The Treachery In Our Midst

Impossible

For a few seconds, all anyone was capable of doing was staring and in some cases, gaping like a fish. Skulduggery leaned patiently against the doorframe, seemingly to allow them to process his return. After all, their Skulduggery had been missing for 150 years. Valkyrie stood to the side. This situation was Skulduggery's problem. She just hoped he had a good explanation to why 'he' was missing for so long. China, of course, was the first to recover, but instead of confronting Skulduggery like she expected, China's gaze fixed on her. Both women frowned. Whereas Valkyrie's was in confusion, China's was in disappointment and frustration. It was quite the mental quandary for Valkyrie to figure out.

China looked up from where she was reading the notes of the meeting when she heard a familiar voice. It wasn't the voice though, that made her look up, it was the fact that everyone else also fixated their attention to the direction the voice came from. She thought that the bittersweet vocals was another hallucination, but no. Someone was actually there. When she saw the girl standing there, to the side of her hallucination, everything made sense. They all looked up because they heard someone enter. She mentally scolded herself for not being on guard. She couldn't just ignore every noise just because it could be a fabrication of her mind. She was going to get herself killed oneday. China ignored the tantalising mirage and forced herself to focus on the teenager in black, who held herself with the same warm arrogance as him. China frowned in disappointment, disappointment that her hallucination couldn't be real and disappointment in the rebellion, that nobody had yet taken action against this girl. It was undetermined whether or not she was a threat. China cleared her throat, trying not to take notice of how her delusion looked slighted. 

"Who are you?" The words left her lips before she had time to think them through. Though, now that she thought about it, she didn't know who this girl was. China had certainly never seen her around before, but she didn't go out much nowadays anyway. Her vision tilted his head to the side curiously. That small action sent a whole onslaught of emotions and memories unto her that she really didn't need at the moment. She had never had a hallucination this perfect and realistic before. To be frank, it felt like she had been punched in the stomach. China nearly shook her head to focus herself. She needed to get a grip on things. Her realities were blurring and that simple fact was utterly terrifying. The teenager's brow furrowed in confusion. The teen gestured to the side of her in utter bafflement. 

"You don't recognise him?" China's eyes darted to where she was pointing and only saw the fabricated skeleton. Great, just great. She was having a complete mental breakdown. China analysed the faces of those surrounding her and saw that their eyes were focused in on the skeleton too. He wasn't a hallucination. China narrowed her eyes, he could just as well be an imposter. She needed to come up with a quick excuse. She chose the first one that popped into her brain. Sure it wasn't the best and sure it didn't make much sense but it would have to do.

"One skeleton looks the same as another," she said. "Of course, I've only known one to actually walk..." She needed him to talk, to hear his voice filled with warm arrogance, to confirm it was really him.

"Hello, everyone." China took a sharp breath in that she barely managed to mask and hoped wasn't accentuated by the lighting. She stood up from her seat at the table, the world around her dimming, not taking notice of the way tears were running down Ghastly's scars or the way Saracen's face screwed up in confusion.

"It is you," she said. "Where were you? Where have you been? Everyone...  everyone thought you were dead." 

Skulduggery took his hat off looked at China. She could feel those deep, mysterious eye sockets bore into her very soul. "Do I look dead?" 

China blinked in surprise. He sees her for the first time in 150 years and one of the first things he says is that. He's... doing witty banter. When did that happen? He's usually so serious? That was a ridiculous comment. Is he OK? Has he gone insane? China took a deep breath to calm herself, because she realised she was hyperventilating. "I refuse to answer ridiculous questions."