Chapter 1

Mon 3rd June

"You're worried that my dog will have peed on your seats, aren't you?"

"The thought had occurred to me."

"Xena will be asleep, believe me, and she doesn't pee in cars. You go talk to whoever you have to talk to, I'll have a walk around and I'll meet you out front in, what, twenty minutes?"

"Okay, we'll do that. I'll text if I need more time," Skulduggery told her and walked off.

Not wanting to be left standing where he left her, Valkyrie went in the other direction, passing through the nearest door. She found herself in a corridor right as the bell sounded and students swarmed out of doors along both walls, filling out the spaces and jostling Valkyrie as they squeezed by. She sighed with irritation and forced herself to keep her elbows down and not hit anyone. She doubted the Sanctuary would not be happy if she injured any of the students. After another few seconds, the crowd started to thin and she could walk without tripping over anyone.

She strolled slowly, sticking her hands in her pockets. Four kids with green ties stood in a group ahead of her. They started whispering when they noticed Valkyrie. She put her head down and tried ignoring them, keeping her eyes on the floor as she passed them. Out of the corner of her eye she saw them glance her way, and when they were behind her the whispering picked back up again.

Valkyrie turned and faced them. "What?" She snapped. "What is it that's so fascinating about me? What?"

The kids froze. They actually looked scared. One of them snapped out of it and hurried away, the others quickly following. Valkyrie glared at them even though she knew full well what she did wasn't going to help the rumours she was somehow still evil, right until they had disappeared around the corner. She felt stupid for overreacting so much and scrunched her eyes up in frustration before turning again, just as a young woman dressed in all black strode up to her with an arm outstretched.

"Hello!" The young woman said, and Valkyrie was shaking her hand before she knew what was happening. She didn't even mean to do that. "It's very good to meet you! I've heard so much about you, naturally, but it's so good to finally meet you in the flesh!"

She was Scottish, had long red hair in tight curls that fell over her shoulders with a few smaller ones that framed her face, was covered in freckles over all the skin Valkyrie could see, and she had the brightest smile Valkyrie had seen in a long time.

"You'll have to forgive the student," the woman said, lowering her voice slightly. "It's not often they meet someone famous."

Valkyrie took her hand back. Gently. The woman's hand was very soft. "I'm not famous."

"Ah, well, infamous, then."

Valkyrie took a moment to work out what she meant and realised she wasn't talking about her, Valkyrie, and then sagged. "Oh, right. Darquesse."

"They've seen all the pictures," the redhead said, "all the videos. And there are plenty of videos of Darquesse tearing the place up. They don't mean anything by staring, they really don't."

"It's fine," Valkyrie replied, though her stomach rolled at the reminder. "Amazingly, I kind of forgot that people would associate me with her, even though we shared a face. Just another thing to feel bad about, I suppose."

"Mmm," said the redhead, because she obviously couldn't think of a way of salvaging the topic of conversation. Valkyrie couldn't either. Then she brightened. "I'm Militsa Gnosis. I teach Magic Theory."

"You're a Necromancer?"

"Guilty as charged," Militsa grinned, and then suddenly stopped, her whole body sagging. "Which is probably not the best phrase to use when most of your Order plotted to kill billions of people. If it makes any difference, though, I didn't know anything about the Passage or what the Clerics were planning."

Valkyrie raised an eyebrow. "So you're a good Necromancer?"

"Yes," Militsa said, beaming once again. "I was going to store my magic in a ring like you did, but I didn't what you to think I was copying you, even though I so would have been, so I keep it in this instead." She pulled back her sleeve, revealing a thick bracelet on a pale, slender wrist with small translucent arm hair and a covering of freckles over the back of her arm and less on the underside of her wrist and on her palm. "It's pretty cool, I think."

"Yeah."

Militsa's smile faltered. "Oh, no."

Valkyrie's eyebrows raised. "What?"

"I'm being lame, aren't I?"

"Sorry?"

"I'm being so lame right now," Militsa said, her head tilting down, looking up slightly at Valkyrie. "You think I'm a complete idiot, don't you?"

"Do I?"

"You must."

Her raised eyebrows slowly changed to a frown. "I don't think so."

"But I'm babbling. I'm just a babbling idiot that ran up to you and started babbling. This is so embarrassing. Why do I have to be so lame?"

Valkyrie had no idea what to do now. The women's eye almost seemed glassy, like she might cry. "I… I don't think you're lame."

"That's just because you're a nice person."

"I'm not that nice," she said quickly. "Really, I'm not. I'm quite rude."

"You're not rude," Militsa said, not believing her. She looked at the floor now.

"I am," Valkyrie insisted, not sure why she was so invested in making her believe that. "Before this conversation is done, I bet I'll have been rude to you by accident."

Militsa looked up. Her eyes were huge and dark brown. "You mean it?"

Valkyrie nodded quickly. "I do. And you're not lame and you're not an idiot. You're just being friendly. You're a friendly Necromancer, which is kind of unique."

"We're not known for being friendly, I'd have to agree," Militsa brightened.

Valkyrie held back a sigh of relief she didn't realise she was holding. "So you're a teacher here?"

"Yep. I guide students through their options, as far as choosing a discipline goes. I never meant to be a teacher, to be honest. It's not something I ever saw myself doing, but it combines two of my favourite things – talking about magic and… and, well, reading about magic, I suppose. I don't have a very wide range of interests."

"Maybe you should get out more."

"That's what my mum says, but then she's three hundred years old. I think she has unrealistic expectations when it comes to me. I'm just a normal girl. Give me a good book and a sofa and I'm happy, you know?"

"Can't beat a book and a sofa," Valkyrie nodded.

"If I wasn't a teacher, I'd probably be a researcher, maybe be a part of project Torchlight. Have you heard of it?"

"I haven't, I'm afraid."

"Ah, no matter. My point being, I specialise in the Source – which is another reason I'm so pumped to be meeting you." Militsa hesitated, her eyes sparkling. "Could I see you magic? Could I see what you can do?"

"Uh…"

"Just a little bit, I swear. You're incredible to me, that's all. You're connected to the Source of all magic like nothing else. Your magic is… it's pure. Unfiltered."

It had been getting uncomfortable but the compliments made her feel slightly less weird. "I'm not very good at controlling it," she admitted.

"I'm not surprised," said Militsa. "I've got theories about it, if you'd like to hear them."

"Uh, maybe, I'm just a little busy right now…"

"Oh, of course," Militsa said, laughing at herself. "Of course you're busy, you're Valkyrie Cain! But if you ever wanted to talk about it, just knock on my door. I will literally drop everything to talk to you. Literally. Everything." She brushed her hands together. "Dropped."

"Okay," Valkyrie said, hoping to appease her. "Well, I might do that."

"Or if you just want to hang out," Militsa continued. "You haven't been to Roarhaven much, have you? Again, I'm not a stalker, I just… I'd have heard if you were in town a lot. I could show you around. There's actually a pretty good art scene here. Bizarre, I know, but there you go. Might be fun if you're into that kind of thing. Or we could go for a coffee. Or a drink. Or dinner. Would you like to go to dinner?"

"No thank you."

"Right, of course, you're busy, I get it."

"It's not that I'm busy," Valkyrie corrected without thinking. "It's just that I don't want to."

Militsa blinked. "Oh. Well, I mean, okay. That's cool."

Valkyrie realised immediately what she did and her face soured. "And now I'm being rude, just like I knew I would."

"You're not rude, no."

"I'm just not looking for a friend right now."

Militsa blinked like that was the strangest thing a person could say. "Ooh. Okay." She didn't sound like she understood.

"I'm sorry. I don't want to offend you, but I'm trying to stay away from people until I get my head straight."

"Gotcha," Militsa nodded. "No explanation needed. You've been through a lot and the last thing you need is someone to talk to."

"When you say it like that," Valkyrie said, unsure whether to backtrack or continue, "it sounds stupid."

"Not at all. This is totally my fault – I just feel like I know you already. I've asked Fletcher so many questions."

Valkyrie paused and raised an eyebrow. "You know Fletcher?"

Militsa looked surprised. "Well, of course. He's a teacher here."

Valkyrie couldn't help it – she began to grin. "Fletcher? Seriously? What does he teach? What does he know to teach?"

Militsa grinned with her. "Teleportation. He's only got three students, and only one of them can actually teleport, but he's pretty good. I think you'd be impressed."

"That's hilarious," said Valkyrie. "Is he all strict and stuff?"

"Very. He has a teacher voice."

"Oh, wow." Valkyrie's phone buzzed with a message from Skulduggery, saying she'd be delayed another ten minutes. As she slipped it back in her pocket, she noticed Militsa glancing at her watch. "You probably have work to do."

Militsa nodded. "I'm supposed to be teaching a class right now. If this was a mortal school, the kids'd be tearing up the place, but Corrival students tend to be so boringly well behaved that they'd probably be cleaning the windows. The coffee offer will remain open, for as long as you need it to be. Or, you know, dinner. Whatever."

"Thank you. Really. I appreciate the gesture," she said so softly she surprised herself.

"No problem," Militsa said and beamed another smile. "It was so nice to meet you, Valkyrie. I hope we can get to know each other better."

Valkyrie smiled back, and Militsa turned with a swirl of her cloak and walked off. She wore a cloak. Valkyrie hadn't known very many people who wore cloaks. Not even Skulduggery wore a cloak. What an odd girl, she thought. She liked her.

Skulduggery met her by the Bentley after she had been on a walk around the building.

"Did you have a look around?" He asked as they got in the car.

"Yeah, it's nice here. Though some of the street names are sort of gory. Especially for around a school."

"Yes, they are. They were named directly after the war, so I suspect there was some in the moment choices. How are you feeling about continuing the case today?"

"It doesn't really matter."

"I want you to enjoy it."

"You want me to be thrilled so I come back. You don't care if I enjoy it."

He shrugged. "Same thing. You've been incredibly reclusive since you got back anyhow. Six months, Valkyrie. You can't hide forever."

"I'm aware," she muttered, scratching Xena's head when she stuck it between the front seats.

"This will be good for you. You can meet people, get some fresh air, see how happy people are that you're back. Tipstaff was over the moon. Did you see?"

"He seemed it, yeah," she admitted with a shrug, not liking the direction of the conversation. "And I am trying, you know. I try every day. I need time, Skulduggery, I can't just get up and do things like I used to. It's… different now."

He nodded. "I understand. Just give me a day and I'll give you all the time in the world after this. I swear."

"Yeah, you better," she sighed.

.*****.

Wed 2nd July

Four weeks. Four weeks since Skulduggery bribed her into giving him one day, and here she was, four weeks later, working. It was so much, all the time. She saw dead bodies every week. A dead teenager. People glared at her in the streets, and a woman caused mass panic in Meritorious Square when she was chasing a criminal, screaming that Darquesse was back to kill them all.

It was nice to be with Skulduggery so much again, but it was also draining. She needed days off just to lie in bed and feel numb, days to decompress, and days she could actually relax and recharge. It was so obvious he was trying to be understanding and patient, but he was just too understanding. Too in her face, too ready to talk, too ready to try to fix her.

Xena put her head on Valkyrie's shoulder and licked her nose, catching her long tongue on Valkyrie's ear. Her phone had rung out three times on Skulduggery already, and she knew she'd have to call him back to stop him turning up at her house, but she truly didn't have the energy to reach over to her nightstand and do it. Her arms were like lead, her eyelids heavy, her body felt like it was far too hot under her covers and dog but even pushing down the duvet made her heart beat faster.

Scrunching her eyes closed, she ground her teeth. Her phone began vibrating again and Xena grunted, likely as annoyed with the sound as she was. All she had to do was reach over and take it. To tell him she was fine and to leave her be. But taking that step was too much. She was a runaway coward that wasn't strong enough to deal with her problems. She was weak. She was too weak to talk to her best friend, to ask for help, to even know what help she needed from him.

The sound stopped. In its place was total silence. Her breath caught as her dream, her nightmare, invaded her thoughts again. Not being strong enough to fight off Darquesse's power. Her reflection stealing her family and trying to take her place from Skulduggery's side. She watched herself kill Alice and not be able to resurrect her. Of being in that building, her small body on the table, debris and dust in the air. She had screamed on the day it happened and she'd screamed in her dream and she screamed in her head now for the replay to stop, for the warlocks to stop their approach and Darquesse to stop circling around her and Alice's body. In her dream, she'd cradled her, holding onto her body. But when she tried to hold her tighter, she slipped through her arms, no matter how hard she tried to keep her grip. She'd fallen, her small form turning to liquid, disappearing through her fingers.

Xena's short bark reminded her to breathe, and her body took in a gasp. She forced herself to count, taking short breathes in time to running her hand over Xena's side, fighting off the light-headedness. Alice wasn't dead. Her parents weren't dead. Skulduggery didn't hate her. She wasn't Darquesse and Darquesse wasn't back to wreak havoc.

Growling to herself, she yanked back the covers and made herself stand. Xena jumped to her feet on the bed and looked at her, alert and ready. They looked at each other and Valkyrie wasn't sure what to do. She'd surprised her body into getting up, but after that…

She went to the bathroom, Xena following her in, sitting next to her when she sat on the loo. She really didn't want to go outside into the light drizzling rain but couldn't stand to be inside, so got on her clothes and went downstairs. On the back doorstep, she stood, trying to make her body take another step. Xena breezed by her, thrilled with the rain after years in Colorado on her old ranch house in the desert. The chill in the air seeped into her bones so fast she had to wrap her arms around herself and step back. Skulduggery would find her if she fell to the floor and that was the only thought that kept her upright. Xena would be fine outside alone. She left the backdoor open and opened the fridge, finding only a few yoghurt pots, dregs of milk in a carton, a single egg and some of Xena's treats. A quick glance in the freezer showed an empty packet of chips, one last lasagne ready meal, and an old frozen eye mask for her persistent headaches. She left the empty packet in there, feeling exhausted just thinking about throwing it away, and took a yoghurt pot from the fridge.

Xena appeared before she closed it all the way and barked at her excitedly.

"What? This is mine. You have a whole bowl," Valkyrie insisted.

Xena barked twice and almost bounced on one front paw.

"No, you can't have an egg. That's my egg." Valkyrie closed the fridge.

Xena's face dropped and her paw slowly fell to the mud covered floor. She huffed.

"No. Don't argue, you have your own food. See?" She said, pointing at Xena's bowl.

She didn't even look at the bowl, staring only at Valkyrie in obvious upset.

Valkyrie knew full well she shouldn't give in, but the stray thought that Xena would hate her, would leave her, if she didn't give in penetrated her head before she could walk away. Sighing, she opened the fridge, took the egg, cracked it on the counter and dropped the whole thing in Xena's bowl, who jumped over to eat it.

"Yeah. There you go. Happy now?"

Xena didn't stop lapping up yolk.

"Sure. Enjoy it. I've got yoghurt anyway so… don't worry about it. We have a few more days before we need more food. Or I do anyway. You have so much food. I have, like three days of food." She checked the cupboard she kept tins in and found a tin of macaroni cheese. "Ooh, look Xena. Mac and cheese. Four days of food. I'll probably have a chance to go to a corner shop before we run out. Lucky me," she smiled, scratching Xena's lower back. The idea that she had food and would have a chance to happen upon a shop without needing to go out just for it helped her feel significantly better, so much so she went to the living room to lie down and watch pointless television instead of going back to bed.