tooprettytodie | Home Plot 6 - 1, 2, 3

Valkyrie had gotten used to the sounds of the jungle during her time on Tabula Rasa. She had already been accustomed to the sounds of the beach from home, but jungle sounds were a lot different from city sounds. For some reason, the absence of them startled her awake more than any other shift in her environment did.

The room she was in was bigger than her hut, she could sense that right off. Even if it was so dark she could still barely see out, the room felt big. She tried to control her breathing and act like she was still asleep, straining to see if there were any sounds that would give away where she was. There was nothing though, other than the generic sounds of a large building.

Sitting up, she ran her fingers through her hair, pushing it out of her face as she tried to get a gauge on her surroundings. As soon as her eyes adjusted to the dark, she thought someone was playing some sort of trick on her.

She was back in her Uncle Gordon's home (although legally it was her home), back in Ireland. She'd had this dream before, although never quite so realistic as this. Did that pinching thing really work? Valkyrie pinched herself and sure enough it hurt. So, she was not, not asleep? Or something, that really had confirmed nothing.

There was one way to tell if she wasn't on the island though. She was almost afraid to try it, afraid that it wouldn't work and what that would mean. Holding out her hand, Valkyrie clicked her fingers.

And flame leaped to the tips.

"Yes!" Valkyrie shouted, laughing almost hysterically. It worked, her magic worked. She was home.

"I'm home! I'm really home! Skulduggery! Uncle Gordon! Anyone here? I'm home!"

She knew the chances of anyone but her and her uncle's echo, but she didn't care. She didn't care who it was from her world, she just wanted to see someone.

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I walked along the side of the room, looking at the books for any clue. There were a lot of books. The whole decor made me think this was some kind of mansion. I paused as I came to the door.

"There is something," I said. I looked at Bella. "I've got a friend. His name's Zell. There was a weekend where he fell asleep and went back home. And he took his girlfriend with him. And then on another weekend, they went to Polly's home." I looked up at the ceiling. There were designs there, in white metal -- was it tin? An old house, clearly. And probably large. Definitely a mansion.

I motioned at the door. "Want to explore a little?"

Bella's brow creased up, trying to remember if she'd ever heard of that kind of thing. It was oddly familiar in the way of things overheard while working at the bakery or at one of the parties? Whichever. It didn't matter. Where she was wasn't the island, and it wasn't Forks.

"I suppose we'd better, huh?" Bella got to her feet and tugged her clothes into a more comfortable position. "How much do you know about where Val comes from?"

I opened the door, and Bella and I stepped out into the corridor. No monsters or anything jumped out at us, but that didn't mean they weren't waiting. And I was unarmed. I walked forward carefully, but looking as casual as I could so as not to alarm Bella. Because Valkyrie had told me a few things about her home, and the sorts of things she'd had to fight there.

"I know she's Irish," I said, starting with the obvious. "She told me she inherited her uncle's mansion back when she was twelve. She was still living with her parents before she came to the Island, but she liked the fact that she had this big house that she could retreat to when she wanted to be alone." Yeah, maybe I was a little jealous of her. "This place could qualify as a mansion."

Bella's eyes were wide as they looked around the place, nodding as she took in the info about Val's past. When they talked, they'd focused more on the similarities of their stories and those glorious vampire days. "And then some. I've never seen anything like it."

And because they shared a vampire past, a little bubble of uneasy went up her back. "I don't suppose you're good at self-defense kind of things? I mean, she's been teaching me to fight back, but I'm not exactly the best at it yet."

Hmm. Bella was talking about self-defence, which raised her up a few notches in my opinion. She was wise to be cautious. "I'm not bad," I said. "Valkyrie and I train together sometimes, though I'm much more comfortable with a sword." I looked around at the hallway. "Which you'd think would be easy to find. I mean, aren't swords on the wall of every mansion out there? Or is it just battle-axes?"

Bella snorted a little laugh. "I guess it'd depend on the mansion, but this one does kind of have that feel to it, doesn't it? All we really need is one decked out suit of armor and we're set. Val and I had started talking about working with a staff or something, but we hadn't gone much beyond the pool-noodle stage. Fair warning, I'm kind of klutzy," she added with a self-depreciating smile.

The place did have the feel of a mansion, but one thing that was conspicuously absent was the presence of medieval weaponry as decor. In its place, there were books. Lots of books. Then again, if this was Valkyrie's place, maybe it made sense: put all the weapons in one place where only you have the key. Don't leave them hanging around for somebody else to pick up and use against you. "Well," I said, "If we can't find anything on the walls, there's always the kitchen. Cutlery will do in a pinch."

Then I paused. "You and Valkyrie have been training with pool noodles?"

Safe. Sensible. But the image of Valkyrie waving a pool noodle around made me want to chuckle, though I tried to be polite about it.

Bella grinned at him, especially when she saw amusement in his eyes.. "We haven't been able to find any yet, but that's the plan. Something I can swing around without the possibility of hospitalizing anyone. Like I said, klutzy. Capital K. And its fine to laugh, the idea had us laughing when we talked about it."

She looked down the hall and nodded. "Kitchen knives would work. A long filet knife, if they have good ones, can be almost the length of a shortish sword. Next question is...where's the kitchen?"

"Well, it's got to be somewhere," I said. "People have got to eat in a mansion. Let's hope that Valkyrie's uncle Gordon was a bit of a chef. A good cleaver could be useful."

I led the way down the hall and turned right. I was right. The kitchen wasn't far. I made sure the coast was clear and beckoned Bella to follow.

She followed along behind him, very conscious of where she was putting her feet just in case the random invisible bump in the floor show up and sent her sprawling forward. "Even a metal skewer wouldn't be too bad, maybe find a few of them and hold them together?" So thinking, she pulled open a drawer...or tried to. "Damn, it's stuck."

"Story of our lives," I said, coming over. The drawer had rattled encouragingly. I took the handle and pulled. It was stuck. "Suddenly, I'm reminded of Mom's kitchen." I gave the drawer another pull. "Sometimes you have to shake it just right..." I rattled, and pulled, hard.

The drawer came unstuck, then, and shot out of the cabinet in my hand. The contents rained down on the floor with a tremendous metallic clatter.

I looked at Bella, the drawer dangling from its handle in my hand. "Well... Oops. I guess we don't need to sneak, anymore."

If anybody was in the house, they heard that!

It most definitely wasn't the time be laughing. Unfortunately, her giggle reflex didn't get the memo, and she had to put her hands over her mouth to keep any sound from escaping. "Yeah," she said once she'd composed herself, "stealth went right out the window along with..." she paused, looked down at the floor, "some pretty nice flatware."

Home Plot 6 - 1, 2, 3 - 2012

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