Skulduggery Pleasant: HELP

Chapter 5: To Confess or not to Confess...

Tanith almost jumped for joy, she was so happy. “Really??” she asked hoping for confirmation.

“Yes, I think so,” Valkyrie answered looking at the floor, “Do you think I’m stupid for liking him though? I mean, he is a 400 year old skeleton.”

“So? Who cares?”

“Everyone! They’ll think I’m weird or something.”

“No they won’t, one: you don’t know that and two: you don’t know everyone so why could it matter?”

“Why are you being so encouraging for this?”

“Honey, everyone can see that you two are meant for each other. You guys are just so blind, you couldn’t see it. Where is Skulduggery by the way?”

"At Ghastly’s shop talking to Ghastly about Vile probably.”

“Oh I don’t think so!”

“Tanith!”

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Skulduggery was sitting in his chair, his head in his hands. Ghastly was smiling gleefully at him. “I knew it!” he exclaimed.

“Ghastly...!” Skulduggery groaned.

“Come on man, everybody knows that you have a thing for her, and that she’s in love with you too,” he added.

“She’s what?!” Skulduggery’s head snapped up to look at Ghastly.

“Yeah, haven’t you noticed? So she’s at Tanith’s right now? I think I’ll give them call!” Ghastly picked up his phone against Skulduggery’s protests. As he paused to dial the number it danced in his hand suddenly ringing. “Oh would you look at that? It’s Tanith!” he answered loving Skulduggery’s moans as he protested.

“Ghastly, you shouldn’t... please don’t!” cried Skulduggery his hands covering his face. But it was too late.

“Hey baby girl,” Ghastly purred into the phone just to annoy Skulduggery.

“Hey my big boy,” Tanith purred back. “You got Skulduggery there?”

“Yes I do as a matter of fact, he’s right here,” Ghastly answered grinning at Skulduggery, putting the phone on speaker so he could hear too. “Have you got Valkyrie?”

“Oh yes,” she replied. “But she didn’t want me to call,” she pouted, “So I’m literally holding her against the wall,” she laughed.

“WHAT?” Skulduggery snapped his head up.

“Oh Skul, I’m just joking... actually I’m not!”

“Tanith!!” Valkyrie cried. Ghastly and Skulduggery could hear her thrashing around.

“Tanith! Why the hell are you doing this to me?! I’m so getting back at you for this!” Valkyrie threatened.

“Val, I’ll let go when you tell him,” Tanith sighed. Ghastly grinned even wider on the other end of the phone, while Skulduggery’s face just stared at him in horror.

“NO!!”

“Why, do you want me to tell him?”

“What?! NO! Tanith let me go!” Valkyrie was actually crying now.

“Val? Uh, yeah sorry,” Tanith mumbled, and Valkyrie stormed out of the house. “Uh oh,” she whispered into the phone. The boys on the other end were listening with their jaws dropped the whole time.

“Guys? I gotta go, bye,” Tanith quickly ended the conversation.

Back at Ghastly’s, Skulduggery quickly stood up, his hands on his head. Oh my gosh, she does love me, he thought to himself.

“Um Skul? Skul?” Ghastly asked as Skulduggery ran out of the house. “Tanith!” he cursed, “What have you done?!”

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Valkyrie’s P.O.V

I ran, I don’t know where, I just ran. Why would Tanith do that to me? It was almost as if the remnant was back inside of her...

My feet somehow found me back in Haggard and I wandered to the pier. It was now getting dark, around 8pm I’d say. I sat down on the edge of the pier and thought about everything that had happened. Ok, sure I was in love with Skulduggery, he might be in love with me, but why was Tanith and Ghastly forcing us to confess? What if we liked it the way it was? I mean I hate the way it is now. But what if he does? How could I tell him?

The night dragged on as my thoughts swirled around my head and at some point I lay down right there on the pier and fell asleep.

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Skulduggery’s P.O.V

I had spent most of the night pacing around the living room in my house wondering what to do about everything. I mean, shouldn’t I tell her how I really feel? At around 4am I had decided I just had to go and see her.

I flew to her house, driving in Haggard now would cause too many suspicions. I landed lightly outside her window and peered in. She wasn’t in bed or the room at all. I raced around the windows looking for her and I couldn’t find her. Anywhere. Oh crap. My thoughts rushed around my head as I contemplated where she could be. I suddenly knew where she was, the one place we always meet... the pier.

I ran to the pier, the night had turned foggy and it was getting harder to see, even for me. When I was about 50 metres from the pier, I could make out a tall black shape in the cloud. “Valkyrie!” I screamed, hoping she would hear me. As I got closer the black shadow turned towards and I saw her face. She looked at me in horror, and ran away into the night. What? Why? I ran to wear she was standing and spotted a hastily written note. It read:

Skul,

I’m sorry; I need to get out of here for a while. Please don’t worry; I’ll be back as soon as I can.

Val.

So that was it. I didn’t even get a chance to tell her how much she means to me. Will I ever now?