Skulduggery Pleasant: Raising Cain

Chapter 97 - Crystal, Carol and Myra

Skulduggery – Crow

Anton – Bear

Ghastly – Panda

Dexter – Wolf

Saracen – Weasel

Erskine – Snake

Solomon – Raven

Corrival – Pa

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Chapter 97

"Please don't make me do this," Valkyrie whined.

"It'll be fun," Tanith said as if that were a reasonable statement.

"It won't be," she told her for the millionth time. "They're all going to be crowding around the twins saying, 'oh, how pretty, how perfect, how girly' and I'll be standing there getting ignored. I doubt anyone even knows what I look like. It's mostly going to be Beryl's family."

"Then make friends. You're always saying how many extended cousins you have," her sister said.

Valkyrie groaned as they pulled up outside the golf club. "Do I really have to?"

"Yes. Now, here. Don't forget the presents and remember young lady. No swearing, no hitting, no spitting, no mean words and most of all, if there's cake, bring me some. Understand?" Tanith said, looking into the back of Gordon's old car. Wolf smirked and looked at her in the mirror from the driver's seat.

"Yes, Mum," she said and jumped out of the car.

"I love you!" Tanith shouted through the window.

"Love you too," she said, waving and walking to the lobby.

"Have fun!" Tanith shouted loudly as Wolf drove her away.

Valkyrie shook her head. Her sister was an idiot, but it made her smile. She had made sure to be ten minutes after when she was meant to be there, so all the setting up was done and she wasn't the first there. She actually saw quite a few relatives she recognised which was mostly second cousins and their children. Which she was pretty certain were her third cousins. Then there was her great-aunts and great uncles. Her paternal grandparents had died before even her parents.

"Stephanie?" Someone said. She turned and saw an older second or third cousin – she didn't keep track – she had used to get on with as a young child. He was tall, about the same size as her, with sandy hair like Gordon but his own mother's blue eyes. She almost had to take a step back, because other than the cheekbones, eyes and being obviously younger and fitter, he looked strikingly like Gordon.

"Err, yeah, that's me," she said awkwardly. "I'm sorry, I've forgotten your name."

He smiled as awkwardly as she felt. "It's Mark. We haven't seen each other since Gordon's funeral some years ago."

"Oh, yes," she said, not remembering him being there at all. "Err, do you know where Crystal and Carol are?"

He pulled a face. "On the balcony, I think."

"Thanks," she muttered and walked away quickly. She hoped she didn't have to talk to him much tonight. Thankfully, the party was only meant to be two hours which was bearable, kind of.

She went to the balcony as Mark told her and stepped out into the cool evening to find, as he said, her twin cousins leaning against the railing with their chins on their hands. One of them was smoking, but Valkyrie honestly forgot which one was which from the back, and they were different sizes too. One had remained somewhat overweight as she'd been her whole life, while the smoking one had lost a significant amount of weight, so much so Valkyrie thought she looked smaller than Nadia from the back, and she knew she could see Nadia's ribs. She held her breath a little and put on a smile.