x-Bolly-x: Hey!

Valkyrie: Hello People!

B: Yep, Valkyrie's decided to join us today. I think she' s trying to escape Skulduggery...

V: I AM NOT!

B: Mm-hmm...

V: Why don't you tell the people about you're mess-up *raises eyebrow*

B: Oh yeah, before we begin I think I better let those of you who get e-mail updates on this story know why you got 2 e-mails saying Chapter 7 was out (if you did get 2 e-mails which I'm assuming you did :) ) anyway, I messed up a bit when I typed this chapter and had to go back and re-edit it. I only noticed I'd messed up the writing AFTER I'd published it so I had to delete the original and re-load the improved version. I have no BETA so any mistakes are entirely my own (and Sony Vaio as it's their computer keyboard that refuses to work)

V: Don't blame the computer company...

B: You're very on edge today Val, are you OK?

V: Yeah, just waiting to read this story... I've been waiting ages and we're just sitting here talking... *sighs*

B: Oh, OK then... READ ON! :) Oh yeah, Valkyrie Cain and Skulduggery Pleasant are Copyright of Derek Landy. I'm only borrowing them (please don't sue me *puppy dog eyes*)

V: I doubt puppy dog eyes would work on him... he has a Munchkin Army...

B: Yeah, well... it might... *jumps* and Donna Thorpe belongs to me... :)

V: ENJOY!

-x-

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Valkyrie woke up and realised she was lying down. Her body was aching and she could feel a gentle flow of blood streaming down her cheek. She looked around, willing her focus to speed up its own recovery. She realised she wasn't in Kenspeckle's hospital. There was natural light spilling in through some windows. Kenspeckle DEFINITELY had no windows. So she was somewhere else… THE BENTLEY! She could smell it. The experience of the beautiful car and it's comfy leather seats. She decided she had better sit up and let Skulduggery know she was ok- well as close to OK as she could get. She gently raised her head, taking care not to get up too soon or she would just fall straight back down again, she then went on to get herself sitting in an upright position. Every move was as painful as the first so she took them as baby steps. It was only once she was completely sat up that Skulduggery noticed she was even conscious again.

"Ah, Valkyrie! You're awake!"

"Obviously…"

"How do you feel?"

"Excellent!" Valkyrie said her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Really?" Skulduggery replied, seemingly not aware of her sarcasm.

"NO!"

"Oh…"

"Have you gotten any closer to figuring out what is happening here? I mean, first I go to Miss Thorpe's office to find out why all of Serpine's followers are going back into hiding, then her heavy's attack me, and then we found out about some weird drug's company, then, as if it wasn't enough, this happens!"

"Well, I managed to get something out of one of Serpine's old followers…"

"Really?"

"Indeed I did"

"And?"

"And he told me that something was coming, out of the darkness…"

"This is starting to sound like something out of Doctor Who…" she sniggered.

"Valkyrie…"

"OK, OK! Taking it seriously…"

"Anyway, this thing is coming out of the darkness and when I pressed him for more information he exploded…"

"Exploded?"

"Mmm-hmm… all over the place… it was very messy… I had to change suits."

Valkyrie just stared blankly at him.

"So Serpine's followers are going into hiding because the darkness is coming… could that be the darkness of a new leader? I mean Serpine's dead… isn't he?"

"Of course he is…" Skulduggery looked ahead and his grip tightened ever so slightly on the steering wheel "I hope." he added quietly.

"You hope?"

"Well, there's a 50% chance he's still alive somewhere…" Valkyrie looked at him with a menacing glare. "75% chance then" her glare deepened "99.9% chance" he said quietly.

"Sooo… to conclude… Serpine's followers are either getting ready for Serpine to come back or a new leader? Yes?"

"Absolutely…"

"And that means only 1 thing… and we both know what that is…"

"Trouble" they said in unison.

Just as the Bentley came to a halt outside the Hibernian.

*************************

"I'm fine!" Valkyrie whinged at Kenspeckle. He prodded her cheek and she took a sharp intake of breath.

"Don't tell me…" Kenspeckle said sarcastically. "That didn't hurt?" Kenspeckle asked raising a quizzical eyebrow and lacing his voice with sarcasm.

"Nope," Valkyrie tried smiling but found that it hurt quite a lot to use that many muscles In her face. "it didn't hurt a bit. I was just taking a quick breath of air, y'know." and she went on to demonstrate by inhaling quickly. Kenspeckle, obviously not fooled by this, pushed her gently, but firmly, back onto the bed.

"2 hours, Valkyrie. 2 hours and you and 'he' can leave here whenever." Valkyrie knew that 'he' was Skulduggery. "You did a runner last time, that is why this time I'm going to have people placed outside your door. If you so much as leave your room they'll follow you."

"BUT-!" Valkyrie tried to protest.

"NO VALKYRIE! You're staying put!"

Valkyrie huffed and glared at the wall in front of her.

"Sulking?" asked Skulduggery and Kenspeckle together.

"Hmmph" was all that Valkyrie would say.

"I'll take that as a yes then." replied Skulduggery. ***************************

3 Hours later and Valkyrie and Skulduggery were leaving the Hibernian Cinema. Skulduggery had insisted they stay the extra hour to make sure she was COMPLETELY OK. She had said she was fine but he didn't believe her. When he was completely satisfied that she was in near enough perfect condition he led her out to the car and took her home. He knew that she was probably emotionally as well as physically drained. She fell asleep on the way to her house and Skulduggery only woke her up when he pulled up outside the house. "Valkyrie?" he whispered, nudging her gently. "Valkyrie?" he said a bit started to stir and her eyes flicked open."We're here.""Hmm…? Oh, right. Thanks."Skulduggery looked up at the house and looked back at Valkyrie.

"Am I very much mistaken or is your house not only in darkness but also missing your car?""Mum and Dad went out to a party. They trusted me enough to stay at home on my own." she shrugged."You can come inside for a while if you like.""Umm… Why?""I don't know… maybe we could try and figure out what's happening in this case."

"Uh…" Skulduggery looked straight ahead to the road. You could practically hear the cogs turning in his skull. "I suppose."He got out of the car and so did Valkyrie. She left the car door open and ran ahead to her front door. Valkyrie span on her heel just as Skulduggery was about to close her car door for her."NO!" her eyes were wide as she shouted at him. "Hang on, I want to try something."Skulduggery leaned against the car bemused. He watched Valkyrie closely. She concentrated on her hand and felt the interlocking objects. She knew this was a bit bigger than most of the things she pushed around but she felt like she needed to do it. It was a good test anyway wasn't it? She pushed at the air quite forcefully expecting to use a lot of force. The door slammed shut and Skulduggery jumped."Let's try and leave the door on the car shall we?" he walked up to her and they went to the back of the house. Valkyrie leapt onto the windowsill first and levered it open. As usual the reflection was there but it looked different tonight. The creepy effect had lessened by now but there was still that underlying weirdness about it. The reflection stood up from the bed never breaking eye contact with Valkyrie."Hello," the reflection said, tonight's smile even creepier than it had been before."Hey, good day at school?" Valkyrie replied, taking a gulp."Nothing special. Mr Davenrish was about as boring as ever as well as spraying us with spit." the real Valkyrie grimaced and, not for the first time, was glad she was with Skulduggery instead of being spat at by some overweight 45 year old who was, she swore, losing hair by the minute and looked very much like a Hamster on occasions. Valkyrie was snapped out of her reverie by Skulduggery standing next to her. He bowed his head in greeting to the reflection and it replied with a small smile.

"Do you wish to regain your memories?" that was new. Valkyrie had never heard it say that before."Umm… yes."

"Very well." the reflection went to step, if it was possible, a little reluctantly into the mirror world. Skulduggery was standing where he had a perfect view of the two of them. The reflection stepped back into the mirror and, just as Valkyrie touched the mirror it laughed an evil laugh and as the transfer of memories ended Valkyrie stumbled back. In recent months more and more of Valkyrie's memories were becoming blank and she didn't know why. She never had the chance to ask the reflection and she didn't want to tell Skulduggery because he would, typically, try and over-protect her. But this was ridiculous. Valkyrie didn't know half of what happened today because, as they were slotting into her memory, she could not find out in a particular lesson, what the reflection did at lunch, where the reflection went after school. It had all been erased. She decided she should tell Skulduggery now.

***********

B: Worth the wait Val?

V: Yeah *hugs x-Bolly-x*

B: Umm, thanks Val. Glad you liked it. XD

V: REVIEW PEOPLE! C'MON! I wanna see them all flood in before I have to go back to Sulkduggery...

B: *dubiously* You mean Skulduggery...?

V: No, I mean Sulkduggery... me and Tanith came up with loads of different names for him, Skullington Man, Skul-dude (thanks for the idea Finbar), and, of course, Sulkduggery. *Beams*

B: So why is he Sulkduggery today?

V: Because we were clearing out one of the rooms in his house (we didn't have anything to better to do... Guild having blocked anyone from talking to us about 'Sanctuary business, and we were waiting for an appointment we'd made to go and meet someone who can help us with one of our current cases...) anyway, Skulduggery was going through a box when he just froze. I didn't notice at first but when I stopped too and noticed there was no movement I looked up and he was just staring at this orange piece of card. I didn't really understand till he dropped to his knees and turned his head to me... I asked him if I could see the card and he handed it to me and on it were the words "VIP. Bacstage Pass. Grace Kelly Tour. 1955 - To Catch A Thief WORLD PREMIERE"...

B: NO WAY!

V: Yeah! Turns out he'd looked for it for days after putting it in a special place and when he couldn't find it he couldn't go and meet her. He was crushed.

B: I'll bet... if someone gave me a ticket to go and see Rober- someone I liked and I lost it I'd be devastated!

V: *rasises eyebrows and looks questioningly* Yeeeaaahhh. Well anyway, he's at home sulking because he never got to see Grace Kelly in the flesh... poor guy. I feel bad for him now... maybe I should get back... *rises from her seat and turns to leave*

B: OK Thanks for coming Val :)

V: No probs. BYE! -x-

B: C ya! -x-

(Sorry I had to put this bit in... I wanted to have a go... if it's boring let me know in a review and I won't put it in the next one)