at last.
“Sorry?”
“The message on your phone. Was it a lead?”
“Yes. An address I’ve been waiting for.”
Militsa smiled. “See? Look at you, doing the detective stuff. You can’t tell me you don’t enjoy it.”
“I enjoy it a lot more when I have Skulduggery with me. There’s a very small group of people I like to spend time with, so I’m not looking forward to this next part at all. I don’t even know if I’ll be able to trust the Teleporter China sends me.”
“Then use another.”
“There aren’t really any others, apart from Fletcher. I know one of his students can teleport, but we’ve already put one Corrival pupil in danger, and I don’t want to do it again.”
Militsa’s friendly demeanour suddenly cooled. “I’m sorry?”
“Uh …”
Militsa turned in the seat to face her. “You put a Corrival Academy student in danger? Which one?”
“I, uh … I really shouldn’t say …”
“Auger Darkly?”
“No,” Valkyrie said, drawing the word out.
Militsa’s eyes widened. “Omen?”
Valkyrie winced. “How did you know?”
“Omen’s an easily distracted boy, but for the last few days he’s not even been on the same planet as the rest of us. How much danger was he in?”
“Uh …”
“Oh, Valkyrie,” Militsa said, wilting back into her seat. “You may have been able to handle a life of adventure at that age, but—”
“I know.”
“Omen’s a good boy. He’s a gentle boy. And why go for him, why not his brother? I shouldn’t be recommending any student for this kind of thing, but Auger is the Chosen One, after all. He’s used to it.”
“Auger was too well known. We needed someone to blend into the background. In our defence, and I accept that we don’t have much of a defence, we honestly didn’t think it would get dangerous.”
“How dangerous did it get?”
Valkyrie hesitated. “Pretty.”
“And what’s that, on a scale of one to ten?”
“Like … two.”
“Oh. OK. Well, that’s not that bad.”
“If ten is no danger at all and one is all the danger.”
Militsa’s hands went to her face. “Oh, Valkyrie … Omen’s a kid.”
“I know. If I could go back, I wouldn’t do it. We had no right to involve him. It was a hideous, horrible thing to do, but we did it anyway because we needed it done. That’s not an excuse, that’s just a fact. But as awful as I feel about it, as much of a mistake as I think it was … Omen saved a life.”
Militsa looked up. “He did?”
“A friend of ours. Well, a friend of Skulduggery’s. Omen went into the enemy stronghold, found him and freed him.”
“Omen Darkly did that?”
Valkyrie nodded. “It’s the kind of thing that I did at his age. I think he’d surprise you. He sure as hell surprised me.”
A smile was born, and grew across Militsa’s face. “Well now, I guess it runs in the family. But that’s it, isn’t it? His involvement is now over?”
“That’s what Skulduggery told him.”
“Good.”
“And Omen ignored it, which is something else I would have done at his age. He wants to be a part of this, Militsa. I don’t agree with it – or at least I didn’t. But am I really that hypocritical? I was doing this stuff when I was younger than him. When I was his age, I was fighting fully grown men. Yeah, I got my ass kicked. I got hurt. It was terrifying and dangerous and stupid … but I did it. I handled it.”
“Omen isn’t like you.”
“He could be. Any kid could be. Who are we to say who would or would not rise to the challenge?”
“Valkyrie, I’m an educator. My job is to prepare these kids for life after school. My job is to keep them safe.”
“Life after school isn’t always safe, not for sorcerers. Keeping them protected from danger, not exposing them to the threats they’ll have to face eventually … isn’t that irresponsible?”
“No,” Militsa said. “That’s reasonable.”
“But wouldn’t you have loved it when you were fourteen?”
“That’s … that’s not the point. If the basis for all decision-making is what you would have liked to happen when you were a teenager, we’d be living in a pretty hedonistic world right now.”
“And what a happier place that would be.”
“You’re not going to convince me, Valkyrie. Kids shouldn’t be wrapped in cotton wool, but neither should they be dangled over the jaws of danger.”
“But you’re OK about Auger Darkly getting into danger all on his own?”
“Auger is … different. His family trained him from birth. He was brought up to do this kind of thing.”
“Omen was there, too. He trained beside his brother, didn’t he? Just because he hasn’t had a chance to show it yet doesn’t mean he hasn’t got what it takes.”
“I think you’re probably biased.”
“Maybe,” Valkyrie said. “But I am who I am today because of doing stupid things in my teenage years.”
“And how’s that working out for you?”
Stunned, Valkyrie turned away.
“Oh, no,” Militsa said. “No, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean that. I didn’t mean it like that, Valkyrie, I’m so sorry.”
“It’s OK.”
“It’s really not.” Militsa grabbed Valkyrie’s hand in both of hers. “Please, I didn’t mean it. It’s just something I blurted out without thinking. It was meant to be smart and arch and it was just … it was cruel.”
“It’s fine,” said Valkyrie. “And you’re right.”
“No, I’m not.”
“I’m not exactly a well-adjusted adult, Militsa. I can’t focus. I can barely use my magic. I don’t even know what my magic is any more. And I’m scared. All the time, I’m scared.”
“But you’re a good person, doing good things.”
“Debatable.”
“You’re a hero, Valkyrie. You were a hero to me when I was a kid, hearing about all those things you were doing. You can’t imagine how much that meant to me, to know that there was someone my age out there, making the kind of difference you were making.”
“It left scars.”
“Everything leaves scars. You just can’t see most of them. I’m really sorry I said what I said. Can you forgive me?”
“Of course.”
“Thank you. And maybe … maybe you have a unique perspective because of everything you’ve been through. When it comes to Omen and what he can handle, maybe you know best.”
“He only wants to be involved. I think it’s the least I can do.”