The Purple Haired Craze

In Which The Dead Men Find A Patrol

It took them about an hour to get through the entire bog. The cloak had done barely anything to keep out the water, and she was absolutely freezing as she felt the now uncomfortably damp clothes rub against her skin. She was surprised to notice that all the others appeared to be dry, and giving her funny looks.

"How are you not soaking wet?" she grumbled at them.

"Have you, by any chance, forgotten that you have control over the elements?" Dexter mentioned.

"Of course I haven't," she snapped, and then thought about what the blonde boy had just said. She felt herself flushing as she realised her stupidity. "I am an idiot," she mumbled, putting her face in her hands, drying her clothes off quickly and made a bubble of air around her to keep the rain out. Attempting to drown out the laughter from the boys, she stomped off towards the patch of trees she could she in the distance, turning round briefly to check that she was going in the right direction. She didn't need to be embarrassed more than once during the course of the mission. She was pleased to note that she had chosen the right direction to walk in.

She kept on walking in a huff, determined to remain lofty for the entire trip, but Skulduggery ruined all hopes for that plan when he jogged to catch up with her, spinning her around, kissing her full on the lips. The move surprised her so much that she couldn't think straight enough to force herself to be angry at him.

"Be happy," he said after her broke away from her. "We don't want any problem on the mission, just because Dex embarrassed you." They both ignored the happy cheers from Erskine, Dexter and Saracen.

"Hey! Can I do that with Saracen?" Dexter called.

"Nothing's stopping you," muttered Anton, although seemed to regret saying that when the two boys turned to snog each other happily.

"You shouldn't really encourage either of them," Ghastly said, rolling his eyes. "Very little would stop them from having wild sex here in a bog, and that is something nobody ever wants to see."

Valkyrie gave a low laugh, turning back to Skulduggery. "Okay," she told him, squeezing his hand comfortingly.

The journey to the base itself was uneventful, only encountering one patrol of hollow men, one mage, a necromancer, leading them in the woodland. The seven of them ducked behind various trees, careful to stay as quiet as possible, tucking their cloaks closer to their bodies so that they wouldn't give themselves away. The patrol continued onwards, not noticing that they were being subtly followed.

Valkyrie noticed that, unlike the last time she had seen the Dead Men in action, the six boys were not working quite in sync with each other. There were little things she noticed, like the fact that they were not covering each other whilst they darted from tree to tree, checking that the patrol wasn't looking before they ran out of the cover of the trees. It wasn't that they were incompetent; they could clearly take care of themselves, but they weren't behaving and responding to another's action like a team would.

Then again, Valkyrie thought to herself. They haven't really been practicing teamwork before. They had only just been assembled. But this wasn't going to stop her pointing out their flaws later, when they returned from the mission. She stored the information at the back of her head, and continued to dart forward, following the patrol back to the base.

Mevolent's base was unremarkable; an abandoned castle in the middle of the woodland, hidden by the towering trees and presumably, looking at the building's small size, it was likely to have an extensive basement.

"That's it?" Erskine whispered as they all watched the patrol approach the castle.

"Apparently," Ghastly mumbled, looking a bit unimpressed.

"Doesn't really look like much," Saracen stated.

"I was thinking just that," Dexter put in.

They all stared at it a bit longer.

"Aren't we supposed to be doing something?" Saracen finally asked. "I swear we were in a rush a moment ago?"

Valkyrie frowned at the dark haired boy. "The mission, turnip head," she said, punching his arm. "Know a way to get into the castle, clever clogs?"

Saracen gave her a cheerful grin. "Of course!" He scanned the building quickly, and then pointed at the moat. "There is an underground passageway that goes under the moat, leading directly to an empty storeroom. The entrance is..." He looked thoughtful for a moment, looking around and walking over to a group of bushes. He pushed aside the brambles, cutting some back and crouched on the floor, knocking the ground gently with his knuckle. They could all clearly hear the sound of echoing wood. "Here!"

They all looked at him gobsmacked, except for Valkyrie. "How did you know all that?" Dexter gaped at him."

Before Saracen could smugly reply, Valkyrie swiftly remarked, "He knows things."

"Hey! You stole that from me! I've been waiting to say that for months!"

"Ever since you started practicing your mysterious discipline?" Dexter asked him.

Saracen nodded miserably.

The tunnel was damp and it felt like there was a small stream running down the centre of it. Dexter, not being an elemental, grumped as he felt the water begin to soak into his boots, unable to do anything about it. He was just going to have to cope until they arrived.

Skulduggery, Valkyrie and Ghastly lit the way for them, their flames illuminating the muddy walls where bugs scurried away from them. Dex cringed. He hated insects. Saracen and the others would tease him during the summer months by catching flies and letting them loose in his room, or putting worms in his washbowl so that whilst he was washing his face half asleep in the mornings, he would get caught unawares by the wriggling creature that would somehow find its way into his palm. He shuddered, pulling up his hood, hoping that Saracen hadn't already decided to put a beetle in his cloak.

Suddenly, Ghastly, who was leading the group through the tunnel, stopped.

"I think we've arrived."