Hmmm... I really have NO idea what to call this storyline

 The Dead Men Tales was sorta like a prologue to this storyline (just thought you might want to know)

Ghastly walked through the halls of the Roarhaven sanctuary, trying not to look as depressed as he felt, it had been one year exactly since the remnant had taken over Tanith and, asides from that one short encounter with Valkyrie, no one had heard anything about her. He opened the door to his office and was surprised to see a girl waiting for him, leaning against the wall. She had grown a few inches, and the freckles that had once covered her face had retreated to just the bridge of her nose. Her hair was still a mass of curly red, but her slightly crazy grin was still the same.

“Bone?” asked Ghastly, rather shocked and Bone grinned wider

“Hey Ghastly!” she squealed, giving him a rib-crunching hug

“Ow, turn the enthusiasm down a bit please” Bone rolled her eyes, but let go

“It’s great to see you again” Ghastly said truthfully “I haven’t seen you in nearly, what, two hundred years?”

“At least” Bone looked around the room “are you Grand Mage now or something? I haven’t been in Ireland in about seventy years, so I’m out of the loop” Ghastly shook his head

“I’m not Grand Mage, Erskine is”

“Whaaaattttt? Who in the right mind would elect Erskine as Grand Mage?”

“Welcome to Ireland, where everyone is crazy”

“It’s because there’s too many leprechauns” Bone nodded wisely and started to rummage through Ghastly’s desk “If you aren’t Grand Mage then why do you have a nice office?”

“I’m on the council of the elders”

“Really?”

“Yes, now stop going through my desk”

“I’m an American citizen; it’s my right to be annoying”

“I’m on the council of the elders; it’s my right to kick you out”

“But you won’t, because you are too overjoyed to see me to kick me out” Ghastly had to grin

“True, true…” his smile faded as he saw the picture that Bone was examining. The picture was one of Tanith on the pier by Valkyrie’s house. She wasn’t really looking at the camera, but sort of turned to the side and trying to push Valkyrie off of the pier and into the ocean, but Valkyrie was using air manipulation to keep from falling. They where laughing and it was obvious that they both where having a grand time.

“Is this your girlfriend?” Bone looked up from the picture and saw his face “Oh, god, what happened? You look like she died or something” Ghastly struggled to compose his face and didn’t say anything

“What happened?” asked Bone again “Ghastly, I’m just going to keep bugging you till you tell me.” He sighed

“When the remnants escaped a year ago, one possessed Tanith and no one has seen her since, happy?” Bone didn’t answer at once, just looked hard at the picture. Ghastly sighed again and started to reorganize the papers on his desk that Bone had messed up.

“I’ve seen her” Bone sounded slightly surprised

“What?”

“I’ve seen Tanith, and recently too. I saw her waiting around at the airport when I got on the plane to Ireland. She looked, rather different, then the way she looks in this picture, but I’m sure it’s the same person.”

“What do you mean she looked ‘rather different’?”

“She dyed her hair black, but her eyes are the same and the way she dresses is the same” Ghastly shook his head

“Even if it was Tanith, she still wouldn’t be the same; the remnant has been in her for a year now.” Bone razed an eyebrow

“Give me a month and Tanith will be back to normal.”

“Bone, listen! The remnant has been with her for a year its permanent now.”

“I’m a genius, am I not? I’ll examine the receptacle and find out a way to get rid of the remnant while some friends track down Tanith. Easy.” Ghastly tried to igrore the hope that was swelling inside him, while at the same time struggling to think of a suitable argument, Bone took advantage of his silence to pull out her phone and started texting rapid-fire.

“Fine” Bone looked up from her phone

“Eh?”

“I’ll get Skulduggery to tell you where the receptacle is and I’ll get together a group of people to track down Tanith” Bone shook her head

“I got the group together already; I just need to look at the receptacle and your girlfriend will be back in no time.”

“Who's in the group?” asked Ghastly and she held up her phone so he could see the names there. He smiled as he read the names, letting the hope show.