill her up. She felt like she could do anything, like she had some unimaginable power she'd never even thought was possible.

The power was a heat whereas hers was a simple presence. This magic was invasive, different, something unignorable. A simple thought and a force field was around her. She brought sparks to her fingers and it felt hot, hot like a burning, electric shock. It hurt to use, but in a burning, hot-cold way, almost like how a bruise could feel worse but also better with pressure on it. It was mouth wateringly addicting to use and she put sparks into her other hand just to feel the magic travel down her neck, down her arm, to her fingertips. A pleasant shiver rolled up her spine.

"Kitana, Doran," she said in a strong voice.

They turned to her and looked in horror as she mimicked their magic right back at them. A shot rang out and Doran stood taller for a moment and then folded to the floor, blood splashing on Kitana.

All was silent for a moment.

Kitana screamed.

Shut up I can skip the fight if I want you can't stop me! *blows raspberry at you*

Remus Crux: You may use a guest account but I know better. Lenka's mummy is not Tanith... at least, that's not the mummy Lenka is talking about to Valkyrie at that moment in time. I'm sure they have all sorts of kinky shit going on.

NOTE!: I have started a Valitsa fanfiction called Skulduggery Pleasant: Innocence. Please go check it out :) I'm doing one chapter here, then one there, and back and forth. Hope you like it :)