The Purple Haired Craze

Which Is Far Too Full Of Necromancers

I'm actually surprised that I am getting readers on this site! Thanks to goobygummybear and Skullduggeryvalkyrie for the wonderful comments and to everyone who voted on my chapter. Sorry if I can't name you all; Wattpad doesn't have a place you can see everyone who has been reading and voting and commenting, but you are all wonderful!

For future reference, my fanfiction.net account (shared with my BFF on Jellyfish Sisters) will probably be the most up to date (mostly because I have so many readers over there) but I definitely appreciate the response here! THANKS TO ALL!!!

Valkyrie's eyes widened, but she curbed her shock, quickly hiding the recognition from her face.

"Hopeless?" Ghastly sounded a little doubtful. "Where are you from and what were you doing in an enemy dungeon?"

Hopeless gave a small smile. "I, Ghastly Bespoke, used to go to your school."

The scarred boy looked surprised before a look of understanding settled on his face. "You were the Head Boy of Ende Academy two years ago, am I right?"

The skinny boy nodded. "I joined the Sanctuary the moment I left school so that I could help. My power meant that they would use me as a spy."

"And your discipline is?" Dexter put in.

"I am a shape shifter. I can change my appearance to look like somebody else, although I also picked up some symbol magic alongside it. I'll demonstrate," he said and suddenly his features merged, face becoming rounder and skin darkening. The hair on his head seemed to retract and no longer did he look like a pitiful boy, but a stocky man, a little on the short side, but definitely looked much older.

"That is... Certainly useful," Skulduggery managed to say, sounding startled at the sudden transformation.

"Very useful. I've been able to get in and out of the prison several times, disguising as a guard sometimes and it means they have never attempted to torture me because they never thought I would have any information that could help them."

They had begun to walk back to the rendezvous, all of them intrigued by Hopeless' story.

"How long have you been gathering information from Mevolent's forces for?" Skulduggery asked.

"About six months, maybe more."

The Dead Men all looked at each other, smiles growing across their faces.

"Val, Saracen. You hit a jackpot of information!" Erskine grinned.

"We got information too," Ghastly put in, looking grim. "And you are not going to like it.

Ghastly was right. They weren't.

"China joined Mevolent's forces?" Dexter shrieked. "You have got to be joking."

"I mean, she wasn't particularly nice, but I can't really picture her as one of Mevolent's followers." Saracen added.

Skulduggery was fuming, as was Erskine. The whole Winter Ball fiasco was still a sore topic for the two boys, particularly the golden eyed one and this new development had not helped.

"I always hated China," Anton muttered. "I was so close to losing it when I saw her."

Everyone gave Anton and Ghastly a worried look. "Seriously?" Skulduggery asked.

Ghastly nodded. "I am certain our cover and our identities would have been discovered had I not managed to drag him away and calm him down."

"Shit."

"My thoughts exactly."

It was at that precise moment that they were jumped. A shadow whistled through the air which narrowly missed Skulduggery and sliced open Saracen's arm. Everyone jumped, Valkyrie immediately steadying herself, fireballs formed in her hands.

"In the bushes!" Ghastly informed them, pointing to a shadowy thicket. Valkyrie and Skulduggery hurled fire at the area, but as the flames caught on the damp foliage, cloaked figures leapt out of the smoke, launching themselves onto Dexter and Erskine who were the closest. Valkyrie noticed Hopeless growing incredibly stocky and tall and charged into the fight, grabbing at the nearest rebel, who was whipping another shadow around. Valkyrie spotted a bangle around the cloaked figure's wrist, noting that it was made of the same material as her ring that she had left at home. She had very little time to contemplate on this as she spotted movement in the corner of her eye, quickly sidestepping a third necromancer's sneak attack, grabbing his wrists as he darted past her and used his momentum to throw him roughly to the floor. She swiftly moved to kneel on the person's back, driving a swift punch to his jaw and only just getting nicked by the shadow he shot passed her ear, his last attempt at freedom before she knocked him unconscious.

An idea popped into her head and she quickly searched the man, finding the object he used to store his necromancy in the form of a necklace. Hurriedly, she yanked it off and put it around her own neck, feeling the power surge through her and all of a sudden she was off again, diverting the necromancers' attacks away from the boys, using the shadows against them. It was clear they had not been expecting this, their eyes widening in shock as they realised their powers were useless against this young girl with a smug expression on her face.

With their powers useless, none of the attackers being particularly good at physical combat, it was not long before they were overpowered and the eight of them were running as quickly as possible.

"Well now they definitely know who we are if they weren't knocked hard enough for them to forget." Valkyrie stated, as they finally slowed down.

"Since when were you a necromancer?" Skulduggery asked her, a little indignant. It annoyed him to realise that there was still a lot about the girl that he didn't know about.

Valkyrie flushed. "I have the skills to become one, but I didn't really want to join the necromancy church, so I gave it up."

Skulduggery's eyes narrowed. He could tell it was the whole truth, but he let it lie, knowing that it was likely the whole truth would leave her to expose the fact that she was from the future.

"I swear necromancers need an object to put their magic into," Hopeless said. He had morphed into another person, a rather handsome one with sharp blue eyes and light brown hair.

"I stole one from the necromancer I knocked out first," she explained, pulling out a necklace made of a shiny black material that looked oddly eerie.

"Well," Ghastly stated, breaking the silence. "You are one surprising girl. No wonder Skulduggery likes you."

They laughed, Valkyrie a little nervously, but looked a little more relaxed.

They had arrived at the bog again and their grins fell a little as they realised that they had to cross it again, but now that they knew the safest, and driest, route across, it took them less time and soon they were on the other side.

"I swear the guy who took us here said he would be meeting us in two days."

They all groaned.

One more note: I am in the middle of my GCSEs, which will finish on the 19th of June. Until then, updates will be less frequent on both my accounts.