Playing with Fire (Skulduggery Pleasant, Book 2) (23 page)

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"Fine," she growled. "A dress."

"I'm sure you'll look lovely," Skulduggery said as he left the room.

She called after him. "If anyone starts a sing-along at this thing, the world can fend for itself, all right?"

She heard his voice as he walked down the stairs. "That's fair."

Her eyes narrowed. The reflection's memories had mixed with her own, sidled into position like they always did, but there was something else now. A feeling.

She shook her head. The reflection was incapable of feelings. It was a receptacle, a thing that absorbed experiences, ready to be downloaded. There were never any feelings, any emotions. Valkyrie wasn't even sure if this new thing
was
an emotion. It hovered in her mind just beyond her reach. Whenever she focused on it, it scattered.

No, it wasn't an emotion, but it
was
something. Something she couldn't pin down. A black spot in her memory. Her reflection had hidden something from her.

This,
Valkyrie said to herself,
is probably not a good sign.

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There were more here than she had expected.

They filled the function room almost to capacity: people talking and laughing and shaking hands and hugging. Aunts and uncles and cousins of every degree, adding to the cacophony of chatter that came at Valkyrie like a wall of sound, slamming into her the moment she opened the door.

Most of these people she didn't know-- she'd never seen them before, and would never see them again. It didn't exactly fill her with regret. She doubted she was missing out on anything spectacular.

Her dress looked nice, she had to admit. It was black, and pretty, but she couldn't get comfortable. If Dusk
did
fall into the trap and try to attack, she'd regret not wearing trousers and boots, she knew she would.

"Stephanie?"

She turned. The man was in his forties. His comb-over was neither subtle nor successful.

"It is Stephanie, isn't it? Desmond's daughter?"

Valkyrie drew a smile onto her face. "Yep," she said. "It's me."

"Ah! Wonderful!" the man said, grabbing her

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into a hug that lasted two uncomfortable seconds. He released her and stepped back. The sudden movement had dislodged his comb-over. Valkyrie thought it polite not to mention it.

"Last time I saw you, you were knee-high to a grasshopper! You must have been, I don't know, four? You were tiny! Now look at you! You're beautiful! I can't get over how much you've grown!"

"Yeah, nine years'll do that."

"Bet you don't remember me," he said, wagging his finger for some unknown reason.

"You're right," she said.

"Go on, have a guess."

"I have no idea."

"Go on, rack your brains, try to remember!"

"I don't know," she said, speaking slowly and taking extra care with the words, in case he missed her meaning.

"I'll give you a clue," he said, missing her meaning entirely. "Your grandfather and my father were brothers."

"You're my dad's cousin."

"Yes!" he said-- almost cheered, in fact. "Now do you remember?"

She looked at him and thought how amazing it

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was that he, like most of the people here, was the direct descendant of a race of supermagical Ancients, and yet it looked like he would have difficulty crossing the street without assistance.

"I have to go," she said, motioning over his left shoulder. He turned to look, and she moved off to his right.

She checked the time on her phone and found herself hoping that she'd get attacked by a pack of vampires sooner rather than later. This was a cruel and unusual ordeal she was going through, and if this turned out to be her last night alive, well then, that just wasn't fair. She nodded to people she vaguely recognized, but walked right by before they had a chance to tell her how small she once was.

And then the Toxic Twins were blocking her way. Crystal's bottle-blond hair was so straight it looked like it'd been ironed, and Carol's hair was hanging in ringlets that looked like a pack of worms trying to squirm to freedom.

"Thought you'd be here," Crystal said with much disgust.

"The
family
part of
family reunion
gave it away, huh?"

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"Glad to see you didn't spend too long getting dressed up," Carol said, and they both sniggered.

"Why are you even here?" Crystal asked. "It's not like we have any other rich uncles for you to suck up to before they kick the bucket."

"Oh good, it's nice to know that you're finally over that."

The twins stepped in close and tried their best to loom over her. Not an easy task when they were both two inches shorter.

"You cheated us out of our rightful inheritance," Carol said, her lips curling unattractively. "That house Gordon left you should have been ours. Your parents had already been left the villa in France--
we
should have got the house."

"That would have been fair," Crystal snarled. "But he left it to
you.
You got everything. Do you expect us to just forget that?"

"Look at you," Carol said, flicking Valkyrie's shoulder with a finger. "You're a child, for God's sake. What do you need a house for? We're sixteen; do you know what we could do if we had that house? The parties we would have? Do you know how cool we'd be?"

"Do you even know how much that place is

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worth? We'd sell it and we'd be rich!"

"But we didn't get it, did we? You got it, because you sucked up and you pretended to be the perfect little niece, and now you think you're so great."

"You're not great, you stupid little kid. You don't know anything, no one likes you, and look at you, you're not even that pretty!"

Valkyrie looked at them both. "You know," she said, "I'm trying to remember if there was ever a time when the rotten things you said affected me. I'm trying to remember if your amateur bullying ever actually worked, and you know what? I don't think it did."

Carol tried to laugh scornfully.

"Do you know why? Because I really, and truly, do not care. I don't have any feelings toward you at all, good or bad. To me, you're simply ...
not there.
You know?"

They glared at her, and Valkyrie smiled graciously. "Have a great night, okay?"

And she left them there.

She moved through the crowd as best she could, squeezing between tables and avoiding throngs wherever possible. She saw her mother

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and managed to get to her without someone trying to hug her.

"Steph," her mother said, smiling brightly. "You're here! Finally! How was last night?"

"It was good," Valkyrie lied. "Me and Hannah, you know, just stayed up chatting. Gossiping about, like, boys, and stuff." She faltered, suddenly realizing she had no idea what girls her own age talked about.

"And you wore the dress," her mother said. "It looks lovely."

"Lovely won't do me much good if there's a riot."

Her mother looked at her. "You are so odd sometimes. So when did you get here?"

"A few minutes ago. Where's Dad?"

"Oh, he's around here somewhere. You know what Edgleys are like. Any excuse to talk about themselves and they grab it with both hands. Having fun?"

Valkyrie shrugged. "Ah, it's okay. Don't know many people. What about you? Are you having a good time?"

Her mother laughed and leaned in close. "Get me out of here," she said with a brilliant smile.

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Valkyrie blinked. "I'm sorry?"

Her mother nodded like she was agreeing enthusiastically. "I can't stay here one minute longer. I'm going to explode."

"You want to leave?"

Her mother waved to someone and looked at Valkyrie and kept the brilliant smile. "More than anything in the world. You see that lady over there?"

"The one with the strange-shaped head?"

"She'll talk about her dogs. All night. She has three. They're all small. What is it with small dogs? What's wrong with big dogs? I like big dogs."

"Are we getting a dog?"

"What? No. My point is, we should make up an excuse and leave early."

With Dusk and his Infected minions out there? Not bloody likely.

"We're here for Dad," Valkyrie said. "We've got to stay here and support him. He'd stay for
your
family reunion."

"I suppose. ..."

"It's only one night, Mum. After tonight you'll never have to see them again."

"I thought you'd be the first one bolting for the door."

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Valkyrie shrugged. "I don't know. Sometimes I think I don't spend enough time with you guys."

Her mother looked at her and her tone softened. "You're just growing up. I mean, yes, it would be fantastic if we could spend time together like we used to, but you need your space and your privacy. I understand that, love. Really."

"Do you miss the way it used to be?"

"I'd be lying if I said no. But I'll take what I can get. You spend a lot of time in your room and that's, you know, that's fine. You're distant sometimes, but that's fine too."

Valkyrie couldn't meet her eyes. "I don't mean to be distant," she said.

Her mother wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "I know you don't. And you're not
always
distant. At times like these, it's like nothing has changed. You're the same old Steph."

"But other times . . . I'm not, right?"

"Maybe, but I still love you no matter what. And your dad and me, we're just thankful that you're keeping safe. Other kids your age, they're out there, getting into trouble, getting hurt, doing God knows what. At least
we
know where you are."

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"In my room," Valkyrie said, trying a smile.

She thought of the reflection, sitting on the couch while her dad told a bad joke, or standing in the kitchen while her mother told it about her day. It made her feel rotten inside, all twisty, so she stopped.

After all, she had other things to be worrying about tonight.

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Chapter Thirty-two

SHADOW SHARDS

C
hina walkedquickly through the underground parking lot, her bodyguards on either side. It was quiet here, and vast, and their footsteps echoed loudly.

One of her bodyguards, a man named Sev, stopped suddenly and looked back the way they had come. His eyes narrowed. "Something's wrong."

His associate, a petite woman called Zephyr, took a gun from beneath her jacket.

"Miss Sorrows," she said softly, "please get behind me."

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China did as she asked. The bodyguards were training their guns on a seemingly empty part of the parking lot. As far as China could see, there was absolutely nothing there that could pose any threat-- but that was why she had hired them. They were good. They were the best.

Baron Vengeous stepped into the light. The armor looked to be part of him. Small trails of shadows danced at the seams, like they were still getting used to their new host. Vengeous wasn't wearing the helmet, and his smile was cold. His cutlass hung from his waist.

Sev and Zephyr moved as one. The years they had spent fighting alongside each other had honed their skills, and when they were together, there was no one who could stand in their way.

Until tonight.

Zephyr went to fire, but a shadow rose up. It struck her in the chest and she flew backward, the breath rushing out of her.

Sev got a shot off, and then the darkness sliced through him and he stiffened, and fell. He was dead before he hit the hard ground.

Vengeous looked at China.
"I said
I'd be back for you. But tell me, before I have to hurt you, have

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you reconsidered your position?"

China's shoulders straightened and her voice became light, and she was suddenly as self-assured as always.

"You mean, have I decided to come back into the fold?" she said. "I'm afraid not. My reasons are both complex and varied, but can actually be reduced to something quite simple. I realized that you were all insane and highly irritating. You, in particular, annoyed me."

"You are a brave woman to be taunting me."

"I'm not taunting you, sweetie. I'm just really bored of this conversation."

The shadows moved at Vengeous's command, and China twisted out of the way, the shadows skimming past and slashing into the car behind her.

Her laugh was birdsong. "If you want my advice, give it up. Lay down that ridiculous armor, put that Grotesquery thing out of its misery, and walk back into that nice little cell they're keeping for you."

"I'm disappointed in you, China. The Faceless Ones are about to return, and you could have been by their side."

Zephyr held out her hand, and her gun flew