“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.”