Skulduggery Pleasant_ Death Bringer - Derek Landy [96]
Valkyrie smiled. “Afraid not. This is Necromancy.”
“Do you need to study stuff to use it?” Carol asked.
Valkyrie hesitated. “Not really…”
“So it’s easier than pushing air?”
“Just because it’s easier doesn’t mean it’s better. There is a downside to power that comes without effort.”
“It sounds perfect for us, though,” Crystal said. “Can I try?”
“I’d… I’d have to give you my permission to use it.”
“So? Give your permission. Please, Stephanie?”
Her cousins opened their eyes as wide as they could go, a trick that worked on their parents, Valkyrie knew, but which had the unfortunate side-effect of making them look like startled goldfish. She shrugged.
“Crystal,” she said, “I give you my permission to use this ring.” She pulled the ring from her finger and handed it over.
Mouth open in awe, Crystal examined the ring for a few moments before slipping it on. Immediately she frowned. “Oh,” she said. “It’s cold.”
“Necromancy is death magic,” Valkyrie said. “Believe me, when that ring is around death, it gets even colder.”
“That’s disgusting.”
Carol reached out. “Let me try.”
Crystal pulled her hand away. “Wait your turn. So what do I do, Stephanie? Is there a magic spell I have to say, or something?”
Valkyrie scanned the area, making sure there was no one about. “No spell. Can you feel anything, apart from how cold the ring is? You should feel it in your fingertips.”
Crystal narrowed her eyes and waggled her fingers. “I don’t know,” she said. “I think so. I might.”
“See our shadows? Try and grab them.”
“Really?”
“Just try it.”
Crystal bit her lip, then hunkered down and clutched at the sand their shadows covered. “Am I doing it right?”
“Not really,” Valkyrie admitted.
“My turn,” said Carol.
“Just wait a minute,” Crystal responded, grabbing at sand, her annoyance increasing.
“Stephanie, she’s had her go,” Carol whined.
“Just give her another few seconds,” Valkyrie said. “You keep pushing at the air.”
“Pushing at the air is stupid,” Carol muttered, but she did it anyway.
Valkyrie watched them both – Carol trying to shove the breeze and Crystal trying to pick up her own shadow – and she did her best not to laugh.
“Girls,” said a voice behind them.
They turned quickly. Fergus stood there, hands on his hips and looking displeased.
“Hi, Dad,” Carol said.
Crystal stood up, hiding the ring behind her back. “Hi, Dad. We were just…”
“We were doing t’ai chi,” Valkyrie said. “It’s very relaxing.”
Carol nodded quickly. “We’ve been very tense lately.”
“Girls,” Fergus said, “your mother wants you back at the house. Go on, now.”
The twins glanced at each other, then Crystal stepped in front of Valkyrie in the most unconvincing attempt at nonchalance ever witnessed. Valkyrie took her ring back, and Crystal turned to her.
“Thanks for trying to teach us,” she said.
“No problem.”
The twins walked off, leaving Valkyrie and Fergus alone on the sand. His eyes never left her.
“How’s your mother?” he asked.
“She’s OK. It was more the shock than—”
“How’s your dad?”
“Uh, he’s OK.”
“The baby?”
“Alice’s fine too.”
Fergus nodded. “And how are you, Stephanie? Are you keeping out of trouble?”
“So far.”
“And what’s that you were showing the girls? T’ai chi, was it?”
“Yep. It’s a martial art, but it’s very gentle and—”
“I know what t’ai chi is, Stephanie. I’ve seen people do it in the park. And that wasn’t what you were teaching them.”
“Well, I, I might have been doing it wrong…”
His next words were angry. “What gives you the right?”
She blinked. “Uh… I’m sorry?”
“You heard me. What gives you the right?”
“I’m not entirely sure what you mean.”
He stepped forward quickly, closing the gap between them. His fists were clenched and his face was red. For a moment, Valkyrie even thought he was going to hit her.
He snarled, “What gives you the right to teach my daughters that filthy magic?”
She stared. “What?”
“They’re my daughters!” he snapped. “They’re good girls! I’ve kept them out of the kind of trouble you get into and I will be damned if I’m going to let you