A/N: I don't own Valkyrie, Skulduggery, Darquesse, Lord Vile, Billy-Ray, Erskine, Jack, Thrasher, Scapegrace, Tipstaff, Ghastly or Gordon. Cain, Calamity, Galen and Val are all my OCs though. Thanks go out to I love Gibbs for the review, fave and follow.

I stared at Skulduggery in disbelief. "You aren't serious, are you? Wouldn't I know if I wasn't Darquesse?" I asked.

"Would you? The turned coats gave me the idea. Imagine your reflection's rage, feeling she'd been denied everything she'd ever deserved. Worse still if that rage imprinted on the actual Darquesse."

"So why such a slow process?" I countered. "Getting the detectives to leave the first time happened years ago and I'm going with vanished this time or we'd have calls from other Sanctuaries."

"Maybe she was weak, maybe they are dead."

"If this is about Lord Vile wanting to kill Darquesse-" I began but Skulduggery placed a gloved finger on my lips and cocked his skull. Without a word I called my armour to me and listened. There was a faint sound only the dead could have heard. Whispery singing that sent chills up my spine.

It was impossible to make out the words or the age or gender of the singer, but it sounded like it was coming from the very walls. I knew we had to assume we were being watched but we still sought any place in the stone walls to find a switch, a hidden room, anything.

Even by letting my dead sight roll over me I couldn't see a thing out of place. And Skulduggery's signal I reached into my duster and hit a button discretely sewn inside. Within seconds both children were beside us, armoured up. I held a finger to my teeth then nodded towards Skulduggery. But it was Vile's voice that whispered in our heads.

We're being watched. Say nothing. Fan out and search for clues. We have to assume the watcher is highly dangerous. Be careful. We all nodded our agreement and I knew that Erskine and the rest of the Sanctuary were also on high alert as I crept out of the room and down the hall. I went slowly, scanning the hall carefully. The singer had sounded close, and could likely be dangerous. It made me wonder if we really were dealing with Darquesse and I was just a sorry second-rate copy.

I mentally shook myself. Don't think like that. Thinking like that gets you dead. I thought and it was the last one I managed before two powerful arms shot out of the wall beside me and drug me inside before I could shadow-walk away. I fought and heard a familiar voice growl close to me. "Just you hush. Is that heebie jeebie thing still around?" It was Sanguine and he sounded terrified.

"Yes, that's what I'm looking for." I managed.

"Well don't!" He hissed. "Calamity is lookin' for the kids and we're gettin' you all out of here."

"Skulduggery!" I said.

"Will be all right." Billy-Ray assured me as he started moving us backwards ever so carefully then had us in a supply closet. We got out and made our way down the hall and I led the way forward.

"What are we hiding from and how come you think Skulduggery will be all right if I and the kids are in danger?" I asked. Billy-Ray said nothing and when I turned to talk to him he'd simply vanished.

I hit the button in my jacket again and Skulduggery and the children were with me instantly. "Billy-Ray, whatever it is, it's taken him." I said grimly.

A search was launched and neither Billy-Ray or Calamity were found. We were back where we had started and Skulduggery looked at me. "He called it a what again?" He asked doubtfully.

"A heebie jeebie."

"That narrows it down." He said dryly. "It could be anything. Well, we know it isn't a Jitter Girl and a bean sidhe tends to wail and not sing, nor do they make fashion out of people. Unless, of course, the two are entirely unrelated."

"He also implied you were safe." I offered and he stared at me. "He and Calamity were evacuating me and the kids, we were in danger, not you."

Skulduggery tilted his head thoughtfully. "Then either he thinks it is me or someone who would never hurt me. Well, we know it isn't you or the kids." He started to pace. "Did you notice anything when he drug you into the wall?"

"No, I sensed whatever it was was just around the corner but Billy-Ray seemed determined I didn't find out what it was. Why?" I asked and Skulduggery shrugged.

Then he stopped and looked at all of us. "There could be a chance our own people are doing this. That the chances to reform failed and it could have been, well, Jack isn't considered handsome by most people."

""Neither were Scapegrace and Thrasher, but none of them have the skills to preserve a corpse do they?" I asked and Skulduggery sagged against the wall. "I officially hate this case." I said with a sigh.

Val cleared her throat then spoke up. "Could it be someone angry at the detectives or Sanctuary? Shouldn't we be looking at what they were investigating and where they were found?"

I smacked my forehead in reply and let my armour flow away from me. "Of course!" I said at the same time as Skulduggery and at my gesture he continued, flipping through the case file.

"Well, well. The crime scene is out in the middle of nowhere but the diner we took Ryan to is along the way." We all stared a him. "If I detour a little." He amended. "Well, don't just sit there, let's go get some lunch and then we have a crime scene to investigate."

In the Bentley I shifted in my seat once we were underway to look at the kids. "We didn't drag you away from your own cases did we?" I asked.

"Nope." Val said cheerfully but Cain looked out the window angrily. I repressed a sigh.

"Cain, you know the rule. Unless we're in the middle of a war-"

"I know, the family alert means we all come together." He looked at me. "But that's just it, we do have partners of our own, mom. We are married adults."

"Do you want to be in this investigation?" Skulduggery asked quietly.

"Dad, we're never going to be some family of crime-fighting skeletons. I know that was your dream but it's never going to happen." Cain countered and I looked at him in shock.

"All right. I'll stop by the mansion first. As lead detective on this case I'm relieving you both of duty. If we need anything further from you we'll call ahead." He said tartly and I Gibbs slapped him the same time Val hit Cain.

"Ow!" They whined in unison.

"Skulduggery, get a grip, they're young yet. Do you think I'd have wanted my parents tagging along on our cases?" I asked. I then looked at Cain.

"Yes, you have a partner. Mel and Tess aren't being excluded. I rang them and their doing legwork."

"Oh." Cain slid down in his seat.

"Yes, oh. We know they are more likely to get people to talk who would ignore us and Tess and Mel are both good at finding people." I wanted to be angry and lecture him, but I could still see the tiny baby I'd held in my arms and laughed slightly. "You were a lot easier to handle in diapers."

"Mom!" Cain wailed.

"You children never wore diapers, we dressed you in take away sacks." Skulduggery teased. Val giggled and finally Cain joined her. "But you're right, Cain. We aren't ever going to be a family of detectives. I will need you on some cases but you're too important to the Sanctuary on your own, and I'm proud of you for that, both of you."

The atmosphere in the car changed and Skulduggery flicked the radio on for the rest of the drive, Val starting in with her normal stream of chattering. I was zoning her out until she mentioned a movie about clones. "How's that, sweetie?" I asked and she piped up happily.

"A really old movie, mom. They were making clones of people, killing the real people and replacing them. Like the reflections did once, remember?" She asked and I nodded, my mind starting to whirr. I turned around and looked at her.

"Did the clones think they were the real people, sweetie?" I asked and she nodded but I held up a finger before she could go into detail. "Dial the Sanctuary, get in contact with Doctor Galen and tell him what you told me. I want him to look into something for me."

She dialed and was burbling away when I felt Skulduggery looking at me. "It fits the pattern. Kill the original and take over their life, well done, Valkyrie. Though it is a puzzle how they killed them."

I heard Val ring off. "Mom? Dr. Galen said to tell you the bodies have gone missing. But not to worry he doesn't think these ones walked off this time. What is he talking about?" I smiled then told her the story for the rest of the drive.

We got a hurried lunch then were back in the Bentley. Skulduggery had already looked the area up on his mobile and of course there were no bogs. "Great." I said as we pulled up to the crime scene. "A beacon to every larger lout, teen and urban explorer in the area." I said, taking in the ruined factory before us.

It was dismal-looking building of grey stone with filthy windows, but strangely no damage to the windows or any spray painted tags on the outside. "I don't like this." I said as we got out.

"Duly noted." Skulduggery said cheerfully.

"It look like a horror movie set." Cain grumbled.

"That's the spirit!" Skulduggery agreed as he led the way around the building and out of sight of any observers. I armoured up and let my dead senses flow over me. I could see the faint footprints in the grass and we trailed them into the building.

"They split up." Skulduggery muttered and shook his head. "Don't they watch horror movies? You never split up in an abandoned factory."

"We're splitting up, are't we?" I asked and he nodded, taking Cain with him and going to the left to follow one trail while Val and I headed to the right.

I sighed. "You know he always gives me the jobs that involve danger, right?" I asked and she nodded. "So be on alert." I dropped my voice to a whisper and rose off the ground slightly with my shadows. Val followed my example so we could glide down the hallway off the large central room we'd entered by and we found a closed and locked door.

I held up three fingers as I slid to one wall and Val slid to the other and when she nodded I pointed to myself, then the door and made a pushing motion. She nodded again, readying her shadows. I counted down then blasted the door with my shadows, both of us falling backwards in surprise as a huge guard dog bounded out, so starved his ribs were showing.

He flew past us and out of the building and I cursed as I rose to my feet. We entered the room and other than the mess the poor dog had made found nothing. Not even footprints. We walked back to the entrance silently then took the metal stairs that led to upper level. My mobile buzzed, making us both jump and I checked it. Skulduggery. "Yes, dear?" I hissed into it.

"What was that noise?"

"The footsteps led to a door and just stopped. I'm assuming he could have went inside but a dog that had been locked inside left too many prints of his own to see anything. We lost the trail and no prints doubled back."

"So he disappeared from that room, head back, Valkyrie, we'll meet you." He rang off and we doubled back with a sigh. Skulduggery looked at the mess the dog had made then at me.

"Either our detectives who found the bodies locked that dog in their or someone else did. There was no report of a dog though and this room clearly wasn't searched until you to arrived. See? Only your prints."

I nodded. We searched the walls, everywhere for a seam or a switch, we took apart filing cabinets, even cleaned out the dog mess and nothing. "What can take you out of a closed room, Cain?" Skulduggery asked.

Cain tilted his head thoughtfully "Necromancer, teleporter, tunneling Adept." He said and Skulduggery nodded.

"Right. And either the abductor put the dog down here as a rather rubbish lure and snatched our detective away at the entrance or-" He knelt down to study the prints outside the door, trailing them back down the hall and we followed. Skulduggery started up the same stairs we'd been on and looked back down when none of us followed. Well, come on, he went this way."

"That's where we were going." I grumbled as we started up after him. And there are no prints." I added.

"No, but there was a faint trace of a sigil you missed. From the design I'd say it was meant to transport him to the next one."

"Cool." Cain said. "So why didn't we use it to follow?" Skulduggery stopped and looked at him.

"Because it could have been a trap. Luckily it was meant for one trip only." We came to a metal door at the top of the stairs and Skulduggery tested it, then knelt down with his lock picks. "I'm wagering the destination was here, he couldn't have been transported far." I was about to ask why when the door clicked open.

Skulduggery held up a hand and drew his gun, I drew mine and at his nod Cain manipulated the air and the door swung open. The room was empty with only one faint set of prints about another sigil. Skulduggery studied it curiously. Then beckoned us to join him. "See the tiny arrow? It shows you the direction of the next destination."

This one was etched as though pointing up and Skulduggery nodded. "We have to find access to the roof. Just searching at random won't help us. It will be easier to follow the sigils in order." I wanted to argue we just looked for a sigil with no arrow, but he was right.

It took a while but we got to the roof to find another sigil. "He ended here." Skulduggery said with a frown in his voice. "So his attacker was here, waiting for him." We all looked at him and he continued. "Once he steeped onto the first sigil he was locked into the magic until he reached the final one. It's why it's a good idea not to step on them."

I nodded and although we searched no trace of the attacker could be found.

We trailed back to the Bentley and I knew Skulduggery was troubled after we'd seen Ghastly and we and the children parted ways. "I don't like this, Valkyrie." He said as we drove home. "It's like someone constructed a case of random clues that don't fit together. Usually there's a logical progression I can find." He became quiet for a while then braked so hard I was thankful for my seatbelt.

Skulduggery turned the Bentley around with a curse. "Of course. If those bodies had been in a bog how did they end up being found in an abandoned factory out in the middle of nowhere?" He asked as he sped back towards the Sanctuary.

"Either there are sigils to travel there from the actual bog or someone moved them there?"

"Yes, but how did our detectives even know to search there when they didn't report in?"

"Tracing the mobiles?"

He shook his head. There were no mobiles or IDs on the bodies. Someone told them to look there, Valkyrie and I want to know who."

Ghastly, just leaving his office drew a blank when asked, and Erskine didn't know either. Not even Tipstaff had any idea who had sent the detectives out there and when questioned they drew a blank and couldn't remember who had told them. A Sanctuary Sensitive confirmed after they left that they really didn't know who it was, only that they'd been given orders to search the area. Skulduggery sighed as the Sensitive left. "We're being laughed at, Valkyrie. Who would go to so much trouble to make a fool out of the Sanctuary and why kill innocent detectives to do it? What possible motive would there be?"

I shook my head. "I give up, the clues are too random. It's like we got fragments of separate cases and tried to stich them together. Maybe none of it is related. Maybe the killings, the location of the body and this mystery person no one can remember are all unrelated."

"Can't remember?" Erskine said thoughtfully. "Can't remember." He repeated. "Why do I think you just solved the case, Val?" He started to pace, seemingly agitated. "To tell you the truth, your Grand Mage has thought he was loosing it. I've been seeing cups of coffee appear on my desk on days Tipstaff was off and don't remember getting them. Case files appear and disappear. My car will be parked in a strange spot and I don't remember leaving the Sanctuary. It's like there are gaps in my memory."

I shivered. My reflection had started developing gaps, missed memories and I hadn't thought to mention it. I stared at Erskine closely. Would a clone work the same way?

After we confirmed no one had made a reflection of themselves it suddenly clicked into pace for me. "Chagelings. The two detectives were changelings, Skulduggery. And that dog at the factory that ran past me and Val? That was our púca."

Erskine facepalmed and I glared at him. "Valkyrie, púcas don't exist."

"So dragons, banshees, and everything else we've run into does, but the don't What about-" He held up a hand to stop me.

"What are banshees?" He asked. I looked at Skulduggery worriedly. We were the only ones in the Sanctuary that seemed to remember the Good Folk existed.

"Of course." Skulduggery said thoughtfully once Ghastly and the children had joined us in Erskine's offic. "Val is half dead, the kids and I are all dead, so of course we remember." He beamed at me. "Good work, Val. Púcas are relatively unknown, but I distinctly remember they are shapeshifters and can appear as dogs. And that would explain no one remembering him either."

"Him?"

""Or her." He conceded "But what tipped you off about the changelings?"

"It was a clue. The skin turned into a coat? Uncle Gordon did a story once about a mage who could turn into people after wearing their skin."

"And your parents let you read it? That explains so much. But well done and a trip to Gordon's mansion is called for." The kids groaned, but we all piled into the Bentley and Gordon was chuffed I'd remembered the novel.

"One of my personal favourites." He said happily. "And yes, I did vaguely base it on the púca legend. Skulduggery kept telling me writing about Them was dangerous but I wouldn't hear of it. So, our killer took some changelings back the hard way? Odd, they don't normally live to adulthood."

"Change what now?" Cain asked.

"Changelings, my dearest, great nephew, and what a great nephew you are." Gordon teased. "They used to be believed to be left by the Good Folk in exchange for healthier human babies. They would be sickly, have pale complexions and generally didn't live until adulthood. No one knows why they were left either or what ever happened to the human babes."

"We do know some have lived to adulthood." Skulduggery said thoughtfully and these two must have transgressed one of their laws. He looked at me. "Punishment used to be rather more severe in the old days, turning those two into bog men and making coats of them is rather mild."

"I'll take your word for it." I said dryly.

"So it would seem that part of the case is solved, though it would be nice to have bodies to prove they weren't human." He sighed. "Of course the bodies could have been pieces of wood for all we know. Even mages are suseptible to fey magic."

The kids looked at us expectantly and I knew they wanted us to go home to ponder the case further. I was wistful for the past for a moment. For the time when it had been just Skulduggery and I and we could have stayed all night to chat with Uncle Gordon, but they were right. Skulduggery and I made our goodbyes and went out to the Bentley. "Seatbelt." Skulduggery said.

I complied at looked at him. "I suddenly feel old. Had I known having children would make me feel old I'd never have done it." I grumbled and he laughed.

"They are grown up, you know" He said gently. "And now we get to be the old and out of touch parents who don't understand anything."

"Lovely, that." I grumbled. "Val is OK nut Cain just seems to resent us anymore." I said and Skulduggery nodded. And that was strange. Cain always been a tad arrogant, he was our son, after all, and he'd always been trying to live up to Skulduggery's legend. But that day I'd gotten the idea that my own child hated me and I wondered if a walking, talking duplicate of Skulduggery could have been behind any of the chaos spreading through the Sanctuary.

Say it isn't so! Is it all on the púca's shoulders or is Cain responsible for meddling in the Sanctuary. And if so, why?