Skulduggery Pleasant: Raising Cain

Chapter 139 - Ghastly, Nadia's friends and house ideas

Chapter 139

Valkyrie silently sat, watching her family talk in quiet tones about the information Skulduggery gave her. They were in an office, in the Sanctuary, in Roarhaven - a dark, gloomy office that Valkyrie particularly hated. Her Skulduggery finding team was on the other side of the room on a table silently mulling over the story she'd told, likely angry with her for not trying to bring him in. Meritorious and Corrival had left to talk about their next plan of action. She didn't know if they wanted to pursue Skulduggery and bring him in or if they were going to let him go, but she had a strong suspicion they'd allow him to leave.

Solomon was quiet, holding Laila and not looking at anyone. The knowledge that Skulduggery had cut their relationship in half and left was affecting him, although he'd said at the time that he knew it was coming. Tanith had been angry with him and wanted to track him down, so did Ghastly and all of her Sanctuary team, but Erskine and Anton had been supportive of him going to receive help. Really, she thought the others did too, but they were also upset and angry and that was hard to let go of.

Valkyrie, Saracen and Dexter had been quiet. She didn't know what her brothers wanted, but they had nodded and smiled at her. It didn't seem that they had an opinion more so that they were supporting Valkyrie. She knew whatever she wanted to do, they'd follow. Nadia, quiet on her other side and holding onto her arm tightly, was doing the same. If she didn't feel so shit about everything, she'd be grateful.

Corrival and Meritorious came in and gave their verdict almost an hour after leaving to talk about it privately. They were letting Skulduggery leave for the treatment facility, so long as it was confirmed he went there. They had already sent someone to check and would get in contact with them if he never arrived, in which case they would be tasked to pursue him. But as of that moment, Valkyrie, her family and team were dismissed.

"What a shit day," Amanda, the only female of Valkyrie's Skulduggery hunting team, said.

Valkyrie grunted.

"If it helps, I think you did the right thing."

Valkyrie looked at her as her brothers spoke between themselves. Only Nadia seemed to be listening in. "I thought you wanted him in."

"I did. But the goal was the get him treatment for the torture, right?" Amanda pointed out. "He's getting that."

"If he even goes," Tuppence whined.

"Shut up," Amanda rolled her eyes. "It's not like we did anything to find him."

"You helped a lot," Valkyrie said automatically. "Everyone did. But he was more cautious than I thought he'd be considering how... damaged he is. And I got distracted looking at other cases. It exactly didn't work in our favour."

"Perhaps. But we got what we wanted," Amanda said, finally smiling. "It was good working with you."

"You too. You'll all be going back to regular work by the way. Unless we hear Skulduggery hasn't turned up, this team is disbanded."

Amanda, Tuppence and Grant took their leave with nods and smiles at Valkyrie. They weren't all happy, Valkyrie could see that, but they were polite and didn't give her trouble which Valkyrie appreciated. She also knew that Amanda and Grant had done all the paperwork and taken all the phone calls and read every letter sent to the Sanctuary to do with the case. She decided to herself to do something for the two of them for their help. Could she get them a raise?

Nathanael and Kinsey stuck around a little longer to talk with her brothers, but they too left once Valkyrie promised to call them first if they were going on a world-hopping hunt after Skulduggery. Valkyrie sincerely hoped it wouldn't come to that.