Sorry, sorry, sorry, I've never intended it to be THIS long until the next chapters!! anyway, I still haven't finished it as I've completely re-written and re-plotted the ending. It's far more harder as I'm ending the story knowing what has happened in the 3rd book where i started before the 3rd book came out. I hope you enjoy these chapters! Thanks.

Rhos Furey.

Chapter Fourteen

Answers

Valkyrie woke up finding her head feeling heavy and groggy. It took her a while to be able to open her eyes as her eyelids were so heavy but when she finally did, she noticed that she was resting in a double bed. The sheets were crisped and white. The room was vast and simple. Everything was white with a mirror that hung on one wall above a dressing desk. There was two doors, where one was opened to show the private bathroom inside. The room was dark, except for the light that went thought the gap in the door to the bathroom. She rubbed her eyes and crawled out of bed to the beam of light. She glanced at her arms and saw for the first time that she wearing a blue silk dressing gown. Embarrassed and confused she looked around for her clothes, but she couldn't find them. She wondered, rather embarrassed who had undressed her and where her clothes were. But most importantly, where was she?

She entered the bathroom and faced the mirror cabinet over the sink. The bathroom was stylish and again white. She groaned as she saw how rough she looked. She noticed a bruise on her forehead, purple and new. It gave her a throbbing headache, and opened the cabinet to see if there was any paracetamols inside to make her feel better. She rummaged around and found a small bottle of aspirin there. She took two and washed her face so to feel fresh and more awake. She couldn't do anything about her bruise and decided to forget about it. She had more pressing matters.

She went out of the bathroom and found the switch of the bedroom lights. When the room was full of bright light, she looked for her school clothes once more, but still couldn't find them. So, she went to the curtains and drew them. The room was four grounds up and the view showed the lights of Dublin. It was still dark outside, but she wasn't sure about the time. How long had she slept? Was it only hours, or a whole day? She knew where she was now, she recognised the scenery and the setting outside of the building. She was in China's apartment.

She started as she remembered the night, or however long ago, when Tanith had rescued her from Sanguine. She recalled the Bentley blowing up and horrid Sanguine disguising himself as Skulduggery to catch her in a trap. She hurried across the room to the second door, she assumed this was the way to the living part of the building. She crept through the doorway and around the corner where she could hear hushed voices. The sound of the voices sounded like they were arguing. Valkyrie stayed hidden to hear what they were saying before they would stopped abruptly when she would show herself, like people normally did when they didn't want children to hear anything important.

"So, what do you think the Warlocks want him to do exactly?" It was Tanith Low.

"I don't think the Warlocks want him." She heard China's voice say. There was a silence, as they looked at each other. Valkyrie knew what was coming next.

Surprisingly Ghastly was there, "Give him some credit, he's more special than he looks."

"Then, what do they want from him?" China asked, "Surely they know about Valkyrie and her descendants."

"True, but Skulduggery has something much more special."

"And what is that?" Again, everyone was silent. They were all intrigue in what Ghastly was going to say.

Valkyrie leaned closer, making sure she could not be seen around the corner. But as Ghastly was going to say something, the phone rang which made everyone jump. Instantly China answered.

"Skulduggery?" She asked automatically and hopeful. Tanith and Ghastly gathered around her, her face was like a mask. Valkyrie took the risk and peeped her head and saw that China was frozen, her face set in stone. After a few moments, she nodded, wrote something down on a scrap of paper and said "Yes." Her tone turned turn aggressive. Then she hung up. They all stared at her, wanting to find out what that was all about.

"It's the Warlocks." She turned rushed around the room suddenly, touching random parts on the walls and symbols lit up. "They're here."

Valkyrie took this moment to reveal herself. "Val!" Tanith ran towards her and opened her arms wide and embraced her. "I'm so glad you're okay!"

"You too, thanks for saving my life."

"No problem." Tanith winked and ran to the corner of the room where she pulled out her sword. Ghastly rushed across to Valkyrie, limping slightly, a bundle in his arms.

"Quick, put them on!" Ghastly slightly smirked at Valkyrie's night gown and blushed, embarrassed. Valkyrie ran to the bedroom and quickly shoved the trousers, that fitted perfectly, her boots, tunic and jacket.

When she returned she saw everyone was in place of a sudden attack. The Warlock's apparently were coming, but Valkyrie had no idea what the hell was going on. She just had to take it from her. She stood next to Tanith, posed.

It was quiet for the remaining seconds, the lone clock ticking away the those long seconds. Then a low rumble, the floor shook, the walls buzzed, pictures smashed on the ground, and then a knock at the door.

The four of them looked at each other, bewildered, prepared and slightly bored.

than they realised there wasn't just one ticking in the room, the clock on the mantle piece ticked it's seconds, but a second, new ticking, out of beat of the clock's, was louder, and more foreboding.

"BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!"

The door they were all looking at exploding with splinters and deadly, sharp pieces of wood flew towards them, they ducked behind either the sofa or the coffee table. Valkyrie dived at the ground, hands over her head and felt shards of glass from the broken mirror beaten by flying bits of the door scratch her hands, but the new outfit Ghastly had made her spared her arms and legs and body.

After the debris had settled, all was quiet again, but the cry of China alerted everybody back to action from the shock.

China was pinned to the wall, her feet inches from the ground underneath, her eyes wide and struggling for breath, the odd thing was, no one was actually pinning her on the wall.

Ghastly leapt to his feet in a groan and tackled down the air before China. Strangely Ghastly collided into something and wrestle the invisible person onto the ground. Ghastly constantly and consistently powered down blows on the enemy and grunts were heard from the opposing.

Valkyrie and Tanith quickly got up to help China on to her feet, but China shrugged their arms away and touched the floor boards where Ghastly was kneeling over.

A quick flash of blue light appeared and the 'Invisible Man' appeared before them.

Ghastly stopped beating the guy up and slumped back, exhausted.

Valkyrie's eyes widened and her eyebrows came so far up her forehead she thought impossible.

It was Theodore, Elsa Wild's mute sidekick. What the hell was going on? She thought.

Ghastly nodded his head and answered Valkyrie's look of shock. "He was at the fight in the mansion of Riddle, could turn himself invisible. No Sorcer can do that as far as I'm aware."

Theodore could not move in China's lock charm of her hidden Symbology. Theodore caught Valkyrie's look and smiled. "Hello, Sunshine."

The sound of his voice surprised Valkyrie as much as his appearance. "You can talk?"

Theodore smirked, as if that was the most shocking of all that had just happened. "Aye, I can. I couldn't speak while i was visible else when i was Invisible someone could recognise my voice and know it was me. I wanted to remain anonymous." He was Scottish.

Valkyrie had to get around to it. "So, you're a Warlock, after all this time?"

Ghastly answered Valkyrie instead, catching his breath. "Elsa and Theodore were double agents. They were trespassing the case and filling in the information to the Warlocks. Who, the leader so happens to be is Major Jerome Riddle himself."

Valkyrie turned to Ghastly this time. "Sorry?"

Ghastly had told the story to Valkyrie about what happened the previous day. Theodore just sat there, unable to move struggling and sneering.

Meanwhile, China tried to sense any other unwelcome guest around the radius of the building and beyond. But it seemed they had only sent along Theodore.

Tanith shackled Theodore as they allowed him out of the Lock Charm circle and placed him on a chair, opposite Tanith and Ghastly. They made it seemed like an Interview Room. Valkyrie was at the background, kneeling against the wall, trying to piece everything she had missed together. China continued to check security and waited for her brother, Mr Bliss to show up.

"Why have you come here?" Tanith asked, but it was obvious that Theodore had been sent to kill them. He confessed he was their assassin.

"I was told to kill you. Except her." He pointed to Valkyrie, his dark eyes staring straight at her eyes and after several unnerving seconds of his deep gaze, she turned away. He was frightening.

Ghastly sat forward, "Why? Couldn't you just finish her here and then if you wish to kill her anyway?"

"Who said we were going to kill her?"

Tanith raised and eyebrow. "Who else wishing to kill her?"

Theodore sat there, unmoving, her face smiling, looking pass their shoulders straight to Valkyrie behind them even though she was half in darkness. He face was a sign of a madman.

"Theodore!" Ghastly yelled at him, trying to get him to respond. Theodore spat in Ghastly's face, which soon, Theodore would regret of doing. Ghastly punched him right at the nose and the unpleasant sound of bone breaking, Valkyrie cringed at Theodore's scream.

"Answer!" Bellowed Ghastly.

Without any notice by Valkyrie, Mr Bliss suddenly stood behind Theodore, as quiet as a mouse, but his face stone cold.

"I think you should leave him to me, Mr Bespoke, Miss Low." The two nodded, and Valkyrie decided to leave too. She didn't want to experience Mr Bliss torture Theodore. "I'll make him sing."

The library didn't give Valkyrie the comfort it usually did. She scanned the shelves of books for any titles about Warlocks. there were none she could find there.

China was sat at a reading table, a intricate china cup in her hands, she sipped delicately.

"Do you have books on Warlocks?" Valkyrie asked China.

"I have the biggest collection of magic books Miss Cain. Of course I do."

She guided Valkyrie to another room where she had never been before. It was dark, very dark, their was no windows, now other light sources apart from China's and Valkyrie's ball of flame in their hands.

"I keep my most precious book out of the light. It spoils them."

Valkyrie tried to read some words off titles, "The Art of Necromancy.", "The Sceptre of the Ancients, the First Stand.", "The Diary of Marion De Scary, the first Grand Mage," and so on.

They stopped at the centre of the whole room where a book in the centre of the shelf was placed. Leather bonded, which Valkyrie thought was Cow skin, but China told her otherwise.

"This book is priceless and is bounded with the skin of a Sorcerer killed by a Warlock in the First War."

"Nice," Valkyrie felt uneasy as China handed it to her. She touched it, her blood went cold. This person whose skin it was, without dignity, was bounding a Warlock book.

Valkyrie skimmed the pages. It wasn't light reading, but Valkyrie had to try and find Skulduggery and the other's who were held hostage and needed to understand what the Warlock's are planning to do.

It wasn't when she saw the words, 'Bone's of a King' did she stop and read the page.

...The Apocalypse would require the Bones of a King, Power of Resurrection, blood of Mortals and Power of the Ultimate Warlock. On the day of reckoning, these valuables would be sacrificed and Warlock's could regain their hold over the planet...

Valkyrie shuddered, they needed bones, blood of innocents and Necromancer powers to destroy the whole human race and of whole Sorcerers.

China had read what Valkyrie had too and understood what they were doing.

Valkyrie turned to China desperately, not considering her feelings. "You must know where they are! Your father was a Warlock! You have to know! People would get killed and the anonymity of Sorcerers is under threat."

China's jaw locked at the mention of her father but she nodded her head anyway.

"They must be where the last fight happened, where they were first trying the Apocalypse."

"The first time?" Valkyrie frowned, "Why didn't you mention they already tried to do this? We should've known from the beginning!"

"I wasn't sure, but now that we are, I think, we can stop them."

Valkyrie bit her lip. "How are we sure that they want Skulduggery's bones? He isn't a King."

"Before he died, at the first War he was the leader of the army. I suppose that could count as a king, and besides, they want revenge from him too."

They both looked at each other for a while, dreading what was going to happen. China started walking to the door, "I'll tell the others, you can start to the Van already."

Valkyrie nodded, still clutching the book as she and China exited the secret library and split up when China went to her apartment and Valkyrie made her way to the staircase.

Valkyrie ran down the stairs quickly, her breath going. She didn't know where they were going, but she hoped they weren't too late.

Mr Bliss was fuming in the room as she came in, China looked aorund the room, trying to find Theodore. "Where is he?"

"He's gone! He's ruddy vanished!"

China's face went white. Valkyrie was gone, by herself. China had let her go when Theodore was missing. "Great, because Valkyrie has gone outside."

"Why isn't she with you, China? Why did you let her go?"

"I thought she was safe, Theodore was in your hand!"

Mr Bliss went out of the 'Interview Room' and met Tanith and Ghastly sitting down. They stood up as Bliss and China approached.

"Where's Valkyrie?"

"In the Van." China answered hesitantly. Mr Bliss turned to his sister angrily.

"Hopefully,"

"What's wrong?" Ghastly asked.

"Theo is out there."

Mr Bliss ran out of the apartment, passed the library and shot down the stairs. He opened the door to the outside alleyway and saw a Black Van screech away, smoking behind it, speeding far away form him.

He stomped the floor, and went to the Van to see if Valkyrie had made it to it, but she wasn't. She was in that Black Van.

He approached back to the door where he found the skin bounded book flown to the floor. He held it in his hands and remembered whose book it had first belonged to. His father. He threw it back down, filled with bad memories and found China, Tanith and Ghastly running down to meet him.

They saw the absence of Valkyrie. China nodded her head in understanding. "The Centre."

"The Centre."