Le Début |Skulduggery Pleasant

Chapter 30: An End, a Beginning

Third Person's POV:

Skulduggery Pleasant, the Skeleton Detective was sitting on Valkyrie Cain's window sill as she sat on a swivel chair, resting her foot on her bed in order to help heal her previously broken leg. He was telling her about all of the things that were going on in the world outside of her bedroom. 

"Where's Belle?" Valkyrie asked.

Skulduggery shrugged, thinking to how Belle has been pushing herself more and more in her training, pushing the limits with her healing leg, sometimes causing it to bleed. "She's giving herself some TLC."

"That sounds ominous, especially since it's concerning Belle," Valkyrie stated.

The skeleton shrugged. "She'll be fine, she just needs some time to process things, but until then, she's going to be taking some time off of field work."

Valkyrie tilted her head slightly. "As in not going on cases with you?"

Skulduggery nodded once. "Yep. Instead, she's going to be doing some administration work for whoever is made Grand Mage and the other two Elders."

"That sounds boring," Valkyrie stated.

"It does, doesn't it?"

There was a pause between the two before Valkyrie began to speak again. "How about Tanith? How's she?"

"She's lucky to be alive. The injury she took was severe, but she's strong. She'll pull through. I'll take you to see her when you're rested."

"And Ghastly? Any changes?"

"I'm afraid not. They're keeping him safe, but ... we don't know how long he'll stay like that. Fortunately for him, the time will pass in the blink of an eye. The rest of us will have to wait. On the bright side, the Sanctuary has a new and interesting addition to their Hall of Statues."

"Do they have a hall of statues?"

"Well, no, but now that they've got one, maybe they'll start."

"What are they going to do about the council of the Elders?"

"Meritorious was a good man, the most powerful Grand Mage we had seen in a long time. The other Elders in Europe are worried about who will fill the vacuum now that he's gone. The Americans are offering their support, the Japanese are sending delegates to help us wrest back some control, but..."

"It sounds like a lot of people are panicking."

"And they have a right to. Our systems of power, our systems of self-government, are delicate. If we topple, others will follow. We need a strong leader."

"Why don't you do it?"

Skulduggery asked. "Because I'm not well liked, and I'm not well trusted, and I already have a job. I'm a detective, remember?"

Valkyrie shrugged. "Vaguely."

A few moments of silence passed between the two. Valkyrie seemed to be thinking deeply about something, and Skulduggery had an aura of worry surrounding him.

"How are you?" Skulduggery asked the twelve-year-old girl in a gentle voice.

"Me? I'm fine."

"Really? No nightmares?"

"Maybe one or two," Valkyrie admitted.

"They'll always be there, reminding us of where we went wrong. If you pay attention to your bad dreams, they can help you."

"I'll keep that in mind next time I'm asleep."

"Good," Skulduggery said. "In any event, get well soon. We have mysteries to solve, and adventures to undertake, and I need my partner and student with me."

"Student?"

He shrugged. "Well, I won't have Belle to really keep me company anymore, at least for awhile. And things are going to get a lot tougher from here on in, and I need someone to fight by my side. There's something about you, Valkyrie. I'm not quite sure what it is. I look at you, and ..."

"And I remind you of yourself when you were younger?"

"Hm? Oh, no; what I was going to say is there's something about you that is really annoying, and you never do what you're told, and sometimes I question your intelligence—but even so, I'm going to train you, because I like having someone follow me around like a little puppy. It makes me feel good about myself."

She rolled her eyes at him. "You're such a moron."

"Don't be jealous of my genius."

"Can you get over yourself for just a moment?"

"If only that were possible."

"For a guy with no internal organs, you've got quite the ego."

"And for a girl who can't stand up without falling over, you're quite the critic." 

"My leg will be fine."

"And my ego will flourish. What a pair we make."

Valkyrie gave a short laugh. "Go on, get out. Mum'll be up soon to check on me."

"Before I go..."

"Yes?"

"Aren't you going to show me what you've been practising? You've been dying to show off from the moment I knocked on this window."

She looked at him and arched an eyebrow, but he was right and he knew it. The other good thing about this recuperation period was that she had all the time she wanted to develop her powers, and she hadn't wasted the few days that had passed already.

She clicked her fingers, summoning a small flame into the palm of her hand. She watched it flicker and dance, then looked up at Skulduggery and grinned.

"Magic," he stated.

Belle Èclipse's POV:

I was in the training room, pushing myself harder than what Kenspeckle recommended that I should've. I was taking out everything I was feeling onto the boxing bad in front of me. Hitting it over and over again. The sound of flesh hitting leather was echoing around the cement room that I was in. 

I stopped punching the bag when I sensed Skulduggery enter the room, one of his hourly check-ups on me. I turned around to look at him.

"What do you want, Skulduggery? And don't say to check on me because I saw you an hour ago," I stated.

"Actually," Skulduggery started in his velvety smooth voice. "I was going to ask if you wanted to go out for dinner with me."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Why?"

He shrugged. "Do I need an excuse in order to take my friend out?"

"I guess not..." I said slowly. "But why now?"

"Because, Belle, you need a break from pushing yourself to your limits. I mean, just look at your hands, not even Kenspeckle will be able to get rid of those scars."

I looked down at my hands that were covered in blood and I knew that at least two of them were broken and one was sprained. I could also see some bruises forming under the blood.

I sighed. "Fine. When are we going?"

Skulduggery clapped his hands together. "Well, first you're going to have to clean up your hands and have a shower. Meet me at my house about eight o'clock tonight?"

I nodded. Skulduggery left me alone in the cement room. I sighed and teleported home in order to clean myself up.

Maybe tonight won't be that bad.

And oh boy, was that thought wrong.