Chapter 123
After informing her brothers, who were still sitting silently in the parlour, that she had full control of the search, Valkyrie took Tanith's motorbike and set off to China's library.
She was glad to get on the road and have some alone time to clear her head, so much so she was walking with a skip in her step when she got to China's. She still had to thank the woman for saving her at Bliss' house when she stupidly thought China wasn't expecting her brother to save her. He had done, after Valkyrie put her own life in danger, meaning China had to pull her out and use up her magic on healing her instead of herself. Something Valkyrie hadn't expected but did appreciate.
China was actually in the hallway when Valkyrie got up the stairs and had a smile waiting for her.
"Valkyrie, my dear," China softly smiled. "You've recovered."
"Yeah, as of yesterday."
"And your family let you out without an escort? That is a surprise," China commented, opening the apartment door to let them in.
"Yeah, well, they had to take some time off for themselves," Valkyrie started.
"Oh? Tell me more," China smiled, sitting on a beautiful new velvet chair and pouring some tea.
"They haven't been acting like themselves. They essentially left Nadia by herself to deal with everything to do with me and haven't spoken to her once. I know they don't have to talk to her in normal circumstances, but they got her from her house, threw her in the hospital, and didn't say a thing," Valkyrie explained carefully.
"And of course there are the rumours she was the one that rescued Mr Wreath," China suggested.
Valkyrie smiled tightly. "You know, then. Yes, Skulduggery manipulated her into going by saying she was the only one able to fit in some ventilation system and that if anyone else went they'd surely die. She's already going through a lot mentally so I don't think she could think of a way out of it and being so stressed at the time... it's insane she actually managed to do it."
"It is an impressive feat," China put in, stirring a sugar cube around her cup.
"I know, I was honestly in shock. But when it came to telling me yesterday, my brothers tried to trick me into thinking Fletcher did it all like they told the public, and Nadia's struggling a lot with everything and I got her to tell me the truth. It turns out the Dead Men can't cope very well with breaks within their own, just like the Spiders were counting on. So I told them to take a few days, got full control of the search, and came to speak with you."
"And how are you feeling?" China asked, sipping her tea. The light was shining beautifully on her hair, giving her a dark halo.
Valkyrie shrugged. "A little shocked. Maybe a little hurt that they did all those things, but I guess I understand. I'm more mad with Skulduggery than I am with anyone else. To be fair, Tanith is dealing with too much to be held responsible, Anton was in hospital for a long time and didn't seem to speak to her any more or less than usual. It was just Dexter, Saracen and Erskine. And Ghastly, but he's decided not to talk to anyone so that's a whole other thing. I thought they'd be the ones to understand, given how close we are. So yeah, definitely hurt. But now I just want to fix all this so the rest of us can be happy."
For a moment, China watched her with a small smiled, and then put her tea down. "Well, I know some things that you don't."
"I was counting on it."
"I've been going through my dear, deceased brother's home and I've found some correspondences I believe he left specifically for me in the event he died. Seeing as I have no interest in the nature of the information he was giving me, I passed them on a few days ago," China explained and Valkyrie felt a pit in her stomach. "I found out later that the day Skulduggery came to get that information, he had already taken young Nadia to the Spiders and left her there for dead."
"What does he know?" Valkyrie asked after a moment.
China stood and got a thin file out from her desk drawer. "Skulduggery believes he has the only copy because he is under the impression he blackmailed me out of it. It's all to do with the Spiders, the Wild Brothers, and a man called Stolen, as well as a bit on Craven."
"Is Stolen a thief?" Valkyrie asked mockingly.
"Yes, and it is a ridiculous name, however, I believe he is the man that killed the Shunter, Signate, and also the one that broke the wards when the Sanctuary was attacked," China said mildly. Valkyrie had practically forgotten all about Signate. "At the least, it'll tell you a bit more about them, but I couldn't see any code about plans or else I would have made moves to get away from them."
"Understandable," Valkyrie said, and put the file down next to her untouched tea. "Did Skulduggery mention what his plan was?"
"Oh, no, Skulduggery won't tell anyone that," China smiled. "At best, he'll come back for Mr Wreath."
Valkyrie thought about that for a moment and then nodded. "I'm assuming that means no rumours?"
"Nothing of authority. Mere hearsay from someone's brother's friend's cousin. Other than going to his usual haunts, I wouldn't expect anyone to find him."
"I'll find him," Valkyrie promised, and downed her tea in a few gulps. "Thank you for talking to me China. And thank you for saving me when I was an idiot trying to fight Bliss. I'd be dead without you."
"Oh, I know," China smirked. "You must visit me again to speak about young Nadia. I haven't heard enough going on in your social life recently. It does me good to be in on the drama, you know."
Valkyrie grinned. "Soon," she promised.
China watched her leave with the file and promise, and Valkyrie tucked the file into her top before taking off for Dublin on unrelated business.
She didn't want to be there for too long, so Valkyrie stopped off by a shopping centre and went in to find a small gift for Fletcher and Myra, as well as something for Nadia.
Unfortunately, after half an hour, Valkyrie could only think of food-based things for the couple and had to stick with that. She settled for two chocolates in the shapes of England and Australia, since that was where they were from, and then wandered through the other shops trying to find something for Nadia. That proved harder because she didn't want to throw little trinket's at her girlfriend as she had in the past, no matter how appreciated and well thought out they'd been. Sure, she didn't remember being sick, but it felt like she was starting a new, more mature part of her life. Perhaps it was the family problems.
She found a very beautiful bracelet for Nadia and drove home quickly.
The house was still very quiet when she returned. Valkyrie kicked her shoes off at the door and went through to the kitchen, but it was empty. Shrugging, she decided to see if Fletcher was home and jogged up the stairs, around to the back of the house, and knocked on his door.
She stood still for a moment, almost gave up, and then heard the creak of someone getting out of bed. She took the chocolates out of the bag. The door opened.
"Hey, Valkyrie," Fletcher said in surprise. "It's good to see you."
Valkyrie smiled, actually happy to see his annoying, handsome face. "Hey. I wanted to say thank you for saving Nadia's life and taking the fall on the saving Solomon. You did a really good thing."
He nodded and kicked his feet. "Yeah, it's alright. She looked like she needed some help, you know?"
"I do. So, thank you. Here, I got you this," she said and held out the chocolate. He took it and smiled when he saw what it was.
"Ha, thanks Val," Fletcher smiled, and a moment later, reached out and they hugged. "I really am glad you're better. Everything's gone to hell since you got ill."
"Tell me about it," Valkyrie muttered. They pulled apart a moment later. "I've been given full control of the investigation to find Skulduggery, so the men of the house have to chill and think about how badly they've reacted to all this."
Fletcher's eyebrows raised. "Time out?"
"Like children. To be entirely honest, I'm dreading finding Skulduggery," she admitted. "I don't mind looking, or telling off the guys, or helping Tanith, or being there for Nadia, but actually confronting Skulduggery about what he's done? It's kind of terrifying."
"Hey, hey, you'll be fine!" Fletcher said quickly, running a hand over his hair. "I mean, you're Valkyrie Cain. You're invincible, one of the Dead Men. If you can put the Dead Men – including Anton, especially– in time out and it worked, I'm sure you can kick Skulduggery's bony ass!"
Valkyrie grinned at Fletcher's enthusiasm despite the fact he had no idea of the actual arguments and truths that she was afraid of, not any physical fight Skulduggery might pose, and hugged him again. "Thanks, Fletch. Will you thank Myra for me?"
"Sure thing," he said, and waved her off down the corridor.
That seemed like a success! Now to check up on her girlfriend.
A filler chapter, but a chapter! It's four in the morning to me, sorry if spelling is crazy this time. Going to go to bed now! Thank you for reading :)
PS I'm not putting the names at the top as long as the code names aren't being used. I am making Valkyrie go through a serious change! Thought I should say so in case someone wondered :)