Skulduggery Pleasant: Raising Cain

Chapter 110 - Collecting Nadia

Chapter 110

Three days on, Tanith was suffering from nightmares that were stopping her from sleeping, leaving her experiencing more sickness, irritability and she'd fainted four times.

Ghastly had called the maternity hospital on her behalf – on her instruction when she was throwing her guts up – and they'd told her to go back on some medicine from when she'd been three months. Ghastly had had to explain Valkyrie had been in a car accident and was in a coma to give the midwives an idea of what had caused the onset of symptoms, and just hearing him make up a fake story of Valkyrie in a car accident had made her cry through throwing up. A few days off of seven months pregnant wasn't enjoyable, having her sister in the hospital wasn't enjoyable, and together she wasn't sure she could do this.

Anton had woken up briefly and was healing but Valkyrie hadn't changed at all. They'd found out from Anton that he'd found her with part of the staircase on top of her, and Kenspeckle used that to confirm it must have fallen on her head. He couldn't say what the outcome would be. She'd gone from the luckiest person to one of the unluckiest – survived a bomb just to be taken out by stairs.

They'd decided that a few hours ago. Now Tanith was left with decisions, hard decisions and conversations, that needed to be had. And she had to stand in Valkyrie's place as much as she could.

"We need to talk," she said, walking straight into Dexter's bedroom. He and Saracen looked at her from their places lying on the large bed and sat up so she could sit on the end more comfortably.

"I find nothing good comes from conversations that start like this," Saracen said with a serious face, and it made her crack a small smile.

"We need to decide what we're doing," she said quietly, looking at her knees. The belly was in the way of her lap. "No one's told Nadia what's going on."

Dexter rubbed the back of his neck and crossed his legs. "Is that a good idea? She doesn't seem to be in a great place mentally already."

"I think if I go and talk to her, I could help. I think I'm going to convince her to move in here for a while. I'll tell her it's so she can visit Valkyrie more," Tanith explained. "Honestly, I just think it'll help Valkyrie to be near Nadia. They say you can hear things when you're in a coma."

"That is true," Saracen nodded. "Valkyrie's always pulled it out the box for Nadia. Even when she was a little thirteen year old she could make things happen to make Nadia happy."

"She doesn't want to move in right now," Dexter argued. "Valkyrie already mentioned it to her, and they are only kids. I'm not sure putting this type of pressure on Nadia is a good idea."

"Valkyrie wasn't in a coma then, and if she doesn't want to move in because she wants to travel herself, I'll say what I just told you. I think she'll do it to help Valkyrie, even if it is a bit underhanded," Tanith told them. "I want to be honest, but I want Valkyrie more. And I think I can get through to Nadia better if I see her in person. Plus, I can walk up into her room and ask."

Saracen shook his head. "It'll work better if your honest with her parents too. She doesn't want to betray her parents."

Tanith considered this and then nodded. Nadia was a good girl, more obedient than Valkyrie, although Valkyrie had been brought up with less restrictions. She'd kept six men giving her gifts a secret from her mother without ever being told to, she hardly had the supervision Nadia had. "You might be right."

"He usually is," Dexter said, staring thoughtfully into the soft blanket covering his duvet. "We need to check on Fletcher too. He didn't take the news well."