“Yeah,” she said. “Tell you what – I’ll forgive me when you forgive you. Deal?”

“Deal.”

She sat on the bed, pulled on her boots. “Seriously, where is all this new-found optimism coming from?”

He shrugged again. “Even a pessimist can feel optimistic about certain things. I think that emerging from Smoke’s influence has allowed me a little perspective. After you left for America, I took a wrong turn somewhere along the way. I let my priorities slip. Things happened. Mistakes were made.”

“And now that I’m back?”

“You’re back and so am I. Back to my old self. The person I like to be.”

“Good,” said Valkyrie, standing. “I’m quite fond of him, too, just so you know. You can turn round now.”

He did so, and tilted his head as she slipped on her jacket. “You look good,” he said.

She glanced at herself in the mirror. The black clung to her. “Yeah,” she said.

“And you are back, aren’t you?” he asked. “No more thoughts of leaving again?”

“Where would I go? Everything and everyone I care about is here. But … Skulduggery, you’ve got to understand that I’m not … I’m not the same person I was. There are times when I don’t even recognise who I used to be. Then there are times when I glimpse her, you know? When I manage to forget everything that’s happened and I just go back to being … normal.”

“You were never normal.”

She smiled. “Normal for me.”

“Most people in the world walk nice, sunlit paths,” Skulduggery said, “and when they look down they see their shadows clinging to their feet – attached but apart. Their shadows are not them. But you and I walk a different path. Our shadows are within us. We can’t ignore them or forget them. They’re a part of who we are, and they are vital to our survival.

“You may not like the darkness inside you, but it allows you to do things other people can’t, or won’t. And all those others – the good, the bad, the ordinary – they need people like us to protect them.”

“And what about when we’re the ones endangering them?”

“We’ll just have to help each other find our way back to the light.”

“I like that,” she said, and walked over to him. Xena was still on her back, her paws in the air. Valkyrie put her hands on Skulduggery’s chest. “Your tie’s crooked,” she said, adjusting it. “I can’t have you looking dishevelled when you’re out with me. I have a pretty terrible reputation to protect.”

“We’re going out, are we?”

“Of course,” she said. “We have mysteries to solve, and adventures to undertake, and I need my partner looking dapper by my side.”

“Are we taking the dog?”