The Crystal Death

Chapter 1

"So why are we here again?" 

Skullduggery sighed, "The sorcerer we've been tracking down, Umbra Absconditum, this is where he is supposed to live."

They were standing in front of a brick house with a large garage. "It doesn't look like the hideout of a Necromancer."

"It doesn't look like the hideout of anyone. It looks like a house."

Valkyrie rolled her eyes, "I just hope there's someone to punch in there."

Skulduggery walked up to the door and bent on one knee. Taking out his lockpicks, he started working to unlock the door. After a few minutes, Valkyrie got bored. "Are you almost done?"

"Greatness takes time Valkyrie. And I am very great." Skulduggery stood up and turned the handle. He pushed on the door to open it, and it didn't budge.

"Greatness must take more time than that," Valkyrie said with a smile.

"There must be more locks that we can't see." He mumbled.

"I could always break the door down."

"Or we could walk right through it." Skulduggery's Façade had amber-brown eyes and red hair. He had an eyebrow raised and held out his hand. Valkyrie took his hand and they walked forward through the door. She was glad that the door wasn't super thick, "I will never get used to that."

Skulduggery shrugged and walked forward, "Umbra, are you home?"

"Do you really expect him to come out peacefully?"

"No, but you said you wanted to punch someone."

Skulduggery walked ahead as Valkyrie opened her mouth to say something when she was whacked in the back of the head, hard.  She stumbled forward and heard movement behind her.

"Go down, dammit."

She whorled around and got a blow to her arms and a blow to the stomach. She grabbed the weapon, a staff, and threw it to the side. She got a good look at the attacker, they were wearing a necronaught suit, revealing them to be a woman. Valkyrie charged at her, using her magic to boost her speed. She rammed into the girl and knocked her down, "Skulduggery!"

The girl grabbed Valkyrie's head and headbutted it. And again, and again. Valkyrie stumbled back, shaking it off easily while the girl got up. She wasn't hitting very hard which is weird when you're in a fight. 

"Just go -"

Valkyrie punched her and she went down. Then Valkyrie went down, feet swept out from under her. The girl pulled herself on top of Valkyrie and tried to get her into a bar arm choke. Valkyrie pulled her chin down and grabbed the arm, then flipped the attacker over. She pulled the girl into a triangle choke and waited. The girl struggled, weakly tried to pull herself out of it, then stopped moving. Valkyrie let go, satisfied that the girl was unconscious, and stuck her head out the door, "Skulduggery!"

the skeleton detective appeared behind her, he had taken off his façade. "You look terrible."

Valkyrie jumped, "How did you . . ."

"I found a back way in. Have you found any clues?"

"I found a girl, you should have passed her."

"I didn't see anyone."

Valkyrie looked back to where she was just fighting, the necronaught suited figure was gone. She did, however, hear a beeping, like an alarm. "You hear that right?"

Skulduggery tilted his head, "I hear it."

Both Valkyrie and Skulduggery walked in the direction of the alarm. Sneaking through the halls, they arrived in the kitchen where the girl Valkyrie fought earlier was standing, still in her necronaught suit. She was making a sandwich. Valkyrie looked at Skullduggery, "Umbra is a guy right? and who makes a sandwich when there are people in their home?"

"He is indeed a man. and she does, apparently."

The girl picked up the sandwich and obviously forgot she was wearing a mask because she tried to take a bite out of it, "Stupid suit." She pulled off the hood and Valkyrie saw that she had to be no more than 16.

Skulduggery stepped out of the shadows and cleared his throat. The girl jumped, saw Skulduggery, and muttered, "Sweet baby Jesus. You're a skeleton."

"I've noticed. My partner and I are trying to find an Umbra Absconditum. You wouldn't happen to know him, do you?"

She smiled, "Of course I do. He's my adopted father."

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The girl, Victoria, sat down in a chair across from Valkyrie and Skulduggery, "Sorry again about your . . . face."

"I've had worse."

She smiled, silver eyes slightly worried "If you'd just let me . . ." Victoria started lifting her hand.

"No. I understand about the face and all that, but I don't really want you to touch me. Like, ever." Valkyrie said as she leaned back in the seat.

Skulduggery cleared his "throat" as Victoria put her hand down. "Have you ever heard Umbra mentioning a Deathbringer?"

She tilted her head, "Once, but they usually referred to me as the Bringer of Immortality."

Valkyrie sat forward, "What do you mean?"

"Once a month, Umbra would host this cult meeting. I'm not normally in them, but when I am they call me their chosen messiah, Bringer of Immortality, the whole shebang. Even if I just walk into the kitchen to get a snack they start talking about how a day will come when we won't need to eat or drink. Honestly, it's annoying. I do have a question if you don't mind."

Skulduggery tilted his head, "Yes?"

"How are you a skeleton? I mean, I get that we're all technically skeletons, but you don't have anything that can help you move or speak."

"Is this a trick question?"

Victoria laughed, "Of course not. I love science and read a bunch of scientific papers, but I've never seen anything about reanimation."

"I think we're getting off-topic."

Valkyrie put her hand out in the universal sign of stop talking, "Are you telling me you don't know about magic?"

"Magic is fairy tales."

"Then how do you explain your suit or the fact that I sped up as I tackled you? How do you explain HIM!"

"Hey."

"Nanotech infused fabric, jet boots, and some kind of robot with a transferred conscience maybe."

"Victoria," Skulduggery put his hands together, "Do you mind if we stay until Umbra comes back?"

She shook her head, black hair swinging from side to side, "It's probably not the best idea. I mean, I haven't seen him in three days. If you stayed, you'd have to wait for four at the least to see him. I'm sure you have more important things to do than spend time with a sixteen-year-old girl. However, if you leave and come back tomorrow, I'll consider reevaluating my stance on the existence of magic. Especially since I'm tired and want to go to bed."

Valkyrie looked outside. The sun had indeed gone down. She shrugged, "I'm fine with it. And maybe tomorrow we could talk more about this cult that worships you."

"How do we know you'll still be here tomorrow?"

Victoria laughed, "Skulduggery, was it? Does this house look like I'm ready to leave at a moment's notice?"

"Come on Skul, she's got a point. Plus, she's sixteen and obviously doesn't exactly like the cult. where's she gonna go?"

Victoria and Valkyrie stood up. Skulduggery waited a moment before he to stood up. Victoria led them to the door and ushered them outside. "Oh, Skulduggery? Valkyrie?"

They both turned and Victoria smiled, "Next time,  just knock." She tapped the middle of the undersides of her forearms and held them up. The last thing Valkyrie saw was a bright light.

(I hope you all liked this chapter. I figure, "Hey, I want to draw readers in and keep them going, why not leave them on a cliffhanger?")