Well, chapter two… Enjoy! Starts in her story.
Her dad glared at her ring. "Necromancy…"
Valkyrie looked up at her dad, thinking she misheard. "Necromancy?"
"You're a necromancer? I thought you were an elemental with Skulduggery."
"Y-You know him…?" Valkyrie gasped.
"From your Uncle's stories."
"…You know about magic?"
"Well, of course, Steph." He said, surprised. "What's your taken name, by the way?"
"V-Valkyrie… Cain…" She said slightly dazed at the whole situation.
"Ah, I remember mine… Jake Lloyd."
"Jake Lloyd? What are you talking about, Desmond?" Her mother gasped. "Your taken name was Jake Silva, I was Josephine Lloyd."
Valkyrie started at her mother wide eyed.
"You know too?"
"Sure, dear."
"Why didn't any of you tell me?"
Her dad shrugged it off casually. "Didn't think you knew."
"Well, I'm Valkyrie Cain! I've been working with a detective at the Sanctuary and defeated the faceless ones with the Sceptre of the Ancients!"
"I know."
"How?"
"We've heard about your adventures, lil' missy!" Her dad intruded.
"How?"
"You're pretty notorious in the magic world."
Valkyrie flipped her phone out sneakily and dialled Skulduggery's number. She text him:
Skul, parents know, save me, wear façade. Oh, and don't forget the coffee and doughnuts for the stake out.
"Is being notorious a good thing?" She gasped.
"Well, it depends." Her dad sighed. "If you've been hanging around with Mr Pleasant, it's probably a bad thing. I forbid you to see him ever again!"
"Dad-"
"No Val, you've got Sanguine and Scapegrace and everyone like that after you! You're going to be killed!"
The words echoed in her ears. Killed. They may be right but she knew that she would one day kill them. Skulduggery climbed up to the window and knocked on it.
Finally, he took his time!
Valkyrie went to open the window when it locked.
"Huh…?" She looked at her dad.
"Desmond, let her go." Scorned her mom.
"No!" Desmond said.
"Desmond…"
"…Fine!"
The window unlocked and she opened it. Skulduggery vaulted inside and then stared at her parents. He had forgotten his façade. "…Skulduggery!" She elbowed him.
"Ow."
Her parents didn't seem dazed or even slightly surprised. Her dad came up to shake his hand.
"You, Skulduggery Pleasant, you take care of my daughter."
He nodded his head.
"I will, Jake."
Valkyrie glared at Skulduggery. "YOU KNEW TOO?"
"Course I did. I know everything."
"Skulduggery! I think you should have told me the fact MY PARENTS ARE MAGIC AND CALLED JAKE AND JOSEPHINE!" She screeched.
"Josephine?" He glanced at her mother. "Oh." She went and kissed Josephine's hand. "Ma'am."
Valkyrie just kept glaring at him.
REALITY:
"Like my idea?"
"Brilliant. You know your dad does know about magic, right? In the back of his mind."
"Yeah, I know." She sighed. "I wish I could just run up to them and remind them."
"While putting them in mortal peril."
"Yep."
Valkyrie sighed.
"Val, they'll remember in their own time."
"I know…"
"Don't have to be depressed about it."
"I'm not. I'm just thinking."
"About Pleasant?"
Valkyrie nodded slowly. "I mean, what was he thinking? Going after China on his own?"
She growled under her breath. "I thought we were a team, me and him. Partners in crime, companions for life and then he does this!"
"Steph, calm down!"
"No!" She screeched. "I can't just calm down!"
"I think we should continue this later…"
"No, writing is about expressing your feelings, isn't it?"
"Yes. I mean, no. I mean…"
"If I'm feeling like this it'll make my writing even better."
"…I guess so, better get to it, then Steph."
STORY:
Valkyrie was back at the warehouse on her own. Skulduggery had said it was too dangerous. The warehouse was dark and damp. The walls were solid concrete with pealing black paint. It looked like a jail cell but with an open archway in the middle.
"Who does he think he is! I'm the infamous Valkyrie Cain! I can handle a break out! I've done it plenty of times before!"
She smashed her fist into a wall, sighed and fell into a sofa which was burnt from some sort of fire. Probably magic related.
"Why does he have to ditch me here? I was the one who wanted the coffee and doughnuts." She sulked. Scapegrace popped his head round the archway. "Oi, Cain. Might wanna see this."
He gestured her to follow. He led her to a room with all sorts of T.V screens. Old and new, big and small. On all of them, there was a news channel. Magical version, though. Reporting instances in the World of Magic.
"Breaking news, top Detective, Skulduggery Pleasant, from the Sanctuary in Ireland was found in a cage trying to break free. No one knows how this may have happened but Elder Bespoke is here to explain-" Scapegrace turned the off.
"You planned this, didn't you?" Asked Valkyrie.
Scapegrace smirked with his head down, making the shadows collapse over him in a menacing way.
"Indeed I did, Miss Cain. You're not as smart as you look."
"So, what would you have done when me, Skulduggery and Ghastly were in a cage?"
"Taken over."
"Yeah, right. Cleavers, remember?"
"Hmph, so little faith, Cain…"
She turned to realise the whole zombie army behind her. "Ah… I see…" She mumbled. "Strength in numbers."
"Indeed."
"What are you going to do now you're plan's fallen apart?"
"Oh, Cain, you have me mistaken. Pleasant played right into my hands, and now? I have a captive."
"Oh, heck no."
She bolted through the horde for the archway. The rug underneath her feet slid backwards reluctantly and her feet came out from under her. She landed flat on her face, groaning. A rotting, devious face smirked above her, guiltily. Then everything went black.
REALITY:
"A mystery! Oh, how I love mysteries!"
Valkyrie laughed. "You haven't written a mystery book for years!"
"I was planning on one, but there is too much death and destruction in our cruel world for light arrogance of detectivery and magic."
"You need to get writing again or become the new Shakespeare."
Gordon laughed sarcastically. "Says the Queen of Necromancy and magic."
"Whatever, Gordon!" Valkyrie made a W with her fingers.
"Oh yeah? Look what I can do!" Gordon ran through a wall and then ran back. "Hmph!"
"Oh yeah? I could destroy the Echo Stone! Would you like that, Gordon? Really?"
Gordon laughed. "Not really, no."
"Good."
"Were you planning to destroy the stone keeping me here?"
Valkyrie made an inaudible sound.
"Mayyybe…" She concluded.
"Or maybe not?"
"To be, or not to be-"
"To be. I'd like to be. I'd like to exist."
"That's what that quote means? Is it better to exist or not exist?"
"Yup."
"Damn."
"What?"
"I've just lost a bet."
STORY:
Skulduggery was going out of his mind. He had played right into Scapegrace's rotting hands. He left her with him and now look what's happened! She's missing! Skulduggery paced up and down the white sanctuary corridor yet again. The same spot where he scared Val witless. He sighed impatiently and slumped down in a white uncomfortable chair.
Ghastly walked out of the white door beside the chairs. Skulduggery stood slowly. "Any news?" He asked. Ghastly shook his head, like trying to shake shock off his mind. "He's got her… He sent a picture…" Ghastly gestured Skulduggery to follow into the room. He wandered up to a computer on a desk and clicked a few icons. Suddenly, a picture of Valkyrie popped up, beaten and tied to a chair. She had a nose bleed and seemed to be unconscious with her head lying weakly on her left shoulder. "…Wow." Skulduggery sighed. He shook his head. "We've got to save her, Ghastly."
"Too dangerous, Skul."
"This is VALKYRIE!"
"Yes, but we don't know where they are!"
"Track it."
"Huh?"
"Track the photo."
"But I-"
"Get a guy from IT Support in to do it."
"I don't know if they can do that…"
"Sure they can."
"How?"
"Tracking for dummies? You're an Elder! You've got the whole of Ireland's magic community at your feet."
"True…" Ghastly nodded and sighed. "She's going to be alright, Skulduggery. Trust me. As you said, this is Valkyrie, we're talking about."
Skulduggery hesitated. "I know…"
"She's not like your daughter. I know that's the way you see her, a little kid that needs protecting. She's not."
Skulduggery sighed. "You're good at detective work. You want my job?"
Ghastly laughed, slightly sour.
"And I know how you see Tanith." Skulduggery remarked. "A beautiful, strong woman. She's not."
Ghastly shot him a cold glare. "Skulduggery, don't."
"Why? You know what I feel about Val, so why don't you know what you feel about Tanith?"
"I know what I feel about her."
"Oh really?"
"Yes. She's an amazing person. But she's not that person anymore, and I'm going to fix her."
"You sure about that, Bespoke?" Skulduggery walked forwards, backing Ghastly against the wall and lowering his voice menacingly. He put his hand on the wall by Ghastly's head, leaning in closely like trying to intimidate him. "Are you sure you can fix her? She's not Tanith anymore. She's a thing. Just a thing." Skulduggery smirked.
Ghastly pushed him away. "I'm sure. If you want help, you need to respect me."
They walked out the door and parted ways.
REAL LIFE:
"Yeeeoowch!" Gordon said. "Cat fight!"
Valkyrie giggled. "Meow!" She made a hissing noise.
They both started laughing. "So, is that based on real life or…?"
"No." Valkyrie cut him off. "Tanith's recovering in hospital… with that thing."
"Nye?"
"Yeah… I don't trust it with my sister."
"I don't trust it point blank."
"I'm the one who should have the trust issues, Gordon. It did cut the whole front of me open and tried to experiment on my heart."
"…Good point."
"Should I include it in Scapegrace's mischievous plan?"
"It could make it interesting."
"Well, yeah…"
STORY:
Ghastly and Skulduggery had got on Mason's case again. Mason seemed to always have some kind of inside knowledge on everything going on, meaning he must have known something whereas our heroes knew absolutely naught. Mason was leaning on a moss covered brick wall by a bridge going over a murky river, playing on some kind of phone or gaming devise. A hot unknown blonde female (Well, unknown to him. We know her as Tanith Low.) approached him. He was wearing a dark leather biking jacket and jeans which were torn purposely to give that dangerous and daring look.
"Hey." Tanith nodded to him, taking a place beside him. He looked up at her and nodded back.
"Hey. What's a girl like you doing out on a night like this?"
"Hmph, I'm not no ordinary lil' lady, buster, you watch your mouth."
"Oh really?" His cheeky smile turned into a grin.
"Yeah." Tanith pushed her hands in her trouser pockets, forcing her coat back while also revealing a glimmering blade with a hilt by her side. She smirked.
"I see…"
"Hey, have you heard about that Cain incident?"
"Yeah, apparently she's right under the Sanctuary's noses."
"What, underground?"
"Kinda. Apparently Nye's taken them underground to Sanguine's place so no-one can find them. They were all in on it. Nye wants Cain's body, Scapegrace wants her dead and Sanguine wants some Tanith Low lady back."
Her face became clouded and worried.
"You alright, lady?"
"Yes, yes. Fine." She beamed. "Good night to you, Mason."
She began to walk into the darkness, although she knew that Mason would question after her.
"Oi! Lady! How do you know who I am?"
She stopped.
"My name isn't lady." She turned slowly, facing him while posing slightly. "My name is Tanith Low. I'm from London. I've been working with Detective Pleasant and Miss Cain. My boyfriend is Elder Bespoke. I was a remnant when I dated Sanguine, and now I'm fixed."
Mason stared, his jaw just scratching the floor. "So you-"
"Used you to get answers. Yes."
"You could have just asked."
"Where does asking get a girl like me out on a night like this?" She nodded politely, smirking all the while, as she turned back and wandered off into the night.
REALITY:
"Nicely done! But tell me, how is Tanith back?"
"I'm gonna have to think about that one."
"Mhm. Rage writing. Bad idea."
"Hey, I wasn't in rage mode!"
"Alright…"
"So, is it mysterious enough yet?"
"Not yet."
"More mystery?"
"Yes please."