Skulduggery – Crow

Anton – Bear

Ghastly – Panda

Dexter – Wolf

Saracen – Weasel

Erskine – Snake

Solomon - Raven

Chapter 32

Unable to sleep, she tidied up her room, going so far as to pick up things from under her bed which was mostly old clothes she put in the bin since she knew they would never fit again, and sorted out her wardrobe after sitting in bed for an hour bored as hell. It took an hour in itself to tidy it up.

Still tired, Valkyrie sorted through her newly filled hamper of clothes that had sat on the floor for perhaps months and made a dark pile and hauled it downstairs. At least she wasn't going to be sleeping with partly damp hair now. She hadn't quite mastered drying her hair yet. Soon though.

The laundry went in the washing machine and she went to the kitchen for some warm milk.

Weasel and Bear were sitting at the kitchen table nursing cups of coffee. They'd been placed on watch apparently. From the blink of the security system in the hallway, the alarms were all activated too. Preparation for an attack from the Diablerie. Taking a deep breath, Valkyrie felt almost relieved. At least they wouldn't be taking on Nadia or anyone else as leverage if they were attacking her house. Even if the idea of them made her extremely nervous.

"What are you doing awake?" Bear asked her, looking up at her from his hunched position on the table. He looked knackered.

She shrugged. "Can't sleep. Figured I'd make myself useful."

Weasel snored and put his chin on his fists, leaning over the table to watch her get the milk carton out. "Since when did you like making yourself useful?"

She didn't answer that, her tiredness making the statement feel more like an insult than a tease and she didn't particularly feel like overreacting. She had made enough people hate her for one day. She could get Weasel back in a week or two.

She took a sip of her milk, considered, and put it in the microwave. When it was warm, she sat at the table with Bear and Weasel.

"So," Bear said, putting an arm over her chair and squeezing her shoulder. She smiled and leaned into him. "What happened with Crow?"

She sighed and explained, in few and censored words, his protectiveness over her when they got Fletcher and then the dramatic visit to Finbar's where he had seen his friend possessed by the Faceless, and then their meeting with Solomon Wreath.

They nodded and took her seriously when she explained that she saw genuine sorrow in Solomon and didn't get angry when she explained she hugged a random man Crow hated, or that he said she could call him any time. Instead, they treated her as a young woman whose opinion they valued and trusted. She was often right in these situations. While her social skills sometimes lacked due to her hot-headedness, she was always reliable when she said if someone was guilty or innocent, remorseful or merciless.

Solomon, she said, was guilty of what he did but did it for innocent reasons, making him a twisted good guy, someone who had realised his twistedness and was trying to fix it. They believed her and didn't question it. Perhaps they had already known.

The three of them sat silently for a moment, thinking of Solomon's actions and Crow's anger, not just at her but also at Solomon, though Valkyrie knew she didn't know the whole story. She couldn't be certain if Bear or Weasel did either.

"Problem is, Skul is secretive," Weasel said finally. "I know he had a long history with Wreath, he told us before it went sour, but it went bad before anything with Serpine went up. A few years before he had even met his wife, when they were eighty or something. I don't think it's a lover's feud."

Bear snored and rubbed his eyes. "I wish it was."

Valkyrie frowned. "What do you mean?"

"If it was as simple as a long, messed up fight between lovers, we could help Skulduggery move on, get someone new in his life," Weasel explained. "He's been alone since his wife died, and while I heard he was almost as bad as me and Dexter in his youth, that only lasted till he was maybe fifty and then he just went cold for whatever reason. I'm sure he dated someone, I'm not judging, but as far as we know, he stopped, met his wife, his wife died and other than a few little flings and a handful of dates, it's been nothing."

Valkyrie looked down. "Isn't he lonely?" He had a lot of family, and she was sure he loved his family, but it's not as if he could hug and kiss Bear or Panda if he had a bad day.

She almost wished he did though because that would be funny to see.

"I doubt it," Bear said after a moment, surprising her. "People can live very happy and fulfilling lives without romantic love, Valkyrie. Not everybody needs that. If Skulduggery wished to date, he would. I think it's more likely he either likes someone who can never like him back, or he is actively going out of his way to avoid romantically liking anyone. So he can focus on everything else in his life."

The silence lasted for a long while, letting Valkyrie listen to the sound of the washing machine churn, lulling her eyelids lower. "Does he hate me?" She asked quietly.

"Of course not," Bear said immediately. "You're his pride and joy."

"He hasn't looked at me since he left the meeting with Solomon."

"He's just angry. Not with you," Weasel said, but Valkyrie didn't hear much certainty in his voice. "Give him time."

She sighed and sat up, finishing her drink. "Anything I can do to fix it?"

They looked at each other and turned back to her. "Just wait."

She scoffed. "That's rubbish."

Weasel shrugged. "It's what we do when he's mad."

"Men," she sighed, getting up and opening the dishwasher. It was just finished cleaning, so she sighed again and unloaded it, then filled it with the few dirty things they had left, wiped over the counters, and refilled her brothers cups with coffee before kissing them both on the cheek and getting her things out of the washing machine. She sorted what she could into the dryer, turned it on and hung the rest up on the rack.

Finally feeling tired enough to sleep, she went up to bed.

.*****.

Morning came early to Valkyrie, indicating immediately her stress over the situation with Crow. She sighed and got herself ready regardless, hoping the night had brought rationalisation to her guardian and they could be friends again.

She got her breakfast before the others were out of bed and made some pancake batter for their guests seeing as she had nothing else to do. When she was done she flopped down in front of the television.

After a show and a bit of Judge Judy, Fletcher popped into the room dressed and hair pushed right up to stand on end. He grinned at her. She waved at him.

"What are you doing up so early?" He asked.

She shrugged. "Headache. You?"

"I'm in another person's house, I don't think I could sleep in if I tried," he explained. "Anything for breakfast?"

She pulled herself up just as Peregrine popped into the room too, making both Fletcher and herself jump, and she instructed them both to set the table for the morning, complete with paper at the head for Crow, and made them pancakes. By the time she had made theirs, the other Dead Men and Tanith were trailing downstairs for food.

Dexter took over the efforts halfway, letting Valkyrie gratefully escape to brush her teeth. She texted Nadia, which helped take some of it off her mind.

Leaving the bathroom she and Tanith shared, Crow was waiting with his arms crossed for her in the hall.

"Hi," she said, shoulders slumping and feeling a little sick. He still looked upset.

"Good morning. Thank you for making breakfast," he said formally.

Her heart almost jumped up her throat. Alongside her breakfast. "It's fine."

He nodded once and indicated she go into her room. She did, and he followed behind. She sat at the desk chair, grateful for her lack of sleep now because she thought he might have been glad the room was tidy – he didn't like messy things and anything making him more antsy when he was about to start telling her off was a bad thing. Points to her.

He stood looking out the window for a long moment and Valkyrie watched him quietly. He sighed suddenly and got a small key out his pocket. Slowly trailing over the wall, he locked the large window in her wardrobe, the two floor to ceiling windows in her room and the large balcony doors. He pocketed the key and turned to her. Her phone buzzed in her pocket.

"Please give me your phone," he said quietly, coming closer and holding out his hand.

"What?" She asked quietly.

"Valkyrie, please give me your phone."

Valkyrie felt tears rush to her eyes and shook her head. "No, you can't take my phone. It's not even safe, you always tell me to have my phone. How–"

"Give me the phone, now, or I'll take it from you by force."

Valkyrie ground her teeth and gave him the phone, slapping it harshly into his hand. He put it in his pocket without further comment. Reaching behind her, he took her keys to the house, the emergency keys to the cars, and, with no hesitation whatsoever, turned the plug off on her computer, removed the monitor, and took both that and her very old and battered laptop away.

She sat there, waiting, and felt herself get sicker. She hunched over in the chair. There was no way this was fair.

He came back and crossed his arms again. "Valkyrie, I am grounding you for twelve weeks, a week per minute you were in that house with Solomon Wreath alone. You will not have any electronic privileges in that time, will not leave the property grounds and will begin to catch up on the school work you haven't been doing during that time. You will not be able to see any friends, cannot ask the others to let you see them or allow friends over, cannot go on any cases, and if you break any one of those rules I will remove more privileges. Do you understand?"

She didn't look up from glaring at the floor. She said nothing, breathing deeply to stop herself raging.

"Valkyrie, don't think I won't put your nose in the corner." He said in a lower voice. "You are my responsibility and what you did was irresponsible and dangerous. You know not to stay with criminals and people we cannot trust."

"Then why did you leave?" She growled out.

"Because you were meant to follow me, as you know. That's why you are still my apprentice, regardless of what the Sanctuary or Elders say. You have a mountain of things to learn still. Obviously, listening to instruction and keeping yourself safe is a part of that. As such, I cannot trust you–"

"What?!"

"–and you are being grounded. We will review the situation in twelve weeks."

She pressed her nails into her palm, feeling the anger taking over. She grit her teeth. "Fine."

He might have nodded or flipped her off, but she refused to look at him for even a moment and he left the room. He closed it softly behind him.

Oooh... that was mean. We're going to get Valkyrie happy soon, don't worry! I feel bad again haha, but on the bright side, with Valkyrie at home all the time she can spend more time with Fletcher! Please send me a like or review, I do love them :)