Young Heroes (remake)

Chapter one, part two

Pitch-black seals

Haggard, Dublin, Ireland

I've only read the 7 first books of the Skulduggery Pleasant series, it might have some errors with the timeline.

Valkyrie Cain was walking down a narrow street. The light wind blows up the black trench coat. Out of the black felt hat, her dark brown hair flies in the wind.

She came back from an inspection. Someone spread the rumour that an elderly Lady in a nearby village practice magic. Actually, Dorothy is a hobby scientific and it was her experimentations in the cellar which draw attentions.

Now Valkyrie is tired, she had to walk 15 miles to the village and back. Normally Skulduggery would have driven her but he suddenly "slept in" and he wouldn't allow her to drive the Bentley. She only has one thought; take a bath and sleep until lunch-time. Okay that makes two wishes.

Valkyrie finally arrives at Skulduggery's street. To be accurate it isn't a street but a dead end, Skulduggery's house lies at its ending. She passes in between the two rival funeral parlours.

When Valkyrie passes the mailbox, she is surprised to see the Mail-notification. Skuldugerry never gets any mail. The mailbox is only there so the neighbors don't get suspicious. She opens the box to extract a blood red envelope. Valkyrie frowns, the letter isn't addressed to Skulduggery but to her. She turns the envelope to see who's the sender, but found nothing. The only thing on the back is a pitch-black seal. She breaks it to read the rather small letter that is inside.

Dear Miss Cain,

I would like to invite you to my establishment for young heroes, like you, to help fight a good cause.

I cannot say more about this cause, but it is definitely a good one.

Sincerely

Mr. King

P.S. Have a safe journey

Valkyrie had no time to call Skulduggery, when everything turned black in front of his eyes.

***

CHERUB Campus - in the vicinity of London, England (UK)

James Adams was running his 68th round around the runway. He got punished for being involved in a fight with his friends yesterday at lunch. He doesn't even remember who actually started it, just that he was in a bad mood that day and that the twins and Shakeel didn't stop poking him. But only Bruce and him was punished.

His instructor, Meryl Spencer, gave them 100 rounds to run, 40 km in 48 hours. It's raining and his clothes are soaked wet but he continues running. Actually, Bruce and James wanted to do their punishment together, but when James was at the changing room an hour earlier Bruce wasn't there. He should have known that nothing would make Bruce running under the rain in the mud early morning. James doesn't care what weather it is.

As he finishes the 70th round, he felt his stomach grounding. "Ok" he thinks "the last 30 rounds are for later". The running around the runway isn't the thing that's annoying him. It's the other punishment; one month mission-interdiction. A few months earlier he wouldn't care, but now he's 17 and he don't know how long he still can execute missions. Sighing he goes in the changing room to take a shower before breakfast.

When James took his CHERUB T-Shirt something fell on the floor. He picks up the blood-red envelope on which his name is written. He turns the envelope to see a black seal with old style K. He breaks it to take out a white sheet of paper on which is written:

Dear Mr. Adams,

I would like to invite you to my establishment for young heroes, like you, to help fight a good cause.

I cannot say more about this cause, but it is definitely a good one.

Sincerely

Mr. King

P.S. Have a safe journey

James had no time to wonder if that was a new way of giving missions, when everything turned black in front of his eyes.

***

Magisterium – Luray, Virginia (USA)

Callum Hunt board the small boat. As Havoc jumped behind him, the boat swings and Call nearly fells into the cold water. "Hey!", he laughs. "You're not a puppy anymore!" His giant chaos-wolf licks over Call's face as apologize.

As the current brought them direction dormitory, Callum thinks about the day. Everything about today was perfect. Tamara agreed to be his girlfriend, Alex is defeated, he isn't accused of Constantines mischiefs anymore, he and all of his friends made it through the golden doorway, he left his handprint beside the one of his mothers and he is now officially an accomplished mage.

The corridors are empty as Call and Havoc pass them. All the students and teachers are in the Gallery where a big party is organized. He went walking in the forest with Havoc and now his boots are full of mud.

As he enters the common room and has a look around, he suddenly gets sad. Everywhere he looks are memories of the four of them; the pile of half-chewed shoes, the hole in the wall, memory when Aaron throwed his boots when he discovered that he's a Makar.

Call sighs and enters his room. Big mistake. Even more memories. He goes to his closet to get a new pair of shoes when he saw a red letter on his bed. He picks it up and wonder who sent it. Call opens the envelope with Miri and unfolds the sheet and reads.

Dear Mr. Hunt,

I would like to invite you to my establishment for young heroes, like you, to help fight a good cause.

I cannot say more about this cause, but it is definitely a good one.

Sincerely

Mr. King

P.S. Have a safe journey

Callum had no time to stand up to get to the Gallery, when everything turned black in front of his eyes.

I know that if everyone lives in the same world, Percy would be 17 years old; Harry 30, Clary 19, James 18, Valkyrie 15 and Artemis 14. I couldn't find Callum's birth date. The age differences would be confusing. In this story, everyone is 16/17 years old except Harry which is 18.

ElinaCM