Not dead!
Cereal, dry and gross. Valkyrie munched on it.
"You can bring it in the car."
Valkyrie blinked at him, swallowed. She needed a drink of water, something, but her mouth was too dry. She felt sick, and she needed milk, something. Skulduggery tilted his head at her and started toward the garage.
His body whipped left, smashing through the window. Valkyrie let out a scream and practically threw herself after him. She was having trouble breathing, smoke and dust and fear filled her lungs and stung her eyes.
"Skulduggery!" she screamed, and someone else—she had screamed his name then, too, a second after she did. Like a shadow of the word.
She felt her skin prickle, and she turned. Darquesse walked smoothly in the air towards her.
Temple Bar was deserted. The world seemed to be on mute, no noise, nothing, just Valkyrie's heartbeat in her ears. It was sunny and cool and the whole place seemed to slump, colors sliding into one another.
Darquesse was talking, mouth moving. Valkyrie knew she was talking back. What, what, what was she saying?
The sky was growing red behind her. The portal into the other dimension grew, eating away at the blue. Another world's sun peaked out, and it was all Valkyrie could do to not shut her eyes and curl in on herself.
A man sipped his coffee, slowly disappearing behind the edge of the portal.
The sound cut back in, and things seemed to sharpen.
"—friends."
Something seared in Valkyrie's memory, something that made her ears pop and her stomach turn. Something that was not stepped out of that portal. Valkyrie's mind screamed at her.
She backed away, away, away, and then Skulduggery was gripping her arm, right on a bruise.
The pain was hot through her arm, hotter than that damn sun, real and dull and sharp. Valkyrie's head swam, and everything bled together again, and she wanted to be sick, and Skulduggery was talking in her ear and covering her eyes.
God, what had she done?
The scene jerked, and suddenly they were surrounded by people, faces on top of black veins.
Valkyrie slammed her foot through someone's head and somewhere, she screamed, and then she was back and Skulduggery was talking in her ear again, but this time he was jerked away and the portal was—
Darquesse stood in front of her. The memory flicked again, and this time the smell of home hit Valkyrie, and then blood, and Fletcher was leaning against the wall and there was Valkyrie—Stephanie on the stairs—
It was hot, Valkyrie had no jacket on, perspiration ran down her arms. Darquesse smiled at her—
A man was reading a newspaper—
The world bent out to a point again, a hand, the face. Darquesse looked down at them and snarled and—
The grave looked more like mud in the sun. Valkyrie looked up and saw a man in a long coat, and Skulduggery was standing next to her, too.
"God! Fuck!"
Valkyrie's voice—her voice was sharp and angry. The grave began to sink into the ground, and Skulduggery turned away from her. Valkyrie wanted to grab him and hold on and cry.
"We need to see Finbar."
Darquesse pushed through the sky, fingers wiggling. Her hair was wild and crazy, and she looked down at them and grinned. Skulduggery kept walking, right underneath her. Darquesse pushed herself through the portal, but the edges were sticking.
Valkyrie was hot, but she felt the breeze.
"Why are you so against it? Why have you been?" Skulduggery asked, too close.
Valkyrie's heart was in her throat, and then the shadows of the trees grew into a doorway and sadness crushed Valkyrie's heart. Skulduggery stood there, thumbing through a blank, blank Gordon Edgley book.
It was dark and Valkyrie's body ached. The Bentley was purring. Valkyrie laughed, doubling over, straining every muscle in her body. Skulduggery patted her back, but she heard him laughing, too.
"That was—"
It was dark and the bed was soft and she blinked as fire danced in front of her eyes. She was stunned, stumbling around, but Skulduggery's hand was like an anchor. He pulled her out of the way and something roared.
Her head rattled and she stumbled.
Skulduggery cursed and dragged her, but her feet caught on something and then they were flying through the air. She slammed into a wall, the breath whooshing out of her. She laid on her side and tried to seem small, tried to hide so she could recover her breath, recover something.
The world danced back into view, and a dragon was in the Sanctuary's front lobby.
Valkyrie laughed.
The dragon's head whipped around to look at her. It was a huge, horned thing, but it didn't seem right. Its wings were too small, its legs too gangly, body too fat. It stumbled over to her, jaw clicking together.
Valkyrie rolled neatly to her knees, but even though she was well out of the way, the dragon swung its tail and hit her. She went flying again, right toward a hole in the wall—where the dragon had made its entrance—but she hit more wall. The wind rushed out of her again.
Skulduggery called her name, but fuck did her everything hurt. She should be dead, because these clothes weren't doing anything.
"Valkyrie?" Skulduggery yelled again.
Valkyrie managed to raise a weak hand.
Fire swirled along the ground, but the dragon swam through it like it was water. Skulduggery planted his feet, the ground cracked, but the floor didn't stick to the dragon. The dragon danced over the marble that wanted to trap its feet.
Valkyrie finally managed to get her feet back under her. She let electricity run over her arms, waited until the buzz of magic blotted out the pain, and she raised her arm and fired.
Absolutely no effect, but she did manage to get the dragon's attention again.
Valkyrie's feet flew out from under her, and she skidded across the ground. She yelped and kicked out, but when she saw she was sliding toward Skulduggery, she relaxed. She spun to a stop at his feet.
"You're going to get yourself killed," he said brightly.
His phone rang, and Skulduggery pulled it out. Valkyrie rubbed the back of her neck, flicked her hand to rid herself of the sweat. Not Finbar's, no, no.
Skulduggery's whole posture stiffened, and Valkyrie froze. He marched around to the driver's side, and Valkyrie knew she got in after him.
"Hey, Finbar. Skulduggery and I are on a case, and we might need you to do your voodoo. A couple of men with no memories were guarding something, and they've disappeared. And I've been getting bad vibes about the whole thing. Nightmares, if you could look into it, that'd be great."
Valkyrie shut her phone and turned. Ghastly's shop looked even more rundown than usual. It almost looked like it was actually abandoned. When Skulduggery tried the door, it was open. Heat poured out, and Valkyrie recoiled.
Her mouth was dry, and she ran her tongue around her cheeks.
"Man, I'd kill for an ice cream."
Skulduggery rubbed the tip of his shoe through the dust on the floor. "How about after we visit?"
"Yeah, you said that last time. And then we ended up at Ghastly's. You really sort of suck. You heard my stomach rumble, told me we were going to get food, and then..." Valkyrie waved her arms around. "This place."
"Ghastly?" Skulduggery called.
No response.
"Skulduggery, ice cream."
Skulduggery stepped forward, hands hovering, reading the air. Valkyrie sneezed at the dust, watched Skulduggery move. It was hot and she couldn't think, and she didn't want to be here.
"Skulduggery."
Skulduggery's head twitched, and he looked back at her. "Everything all right?"
"We need to leave."
"Yes. Yes, I think we do."
They walked to the Bentley and left that sad place. Valkyrie fell into the chair and Janet was standing in front of her, twisting her skirt. Irritation prickled over Valkyrie's skin, and the scene seemed out of focus, colors blurring together, shapes indistinct.
"I, I mean I don't know. You were thinking about Alice. In the pool?"
Alice floated by, the scar on her chest dark against her skin. Valkyrie's eyes flicked from Convivial to Alice, and something in Janet's face changed. And then Valkyrie was standing by the pool and sitting in front of Convivial and sitting in front of Convivial, hands on her temples.
And then the sound of a war was around them, and Valkyrie's ears rung. There was—it was heavy on her forearm. So heavy, and Alice was crying so, so hard.
"I'm sorry baby. I'm sorry baby, I'm—"
Valkyrie shook her head and took a step back. "Let me out. Let me out! Let me out!" Her words tore at her throat and she had to look away from that, God, Jesus—"Don't make me watch that!" she screamed—
...
"Get off!" Valkyrie yelled, lashing out.
Her boot caught Convivial straight on, and the woman fell backwards. Valkyrie pushed herself out of her chair and tried to breathe, tried to think, but what had she done what had she done what—
"Valkyrie."
Valkyrie stopped, staring down at the ground, panting. Her eyes fluttered and her head throbbed.
Skulduggery slipped up to her side, smooth and easy. "Valkyrie." His voice... "Valkyrie, I need you to look at me. Can you do that?"
No, she couldn't.
"Valkyrie."
Slowly, slowly, Valkyrie looked up. As soon as her gaze met his, she burst out sobbing. She fell forward and her caught her, held her in his arms. And she cried and cried. He was talking but she couldn't listen, couldn't bear to think.
She cried until it hurt to breathe and then she just stood there. He held her.
"Always?" It was all she could ask, and she wasn't even sure what.
"Of course."
Valkyrie peeled herself away from him and shook out her hands. Skulduggery hovered, and it was only when he shifted to be in front of her did Valkyrie remember Convivial. Shame rushed through her, and her cheeks burned.
Valkyrie nodded to Skulduggery and he moved. Valkyrie took a shaky step towards Convivial, and Skulduggery's hand was right there in the small of her back.
"Janet?" Convivial asked. She was still on the ground, playing with her hands in her lap.
"That's hardly of any importance, is it?" Skulduggery said, voice clipped.
Valkyrie wanted to cry again. All she wanted to do was cry. "I'm sorry."
Janet's hands fidgeted. "Okay. I—I figured something wasn't right. The first time, it felt like I was missing the whole story. And I guess I was."
Valkyrie looked away.
"I'm going home."
Skulduggery's head snapped back to look at Convivial. "You're essential to this operation. I'm sorry we needed you on your day off, but this is much larger than a forgotten name. How far back did you end up going?"
A silence, and Valkyrie realized it was her turn to speak. "I... I honestly don't know."
Convivial stood. "You... I'm—I'm going home. You can't boss me around."
Skulduggery took a step towards her. Convivial's eyes widened, and she hunched her shoulders. Then Skulduggery's hands relaxed, and he nodded, turning back towards Valkyrie.
"Of course. Thank you for your time."
Valkyrie didn't see Convivial walk away. She didn't care. She was led back to the couch, and she sank into it.
How long did they sit there? The shadows grew longer in the lobby. Valkyrie remembered so many things, the pomp, the splendor. The dead, piled around. A bomb, distant in her head. A shadow of armor.
They trickled into her brain and she wanted to scream. She wanted to slam her head against the ground until she didn't have to think.
"Valkyrie, please speak to me. Please."
"I'm a bad person," she whispered.