Stephanie shrugged. “Ah, you probably saved mine, too. That was a nice little flip you caught her with.”

“Saw that, eh? Yeah, it wasn’t bad. I’m really starting to miss my magic, though.”

Stephanie grinned. “I started to seriously regret not having the Sceptre with me.”

Valkyrie laughed. “I bet. The moment you put it down, bam – here’s Tanith!”

“Typical,” Stephanie said, drying her face with a towel. “There. Black eye averted, I reckon. Hopefully, that’s the last time I’ll ever have to do that.”

“Are you really going to quit?” Valkyrie asked as they walked back to the bedroom.

“Of course,” said Stephanie. “You sound surprised.”

“Well, yeah. I don’t know how you could leave it all behind. I mean, you’re me, essentially.”

Stephanie glanced at her as she got ready for bed. “What are you talking about? I’m not you. I just pretended to be you. The moment I became aware, really aware, was the moment I stopped being you and I started being me. I’ve got no interest in risking my life to save people I’ve never met. I would kill and die for my family and the people I love, but everyone else can take care of themselves, as far as I’m concerned.”

“So you won’t miss being Skulduggery’s partner?”

“Not one bit,” said Stephanie. “But that’s mainly because he was never that comfortable around me. There were times when he was fine, when he was like how he is with you. And then it was as if a switch were flicked, and he remembered who I really was. I’m not going to miss that at all.”

“And you’re not going to miss the adventure, or the excitement …?”

“Maybe a little,” said Stephanie. “At first, anyway. But I’m looking forward to being normal again. It sounds dumb, but being normal is what I find exciting.”

“Yeah,” said Valkyrie. “That does sound dumb.”

They laughed.

“I want to say goodbye tomorrow, though,” said Stephanie. “You know, to Skulduggery and China and, like …”

“Fletcher?”

“Well … I don’t know if I’d have to say goodbye to …”

“What exactly is, uh, going on between you two?”

“I don’t know,” said Stephanie. “I don’t know how he feels about, like, the whole thing, or what he’ll do when I tell him I’m quitting …”

“But you like him?”

“Well … yeah.”

“And he likes you?”

“I think so.”

“And you’re going to want to continue … seeing him?”

“Maybe,” said Stephanie. “Yes. If he wants to, I mean. I don’t know how he’ll react to me being normal.”

“And how are we going to do this?” Valkyrie asked. “You and me and my … you and me and our family?”