Chapter 7
The old door of the apartment was barely hanging on its hinges, and was half eaten by wood-worm. It had been a long time since it was knocked on or even accidently bumped into. But today, the rotting door in the old tenemant building was being banged on, after so many years of peace, by an impatient blonde English girl and her young Irish counter-part.
"Come on Val. One, two, three-"
The door burst open and Tanith Low and Valkyrie Cain fell in. Tanith managed to regain her balance almost straight away, but Valkyrie fell straight onto the mouldy carpet. She lay on the ground for a moment, looking at the carpet, trying to figure out what colour it once was before mould and dirt had crusted over it, when a large beetle crawled in front of her. Valkyrie yelped and jumped back up, stumbling back. She was caught by Skulduggery Pleasant, who was looking around the room with distaste (not that anyone could tell).
The room had probably once been beautiful, like so many other rooms in this building. This tenemant had probably been built in the late 1700s, as an elegant town house for rich Georgian Dubliners. Over the years as it became more dilapidated, these families sold it to the councils, who used it as a home to many poverty stricken familes during the early 20th century, twenty families living in the house at one time. This single room could have been home to two or three families at the same time, at one stage. Some repairs had been made to this second floor, but that didn't make it an ideal living environment. But now it was Tanith's new home.
"Well," came a dreamy voice from behind them. Skulduggery and Valkyrie turned their heads to see the most beautiful woman in the world, China Sorrows, stride into the old room in her designer heels. Long raven hair, eyes as blue as raindrops, dazzling features, and today she dressed in a lavender blouse and black pencil skirt. A woman as beautiful as her didn't fit into this room. A cockroach as vindictive as her, however...
"Home sweet home," she said softly, smiling. "Are you happy with this Tanith?"
Valkyrie looked over at Tanith, expecting her to give China a tongue-lashing, but Tanith was looking at the place as if it were the bloody Ritz. Valkyrie had never been to the Ritz, but had heard that it was very nice.
"It's perfect, China," she breathed, grinning. Valkyrie frowned. Okay, so the room did have classic, Georgian skirting boards and thin, off-white pillars in the corners of the walls, and right in front of them on the far wall was a large window, stretching up the wall, curving semi-circular just at the top. The glass was decorative and gave a nice view over the roof-tops of Dulin, but the room was a state. Tanith couldn't consider buying it off China.
Even China was surprized. "It is?" she asked, quickly following with, "Oh, well, I thought it would suit your needs Tanith, dear."
"It does, China," Tanith said, not turning around. "Thank you, so much."
China nodded, then looked at Skulduggery and Valkyrie and smiled sweetly.
"Well, I'll just give the three of you some privacy. "
"China," Skulduggery called firmly, just as she was about to leave. China looked at him and smiled that coy smile.
"Yes, Skulduggery?" she asked innocently.
"You don't expect Miss Low to sleep here, do you?" he asked, staring at her with those black eye-sockets. China's smile dropped slightly and her smoky eyelids narrowed. She arched away from the doorway, towards him.
"Where Miss Low sleeps is up to her, after all, Skulduggery," she replied, her voice almost a whisper. She smirked an evil smirk.
"Unless you'd like to intervene." Skulduggery moved to face China but she just laughed and danced out of the doorway.
"Anyway I'll leave you all to it. Have fun." And leaving the door slightly ajar, China Sorrows was gone. Skulduggery looked at Tanith.
"Tanith," he said slowly, "Are you...really, happy with this?"
"Of course I am," Tanith spun around with a huge grin on her face.
"This is perfect! It's exactly what I need."
Skulduggery and Valkyrie stared at her, questioning her sanity.
"Um, Tanith," Valkyrie began, glancing around the room. "Not to put too fine a point on it, but...it's a kip."
Tanith rolled her eyes. "It is not a kip."
"Tanith, face it. It's a kip."
"It is not a kip!"
"It is kind of a kip, Tanith," Skulduggery pointed out.
"It is not a kip! Look," Tanith gestured around the place and gave her friends a small smile. "I don't need anywhere fancy. It's only for when I'm staying over here to help you guys. Like a holiday home."
"Tanith, last time I checked holiday homes were glamorous, expensive, classy and were in sunny locations," Valkyrie told her, stepping forward. " Right, this place is mouldy, smells funny and is bang in the middle of Dublin!"
Tanith stared at her, blinking for a moment, then smiled again and began wagging a finger at her.
"And cheap as chips," she added triumphantly. Valkyrie scowled and looked up at Skulduggery, hoping he would talk some sense into her. But he just continued staring at Tanith, before clearing his throat.
"Valkyrie," he began slowly. "Could you stand outside the door for a moment? I need to talk to Tanith alone."
Both Valkyire and Tanith stared at him.
"What?"
"Why?"
"Just for a minute, Valkyrie." Skulduggery was still staring at Tanith. Valkyrie looked at the two of them. Tanith tried staring him out, then her shoulders sagged and she looked at Valkyrie.
"Yeah, Val, it'll only take a minute," she said with a small smile. Valkyrie didn't like being left out of things, she never had, and now her two partners were telling her to leave the room? But that wasn't the only reason why she hesitated to leave.
"Okay," she said finally, looking at the two of them and backing out the door. "But be quick, okay? I'm still wary after the last time I left you two alone together."
Both Tanith and Skulduggery cringed at the memory of that night in the Hibernian. Well, Tanith seemed to cringe. Skulduggery had his back to Valkyrie and she saw his shoulders shoot up slightly. She smiled a satisfied smile and closed the door.
In the room alone together, Tanith looked at Skulduggery. His hands were in the pockets of his over-coat and he could have been a mannequin, staring at her like that. She smiled softly.
"Really, Skulduggery, I am happy with this place," she assured him walking around slightly. "I only need it for the times I'm coming over to help you guys, and train Valkyrie. And I could be staying for a few days, at that. I'd need somewhere to stay."
"But in this place?" he said quietly.
"I can afford it. That's good enough for me."
"If you're stuck for money, Tanith..."
"No, Skulduggery," she said fiercely. She knew what he was going to suggest, and she wouldn't tolerate that. "I'm not taking anything off you. I'm not some charity case. And even if you do have enough money for me, I refuse to take it."
"I never took you for a charity case, Tanith," he said, quiet again, stepping toward her. "It's just...I have a house..."
"Skulduggery," Tanith warned, but softer this time. She loved that he didn't want her to stay here in discomfort, but she had stayed in worse places than this and she had made them homely. She licked her lips, thinking of what to say.
Outside the door, Valkyrie was listening as hard as she could without pressing her ear to the door. She didn't really want to touch the door, in its rotten state. She didn't get why they wouldn't let her in. She could hear a slightly muffled version of the same conversation they had just been having, except Skulduggery was offering to help Tanith find another place. Or something. China Sorrows came up behind her.
"Tut, tut, Valkyrie," China said delicately and Valkyrie jumped, spinning around. China gave her a strange look. It was almost...admiring.
"I didn't think that eaves-dropping was your style, my dear," she continued with a beautiful smile and a raised eyebrow. "However, you're doing it all wrong."
China raised up both her hands, which had been behind her back, and held up two small glasses. Valkyrie raised an eyebrow of her own.
"I do understand why you wouldn't want to touch the door, but there are clever little alternatives." She handed a glass to Valkyrie and took a place at the door. She turned the glass so that its mouth was pressed against the door, and the bottom was at her ear, and began listening. She had obviously done this looked at the glass, then smirked and did the same.
Inside Tanith looked at Skulduggery again, and smiled a pretty little smile.
"Skul," she began slowly. "Thanks, but you and I both know that staying at Cemetry Road wouldn't be the best thing for me. And I really am, honestly, happy with this apartment. It has everything I need and...and I'm not a princess, Skulduggery. I don't need a palace."
"Not without your prince, you mean," Skulduggery said simply but softly. Tanith stopped and stared at him, her cheeks flushing.
"Skulduggery..."
"We have to talk about it sometime, Tanith." he said, and she knew they did. She looked at him, distressed, then looked at the door. She raised her right hand and waved it in front of the door, casting a sound proof sheen over it. Outside China and Valkyrie felt static buzzing in their ears suddenly and jumped away, pressed the palms of their hands against them.
"What happened?" Valkyrie asked irritably, pressing her ear with her middle finger.
"They must have cast a sheen," China replied, staring at the door puzzled. "A sound-proof sheen."
"What? Why would they do that?" China didn't answer her for a moment, then frowned.
"They have some matters to discuss," she said, her voice oddly strained. Valkyrie frowned at her. China didn't seem to like being interrupted from her eavesdropping, but there was something else there that Valkyrie didn't quite understand.
"What would Skulduggery and Tanith have to discuss that they couldn't let us know about?" Valkyrie asked quietly.
"What indeed," was China's only reply before she strode down the hall towards the stairs, leaving Valkyrie by the door.
GXTXGXTXGXTXGXTXGXTXGXTXGXTXGXTXGXTXGTXGXTXGXTXGXTXGXTXGX
"There's nothing to talk about Skulduggery, please," Tanith begged, sitting down gingerly on a mouldy table.
"There is, Tanith, and you know it," Skulduggery insisted stepping toward her. He pointed at her.
"That day in the hospital I told you that the last thing Ghastly said was your name. You understood what that meant and it almost killed you."
"It did not almost..." Tanith looked away for a moment, swallowing. Then she shrugged and looked at Skulduggery. "Look, Kenspeckle said that the Cleaver's scythe...grazed, my heart and lungs. Okay, the smallest thing could have set me off..."
"Well why did that trigger you off?" Skulduggery asked intensely. Tanith didn't look at him. She didn't know how to answer him. So she ended up answering him truthfully.
"I don't know," she replied quietly.
"Tanith, come on..."
"I honestly don't know, Skulduggery! I don't know why that set me off, it just did. I...I didn't even know him." Then her voice broke and she couldn't continue. She couldn't look at him. Skulduggery stood in front of the table and looked down at her.
"I don't want to upset you Tanith," he said so softly. "I just...I do want to take care of you,and make sure that you're safe..."
"Why?" she asked, glaring up at him fiercely. "So that if he comes back in less than a few centuries I'm ready for him and we can disappear into the sunset together? 'Cause that's not gonna happen, Skulduggery."
"Nor did I expect it to. But there was something there, wasn't there?"
"No," Tanith replied, too quickly. Then she sighed and looked away, rubbing her arms. "Not really."
"Meaning?"
Tanith sighed, and couldn't look at him. "We...we had a conversation that night, before the Cleaver came, before you came, before everything. He had to drop the two of us to Denholm street, and I rode with him. We...talked and laughed and confided in each other...and I liked him. Now, he's gone."
Skulduggery looked at her. "I'm sorry."
Tanith let out a little laugh and smiled at him. "Don't be. He was your friend, you knew him far better than me."
"Even so," Skulduggery said slowly. "If...if he cared about you, then I want to keep you safe. I mean, Ghastly...Ghastly has lost so many people over he years. His father, his mother, he has never married, never fallen for a woman before...and then you come along."
"He couldn't care about me," Tanith said quietly, shaking her head. "He barely knew me. I mean, what do I have to offer him?"
If Skulduggery had eyebrows, he probably would have raised one.
"Anyway," she continued. "We're polar opposites. It would never work out. And anyway, he's gone now so that's the end of that."
"Not necessarily Tanith," he said. "He's staying in the Sanctuary, in the Hall of Statues, and he'll be taken to Kenspeckle's now and then, so you can see him. Don't give up hope."
Tanith looked at Skulduggery as he turned to look out the window at the Dublin rooftops. They were silent for a moment, then Tanith spoke again.
"Why are you being so nice to me, Skulduggery?" Tanith asked quietly. He turned his skull to face her again.
"I'm sorry?" he asked.
"Why do you care so much?" She got to her feet and stepped towards him. "I mean, you hardly know me. I'm just this English girl that Mr Bliss assigned to help you, and that was during the struggle with Serpine. Now that struggle is over...so why are you still here? Helping me...to get a place, offering me money... that night in the hospital you held my hand! I mean, why?"
Skulduggery hesitated as the pretty young lady approached him.
"Well, I,um...like I said it's because of Ghastly, you know, and..."
"Oh," Tanith said, slightly pissed off. "So...so that's what you meant, by 'keep your heart beating for him'."
Skulduggery looked at her. "No," he said, sounding surprized.
"No?" Tanith replied, confused.
Skulduggery looked at her for a moment, bewildered. "No, I...it's not just because of Ghastly. I...I care about you, Tanith. I wouldn't want anything to happen to you, but also, I would want you to be happy. I like you. Platonically, paternally, whatever you want to call it. But I want to make sure you're safe and you have a decent roof over your head. Huh, you're a likable girl, you know that? You make people want to save you. It's very frustrating.
Tanith looked at him for a moment, slightly awed, slightly emotional, and then she smiled at him.
"Thank you, Skulduggery," she whispered.
"Don't mention it, Tanith," he replied, and she liked to think that if he had a mouth, he would have been smiling. Tanith smiled at him in a moment of silence, then stretched up and kissed him on the cheek-bone. It felt strange, like kissing chalk, but it was Skulduggery, after all. He cleared his throat (or what should have been his throat) as she pulled away. She grinned.
"For the record," she said slowly with a cheeky grin. "That, was to say thank you. I think of you more as a father figure than anything else. Actually no, that would mean I have to pay you respect. An older cousin, maybe."
"Well, good." Skulduggery said. "Because you're far too young for me."
"Oh really?" Tanith said with a laugh "Well, you're far too old for me. And besides, I'm not into skinny guys."
Skulduggery cocked his head for a moment, then Valkyrie burst through the door and they turned to face her.
"Alright, you two love-birds, can I come in now?" she asked, though she was already in the door. Tanith and Skulduggery looked at each other and laughed, stepping apart. Valkyrie folded her arms and glared at them.
"So could you even hint as to what you were discussing?"
Tanith looked at Skulduggery. Skulduggery looked at Tanith. They both looked at Valkyrie.
"Grown-up stuff." they both replied. Valkyrie growled rather aggressively, then spun around and stormed out the door, toward the staircase to the library.
"Now we've done it," Tanith said, fighting a smile as they followed her out.
"That we have," Skulduggery agreed. "Do you think she'll stop speaking to us?"
"Oh yes."
"And you're really sure about paying China for this place."
"Yes, I am. It's a roof to sleep under when I'm in Dublin, Skulduggery, and you'd be amazed what a lick of paint and some furniture from a good charity shop could do. And no, I am not going to take up your offer on staying in Cemetry Road. I'm not going to stay in a house without a bathroom, a bedroom or even a toilet."
"And Ghastly?"
Tanith was quiet for a moment
"I...he's in the Sanctuary you said?"
"Yes, the Hall of Statues."
Tanith nodded and went quiet again. Skulduggery watched her, then decided not to say anything She could do what she wanted with that information.
"But I'm fine, Skul," she said brightly. "Ghastly's not moving, he's not going anywhere. And nor am I. Plus, I'm good. I'm got a nice fat cheque in my pocket for China."
"Fair enough, I'm convinced." Skulduggery said cheerfully, he let Tanith through the doorway first, then suddenly, she tripped over the threshold.
"Careful," Skuluduggery exclaimed, catching her before she hit the carpet, hard. Tanith laughed and looked up at him.
"Thanks, Skul," she said with a giggle. Skulduggery shook his head sadly. She laughed aloud again.
"Come on, it's not as if we're at the top of a staircase, Skulduggery. And I've fallen down plenty of staircases in my time, let me tell you."
"Falling down staircases, getting skewered by Cleavers...you seem to have a knack for getting into near-death experiences, Tanith," he said softly. Tanith looked at him, then grinned and replied cheekily.
"Well maybe I need someone to look after me."
Skulduggery looked at her for a moment. "Maybe you do."
Tanith looked at him for a moment, then looked away, thanking him and moving off towards the stairs to the third floor. Skulduggery watched her, then turned and closed the door of the apartment.
GXTXGXTXGXTXGXTXGXTXGXTXGXTXGXTXGXTXGXTXGXTXGXTXGXTXGXTXG
Ghastly Bespoke knelt in the Hall of Statues. It wasn't really Ghastly Bespoke though, just a shell, a stone encasement. The real Ghastly was sleeping a dreamless sleep. His last thoughts had been of the woman of his dreams, and yet, he couldn't dream about her. But that was okay. Because whether it was a day, a month, or a year before this spell was broken, his feelings for her wouldn't have changed. And as soon as this was over, he would search for her. Now, he just had to have faith. That she would come for him. But he wasn't moving, his feelings couldn't change. He was frozen, but that was good.
A/N: Just a little Skulduggery and Tanith chapter. As explained, NOT Tanduggery. No, not even if China's jealous. Oh, she must be so depressed now, poor woman. Heh heh.
And so we have my theory. Ghastly needs a woman, and Tanith needs someone to look after her. And I mean that, in the sense that Ghastly did on Aranmore farm in the third book. She needs someone to stop her, sometimes...
Theme song for this chapter-the Man that Can't be Moved by the Script.
SING IT WITH ME!
-'Cause if one day you wake up
And find that you're missing me
And you're heart starts to wonder
Where on this earth I could be,
Thinking maybe you'd come back here
To the place that we'd meet
And you'd see me waiting for you
On the corner of a street
So I'm not moving,
I'm not moving
Love K x