Chapter 13 – The Sea Hag

Hey!

So.. Been a lil' bit since the last chapter- but no worries! Here's the next one!

Enjoy! ^_^

ooOoo

Valkyrie and Tanith were watching TV when Fletcher suddenly appeared in the room with Skulduggery. Fletcher looked as white as a sheet of paper.

"Uhh.." Valkyrie sat up on the sofa. "What's happened? Did Skulduggery glare at you again?"

Fletcher shook his head and tried to flash her a cocky smile.

"He does that all the time- I don't think it effects me as much anymore." He slumped down next to Valkyrie and sighed.

The two girls looked to Skulduggery who went to fold up his coat. "We've just had word of a series of killings. All of the victims were teleporters. Seems now that Fletcher is the last one.."

Valkyrie patted Fletcher's shoulder lightly.

"I can see why you'd be afraid, Fletcher, but don't worry. We won't let who ever's doing this kill you."

Fletcher turned his face away and scowled. "I'm not afraid. I can be anywhere any time I want. Easily evade them."

"Except for one fact," Skulduggery said, straightening his tie. "That I suspect that the murders were done by people the teleporters knew well."

Fletcher flashed him a look that said 'I was there, numb-nuts.'

"So, have we any lead on who this might be?" Valkyrie asked, restraining herself from hitting Fletcher.

Skulduggery was silent for a moment. He turned around and left, flicking his phone from his pocket.

They heard him talking in to the phone in the hallway.

After a few minutes he came back in to the living room. "Seems we may have a lead. There was a teleporter years back who claimed he knew how to open the gate to the Faceless Ones. He was friends with a man who wanted to know this information, and he willingly told him. What he knew was just theory. And when the man was told, he killed the teleporter by a lake."

"And.. What's this got to do with the other killings?" Valkyrie asked.

"Well.." Skulduggery went on to explaining to her about some stuff which the person writing this fanfic doesn't really understand herself and doesn't have the time to research it, and comes to talking about the Sea Hag.

"Sea Hag?" Valkyrie recoiled.

"Yes. And we need her to let us talk to the teleporter who was killed." Skulduggery said, going to pick up his coat again.

Rolling her eyes, Valkyrie got up. She turned to Tanith. "Look after wuss here."

Tanith grumbled something about not being a babysitter as Skulduggery and Valkyrie left.

An hour or so later, Skulduggery and Valkyrie stood at the edge of a forest, in front of a dreary looking lake. The fog hovered low, so it was hard to make out anything. From his pocket, Skulduggery took out a tiny silver bell and rang it.

".. Is that it?" Val whispered, looking with disappointment at the bell. The noise it had made was barely louder than a whisper.

Skulduggery tilted his head to the side. "It was enough." And motioned with his head towards the lake.

(The description coming up of the Sea Hag isn't 100% accurate! In fact, probably not right at all. Doing this from memory.)

There, rising out of the lake, was probably the ugliest and fattest woman she had ever seen. The woman's skin was wrinkled and saggy, layers folding under her chin. Her hair resembled seaweed as she flicked it from her eyes.

"Do you not like my bell?" She gurgled at Valkyrie, glaring with grey eyes.

Gulping, Valkyrie shook her head. "No it err.. Its a very nice bell."

The Sea Hag swooped closer until Valkyrie could smell her fishy breath. "Do you wish to drown?"

"Uh.. No thank you."

"Pity.." The Hag backed off again and went back to sitting on the water.

Skulduggery cleared his non-existent throat and spoke. "We require some information about a teleporter who was murdered right here a few years ago."

The Sea Hag studied them with a sneer upon her lips. She slowly rose above them in attempt at intimidation.

"Oh really? Well.. Why don't you just ask him yourself?" And with a wave of her wrinkly hand, a tall, corpse-like figure rose up from the water. His clothes were torn and ragged and dripping wet. His cheeks were literally hollow and his eyes were grey and pleading. (I feel like I'm typing out some creepy fairy tale..)

"Is that the teleporter?"

"No, its my grand father- of course its the teleporter." The Sea hag snapped at Skulduggery, who just shrugged and faced the corpse man.

"Do you remember being killed here, some years ago?"

The man raised his head with what looked like a lot of effort and stared at them. "I want to touch land."

".. Okay, but first answer my question-"

"I don't like it in the water."

Valkyrie face palmed as Skulduggery tried again.

"I'll get you out of the water as soon as you tell me who killed you.."

"Hold on a second! He's not going anywhere- he belongs to the sea.." The Sea Hag hissed at them.

Skulduggery ignored her and motioned for the corpse man to speak.

"Yes.. He was my friend- I told him of the portal and of the Faceless Ones.. And then he killed me."

"Yes yes, but what was his name?" Valkyrie asked impatiently, earning a hateful glare from the Sea Hag.

"His name was Batu."

Wasting no more time, Skulduggery nodded at Valkyrie, and she launched herself in to the water and began swimming towards the corpse man.

The Sea Hag let out a piercing cry and threw herself at Valkyrie, only to be intercepted by Skulduggery as he pushed at the air and knocked her backwards.

They collided with each other, and the Sea Hag dragged him under the water. Valkyrie set her mind on getting the corpse man back on to land. She reached him, and realized he was floating above the water.

"Uhh.. Do I just pull you down?" Valkyrie asked him, staring.

He rolled his shoulder pathetically and she sighed, grabbing at him foot. She pulled him down slowly, and as soon as he was up to his shoulders in the water, he went limp.

"Uhm.. I suppose I'll carry you to shore, then." Valkyrie put his arm around her shoulder and held on to his waist as she began to swim back to the shore.

"Will you bury me when we get to land?" The corpse man asked her.

"Yeah, sure. We owe you." Valkyrie tried her best not to gag at the smell of him.

A gurgle came from underneath them, and then they were being propelled through the air. The corpse man got blasted away from her and he hit the ground first.

Valkyrie was shooting right for the trees, and she couldn't decide whether she was fortunate or not that the branches broke her fall, as she had many splinters and gashes on her face and hands.

She groaned as she rolled over after she hit the floor, thankful that the clothes Ghastly had made her lessened the impact slightly.

A few moments later, Skulduggery came out of the water, his suit dripping wet, and ran over to Valkyrie.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine- just splinters." She smiled thinly at him. She motioned over to the lifeless corpse (well duuhh), faceplanting in to the ground.

"Ah, he won't be talking any more." Skulduggery said, helping her to her feet. They walked over to the corpse and stared at it.

"You take the arms, I'll take the legs- and what did you with the Sea Hag?" Valkyrie asked as she picked it up by the legs.

Skulduggery grabbed it by it's armpits and shrugged. "Let's just say I've made some improvements on her face."

Valkyrie let out a bark of laughter, jerking the legs backwards. She recoiled when one of the legs came off as Skulduggery moved backwards, and she was left holding a leg.

"Bring that with you!" He called to her.

Putting a hand over her mouth and nose, she jogged after him, dragging a long a tattered leg.

ooOoo

There you gooo..

Sorry if its not all that good, especially seeing as you had to wait a bit :)

The flu is a harsh thing! And seeing as I'm feeling clever today as well as ill..-

"Wise men talk because they have something to say- fools talk because they have to say something."

:D Ciao nuggets!