"Skulduggery?"
"Yes, Valkyrie?"
"Waiting's boring."
He sighed. "Think deep, philosophical thoughts."
Valkyrie shrugged, and turned towards him from her position across the room where she'd been pacing. "I thought deep, philosophical thoughts last night. Nothing exciting happened until I realised that 'it's what's inside that counts' means the same thing as 'you are what you eat'."
Skulduggery didn't laugh, but his head tilted into a smile. "Does that make you a triple chocolate cookie?"
They settled into silence for another two minutes.
"Skulduggery?"
"Yes, Valkyrie?"
"Why don't we use magic to get out?"
"Because we're in a police station, Valkyrie."
"But what are we waiting for? I thought Geoffrey Scrutinous wasn't coming."
Skulduggery nodded sagely. "He isn't. Dexter said he and Ghastly will come with our escape vehicle."
"So we have to wait?"
"Yes, Valkyrie."
This time, she made it almost three and a half minutes before bursting out: "Skulduggery?"
He sighed. "What?"
"How long will they take?"
"I don't know. Wait and see."
"But how will we know when they're here?"
"Listen for the sound of a far-too-obvious birdcall. Or possibly an explosion. Then we know they've arrived."
Valkyrie nodded slowly, and they lapsed back into silence. Skulduggery looked at her. "I can tell you're about to say or do something annoying, so get it over with."
"Skulduggery, waiting's boring."
"Oh, for the love of God..."
...
In the end, Valkyrie and Skulduggery were clued in to Dexter and Ghastly's appearance by a vehicle. The purring sound of an engine in the distance grew and grew outside the station. It reached a climax and then shut off completely. Valkyrie's ears perked.
"That's Tanith's motorbike," she said. "I'd know that sound anywhere."
Skulduggery's head tilted dubiously. "Tanith, Ghastly and Dexter are all on the one bike?"
"We're about to find out, aren't we?"
Skulduggery strode to the door and pushed. It remained sturdy under the skeleton's hand, but a column of well-placed air sent the door flinging open. Valkyrie and Skulduggery piled out into the corridor and headed left at random. They passed rows of doors, but not a window was to be seen - nor a door leading to an exit. A fire escape would have been welcome, but one did not appear.
Once it became clear that there would be no back exit, Skulduggery cursed impressively. "We're going to have to improvise. Be ready."
"I'm always ready. Except when I'm asleep, or when I have to -"
"- acting a little strangely. She seems quite young for this kind of work, if it's true at all. I wonder if it's not a ploy, but there seems to be no motive, or even crime, aside from the trespassing."
Footsteps. Just down the hall, from where the two had come. Clearly, the voice was discussing Valkyrie. Another person spoke.
"All very odd stuff. The relatives have arrived, and they don't even want to talk to them! One of them's even refused to come into the station -"
The steps drew nearer.
Skulduggery snatched Valkyrie's collar and dragged her back. They silently hurried down the corridor, away from the voices, never turning their backs. This proved to be a mistake.
A third police officer was backing out of a room slowly, pausing to speak with the occupant. Luckily, she had her back to the detectives, but they wouldn't remain undetected for long - the voices from down the hall were closing in.
Trapped.
Ghastly stood by the counter with Tanith, who was smiling, apologising and lying through her teeth. Playing for time. Tanith spoke to the officer on duty.
"No, really, it's fine," she said with a beam. "We'll wait out here while you look over the documents we provided." She winked. A little over the top, Ghastly thought, but she was meant to be a distraction. He wandered over to the water cooler, reaching surreptitiously into his front pocket.
"Ma'am, we haven't received any documents from you," the officer at the desk said. Tanith threw her head back and laughed majestically.
"Of course not, love," she said.
"No, really, we haven't."
Tanith stopped laughing, and Ghastly turned away from the water cooler, sipping his drink. He turned and sat down on one of the seats, by a plastic plant.
"What do you mean? I gave them to you before."
"When?"
"Just now!"
"When?"
"Before!"
"Ma'am, I'm afraid -"
The water cooler exploded brilliantly. Tanith took off down the hall at a sprint, yelling "I killed Sirius Black. Hahaha!"
Ghastly legged it outside, where Dexter sat on the motorbike, crammed up against the handlebars. "Who exploded?" he asked. "Where are the others?"
"Oh, shut up," Ghastly told him. He sat behind Dexter and they waited.
As soon as they heard the explosion, Skulduggery grabbed Valkyrie's collar and shot upwards. The officer ahead of them, the woman, spun around in confusion as Valkyrie did her best to choke quietly, hanging by her collar just above the officer's eye level. Skulduggery shifted her onto his back so she didn't die a horrible death,and they continued to hover in silence. The officer sprinted in the direction of the reception, and a few seconds later they heard her yell, "who are you?"
"They're coming!" shrieked a familiar voice. "Men in black ski masks! They blew up the bloke at the counter! Run for your lives!" Tanith appeared, moving fast, and Valkyrie waved frantically to get her attention, but Tanith passed them by without an upwards glance.
Valkyrie was starting to think they would never get out of here, when Tanith appeared from the other direction, running along the wall. She ran upwards and crossed the ceiling, and found herself face to face with Skulduggery and Valkyrie (although Tanith was the only one upside down). "Gah!" Tanith blurted in surprise, then clapped a hand across her mouth as a policeman rounded the corner and stood directly underneath them, slowly revolving. Searching. For them.
Promising herself that she could laugh about it later, Valkyrie searched the area for an escape route. Floor- obviously not. Left and right - chances were they'd be seen. Crossing her fingers, Valkyrie glanced upwards.
There.
Skylight.
...
Thank you, folks. Coming up next chapter: the Great Escape. Hope you liked this one. Only one or two more to go - and I like, mean it this time. And stuff. :/