“I really like Stephanie,” Fletcher said softly.

“I know,” said Valkyrie. “And if that’s what it is, then I have no problem with it. But she deserves your honesty. So are you sure you like her because of her, or do you like her because of me?”

Stephanie reached out, her hand passing through the bubble, her fingers curling, digging into the floor, dragging herself after them. All they had to do was look round. All they had to do was see her hand.

Fletcher took a deep breath. “No,” he said. “I’m not sure.”

Strong fingers closed round her ankle and Darquesse hauled Stephanie away from the edge of the bubble. She sobbed in pain and desperation as she was flipped on to her back, and Darquesse knelt over her, those hands round her throat, squeezing. The face she wore, Obloquy’s, grinned down at her with a bloody mouth.

Stephanie scraped at those hands, dug her fingernails in, tried to claw at that face, tried to bend one of those fingers back, tried to do something, anything, to stay alive, to keep going, to see her family again, her mum and her dad and her baby sister, please Christ, she didn’t want to die, she’d worked so hard, she’d done so much and come so far and she was a person now and she loved Fletcher and she loved her family and she loved this world that was getting darker and dimmer and the sound was muting and she couldn’t hear any more or feel or touch and then it was gone and it was all black clouds of cold and then even they were gone and she

35

THE LOSS

ootsteps echoing in the empty corridors, they continued their lazy search for Stephanie until finally Valkyrie took out her phone.

Fletcher was being adorable today – he had a way of doing that, of dropping the grin and swaggering demeanour and allowing glimpses of the young man underneath to shine through. She liked him when he was honest, and it was in those moments that she was reminded of why she’d fallen for him in the first place. Those feelings had long since faded, of course, but what remained was a connection that would never be forgotten. They had been each other’s firsts. That meant something. No matter what else happened, that meant something.

And as long as he didn’t break Stephanie’s heart, or as long as she didn’t break his, it always would.

Stephanie’s phone rang and rang, and just when Valkyrie was about to hang up, it was answered.

“Valkyrie.”

Valkyrie frowned. “Hey. What are you doing answering Stephanie’s phone?”

“Come down to the Accelerator Room,” Skulduggery said. “Is Fletcher with you?”

“Yes.”

“Bring him.”

He hung up.

Fletcher waited for an explanation. Instead, Valkyrie took hold of his arm. “The Accelerator Room,” she said.