Skulduggery Pleasant: Raising Cain

Chapter 50 - Home again

Skulduggery – Crow

Anton – Bear

Ghastly – Panda

Dexter – Wolf

Saracen – Weasel

Erskine – Snake

Solomon – Raven

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Chapter 50

Valkyrie's POV

Valkyrie felt the all too familiar feeling of coming around and groaned, feeling the aching in her body but too weak to move. She didn't want to so much as breath. She wondered when possessed Kenspeckle would be back.

She flinched violently when she felt something touch her arm, hearing her heart monitor start to go wild as her fear took over.

"Val, calm down," Tanith's voice said softly. "You're okay, you're safe now."

Valkyrie did calm down, enough that she started crying, but she could still feel that tension in her stomach, the anxiety and pain balled up inside.

"Valkyrie, you need to relax, you need to heal," Tanith said, stroking a thumb over her hand. "Do you want me to call Skulduggery for you?"

Valkyrie nodded, still refusing to open her eyes to the world.

"Alright." Tanith shuffled about and Valkyrie held her breath to force her tears away just a little. Her violent sobbing turned to heaving breaths and Tanith put her phone on speaker.

"Valkyrie?" Crow said through the phone. "How are you feeling?"

"Bad," she said in a small voice. "Where are you?"

"I'm returning the Remnant," he said. He hesitated and then said, "Solomon Wreath is with me. Would you like to speak with him?"

Valkyrie was so surprised it stopped her tears. She nodded pathetically and said, "Yes please." She felt like a little child. She needed a hug.

The phone was passed over and Valkyrie opened her eyes in the meantime, turning on her side carefully to face the phone. "Miss Cain? How are you feeling?"

"Not so good," she said in her hoarse voice. "How – what – how are you?"

"I am tired but otherwise healthy. The possessed doctor was taken by surprise and we were able to capture him and remove the Remnant without killing the man," he said. Valkyrie had no idea what to feel let alone say, so she said nothing at all. "He is expected to make a full physical recovery. Have you heard any news of your own health?"

"No," she said. "I haven't seen anyone yet."

"I believe you were taken to a different hospital to your usual, as was to be expected," Raven told her. "I could not tell you which though. I would put my money on a Doctor Synecdoche, a less skilled medic but still more than capable. I suppose I shouldn't compare her to a genius after all, it is too unfair a comparison. She specialises in battle wounds, and you certainly have a few of those."

Valkyrie wanted to laugh or at least smile at the attempt at humour, but she couldn't. "What happened to Kenspeckle?"

"He was taken to the Sanctuary medical ward for minor treatments," he said. He hesitated himself before continuing. "I understand he is awake and is suffering far more psychologically than physically. He remembers little of his time with the Remnant, but has been told what he did. I expect him to be spending a lot of his time with a therapist."