The moon hung in the sky, white against the darkness of night. Valkyrie's bedroom window was open as wide as it would go. Skulduggery stood on the windowsill, waiting, as Valkyrie crouched in the window to pass instructions to her reflection.

"Just go to bed, I suppose," she told it. "Mum and Dad won't expect you to spend time with them or anything. We should be back before morning. Have a good sleep."

Valkyrie pivoted and stood. Skulduggery stepped out into mid air and hovered there, holding his arms out for his partner. She reached for him and he lifted her away from the house, and then they were soaring.

Her house grew smaller and smaller and then was lost somewhere in the other houses, and then they were higher and further away and even Haggard was gone, and it was as though they drifted in amongst the very stars themselves.

Valkyrie didn't look back.

...

There was something about flying. A severely claustrophobic person, Valkyrie couldn't get enough of the wide open skies. The air rushed around them, whipping Valkyrie's hair around her face and doing an excellent job of drying it, flapping Skulduggery's tie wildly, carrying her laughter away before it reached him. He knew she was laughing, though, and although the wind whistled past the as they swooped through the night, nothing could pass between the skeleton in his finely tailored suit and the girl in the lilac pastel pyjamas.

It was hard to tell how long they flew for. Valkyrie didn't dare release her arms from where they were clamped around Skulduggery's neck to check the time, but eternities blinked by as she twisted to look upwards, watching the stars pass overhead. Beneath them lay Ireland in all its splendour.

The sensation was indescribable. Watching the ground and the stars and the sky rush past him, Skulduggery was almost grateful for his months stranded in the alternate dimension. Almost. At least the time hadn't been completely wasted. Flying and crumbling through walls were handy tricks when it came to detective work, not to mention Valkyrie's passion for flying.

Eventually, the howl of the wind lessened slightly as the pair's altitude declined. Valkyrie shouted something but the wind ripped away her words before they reached Skulduggery. She turned her head to watch the stars fall away far, far above. Skulduggery leaned close and spoke directly into her ear.

"I want to try something."

She yelped in surprise, not expecting for his voice to be so close, but nodded. Skulduggery took a moment, then released his control of the air.

A second passed.

And then they were falling, falling.

Valkyrie shrieked unashamedly as they streaked towards the earth. Her hair streamed straight upwards and her pyjamas billowed, caught in the mad rush of air. They plummeted, and the ground hurtled up to meet them. The thrill was mind-blowing. Valkyrie watched in delighted terror as they raced toward the ground, and suddenly she could see exactly where they would meet the earth and be crushed by the pressure of their own momentum.

Such fun.

The pair of them dropped like a stone towards a gentle slope of a hill, and now they were so close she could make out individual blades of grass in the bright moonlight, and still they shot earthwards, showing no sign of stopping. At last, though, maybe three seconds before the fatal impact, Skulduggery gripped Valkyrie tighter and they slowed swiftly. The whistling wind died away and her shriek echoed, her stomach sinking a little from the velocity change.

Skulduggery lowered them gently to the grass and she flopped in a heap, exhausted, despite doing almost nothing. Valkyrie panted hard as she lay on the grass, staring sightlessly at the sky she'd just fallen from. Her breathing slowed.

"I'm not sure why you're so tired," Skulduggery grumbled as he sat smoothly beside her. "I did all the work."

"Still ... waiting -" gasp - "for stomach -" gasp - "to catch up."

"If you're going to be sick, give me some prior warning so that I can retreat to a safe distance."

Speechless, trying to control her breathing, Valkyrie waved aside his concerns. She just needed a moment to recover.

It took a minute, but eventually she propped herself up on her elbows, breathing steadily, and looked around. "Where are we, exactly?"

"An excellent question."

"Are you going to answer it?"

"Hmm," Skulduggery paused for a moment, his head tilted. "No, I don't think I will."

"Why not?"

He hesitated, fiddling with the brim of his hat.

Valkyrie frowned, and then glared at him. "You don't actually know where we are, do you?"

"Not as such, no."

"What's that meant to mean?" Valkyrie threw her hands up.

"It means..." Skulduggery hesitated delicately. "I know where we are. I know we are in Ireland. I know we're on a hill."

"But not where this hill is."

"You could look at it that way," he admitted.

"So... we're lost?"

"Just a bit," agreed Skulduggery. "But look on the bright side."

"What bright side?"

"You have me," he pointed out. "At least for you, that's a good thing."

"Hey!"

"I brought cookies."

"Skulduggery, I completely and absolutely forgive you."

"Excellent," he told her.

They moved a little higher up the slope, to a spot where the grass was spongier and more comfortable. Valkyrie dug into the cookies. Together, they sat and watched the stars light up the night.