Yeah, I know, I left you hanging and I didn't update. And for that, I am TRULY SORRY.
So… without further ado…. Here is chapter 15!
Skulduggery sat in his house on his old and worn out sofa, Valkyrie's sofa. He shivered. It had been exactly a year since it had happened and Skulduggery hadn't spoken a word to anybody apart from retelling the story of her death. He hadn't told the real story though, he couldn't do that to Valkyrie. He had promised he would keep Darquesse a secret. The story he told was fairly vague, Darquesse had killed Valkyrie in front of him and he had then killed Darquesse in his rage. Surprisingly, everyone had believed him, ignoring the holes in his story, moving on without him.
Nyx and Damien had become excellent detectives at the Sanctuary working as partners and with Hazel, they had become a little family living a few blocks away from the Sanctuary itself which had moved from Roarhaven to an underground facility directly beneath Skulduggery's house.
Typical, all he wanted was to be alone, not constantly reminded of her wherever he went, not that he was going anywhere though. Of course, Skulduggery had paid attention to everything that was going on. He still sent Christmas cards and birthday cards, but never delivered them to the person directly.
His phone, which he hadn't touched since he no longer needed it buzzed. Skulduggery tilted his head and slowly picked up the buzzing phone. The caller ID read 'Ghastly'. Skulduggery's hand hovered above the answer button, but then quickly tapped the decline button.
Only two minutes after the first buzz came a second and for the first time in a year, Skulduggery Pleasant made a sound. He groaned and tapped the button again. As soon as he had put the phone down, it buzzed for a third time. Skulduggery fumed and threw the device at the wall, burying his head in his hands.
"Now that is no way to treat your phone Skulduggery."
He whipped around, gun already in his hands but was surprised at the intruder, it was Ghastly.
"How the hell did you get in?" Skulduggery said, surprised he could still speak. Ghastly's expression softened slightly, but then became stern.
"You can't just spend the rest of your life cooped up in here depressed," he said, "Look how much you've let your guard down! I managed to sneak into the skeleton detective's house without him even knowing for Pete's sake! You need to move on, for her at least. Do you really think Valkyrie would want this? She'd kill you if she ever saw you like this, you'd be dead for a second time."
Although he clearly hadn't gotten over her death yet, Skulduggery smiled at the mention of Valkyrie. Ghastly was right though, she really wouldn't want this, but what was he going to do now? She would have wanted him to continue being a detective, he thought, not cooped up in his house oblivious even to intruders.
"Okay Ghastly, I'll get out of the house, maybe even try and get back to detecting, but you what exactly is it that you want?" Skulduggery said.
Ghastly's mouth twitched, a small smile appearing, but it disappeared and quickly turned solemn again.
"In memory of Valkyrie, we are having a night dedicated to her tomorrow. She was an amazing detective and she deserves to be honoured. It's also a chance for you to say goodbye to her properly, because I know you still haven't done that. The event will be in her mansion, were we had the Requiem Ball and I want you to be there and maybe say a few words?" Ghastly said.
It was perfect, Valkyrie wouldn't have wanted to be remembered by the bad things she experienced and her death, but celebrated and talked about for all the good times she had in her life and as the marvellous detective she was.
"Okay," he said softly, "I'm in."
Ghastly smiled and stretched out his arms and Skulduggery laughed softly as they embraced.
!Valkyrie POV!
Slowly, Valkyrie opened her eyes, but they didn't open. She tried to frown but found that she couldn't.
What the heck…
She was lying down on a hard surface, she knew that. She lifted her arm up, in front of her face and screamed, she didn't need eyes to see the white skeletal arm in front of her. She touched her face, which was smooth, bony, and …. a skull. She felt the empty space where her eyes should have been and gasped. She was a skeleton.
She held her breath and lifted her arm above of her but it was blocked from moving any further by yet another hard surface above her. She was in a tiny space in the dark and she was no longer human. She didn't like that. She tried not to panic and freak out and instead tried to remember how she got herself into this predicament. Not to mention why it appeared that she was no longer a girl, but a pearly white skeleton like Skulduggery.
Skulduggery! Where was he? Was he okay? What happened to him?
Suddenly, memories of her death came flashing back. Her death? Yes, she was Darquesse, and she was about to set the magic mirror in motion. Valkyrie herself was simply a voice in the back of Darquesse's mind, screaming for her to stop.
Then there was Skulduggery, and Valkyrie knew what he had to do. Valkyrie had screamed at him to do it, kill her, whist trying desperately to pull apart from Darquesse. She didn't want to die, although it was inevitable with Darquesse. When the blinding light pierced Darquesse's heart, she had felt the magic inside her break. Valkyrie latched on to it, holding on desperately, until her body had finally crumpled.
She had suddenly felt it, freedom, Darquesse was no longer attached to her, and she was no more. But how could Valkyrie still be capable of feeling anything? She was supposed to be dead though, along with Darquesse.
She wasn't though. She was in a coffin underground, very much alive in her skeletal form. Valkyrie supposed the magic that she had held onto had saved her life. It couldn't have saved her skin though, or her flesh. But at least she was alive.
How the heck was she going to get out of here?
She breathed out a huff of air in annoyance. It wasn't as if anyone would dig her out. She was dead.
But, she thought, do I still have magic? She clicked her thin skeletal fingers, trying to conjure a flame. A single spark appeared but quickly disappeared. She rolled her non-existent eyes and tried again. This time, a small flame erupted from her hand.
YES!
But, she was in a coffin, even if she was able to somehow burn the coffin apart, how the hell would she manage to reach the surface? She was surrounded in earth.
Earth.
Earth.
EARTH.
The solution was simple, if she could somehow manipulate the earth, she could get herself out of it.
Hmmm, the problem was, how the heck do you manipulate the freaking ground? She thought back to her lessons with Skulduggery and how water, fire and air was manipulated. In order to manipulate water, Valkyrie had to feel the water molecules and shape them, commanding them to take the form of what she moulded. With air, she had to feel the air currents, pushing and pulling, sending the currents in a direction of her choice.
She needed to feel the connection with the ground.
She couldn't really feel anything, she wasn't even cold.
Well of course not, you're a skeleton now!
She tried to imagine Skulduggery being with her, what he would say.
Probably something silly and sarcastic, she thought.
No, he would probably tell her to imagine the earth's layers, feel the different formations of rock underneath her, or on top of her as it was now.
What? Where were these thoughts even coming from? She didn't know anything about rocks! OR the earth, or about formations.
She decided to listen to these thoughts though, letting them guide her.
Pull down. Let the rock sink down, the layers dissolving, bending at your will.
She felt and imagined the connections in the ground and imagined the rock sinking at first, and then bending away from the coffin, allowing the sun's rays to touch the coffin.
She heard a rumbling sound and smiled in triumph.
How she knew that the sun's rays were touching it, she didn't know, but somehow, she had felt the rock move above her.
Now, all she had to do was lift herself out of the ground. Supposing that she should use air magic, she raised her palms and pushed.
Nothing happened.
She couldn't even feel the air currents. She needed to use a different form of magic if she wanted to get herself out of the ground.
If you can make the ground sink, you can raise it can't you?
Valkyrie thought about how she had let the earth sink and split apart and this time imagined opposite forces acting upon it. She pressed her hands against the coffin, spread out facing down and pushed.
Her whole body was flung back as the coffin erupted out of the ground, smashing the wooden box to pieces as it rolled and tumbled on the ground when it fell from the air.
Valkyrie immediately leapt out of the coffin, coughing and spluttering, even though she had no lungs.
She took in her surroundings and found that she was in a cemetery, specifically the one around the corner from Skulduggery's house.
She looked down at herself and gasped at her appearance. She was a skeleton, a fully naked walking talking skeleton, just like Skulduggery.
Skulduggery.
What would he do if he saw her like this? Back from the dead too. As a skeleton. Alive.
She thought about what she would do and decided that it was probably best if she didn't appear to Skulduggery like this right now. She needed to fix her appearance first. She needed a façade, and there was only one person she could go to for that.
China Sorrows.
Thankyou guys for your support! So sorry that update was so late, but I've been SO BUSY!
Anyways, there are only a few chapters left of this awesome journey! OH NO!
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I love all of you so much!
Love Sarah