Now that she wasn’t paying attention, he could look at her. He liked her face. She was very pretty, had a cute nose and a single dimple when she smiled. He’d always wanted a girlfriend like her – someone impressive, someone confident. He’d like to go back to school once the summer was over and have her beside him. Then everyone would stop and stare, and they’d think to themselves that there must be more to this Ryan guy after all.

But he’d never get a girlfriend like her. He knew that. Girls like Valkyrie saw him as a friend only. They went off with the good-looking guys or the cool guys or the guys who didn’t make fools of themselves at regular intervals. A girl like Valkyrie would never be impressed with someone like Ryan.

He looked away before she looked back. He didn’t want her to catch him watching.

“You’re coping pretty well, you know,” she said, facing him again. “When I first saw Skulduggery and all this stuff, I freaked. I actually blacked out.”

“You fainted?”

“No,” she said, her good humour fading. “I blacked out. There’s a difference.”

He grinned. “You fainted.”

“Shut up. You’re handling this well, that’s all I’m saying. You haven’t once asked to go home.”

His grin went away. “Why would I? You’re not that much older than me, you know.”

She frowned. “What’s that got to do with anything?”

“I’m fifteen. You’re, I don’t know, seventeen?”

“So?”

“That’s only two years’ difference,” Ryan said hotly. “We’re practically the same age and you’re treating me like I’m a child. Fine, OK? You have no interest in me. I’m used to that. But don’t stand there and talk down to me like you’re so much better than I am.”

Valkyrie looked at him and didn’t say anything. He started to feel stupid.

Then she folded her arms and tilted her hips and it only got worse. “First of all,” she said, “I’m not talking down to you or treating you like a child.”

“But you expect me to want to go home.”