Chapter 125

"Valkyrie!" Civet cheered when she reached the top of the stairs. Grinning, she reached out and the two hugged tightly. "I'm so glad you're feeling better."

"I feel like normal," Valkyrie shrugged. "Nadia said you looked after me the whole time. Thank you."

"Aww, thanks," Civet smiled, leading her through to the back Ward. "But Doctor Kenspeckle did most of the work. Did anyone tell you what happened in the ward?"

Valkyrie frowned. "I slept a lot and then woke up but wasn't myself. No one really elaborated."

"I expect they were exhausted," Stentor said from the second ward doorway, grinning broadly. They waved at each other. "You've got a really kind girl, you know. She stayed with you for six of the nine days you were asleep. And she's an absolute cutie."

"Yeah, she mentioned that part," Valkyrie smiled instantly. "She's moved into my house actually."

"Oh, exciting gossip," Civet clapped his hands. "But before that, take a seat. So, err, how do you feel about Doctor Kenspeckle?"

Valkyrie raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean? I, like, respect him, and he's really nice and stuff. I don't know what I'm meant to say here."

"Oh, good," Stentor said, and then turned and opened Kenspeckle's lab and called the doctor over, who looked at Valkyrie with astonishment and then glared at her.

"Silly girl. You were meant to come in immediately. I swear, those Dead Men don't care about your continued health at all," he muttered, bringing in a table of medical stuff.

"It's good to see you too, Kenspeckle," Valkyrie smiled.

He grunted but didn't move away when she kissed him on the cheek as thanks for all his help.

"Well, tell us about the move in, then," Civet grinned, sitting on the bed next to Valkyrie.

"Stand up," Kenspeckle grouched.

"I'm actually on holiday time as of an hour ago," Civet grinned cheekily and Kenspeckle didn't say anything back, a testament to how much he enjoyed his assistant's company. "How did you two decide to make the big decision then, Detective Cain?"

Valkyrie rolled her eyes. "Nadia's parents are moving to India and she doesn't want to go, and I really wanted her to move in for a while because I want to spend more time with her, and I hated how upset she was at her parents. So yesterday afternoon after I got back from work–"

"You went to work?" Civet gasped.

"I was just a phone call and visiting China's, and that was basically just tea and chatting," Valkyrie responded quickly. "I also have control over finding Skulduggery, but that's a whole story in itself. So anyway, I just asked Nadia if she wanted to move her stuff into my room while she was staying with me, and then we were talking about the house and the things we want in the future and Nadia said she wouldn't mind moving in. So that's that. We don't have her stuff from home yet, but it's the decision part, you know?"

"I do," Civet nodded, smiling softly. "You kids do grow up quickly. It feels like only a few weeks ago I was spoon feeding you, and now you're moving out with your live-in girlfriend. Soon you'll be getting married!"

Valkyrie laughed, as did Stentor, and it wasn't too long before Kenspeckle had finished his checks of Valkyrie and found no neurological or other types of lasting problem with Valkyrie other than her own shock of what had happened while she was 'gone'. He said it was like a miracle had occurred in that split second she ran to Nadia's aid and could only explain it with a shrug, saying the brain was an incredibly complex muscle. But of course, she wasn't there just for herself.

"Where's Solomon?" Valkyrie asked. "I didn't see him in the ward."

Kenspeckle sighed. "Mr Wreath decided that he didn't wish to remain in this hospital."

"Excuse me?" Valkyrie asked, standing a little straighter. Last she'd heard, Solomon wasn't able to handle talking, let alone walking out.

Kenspeckle turned to face her. "I'm sorry Valkyrie. Solomon left very early this morning, at barely six. He was acting perfectly healthy and was physically healed."

"He'd been tortured for weeks! How can that be considered healthy?"

"I think you're forgetting this isn't a psychiatric ward, Valkyrie," Kenspeckle told her patiently. "I made sure Mr Wreath was healed of everything I could, but I do not have the time to counsel him, nor did I see any reason in my assessment to do so. I did advise him to seek personal support in the upcoming weeks, and he assured me he would."

"Where?" Valkyrie asked quickly.

"He didn't say anything, and as his doctor, I can't reasonably hold a healthy patient back," Kenspeckle said. "I'm sure Mr Wreath will find a comfortable place, or perhaps is currently travelling to your house seeing as I'm under the impression he's lived there for several months now."

Valkyrie wasn't sure if he would but thanked Kenspeckle regardless. He was at least right in that he couldn't hold Solomon back, but Valkyrie didn't expect his mental health, or at least his emotional health, to match his physical health.

She left the hospital quickly and got onto Tanith's old motorbike, thinking about where Solomon could go. There were a few options. Perhaps the old Temple? Not likely seeing as Solomon was happy to leave that place when it had come to it. Would he have gone looking for Skulduggery? Valkyrie wasn't sure because no one knew if he understood what he'd been told when he'd been in the hospital and unresponsive.

Her heart clenched as she took off down the road and slipped into traffic on a busier road. Solomon had become a father figure to her in recent times. Nadia had told her how incredibly brave he'd been to try and stop Craven when he'd been saying he'd kill and torture her, alluding even to Griever's Down, the place she'd almost been... well, she didn't want to think about that. It took a lot of strength to stand up for someone else after being tortured for two weeks all while bleeding to a quick and painful death on the floor. She needed to find him and bring Solomon home to give him the help he deserved. He was the only one of them that hadn't done anything wrong!

Valkyrie wasn't sure where to look but ended up on the road to the Temple regardless. It was early morning, but she weaved in and out of traffic on the bike, cutting straight through the main city and around the trams to the old Necromancer building. There, she shut the bike off and looked around the graveyard.

The street was deserted, as per usual, and there were no vehicles, though that meant nothing in the modern times of taxies. Valkyrie shook her head, hopped the old fence and tried the doors. They were locked, but when she went around the side, the tunnel she'd used with Skulduggery to break in was wide open as they'd left it. Valkyrie hesitated and then decided she didn't have to do this part. Smirking to herself, she called up the team her brothers had made out of the Sanctuary workers and waited for them to pick up. A few sentences later, and her least favourite team members were on route to crawl down a dingy hole and search for Solomon.

Maybe it was a little petty, or downright wrong, not to do it herself. But she was in charge, and since Skulduggery did everything 'for Solomon,' no one could argue talking to Solomon was important. That meant finding him. That didn't mean she had to get on hands and knees for it.

Regardless of not searching in there herself, Valkyrie took off to a new location that had just occurred to her. The whole way she had to psych herself up for it because she didn't like the idea of what she might find, and she was probably right because as soon as she turned the corner into Cemetery Street, her stomach lurched.

There was no car in the driveway. The Bentley was nowhere to be found, according to the other detectives. Valkyrie pulled off her helmet and looked at the big house with serious confliction.

After tapping her finger on the handlebar a few times, Valkyrie got off the bike and walked up to the house. She had no magic or at least nothing she could use. But to be fair, she didn't think she needed any. She was just upset because the house was Skulduggery's and she was more hurt and angry with him than anything or anyone else.

She knocked on the door. No one answered, and after a skyward look asking for strength, she used her set of keys and unlocked it.

There were no sounds from within. Valkyrie took a few steps in and gently closed the door behind her, getting goosebumps when she breathed the faint aftershave and other scents she associated with her guardian. If felt almost as if he'd died. For real, good and gone and not coming back. And she was his not-daughter, looking through his abandoned house for the last time. For a moment, she almost felt tears come to her eyes, but then she reminded herself of how he'd not shown Nadia any mercy when he took her to the Spider's and sacrificed her for no reason whatsoever. That got her eyes dry and angry pretty well.

After thoroughly searching, Valkyrie didn't find anything in the house, not even a clue as to where Skulduggery might have gone. With a deep sigh, Valkyrie left the house and sped down the road, happy to leave that place behind, at least until she had family with her to make it easier. She wasn't entirely sure on where to go from then on. Solomon had told her himself he had no attachment to his house other than for storing his books and other personal items, and she didn't know of any close friends, nor any additional housing he had. Like her, he was limited to their makeshift family.

With a jolt, Valkyrie had a sudden and not incredibly pleasant idea. She wasn't entirely sure how it would go, but there was a very, very slim chance that Solomon might have done something as simple as go to the nearest safe building he knew – and the nearest family to the Hibernian Cinema was Ghastly's shop.

Feeling as if she was breaking Tanith's trust despite knowing her sister would never stop her visiting Ghastly, Valkyrie soldiered on, knowing this had to happen at some point. She reasoned that she had intended to talk to her brother at some point anyway. She had to. More than that, she had to convince him to move back in. Even more than all that, she was pretty sure she had worked out all those things that Saracen, Erskine and Dexter had hinted about when they'd been bonding last night over ten bags of crisps, fizzy drinks and heart to heart updates on what had happened without her.

She believed that Ghastly and the rest of her family knew about Skulduggery being Lord Vile, not including Tanith and Nadia. Not that they'd told her outright, but it had been hinted at somewhat. What that meant, Valkyrie truly did not know.

If it were true, it opened up a massive bag of cats. Was Ghastly's anger mostly over unresolved feelings, or was it something different? Was he more upset with Tanith or the others believing Skulduggery had remorse for his actions? Would he out Skulduggery over everything that had happened?

The last one was difficult for her to even have an opinion on. There was so much wrong in what Skulduggery had done recently and in the past. But there was so much guilt, remorse and good in him that she didn't want him to suffer in that way either. She wasn't sure it was possible to come up with a satisfactory answer either way.

She shook those thoughts from her head when she pulled up outside Ghastly's shop.

Her feelings had to be put aside from Skulduggery and Tanith. That was between Ghastly and the others. She was his sister, he was her brother. End of. She loved him as much as Tanith and Skulduggery, even if he was an idiot she wanted to scream at.

Ghastly's shop was open and Valkyrie walked straight in. The bell jingled, and Valkyrie heard Ghastly from within call he'd be there in a moment, but Valkyrie didn't have time for that. Quickly, she hurled through the shop and pulled open the kitchen door to exactly what she suspected.

"Solomon!" She cried and jumped into his arms.

"Ouf!" He grunted, and after a moment of shock, wrapped his arms around her. "Hello, Valkyrie."

"I went to see you at the hospital but Kenspeckle said you already left," she said emotionally into his shoulder. "I went to the Temple and there are detectives searching it for you right now and I checked Skulduggery's house and it was really weird, and then I thought you might have come here. I'm really glad to see you again."

He pushed her back gently and smiled at her. He looked more strained than usual, but there was genuine happiness in his eyes. "You don't have to worry about me, Valkyrie. I am perfectly healthy."

"Yeah, but you've not exactly been in a great place recently, and you left so early," Valkyrie explained, grabbing a seat. Ghastly was sitting quietly on the other side of the table sipping tea. "I thought you might've wandered off or something."

Solomon scoffed. "I'm not senile yet," he told her. "I merely came to Ghastly's house and we were talking about recent events. I cannot believe some of what I've been told, and I didn't feel like contacting anyone when it's all so overwhelming."

"Yeah it was the same for me," Valkyrie said, and they smiled at each other and hugged again over the table. "I'm so glad you're okay, Solomon."

"I'm fine, I'm fine," he reassured her gently, and they sat back now. "Now. Tell me. How are you?"

"I'm grand," she said quickly. "Busy already. Took over the search for Skulduggery but I've not done much yet. Nadia's parents are moving to India in a week or so, but Nadia actually agreed to move into our house yesterday so that was fun."

"That sounds exciting," Solomon nodded.

"It was. I shouted at my other brothers a lot for how they were acting when I was out of it," she admitted a little more quietly, addressing both Solomon and Ghastly this time. "I wasn't really impressed with how they were acting towards Nadia. After she rescued you, they just left her in the hospital alone and didn't speak to her at all–"

"Wait," Ghastly interrupted, leaning forward with a frown. "I thought Fletcher rescued Solomon?"

Valkyrie glared angrily, though not at Ghastly. "No. That was a story made up by Corrival to lead civilians and, he hopes, the Spider's away from Nadia seeing as Fletcher can get away a lot faster. It's useless though. After she got you, Solomon, she had to run away with you and the Spider's saw you both. Don't you remember?"

"No, I don't," he said with a deep frown.

"Oh. Well, I'll tell you the full thing later I guess, but Skulduggery had left a message with the Sanctuary, but it's in such shambled no one saw it for hours, and when they did, they sent Fletcher ahead and he got to Nadia right on time and he teleported you both to Kenspeckle's before some Spiders in their Spidery form killed Nadia."

Solomon rested his head in his hands. "This is worse than I thought."

"Yeah it's pretty shit," Valkyrie agreed. "Honestly, I'm more upset with Skulduggery about that than anything else. I mean, with the Sanctuary, he was probably really bad mentally and couldn't really do a whole lot at all, but with this? I don't think he had a plan. As soon as Nadia was out of sight, he bolted. It was caught on a local camera."

"Coward," Ghastly muttered, and Valkyrie didn't say anything. Skulduggery deserved it.

"But yeah," Valkyrie said. "The guys essentially took out Skulduggery being a monster on Nadia who was in a really bad place before that, and they tried to feed me the whole Fletcher thing too. Turns out, Fletcher was the one offering to be the scapegoat for the whole thing so they'd leave her alone and was blocking them getting into the bathroom she'd locked herself in too. He was being really decent to her."

Solomon nodded and Ghastly looked impressed. "Got more of a spine than I gave him credit," Ghastly said roughly.

"I gave him and Myra a little gift as thank you, but I want to do something else eventually. Maybe dinner? I don't know, but chocolate doesn't seem enough."

"Let me do something," Solomon interjected. "He saved me too. Let me think of something."

Valkyrie shrugged. "With all that's going on, I'll take all the help I can."

There was a brief silence then, and Valkyrie could feel the new topic breaching when Ghastly looked down at the table. She looked at him, waiting, and when he looked up and saw her, he blushed. "Is it that obvious?"

"Just say it," she told him quietly.

"How's Tanith?"

"Good," she said honestly. "A little bit upset you haven't come over the house, but otherwise, she's great. Sickness cleared up, not much nausea. Nadia's helping with bits now. Staying off her feet. If you called her, she could tell you better."

Ghastly shook his head. "She hates me. I'm giving her space."

"Coward," she told him bluntly.

He looked at her, shocked. "Excuse me?"

"You know what I said. You're being a coward." She saw him about to speak but she interrupted him before he could go on his tangent. "If you want to know what's happening with her and your kid, you need to try and work something out with Tanith. The only thing Tanith is properly stressed about right now is you, and if you'd just pull your head out the sand you'd see that. Why haven't you done anything?"

He spluttered. "She broke up with me! I'm giving her space. She said she'd contact me."

"That doesn't mean you act like her and your family don't exist, Ghastly," she said a little quieter. "Come on. Why are you avoiding home?"

"I'm not avoiding home."

"Really?"

"Yes! Tanith doesn't want to see me."

"Is this actually about Tanith?"

"Of course it is! Why wouldn't it be?"

"I think you're mad about Skulduggery still."

"Of course I am!" He half-shouted. "He almost killed you!"

"Yes, but you're not coming home because of it," she said softly, and she saw him give up when he sagged. "I love you Ghastly. You're family. You just can't let your hatred get in the way of this."

"I'm not," he said angrily, getting up with his cup and going to the sink. "I'm angry because my so-called brothers are forgiving Skulduggery."

"What? No, they haven't," Valkyrie corrected, a little confused. "Ghastly, you haven't spoken to them in weeks. They're furious with him. I had to pull them from the case because they were too involved."

"You can't understand," he muttered darkly, putting the washed cup on the draining board.

"Excuse me? I understand perfectly well, but I don't let my anger at one man affect my whole family. Skulduggery's done an awful thing, but he was let off for the bombing. He won't be let off for what he did to Nadia. I'm not saying he did a good thing in helping bring in that bomb, but that's out of our control now. Skulduggery will be punished, but right now, you're just punishing yourself and our family."

"It's not that simple, Valkyrie," he insisted, running a hand over his face.

"No, it's not. I know that feelings from the war are coming out Ghastly. I know what Skulduggery did, I know the man he was, and I know how this is affecting you, or at least I know enough to say that I don't think you're concerned with the bombing at all," Valkyrie said quickly, stilling him from walking straight out the room. He looked at her with wide eyes, almost panicking. "I know about all of that. I think the others do too, and they know why you're upset and that's why they've left you be. Plus, they all seem kind of mad that you've been ignoring Tanith."

Ghastly, not seeming to like any of that, rushed from the room. Frustrated, Valkyrie went to follow him, but Solomon grabbed her arm.

"Stop," he said firmly. Then, more gently, he stood with her. "We should give him time to process."

Valkyrie sighed but had to agree. Overwhelmed already, and not even midday, Valkyrie grabbed onto Solomon again for a hug. At least she had one person back.

I'm going to Rome on Sunday for seven days! We've spoken about Vile, Ghastly and gotten Solomon back. I hope you enjoyed it! :)