Necromancer

“You know, I’ve been thinking.”
“Have you?”
Fletcher frowned. “You know that insulting me only boosts my self-esteem.” Valkyrie grinned mischievously. “Well that means I can continue doing it”.
They walked along a particularly long and crowded corridor in Corrival Academy. Valkyrie noticed a group of girls huddled together, glancing at Fletcher one after the other and then whispering amongst themselves. Fletcher shot them a lopsided grin and they started to giggle.
“I can’t believe it,“ Valkyrie said, “you’re actually one of the cool teachers”.
Fletcher looked at her, still grinning. “They just like my hair. And my face. And my generally pretty cool and witty attitude.”
“Your hair really is as ridiculous as ever.”
“Thanks.”
There was a short silence.
“So, about the thinking business…,“ Valkyrie started.
Fletcher nodded. “Yeah, I’ve gotten pretty good at it, being a teacher and all.”
Valkyrie rolled her eyes. “Just tell me what you want to say, you’ve been giddy this whole time.” They walked onto the school yard, away from the students.
“I think you should get back into the game. You know, the whole love game,“ he drew out the word love and actually wiggled his eyebrows. Valkyrie stopped, looked at him blankly and didn’t respond.
“Uhhh.” He faltered. “Please don’t hit me?”
She continued to look at him silently.
He shrank back a little. “You know, I was just thinking, you’ve been back for some time now and I think being with Skulduggery is good and all, but sometimes you look… lonely. I know that you have him and your family and your dog, and of course me, but, you know, having someone special to whom you are also special is just different. I know she went on to try and assassinate me, but Myra actually was that for me. It felt warm and comforting and it made it easier for me to heal and come to terms with everything.” He looked at her, expectantly but also frightfully and when she still didn’t respond, he continued. “I’m not suggesting that you need someone to fix you or something, I know that’s bull, but a little help doesn’t hurt.” He stopped talking, standing a bit straighter.
Valkyrie took a moment to formulate an answer. She thought about saying something snarky, but she didn’t want to be mean to him. He only wanted to help her.
“I know that you mean well, but I’m really not in a place to date right know. I tried that, just so you know. Back in America, I tried and it… didn’t work out. There were harsh words and tears and thrown chairs.” She stopped when she saw him looking eager at her words. She almost never talked about her time in America and she was being reminded why.
“It’s not important. What’s important is that I tried, it went wrong and I don’t have the energy to do it again. I don’t even know a guy that qualifies. Finding someone new is also difficult if the whole freakin’ city hates you for killing a big part of its population.” She tried to write the last statement off with a smile but lost it halfway.
Fletcher was silent for a bit. “Oh,“ was all he said. “Okay then.”
Valkyrie put a hand on his arm. “Thanks Fletcher, I appreciate it. Maybe I’ll find someone anyway. Maybe a nice lad who can spar with me, take me to dinner and then proceed to eat me.”
Fletcher gawked at her. Valkyrie wanted to introduce her head to the next available wall.
“He is a cannibal in that scenario. I meant literally eating me. I was teasing you about Myra.” She glowered at him. “We will never talk about this again.”

No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t help but ponder about what Fletcher had said every now and then. She didn’t want to be near people, even though she couldn’t deny the fact that spending time with Skulduggery and Fletcher filled a void that had been left alone all these years, growing and festering somewhere inside her. But she still thought that she didn’t deserve these moments of happiness, of returning to the person she was before she doomed the lives of so many people. Despite all this – resisting proved to be more difficult every day. Every day she spent with someone she loved, every day she did something worthwhile just made it harder to go back into herself, into the dark place in her mind that she fled to all those years ago. She wanted to feel happy, but she couldn’t allow herself. She had to fight it every day to remind herself of the horrible things she had done. So, every happy moment was weighed down by guilt. She made sure of that. That way, she could continue to work, to meet people, but she would also never get to forget who she was. A murderer. A liar. Someone who didn’t deserve love, especially not from her sister.

When the phone rang, she had been wrestling with her own thoughts for several hours but for the first time in a long time emerging victorious. Xena perked her ears up as Valkyrie got up to answer.
Skulduggery’s smooth voice calmed her.
“Hello, Valkyrie. What are you doing?” he asked.
“Many important things,“ she answered, smiling to herself.
“I see you’re making jokes” – “hey,“ she protested, “so can I assume you’re feeling better today?“ he continued.
She hesitated for a moment, not wanting to awaken false hope. “For the time being, yeah.”
She could practically feel him nodding to himself.
“Excellent, because we have something on our hands that may require a strong sense of humor.”
“What is it?”
“An especially gruesome murder.”
She waited.
“Valkyrie?”
“I thought there may be something else you want to say.”
“What? Oh no, that was it. It is just a gruesome murder. Horrible, really” he finished.
“And what good will a strong sense of humor do then?” she asked doubtfully.
“Well, nothing for the victim, that much is clear. But sometimes humor is our only chance of dealing with terrible things.”
Valkyrie snorted. “You’re the expert there, that’s for sure.”
“Whatever are you talking about, Valkyrie, I don’t use humor to deal with terrible things. I use it because I am so unashamedly good at it. And I can’t let others miss out on that, can I?”
She sighed. “So, what are we dealing with?”

They had come across many, many dead ends in their search for Abyssinia over the last few months. But the murder of their last informant was something else. It wasn’t really a difficult case to solve – the murder was without the hint of a doubt Razzia. To cope with the scene was a bit more difficult. Chunks of flesh were missing from the victim’s body. His eyes had been eaten, the parasites had been inside his mouth, his ears and his nostrils (this was the moment in which Valkyrie wondered if they had maybe eaten his brain). It reminded her of the murder of the brother of the boy that got magic from Argeddion all these years ago. Doran? Dorian? Regardless, it was senseless slaughter. She couldn’t look at it for long and thankfully, Skulduggery had kept the whole investigation short. He deduced that either, Razzia had lost her temper with the man or it was a message for him and Valkyrie. Either option was likely, since Razzia was not the most stable person on a good day and Abyssinia certainly didn’t like the thought of Skulduggery being behind her with every step.
When the scene proved too much for Valkyrie to handle, Skulduggery asked her if she wanted to take a break for a few hours. He reasoned that he knew a lot more about Razzia anyway and joked that her insights would just be miles behind his own, but she knew what he was doing and was thankful for it. She wanted to object, but the mere thought of following the trace of that scene made her want to vomit. So, she strolled around Roarhaven’s streets, in the search for distraction. Skulduggery had told her to stay close, because he may need her eventually, but a not so small part of her hoped that she could just go home. Her good mood had dissipated along with that poor man’s life.
Eventually, she found an impressive bookstore that could very well have been a library with its winding corridors between shelves of above average height and above average density. She wandered around for a long time, stumbling upon one fascinating book after the other. After deciding on three books she would buy, she gave in to the, in her eyes a bit childish, impulse to look for her uncle Gordon’s books. Although she owned multiple copies, the manuscripts and the rights of all of them, she still felt proud of her uncle for having achieved so much. She also felt relieved that even after all her involvement in the world of sorcerers, her relation to the famous author Gordon Edgley was not public knowledge. Not because she was afraid of dropping sales – she had already inherited enough money to last her several lifetimes – but because she wouldn’t have been able to stand the thought of Gordon’s legacy being tainted by her… well, legacy. She chose one of his books at random and sat down in an extraordinarily comfortable chair, flipping through the pages, reading random bits and pieces. After a while, she was immersed in the story and only snapped out of it when she saw someone stop in front of her out of the corner of her eyes.
When she looked up, she was confronted with a red-haired woman with freckles, carrying an enormous pile of thick, leather-bound tomes. Valkyrie couldn’t really think of a better word, they were far too old and scholarly looking to merely be called books. But considering who was holding them, she wasn’t surprised.
“Hi, Militsa,“ Valkyrie greeted her with a little wave, closing Gordon’s book and putting it on the table beside her.
Militsa beamed. “Hi, Valkyrie! I hope I didn’t interrupt you, but I saw you there and you looked a bit down, to be honest, and I thought I would come cheer you up. You know, I like to cheer up sad people.” She faltered. “Well, I try to cheer them up, but I don’t think I’m really that good at it.” She stopped again. “So, what are you doing here?”
Valkyrie slowly rose from her seat, putting Gordon’s book back in the shelf while Militsa looked at her.
“I was just out for a walk around town when I found this store. It’s really nice.” She peered at the volumes that were quaking slightly in Militsa’s arms. “Do you need help with that?”
Militsa almost fell forward, pushing the books into Valkyrie’s arms. “Thank you so much, I thought my arms would just snap, you know? Sometimes I envy mortals for their ebooks; sorcerers just love their heavy leather-bound tomes.”
“Well, they do look more impressive than an ebook-reader,“ Valkyrie mused.
Militsa laughed. “Yes, they definitely do, and I am a sorcerer and therefore love my heavy leather-bound tomes. If they just weren’t so, you know, heavy.” She sighed and went to grab a few books from the stack in Valkyrie’s arms, but Valkyrie took a step back.
“I can carry them for you if you like. I’m used to lifting heavy stuff. If you could just grab the bag there with my books.” She indicated the bag with a nod of her head.
Militsa looked at her for a moment, pure relief in her eyes. “You would? Thank you so much!” She grabbed Valkyrie’s bag and turned back to her. “Are you hungry? I just wanted to fetch these and get something myself. Maybe I should have eaten before picking the up the books, but you know, I was so excited when I got the call that they were delivered, I couldn’t help myself.” She began walking towards the register but promptly stopped. “Oh no, I’m so sorry, you were reading here, I don’t want to drag you off to somewhere you don’t want to be. Sorry, I’m being so rude.” She covered her eyes with her free hand.
Valkyrie had to smile. “It’s alright, really, I’ve been hungry for a while, but I just couldn’t take my eyes off the book, even though I’ve read it countless times before.” She walked around Militsa, waiting at the register.
Militsa hurried forward, putting Valkyrie’s books on it. She hesitated and went to take the tomes from Valkyrie for the second time, but the latter took a step back once again.
“Could you take my wallet and pay for that? If I put these down, I can’t get them back into this position again, you know how it is.” She smirked apologetically.
Militsa nodded. “Of course, no problem, where is your wallet?,“ she asked while the cashier scanned the books.
“In my front pocket.”
“In your trousers?”
“Yeah.”
Militsa hesitated for a moment before fishing the wallet out. Valkyrie thought Militsa had blushed, but she turned away too fast for her to be sure.

They took a tram to a nearby restaurant, chatting about this and that, the heavy tomes carefully placed on an empty seat, Militsa’s resting her hand on top of them like a mother on her baby’s head.
The tram stopped and Valkyrie again carried the tomes, Militsa trailing behind her with Valkyrie’s bag. When they stepped into the restaurant, conversations came to a stop and heads turned in their direction. In Valkyrie’s direction. She looked at the floor and tried to disappear behind the tomes. She felt bad for Militsa, who was now probably getting glares as well, just for being there with her.
But as she glanced at her, Militsa seemed to be unperturbed. She smiled at a waiter as they passed him, striding towards a seat in the far corner of the room. She seated herself facing the other customers, leaving Valkyrie to sit with their back to them. A wave of gratitude for Militsa washed over her and she sighed when she put the tomes on another empty chair and seated herself.
“Thank you,“ she muttered to Militsa. Militsa just smiled.

They ordered, thankfully without getting snide remarks or glares from the waiter. They continued their chat from the tram, when Militsa changed the subject.
“I saw that you were reading a Gordon Edgley book.” Valkyrie nodded. Militsa continued. “Did you know that he accidentally delivered proof to a theory regarding the seven principles of Ergokinesis as postulated by Gernod Morg? I mean, he didn’t directly prove it, but his stories are almost always based on real people, and Morg tracked the person on which the Energy thrower in the book was based down and could consequently prove it himself.” She gave a soft sigh of admiration. “I wish Mr. Edgley would have been alive to hear that. I heard he was quite fond of magical theory.”
Valkyrie sipped at her water before speaking, contemplating what she was about to say.
“He did know it.” Militsa looked at her, surprised.
“That can’t be, Mr. Edgley died twelve years ago and the discovery was only made six years after his death. And how would you know, anyway?”
“He told me.” Militsa raised her eyebrows. “You see, and please don’t tell anyone this, he was my uncle.” A surprised “oh” escaped Militsa. “And although he technically did die twelve years ago, he had imprinted his memories onto an echo stone and so I could tell him when I heard about it.”
Militsa looked startled. “Really?” she asked. “Why hasn’t he ever resurfaced? The magical community would have surely embraced him despite his state of being. Where is he now?”
“Dead.” Militsa’s face fell. “But really dead. Darquesse possessed his echo stone and wiped it clean.” Valkyrie couldn’t keep the bitterness out of her voice.
Militsa put a hand on hers. “I’m so sorry, that must have been just… awful. I can’t imagine losing someone twice.”
Valkyrie smiled a bitter smile. “Just another thing that she has destroyed.”
There was a short silence. Valkyrie knew those well enough by now. When the other person just doesn’t know what to say. But to her surprise, Militsa spoke up shortly after.
“She didn’t destroy you,“ she said softly and looked into Valkyrie’s eyes with determination, as if to dare Valkyrie to object. Valkyrie looked away.
“Didn’t she?” she murmured.
Militsa squeezed Valkyrie’s hand, prompting her to look into her eyes again. “You’re sitting here, are you not? You are still here, she isn’t.”
“There are other ways of destroying someone.” Valkyrie told her.
Militsa chuckled. Valkyrie stared.
“What’s funny? Did I miss something?”
Militsa continued to giggle, even when speaking. “You just quoted Harry Potter.”
Valkyrie still stared. “What?”
Militsa stopped giggling and just smiled. “You just quoted Harry Potter. You know, when Tom Riddle asks Dumbledore if he doesn’t want to kill him, in his office, and Dumbledore says ‘we both know there are other ways to destroy a man, Tom’. I think it’s quite fitting actually, seeing as Harry did also have a dark side that he overcame with the power of friends and love. Same as you did.”
Valkyrie couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity of the whole thing.
“You didn’t just seriously tell me that I’m like Harry Potter, did you? And why do you even know that quote by heart?”
“Valkyrie, I am a teacher at the real life equivalent of Hogwarts, did you expect me to not know Harry Potter?” She started laughing, too, and both laughed together until the glares of the people weren’t because of Darquesse anymore.
When they had calmed down and their food was served, they settled into a comfortable silence. Valkyrie was surprised at how easy it was to talk to Militsa. She wanted more, so she spoke up.
“So, what about Corrival Academy is like Hogwarts? Do you have a Dumbledore?”
Militsa laughed. “No, unfortunately not. But we do have some things that are better than at Hogwarts. We teach our students ordinary subjects alongside those concerning magic. We may want to keep the mortals in the dark as to our existence, but I think it is distinctly easier to do so if we study the same things and live like they do. Blending in is easier if you understand them and understanding them also means less hate. That is something that we try to facilitate at Corrival.”
“That sounds so nice. I wish I could have gone to a magic school. Although I probably would have skipped it for adventures with Skulduggery like I did with my mortal one. I guess I’m just not school material.” Valkyrie grinned, thinking back to the beginning of her time with Skulduggery.
“So, if you don’t have a Dumbledore, do you at least have a Harry?”
They looked at each other.
“Auger,“ they said together and laughed.
“And does Auger have a Malfoy counterpart?”
Militsa thought about it for a moment.
“I don’t know, I don’t think Auger is disliked by anyone really. Although Jenan Ispolin did have a bit of a racist tendency against Necromancers, as Arabella told me…”
“Who?”
“Oh sorry, Miss Wicked, one of the teachers. He apparently boasted about how his father had exiled all Necromancers from Bulgaria. He must have been such an angry young man, absorbing all this hate from his father.” Now it was Militsa’s turn to smile bitterly. “I wish I talked to him more. And not just him. I wished I paid more attention to all of the students in Arcanum's Scholars. But it was Parthenios’ club and you just trust other teachers to keep an eye on the students. Nonetheless I should have figured out that something was wrong. I am a student counselor, for goodness’ sake. I should have…,“ she broke off when Valkyrie interrupted her.
“Stop. Stop blaming yourself, that won’t make it better, trust me. And at any rate, you wouldn’t be the one to blame. If Jenan was so indoctrinated by his father and the others looked up to him as their leader, there really wasn’t anything anyone could have done, especially with Abyssinia whispering in their ears and a teacher to egg them on. Not only can you not control what somebody believes, you can’t take responsibility for their actions when you have no control over them.” Valkyrie’s voice was strong, because she had a surprisingly strong aversion to seeing Militsa blame herself.
Militsa had listened with an unreadable expression, which now turned slightly angry. There was an edge to her voice when she spoke.
“So, you can blame yourself for what happened on Devastation day, but I can’t blame myself for what happened with students that were under my care?”
Valkyrie went cold inside. “That is different.” She averted her gaze.
“No, it isn’t,“ Militsa shot back. “Not really. If I had said those exact words to you, would you have listened? Just… believed me?” She sighed deeply. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to attack you, but it isn’t different to me. Teaching is what I do, I am a teacher at heart, and I can’t help but feel like I failed them. I knew that they spouted some anti-mortal things now and again, but we thought it was just them trying to be cool and show off. And the staff also knew that Parthenios didn’t bother holding his tongue most of the time. We never suspected anything like this, though.” She paused and took a sip of water. Valkyrie felt a pang inside her and placed the hand that Militsa had taken previously onto hers now. Militsa smiled at her, albeit still somewhat sadly.
“It just made me reconsider my view on our role in the students’ lives. We are the ones whose duty it is to guide them and to teach them, not only magic and school subjects, but also compassion and values.” She interrupted Valkyrie, who had just opened her mouth to speak. “I know that some of them are influenced at home or by friends or whoever else. But it is still our job to protect our students, and we failed miserably.”
There was a long silence. Neither of them really knew how to continue the conversation, but Valkyrie gave in eventually.
“You know, over everything that has happened to me, I sometimes forget that bad things happen all the time. Sometimes they’re our fault and sometimes they’re not, but we have to deal with them one way or the other. I think it’s admirable that you try to learn from it and better yourself and the system.” She paused and gave Militsa an honest smile. “I could really try to be more like you.”
Militsa smiled back and for the second time today, Valkyrie wondered if she imagined a blush building in Militsa’s cheeks.

When they had finished eating, Valkyrie insisted on paying for the meal and had to cut the argument that had ensued short by practically shoving the money into the waiter’s hands and dismissing him with a look. Militsa laughed and shook her head and when they were outside, Valkyrie remembered something.
“Oh no, I never payed you back, did I?”
Militsa looked puzzled. “But you just paid for our food.”
“No, no, I mean the time you paid for Omen’s taxi a few weeks ago. I told him I’d reimburse you, but I didn’t. I’m so sorry.”
Militsa laughed again. “Oh that, I had forgotten about that. Like I said, you just paid for my lunch, so everything’s all right. You wouldn’t have had to pay me back anyway.”
Valkyrie frowned. “But can’t you, like, put it down as a school thing and get your money back from Corrival?”
“I don’t think there is a form for that. And they certainly wouldn’t accept the reason student had to go save the world but couldn’t drive himself.”
“Really? You’d think with Auger around, there would be forms for exactly that occurrence.”
Militsa chuckled. “You’d think, yeah.”
Valkyrie frowned again. “But I insist on paying you back. You just told me you want to protect students and despite that you were forced to put Omen in harm’s way. I want to make it up to you.”
Militsa looked at her for a while, then suddenly grinned. “Okay, if you really want to make it up to me, you can come back to Corrival with me and carry those tomes to my office.” She faltered. “No, I’m sorry, I can’t ask that, that was stupid, you’re not my…”
“I’d be delighted,“ interrupted Valkyrie and gave Militsa a mock-stern look. “No arguments.”

They arrived at Militsa’s office, Valkyrie’s arms threatening to give up after the tedious parkour through the halls of the school. When she could finally put the books down, she sighed audibly.
“My, you really are strong. I like that.”
Valkyrie almost blushed. She grinned at Militsa. “I lift a lot of weights. But if you continue buying tomes like these without me around, you’ll be as strong as me in no time.”
Militsa returned a grin, but hers was mischievous. “I have better make sure that you are around then, haven’t I?”
They grinned at each other for a moment, and then Militsa’s expression softened.
“Thank you, Valkyrie. I really enjoyed the afternoon and I’m glad I got to talk to somebody.”
Valkyrie shook her head. “No, thank you. Before I met you, my day was really not going so great.”
Militsa hugged her suddenly.
“We make a good team, don’t you think?” she asked into Valkyrie’s ear.
Valkyrie squeezed her a bit. “Yeah, we do.”

Skulduggery picked her up at the High Sanctuary.
She could feel his metaphorical eyes on her when she slid into the Bentley’s passenger seat.
“You look better. Did you have a nice afternoon?”
Valkyrie hesitated a second, then she broke out into one of the most genuine smiles she had smiled in a long time.
“Yes. I really, really did.”