Chapter 144

Two weeks went by in which Valkyrie officially finished in her job as a Sanctuary Detective and on the day of her seventeenth birthday, she was officially instated as a Dead Man in the eyes of the Sanctuary. Her family said it was all just fanfare because she was already a Dead Man, but Nadia's eyes shined brightly when she wore her fancy suit uniform. The Sanctuary had secretly gotten together all the medals and awards they had been trying to give her and her brothers for a while and threw the metal at them while they were doing the short speech, so there was that as well. It was embarrassing and unnecessary but also sort of thrilling to wear badges of honour, two medals and all sorts of traditional Mage medals for all the things she'd done in such a small time.

Still, she threw them off into the special bag Ghastly had gotten her as soon as she got back and into the very back of the cupboard they went.

Her birthday was relaxed and calm and nothing happened, except all the little milestones for little Laila. The weeks after her birthday went by quickly and soon it was in mid-November, making Laila a month and a half. In that time, they only got three calls for small jobs for the Dead Men so they were ready when the next one came in.

"Hey, Val," Fletcher said from outside her bedroom door.

Valkyrie looked over at him from her position in bed reading, her face the picture of surprise. She forgot he even lived with her sometimes. "Oh, hi, Fletcher. I, er, wasn't expecting you. How are you?"

"I'm alright," he nodded, shoving his hands in his pockets. His hair was even longer than the last time she had seen him. "You?"

"Grand, grand, I'm grand, yeah," she nodded back, putting the book down. "Is there something I can do for you?"

"Oh, yeah, I just wanted to ask about these house plans you had. Anton told me you were doing up the place and I would have to go–"

"Oh, God, yeah!" Valkyrie suddenly remembered. "We're redecorating the place. Well, doing a full remodel actually. I forgot I had to tell you, sorry."

"It's fine," he shrugged again.

"I assume you'll move to Australia," Valkyrie continued. "Since Myra lives there, I mean. I'd offer for you to stay in the guest area while it's made, but obviously they're going to destroy everything so there isn't a guest area, so you'll have to leave. I think we aren't starting for a while yet."

"Anton said it would be in a few weeks," Fletcher told her.

"A few weeks?!" Valkyrie gasped. She hadn't known that. "He didn't tell me. Oh my God, I don't even know where I'm going."

Fletcher laughed and seemed to relax a bit, making Valkyrie guilty that she hadn't spoken to him earlier. It must have been stressful finding out he was being kicked out of his home soon. "Yeah, that's what he said. And yeah, I'll move to Australia I guess, I like the heat."

"And you can still get to work here," she smiled.

"Yep," he said, popping the p and bouncing on his heels nervously. "Myra's looking forward to it. She was saying about getting an apartment together and stuff."

"Sounds like you two are pretty serious," Valkyrie commented.

"Yeah, I really like her, you know?" He said, running a hand over his stupid hair. "I think she was a bit, you know, taken aback by the sudden need to move but she's alright with it. She said that we should do something together, like, dinner or something. I realised we didn't say happy birthday so we figured we'd take you to dinner."

"Oh, that would be lovely," Valkyrie said, smiling now. "It's alright, I had a small birthday this year. The big one's next year."

"Yeah, eighteen next year. Nadia's almost eighteen, right?" Valkyrie nodded. "Wow, you two have been together forever. You really like her too, huh?"

"Yeah, four years now. I love her a lot," she admitted quietly, smiling. "Once we've finished the house, and we've sorted this whole Spider business I, err… I want to ask her to marry me."

"What?" Fletcher said, eyes budging out of his head. "Wow Val! That's, like, a really big step."

"I know, I know, it's just been on my mind for a while," she said quickly. "And anyway, there's no way I'd do it before the house and Spiders were dealt with too. I'd like for Laila to be older and for Nadia have a good relationship with her family again, and for Skulduggery to be back from therapy too. I wouldn't do it before then. I need that back first. I wouldn't have said but other than Nadia you're the only one my age and I don't want my family to try and tell me I'm rushing into things, you know?"

"Yeah, no, I get that," he nodded. Valkyrie invited him in and he sat on the end of the bed. "Do you have a ring?"

"No, but I do have something else," she smiled secretly and pulled out an old, hidden trinket from her bedside table drawer. "This is a Dragon Diamond. I accidentally acquired it."

"I've never seen one before," Fletcher said, looking at it with interest.

"They're really rare. This one is bonded to me because I touched it first. Or rather, I'm the first since the original owners died, so I'm the new owner. Make sense? It's an item mages used to have within the richest circles to give to others they loved. I was told it would, like, glow or something if the person I gave it to was in love with me back. It's not an engagement ring and I wouldn't use it for that, but it's pretty good still. I hope it'll be one of these fancy things that makes Nadia's family realise I'm serious and maybe they'll be a bit more approving. They seem to like the more traditional, old ways."

"Yeah, I'd say so," Fletcher nodded. "Good luck to find it by accident."

"Yeah, it was. I was with some other detectives and were really mad because I got it in a puzzle they couldn't do," she said and then put it safely away again, glad to get that off her chest. "Anyway. How have you been?"

"Working, mostly," he told her. "Myra has exams so she mostly stays in Australia. Actually, I thought we'd go for lunch today 'cause Myra's lecturer gave her a half day and she doesn't have any other time for weeks."

"Oh, yeah, that's fine," Valkyrie said, grabbing her phone and texting Nadia the plan, who was in Tanith's room helping with Laila so Tanith could do laundry. "Nadia will be ready soon."

It took a little bit, but not long later they were presentable enough for lunch and Fletcher teleported them out to Venice, to a little shop with massive pizza's, amazing pasta and giant ice creams. Valkyrie held out Nadia's chair and then sat herself, getting an eye roll from Fletcher for the unnecessary niceties. She stuck her tongue out at him when Nadia and Myra were talking about how good it was to see each other again, getting a smirk back.

They ordered food and when their drinks had come, they started talking.

"How is uni then?" Valkyrie asked Myra.

"Oh, it's good," she said sweetly, her large eyes gentle and calm. "I'm doing a baking course as well at the moment. It's really fun."

"Sounds it."

"And Fletcher loves all the treats I bring home," she smiled and Fletcher nodded. "So, how has your work been? I heard you quit your job?"

"Yeah, I wanted more time at home, and I'll be needed with helping to track down the Spiders and such later," she said, nodded like people did when they didn't know what to say, because that's how she felt.

"Did they find someone good to replace you?" Myra asked as their lunches were put on the table.

"Yeah, a woman called Amelia somethingorother," Valkyrie said, digging into her mushroom risotto. "I forget her whole name, but she's really good. Elder Deuce wasn't very impressed I left though."

Myra nodded and Fletcher asked Nadia about her family and how she was, and they spoke a little about how Fletcher had been through similar things after his mother died and he had been cut off from a lot of his family before he had even left. It was sad, but also nice because Nadia seemed a lot more comfortable talking after that. She assumed it was because of how intense things had been with the Spiders and the time Fletcher had saved Nadia that it made Nadia uncomfortable, but Fletcher was calm and collected, and Myra mostly spent her time asking about how the Dead Men were doing and about the plans for the house now they were changing it. It was a pleasant meal.

They went home after a drink, Valkyrie insisting on paying at least half, and then they were home once more. It was incredible how disorienting teleporting could be. It felt like she hadn't left in the first place.

And on cue for their arrival home, Valkyrie's phone started ringing. She picked it up, seeing it was Crystal's number.

"Hi, Crystal," Valkyrie said conversely. "How are you?"

"Stephanie," she said quietly down the line. "I – I need to talk to you."

Valkyrie frowned, feeling on edge. "What's happened? What's wrong?"

"Mr Hagan's shop was burnt down," Crystal said, her voice shaking. "I saw your friend – Tanith and someone else. They did it, Stephanie. I – I think I saw them doing magic."

SO MANY BIG THINGS MWAHAHAHA!

Valkyrie said the M word! Crystal said the M word! Both of them are big but which one made you gasp the loudest? Hehehe I know you'll be all over this :D