Skulduggery – Crow

Anton – Bear

Ghastly – Panda

Dexter – Wolf

Saracen – Weasel

Erskine – Snake

Solomon – Raven

Chapter 77

"Hey Val," Fletcher said from her bedroom door. "Do you have a minute to talk?"

"Sure," Valkyrie said in surprise. Fletcher hadn't talked to her, or anyone except Panda, since his operations a month ago. "What can I do?"

"Nothing, I just," he started and huffed out a breath, running a hand over the top of his stupid hair. "I just wanted to say that I, I don't know, understand why you shot me. And I'm sorry I haven't been talking to you. It wasn't fair."

She pinched her finger nervously. "Thank you. But it's okay. I felt really bad when I did it. I still do. I am sorry."

He waved her away in true Fletcher fashion. "It's fine, don't worry about it."

"That doesn't make me think it's fine."

"It is though. So don't worry. I, err, I actually had something else I wanted to ask you," he said more nervously, coming into her room a few steps. "It's totally unrelated to all that, and I'm not bringing it up after that to push you into doing anything or anything, but I just wondered what you'd think if I said I wanted someone to move in with me?"

She left out a breath. "I mean, you can. But if they leave your room the alarms will go off."

"I know, which is why I thought it would be okay if we added her to the system so she'd be safe? We won't get in your way, we'll just use the game room and watch movies and maybe the kitchen when no one else is about. She likes to cook, but doesn't like the tiny kitchen in the apartment thing."

"Butlers quarters," Valkyrie corrected and thought very carefully. "I suppose we can do that. But if anything happens, you'll be held responsible."

He grinned. "That's great! You can meet her now if you want?"

"Fletcher, I'm about to leave–"

"That's fine, it'll be super quick. She's mortal, so everything's good, right?"

"You can't tell her about us!"

"Don't worry, she already knew," Fletcher reassured her. "I've been dating her for weeks. Her house was ruined in the Remnant attack when there were riots and stuff, so I wanted to give her a place to stay."

"Fine," she said, letting him deal with all that himself. It wasn't her business. "But I need to be at the front in ten minutes to leave."

"Cool," he said, and touched her arm and they were gone.

They arrived in Australia, and Valkyrie only knew that because it was night time and by the most beautiful beach she'd ever seen. She breathed it in, thinking about how much closer to Nadia she was in that moment, and wondering if Nadia knew. It was stupid, but she really hoped she did and got some comfort from it.

She turned around and pulled herself out her thoughts when she saw Fletcher standing next to a girl. Maybe girl was not quite correct though. She looked like a young lady, certainly not a woman, but older than Valkyrie. She might have been twenty, so two years older than Fletcher, and had mousy brown hair and light brown eyes, a short cut and was certainly shorter than any other grown female Valkyrie knew. She was probably only just five foot and had a small nose and mouth but big, girlish eyes.

She wore a blouse and skirt to her knees and a small bow in her hair. She was cute, but all in a demure, obedient way, like someone that had never said 'no' to their parents and had grown out of their home but not the habits. She didn't expect that to attract to Fletcher, since he'd shown such interest in strong independent women before, like herself and Tanith and Nadia. It was almost a pathetic anti-climax to see such a boring person.

"Hey," Valkyrie said neutrally. "Fletcher said you were his girlfriend. My name's Valkyrie Cain."

She laughed softly, not quite a giggle, some mix of mature and little girl, and held her hand out. "My name's Myra."

"Nice to meet you," she said, taking a step and shaking the very short girl's hand. It didn't feel right calling her a girl considering she was five years older and looked like a woman, but she acted like a bit of a kid and that was making Valkyrie confused. Why couldn't people be easy? "Fletcher told me a lot about you. He said you're a detective."

"I am. I work for the Irish Sanctuary with my partner, though I'm taking a month leave right now to study. I doubt we'll see each other again until then. I'm sorry, but I have to leave in literally two minutes."

"It's fine," Fletcher said quickly. He put a soft hand on Myra's shoulder and told her, "I'll be back in a few minutes."

Herself and Fletcher teleported back to her bedroom. "So what did you think?" He asked her.

"I think she's nice," Valkyrie shrugged, grabbing her bag. "She's like a little child and a young woman rolled in one. I didn't expect you to like someone like her, but she's not bad."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that I thought you'd be with someone a little more, I don't know, outspoken or something. I just wasn't expecting a girl in a skirt not making so much as a peep until spoken to."

"I think she was shy," Fletcher defended. "She's usually more talkative."

Valkyrie shrugged. "She's your girlfriend, you can like who you want. I'm sure the others won't mind seeing the two of you around the house occasionally anyway. She's adorable, they'll love her. Just make sure you stay out of Tanith's way. She's a bit loopy at the moment."

Fletcher grinned again. "Oh yeah, I heard through the walls. I cannot believe Ghastly got her pregnant."

"They did it together," Valkyrie sighed and held her hand out to him. "Downstairs."

They teleported to the door and Valkyrie let his hand go quickly. He stood back and Valkyrie quickly told Crow the plan to put little-girl-woman-Myra into the system and he nodded. She grabbed her bag and threw it in the boot of Raven's car before turning back to her family.

She put her arms out. "Hugs!"

Wolf was nearest and very nearly choked her before putting her on her feet and Weasel had his turn squeezing her. She made her way around the group, collecting her month of hugs to get her through whatever the trip entailed until finally she was in Tanith's arms and they held each other tightly.

"I'll see you for the ultrasound," Valkyrie whispered. "I promise."

"I know," Tanith said, pulling away tearily. "I put snacks in the car for you."

"You've turned into a mother hen," Valkyrie grinned at her and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "I love you."

"Love you too. Have fun," Tanith said.

She waved at them all and got into the front passenger seat of Raven's car. Raven was in after a few moments talking to Crow and sat down with a bit of a pink blush on his cheeks. They drove away to the others waves and Valkyrie couldn't help but feel both teary and excited.

.*****.

The Temple was as dark as it always was and there was no one there to greet them, as she expected.

It was barely eleven when they walked through the large doors and Raven led Valkyrie down to the student rooms which she had briefly walked past before but never to stop. He gave her the key to number thirty-seven silently and she opened the door.

It was as dark and unluxurious as she expected. She was good at this detective thing.

It had a wrought iron bed frame, a double, with a mattress, pillows and duvet, and the covers for all that folded neatly at the end. She had a small rug next to the bed, the floors were made of stone, and she additionally had a desk and chair, single door wardrobe with a small drawer beneath it, and several shelves in the cold, dark stone walls. It was a really chilly room but didn't look as horribly dark as she thought it would be. The sheets were a light purple which surprised her. It was kind of nice, in a gothic minimalist way.

She dragged her suitcase to the middle of the room and quickly pulled off her jacket and let Raven help her get one of the robes she had to wear and put it over her shoulders. She didn't much like it, but it did combat the cold. She wrapped it around herself for warmth.

"This isn't so bad," she whispered.

"No one can hear you," Raven replied.

"It's too quiet to talk."

"Hmm. Quick, collect your books for the day. Third period is about to start and you need to be present."

She gathered the books and other things he'd already told her was good to bring as well as her highlighters which student Necromancers were somehow not exposed to. She had brought several in neon pink and yellow to be extra obnoxious. Perhaps if she wrote 'Please be friends with me' on her forehead they'd think it was cute and like her?

Raven rushed through the halls with Valkyrie on his heels and they almost ran through the library, stopping finally at a very long hall that had a group of student in the middle of it all looking grumpy and irritable. They looked to be between fifteen and seventeen – Necromancers, not being as popular as other magics and liking to hide their children and students away, had several years in one class since there just wasn't enough students to fill a single year. She was fifteen and a half, so she was the third youngest for her class. There was someone that had been moved up a class recently when they got onto grade eighteen at age sixteen. She was more grateful for Raven's guidance now.

"How do I look?" She asked quickly, turning to him.

"Lovely," he said with a very small smile. "You have a bit of hair though..."

She sorted it and got a nod. Walking swiftly, she left him and joined the back of the group silently. They didn't notice her. They continued to be silent.

This was going to be an entertaining month.

The start of the Temple! I have some name suggestions from Lonelygirl702, my favourites from her are Mia and Killian, but all four were really nice, I thought they were cute! We'll get to see more of Valkyrie and Solomon/Raven here which is nice! I'm just so excited! Thank you for all your reviews recently, they really encourage me :)