Erm…sorry for the lateness of this update. I had a lot of homework and our laptop caught a virus.

Anyway, from where we left off.

~Valkyrie's POV~

So there we were. Your all time favourite crime busting hero's, taking on all danger to protect humanity, me and Skulduggery were……crouching on the floor outside the conference door with our ears pressed against it. We managed to dodge the cleavers with Skulduggery "reading the air" but were still on the lookout.

THIS IS INSANE! I mouthed to Skulduggery. I KNOW YOU'RE INSANE! He mouthed back. I sighed and gave up and scrunched up my eyes in concentration to hear what The Grand mage and the girl were talking about. Curse these stupid sound proof doors, I thought. All I could barely make out was faint whispers.

Here is what I heard:

Thruid *cheerful tone*: Ah Miss. Strange! Welcome in. Lovely to see you! Please take a seat.

(Is he kidding me?! "Lovely to see her? From what I know about Thruid, he hates every living being!)

Miss. Strange a.k.a "the girl" *chair scarping as she sat down*: Grand Mage. I must thank you for taking your time to meet with me.

Thruid: Not at all. After all we were both expecting it.

Miss. Strange: We were? Expecting what?

(My point exactly.)

Thruid: Uh… the reward?

(Reward? I turned to look at Skulduggery only to find a pair of legs in his place. I looked up to see him, crossed armed and leaning against the door. He caught me looking and shrugged and mouthed WHAT? I GOT TIRED OF CROUCHING! I shook my head and turned back to the door.)

Miss. Strange: What reward?

Thruid: For saving my daughter of course! Silly!

(OMG, "silly"?)

Miss. Strange: Oh, that! Well I'm very flattered but I'm not here for a reward.

Thruid *his tone changing*: No?

Miss. Strange: No, I was actually here for information.

Thruid *tone completely changed*: What kind of information?

Miss. Strange*chair scraping again and then footsteps*: Well as you probably witnessed with the incident with your daughter, I have strange powers, Powers that I have yet to perfect and control. That's why I need to find a person who has experienced these powers before and can help me to tame it.

Thruid: Yes, yes. And wish to look for this person, right? And to do that you will need the aid of the book of names right? Sorry but that was destroyed five years ago while-

Miss. Strange*cutting in*: I'm not here for the book.

Thruid: Then what?

Miss. Strange: Well, I merely wanted permission to have a little conversation with one of your captive criminal.

Thruid *Chair scrapes as he stands up*: Absolutely not! Too dangerous for me to allow it!

Miss. Strange: Calm down Grand Mage. You haven't yet heard which captive I'm talking about.

Thruid *muttering*

Miss. Strange: His name is Ray Agony. The necromancer.

(With that I looked up at Skulduggery again only to find nothing there. I looked down to find him crouching beside me. I glared at him and he saw me and started to mouth I GOT TIRED- when I cut him off by hissing "For Pete's sake! I don't care if you're tired! JUST STOP MOVING!" Then I turned around and went back to eavesdropping as I heard him mutter back, "Pete's sake! Pete's sake! Just who is "Pete" anyway?")

Thruid: Agony? But he is an old man! What has he got to do with your powers?

Miss. Strange *impatient*: That is none of your business. Just let me talk to him!

Thruid: I have to hear the reason!

Miss. Strange: Argh! The reason is that I want to know how I can bring back someone alive to help me. That good enough for ya?

(The "Strange" girl was really losing her politeness and temper! I thought. Then again, most people do, if they hang around with Thruid for too long.)

Thruid: Hmmm…

Miss. Strange *impatiently*: Well?

Thruid: Fine! I'll ask someone to escort you,…along with some Cleavers of course.

Miss. Strange *still impatient, muttering*: Yes, yes. Bring them cleavers with their invisible cloaks.

We heard footsteps coming towards the door and leaped up. Skulduggery waved me to follow him as he tiptoed towards the hallway, read the air with one hand while signalling me to stop and go with the other.

"See? It's not just me who watches Harry Potter!" I told skulduggery.

"Oh shush!" he hissed back.

As we reached the big opening again, we saw Matty still wailing and the Administrator leaning against the desk with a bored and pained expression on her face. As we approached them, I heard Matty say, "We were only married for 15 years!"

"Really?" the administrator said absently. She saw us approach and stepped off the desk while Matty continued wailing.

"Where were you two? I mean seriously! How long does it take to return something to someone?"

"I had to go to the toilet!" I said quickly.

The administrator looked at me sceptically and then looked at Skulduggery. "Both of you?"

"He was… standing guard outside!"

The administrator stared at me and raised an eyebrow. "Yeah. I'm sure many deluded, lunatics would come and attack you while you do your business."

"Better safe than sorry!" I cheerfully replied.

Matty looked up and sniffed. "Even for bathrooms, you need an escort!"

Before I could reply, Skulduggery stepped in and said "Well we'll just wait here for our appointment. Thank you!" and led me towards the waiting chairs.

When we sat down, Skulduggery muttered to me "remind me to teach you the art of excuses next! As in properexcuses!"