Chapter 198
Four days later
Nadia's POV
"Are you sure you want to go?" Beryl asked Nadia in her sickly-sweet fake voice.
"I am," Nadia said firmly.
"Well, here's your clothes out the dryer," she answered, placing the small, folded pile on the chest of drawers. "Did your friends say anything about Stephanie?"
"No, they have no contact with her either," Nadia repeated for the millionth time. "They said thank you for having me while they were working though."
"You're always welcome dear," Beryl grinned. "You're almost family now! Let me go get Fergus to carry your bags."
"No, no, that's... fine," Nadia trailed off, but Beryl didn't listen. Alone again with Aine, Nadia sighed deeply. "Are you absolutely sure you don't want to come with me?"
"No," Aine whispered, "but I can't leave my parents alone with those people out there."
"I know. I just... I'm just feeling awful about leaving you here," Nadia said quietly, leaning against the drawers heavily. "I know it's your home and all but you don't seem happy."
"They've always been pushy," Aine said with a small smile, referring to her parents. "But they mean well. I mean, Dad's not been that bad, and I thought he'd have worked out about my, you know, involvement."
Nadia hummed. "I think he suspects. But he doesn't want to say anything to you just in case."
"Well, I'm not going to let him know. If he does, he'll bubble-wrap me and never let me out the house again."
Nadia smiled slightly, imagining her own parents would very much like to do the same before shipping her out of the country and away from the looming fight. They heard Fergus' feet coming up the stairs and stopped their conversation. Nadia thanked Valkyrie's uncle for his hospitality and for helping with her bags. There was an awkward last cup of tea where Beryl chose to start berating Aine for not making enough money at her 'job' – which was just her cover to get magic tutoring – and then there was a knock at the door.
"I'll get it!" Nadia cried, shooting out of the living room.
She threw the door open and saw Saracen and Dexter standing on the Edgley's front step, hand in hand. "Hey, Nadia," Dexter smiled, holding one arm open for her to hug him.
She launched herself at him and wrapped her arms around his torso as hard as she could. He almost stumbled, but then laughed and held her tightly, and Saracen's arms wrapped around her too from the other side. "I missed you so much," she said into his collar.
"Nah, we missed you too," Saracen chuckled, pulling away. He looked back into the house. "I'll put your bags in the car."
There were quick goodbyes, mostly centring on Aine since she was the only one they liked, and then Nadia got into the battered, sputtering, twenty-something year old car that used to be Gordon Edgley's, and they left.
"You have to tell me everything that's been happening!" Nadia demanded from the back seat next to Erskine. He was holding her hand, much to Nadia's delight. She felt practically touch-starved!
"Nothing really has happened on our end," Saracen admitted. "Tanith and Ghastly making jokes about their past relationship is the biggest change. The American's let us leave the country easily enough, we completed all our missions, only one person made reference to the god-weapon fiasco that went down in England. A criminal insinuated Laila would grow up to work at a, err, adult dancing facility and we may or may not have tortured him slightly."
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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...
