Skulduggery Pleasant: Raising Cain

Chapter 197 - Continuing to learn

Chapter 197

Two weeks later

Valkyrie's POV

They'd been at the Sect for thirty-four days.

Over a month.

No news.

No updates.

And the Ritual still hadn't taken place.

Valkyrie sighed. Over a month and she was getting impatient.

"I don't care how long it takes, Valkyrie, we cannot do the Ritual until you are ready, so we keep working until you are," Solomon said sternly.

"How will you even know when I'm ready? There isn't a tape measure of exactly how good at this or that I have to be, and I could easily pretend to have good mental health, so what does it really matter? What are you waiting for?"

"We are going to wait for your magic and mind to mature," he said, eyes narrowing at her from across the table. "And if you think I can't tell when you're lying to me about your mental health you are very wrong. I've been alive long enough to know what that looks like."

She rolled her eyes. "How are you going to wait for my magic to mature? Seriously?"

"A sign of mature magic is when the sorcerer has opened all the connective pieces and is at least vaguely proficient at them," Solomon explained.

"And how will you know I've unlocked all these added extras?"

He shrugged. "I can't be sure. But we need to open as many as possible or you very well could die during the Ritual. Would you like to try it and see what happens right now?"

Valkyrie paused. "I mean..."

"No, Valkyrie. Just keep your head down and keep working. That's all any of us can do right now."

Valkyrie grumbled and ate her bean and beef stew. This dish was a significant improvement on most of the other food and she was enjoying it. Someone must have noticed her finally finish an entire meal without gagging and brought her seconds without her even having to get up. She wasn't sure if she should have been glad someone was concerned enough to be making sure she was taken care of or creeped out that someone was obviously watching her eat.

Later that afternoon, Valkyrie found herself pulling her body back into a seated position, releasing the hold she had on her magic. Helena had been teaching her to meditate for the last week, drawing on Valkyrie's past, and short lived, experience of meditating with Skulduggery back when she was twelve and wanted to be just like him right down to how he spent his off-time. It was meant to help with her anxiety and persistent migraines, but she didn't quite have it down. It was not too hard to grasp, as Helena was a kind and patient teacher that helped her to get into a meditative state, but some things took time to be actually competent at. She'd never been good at turning her brain off.

"I don't know what I'm doing," she said again, looking at Helena. She was a beautiful woman, youthful with large eyes. Valkyrie found herself wondering yet again how someone so sweet and kind could be in the same league as the late Irish Necromancers she was more used to. "I mean, I can relax but if I go too deep I can't focus on my magic, and if I wake up enough to focus on the magic, I'm not meditating."

"I know it's difficult," Helena replied, "but it may be another way to follow your magic. And it's a break from talking about the past."

Valkyrie grunted.

"Let's try again." Helena closed her eyes.

Valkyrie breathed deeply and settled back, clearing her mind as much as she could and focusing on her breathing. She listened as Helena told her to feel her body and how it moved, instructed her to release the tension in each little muscle starting with her toes and working up to her head. She was told to feel how only her brain was left, pulsing and working, and Helena's voice was distant as she told Valkyrie to let as much of it go as she could. Valkyrie did that, powerless except to obey Helena. Helena told her to feel her magic, the energy it flicked through her nerves, and to release that.