The Dying of the Light by Derek Landy

Author:Derek Landy [Landy, Derek]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Juvenile Fiction, Humorous Stories, Fantasy & Magic
ISBN: 9780007489299
Google: i9A_AwAAQBAJ
Amazon: B00N36STZ6
Publisher: HarperCollins UK
Published: 2014-08-27T17:00:00+00:00

44

A BETTER PERSON

mell, someone had once told Valkyrie, was the single most powerful trigger of memories. Somewhat ironically, she didn’t remember who’d told her that, or why, or where she was when she was told, though she had no reason to doubt the truth of it. But when she woke from her bad dream and walked down the stairs of the house she’d grown up in and the smell of roast chicken was waiting for her, she wasn’t transported back to one particular time or one particular occasion. Instead, memory piled upon memory to form an indistinct sense of warmth and belonging and love and home, and a smile grew up from within her so that when she reached the kitchen she was beaming.

Her mother was at the table, eyes fixed on the laptop while her dad hovered over her shoulder, pointing at the screen.

“Click that,” he said. “That looks important. We should click it and see what it does.”

Her mum batted his hand away. “Go on, shoo. You’re not allowed near this.”

“But it’s mine.”

“Hiya,” Valkyrie said, crossing straight to the oven.

“Good morning, sleepyhead,” her mum said. “Lunch will be another half an hour or so.”

Valkyrie opened the oven, inhaled the steam that billowed out, and closed it again, her mouth watering. “Oh, I’m starving,” she said. “What are you doing?”

“Your father has a mission,” her mum said, sighing.

Her dad stood straighter. “That USB thing. It’s a video. We’re downloading something that’ll let us play it. Well, we think we are. We might not be. To be honest, we haven’t a clue what we’re doing.”

“I know what I’m doing,” her mum said, a little annoyed.

“Ah, a USB,” Valkyrie said. “How quaint. Half an hour, you say? I’ll be right back.”

“Leaving us so soon?” her mum asked.

“Just going to pop over to Fergus and Beryl’s and say hi.”

Her parents stared at her.

“Why?” they both said at the same time.

Valkyrie laughed. “You’re funny.”

As she left the house, she heard her dad say, “No, seriously, why?”

She took the short cut across the beach. The tide was out and the sky was grey. A few joggers on the sand. Some people walking their dogs. She didn’t know why she wanted to see her aunt and uncle. Some part of her just wanted to talk to them, to connect with them in some way. It was probably because of Gordon. She’d lost her favourite uncle for the second time and she was, what? She was grieving?

Valkyrie stopped walking. She was grieving.

Tears came to her eyes, but she wiped them away angrily. No. No crying. She’d cried enough. She’d deal with her loss later, when she had the luxury of time. She’d deal with it the same way she was going to deal with the guilt she felt over the things she’d done as Darquesse. She’d deal with it alone, without anyone around to see it. She walked on.

When she got to Fergus and Beryl’s house, the car was gone. She thought about just turning round and going home, but knocked on the door anyway, and Carol’s reflection answered.

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