Skulduggery – Crow

Anton – Bear

Ghastly – Panda

Dexter – Wolf

Saracen – Weasel

Erskine – Snake

Solomon – Raven

Chapter 64

Three weeks later

"No changes then?" Valkyrie asked.

"None," Nadia said from the mirror, brushing her hair into plaits for bed. "I think they've chosen the school I'm going to but they haven't told me. Daadii is coming to babysit while they look at it in person, wherever it is. They're getting a plane and going for a week, that's all I know."

"Whose coming to babysit?" Valkyrie asked.

"My grandmother," she sighed. "She's lovely until she's mad. And she gets really, really mad when anyone she considers a child disobeys, and I definitely class as a child. I'm not looking forward to this. I don't think you can visit so long as she's here."

"Is she just coming for the week?" Valkyrie asked hopefully.

"No, she's staying for two weeks after my parents get back."

"How long until they ship you away?"

"Three and a half weeks." Nadia got up, went over to the bed and sat down. "I might only get to see you one more time."

"Baby, don't say that," Valkyrie whispered, coming up behind her and rubbing her shoulders. Nadia relaxed into her and Valkyrie tried to work out the tense muscles. Nadia had lost a little weight since she had stopped talking to her mother and it hadn't gotten better since. She was eating, Nadia had reassured her, but it wasn't a good situation either. She kissed her shoulder. "I will see you. I'll travel to France or Africa or India or wherever they take you and stay there. I promise. I'll visit you and be with you as much as I can, and we can talk every morning and night, and I'll send you cards and letters, and presents and flowers. I'll do anything to keep you happy and remembering me."

"Val," she said, turning in her arms. "I'm not going to forget you. I'm going to miss you, but I won't forget you."

"You say that now," Valkyrie said quietly, grim sadness on her face, "but soon you'll be in a private fancy school with all these pretty fancy people with all their money and prettiness and they'll all be in skirts all the time and you won't get to see me very much. Everybody says that those things tempt people. They all do. And then you'll forget all about me and I'll never see you again except with some pretty, fancy girlfriend with loads of money and it won't be fair at all."

She glared at her. "So you think I'll just throw you away because some other girl is standing near me?"

"No–"

"That's what it sounded like."

"That's not what I meant."

"It's what you said."

"No, I meant that I'll not be there and they will–"

"And that I'll be disloyal and cheat on you. Or that I'll decide you're not worth it after two and a half years of dating. Is that it? Is that really how little you think of me?"

"No! I don't think that at all! But it's what they say and I don't want it to happen," Valkyrie pleaded. "I love you, Nadia, I just don't want to lose you."

Nadia lost the fire in her glare and her eyes filled with tears. "I'm sorry Val. I love you too. I just hate all this so fucking much. I don't want to leave."

Valkyrie bundled her into a hug and pulled her on her lap. "I'll make it better. I promise. I'll do anything."

"The only thing you can do to make it better is to make me not go at all," she cried, beginning to sob again. "I hate crying!" She cried.

.*****.

Two weeks later

Valkyrie sat with Tanith in the girls' room, Tanith carefully painting Valkyrie's fingernails in a light pink.

"What should I do Tanith?" Valkyrie asked.

"You should calm down," Tanith told her, concentrating on painting. "You've been stressed and worried about this for weeks. If you're not careful, Skul's going to take you off of cases."

"I'm trying," she grumbled. "It's not that easy. We still don't know where she's being sent and I haven't seen Nadia in ages."

"You saw her two weeks ago. I remember you coming back and throwing a tantrum."

"I did not throw a tantrum."

"You literally stomped your foot and threw yourself on the ground and Skulduggery dragged you upstairs to your room and you threw all your stuff on the floor. I'm pretty sure that's a tantrum."

Valkyrie said nothing.

"See?" They were silent for a few minutes until Tanith had finished the last coat of colour and screwed the brush into the bottle. "You could always go to finishing school with her."

Valkyrie grunted. "I'm a year younger. I need my GCSE's to go and I could get some now, I guess, but I need all A's and A stars like Nadia. And I'm not sixteen."

"I thought they did numbers now?"

"Beats me. But she got all the top scores for her tests, and she knows three languages, and she can do a bunch of sign language, and she can do some really advanced magic. I don't know a lot of what she knows and all my magic is aimed at combat. She can do all those little things, like healing magic, and money counting and stuff."

"You could learn."

"Yeah, but she'll be gone a year anyway, and by then I'll be old news," she grumbled.

"Do you really think she's going to forget you?" Tanith asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

Valkyrie sighed. "I have no idea. I don't know Tanith. I don't want to know. I don't want her to go at all."

.*****.

One week later

Valkyrie waited behind a cluster of bushes in a neighbour's front garden, waiting for Nadia's grandmother to leave. She looked like a spry woman, with a strong resemblance to Mr Vinay, her son, who seemed to have all of her features except her jawline which was more angular on her. She was aged, with wrinkles and wisps of grey hair poking out of her headscarf that likely had some religious or cultural significance Valkyrie was ignorant of.

She tightly hugged her daughter-in-law, and Valkyrie noticed she seemed to be a very severe, strict woman who likely had been incredibly vigilant over Nadia. Nadia herself stood in the doorway waiting for her parents to say goodbye. She was in similar clothes to her grandmother, but without any headscarf and a purple dress down to her knees. Her hair was done up tightly in a bun.

She was tired, with dark enough bags under her eyes for Valkyrie to see across the street, and she looked anxious and uncomfortable, holding her stomach.

It took a long while, but soon enough the elderly lady had left in her taxi and the small family went back inside.

Valkyrie gave them a full minute before she snuck out of the garden and around to Nadia's room, sneaking in the window once again. She rolled under the bed quickly in case anyone else decided to join Nadia in her room.

As it was, she lay under there for a long time, long enough to complete a few levels on a game on her phone, before she started hearing shouting from downstairs. She put her phone away and tried to listen but couldn't make out the words. After ten minutes, Valkyrie nearly jumped in her hiding place as the door was pushed open and slammed shut.

It was opened immediately after by Mrs Keena and Mr Vinay. Valkyrie's heart thudded in her chest.

"You will not slam doors in this house, young lady!" Mrs Keena shouted at Nadia.

"Sorry!" She shouted back angrily.

"Don't you give us that attitude," Mr Vinay said as a deadly calm level. There was a silence in which Valkyrie was sure a lot of glaring was happening before he spoke again. "I have half a mind of sending you on that plane with her so she can teach you some manners."

"I did use my manners. I've been polite, courteous and good this whole time she's been here. I've done everything she's said. I've worn everything she told me to. I've eaten everything she's cook and helped with every meal. I listened to every word she said. What more do you want?"

"I want you to show some respect!" He told her. "This is the exact reason we need to send you to this school. Do you think we want to do this? Do you think we want to not see you or talk to you for months?"

"It'll be no different to living here," Nadia sneered. Valkyrie didn't dare move a muscle. "We barely speak and I don't get to say anything even when we do. You might as well send me there forever. I don't want to see you for a long, long time!"

"Don't speak to us like that!" Mrs Keena said. "You will enjoy this school. It's a very good school. You can meet a lot of good people, honest people, make some good connections. You have a long life to live, Nadia, and I expect you to live it well!"

"I was living it well," she said, emotion in her voice. "I had friends at school, good grades, a girlfriend and a future. Now what do I have? All my friends think I've been ignoring them for months, I never see my girlfriend and I've been too stressed over this to do a single bit of studying. All those things were making me a great future, one that I wanted to do, one that I would have enjoyed! I don't want to leave all that!"

"You'll make new friends," Mrs Keena said certainly, obviously trying to be convincing. She certainly seemed to have herself convinced. "You'll make better friends, sorcerer friends that can stay with you for life. You can find someone else to date, Nadia, and at any rate, you shouldn't be doing any of that until you've finished school."

"Can't I decide what's best for myself?" She asked with exasperation.

"You don't know what's best for you!" Mrs Keena shouted suddenly, and stormed out of the room, down the hall and slammed her bedroom door shut much like Nadia.

There was a long, long silence.

Finally, Mr Vinay spoke. "You will forget about that girl, Nadia. She might be nice now, but she'll only grow more brutish over time. She'll break you and your heart, and don't think I'll have any sympathy for you if you do this to yourself. We're trying to protect you."

He left the room, shutting the door softly behind him. Nadia stood there and when Valkyrie was sure no one was coming back, she pulled herself from under the bed. Nadia looked at her with tears running down her cheeks, not shocked or surprised.

"I don't want to do this anymore," Nadia whispered, looking away and at the floor. "I don't want to do any of this."

Valkyrie slowly wrapped her arms around Nadia and held her tightly. "We have the day together. You could come to mine?"

"They'll know I left," she said despondently. "I – just go Valkyrie. You should go home."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean I love you but I can't do this anymore," she cried, sobbing into Valkyrie's shoulder and holding her tighter. "I don't want to fight about these things. I want to pretend like everything's fine."

"We can do that," Valkyrie said quickly. "We can pretend like we split up. We'll tell everyone we did, I'll even tell Crow and Tanith that. I'll visit you in secret."

"How? They're sending me to India. To some tiny reserve by the beach with no one else around but other crazy, isolated girls."

"Fletcher," she said, thinking fast. "He lives with us, rents that room, remember? He can reach you and take you to my house any time we want, and take you back before you get in trouble. I said I'd make this work."

"He'll be spotted," she said, clutching Valkyrie's jacket. "I just – I don't want to sneak around Val. I want to be free and spend time with you and kiss you against the wall again. I want to go on holiday with you and make coffee and go on walks and all those things. But I don't want to lie."

"You said you wanted to pretend?"

"Pretend I'm fine!" She said, bringing her fists around and hitting Valkyrie's chest. There was strength to it and it hurt, but Valkyrie just kept holding the girl. "I don't want to pretend about us. I don't want to do this anymore."

"Baby, no, let's talk about this! They've confused you, this isn't normal. Don't let them pressure you into this," Valkyrie tried desperately. Her stomach felt physically sick and she felt lightheaded. She might have been about to have a panic attack. "Please, what happened while your grandmother was here?"

"Nothing happened," Nadia sobbed viciously. "It was just what they said. Mum and Dad called every day to tell me how stupid I'm being, how horrible I am, how everything is wrong because of you. And Daadii kept telling me all about how good it was before we met. Just everything, Valkyrie, it feels like years have gone by and I can't cope anymore! I don't want to live like this! I – it's too much."

"Come away with me. Run away, it doesn't matter, they'll forgive you eventually. I swear, you don't have to do this."

"Don't be so fucking stupid," Nadia lashed out, shaking her head violently. "Just go away! Go home, I don't want you here anymore. I want this to go back to normal."

"Honey, no."

"I want to break up, and that's final Valkyrie. This is over."

"You really want to break up with me?" Valkyrie asked quietly, her stomach dropping even further. Her knees began to shake and her vision blurred for a moment.

"Yes! I don't want to do this. It hurt so much. It hurts," she said sobbing. "I don't want this anymore."

Valkyrie swallowed the bile in her throat. "We said we'd trying to make it work–"

"That was before," Nadia ground out between her tears. "I can't do that anymore."

"But–"

"No! No buts, this is it! You can't control this like you try to control everything else, you can't buy your way out of this and you can't call anyone for help. This is over. Get out of my house before I shout for my dad. I can't do this with you, it's over."

"I – if you really think this is what you need," she whispered quietly.

Nadia hit Valkyrie as hard as she could in the shoulder, pushing Valkyrie back, and Valkyrie let her go. Nadia started crying uncontrollably and stumbled into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her. It didn't stop Valkyrie listening to her sobs.

Not knowing how to handle it, Valkyrie shut the pain down, trying to feel nothing at all. It worked, a little, and she mindlessly folded the random shirt on the bed without thinking about it. It had little hand-sewn stars in it. Valkyrie put it neatly in the drawer with the others. She carefully made the bed the way Nadia liked, thinking painfully of the three times they had been intimate with each other on it, then quickly shut the memory out before she could cry.

Was it right that she felt violated? That she had agreed to more forward thinking they wouldn't break up until they both wanted to, until it was something they both agreed on, and now Nadia was pulling the rug out from under her. Everything felt wrong. She felt tricked and blackmailed, even though it was in no way logical and she knew it wasn't true, but a part of her felt so utterly betrayed that she didn't know how to look at any of their relationship except with doubt and horror.

Without thinking, she took off her protective jacket and folded it into the suitcase in the corner of the room and left it there to go with all the other clothes she'd left at Nadia's house. In case the needed it.

She left to the sound of Nadia's sobbing, not daring to look back.

I am very sorry, it hurts me too :'(