Valkyrie was agitated. She wasn't agitated by the fact she was down in the caves below Gordon's house again. She wasn't agitated by the the thought of all of the monsters that lurked down here in the darkness. She wasn't even agitated by the fact that because her magic was straight from the Source, she would be a beacon for every single monster in these caves, and a feast if they got their hands, or whatever else they had, on her.

In reality, Valkyrie was agitated because of the dragon. It wasn't because of the sheer size of it or the fire that speed from its mouth or the talons that were as long as she was tall. She was agitated because she didn't want The Monster Hunters to steal the dragon she had found and named. She wanted to find it and train it into a fearsome pet, and grin as bad guys trembled at the thought of Valkyrie Cain and Gordon The Dragon. Valkyrie wanted to ride Gordon The Dragon into the sunset and wave at Gracious and Donegan as their faces fell with shame.

Piercing through the fog of her fantasies, she heard Skulduggery sigh and say; "You're thinking about the dragon again, I can tell."

Valkyrie turned the beam of her torch to his face. It lit up his skull and made shadows dance in his eye sockets.

"So?" said Valkyrie, frowning.

"It isn't going to happen."

"It might."

"It won't."

Valkyrie glared at him and turned her torch to the path of front of them again, "Don't crush my dreams." she said. Skulduggery sighed.

They walked on for a while through the caves, towards were they thought they'd seen the dragon. Occasionally, a bug, or something equally gross, would cross their path, and Valkyrie would kick it violently back into the darkness. They came to a wall of broken rock that wasn't there the last time they had been here.

"Gracious and Donegan's work, I assume." said Skulduggery, examining the wall.

"How do you know?" asked Valkyrie.

Skulduggery turned his skull to her. "You tell me."

"Ermm..." said Valkyrie, looking at the rubble closely, "The singe marks? And...craters from their energy throwing?"

"Yes. It looks like they were attacked and they collapsed the tunnel to get away."

"But dont they have Fletcher with them now?"

"Yes but there's no point in Fletcher teleporting them out just so they can start from the beginning."

"Ah," said Valkyrie, "I see. Are we going to have to... go through?"

"That would be easier."

Valkyrie groaned and Skulduggery wrapped his arm around her. Valkyrie clutched his waist and closed her eyes. She felt the rock around them shift in a roar, and she kept her mouth and eyes tightly closed as gravel hit her face. She held her breath for what seemed ages and then they appeared on the other side.

"See?" murmured Skulduggery, letting go of her, "That wasn't so bad."

Valkyrie grimaced and brushed dirt from her shoulder. "I hate that."

They walked on and after a while the tunnel widened into a huge cavern that Valkyrie recognised. They had arrived. The tentacles of the monster were still hanging from the ceiling, and she shuddered at the memory. A light from a lantern was glowing by the edge of the drop, and a figure was lounging against a rock. As they approached, the figure stood.

"Skulduggery? Valkyrie?" said Fletcher, squinting at them, "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for Gracious and Donegan." said Valkyrie, walking over to him. By the lantern on the floor was a huge metal hook that had been hammered into the rock. Attached to it were several ropes which disappeared over the edge. "Are they down there?"

"Yup." said Fletcher. "I'm supposed to jump off the edge and teleport them out if I hear the signal."

"And what is the signal?" asked Skulduggery, moving to look at the ropes.

"Screaming apparently."

Valkyrie rolled her eyes and glanced over the edge. The ropes disappeared into the darkness a few metres down. "And what if you get into trouble up here?"

Fletcher frowned. "They didn't say, but I assume that I just scream heroically and jump off the edge."

Valkyrie grinned. She turned to Skulduggery, "Do we fly down then?"

"And how am I supposed to carry you all?" said Skulduggery, "No, you can stay here. I'll take Fletcher down and then we'll all teleport back up."

Valkyrie's face fell. "Aw, but-"

"You are not going near the dragon, Valkyrie."

She closed her mouth and folded her arms. She looked off into the darkness, a frown on her face.

"Are you sulking now?" asked Skulduggery

She said nothing.

"I'll take that as a yes." he said. He held his arm out, "Fletcher?"

"Right, yes." sad Fletcher and took his arm.

"If you need anything..." began Skulduggery, as they lifted into the air. Valkyrie cut him off with a glare.

"Okay." he said, "Sorry for interrupting your sulking. We'll be back in a second."

They disappeared over the edge.

Valkyrie turned away and collapsed onto the ground, staring at a rock. She had wanted to find that dragon so much, but instead she was here on some boring version of guard duty. Why were dragons so cool? Apart from the wings and the fire-breathing they were pretty much giant lizards. It wasn't like they were reallyunusual, like mermaids or griffins which were two species kind of mashed together. There were lots of other supposedly mythical creatures that were strange as well, like a unicorn or a pegasus or...what was the other one that she'd always liked? She couldn't think of its name or picture it. Did it begin with l or m or something similar? She thought it was from some sort of old mythology, maybe Greek or Egyptian but she wasn't sure. She couldn't remember. Not that it mattered.

Valkyrie stood, walked over to the drop and looking down. She couldn't see a thing. She kicked some pebbles and they vanished. She couldn't even see the orange glow of the dragon's fire like last time. That was disappointing. She walked along the edge to the tentacles, which were curling madly, searching for the prey that it knew was close. She shivered at the memory of being dragged towards that gaping mouth. She picked up a stone and launched it at the tentacles. It hit exactly where she'd wanted it to and they twisted and reeled in apparent frustration. Valkyrie smiled.

She sat once again and lent against a large bit of rock protruding from the ground. She was bored. The Monster Hunters must of gotten pretty far down if it was taking Skulduggery this long to get to them. However he did have Fletcher with him, which decreased the speed of any simple task by about 50%. Sighing, she closed her eyes and waited.

A few seconds later came a sound. Maybe a grunt. And occasional clopping. It came from behind her quite a way away. It didn't sound like the others so Valkyrie kept very still, and tried to limit her breathing. She opened her eyes very slowly but that didn't do much good because she wouldn't dare turn around. The clopping was travelling from side to side, at walking pace. There were more grunts and heavy breathing as whatever the thing was moved around. Valkyrie didn't dare breathe and she kept her eyes fixed ahead on the drop that seemed more intimidating than usual. She swallowed. Waited.

The sound grew closer, but she still didn't move, hoping that it wouldn't see her and move on. The sound grew faster and louder, the click-clacking echoing eerily around the cave. Then it slowed to a stop and Valkyrie could almost picture the thing looking at her. She readied herself, bracing her hands against the floor.

The thing roared and the noise rushed towards her. Valkyrie waited until the last minute before diving to the side and coming up in a crouch. The creature skidded to a stop, barely escaping tumbling over the edge, and let out an ear splitting roar of frustration. She glanced at the thing for a few seconds and saw that it was huge, about three times her size, and human shaped. It had a bare torso and hair everywhere, with a bulls head instead of a mans.

Minotaur?

The minotaur turned and spotted Valkyrie, grunting and showing off yellow teeth and yellow eyes. It was still standing right on the edge. She stood and flicked out her hand, feeling the white lightning erupt from her finger tips and hit her target; the minotaur's chest. It went straight around it like the creature wasn't really there.

"Okay." Valkyrie muttered.

It gave another roar that made Valkyrie's bones shake. It's hoof pawed the ground for a few seconds before it charged. She just managed to twist away out of it's way before it went running through the place she'd just been standing. It stumbled to a stop and Valkyrie realised that it was her standing near the edge now. She swallowed.

It ran at her and yet again she leaped out of the way at the last second, hoping it would run off the edge. It didn't. One of its black horns had caught her shoulder, and the force of it sent her stumbling. That would bruise. It had also managed to stop itself before it fell. Damn.

The minotaur turned and faced her, and Valkyrie realised she needed a new plan if she wanted to stay alive. She stood and found herself zipping her coat, which was a habit when she felt like she was about to have a fight. It had saved her life many times. She really needed to thank Ghastly for that at some point. She took in a breath and felt the energy form around her clenched fists in two domes. She looked at the minotaur.

It charged, and this time Valkyrie knew what she was going to do. Using the white lighting, she propelled herself to the side. It kind of felt like flying. She twisted in the air and landed on her feet, using her magic as brakes. Now she was on the edge, lightning curling up her arms. She only had one shot at this, and if it went wrong...well, she didn't want to think about it. It spun around and blared at her with those yellow eyes, she waited.

"C'mon..." she murmured.

It roared and ran at her.

"Good boy." Valkyrie said and smiled. She waited and pushed the white energy out of her hands, hoping it would make her fly a little like Iron Man. She angled herself backwards slightly, She was launched into the air and she curled in a ball, making herself as small as possible. The minotaur passed beneath her and she placed her feet on its head and pushed off, hoping to grab the cliff ledge. For a moment, relief washed through her, but then she felt something catch against her ankle and pull her backwards. She cursed and cried out as she fell with the minotaur, and she tried to untangle herself. Her trouser leg had caught on its horn. Of course.

They fell but Valkyrie managed to yank her foot free and push away from it. It snarled at grabbed at her with it's clawed fingers, but she used the white lightning to propel herself away from it. She flew through the air and fought down a scream as she continued to spiral downwards. Iron Man made it look easy. She needed to slow down. Skulduggery couldn't catch her unless she slowed down.

Beating down the urge to panic, Valkyrie forced her hands to push out that hot energy, slowly at first but then faster as she could feel it taking effect. She watched the minotaur disappear in the kept her handslocked, by her sides. They got hotter and hotter until she let out the tiniest bit of energy out. She felt herself slow slightly, and very carefully she let out more and more energy until she had slowed almost completely. She wanted to smile but she refused to let herself. She didn't want to tempt fate.

The effort to keep herself in the air was immense, but the thought that she was practically flying by herself sent any sensations of exhaustion out of her mind. Her mind went to Darquesse, and the joy she had felt when she had first flown on her own. Guilt coursed through her and she almost let herself fall in shame. If she had just held on, and not given up, she could of saved more people. But she didn't. She was weak and foolish and she deserved whatever pain she felt from the day Darquesse had been sent away. She tried to swallow down that lump in her throat, but failed. She could of saved Stephanie and Solomon. They shouldn't of died. Tanith had told her how Sanguine had died protecting her. He had tried to kill Valkyrie on many occasions, but that didn't mean he should of died like that. Valkyrie tried to push away all of those guilty thoughts so she could save herself ad get back to Skulduggery and her family, but one thought pushed through her mentally barriers and made her drop a few metres in the air.

She had murdered her sister.

Before she could dwell on it, she forced it into the dark corner of her mind that contained all of her bad memories. Valkyrie imagined beating it away with a stick.

Valkyrie pushed out more energy and she stopped, hovering there. It was very difficult to keep herself up right and she felt like if she moved then she'd go spiralling off into a wall or something. At least she could see the wall. But not the ropes that were supposed to be holding Gracious and Donegan if they fell. Surely she hadn't fallen past them?

Maybe that wasn't it. Maybe when she had propelled herself away from the minotaur she had gone futher to the right that what she'd thought. It was fine. All she had to do was travel along the wall until she found the ropes again. It was fine.

It didn't feel very fine.

Panic was beginning to leak into her her mind and nasty visions of her getting lost in the open air and dying surrounded by darkness invaded her mind. She took deep breaths, remaining calm. She couldn't freak out now, she'd likely fall. She could freak out later when she was out of these stupid caves and back on solid ground.

Gently, she moved herself forward. Valkyrie's toes were beginning to tingle and her feet were ice cold, which was what always happened when she was up high. For once she was grateful for the gloom because it prevented her from seeing the bottom of the pit. If there was one. She moved herself towards the wall very slowly, despite the immense effort that it took to hover. She looked for a ledge or something similar to grab onto, until she saw a small looking cave protruding from the wall. For a second, Valkyrie hesitated. She doubted that any dark tunnels in these caves was something to celebrate. Anything could be in there. Those creatures that had got her stuck in that tunnel could be in there. She could get stuck in another tunnel. She fought down the panic. Again.

Valkyrie gave herself three seconds to get from in the air to the ledge. She counted in her head, taking a deep breath on each number. She fought away the memories of getting stuck in a tunnel, and launched herself forward. She thought about half a way into her "flight" that she had probably used a lot more force than necessary to get her to the ledge. She knew for certain when she went face-first into the wall, and fell down onto the thin ledge. She stabled herself with her hands and let out a groan. She stood and brushed the dirt off her clothes, and checked her nose for any blood. There was none. That had hurt.

Valkyrie muttered to herself about practicing her flight skills, but began walking along the ridge in the direction were she thought the ropes would be; left. Her hands were shaking and slightly numb, which was a strange side effect from using her power.

After a few long minutes of walking, Valkyrie came to the part where the ledge stopped. She stayed a metre or so from the edge, just in case it was unstable. She looked around and saw nothing extraordinary on the wall or around the drop, but she decided to look closer at the wall and floor. She saw that the wall had a few tennis ball sized craters that had black tinged edges. Gracious and Donegan perhaps? Valkyrie put her hand against it and felt a slight warmth on her palm. It wasn't that old. She moved carefully to the edge, her hands in position to catch her if the floor collapsed beneath her. She looked down, and saw nothing except darkness. She looked up and saw the torn edge of several ropes. Valkyrie felt the bottom drop out of her stomach.

Valkyrie didn't want to worry, everybody would be fine. Fletcher was with them and even if they fell he could teleport them to the top. Skulduggery could fly. They were okay. She knew that she needed to get back to the top, but she wasn't quite sure how yet. Then an idea popped into her head. She tensed, steeling herself for what she was about to do. She stood as close to the edge as she dared, looking up at the rope, and counted to three. On three she pushed off with her magic and flew into the air. Valkyrie did her best to keep herself steadily rising, but she ended up shooting towards the rope like a rocket. She passed it, cursed, and cut off her magic and threw out her hands to catch the rope. She gasped as she missed. She managed to grab the rope and her weight dragged her down and gave her a viscous rope burn. Just as she got a decent grip, the rope dropped suddenly by a few metres and that sent her heart to her throat. It stopped abruptly and Valkyrie swung into the wall, her clothes absorbing what little impact there was. She clung to the rope, swinging slightly in the air. She let out the breath she didn't realise she'd been holding. Valkyrie swallowed and avoided looking down

She hung there for a moment, recovering. After she'd had a moment, she braced her feet against the rock and pulled up, grunting with the effort. She took a step and pulled herself up. Each step moved her about thirty centimetres. This was going to take a while.

"What are you trying to achieve by that?" said Skulduggery.

Valkyrie yelped and nearly lost grip of the rope. She twisted her head around and saw Skulduggery in the air, his arms folded, leaning against a wall of air.

"How long have you been there?" said Valkyrie, frowning.

"Not long." he said, holding out his arms.

"Did you find Gracious and Donegan?" she asked, ignoring his arms.

"Yes. Come on." he said, motioning her to jump. "They weren't too happy about being dragged away from their dragon searching, so I want to get back up there so they don't start looking again."

Valkyrie hesitated. Unwillingly, she glanced down.

"I'm not going to drop you, Valkyrie." he said.

She bit her lip. "I know."

"Then jump."

Valkyrie inhaled and then let herself fall back into Skulduggery's waiting arms. The second that she was in the air made her stomach writhe like it was filled with snakes. Skulduggery adjusted his grip on her and then began to fly upwards.

"Why are you down here anyway?" he asked.

Valkyrie retold her story about the minotaur.

"A minotaur?" he said, "You're sure?"

Valkyrie nodded.

Skulduggery sighed, "Do me a favour and don't tell The Monster Hunters about it until we're well away from here."

"Gotcha." said Valkyrie as the came over the ledge. Skulduggery set her down.

"Hey Valkyrie." said Gracious and Donegan in sync.

"Hey guys." she said, smiling.

"Oh there you are." said Fletcher, who was standing by Gracious and Donegan, "Where'd you go?"

"Got attacked by a..." she glanced at Skulduggery and then The Monster Hunters, "...some sort of creature. It took us both off the edge. I managed to slow my fall, the... creature did not."

"What creature was it?" asked Donegan.

"Something...weird. With horns."

"Oh." said Donegan.

"You can't remember anything else?" asked Gracious, frowning.

"Nope." she said immediately, "Sorry."

The was a awkward silence.

"Did you, um, find the dragon then?" asked Valkyrie.

The Monster Hunters drooped.

"We don't want to talk about it." they said sadly.

"Aw," said Valkyrie, fighting the evil grin that was threatening to spread across her face. "What a shame."

They looked at her, and she grinned. Everybody was quiet.

"Next time..." Gracious muttered beneath his breath.

"Good luck with that." said Valkyrie.

Gracious and Donegan looked like they were going to say something, but Skulduggery intterupted. "You should get to The Sanctuary, and to China. You know she doesn't like to be kept waiting. Fletcher, do you think you could teleport them there?"

"Of course." he said.

"Great." said Donegan, the awkward moment before forgotten. Himself and Gracious took Fletcher's arms.

"Bye." said Donegan.

"See ya." said Gracious, waving with his free hand.

Fletcher grinned, "Bye guys." and they were gone.

Valkyrie turned to Skulduggery and smiled, "What now?" she asked.

"You are very happy that Gracious and Donegan didn't find Gordon The Dragon aren't you?"

"Very, very happy."

"They'll try again you know."

"I know."

"They might find it next time."

"I don't want to think about it."

They began to walk, and Valkyrie put her hands in her pockets. "What now?" she repeated.

"Well we have to track down the sorcerers that have for their identities."

"You have the list of names?"

"Of course."

"And location?"

He sighed, "Yes."

"So where are we going?"

Skulduggery paused and pulled out the list from his pocket. He studied it for a moment.

"England." he said, "We're going to England."