Skulduggery Pleasant: Raising Cain

Chapter 135 - Poor Tanith! She never gets a break

Chapter 135

Valkyrie looked over the papers and nonsense she had written and found in books in the last five hours or so. A plate of half-eaten korma lay on the large windowsill and Valkyrie had Laila in her car seat on the table next to her, fast asleep. They had given her a lovely baby yellow rocker to take naps in, but she hated it. She seemed to really love the car seat though, and whatever three day old Laila wanted, she got.

"She's a lovely baby," Gordon said absently as Valkyrie glared at her own rushed handwriting. "I remember you being so small. But you had really dark hair when you were born, though only a little. Laila is blonde."

"Yeah, about two strands on her head," Valkyrie croaked, stretching until she heard her spine snap twice. She let out a breath in satisfaction. "We're not any closer."

"I think it's going to come down to this," Gordon said, putting his hands up. "One, he's an Elemental, but a very talented one and able to use air and stone somehow to kill people. In that case, the roof is the best option because it seems to be the worst. Two, regardless of magic, he is very smart and able to get pasts any signal and ward we can imagine and that ability trumps his magic, and so he used the tunnels below. If he could get through the tunnels, it would be the best way, so we need to know how smart he is. Or thirdly, he's an Adept with some type of super strength and had to use the hidden corridor behind the offices and simply wasn't picked up on any camera or seen by anyone by a stroke of luck. Or bad luck, rather. There is no reason he can't be strong and fast after all."

Valkyrie nodded. "And we know the top three things he could have taken from those areas. And a few that he might have taken out of those areas if he's somehow insanely fast or our timings are off. God, this is so frustrating. How are we meant to test and check these things?"

Gordon smiled at her. "Perhaps you should go to bed, Valkyrie. We've made some headway, after all, identifying the possibilities. Personally, I feel it is most likely the Spider's would have wanted The Box of Variability since it was theirs once, and it is missing. But again, I'm not so sure about the idea of our Mr Stolen being an Elemental and taking the middle route upwards. Not many assassins do choose that path after all."

"But not impossible," Valkyrie finished. "I know, Uncle. I'm keeping my mind open, I just want it finished, I'm not going to fill in the blanks with my imagination. Surprisingly, I actually like to do my job properly," she said tiredly, rubbing her eyes. "I am going to bed. Are you okay for me to leave this crap here?"

"Sure," he shrugged. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Valkyrie took Laila to her next babysitter for the night so that Tanith could sleep a little longer before she had to breastfeed again, which was Anton and an eager Erskine. They were playing cards and Valkyrie left Laila in the car seat on the table between them to keep hawk eyes on after they promised to take her to Tanith when Laila woke up and then take her again when Tanith was done nursing. The post-partum symptoms were just as strong for Tanith as the pregnancy issues, and Valkyrie honestly felt awful for her big sister. She tried to hide it, but Valkyrie could see how scared and worried she was, how much physical pain she was in. Being a mother was hard and it made her feel so much more grateful for her own, as well as be in awe of her mother's strength for doing so much child rearing as a widow.

After a quick stop in the kitchen for snacks and drinks, Valkyrie tossed her thoughts aside and went to her bedroom.

"Hi," she said quietly to Nadia. "I got tea."

"Good," Nadia softly replied, putting whatever she was holding down. "Did you find what you needed to?"

"No, but I will," she smiled. "Here. So, what have you been doing all evening?"