Skulduggery – Crow

Anton – Bear

Ghastly – Panda

Dexter – Wolf

Saracen – Weasel

Erskine – Snake

Solomon – Raven

Chapter 76

It took a good week for things to settle in their house and get a meeting with all three Elders to explain Tesseract and The Torment. They had numerous interviews with Scapegrace, the owner of the bar, but he had nothing useful to tell them. In the end, they had to send him to a psychiatric ward for his strange behaviour. He was utterly and totally convinced he was a mass murderer.

Valkyrie had wanted to just let him go as he was harmless, but the Sanctuary said they had to protect him from his own idiocy. They found a nice lady to take care of him and be his 'assistant', a blue-haired girl called Clarabelle that was eager to convince him not to kill people.

The Torment himself hadn't been easy to track. So hard, in fact, they hadn't found him at all.

"He must know more about the outside world than we thought," Crow had grumbled when they were driving away from yet another false lead.

"He's had centuries to learn to blend into all cultures," Valkyrie had replied grumpily. "He could probably fit into any place now."

Tesseract had been even harder to find. Whereas The Torment was had been calling him every few hours, he was now absent and they couldn't be certain he was even in the country.

Tanith was certain she could track him down but she was fainting every day and falling over a lot and had doctor appointments every few days to keep on top of her symptoms and was in no shape to work. Panda was the full-time caretaker of her as well as doing his tailoring and spent much of his time convincing her to not get worked up about it as that was what led to the fainting. It was kind of funny except for the fact they were all so worried for her.

The Sanctuary had to put the Dead Men on hold for that particular case and put others on the search as other problems came up. Corrival had to give them almost three cases a day, sometimes more, to keep up with the crime wave that hit them. They weren't hard crimes, but there were way more than their department could handle and even Bear had been called in to help with a riot and get some peace.

Needless to say, the crowds dispersed quickly when he arrived.

"So, Valkyrie," Raven said with a smile.

She stared at him over her cereal. "What are you doing here so early?" She asked him quietly.

"I was here all night," he said, his mouth twitching as he tried not to smile.

She let a pause go by. "Okay."

"Me and you have to talk."

"About how you're dating my dad?"

"You don't call him that," he pointed out.

"He essentially is though."

"Yes, I suppose so. But you have to talk about that with him. No, I wanted to talk to you about your month at the Temple," he said, diverting the conversation easily. "The High Priest and Clerics are getting restless waiting for an answer."

She put a spoonful of oats and blueberries in her mouth and took her time eating. It was nice to feel as she was wasting even more of their time. "I'll do it."

"That is good to hear," Raven said, a smile finally blossoming onto his face. He truly brightened up when he was happy, a little twinkle of excitement in his eye. "When would you be comfortable moving in?"

"It's just for a month," she pointed out and thought about her plans. She had none. "What about I start on the first and leave at the end of the month? So we could do the whole of March? That starts Thursday next week."

"And ends on a Saturday, that sounds good," Raven smiled. "I will tell the High Priest. And where do you want to sleep? You can have a student room or stay in my spare room."

"I'll stay with the students," she said resolutely. "God, it would be too embarrassing to sleep with you, they'd all taunt me!"

"They won't taunt you."

"They will if I have to stay in your room like a little kid."

"They might taunt you a little if you do that," he conceded. "But other than that, you'll be fine."

"I hope so. Is there anything I have to do before I go?" She asked, scooping out the last of her cereal quickly.

"I want you to get up to grade twelve. You're on grade ten at the moment, which is acceptable, but I believe some of the students and teachers will be expecting more from you considering the Temple is making special circumstances for your continued education. If they decide you're lacking, they may give the High Priest a negative perspective of you."

"What do I have to do to get up there?"

"Well, I brought some books," he said and led her to the study room. Her desk was piled precariously with many, many volumes of books on Necromancy and Death and further ancient death magicks. "You'll need to read these and pass a few tests, as usual. Since you have almost two weeks, I think you can do it."

She glared at him. "There are at least fifty books on that table."

"Fourth-eight," he said. "And fifty-three journals and articles."

"How are you expecting me to get through all that? We're in the middle of a crime wave, Raven, I have to deal with that too."

"Well, I was thinking that we'd have you and Tanith work on this while myself and Skulduggery work on cases," Raven suggested.

"Okay, Tanith is not going to want to study Necromancy with me, and there is no way you get to have all the fun without me."

He shrugged, tapping his cane on the floor. "It's okay if you don't do it, or even if you just get to grade eleven, but the students your age are going to expect you to be at grade eleven at the very, absolute least if you don't want to be taunted as you said."

She groaned and hit her head on the doorframe. "Really?"

"Really. I am happy to stay and tutor you," Raven offered.

"Happy to stay with Crow," she muttered, going into the room to have a look. He'd split the books into the grades at least, and there weren't many to get up to grade eleven, she noticed. So it was very, slightly possible she could do that part. "Okay, so if I just had the bare minimum, what books would I be left with?"

"This is the bare minimal," Raven responded, coming into the room. "This is the necessary reading to get up to the next stage. This will only get you a passing grade as well, you'll need to do three times the work to get higher. You've had many years less learning than the other students which is why you are barely on par with them in terms of theory."

"Considering I've had less years, I think I'm doing pretty bloody well."

"You are, but not well enough to escape a scathing from children who grew up believing education is the one and only path to social acceptance and good job. If it will help you in keeping your training in Necromancy, this is how to do it. You're very talented, Valkyrie, and I don't want you to go to waste."

She waved him off and sat down. "Fine, fine, you got me. I'll start reading. But you have to give me that stack of stuff over there. It's my Necromancy study pack. It comes with added Vitamin D."

.*****.

Those two weeks were gruelling and hideous. Books, dust and more dust. She had to get three massages to help her poor back and neck from all the strain. But she did do it. Barely. She read every single one of those books and took both tests and passed by a single mark into grade twelve, high enough to be considered just a little better than average for her age. Enough she wouldn't be mocked even if she was laughing at herself for putting so much effort into a magic she was getting surer and surer about not taking in the Surge.

It was a nice distraction from everything else though, and that was what counted to her.

The day before she was set to leave, she got her suitcase out from under the bed and had to start packing for the trip. She'd be barely an hour away, but she was not going to be allowed out of the Temple except with Raven who was going to be on Cleric duty, and so unable to allow her to do her normal activities. It sucked, but there was a little excitement too.

Her new Temple robes were at the Temple ready for her in her new Temple student room, so all she had to do was pack the basics. No shampoo or body wash – that was provided. No bedsheets or towels – that was also provided. All she needed was enough clothes for a week and then it was wash day and she'd start again. She was allowed a phone since she wasn't a full student but it had been 'strongly recommended' by the High Priests favourite Clerics to not use one at all.

She also brought her own hairbrush. She wasn't sharing one of those.

She sighed and closed the suitcase and took it down to the door for the next morning when she'd leave. She didn't know what to do now.

"Hey Cub," Wolf said from the doorway. "What are you doing all sad and stuff? I thought you wanted to go?"

"I do, but I'm going to miss you," she said, giving him a hug. "When I get back you'll be off on adventures all over the world and I'll be alone."

"You'll have Skul."

"Well, Skul has Solomon," she grinned at him and they laughed.

"Still blows my mind," Wolf sighed and kissed her cheek before letting her go. "But who knows, maybe you'll meet some lovely new young lady you can date while you're in the death hole."

"Don't call it the death hole," Valkyrie snorted. "And maybe, I guess, I wouldn't mind making some friends."

"You know, it would be okay if you got with someone else," Wolf said as they started wandering around the house. He seemed to be as bored as her. "You don't have to date them. It's okay to do that."

She shrugged. "I still like Nadia. I'd rather get back together with her than try with someone else."

"You can do that too, you know. You don't have to have sex with them, but talk them up a little, maybe a kiss or two, just have a little fun. It is allowed," he smirked, bumping his shoulder to hers. They were almost the same height. She was five foot nine now.

She smiled. "Maybe, maybe. I doubt I'll find anyone in the Temple though."

He shrugged. "Hey, I've dated a few Necromancers in my time, and I assure you it's not all doom and gloom. Anton's last serious girlfriend was a Necromancer."

"I though the last person he dated was that fire throwing dude."

"It was, but this is the last female, there's a serious difference in that."

"I thought it wasn't meant to be serious."

"It's not. My point is, Necromancers aren't bad, so you can flirt with one, date one, even become one yourself. We love you and if Nadia does, she will too no matter what."

"Well, considering she broke up with me…"

"Also irrelevant."

"I think that's slightly more relevant."

"Valkyrie, shhh, stop questioning my authority."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Authority?"

"Yes."

"You?"

"Hey, Saracen seems to think I have some of that," Wolf winked.

"And are you two properly dating yet, because people are still asking about that?"

Wolf grinned and shook his head. "Me and Saracen are very happy. No need to put a label on it."

"I'm not, I just want to know if you're dating?"

"I wouldn't call it dating per say," he began.

Valkyrie waved her hand quickly. "I've changed my mind, don't tell me."

"Sure thing," he said and kissed her temple before jumping into another room and shutting the door behind him, Valkyrie barely getting a glimpse of Weasel's grinning face before he was gone. She shook her head and walked quickly to the kitchen.

"Hey," Tanith said, putting plates on the counter so Bear and Panda could start serving lunch. "Done packing?"

"Yep. And I'm out of things to do for the day," she said, throwing herself onto a chair. "What are we having?"

"Leftover sandwiches," Panda said over his shoulder. "Fridge was getting full of them."

"Mac and cheese sandwich sounds pretty good."

Tanith gave her an apologetic look. "Sorry. I already had that."

"Tan, you are two months pregnant, you don't get to call dibs on food until you get to at least five!" Valkyrie complained. "What's next, going to pee all the time?"

"I peed eight times today already," she admitted. "I don't understand why."

"Maybe it's the six litres of water you had since half five this morning," Panda grumbled as he put some bread on the kitchen table.

"It might be that."

Valkyrie shook her head at them. "You two are doing really well at be an old grumpy couple."

"They are old and grumpy," Bear said as he threw a half-eaten packet of salami on the table, almost taking Valkyrie's eye out. "Sorry."

"You know, I'm suddenly not so upset about leaving this crazy house for a month," Valkyrie smiled. "No food thrown at me. No cooking. No washing up. No annoying brothers. No annoying sisters. It'll be great."

"I'm going to visit you," Tanith said.

"I think that was a threat," Valkyrie said, pointing at her with a slice of meat. "Don't do that."

"Okay. But I'm still visiting you. As soon as I notice a bump I'm coming over and we have to admire it," Tanith grinned.

"I would agree but I looked online and you won't get one until twelve to sixteen weeks," Valkyrie told her.

"It could be a big baby," she said hopefully.

Valkyrie snorted. "Maybe it's twins. Maybe that's why you're so sick."

Tanith winced and she was pretty sure Panda didn't look so healthy anymore. "Please God don't let it be twins."

Valkyrie laughed. "You'll be fine, don't worry. Unless twins run in your family. Do they run in your family Panda?"

"No," he said.

"Tanith?"

"Yep," she said, biting her lip worriedly.

Valkyrie shrugged. "I'm sure you're fine. Every fourth birth is a twin in our family. It's why there's so many of us. You have a good chance of not twins, but I might be in trouble. Anyway, you can have your ultrasound scan now you're roughly eight weeks and they'll probably be able to tell you then if it's twins."

"You have to be there!" Tanith cried, sitting forwards. "You are going to be there, right?"

"Of course I will," Valkyrie said, frowning her at. "What, you think a dusty hole in a graveyard will stop me seeing the baby? No chance."

"Good. Because if it's twins, I want you to strangle you immediately for jinxing it."

Valkyrie snorted. "Sure thing. Just text me when and I'll be there."

Woohoo, another one! And Valkyrie is off to the Temple for a week, and I can promise another Fletcher appearance in the next chapter, I know it's been ages but Valkyrie did shoot him from about two inches away, I wouldn't be too happy if I was him either. I haven't seen any baby name suggestions, so y'all might want to start coming up with something ;)