Chapter 15 – Mother's Day

Hey, here's the next chapter!

Also, its Mother's Day!

This chapter will be dedicated to mums, so I hope you enjoy :)!

\(^o^)\

ooOoo

Valkyrie glared at Skulduggery.

"What?" He asked her.

She continued glaring.

"Seriously," he mumbled. "It was all Ghastly. Not me."

She raised an eyebrow. Man, she should punch him.

"You're telling me that Ghastly was the one who set fire to my card?"

Skulduggery looked at her for moment, then at the pile of ashes on the counter, and nodded.

"Yup."

"Ugh!" Valkyrie threw her arms up in to the air. "Have you -any- idea how long that took me to make?!"

If Skulduggery had eyebrows, they'd be raised rather high.

"It was a picture, coloured in with pen. Would have taken you ten minutes."

"Ten minutes- Skulduggery, it took me an -hour-! It was possibly the best piece of art I'd ever done, and now its a pile of ashes!"

"If it helps, its a rather pretty pile of ashes."

Valkyrie went silent and stared after him. After a moment, without taking her eyes off of him, she scattered the ashes with her hand, on to the floor.

Skulduggery looked down at the mess.

"Well that was completely unnecessary."

Valkyrie let out a low hiss and spun away from him. "God, you're infuriating, Skulduggery." She stomped out of the kitchen and in to the living room. She sat down at a table where a pack of pens and sheets of paper were set out on it.

"Now I have to spend a whole other hour trying to make it as amazing and brilliant as that one- and then you're going to have to drive super fast and drop me off at my house. And if I'm even one second late, I'm going to get a mallet, and break each of your bones, one by one."

Skulduggery, who had been watching her, cocked his head to the side slighlty.

"Charming. You won't be late. When are we ever late for anything?"

Valkyrie scoffed. "Like, all the time."

"Ah, yes, well.. Some things are just inevitable."

Her head snapped towards him. "Me being late is not going to happen today, Skulduggery. Of all days, please don't make me be late on Mother's Day."

Skulduggery wandered over to her and sat next to her. "Of course not. I wouldn't make you late to see your mother- especially when she'll be leaving this evening." She smiled gratefully at him and continued her drawing.

"But.."

She paused.

"The card incident was actually Ghastly."

She flung a pen right at his face.

\(^o^)/

An hour and a half later, Valkyrie is sitting in her living room across from her mum, with the biggest grin on her face possible.

"Happy Mother's Day, mum." She said, looking down expectantly at the card her mother held in her hands.

"Oh, Steph, thank you." Her mum said, smiling as she opened the card. She went silent as she looked at what Valkyrie had drawn, and then burst in to laughter.

Valkyrie frowned and took the card from her to check it. What was she laughing at?

"O-ooh Steph! That's.. That's so good!" Her mum laughed continuously, holding her sides. She couldn't tell if she was being sarcastic or not.

Valkyrie had drawn herself, her mum, and her dad with their arms around each other. She thought it was pretty good, all things considered.

Then she looked at the way she had drawn her dad's nose.

A few seconds later, she was on the floor laughing with her mother. She had drawn it so retardedly, it looked like someone had placed a fish on his face.

When her father himself looked at the card, he was taken aback and highly insulted. He wouldn't stop looking in the mirror and checking on his nose, in case someone did actually put a fish there. His expression just made Valkyrie and her mum laugh impossibly more.

"Steph, I never knew you'd be so harsh." Her dad mumbled grumpily.

Valkyrie staggered to her feet and hugged her dad. "I'm sorry- I didn't mean to draw you with a fish face." She sniggered, her mum snorting in the background.

"Right, sure you didn't."

"I'm serious dad- but even so, I think its an improvement."

Her dad took her by the shoulders and drove her towards her mother. Leaving her there, he stomped up the stairs.

"Hurry up and finish packing for the trip." He called down to them.

Valkyrie immediately sobered and turned to her mum.

"So, you're leaving soon?"

"Yes," her mum said, smiling softly. "But remember, its only for a week or so. And I'll always email, text and call you. I'll even be old fashioned and send you a letter or a postcard."

Valkyrie nodded and hugged her mum. Mums shouldn't leave on Mother's Day- they should spend the day letting their family shower them with their appreciation, love and gifts for being the amazing thing that is their mum.

Whenever Valkyrie tried to imagine what her life would be like without her mum, she just couldn't see herself being the person she was today.

She wouldn't be confident without the support and advice from her- her dad was there for her, yes, and he's wonderful too, but sometimes she just needs a girl to girl talk. Someone who understands what they're going through and the best way to chug on through it.

She loved her mum, and the thought of her being hurt or being in danger brought protective tears to her eyes.

"I love you, mum." She said. Her mum hugged her tighter and smiled in to her shoulder.

"I know, honey."

/(^o^)/

Later that day, after she'd seen her mum off at the airport, she was at Skulduggery's house with Ghastly and Skulduggery. Tanith was in London for a short time.

Valkyrie was in the living room watching TV, whilst Skulduggery was talking to Ghastly as quietly as he could in the kitchen.

"You what?" Ghastly asked him, his jaw dropping.

"I told her it was you." Skulduggery said. He knew that Valkyrie knew it was him, but it felt good to say it was someone else.

"Skulduggery, why did you tell her it was me?" Ghastly asked through clenched teeth.

"If you were there, standing next to a pile of ashes that was once something that Valkyrie made, and saw the murderous look on her face, you would have done the same." He said, glancing at Valkyrie, making sure she hadn't heard.

"So you blamed it on me?!" Ghastly said, exasperated.

"Uh, yeah. And it would mean a lot to me if you played along, too."

Valkyrie chose this moment to stand up and walk in to the kitchen. As soon as she stepped in to the kitchen, Ghastly said;

"It wasn't me, it was Skulduggery."

Fingers clicked.

Flames blazed.

Skulduggery gulped with his non-existent throat.

ooOoo

/(^o^)\

Well, there you go!

Hope you liked it!

Please review.

Ciao! ^_^