“Gordon couldn’t do magic,” she called after him, “but what about you?”

He didn’t stop walking, and he didn’t answer. He just held up his left hand, and clicked his fingers. Even in the bright sunlight, Valkyrie saw the spark between his fingertips.

Chapter 36 - Confiding in Uncle Gordon

Chapter 36
Confiding in Uncle Gordon

he taxi driver peered out through the windscreen. “I know this place,” he said. “This is where that writer lived. What’s his name? Edgley.”

Valkyrie gave a murmur of affirmation from the back seat. “I read his books, you know. Some of them. He wasn’t the best, was he? I mean, he was OK. He was readable. He was no Stephen King, but he was fine. Didn’t like the way he’d kill off his characters, though. That was never nice.”

“Suppose not,” Valkyrie muttered.

“He wrote those books about the army deserter, didn’t he? Corporal Fleece, getting into all those mad adventures with the ghosts of dead wizards and whatever.”

“Dead sorcerers,” she corrected automatically.

“Same thing, isn’t it? Did you read any of them? In the first book you meet him, you think he’s the brave hero. But he’s not. He’s a selfish little coward. Didn’t like that. It was funny enough, in its own way, but I didn’t like it. I like my heroes to be, you know, good guys.”

Valkyrie sat forward. “You can let me out here,” she said. “I’ll walk the rest of the way.”

She paid the man and got out, then walked up the long driveway. She missed being able to call Fletcher, have him teleport her wherever she needed to go. He could be annoying, he could be very annoying, but he always smiled when he saw her, and it was like he’d been saving up that smile all day until they were together. She liked that feeling, as much as she hated to admit it. She liked being around someone who was genuinely happy to be around her.

It wasn’t the same feeling she got when she was with Caelan. There was too much pressure there, too much expectation. He looked at her like she belonged to him, like they belonged together. He was handsome – he was so handsome – and he was smooth and dark and dangerous. But beyond that, there wasn’t much to him. Valkyrie really didn’t see that lasting. She needed someone fun, someone who could make her laugh, who could take her places she’d never been. If she didn’t have anyone like that, then what was the point of being with anyone less?