Alice's Birthday Party

Chapter 2 - Gift Hunt

Skulduggery found Valkyrie in the Bentley, her face turned away from him as he got in.

"Are you okay? I know you hate being mistaken for her and if you want to talk about it..." he said gently, putting his gloved hand on her shoulder.

"Well, it sure helped this time, didn't it?" Her voice was quiet, almost weak.

"That doesn't mean you have to be okay with it."

"Do you think there are more people out there like him?" She turned her head to look at him, her dark eyes watery. He hated seeing her hurt. "People who admire her, people who want to bring her back?"

"I don't know. There might be. There are people who worship he faceless ones as well despite them being evil and insane. I don't see why it wouldn't happen with Darquesse as well... She was god-like after all."

"But she is gone, right? There is no way she survived the fight with the faceless ones?"

He hesitated for a moment. "It is most likely, yes. But we can't know for sure and we can't open a portal to double check. We just must live with the uncertainty. She's like Schroedinger's cat"

"Darquesse is a cat?"

"I didn't say she is a cat, I said she is like a cat."

"And who is this Schroedinger guy?"

"He was a German scientist and who put a cat in a box together with a vial of poison which could go off at any time. And as long as the box was closed, the cat could be considered both death and alive at the same time. Just like we can consider Darquesse dead and alive at the same time right now"

"But why would he poison a cat? They are adorable!"

"That's not really the point-"

"He could have just taken a glass box too. Then he could tell if the cat was alive or dead."

"Valkyrie -"

"Besides, what did he want to prove with killing a cat anyway? That is just cruel"

"You eat dead animals all the time."

She opened her mouth to reply, but couldn't think of anything to say, so he just closed it again and looked out of the window.

"What, are you sulking now?"

"No. I'm just mourning the poor cat and all the other innocent animals."

He sighed. "So shall we go get Alice the best birthday gift ever now or what?" She started to smile and nodded.

"That's what I wanted to see"

They drove off, out of Roarhaven, back to Dublin. Just a fifteen minutes' drive away from Skulduggery's house, there was a fairly big shopping mall which Skulduggery declared as just the perfect place for them to find something.

Shortly afterwards, they found themselves in the first toy store looking at stuff. Almost half an hour passed resultless. Catching the bad guys, battling gods, saving the world -- all of this easier than finding a good gift for her sister. Things have changed a lot since she was young, she found.

"What did you want when you were her age?" Skulduggery asked.

"A pony. I think all little girls want ponies. Don't you think she would love a pony?"

"Does she have experiences with ponies?"

"I guess not. It may just be a little too much anyhow... Oh, then what about a puppy! She loves Xena! Don't you think she would love one?"