"I told you," Skulduggery replied. "Friends of mine." His natural caution with their identities was partly force of habit, and partly a lingering practicality from Landel and his Institute. After a few seconds of thought, Skulduggery realized how ridiculous it was in this particular instance.
"Ghastly Bespoke," he continued without missing a beat, "an old friend and ally. Tanith Low, a fairly recent friend, but every bit as trustworthy. And my partner, Valkyrie Cain." Here, he paused, remembering for the first time since speaking with Ghastly that as far as Valkyrie and the others knew, Skulduggery had been gone for a year. It had felt like much longer to him, but a year was a sizable amount of time regardless, especially when you didn't know for sure what was happening.
"I may have mentioned her," he went on in an effort to bury the ray of anger this thought caused. "Fourteen years old, and one of the bravest people I know." Another pause. "Fifteen, now. Don't tell her I said that. The ego boost would be frightening. And as I am such an excellent mentor, you should expect a host of the same questions I've been asking. Perhaps with slightly less tact, but well-meant anyway."
Only then did it occur to Skulduggery that if Valkyrie had been searching for a way to reopen the portal - and there was very little doubt in his mind that she'd have been willing to try something so incredibly dangerous - then she would need a Teleporter, and Fletcher was the only one left. While Skulduggery had a hard time imagining Valkyrie putting up with someone so annoying, she did have an equally annoying tendency to surprise him. And Ghastly had been sufficiently vague over the phone; Fletcher was a definite possibility.
"They might have a teenager with them," Skulduggery belatedly and almost reluctantly added. "And if not, you'll probably meet him at some point. Fletcher Renn. Try not to be offended by anything he says. He's new to our world, and he has this habit of pointing out the obvious very loudly. Just try to ignore him, and everything should go swimmingly."
While Skulduggery's faith in Fletcher wasn't anywhere near as solid, he did have faith in Fletcher's fear of him. Besides, the boy had come through in the end back at Aranmore Farm, and disastrous conclusion aside, what he'd done for them was certainly impressive.
~~
Skulduggery had told Valkyrie before that trying to put her feelings into words was useless at best, and self-defeating at worst. The human experience was so vast and complicated that a measly language of a few million words would never be able to adequately describe it. All she'd manage to do, he said, was force herself into narrowly predefined categories, and thus depress herself further.
At the time, Valkyrie had taken his advice to heart. But now...
Her head felt like a jackhammer was pounding away inside her skull, trying to drill holes through it. She'd long since accepted that Skulduggery was gone, and that the only way to get him back was by using the Murder Skull Guild had taken from them. She'd made that fact the single, unalienable basis of her existence for the last year. To have it so roughly pulled out from under her just with a few words from Ghastly...
Valkyrie spend the van ride trying to sort out all of the many feelings threatening to overwhelm her, if only to get some degree of control back. She wasn't going to see Skulduggery for the first time in months and break down. She wasn't. What she was going to do was have her feelings worked out to the point where she could set them aside, be happy to see him again, and ask all of the relevant questions that needed to be asked, like how on earth he'd managed to rescue himself.
By the time they pulled up outside the church with the holy water, Valkyrie had finally decided that her plan was impossible.
She was clutching the bottle of holy water so tightly as they walked up the steps that her knuckles were white, as if the unexplainable request was somehow a lifeline. She was annoyed at herself for that. She was even more annoyed that she couldn't seem to stop doing it. To top it all off, the idea of Skulduggery in a church was so laughably ridiculous that the holy water somehow started to make sense, but Valkyrie had to take this seriously. Quite apart from anything else, someone was apparently hurt.
Tanith went first, but stopped just outside the door, looking lost - or at least as lost as it was possible for an eighty-something-year-old woman dressed in leather to look. "Should I knock?"
"Why?" Ghastly asked, surprised.
Tanith gave a little shrug. "I don't know. This just... doesn't this feel weird to anyone else?"
"That's what I kept trying to say," Fletcher insisted. As was generally the case nowadays, everyone ignored him.
"It was definitely him on the phone," Ghastly repeated for what felt like the twentieth time. Valkyrie was starting to wonder if it was them Ghastly was trying to convince, or himself. "But he has been stuck with the Faceless Ones for almost a year." The tailor hesitated, and then added in a gentler tone, "He might need a very different kind of help."
"And if he does?" Tanith asked slowly. "How are we supposed to handle that? I'm pretty sure he could take most of us in a fight."
It was a mark of how desperate each of them had become, and how long that same thought had been simmering in each of their minds, that Tanith was willing to admit she might be outmatched. But Valkyrie ignored that. She ignored all three of them, passed Tanith on the steps, and pushed the large door open without a hint of hesitation.
no subject
"Ghastly Bespoke," he continued without missing a beat, "an old friend and ally. Tanith Low, a fairly recent friend, but every bit as trustworthy. And my partner, Valkyrie Cain." Here, he paused, remembering for the first time since speaking with Ghastly that as far as Valkyrie and the others knew, Skulduggery had been gone for a year. It had felt like much longer to him, but a year was a sizable amount of time regardless, especially when you didn't know for sure what was happening.
"I may have mentioned her," he went on in an effort to bury the ray of anger this thought caused. "Fourteen years old, and one of the bravest people I know." Another pause. "Fifteen, now. Don't tell her I said that. The ego boost would be frightening. And as I am such an excellent mentor, you should expect a host of the same questions I've been asking. Perhaps with slightly less tact, but well-meant anyway."
Only then did it occur to Skulduggery that if Valkyrie had been searching for a way to reopen the portal - and there was very little doubt in his mind that she'd have been willing to try something so incredibly dangerous - then she would need a Teleporter, and Fletcher was the only one left. While Skulduggery had a hard time imagining Valkyrie putting up with someone so annoying, she did have an equally annoying tendency to surprise him. And Ghastly had been sufficiently vague over the phone; Fletcher was a definite possibility.
"They might have a teenager with them," Skulduggery belatedly and almost reluctantly added. "And if not, you'll probably meet him at some point. Fletcher Renn. Try not to be offended by anything he says. He's new to our world, and he has this habit of pointing out the obvious very loudly. Just try to ignore him, and everything should go swimmingly."
While Skulduggery's faith in Fletcher wasn't anywhere near as solid, he did have faith in Fletcher's fear of him. Besides, the boy had come through in the end back at Aranmore Farm, and disastrous conclusion aside, what he'd done for them was certainly impressive.
~~
Skulduggery had told Valkyrie before that trying to put her feelings into words was useless at best, and self-defeating at worst. The human experience was so vast and complicated that a measly language of a few million words would never be able to adequately describe it. All she'd manage to do, he said, was force herself into narrowly predefined categories, and thus depress herself further.
At the time, Valkyrie had taken his advice to heart. But now...
Her head felt like a jackhammer was pounding away inside her skull, trying to drill holes through it. She'd long since accepted that Skulduggery was gone, and that the only way to get him back was by using the Murder Skull Guild had taken from them. She'd made that fact the single, unalienable basis of her existence for the last year. To have it so roughly pulled out from under her just with a few words from Ghastly...
Valkyrie spend the van ride trying to sort out all of the many feelings threatening to overwhelm her, if only to get some degree of control back. She wasn't going to see Skulduggery for the first time in months and break down. She wasn't. What she was going to do was have her feelings worked out to the point where she could set them aside, be happy to see him again, and ask all of the relevant questions that needed to be asked, like how on earth he'd managed to rescue himself.
By the time they pulled up outside the church with the holy water, Valkyrie had finally decided that her plan was impossible.
She was clutching the bottle of holy water so tightly as they walked up the steps that her knuckles were white, as if the unexplainable request was somehow a lifeline. She was annoyed at herself for that. She was even more annoyed that she couldn't seem to stop doing it. To top it all off, the idea of Skulduggery in a church was so laughably ridiculous that the holy water somehow started to make sense, but Valkyrie had to take this seriously. Quite apart from anything else, someone was apparently hurt.
Tanith went first, but stopped just outside the door, looking lost - or at least as lost as it was possible for an eighty-something-year-old woman dressed in leather to look. "Should I knock?"
"Why?" Ghastly asked, surprised.
Tanith gave a little shrug. "I don't know. This just... doesn't this feel weird to anyone else?"
"That's what I kept trying to say," Fletcher insisted. As was generally the case nowadays, everyone ignored him.
"It was definitely him on the phone," Ghastly repeated for what felt like the twentieth time. Valkyrie was starting to wonder if it was them Ghastly was trying to convince, or himself. "But he has been stuck with the Faceless Ones for almost a year." The tailor hesitated, and then added in a gentler tone, "He might need a very different kind of help."
"And if he does?" Tanith asked slowly. "How are we supposed to handle that? I'm pretty sure he could take most of us in a fight."
It was a mark of how desperate each of them had become, and how long that same thought had been simmering in each of their minds, that Tanith was willing to admit she might be outmatched. But Valkyrie ignored that. She ignored all three of them, passed Tanith on the steps, and pushed the large door open without a hint of hesitation.