Skulduggery looked around: Only dresses and powdered wigs from every era greeted his eyes. He saw someone in a brown dress- Never-mind. That's not her.
...Several Cleavers are missing, too. Valkyrie's over there... Valkryie! Skulduggery started towards her at a pretty fast walk, turning her from her conversation with Tanith to tell her softly, "Echo's missing. Do you know where she is?"
Valkyrie looked rather surprised, and shook her head. "No, I haven't seen her since she made that little speech an hour ago... Why?"
"She's missing and I don't know where she is. She's good at disappearing, but this is a pretty small room."
Indeed. Fund-raising events are usually not very plentiful in funds. "Did you check the bathrooms?"
Silence was her answer as Skulduggery just... looked at her. The look said 'Do you really think I'd search the women's bathroom for her? I'm not THAT desperate, thank you.'
"Oh...kay... Um, hold on." Valkyrie walked off, and Skulduggery was left standing with Tanith.
Tanith raised an eyebrow. "Is over-protective Auntie Skull being over-protective?"
"...Auntie Skul? She told you about that?"
"Better. She gave me the comic she made out of it for my birth-day."
...Crap. She made a Comic out of it?
"...Do you have any idea where she might be, then? Not in the bathroom, by the way. Or at-least not the ladies one." Stephanie was back, empty-handed. She wore her clothes from Ghastly for this party, like Skulduggery wore his. He had left his jacket and hat with the doorman, though, so his... features... were exposed.
Tanith grinned. She wore regular jeans and a button-up shirt, calling it fancy. Her sword was with the doorman, but not by choice. "Did you check the dance floor?"
Skulduggery cocked his head to the side, and gestured over his shoulder with his thumb. "Yes. She's not there."
"No, not that dance floor, the one downstairs!"
...Downstairs?
_______________
The music pumped loudly, drowning out the chances of conversation, some people thought they had. The few who tried shouted over the speakers that played "Souja Boi" loudly, and the entire crowd danced to the throbbing music. The DJ was good, very good. He gauged the audiences energy levels and responded accordingly.
Later the slow songs would play, but now the night was still young. Bring on your rap and techno, because we're up for the challenge.
Echo, of course, was in the middle of it all: younger magicians did not recognize her and the one that could were upstairs. Tonight she was one of them, one of the mass. She jumped with the rest of them, sang the songs she knew at the top of her lungs, abandoning any pretense of sense she might have had earlier.
Around her she had a small crowd of three boys vying for her attention- let them attend. No slow songs were here yet, and by that time they would have left.
_________________
The music attacked the trio's senses as they descended into the basement: It was dark, with flashing lights and pounding music. A rail stood around the sound-proof walls, a platform up above so you could see the floor clearly. The floor itself was lighted by strobes and lazers, and below the dancers floor lights illuminated them, giving them an eerie, exotic look.
"How are we supposed to find her in all this?" Valkyrie asked, eyes shining at the sight. This was far more fun then any school dance she had ever been to. The sound was swept away as the crowd screamed the words of a song, many voices singing the same tune. She couldn't wait.
Tanith scanned the floor, searching for any brunettes she could see. Meanwhile, Skulduggery had already spotted her by luck and descended by a spiraling stair-case into the jungle of limbs and flesh.
Ow! OW! Okay, that's just rude! He was battered for several seconds by the flow as he tried to walk directly to Echo, but eventually realized that would be pointless and watched how the crowd moved, stepping accurately most of the time into empty spaces and pin-pointing his location by the distance from Tanith up on the rail.
Finally he pretty much tripped over her: Back to him, she was jumping and singing happily. He grinned internally at the site, stepping closer and dancing as best he could. Surprisingly, it wasn't that hard.
_________________
...One of them had gotten brave, and so, back to him, she grinned. See how he likes being ignored <3~
"Do, do you have a first-aid kit handy? Do you know how to patch a wound? Are you patient, understanding?"
Echo gasped happily, smiling. She loved this song! "I-try-eve-ry-re-me-dy-and-no-thing-seems-to-work-for-me!"
___________________
Skulduggery was a bit surprised when she did not respond to him being so close- was she used to this sort of attention? But then she gasped- Oh, wait. She just liked the song.
He listened over the crowd's approving roar, bouncing slightly with Echo because quite frankly the jumping thing was a little odd. "My heart is damaged?" He mused, unable to hear his own voice. What was she thinking about?
The song continued forever and he still stayed close to Echo, but she didn't seem to notice him. Three other boys did, and they made it clear by casting glares his way after looking Echo over. He glared at them right back, and one of them moved away.
______________
Well, somebody sure is possessive. Echo smiled to herself as she danced, still doing her best to ignore the guy behind her....
...She turned around suddenly, dancing facing the man- Oh my God! Skulduggery! She stopped abruptly, blushing slightly.
______________
Skulduggery looked down at her. "I thought we were dancing," he told her loudly, amused.
She cupped a hand around her ear and leaned closer. He got right up next to her ear. "I THOUGHT WE WERE DANCING!" The detective shouted.
Echo's blush deepened, but she nodded and got back to... jumping around pointlessly. Only this time she was only half-hearted, blushing red and glancing at him every so often.
Sighing internally, he got back to jumping as well, randomly throwing an arm and a leg out here and there. The effect, he discovered, was rather nice. A wild-abandon seemed to take over him, his chest felt warm (oddly) and he grew braver with his dance-moves, somehow not hitting anyone. Echo, in turn emboldened by his comfortableness around her, eventually got back to the level she had been at before, smiling and laughing after a few minutes.
The sight of a dancing skeleton had to be hilarious, really.
After a half-hour of dancing Echo was getting tired, but thankfully the wonderful DJ noted the dropping enthusiasm and changed the song~
Echo blushed as "Miracle" by Casada popped up, stopping dead and looking like a deer in the head-lights at the speakers that blasted the love song at her. Those without partners left the floor for the bottled water by the walls, and those with stayed behind and danced.
Skulduggery just looked at her, confused, until he actually listened to the song. That caused him to laugh.
"WHAT, SHY?" He yelled in her ear.
She blushed deeper and he knew he was right.
That was only made even more clear when she stood on tip-toe to get to the place where his ear would be, and yelled back something along the lines of 'shut your mouth' along with a threat.
Skulduggery laughed out-loud at that, and she glared. Still standing on tip-toe and thus a bit unstable, she grabbed his shoulders by accident to keep herself from falling. In response, he settled his arms on her shoulder-blades, and marveled at her ability to turn interesting colors.
They really only rocked back and forth, but that was enough. After a moment her arms relaxed, and his settled themselves lower, not right under hers. They got a little closer, and her arms crept around to drape themselves around his neck, and he pretty much hugged her to him. Echo relaxed, enjoying the closeness. Her inhibitions faded away slowly, so she leaned on him, her eyes fluttering shut. Most books depict this sort of scene as everything else drifting away, but instead Echo felt sharpened slightly: the Captain Cleaver could hear everyone within a ten-foot radius, the slight grinding Skulduggery's bones made as he moved, the swish of cloth... Wow, this was....
SHAJSKL! LOUD MUSIC IS BAAACK, BABY! Both of them jumped and lept apart like startled rabbits, wide-awake from the sudden change in tempo. Echo laughed after a second and got back to jumping, perhaps a little closer to Skulduggery then before....
_______
They ended up staying late into the night and early into the morning, Tanith leaving about midnight and Valkyrie nearly falling asleep. Most other people were gone before they finally boarded the Bently. Echo called shotgun and barely managed to stay awake until they got to Valkyrie's house and dropped her off there, carrying her to her parents (who were still awake and pissed she hadn't gotten home sooner- Skulduggery explained to them about the party and she had been allowed to go without a set curfew. That wouldn't happen again, ever).
A/N: OKAY, this ends part 1. Part 2 is where stuff happens. Oh joy. *jumps for it*
((It should be up tomorrow))
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