Chapter 170
As a family, they knew there was one big American tradition that they wanted to take part in as a part of their holiday time – getting a Christmas tree. None of them were Christian or necessarily cared for many of the big traditions, but since living with Valkyrie they had always had a tree and decorated it, usually had a lot of treats as well as a roast dinner on the day, plus all the presents. This year had to be smaller what with the massive money lose thanks to the house renovation, plus Valkyrie's own spending on Nadia's birthday car, and the fact they were in a different country, but that didn't matter to Valkyrie, Tanith, Nadia and Erskine – it was Christmas and they needed a tree!
Solomon had gotten back from his most recent trip to the Necromancy Temple right in time for the festivities. In spite of that, him and Anton chose to stay back to go food shopping. "Sounds like a plan!" Erskine had joyfully said before ushering everyone into the car. With the same big grin on his face he told Valkyrie, "Suckers, I hate food shopping! They got the wrong end of the stick here."
Valkyrie had laughed at how certain he was but it faded by the time they had arrived at the massive tree farm three hours away. If she had to listen to Fletcher and Erskine plan 'eye spy' any longer they were both going to be dead.
"Thank god," Nadia muttered, stretching. Valkyrie smiled at her and kissed her lips.
"You're so cute," she whispered, pulling her away from the car so Tanith could manhandle Laila out of her car seat and into a wrap.
"Get a room, lovebirds," Tanith told them. Valkyrie and Nadia giggled as they watched Tanith struggle and then whoop when she got her baby free. Laila looked around with big eyes. Being in the area they were, it was about fifteen degrees Celsius and they were happy in their jeans and shirts. Well, Nadia had worn a short sleeve top and decided it was too cold, so she had stolen Valkyrie's light jacket. But that was just expected.
"We do have a room," Nadia said just loud enough for Tanith to hear. "But the walls are thin."
Tanith grinned and laughed. "I know. I'm between you and Dexter and Saracen. Between you four and Little Miss here, I get no sleep."
They all shared a laugh as they went through the field acting as a car park. As they got to the front entrance, they had to wait for a tiny Prius with a tree larger than it strapped to the top go past before they could get in.
"How big of a tree are we getting?"
"Six foot," Saracen said. "We measured before we left."
"Smart," Valkyrie nodded. They paid a small fee to enter.
"There aren't many left," Nadia commented.
"How many types are there?"
"There's three I think," Dexter said, looking around at all the families. There was a group of maybe fifteen children chasing each other with branches knocking into everyone. They skirted around them and went deeper into the farm. "I think we'd only want Douglas or Noble Fir though. They're the nice ones."
"What's the other type?" Tanith asked.
"I don't remember," he said, looking around. "There's no signs."
"We can still see everything though," Valkyrie pointed out. Almost all the trees had been chopped, leaving big gaps to look between. A lot of the remaining trees were either quite short, incredibly tall, or looked to be falling apart. One of them had even been half chopped before being abandoned and was now almost brown. "I hope we can find one today."
"We have to! There's nowhere else to get trees for miles," Erskine said. He gripped onto Dexter's forearm and pulled him forwards. "Come on, let's find some good ones."
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Skulduggery Pleasant: Raising Cain
Fanfiction(This story is written as a fanfiction, but can be read as a story without having read any of the books.) Valkyrie Cain, the adoptive daughter of the Dead Men, has had a life full of love and magic. But as she gets older, times become scarier and sh...
