Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

A thrum was building in the air, but apart from the three of them, the basement was empty. Valkyrie ignored it, dodged the next punch, kicked the side of the man’s knee, felt it buckle, heard him hiss. The hum faltered before coming back in full force. She didn’t know what it was, and as far as she was concerned it didn’t matter. What did matter was staying alive- something that was becoming increasingly difficult.

The knife swiped at her again, but this time Skulduggery was there, catching the man- Morton’s- wrist, twisting it, hip-throwing him away from her. Sweat froze her. She pushed back the fear, just like Tanith had told her, and focused on breathing. It was hard enough to summon her magic normally without adding panic to the equation.

An elbow cracked against Skulduggery’s head, sending him stumbling. The hum heightened. Morton raised an arm above his head, his eyes fixed on her. Skulduggery shouted and pushed at the air. Morton’s arm came down like an axe, his hand level with his line of sight. A wall of air slammed into her and took her off her feet. Her vision was engulfed in blue-tinged light so bright it hurt. The thrum was like a million-ton beehive in her head, in her chest, in her ears and legs and hands-

-and she hit the ground hard, the back of her head thumping into it. Stunned, trying to remember how to move, she stared up at the bright blue sky. The bright blue sky, quickly filled with rearing horse hooves. The world, in an uproar of neighing and yelling and disbelieving laughter.

Valkyrie swore loudly and scrambled backwards, the hooves kicking wildly, descending, then the ground was rocketing by underneath her for the second time in as many seconds as the air took hold of her, grass burning her skin.

She stopped skidding and fell back, her head hitting the ground again, much more painfully this time. There was a rock under this patch of grass. She’d seen stars. That hadn’t happened before. Neither had horses. Horses had definitely not happened before.

The sound of someone jumping down from the horse reached her ears as she lay there, panting and letting the stings, aches and throbs from various parts of her body, not least of which was her head, catch up. Footsteps mingled with her rapid heartbeat. They slowed as they neared. The cloudless sky was so bright it hurt her eyes.

Why is there a sky? she wondered helplessly. There shouldn’t have been a sky. They were in a basement. She was sure of that.

All the blood seemed to be rushing to the back of her head with the intent of making it hurt as much as possible. It felt light and heavy at the same time, which was odd, but not as odd as the grass. There shouldn’t have been grass either.

Skulduggery appeared in her field of view, blotting out some of the glare, to her relief. He stood there, unmoving for a moment, staring down at her. His head was tilted in that way it did when something unexpected had happened.

Eventually, Skulduggery stated, somewhat flatly, ‘You’re twelve.’

Stephanie- wait, no, Valkyrie, scowled.

‘Thirteen,’ she corrected. ‘My birthday was last week, remember?’

Skulduggery nodded slowly.

‘I don’t think you do,’ she admonished.

He nodded slowly again. While she waited for him to say something else, she tried to take some stock of her surroundings. Despite it seeming very out of place, she was, indeed, lying outdoors in a large grassy field. The green was tangled and overgrown. If someone owned this place, they didn’t maintain it.

Her head swam like the sea when she tried to get up, so she decided to listen to her body’s complaints for once and stay prone. All the urgency seemed to have vanished out of the air, so she saw no reason to rise; lying down was good. Thoughts fluttered like drunk butterflies through her mind: light, directionless, easily buffeted. It was an odd sensation.

With nothing else to do, Steph- Valkyrie (she was still getting used to her new name, but right now seemed especially difficult to keep a hold of it) stared up at Skulduggery again.

‘Are you wearing a different suit?’ she asked.

Skulduggery looked back at her. He’d been scanning their surroundings intently.

‘No. It’s the same one I’ve been wearing all day,’ he answered. His voice was strange. He was staring at her oddly- that is, his posture was slightly guarded. He might not have had any expressions, but regardless, Valkyrie could always tell.

‘That makes sense.’ She nodded, and stopped when her head twinged. ‘It would be weird for you to change halfway through a fight.’

‘Halfway through a fight?’

‘Uh huh. Also, it was someone else’s basement, and I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t have had a change of clothes there.’

‘Probably not,’ he murmured. He looked around one last time, his gaze lingering somewhere behind him, and then crouched down next to her, suddenly business-like.

‘You seem a little dazed,’ he informed her.

‘Yeah, I think I hit my head.’

‘So do I. Valkyrie, what year is it?’

The question was so unexpected it took a moment to register with her. When it did, she squinted up at him.

‘Did you hit your head?’ she wondered.

The head in question tilted. ‘No. You did, remember?’

‘Oh, right. Uhhh, it’s 2008.’

‘And the last thing you remember is…?’

‘You asked me what year it was.’

‘I- no- I mean before you fell on the ground, before you hit your head.’

‘Before I fell on the ground… we were in the middle of a fight. This guy, Morton, he was charging up to do something and then there was this big bright flash and then…’

‘And then you were here?’

‘Yeah. Hey, how’d he do that?’

‘I have a hunch. Your arm doesn’t happen to be hurting, does it?’

‘Depends. Which arm?’

‘The left one.’

‘No.’

‘How about the right one?’

‘No.’

He considered her. ‘How’s your head?’

‘That hurts,’ confirmed Stepha- Valkyrie eagerly.

‘Seems about right.’ Again, Skulduggery looked at the surrounding field, then back at her.

‘Well,’ he said, ‘I have some interesting news.’

‘Good or bad interesting?’

‘Oh, definitely bad: it causes nothing but complications and it is very concerning, not to mention inconvenient, but, and this is the part I want you to focus on, it is still interesting.’

‘Okay.’

‘Firstly, I don’t want you to worry. Worrying will do no good at all at this point. Why worry about things you can’t control? Granted, that is what most of our job consists of, but not, not, in this particular instance. You have nothing to worry about, all right Valkyrie? Certainly nothing to panic about. Me, on the other hand… may be a different story, but the fact of the matter is, a twelve-year-old version of yourself has just appeared in front of me, presumably switching places with your seventeen-year-old self, in an explosive show of energy. I have to admit, amongst the many, many disasters we are dealing with, I did not see this one coming. We’ll address it as best we can but all you need to do is sit, or rather, lie back and absorb the following information. Are you ready? Nod once for- okay then. Alright.

‘Valkyrie Cain, here’s the bad, interesting news: you’re a time traveller.’ He watched her.

After a beat, a grin spread across her face. ‘Cool,’ she said.

‘It is,’ nodded Skulduggery. ‘Also bad.’

‘But cool.’

‘And bad.’

‘Okay.’

Skulduggery made a gesture like he’d moved to run a hand down his face before remembering that he didn’t have a face, and hadn’t for about three hundred years. Distantly, Valkyrie wondered what amount of stress would cause him to forget that.

Skulduggery tapped his fingers on his leg, a quick, catchy rhythm, then seemed to come back to earth and held a hand out to Valkyrie. She caught it on the second try, and after two full seconds of them staying there like that Skulduggery took a more active role in helping her sit up.

‘Alright, here we go. Can you stand?’

‘I think so.’

‘Are you sure? You seem a bit dizzy.’

‘I can do it.’ Awkwardly trying to manoeuvre her legs into position, Valkyrie glimpsed the view over his shoulder and met the bright green eyes of Nefarian Serpine.

The adrenaline that shot through her was the clearest thing she’d felt since her fall and she snapped her fingers out and the strongest blast of elemental magic she’d ever summoned slammed into Serpine, taking him off his feet. Skulduggery was saying something and trying to get her to look at him but she pushed him away and stood up and all the blood rushed out of her head.

‘Ow,’ she said, and blacked out.

‘…like it’s all gone to hell for you, to be perfectly honest.’

‘We may not be on a countdown any more, but the mission is still very much an urgent matter. We keep going.’

‘Well, whatever you say, I suppose. You’re the one holding the pain regulator.’

‘Yes, thank you for reminding me. The knowledge is a great comfort whenever you speak.’

Waking up in the saddle of a horse was not a pleasant experience, Valkyrie discovered. It ought to be a rule, she decided, that the journey from unconsciousness to awareness solely be reserved for those times when she was horizontal. The last thing she expected when she opened her eyes was to see the ground swaying nauseatingly under her, framed by long hanging threads of her hair. Her neck ached from where her head had been lolling, and she would definitely be complaining to Skulduggery later that his ribcage was so far reigning champion in the ‘Most Uncomfortable Pillows to Smush Your Face Against’ rank.

Valkyrie groaned and the conversation stopped.

‘How are you feeling?’ came Skulduggery’s voice.

Valkyrie groaned again, arched her back, stretched her neck, and slumped into the horse’s shaggy, smelly mane. It tossed its head. She sneezed.

‘Fine,’ she muttered.

‘Do you remember what happened?’

Her eyes snapped open.

‘Did I really time travel?!’ she exclaimed, twisting in the saddle so she could see Skulduggery, who tugged on the reins to stop the horse’s anxious skittering. It seemed like an unusually jittery one.

‘It appears so,’ he nodded.

‘That is so cool! Morton, that must have been his magical discipline, right? He can make people time travel! And probably himself too, because not being able to time travel yourself would be kind of a bummer. Can lots of people do it? Is it, like, something that’s really common, or is it one of those really hard disciplines that hardly anyone knows, like those Teleporters you told me about?’

‘It’s the first I’ve heard of it, so I expect the latter.’

‘I can’t believe I’ve time travelled! That is awesome! This is great, this is great… wait a minute, I need to ask this…’

Skulduggery stared at her expectantly.

‘When am I?’ Valkyrie beamed.

‘From your perspective, six years in the future.’

‘Awesome!’

Skulduggery hummed non-committedly.

‘Isn’t it?’

He looked at her, and the euphoria started to drain away like a faucet had opened.

‘You don’t know how to get me back, do you?’ she realised.

‘No,’ Skulduggery said quietly. ‘I don’t know how to get either you or your older self back to where you both belong. Presumably you’ve switched places, but the Jamie Morton I knew of was killed over a year ago. I had no idea he was capable of this. Out of interest, what were you and me trying to arrest him for?’

‘Tax evasion.’

‘Really? We were arresting him for that?’

‘Yeah. You complained a lot when Guild set you on the case.’

He muttered something Valkyrie didn’t catch, and she didn’t ask about it. Nervousness with a side of cold fear was sliding into her stomach.

‘We’ll find another way, right? To switch us back?’

Skulduggery inclined his head, and when he spoke his voice was full of reassurance. ‘Of course.’

‘You know, for someone who has tortured both of you, you seem to find ignoring me remarkably easy,’ said a voice which brought back the fear in full force.

Serpine was riding nonchalantly beside them, acting very lively for someone who was supposed to be a small pile of dust in a Sanctuary bin.

‘I did torture you, didn’t I? Just a smidge?’ His eyes glittered at Valkyrie maliciously. ‘I can’t say I’ve seen such an extreme reaction from anyone I haven’t personally harmed.’

‘Keep talking and you’ll find out just how extreme my reactions can be,’ Valkyrie snarled. She turned back to Skulduggery, and demanded, ‘What the hell is going on? And why is he talking? Why isn’t he a bloody pulp on the ground yet? Why is he alive in the first place? Are you evil here? Did you resurrect him?’ She poked him in the sternum.

Serpine laughed. ‘I have to say Skulduggery, I much prefer this one. She’s far less cute when she’s older.’

‘Shut up,’ said Valkyrie and Skulduggery together, and the edge in Skulduggery’s voice made sure Serpine did this time. She looked up at Skulduggery.

He sighed. ‘And here is the other reason why your appearance- or more accurately, your older self’s disappearance- is bad news.’

So. Apparently a serial killer had set up a reverberation inside older Valkyrie that gradually and repetitively built and built until it shunted her across dimensions. This had been her third trip to the new dimension, and she’d managed to bring Skulduggery with her. On her first trip she’d found out that the world was ruled by Mevolent, who was for some reason not dead (yay), and ruled over all the mortals who were little more than slaves (double yay). On her second trip, she’d accidentally brought her reflection (and then left it here- good job older Valkyrie) and found that this dimension still had a working Sceptre of the Ancients. Now, they were on a mission to retrieve the Sceptre, and the reflection, and some traumatic phrase from Walden D’Essai’s childhood.

‘Oh yes, and the Walden D’Essai in our dimension has discovered his true name, Argeddion, and is infecting mortals with magic in an insanely misguided experiment that will conclude with the exposure of the sorcerer underground to the rest of the planet. So far, everyone he has done this to has become either a murderous psychopath or a confused nutball.’

Valkyrie faced forwards and stared out at the fields, trying to stop her head from spinning.

‘I don’t like the future,’ she said eventually.

‘It does have its moments, doesn’t it?’

‘And so, because Morton sent me here to take the other Valkyrie’s place…’

‘Our way home has vanished with her, yes.’

They rode in silence for a while.

‘Why is Serpine here?’

‘We need someone to help us find a way into Mevolent’s palace, and Serpine is, unfortunately, the only guide the Resistance has.’

‘No, I mean why is Serpine here? Why is he alive at all? Why didn’t the Resistance kill him? Where are you?’

When Skulduggery didn’t answer, Serpine did. ‘Oh, you know Mr Mysterious here. An opportunity comes along to vanish with a flair of obscurity and secrecy just when everyone needs him most? I doubt he could have passed it up if he’d wanted to! No one’s seen him for a hundred and fifty years.’

Valkyrie really didn’t like him.

‘Your ears are stupid,’ she said into the ensuing silence, and heard Skulduggery snort, something that she had never thought he would, or even could, do.

‘You don’t have to worry about him trying to hurt us,’ Skulduggery told her. ‘He can’t, not with that red right hand locked up.’

Serpine waved sardonically at her, and Valkyrie noticed for the first time that his skinless right hand was encased in a heavy metal glove.

‘I’ve promised to take it off him after we find the Sceptre, so I suppose it would be more accurate to say that until then you don’t have to worry.’

‘I wasn’t worried,’ said Valkyrie.

‘That must be nice,’ said Skulduggery.

Valkyrie shifted in the saddle. ‘Why didn’t they give me a horse? I mean, older me. I know how to ride. Why am I stuck with you?’

‘I’m mildly hurt by that.’

‘I’m mildly hurt by your bones.’

‘Ah. Well, I mentioned that you arrived in a rather stupendous flash of energy, yes?’

‘You did.’

‘The horse got vaporised.’

‘It what?!’ She whipped around to him, horrified.

‘Vaporised. Burnt out of existence. Kapoofed. Off to horsie heaven with it.’

‘No!’

‘I’m afraid so. There was no trace of it after you appeared.’

‘Oh my God… I feel so guilty.’

‘It wasn’t your fault. You never even met it.’

‘But I killed it!’

‘Only a little bit. And it most definitely did not feel any pain. It all happened very fast, quite honestly.’

‘Oh no…’

Once the guilt had subsided a bit, an unwelcome thought occurred to her. Valkyrie opened her mouth and hesitated.

‘What is it?’ Skulduggery probed, noticing.

‘Well… if I arrived in the other Valkyrie’s place, and there’s no trace of her, and the horse got vaporised…’

‘How do we know you have actually switched places with her, and that she’s been transported to your timeline rather than perishing the same way as the horse?’

Valkyrie nodded.

‘We don’t,’ Skulduggery admitted. ‘However, I have decided I don’t like that possibility very much, and as such, I will continue to operate under the assumption that that’s not what happened and that there is a way to reverse this.’

Valkyrie slowly brought her thoughts around to this point of view too. She brightened. ‘Maybe that’s what happened to the horse!’

‘Well, yes. Maybe. Of course, a replacement horse never appeared, but yes. Maybe.’

Despite her efforts, another unwelcome thought crept up on her.

Upon realising that she was an entirely different version of the Valkyrie he knew, not merely a de-aged Valkyrie, or someone disguised as Valkyrie, Skulduggery had immediately said that it was bad that this had happened. It occurred to her that one of the reasons he might have thought so was because there was a rather large chance he might not ever see his friend again. That upon her arrival, Valkyrie might have killed her.

She couldn’t think about that right now. Right now, she had to follow his lead and focus on the yes. Maybe’s. If she didn’t, the panic was right on the horizon, ready to take any chance it could to engulf her.

When the enormous wall surrounding Dublin came into view in the distance, Serpine started getting chattier. Valkyrie wished Skulduggery would follow through on his threat to turn on the pain regulator the Resistance had given him.

‘How is she alive?’ Serpine said in mock wonder. Valkyrie focused on the reins, which Skulduggery had let her take after she said she was bored. There wasn’t much to do with them.

‘It’s very rare that anyone gets back on their feet after I’ve spent some time with them, preferably in a dark room with lots of knives and a good drainage system. You can attest to that personally, can’t you Skulduggery?’

If she got desperate enough, Valkyrie reminded herself, she could always grab the slate from Skulduggery and turn on the regulator herself.

‘Or was it another kind of torture? Does a certain someone’s certain hand come to mind? In which case I’m even more impressed she’s alive. No one survives that, especially not children. Once again, Skulduggery, you can attest. Remember? Because I killed your child in front of you? And your wife. And some friends, too, I imagine, although they’re all a bit of a blur really.’

Skulduggery was quiet. Valkyrie gripped the reins tightly.

‘Was it a familiar scenario, skeleton, seeing what I’d done to her? Surely it was. No, hold on.’ Serpine straightened as a thought occurred to him. ‘You killed me, didn’t you? That’s why she’s still alive. Ha! You’ve already had your revenge, you lucky bastard! It’s mellowed you, I can tell. You’ve lost your edge. That girl’s too good an influence, Skulduggery. Although, I doubt it would take you long to get it back. I estimate… a good two seconds after I break her neck.

‘Would I have attempted it before? Probably not. I bet you’d worked hard to make sure that the older version was more than ready to be attacked. Shame to lose all that potential so quickly, and with so little fanfare, isn’t it? But I doubt that’s the case with this little one. And believe me skeleton, any chance to inflict more pain on you is a chance well worth taking.’

Finally unable to take it anymore, Valkyrie turned to Skulduggery, nervous at what she would find. He was already observing her, his head, very faintly, cocked.

‘Are you going to take that?’ he asked.

She turned to Serpine, summoned her magic, and nearly unseated him with a gale of wind. Unfortunately, she hadn’t managed to deliver quite the amount of power she’d hoped for, but she did manage to flick his coat over his head and severely mess up his scraggly hair. Arguably, that was a better result.

After Serpine had untangled himself Skulduggery said, ‘If you’re done attempting suicide by me before Mevolent can get his hands on you, we have a city to breach, Nefarian. I suggest you focus your attention on that, bearing in mind that your alternate failed many times to kill Valkyrie, and that my influence had relatively little to do with it.’

After a moment, he added, ‘That being said, try it again and nothing will stop me from handing you over to Mevolent myself.’

It wasn’t until Valkyrie was walking around inside the city that it struck her that, in addition to the future, she was in another dimension.

The sorcerers were dressed in the kind of brightly coloured clothes a high fantasy movie set would be expected to display. Elementals manipulated the air flow under strange vehicles, levitating them down the street; traffic was a lot more interesting when it was floating various heights off the ground. Giant, armoured blocks descended from the sky on a direct path to the palace- and the palace! It was the biggest and most fantastic structure in a city full of big, fantastic structures. She couldn’t take her eyes off the bustle and busyness of a world where magic was practiced without constraint or secrecy. It was wonderful.

Her mood disappeared when she began to notice the mortals. There was a dark undercurrent to this bright and beautiful place. Skulduggery had said that sorcerers ruled over mortals here, and she knew Mevolent was in charge, which was obviously bad, but until she saw how furtive, frightened and obviously destitute they were, the full meaning of it hadn’t hit. They were slaves. Sorcerers kept slaves here.

‘Valkyrie?’

When sorcerers did look at the few mortals out on the street, which was rarely, it wasn’t even with contemptuous expressions. They couldn’t even muster up some basic human emotion for them. Instead, their gazes slid over them like they were part of the scenery. Like they were less than nothing. 

‘Valkyrie?’

It was all so casual, the way they acted- as if this was normal, or natural. And that’s what Stephanie found to be the most chilling aspect of it all.

Skulduggery tapped her on the shoulder.

‘Hmm? Oh, sorry, kind of drifted off there-’ Valkyrie stopped. It was definitely Skulduggery who had tapped her, and called her name. It was definitely Skulduggery who had been walking beside her since they’d left the horses and entered the city. It was definitely the same suit that Skulduggery had been wearing ever since she dropped out of the sky. Angled over his eyes was definitely the hat that Skulduggery liked to wear.

‘Who are you?’ she said to the man with Skulduggery’s voice and clothes, because it wasn’t Skulduggery. Skulduggery had a skull, not a face.

The man raised an eyebrow, and then comprehension flitted across his expression.

‘Right. Early days,’ he muttered with Skulduggery’s voice.

Warily, Valkyrie let him draw her over to an empty side-alley where Serpine was already waiting. Once they were there, he loosened his tie, undid the first buttons on his shirt and showed her a sigil carved into his fleshless collarbone.

‘It’s a façade,’ he explained. ‘China made it for me a few years ago.’

Valkyrie grinned broadly and stared at him in fascination. The façade was handsome and Asian, black hair giving the appearance of having been grown out. The eyes though, now that she was paying close attention, were slightly vacant. ‘Wow. Is it your actual face? I mean, the one you had before you died?’

‘No. A new one is generated every time I use it.’

‘Well, it certainly beats the ol’ wig and sunglasses.’

‘That it does,’ agreed Skulduggery. ‘Now-’

‘Do you have a tongue?’

‘Sorry?’

‘A tongue. How detailed is the façade?’

‘Not that detailed. It’s just a quick disguise.’

She peered at him, trying to see inside his mouth. ‘How about teeth?’

‘I always have teeth.’

‘Oh, right.’ She poked his cheek.

‘Ow.’

‘It feels normal.’

‘Thank you for that assessment,’ he sighed.

‘You’re welcome.’

‘Can we get back to the mission, or do you want have me try and eat something?’

Valkyrie’s eyes widened. ‘Can you?!’

‘Oh yes. In fact, the durability of the façade means that it can be stretched much more than normal skin. Just the other day you dared me to swallow an entire orange.’

She stared at him, and slowly started to frown. ‘You can’t eat, can you?’

‘I swear you used to be more gullible.’

‘I thought this was an urgent mission, skeleton,’ drawled Serpine. ‘Derailing it to amuse a twelve-year-old doesn’t seem to be in your best interests.’

‘Thirteen,’ Valkyrie said, throwing him a dirty look that he readily returned.

‘Our first concern is finding Walden D’Essai,’ Skulduggery said, and they started to hatch their plan.

It fell to Valkyrie, who was neither wanted for treason nor on Serpine-sitting duty, to find directions to Walden D’Essai’s place. Utilising a rushed, condescending man, a suitably wide-eyed innocent expression, and a scared voice wanting help finding her uncle’s house, Valkyrie discovered the magical psychic internet and tried not to seem as though this was a new development.

Walden D’Essai worked in sewage management. His address was 18 Mount Temple Place. A magical hovering taxi and some good old B&E did the rest of the job.

Where things went wrong was when they managed to actually extract the supposedly traumatic phrase that the murderer of Walden D’Essai’s mother had said to Walden as a child, the phrase that was supposed to stop Argeddion dead and allow the sorcerers back in their dimension to take him down.

‘He said “I’m sorry”,’ said Walden.

Even Valkyrie could tell that this didn’t seem to affect him very much. She sized him up, just like Skulduggery had taught her.

By the living room jam-packed with books, he was obviously a studious man. Did his part to quietly contribute to society, kept his head down- a good cover for a member of the Resistance who smuggled people out of the city through the sewers. Mostly, he seemed agitated that someone was going to discover the traitor Nefarian Serpine in his company, and fearful of the consequences that that would lead to. Particularly traumatised at being forced to repeat the phrase? Not really.

Walden himself was far from what she had expected from a world-ending threat the likes of which possessed unimaginable power. He seemed likeable enough. A brilliant mind, judging by the books. Other than that though, he seemed remarkably… ordinary. Of course, here he hadn’t discovered his true name, but still. She found it hard to imagine him becoming so engulfed by the magic at his fingertips that he would consider other people’s lives with so much detachment and carelessness. She found it hard to imagine how anyone could do that. Magic was incredible. How could it corrupt people? She’d encountered bad sorcerers, of course, but they were bad because of their choices, not because of magic.

It was probably something to do with power, Valkyrie thought. Power could corrupt people, and magic was one way to be powerful. Personally, she didn’t see it. She’d love to learn all the magic she could, and supposedly learning your true name enabled that, but it wasn’t an attractive option because of the power- that was just a cool bonus. It was an attractive option because of the sheer joy of having so much magic. She’d want to know her true name just for that.  

 Skulduggery was silent as Serpine led them through the city.

‘What are you thinking?’ Valkyrie asked.

‘Lots of clever little things,’ he replied.

‘Is one of those clever little things how that whole trip was a waste?’

There was an amused lilt to his voice. ‘Actually, I found it very helpful. You didn’t?’

‘I thought it was the opposite of helpful. I thought it landed us in a rut, to be honest. Hasn’t taking down your Argeddion guy just become a whole lot more difficult?’

‘Not if we retrieve the Sceptre. That should go a long way to evening the playing field.’

‘Okay, so what was so helpful about that conversation?’

Skulduggery looked at her. After a moment, he asked, ‘How long has it been since we stopped Serpine together? How long for you, I mean?’

‘A couple months. Why?’ she answered, confused.

‘Just a passing thought. Anyway, think about what this implies: why did we assume that Walden D’Essai would be a great amount of help to us? Why did we think that phrase from his childhood would be traumatic enough to induce a reaction from Argeddion?’

Valkyrie did her best to try and recall the details of everything Skulduggery had told her. ‘Well… because your friend, that scientist guy who’d been watching Argeddion, told you so, didn’t he? And don’t think I didn’t notice that suspicious topic change, by the way.’

‘I have no idea what you’re talking about; my conversational segues are flawless. The scientist guy’s name is Tyren Lament, by the way. How did we, that is, older you and me, find him?’

‘Um… you said I embarrassed myself until Hansard Kray gave me the information out of pity? I don’t think I believe you about that, by the way. Also, I’m not going to forget about you trying to distract me from your “passing thought.” I don’t believe you about that, either.’

‘Well, you’d be wrong. And I mean before Hansard Kray.’

‘I’m not the older Valkyrie, I didn’t live through this! I don’t know every single person you talked to about finding Lemon! And I don’t like it when you keep things from me, either.’

‘One, his name’s Lament and you know it. Two, I’ve been alive for over four hundred years and I fought in a secret war for most of those; it’d be difficult not to keep things from you, intentionally or otherwise. But to get back to the main point, you know who this person is.’

‘No, I don’t. Skulduggery, I’m not going to get it, just tell me the answer.’

‘Nonsense, you’re doing great. I’ll give you a hint: we’re here now because of him.’

‘The shunter!’ Valkyrie exclaimed. ‘The serial killer who sent older me over here!’

‘Exactly. And here’s where we can make an interesting connection. Lament and his team were being controlled by Argeddion long before we found them. He slipped into their dreams, just like he did the mortals’ he was experimenting on.’

‘Wait.’ Valkyrie held up a hand as she interrupted. ‘Didn’t you say the serial killer was in a coma for fifteen years before we woke him up?’

Skulduggery nodded, pleased. ‘I did. Do you want to take that thought a bit further?’

‘Sure.’ Valkyrie shrugged nonchalantly, but excitement was bubbling in her, even if the realisations coming into focus were more of the ‘interesting, but bad interesting’ category Skulduggery was so keen on lately. ‘Wouldn’t it have been easy for Argeddion to get into his dreams and control him, too?’

‘It would have been. But why would he do that?’

Valkyrie thought hard. ‘If Lament and the others were being controlled by Argeddion when you talked to them, then couldn’t it have been Argeddion himself who told you that story about the traumatic phrase from his childhood?’

‘Very possibly,’ Skulduggery said, encouraging her with a nod.

‘And if he was also controlling the serial killer-’

‘Nadir.’

‘-Nadir when he put the shunt in Valkyrie- should I call older me Valkyrie? It feels weird.’

‘Everything about this is weird.’

‘Point. But anyway… wouldn’t that mean that Argeddion wanted us to come here, to this dimension, and find Walden? Why would he want that?’

‘And there,’ said Skulduggery, ‘is where I believe I have the next piece of the puzzle. Argeddion mentioned something about a “surprise guest” of his arriving to help him usher in the Summer of Light- when all the mortals would be given magic and sorcerers would be exposed. I think that surprise guest is Walden.’

‘So that’s it!’ said Valkyrie. ‘We know what he wants! Now we just have to stop him from getting to Walden.’

‘A task I’d imagine to be rather easy, since we don’t have your older self to shunt us home any more, never mind shunt Argeddion over here.’

‘Oh,’ Valkyrie said, her enthusiasm leaving as quickly as it came. ‘You know, I can’t believe that out of all the Valkyries I could have switched with, it had to be the one in another dimension.’

Skulduggery nudged her. ‘But on the bright side, you did just help crack a case. Didn’t I say you were doing great?’

Valkyrie couldn’t help but grin.

Serpine was waiting by the back entrance to a house ahead of them.

‘Welcome to the secret entrance into Mevolent’s palace,’ he announced, before kicking down the door and striding into the place. Valkyrie quickly followed Skulduggery through and a screaming bald woman in chains and a sack immediately launched herself at her.

Eliza Scorn was crazy and Valkyrie did not look forward to meeting her back in her own time and dimension. It didn’t matter that Skulduggery said she was still sane there. An impression had been made, and it couldn’t be taken back.

More things that couldn’t be taken back: their actions if they were caught right now. They had entered Mevolent’s palace.

Skulduggery softly closed the passage door behind him, where it merged seamlessly into the rest of the wall. He gestured for Serpine to lead the way to the Sceptre. As quietly as possible, they followed.

At every corner Valkyrie expected a shout to ring out, expected to run into someone who would raise the alarm, or guards to descend on them like a torrent of rain. The route Serpine led them on was devoid of opposition, however.

Instead of easing her fears, this heightened them. Tension strung her muscles together. She focused hard on keeping her breaths, steps, and every movement as silent as Skulduggery’s, and didn’t focus on the fact that they were infiltrating Mevolent’s headquarters- the Mevolent’s headquarters! The baddest of the bad sorcerers, around whom all the other bad sorcerers were bound to congregate!

She tried to remember what she knew about Mevolent. He’d had three generals: Serpine had been one, but they didn’t have to worry about him any more… she hoped. She didn’t know who the others had been.

Skulduggery suddenly pulled her back against the wall. Serpine flattened himself against it on his other side. There was someone was coming up the adjoining corridor ahead of them.

She saw Skulduggery and Serpine look at each other, and Serpine rolled his eyes and raised his gloved hand. His magic was bound. Skulduggery looked down at Valkyrie and put his index finger to his teeth, telling her to keep quiet. She raised her eyebrows in a yeah, I know signal.

Skulduggery and Serpine switched places. The footsteps approached. Skulduggery waited patiently, his hands loose. The sorcerer couldn’t be more than three steps away.

A door opened on her right. Valkyrie’s stomach dropped and she whipped her head around to see another sorcerer emerging from a room.

There were sounds of a quiet scuffle; Skulduggery was busy.

The sorcerer closed the door, turned, and stared right at her.

Valkyrie moved first. She leapt forwards, shooting a palm straight into his solar plexus, winding him. He grabbed for her wrist and she stepped out of range, circled away from the wall, then concentrated and splayed her hand, trying to ram him against it with the air.

She distinctly felt that it should have worked. She’d done everything right.

The sorcerer had his own hand up, pushing back at the air with all his magic, which was much more than Valkyrie’s. Another second and she was going to give. The pressure between them was growing. He was getting his breath back. Soon, he’d be able to shout an alert.

Valkyrie dropped and rolled to the side. The air whoomphed behind her. She stumbled to her feet and the sorcerer moved in and closed a hand around her throat, cutting off her air. She hadn’t zipped up her coat properly. She clicked her fingers, made a spark, was panicking too much to make a fireball but sputtered a flame into existence and pressed it against his exposed forearm. He yelled, the sound echoing in the corridor, quickly cut off as Skulduggery appeared behind him and put him in a chokehold. Valkyrie pulled herself free, gasping. The sorcerer was unconscious within seconds.

They waited tensely. No sorcerers came running. No security had been alerted.  

‘Close one,’ muttered Serpine. Valkyrie clenched her jaw, rubbing her neck. No thanks to her, obviously.

Taking a hold of the slumped sorcerer, Serpine dragged him back into the room he’d come from.

 Skulduggery came forward, taking her hand away from her throat so he could see it.

‘You all right?’ he said quietly.

‘Fine,’ she whispered. ‘Sorry.’

‘For what?’

She nodded at the sorcerer Serpine was shutting in.

‘These things happen,’ dismissed Skulduggery.

‘You’re wishing you’d insisted on back-up now, aren’t you?’ Serpine said, and then his grin faded and face set somewhat as Skulduggery strode forwards and stepped right into his space.

‘I don’t care how hopeless of a fighter you are-’ the lowness Skulduggery was keeping the volume of his voice to did nothing to disperse the menace in it- ‘if something like that happens again, you help her.’

‘Don’t worry, I will,’ growled Serpine. ‘You think I want to be caught any more than you do?’ He glanced at Valkyrie. ‘Now that I can see how ill-equipped we are for this venture, you’ll have all the help I can give- starting with this.’ He held up his gloved hand.

Skulduggery was motionless for a long moment, and then, quite calmly, withdrew something from his pocket and passed it over Serpine’s wrist. The glove unlocked, and Serpine pulled his raw, glistening, skinless hand free. The grin on his face was vicious and unsettling. Valkyrie tensed.

‘Much obliged,’ Serpine said. ‘Now follow me.’

Skulduggery gestured her forwards and Valkyrie did not miss the fact that she was now travelling in the middle of the two. If a double-ended attack happened like it had in the corridor, Skulduggery and a fully-powered Serpine were ready for it. She noticed this like she’d noticed Serpine’s jibes, and Skulduggery’s motions. He didn’t have someone he knew he could rely on to support him in a fight, someone whose abilities and moves he was used to working with, someone he trusted to have his back. He didn’t have Valkyrie any more. Just the younger, smaller, weaker, far less trained, far less powerful, and far less familiar version. He just had her.

And suddenly she understood the full reasons why Skulduggery had said it was most definitely bad that she had switched places with the older Valkyrie.

Chapter Text

They stood apprehensively in the hall outside Mevolent’s throne room. The ornate, heavy double doors were wide open, offering an unobstructed view of the two red-clad Cleavers before the throne inside should they dare to poke their heads around the edge. From off to the side, Valkyrie could only see along one wall of the room. Artefacts and weapons lined it, each display enclosed in a glass case with thin etchings of sigils engraved over it for protection. One of them held a very familiar golden sceptre.

They’d found their target.

‘Shouldn’t be a problem now that this is back on the table,’ Serpine whispered, a disturbingly hungry look in his eye as he flexed his red hand.

‘Yeah, their screams of agony won’t be noticeable at all,’ hissed Valkyrie.

‘They’re Redhoods, Cain, they wouldn’t make a sound,’ said Serpine, but nevertheless backed off. ‘Fine. New plan. We use the sprog as a distraction.’

‘Sprog?’

‘Annoying child.’

‘I know what a sprog is. I was just wondering whether your monthly meet-ups with the baby boomer generation have yielded any more devastating insults, or if it was just that one.’

Skulduggery turned sharply to face them. ‘We still have two objectives to fulfil, and neither will be accomplished if you two keep this up.’

‘Sorry,’ muttered Valkyrie.

‘Thank you,’ Serpine said to Skulduggery snidely.

‘Valkyrie, you may continue. Serpine, sit there and take it.’ Skulduggery turned back around to scan the throne room one last time, then gestured Valkyrie closer to him. ‘We’ll take care of this.’

‘How?’ she asked, raising an eyebrow as he pulled her into a half-hug with one of his arms.

‘With our usual grace and athleticism.’

But I’m not the usual Valkyrie. The thought flashed into her mind all too easily, and Skulduggery misread the doubtful expression she couldn’t stop from crossing her face.

‘Yes, alright. We’re actually just going to hit them lots of times,’ he conceded. Valkyrie sighed, zipped her collar all the way up, and got ready to charge through the doors.

There was a goblet standing on the arm of the throne. With a flick of Skulduggery’s hand, it toppled over, clanging on the ground. The Redhoods turned, and in the split second before they looked back at the entrance Skulduggery sprang out of hiding, pulling Valkyrie with him-

-and they flew into the air and hovered by the arched ceiling.

Valkyrie’s jaw dropped and she stared down at the distant ground. She ogled Skulduggery in abject shock, and then at the elaborate black chandelier two feet away.

No. Way.

She scrambled to grab onto Skulduggery as tightly as possible. What followed was the quietest flip-out of her life.

You can fly! You can fly! she mouthed excitedly, pointing at him and flapping her arms wildly and repeating. He tilted his head, distinctly smug.

They drifted over the throne room, Valkyrie marvelling at the motion. It wasn’t at all like using a blast of air to propel yourself up like a jet, or like cushioning yourself for a landing (not that she could do either yet). The air seemed to completely support them, like their very own forcefield. It was controlled and deliberate and very, very cool.

Valkyrie had to learn how to do it.

The Redhoods were right below them. They descended until they were so close Valkyrie was afraid to breathe. She didn’t have the slightest idea of what Skulduggery was expecting her to do, other than provide a distraction, possibly by getting her head chopped off very gruesomely. Maybe he was going to just drop her like a rock on top of one of them. She felt like she could handle that. As long as she aimed right, it was rather hard to get it wrong.

Skulduggery held up three fingers. Two. One.

The air pressure disappeared and they dropped. Skulduggery sent her tumbling towards the throne. Her knees and elbows hit the flagstones but the clothes absorbed the worst of the blows and her back hit the foot of the throne, so she had a front-row view to Skulduggery as he did the kind of mid-air kick she would have expected from Tanith. It took both guards out hard and fast and he flipped before he hit the floor.

‘Now that was showing off,’ Valkyrie reproved, grinning widely as she got to her feet.

‘Would you have expected anything else? Grace and athleticism, just like I said.’ He adjusted his hat brim and they all moved over to the Sceptre, but Valkyrie’s good humour faded halfway there.

That small stunt seemed to throw into sharp relief how little she brought to the table. No matter what fun disguise Skulduggery might try to put over it, she could see what was really going on: telling her she’d helped solve a mystery on their walk through the streets when really he’d led her by the hand through a process he’d already undertaken; going on a joyride across a ceiling because not only was he not certain whether Serpine would make a move with him gone, but he didn’t think she’d be able to defend herself adequately either. And what really rankled was that he was right. They’d gone into this mission with two strong fighters and had set things up accordingly, but now they were one player down. She wasn’t Valkyrie- not the Valkyrie. She was a liability.

There was only one time she could remember feeling this helpless: right after the White Cleaver had come after them, beating Skulduggery, Tanith, and Ghastly while she could only watch… and then Ghastly had turned to stone, and she hadn’t been able to do anything then, either.

Skulduggery had told her that she was much more than even she knew. And how about that, a few hours later they’d defeated Serpine and saved the world.

So that settled it. She just had prove to herself- and, incidentally, everyone else- that she was still capable. Maybe she should beat up Serpine. Or…

Wasn’t one of the mission objectives supposed to have been older Valkyrie’s responsibility?

‘I should go find the reflection,’ Valkyrie said to Skulduggery, who was halfway through burning off the sigil on the Sceptre’s glass case.

Skulduggery nodded. ‘We will, as soon as I get through this.’

‘But it’ll save more time if I go find it now.’

He glanced at her briefly. ‘That’s not a good idea.’

‘Why not?’

‘She is right,’ said Serpine. ‘And I know where the dungeons are, I can take her.’

‘Serpine, I don’t know where you got the impression that I’d let you go anywhere with Valkyrie alone, but let me just reiterate it for clarity’s sake: you don’t go anywhere with Valkyrie alone. Besides,’ he said to Valkyrie, then hesitated.

‘What?’

He continued in a considerably more careful manner. ‘We don’t know what condition your reflection will be in: how injured it’ll be, whether it can walk, if it can even move at all.’

‘So I’ll come get you if I need help carrying it.’

‘That’s not exactly what-’

‘He means it’ll have been tortured.’ Serpine said with a bored expression. ‘That reflection will look exactly like you- bar a few years- and it’ll be in quite a state, I can assure you. Skulduggery here is ever-so-concerned about how you’ll fare seeing something that is not only bloody and maimed and et cetera but also, essentially, yourself. Not to mention the fact that it won’t be alone. There are dozens of prisoners down there, and there have been for years. They’re not the sanest bunch.’

Valkyrie didn’t say anything.

‘Fortunately,’ said Skulduggery brightly, ‘this whole dilemma is a moot point, because I’ve just achieved our second objective.’ The tiny incandescent fireball he had been manipulating vanished, and the display case swung open. The Sceptre of the Ancients was theirs for the taking.

Which was when Eliza Scorn burst into the room, just as crazy, screaming, bald, and be-sacked– though not as tied up- as they’d left her.

She managed two steps towards them and one erratic dagger of red light which Valkyrie easily dodged before Skulduggery swept his hand wide and she flew into the wall, falling unconscious to the ground.

They exchanged glances. Valkyrie strained her ears, hoping against hope that no one had been alerted, that they’d gotten away with it again-

But was disappointed. This time, by a man in desperate need of a beard.

She heard Serpine mutter a curse.

The newcomer, dressed head to toe in an authoritarian military uniform that screamed “General” almost as loudly as Eliza could, saw them and his nostrils actually flared.

‘Get away from my wife,’ he snarled.

Now that was a match made in heaven, Valkyrie could see.

The air closed in around Skulduggery and he shot forwards to meet Mevolent’s second general like he was fired from a cannon, landing a punch that the man somehow didn’t instantly collapse from. Serpine started forwards to join the fight, but Valkyrie grabbed his arm.

‘Where’s the dungeon?’ she demanded.

Serpine pointed to the back of the throne room. ‘First left, third right, the very last door. And you might want to take this off.’ He pulled down his collar and showed her the black disc of the pain regulator, stuck onto his skin. She checked the fight: Skulduggery had just been slammed into a wall and was taking blow after blow after blow. Serpine watched her like he wasn’t moving until she acquiesced.

Valkyrie clenched her jaw and dug the slate Skulduggery had given her from her pocket, pressing it quickly to the regulator and catching it as it fell.

The general’s irises glowed a poisonous yellow and Skulduggery stiffened. Serpine raised his red right hand and Valkyrie ran for the other exit.

There was one sorcerer on duty at the dungeon, coming out just as she sprinted around the corner. He shouted at her to stop. She didn’t. He held out a hand. She hoped he wasn’t an Elemental. His palm started to glow, orange energy getting ready to burst forth. She was two metres away and she dropped, her momentum carrying her straight into the sorcerer’s legs. His shoulder hit the ground beside her and she pressed a hand to his face and managed to summon just enough of a blast of air to send his head smacking into the door. He wasn’t unconscious, but he was too dazed to move, and Valkyrie scrambled over him, grabbing the keys on his belt, and darted through to the palace dungeon.

Halfway down the stairs the stench hit her.

She reached the bottom and peered into the darkness. The only light came from the single sigil illuminating the steps. Cells lined the walls, but as far as she could see, none of them had doors: the fronts were open to the dungeon. The prisoners, huddled on the ground, jammed into corners, were shackled to their cell by a long length of chain. That is, unless the prisoner was bracketed to the wall itself, hanging there limply in rags. The dungeon was not silent. Valkyrie could hear weeping, and the clinking of chains, and, even more frighteningly, a light-hearted conversation that didn’t seem to have a second speaker.

She clicked her fingers, but nothing happened. Trying to put the smell, the sounds, out of her mind, she tried again, this time managing to summon a spark. Pouring magic into it, it grew into a handful of fire, and she used it to light the way, trying to walk steadily. She struggled not to peer too closely at the prisoners, just enough to see whether they were the reflection, and then she moved on, reminding herself that she was on the clock; Skulduggery was still fighting upstairs…

The reflection was curled up on the ground, and Valkyrie’s heart leapt into her mouth. Then it stirred, and she let out a breath and berated herself for worrying about it. It was a reflection, it didn’t feel anything: not pain, not fear, not-

It looked up at her and her thoughts juddered to a halt.

It was missing an eye and the fingers on its right hand. The shabby clothes it was wearing were bloody.

‘What-?’ It started to say when it saw her. Valkyrie unfroze and knelt beside it.

‘There’s, uh, time travel now too,’ she explained, keeping the sickness and shaking down so she could unlock the shackles. The reflection acknowledged the information with a slight nod. Helping it sit up, Valkyrie did her best to keep her gaze away from its injuries, distantly thinking that if she kept trying not to take in all the things that were down here, soon she’d have to walk around with her eyes closed. Instead, she focused on getting an idea of what she would look like in a few years. It was hard to feel excited when the image she was seeing was… well.

Reflections don’t feel pain.

When the reflection was standing, it was much taller than her but still needed her support to stay that way. Valkyrie didn’t miss the tremble in the hand gripping her shoulder. She had to say something.

‘I thought you could shut the pain off,’ she whispered. Reflections didn’t feel pain. They didn’t get afraid.

‘I can’t anymore,’ the reflection answered. ‘I think the original parameters of my use have been bypassed over time.’

Valkyrie wasn’t sure what that meant, but she could ask about it later.

‘I’m going to get you out of here,’ she promised. A strange expression flickered over the reflection’s face, but Valkyrie didn’t want to spend too long looking, and so missed her chance to decipher it. They moved out of the cell, the reflection leaning less heavily on her as it grew accustomed to the movement. That was probably a good sign, right? That meant it could heal and get better and be fine.

Valkyrie fixed her eyes on the stairs ahead and jumped in shock as a man in fancy red clothes, twirly shoes, and a twirlier moustache stepped out of thin air.

‘Now, I know what you’re thinking,’ he said.

Valkyrie was thinking that sorcerers dressing stupidly was a serious problem in this dimension.

‘You’re thinking-’ He stopped, staring at Valkyrie.

‘I know what you’re thinking,’ said the reflection. ‘And the answer is yes, we did use a miniaturising ray on her.’

A laugh found its way out of Valkyrie before she could stop it. Not that she would have, if the option were available.

The man scowled and fixed his gaze on the reflection. Valkyrie reached into her pocket.

‘Found a sense of humour, have we? That’s funny. I wonder how long it’ll last when we’re cutting the rest of your fingers off.’ He reached out and grabbed Valkyrie’s collar and she slapped the pain regulator on his forearm and pressed the slate without hesitation, not feeling much remorse when the man fell to his knees, jaw locked, eyes bulging, neck straining.

She was about to take her finger off the slate when the reflection warned, ‘Do that and he’ll teleport away.’

Valkyrie nodded and took hold of his terrible red coat. The reflection redoubled its grip on her shoulder.

‘The throne room. Now,’ she ordered, and took her finger off the slate. The teleporter gasped, fell onto his hands, and then Valkyrie was battling dizziness and the urge to throw up in the lit throne room as Skulduggery, Serpine and the general fought.

A year ago, Serpine’s magic had taken the form of sinister streams of purple vapour. In this dimension, that had changed; he’d done something to enhance it, to make his hand even more combat-effective. Red energy burned and crackled, attempting to pierce the man from every angle.

A flash of yellow in the general’s eyes scattered it into sparks. Skulduggery’s elbow drove into his face once, twice, three times. The man lost concentration. Red energy sizzled, and he contorted, roaring in pain, but Serpine had gotten too close. The man got a hand to his throat and lifted him clean off the ground, then slammed him down into it and caught the kick Skulduggery aimed at his jaw.

‘Who is this guy?’ Valkyrie said, growing more alarmed every second.

‘Baron Vengeous,’ said the reflection.

Vengeous kept hold of Skulduggery’s leg and stood, driving him back. He stepped in, shot a punch to Skulduggery’s jaw. Skulduggery answered with one of his own. Vengeous tried to tip him off balance, but Skulduggery jumped, hitting him in the chest with both feet, and the air pulsed and suddenly Vengeous was on the other side of the room, smacked into the wall. Skulduggery drew his gun and started firing. Vengeous rolled to avoid, sprung to his feet, and charged, cutlass in hand. Skulduggery went to meet him, but Serpine had seen Valkyrie and the reflection and, more importantly, the teleporter.

Serpine abandoned the fight and swiped the Sceptre from its display case on the way past. Skulduggery was struggling to keep Vengeous’ blade away, and when Valkyrie saw it cleave through the flagstones like they were butter, she let go of the teleporter and made to run towards them. Something violently pulled her back.

The reflection had practically wrapped an arm around her neck to stop her, which was especially embarrassing considering how injured it was and that its job was to protect Valkyrie’s family, not Valkyrie. It might have been taller than her, but at that moment it was far weaker, and Valkyrie pushed it off. She narrowed her eyes at the fight, felt the spaces between the air, flicked her hand, and sent Vengeous’ cutlass clattering out of his hand towards the double doors…

…where the reflection had seen the newcomers enter.

One was eight feet tall and carried a huge, discoloured, gold sword. Despite not wearing one single piece of armour, just a rather plain tunic, he moved like he ought to have an army of screaming sorcerers behind him.

The other most definitely did have armour. A metal suit of black covered every inch of him. Shadows writhed on its surface and bled into the air when he stirred, and he didn’t move like the other man, like the very world owed him its fealty: he moved as though he knew that one day he would crack it wide open and savour every scream that ensued. He was the most frightening person Valkyrie had ever seen, and he stopped dead when he saw Skulduggery.

Bizarrely, Skulduggery waved.

Then Baron Vengeous was turning his yellow-eyed gaze on Valkyrie and Serpine was threatening the teleporter with a handful of red energy and the reflection was gripping Valkyrie tighter than ever and Skulduggery flew across the intervening space in the blink of an eye, one hand on her and the other on the teleporter, and the ground shifted-

-and they were outside again, in a dark field.

Valkyrie scrambled to press the slate and the teleporter locked up in pain before he could vanish.

‘Did we just see Mevolent?’ she asked Skulduggery.

‘We did. What did you think of him?’

‘Scary.’

‘That he is.’

‘Who was that giant with him?’

Skulduggery cocked his head. ‘The giant was Mevolent,’ he said slowly. ‘The man you’re talking about was Lord Vile.’

‘Oh. Well, they’re both scary.’

‘Yes.’

‘How are we getting home?’ said the reflection quietly. It was swaying on its feet. Blood- and sweat-matted hair fell over its deathly pale face, still visible in the gloom.

Something clenched in Valkyrie’s stomach and she hastened to help the reflection down to the grass. Crouching with it, she caught a glimpse of its mutilated eye again.

‘We… we’re working on it,’ said Valkyrie. The reflection kept its head down. She looked up at Skulduggery. ‘The Resistance will have a doctor, right?’

‘They might, but with damage this extensive only its mirror will be able to repair it.’

The way he talked about it, like it was a robot, didn’t sit right with Valkyrie. Not while it was clearly in so much pain.

‘You’re right,’ said a cool voice. ‘We can’t do anything for it. And we wouldn’t even if we could; our resources are to be spent on our own fighters, not anyone who is just dropping in for a visit.’

China Sorrows, in a simple white dress and bare feet, approached, sorcerers at her side. They shackled the teleporter and Valkyrie quickly turned off the regulator.

‘Ah,’ said Skulduggery. ‘About that. Before you take Remit away to a dark basement, we’re going to need his help again- this time to get us home. Our ride’s been a little compromised.’ He tilted his head at Valkyrie.

Valkyrie wasn’t sure whether it was to China’s credit or not that she appeared more antagonised than surprised upon seeing her. Dirty looks weren’t China’s style, but the one she threw at Skulduggery came very, very close.

‘You’ve gone and lost the child,’ she stated.

‘Technically, I’ve gained one.’

That was what rammed home how different this China was to the woman Valkyrie knew. She couldn’t help but like that China. That China was cold, yes, but with Valkyrie she could also be playful, and patient, and attentive; sides Valkyrie was seeing more and more of with every visit. She also never condescended to her.

Valkyrie didn’t like this version, and couldn’t wait for Skulduggery to reveal his plan of how they were getting out of here. Although, she noticed uncomfortably, no one else seemed to require an explanation.

‘Well, at least you’ve done one thing right,’ China said, holding out her hand. Serpine came forward and handed her the Sceptre.

Skulduggery held out a hand too, but China didn’t pass it to him. Smoothly, he dropped it and placed his hands in his pockets instead, continuing talking without missing a beat. ‘Yes. By the way, you ought to expect an attack. They will not be pleased we managed to escape with the Sceptre and Remit.’

‘Ran into some old friends, did you?’

‘Mevolent, Vile, and Vengeous. No one too serious.’

‘I see. In that case, I’ll congratulate you for making it out, but don’t expect any enthusiasm from me.’ Conversation over, China moved away, examining the Sceptre in her hands.

‘Would that I did,’ Skulduggery muttered. ‘Speaking of Vengeous,’ he turned suddenly to Valkyrie, ‘Do you have a death wish?”

‘Me?’ she asked in surprise.

‘You. You would be an exploded puddle on the ground right now if we hadn’t teleported.’

‘And if I hadn’t blown his sword away, you’d be a pile of chopped up bones,’ Valkyrie retorted indignantly.

‘I’m not denying that you did help, but I want it clear that when we go up against someone who can literally kill you with a look, you leave them to me. Alright?’

‘No! You flew at Vengeous. That’s how eager you were to fight him. You flew. Right at his face. And you’re saying I can’t even stand at a distance and get rid of his sword for you?’

Skulduggery nodded. ‘I’m glad you see my point so well.’

‘He could have blasted you to bits as well!’

‘But I, on the other hand, have a lot of experience surviving his attacks-’

‘And I don’t, yeah, I got it,’ said Valkyrie irritably.

Skulduggery observed her. ‘You look like you need to say something.’

Valkyrie glared at the grass.

‘You don’t have to, but it’s better out than-’

‘I care if you get hurt too, you know.’

After a moment, she risked a glance up at him. His hands were in his pockets again, his head on one side.

‘I was actually expecting more arguing,’ he told her. ‘You’re a sap.’

She frowned. ‘I’m not sappy.’

‘Yes you are. A stubborn, truculent, very caring sap. Slate, please.’ He held out his hand and she gave it to him with a puzzled look.

‘It’s no wonder, though,’ he continued, moving to the sorcerers holding Remit. ‘I am, after all, notoriously dashing and debonair, and any damage to me that would dampen these attributes would surely be a tragedy.’

‘Oh my God...’ Valkyrie rolled her eyes.

Skulduggery took the pain regulator off Remit and made his way back over to her and the reflection.

‘I’ve already lived through this stage of your life once, and I know that you, no matter how sensible it would be, are not going to stop throwing yourself into danger just because I say so. Which is rather a blow to my pride, by the way. So how about this,’ he suggested. ‘If we ever see Baron Vengeous again, we both run for it. That way, no one gets hurt, I don’t have to clean up an exploded puddle of you, and you don’t have to suffer through the mass grief and tragedy would surely plague many sappy people- not only yourself- at my demise.’

He knelt down and went to place the regulator on the reflection’s shoulder.

‘What- don’t put that on her!’ Valkyrie grabbed his wrist.

‘It’s alright, it can take pain away as well as inflict it,’ he assured her.

‘Oh.’ She let him continue, and when he pressed the slate, the reflection audibly sighed, tension draining out of it.

‘Thank you,’ it whispered.

‘No problem,’ Valkyrie told it, relaxing as well.

Skulduggery moved around so he was sitting next to her. ‘Now, what is it you actually want to say?’

Valkyrie twisted her fingers in the grass, wondering where to begin. As it turned out, it was rather easy to find a starting point.

‘Do you think I’m useless?’ she blurted. ‘I know I’m not her, and I know I can’t do the stuff she probably can, and I know you weren’t expecting this- at all- and it’s probably been a while since you had to look out for her so much, and I know Serpine being alive here isn’t exactly a call to relax… but you just seem like you do think that. A little bit. And it’s not like you’d be… you know… wrong…’ Now that she’d stated all those reasons aloud, the way he’d been treating her didn’t seem that irrational.

‘I’ve never thought you were useless,’ Skulduggery said firmly. ‘I never have and I never will. Not for one minute. You’ve proven yourself every day since we met, and just because I’m suddenly dealing with a much younger version of you, that hasn’t changed. If anything, it’s reminded me. I’ve known you before, remember? You are just as familiar to me as your older self.

‘Yes, you are probably right,’ he granted, inclining his head, ‘the circumstances you’ve arrived in the middle of most likely have been affecting my perception of you somewhat, for exactly the reasons you’ve said- but never to that extent. And I’m sorry if I made you think that.’

Valkyrie breathed out, and gave him a smile.

‘I think you’re overlooking something else important, though.’

‘I am?’

‘The effect this has had on you,’ he said, watching her carefully. ‘You’ve been dumped in the middle of a situation that is, and I don’t think I’m exaggerating here, catastrophically serious. This confrontation with Argeddion is going to have lasting consequences for sorcerers, however it goes. Meanwhile, you have been ripped out of time and away from everything that is yours, a problem that is unheard of in my considerable experience and one we don’t know how to solve. I’d be surprised if you weren’t affected- and being a little unsure or overly-critical of yourself would only be the start, I’m guessing.’

Valkyrie swallowed. ‘But we’ll find a way to get me back, right? You said you would.’

Skulduggery nodded. ‘I did. And I will. But in the past few years, there’s been… a lot of things have happened. The world is more dangerous than you could imagine, more than when we met, more than when we faced Serpine. So,’ and there was a smile in his voice now, ‘you might have to just put up with a bit of protectiveness from me every now and then.’

He let that sit in the night air for a moment while she reluctantly nodded. When she had, he clapped his hands together.

‘Not right now, though. Have you noticed-’

‘-that China doesn’t seem like she’s going to give us the Sceptre? Yes,’ Valkyrie said, casting a discreet glance around them. The Resistance was mostly ignoring them, listening to something China was saying.

‘I don’t think she is,’ agreed Skulduggery. ‘So, we’re going to act like we’re resigned to her decision, and then we’ll strike when she least expects and steal it.’

‘Alright. When will that be?’

‘About ten seconds before we jump through the portal.’

‘The what?’

‘Remit’s a Teleporter. He can open us up a portal to take us home.’

‘He can?’

‘If he has a bit of help from an Isthmus Anchor, then yes.’

‘A what now?’

‘Fortunately, we have one of those too.’

‘We do?’

‘We do. Anyway, China will definitely be expecting me to try something, but you? I doubt she’ll have pegged you as a threat- hopefully- and that means Anton won’t have either-’

‘Anton?’

‘-if we’re being optimists. You’ll need to act as innocent and child-like as possible.’

‘How about confused? I think I can do confused pretty well,’ Valkyrie said grumpily.

‘Anton Shudder is the big unsmiling man next to China. He’s her personal bodyguard here, apparently.’

‘This keeps getting better and better,’ Valkyrie muttered.

‘You’ll be fine.’

The sorcerers were breaking up, some heading away, most staying. Those that did were starting to look over at them expectantly, China’s briefing having clearly finished.

‘Think of an excuse to lag behind in three, two-’

‘Skulduggery,’ called China. ‘Whenever you’re ready, providing you’re ready now.’

‘Of course,’ Skulduggery said courteously. He got to his feet, and then helped the reflection up, wrapping an arm around it and taking care to appear preoccupied. The reflection played up its weakness, leaning heavily on him, and they moved over towards China, where she was standing with Remit, Serpine, and the man called Shudder. No one paid attention to Valkyrie, who concentrated on making undoing her bootlaces seem like re-doing them.

‘If you try anything, Nefarian Serpine will kill you,’ China said to Remit as his shackles were unlocked. That was sufficient enough of a threat to ensure the teleporter didn’t disappear immediately.

His power returned, Remit closed his eyes and felt around, walking in a widening pattern, searching for something invisible. It didn’t take him long to find it, something apparent only to him, hovering above the grass. Valkyrie started tying her bootlaces for real.

‘I’m assuming you’ve gone back on our deal regarding the Sceptre?’ Skulduggery was saying.

China smiled. ‘You know me too well. Now please, kindly get out of my dimension. With the spontaneously de-aged girl, if you wouldn’t mind.’

Valkyrie stood up and began to walk over.

‘You have an Isthmus Anchor?’

‘We do.’ Skulduggery turned to the reflection, expectant. It stared back blankly.

‘Everything I have is from here,’ it pointed out. ‘Apart from my underwear- but I’m not taking that off.’

Skulduggery looked at Valkyrie, who raised an eyebrow, wondering whether he was actually going to draw more attention than was absolutely avoidable to her. Though tempted, it seemed he was not.

He sagged, and handed his hat morosely over to Remit.

‘I hope you’re happy with yourself,’ he said to China.

‘Exceedingly,’ was the reply. Valkyrie was almost there. China and Shudder were on her left, Remit and Serpine on her right, Skulduggery and the reflection ahead, the rest of the sorcerers all around.

Remit concentrated, and a bright yellow dot appeared in the dark behind Skulduggery and the reflection. It grew, becoming a circle the size of a tennis ball, a dinner plate, a bicycle tyre. A tremendous wind sprang up, whirling around the portal, whipping Valkyrie’s hair into her eyes. She drew level with China.

A particularly strong gust of wind blew into her, and she took the opportunity as it came, stumbling into China. Skulduggery let go of the reflection and a sent a wall of air at Shudder, who was expecting it and rolled to avoid it. Skulduggery summoned fire into his hands, and released two blazing streams to keep the Resistance sorcerers away. The flames caught on the grass hungrily. Shudder came up to his feet and he and Skulduggery started in at each other with violent moves so fast they blurred, seeming to know what the other was going to try before they tried it.

Valkyrie grabbed for the Sceptre but China was already twisting it away. Valkyrie clicked her fingers and managed a flame, but wasn’t concentrating enough to stop the wind from blowing it out, so she turned it into a punch instead. China caught it, twisted her wrist behind her and forced her to her knees facing the portal, which was wide enough now for a human to walk through.

Well, that was something she hadn’t known. China could fight- and she was good.

‘Did you really think that would work?’ China said over the roar of the wind.

‘I mean, I hoped,’ mumbled Valkyrie.

‘Go home, child, and accept that you’re not going to win this one.’

‘Yep. You really beat me.’

China heard the amusement in her voice and squeezed her wrist painfully. ‘What is it?’

Valkyrie raised her head. ‘I think my reflection’s a better fighter than I am.’

If China had at all considered the reflection a threat, she probably would have paid more attention to its whereabouts. As it was, the sturdy kick caught her in the ribs and the vicious elbow in her cheekbone. She was too dazed to stop the pain-numbed reflection from seizing the Sceptre with its uninjured hand and sprinting towards the portal, Valkyrie following.

‘Skulduggery!’ Valkyrie yelled, and suddenly he was scooping her into his arms as he flew. The reflection leapt through the portal ahead, Skulduggery summoned his hat out of Remit’s hands, the portal shrank, the wind and fire roared, and they Indiana Jonesed it out of there, as Valkyrie later described.

Skulduggery set her down in the middle of a familiar place. The floor was wooden, but dusty. The walls and shelves were lined with material. One of the rolls was the same cloth from which Skulduggery’s hat belonged.

It was Ghastly Bespoke’s old clothes shop, still closed down here in the future, Valkyrie noticed. The reflection had already sunk down, gasping and shaking and clutching the Sceptre; a lack of pain didn’t mean a lack of exhaustion, weakness, and blood loss. Valkyrie immediately went to its side.

‘Thanks for the assist,’ she said, steadying its shoulder. The reflection did nothing but nod. Valkyrie looked at Skulduggery.

‘One step closer to home?’ she guessed.

‘One step closer to home,’ he nodded.

Chapter Text

The robe was hateful and Ghastly was exhausted.

Lament and his team were dead. Kitana Kellaway and Doran Purcell were still on the loose, and now someone had broken Sean Mackin out of custody- probably a Roarhaven mage, because apparently they could be trusted even less than he’d already thought. Christophe Nocturnal had been killed by a sword in his locked prison cell- unmistakeably Tanith’s work. Their only chance of getting Argeddion back into the Cube lay with Skulduggery and Valkyrie, who were going on to their tenth hour missing. The Supreme Council was breathing down his neck. His robe was itchy. It was one in the morning.

The only good news was that so far Bernard Sult hadn’t noticed Grand Mage Strom’s absence.

Precisely because it was the arse of the morning and his robe was slowly driving him insane and also because he really didn’t like Strom, Ghastly again savoured the memory of Skulduggery pulling a gun on the English Elder.

He stood with his eyes blissfully closed in his office for one minute. When it became clear that he was not going to spontaneously fall asleep, he sighed and began to pull the robe over his head. There was more paperwork to do, and he was not putting up with it in this travesty.

The door banged open and Ghastly whirled, arms flailing blindly as he tried to get them and his head free of the damn thing so he could punch whoever it was-

He heard Ravel burst into laughter. It didn’t make Ghastly want to punch him any less.

‘A little help?’ he requested grouchily.

‘No, no, I think you’re doing fine on your own,’ came Ravel’s voice, muffled but amused.

Ghastly said a word that Tipstaff would have told him was unbecoming of Elders.

‘What was that? I couldn’t hear you through your discarded dignity.’

Pulling himself free, Ghastly ignored him. ‘What is it?’

Ravel’s expression lost its mirth.

Ghastly’s stomach plummeted. ‘Oh God, who’s dead now?’

‘No, no one’s dead,’ Ravel said quickly. ‘Doctor Synecdoche just called me; Valkyrie and Skulduggery are back.’

‘Are they hurt?’

‘She didn’t say. Apparently the situation is complicated.’ Ravel’s mouth tightened.

That didn’t bode well. Complicated for Valkyrie and Skulduggery could mean a lot of things, including Valkyrie being half-dead from blood loss or Skulduggery missing his head. Again.

‘Whatever it is, they’re well enough to meet us in the briefing room. Mist’s already there.’

They left immediately, and if anyone asked, Ghastly was in too much of a hurry to redress in his robe.

They beat Valkyrie and Skulduggery there. After about a minute of waiting in slightly awkward silence with Madame Mist, there was a knock on the briefing room door.

Skulduggery half-opened it and stepped partway through, as though he was hiding something back in the hallway. Ghastly frowned where he stood. He’d been under the impression that this was an urgent matter.

Ravel seemed a bit nonplussed as well. ‘So… how’d it go?’ he ventured.

Madame Mist turned her veiled face towards him.

‘I mean, was the mission successful?’ he quickly restated.

‘Mostly,’ said Skulduggery. ‘We recovered the Sceptre of the Ancients and Valkyrie’s reflection, but the traumatic phrase from Argeddion’s childhood led to a dead end.’

‘So it looks like we’re taking him out the unscrupulous way then,’ sighed Ravel.

‘I’m not sure how different the scrupularities are of killing him versus imprisoning his comatose body forever, but yes.’

‘Where’s Valkyrie?’ Ravel inquired. ‘Doctor Synecdoche said you’d been to see her.’

Skulduggery hesitated.

‘Is she okay?’ said Ghastly in concern.

Again, Skulduggery hesitated. When he did speak, he was not reassuring. ‘Broadly, yes.’

‘Broadly?’ Ghastly said, raising his voice. ‘What is that supposed to-’

The door Skulduggery was holding flung open and a dark blur raced towards him, shrieking ‘GHASTLY!’

Valkyrie Cain hit him in the chest, and she was a lot smaller than when she’d left.

‘What the-’

‘You’re not a statue!’ Valkyrie, or what Ghastly could see of her when she was pressed so tightly against him, cried in delight.

An impossible thought burgeoned Ghastly’s stunned brain. It didn’t want to be there, but the girl hugging him wouldn’t let it leave. He cast a glance at Ravel, to make sure he was seeing the same thing. His friend’s face was contorting admirably, brow trying for a mixture of furrowing and raising, eyes caught staring between Skulduggery and Valkyrie like he was at a tennis match, mouth open in an-honest-to-goodness gawk. Madame Mist, of course, gave no reaction whatsoever.

‘Really?’ said Ghastly to Skulduggery. ‘On top of everything else?’

‘It would appear so.’

‘But… really? Time travel?’

‘Oh, thank God,’ said Ravel, relieved. ‘I didn’t want to be the first one to say it in case it turned out to be something much more reasonable.’

Valkyrie let go of Ghastly, still grinning hugely. ‘When did you get free?’ she asked eagerly.

‘About three years ago,’ he answered, unable to stop marvelling at her appearance. She looked exactly like she had when they’d first met, right down to the coat he’d made out of the strongest material in stock for no extra charge as soon as he’d seen those finger marks around her neck. As far as he could see now, she didn’t appear any worse for wear than could be expected- apart from being younger.

‘And now you’re an Elder?’ she searched for confirmation.

‘Yes. Lucky me.’ He couldn’t quite manage to hold it in.

‘Wow.’ Valkyrie considered Ravel and Mist, and said, ‘Not that I’m complaining or anything, but what happened to Guild?’

‘Legless and in jail,’ said Skulduggery dispassionately.

‘What?’

‘He’s kidding,’ Ghastly assured her. ‘He still has one leg.’

‘And what about Mr Bliss? Wasn’t Guild going to ask him to be an Elder?’

‘Died fighting the Faceless Ones when they temporarily came back,’ said Skulduggery.

‘Came back?’

‘Temporarily.’

‘…okay. So who’s Grand Mage now? Are you?’ she asked Ghastly, who laughed.

‘No, sorcerers don’t trust me that much. Valkyrie, I suppose we should re-introduce you to Erskine Ravel, the new Irish Grand Mage, and Madame Mist, our third Elder.’

Ravel stepped forward with an interested smile, turning on the charm as easy as anything.

‘Nice to meet you, Valkyrie.’ He shook her hand and she smiled back at him. ‘I’m betting that this state of affairs wasn’t intentional.’

‘No,’ she replied whole-heartedly. ‘This guy called Jamie Morton sent me here while we were fighting, and we think older me went back in my place.’

‘A sorcerer was able to do this?’ Ghastly glanced at Skulduggery. ‘I didn’t think anyone had that power.’

Skulduggery did nothing but fold his arms.

‘I’ve heard rumours, but that’s all I thought they were: hearsay and idle stories,’ said Ravel.

‘Which have never been true,’ said Valkyrie dryly.

‘Yeah, well, like every other instance, until an actual situation arises from it, we don’t have any reason to think one will. Which means we don’t have any reliable information to act on.’ Ravel hesitated. ‘And even if we did, we wouldn’t. Not right now.’

‘Sorry?’ Valkyrie’s eyes widened. Ghastly found himself glancing at Skulduggery, and from the lines of his body knew that if his friend was the weather, a hurricane would be brewing.

Mist spoke. ‘This event is not a priority,’ she said coolly. ‘Our attention is already fully occupied with Argeddion, and keeping the mortals unaware of the current crisis. In addition, the Supreme Council is making their presence very vehemently known, and tensions will snap once Grand Mage Strom’s imprisonment comes out.’

‘I’m sorry,’ Ravel told Valkyrie. ‘But until this is over, we can’t even begin to contemplate sending you home. In the meantime, you just have to continue as nor- well, as best you can,’ he said to Skulduggery. Ghastly did not miss the way Valkyrie stared at her feet at that.

The older Valkyrie was gone. None of them had thought something like this might happen, and it had severely shaken them, even if Mist- and perhaps Ravel too- weren’t going to admit it. Ghastly had seen Valkyrie grow up, and there was a reason he had stopped pressing Skulduggery about the wisdom of bringing someone so young into all this: however reluctantly, he could tell that she could handle it. Valkyrie Cain had grown into a fierce fighter, a proficient detective, and a force to be reckoned with. The girl standing next to Ghastly now, while definitely not to be underestimated, was also… not her. Not yet. She needed help, and they were refusing to give it.

Skulduggery’s silence seemed to suck everyone’s attention into it.

Ravel’s voice hardened. ‘Is that going to be a problem?’

And here is where Ghastly would draw the line.

‘How can it not be a problem, Erskine?’ he said sharply.

Ravel raised his hands, acknowledging the bad word choice. ‘I just need to know if you can still do your job,’ he said in a measured tone to Skulduggery.

Into the hush, Valkyrie said defiantly, ‘We always can.’

Ravel’s gaze flicked to her, then back to Skulduggery. Very slightly, Skulduggery dipped his head in a nod.

‘Alright. Now, you said you’d acquired the Sce-’

‘Actually, I need to speak with Ghastly for a moment,’ Skulduggery interrupted.

Looking tempted to hit something, probably Skulduggery, Ravel exchanged a glance with Ghastly, and then nodded. ‘We’ll wait for you here.’

Skulduggery held open the door for him, but when Valkyrie tried to follow-

‘Not you,’ he said curtly.

She stopped and Ghastly wasn’t at all surprised by the flicker of hurt on her face. Would Skulduggery get angry at friends, including Ghastly? Very much so. Did he ever let it spill onto Valkyrie? Before now, Ghastly hadn’t ever thought he would. Skulduggery was usually exceedingly good at directing his vitriol only at those who had earned it.

To his credit, though, he did seem to immediately recognise his lapse.

Placing a hand on her shoulder, he said with considerably more warmth, ‘I need you to stay here and catch the others up on what happened in Mevolent’s dimension.’

He didn’t move until she’d given him a half-smile and a nod. Ghastly got the impression that unless she had, he wouldn’t have. As it was, he squeezed her shoulder, waited as the half-smile became a brief but full one, and only then did he turn and follow Ghastly out.

The room they withdrew to had a kettle already on and a selection of tea bags ready. Ghastly helped himself, figuring wearily that this altercation had probably been coming for a while.

He heard the door bang shut, and kept his face neutral. ‘Alright, let’s-’ he began.

‘“Not a priority”?’ Skulduggery said, pacing. ‘“Not a priority”? Valkyrie is gone, and this is somehow not a priority?’

‘I know,’ Ghastly sighed.

‘This is worse than when she was shunting. She wasn’t a priority then, either. Mist, I expected this from. Ravel too, after the shunting situation, but you? You’re in agreement with them? About this?’

‘Yes, I am,’ said Ghastly levelly.

‘Yes, you are.’

A few more lengths of aggressive pacing, and Skulduggery began to slow down.

‘Got it all out of your system?’

‘Keep it up, Bespoke, we’ll see.’

The words did, however marginally, seem to be holding down less sheer explosive pressure now, so Ghastly took it as a good sign. Fortunately, knowing someone for four hundred years could teach you a lot about them, and by this point he was well-versed in behaving as Skulduggery’s outlet point, and the same went for Skulduggery in Ghastly’s case.

‘I don’t like it any more than you do,’ Ghastly said when he was sure he wouldn’t be interrupted. ‘But it’s the objective thing to do, you know it is. And after we sort Argeddion out, I’ll make sure that finding Jamie Morton along with anyone and anything that’s time travel related gets put at the top of the Sanctuary’s priorities. I want her back safely, too.’

Turn kettle off, water in mug. Bag in mug. Ghastly stared at it, then at his watch, and added another bag.

‘I’m not asking you to choose the whole world over her; that’s what Ravel and I are for now, and that’s why you wanted us as Elders- so you could trust us to do this right. So you don’t have to worry. Valkyrie is a priority for me, and for Ravel as well. Unfortunately, if we want there to actually be a world for her to come back to, everything else is a Priority with a capital P.’

Skulduggery was silent. Ghastly added a third bag to his super-tea, and chose not to add milk. Diluting the caffeine was the exact opposite effect he wanted right now.

He glanced at Skulduggery. His friend had stopped his agitated movements, and was now leaning against the break room wall, staring at nothing. Arguably, this was more worrying.

‘What is it?’

Skulduggery didn’t look at him. ‘Jamie Morton was one of the people who disappeared during the Remnant attack.’

Ghastly paused in stirring his tea, but restarted soon after. That made things difficult, but not impossible. Now that they knew time travel could be done, avenues would open up everywhere. Morton wouldn’t be the only option.

Granted, he was the only option Ghastly had even heard of in four hundred and fifty of his years on this planet, but…

‘Disappeared isn’t dead,’ he said aloud. Skulduggery didn’t respond. He didn’t have to; the likelihood of someone being alive and unaccounted for after a Remnant attack was down there with rocks spontaneously learning to fly, or Ghastly not punching Billy-Ray Sanguine if he ever saw him again.

‘When she appeared,’ Skulduggery said woodenly, ‘there was a flash of light and searing heat, and then it cleared and Valkyrie was gone.’

‘Because they’d swapped,’ nodded Ghastly, but a leaden feeling was starting to develop in his stomach. Skulduggery had never mentioned having the slightest piece of evidence to support that.

‘Her horse was gone, too.’

Ghastly was the one staying quiet now.

‘Valkyrie- the younger Valkyrie- suggested that it might have been transported back with her.’

‘Is there a reason why it wouldn’t have been?’

‘Aside from the incredible improbability of there being another version of that horse in our reality, which diverged from Mevolent’s centuries before, never mind one that existed in the younger Valkyrie’s timeline, for it to swap with?’

‘Aside from that, yes.’

‘I found a half-melted horseshoe nearby.’

The leaden feeling was settling on his lungs now, too.

‘The other half had been vaporised.’

Not even drinking the tea would have made the exhaustion in Ghastly’s bones leave now. He placed the mug on the bench, undrunk.

‘I think I lost her, Ghastly,’ said Skulduggery quietly. The faint hum of fluorescent lights suffused the room.

‘Does the younger Valkyrie know?’

‘She figured it out herself.’

‘Clever,’ Ghastly muttered.

‘Yes. We’re pretending it didn’t happen that way. That Valkyrie’s still alive.’

‘How do you know she isn’t?’ said Ghastly.

Skulduggery turned his head towards him.

‘The first thing you told Valkyrie was that she’d switched with her older self. Why did you say that?’ Before Skulduggery had a chance to say something else sombre and devastating, Ghastly interjected with, ‘It was the teleporters, wasn’t it?’

Reluctantly, Skulduggery nodded. ‘Essentially, she had just been teleported through time as well as space, without a guide. So something must have been drawing her onwards. Another version of herself could have been acting as a kind of Isthmus Anchor, but that could also mean that this was the same case for our Valkyrie. She could have drawn the younger Valkyrie forward just as the younger Valkyrie could have drawn her backward. Two Isthmus Anchors make an Isthmus Bridge.’

Ghastly spread his hands. ‘Well? That sounds plausible to me.’

‘Yes, it would, coming from two people who have never studied quantum magic theory in their lives. And if it is right, we have no idea whether it can be reversed. Once a timestream is changed, can it be affected again? What are the consequences for doing so? What we have is a handful of hope, at best.’

Perhaps, but if it was about magic, then Ghastly was inclined to listen to his friend. Ever since they’d been kids, Skulduggery had had an instinct for it.

‘Listen, we have a direction to go in. I’m sure some crazy scientist somewhere has been theorising about time travel for years, and we’ll make their day when we show them Valkyrie. For now, let’s just focus on getting to that point. We can catastrophise later,’ Ghastly said firmly.

Nodding, Skulduggery straightened, and they both made an effort to shake off the desolation. Ghastly picked up his super-tea again, pleased that it hadn’t cooled down.

‘How is Valkyrie doing with all this?’ he prodded.

‘Oh, good. Good.’

‘Really?’

‘No. I was trying out optimism. I’ve decided I don’t like it.’

‘How shocking. But actually though, how is she?’

‘As well as can be expected, I suppose. It’s difficult to judge. What’s meant to be the baseline level of distress in this case?’

‘Let’s start by working our way up from loneliness and homesickness to fear of having killed your future self.’

‘Right. Well, that about covers it, to be honest. The most she’s feeling is some insecurity at the moment, but I don’t think it’ll be long before it all comes crashing down. I’m keeping an eye on her. For the most part, she’s behaving just like her usual self, albeit at that age.’

‘Nostalgic,’ commented Ghastly, blowing on the tea.

‘A bit. She complained about me being protective.’

Ghastly burnt his mouth. ‘You?’ he choked.

Skulduggery shrugged. ‘The other Valkyrie did too, last year. It must be something she’s overly sensitive about.’

‘Since when have you tried to keep her out of danger?’

‘That’s what I thought.’

‘And I doubt you’re going to start now, are you?’ Ghastly said, skirting very close to an argument they hadn’t had for a few years now.

Skulduggery tilted his head, sensing the familiarity. ‘Well, as our esteemed Elders have decreed, I do have a job to do, and since little Valkyrie’s prioritisation has been pushed back, she’s staying with me for now.’

‘Touché,’ Ghastly said, leading the way out. ‘Don’t let her hear you call her that, by the way.’

‘And where’s the Sceptre now?’ queried Ravel, as Valkyrie finished talking.

‘My reflection still has it. We left it with Doctor Synecdoche in the hospital ward.’

‘Unprotected?’ said Madame Mist sharply.

Valkyrie wasn’t sure what to think of her. She definitely trusted her the least out of all the Elders, and she didn’t seem to possess the same camaraderie with them that Ghastly and Ravel had, but Valkyrie didn’t especially want to pin her down as being as dislikeable as Guild just for that. Ravel, on the other hand, she did like.

‘No, no, like I said, it’s with my reflection,’ Valkyrie reassured her, and then faltered. ‘Why would it need to be protected? This is the Sanctuary, isn’t it?’

‘Argeddion’s already displayed that he can easily come and go as he wishes,’ Ravel explained. ‘A few hours ago he took all the magic back from the mortals he had gifted it to, and killed the team of scientists that had been breaking away from his control.’

Valkyrie’s mouth went dry. ‘So, you’ll be wanting to see the Sceptre as soon as possible, then?’

Ravel nodded. ‘Exactly. We’ll go now.’

‘Uh, didn’t you say we’d wait here for Skulduggery and Ghastly?’

He cast an annoyed glance at the door they had vanished through. ‘Yep. Come on, let’s go.’

Valkyrie couldn’t quite stop herself from grinning.

‘You decided that an appropriate hiding place for the most dangerous weapon we have at our disposal, the most powerful of the God-Killers… was under a blanket?’ said Ravel doubtfully a few minutes later.

Valkyrie looked at the long lump under the unconscious reflection’s bedsheets.

‘Well… has anyone found it?’ she defended.

Ravel opened his mouth, looked reflective, shrugged, and said, ‘I suppose not. Good job.’

‘Who has taken possession of it?’ questioned Mist.

‘Skulduggery was the first person to touch it after coming through the portal,’ said Valkyrie. ‘He wouldn’t let me. Apparently I caused thousands of euros worth of property damage the last time I owned it, and almost killed China.’

Addressing Ravel, Mist said, ‘We should remove it to a safer location until it is needed. The Repository, or-’

‘On the other hand, how much of a challenge would those defences pose to Argeddion, in comparison to how long it would take us to get to it if we needed it in a hurry?’ Thoughtfully, Ravel considered the lump by the reflection’s heavily bandaged hand. ‘Here though, it is easily accessible, and no one knows about it apart from Skulduggery, Doctor Synecdoche, and us. If we kept our mouths shut…’

‘You are suggesting we leave it here.’

‘I am. Although, it’s more of a decision I’ve already made.’

They stared at each other for a moment, and then Mist said, ‘Very well.’ Apparently seeing no more reason to stay, she left the ward.

‘You know, those were almost the exact same reasons Skulduggery had for leaving the Sceptre here,’ Valkyrie said curiously.

Ravel chuckled. ‘Yeah, it is the sort of Dead Men-crazy idea we’d think of.’

‘Dead Men?’ repeated Valkyrie.

Starting slightly, as if he’d forgotten Valkyrie wasn’t as up to date on events as she should be, Ravel clarified, ‘The Special Ops unit we were in during the war with Mevolent. Skulduggery, me, Ghastly, a few others.’

‘Anton Shudder?’ Valkyrie guessed, remembering the way he and Skulduggery had fought.

‘Him too. We took on the missions that no one expected us to come back from. I suppose the kind of people who volunteer for that come around to a similar way of planning, even after all these years.’

‘To be honest, I think you all just copied me,’ said Skulduggery, coming up from behind.

Ravel laughed. ‘I seem to remember you only started using revolvers after Hopeless lent you his one time.’

‘Nonsense. There were lots of new inventions that year. I would have picked them up eventually.’

Skulduggery seemed to be back to normal, which was heartening. It was embarrassing how easily so much loneliness and worry had been dredged up with just a word from him. She’d have to keep a better hold of herself in the future.

Happily, there were no lingering traces of tension between Skulduggery and Ravel. It made sense, now that she knew how far back they went.

‘Ghastly?’ inquired Ravel.

‘Had paperwork to do. I filled him in.’

Ravel looked at his watch and groaned. ‘Paperwork? At this hour?’ Then he rolled his eyes in resignation. ‘Sounds about right. Remind me again why I took this job?’

‘Because you’re a responsible man who is dedicated to upholding the safety of your fellow humans.’

‘No, that can’t be it…’

‘Because Ghastly and I made you.’

‘That’s more like it. I hate you for that, by the way.’

‘Go do some paperwork, you’ll feel better after you’ve upheld the safety of your fellow humans.’

‘Sure, why not. See you in the daylight, you two. Get some rest.’ He smiled tiredly at Valkyrie, and clapped Skulduggery on the shoulder.

When he was gone, Valkyrie’s gaze fell on the reflection again. Doctor Synecdoche hadn’t blinked an eye at using her materials to patch up what was basically a magical robot. After the pain regulator had been taken away to the Repository, she’d even sedated it to help it rest. Valkyrie had decided she liked the doctor a lot.

What she’d liked less was the news that that crotchety old doctor that Skulduggery had taken her to see a couple times, Kenspeckle Grouse, had died early last year. She’d liked him as well.

A wave of tiredness crashed over her, and she yawned.

‘I suppose we should take it back to my house and put it in the mirror to heal,’ she said, rubbing her eyes.

After a brief pause, Skulduggery said gently, ‘You can’t go back home, Valkyrie.’

She opened her eyes. Oh. Right. Her mum and dad would no doubt freak out if they saw their daughter had reverted back to being thirteen.

Then she snapped her head up to Skulduggery in alarm. ‘But that means we can’t heal the reflection!’

‘Yes. If we put it back in the mirror, it’ll just turn into a reflection of you, and then it’ll have an even more difficult time standing in at your house.’

‘Skulduggery, she’s- it’s missing an eye, and fingers. We can’t just leave it like that. If for nothing else, it won’t be able to go back home either, and then Mum and Dad will start to worry, and they’ll think something terrible has happened-’ She cut herself off, scrambling for solutions. Her parents were not going to have to face any of that. Not if she could help it.

‘China!’ she exclaimed suddenly. ‘Somewhere in China’s library there’ll be a book on reflections, and there’ll be a spell in it saying how to heal them without a mirror,’ she said determinedly.

Skulduggery hesitated, and broke to her carefully, ‘China’s library was destroyed a few months ago.’ There was more to the story, something he was holding back, but it didn’t matter.

Valkyrie felt the bottom drop out of her stomach. She gaped soundlessly. Skulduggery turned her towards him and placed both hands on her shoulders.

‘Listen to me, we’ll figure something out. You can still talk to your parents from your reflection’s phone, so that should buy us some time-’

His own phone rang.

He looked at her, and when Valkyrie gave a jerky nod he reluctantly answered. She stared at the reflection while she waited, lost trying to think of ways they could fix this. She couldn’t go home, her reflection couldn’t go home, China’s library was destroyed, Kenspeckle Grouse was dead, her parents would never know what had happened to her in either timeline…

Skulduggery hung up, but he didn’t speak for a few moments. He hesitated a lot around her, this Skulduggery.

‘What is it?’ she prompted.

‘Something I’ve been expecting.’

‘You don’t sound sure it’s a good thing.’

‘I’m not. Regardless, it’s something we should investigate immediately.’ Coming to a decision, he led her out of the hospital ward. Valkyrie gave a last glance back at the reflection, stomach churning, and followed.

‘The vision of Darquesse has changed,’ Skulduggery informed her.

‘Who’s Darquesse?’ Valkyrie said.

Chapter Text

Cassandra Pharos lived in a nice small cottage in a field and had visions about the end of the world. Not only was this Argeddion guy on the loose, but there was another looming threat who was apparently going to be even more calamitous. At least Argeddion didn’t actually want to kill everyone: he wanted to make the world better, even if he was going about it horribly. Darquesse, whoever she was, was destruction incarnate.

Valkyrie’s head twinged. The headache was probably reasonable by this point- she’d been awake for almost twenty-four hours- but it was still annoying.

‘Has the government changed?’ she asked Skulduggery out of the blue on the drive over.

‘A couple years ago there were two elections, I believe. The Dáil Éireann and the Irish president-’

‘No,’ Valkyrie interrupted. ‘Skulduggery, when have I ever given an indication of being interested in politics?’ An appalling thought struck her. ‘I’m not now, am I?’

‘No, you are most definitely not. I’d be surprised if you could tell me which party was in power.’

‘Oh, that’s a relief.’

‘And I, on the other hand, was briefly heartened.’

Ignoring this, Valkyrie continued, ‘The magical government. Madame Mist said something about a Supreme Council overseeing us now?’

‘Oh yes,’ said Skulduggery darkly, ‘that. Do you remember how I told you that in the past few years we’ve been on many daring and heroic adventures to save the world?’

‘Yes?’

‘It hasn’t been appreciated. The other Sanctuaries had a meeting, to which Ireland was not invited, and decided that if we couldn’t keep a handle on everything then they would. A Supreme Council was formed as an oversight committee for the entire world. Now, we have the English Grand Mage- Quentin Strom- and a representative from the American Grand Mage called Bernard Sult here watching our every move, along with a veritable army of their sorcerers. It is, as you can see, very reassuring having such concerned friends.’

‘It sounds like they’re invading.’

‘It does. Furthermore, we’re not sure we can trust our own Roarhaven mages. Three tried to attack Ghastly and Ravel the other day- so just be aware that we don’t trust Madame Mist right now.’

‘Then… hang on, am I missing something? Wasn’t it pretty risky showing her where we’re keeping the Sceptre, then?’

Skulduggery looked at her. ‘Erskine took her with you?’

Valkyrie nodded. Skulduggery was silent.

‘Although, I mean, it’s not like he could have just ordered her away. That would have made her suspicious, and she was pretty set on finding out how our mission went,’ Valkyrie reasoned. Skulduggery murmured an agreement.

She left him to his thoughts for a minute or two before realising that she might actually pass out if she didn’t keep herself occupied.

‘So what were our adventures like? They were the saving-the-world kind, right? Are we famous?’

Skulduggery laughed. ‘I already rather am, of course, but you’ve made a bit of a name for yourself too. We’ve stopped numerous attempts to bring the Faceless Ones back- you even killed a few, by the way.’

‘Awesome.’

‘I ended up stuck in their dimension for a little while.’

‘Less… awesome…’

‘But I did learn to fly, along with a few other tricks, so there is that.’

‘Now that is so awesome.’

‘I know. There were a few more drastic events we survived, the latest of which involved the necromancers thinking you were their Death Bringer, before deciding that you weren’t, and making their own, who is now safely comatose.’

‘What’s a Death Bringer?’ Valkyrie asked, yawning, and wincing when the headache stabbed at her again.

‘As it turned out, a maniac supposed to kill three billion people.’

‘And they thought that was me?’ said Valkyrie indignantly. ‘That’s offensive.’

‘It is quite rude,’ said Skulduggery, but he went quiet again afterwards, tapping out a rhythm on the steering wheel.

A few minutes later they arrived at Cassandra’s house. The night, or morning, was so dark it seemed as though her alight windows were floating in mid-air.

When she let them in, she was the first person that Valkyrie had spoken to who wasn’t dumbfounded by her appearance.

Psychic, she remembered.

‘You said the vision had changed,’ Skulduggery said, removing his hat as they followed Cassandra down her hall. ‘It hasn’t been completely averted, then?’

Cassandra, her long grey hair tied back and a dressing gown over her nightdress, gave a fleeting smile as she stepped into a pair of wellington boots.

‘Wouldn’t that be handy? But no, I’m afraid Valkyrie’s appearance hasn’t been enough to change things that much.’ She shrugged on a raincoat. ‘Darquesse is still out there, and waiting for her time.’

‘Are we going outside?’ Valkyrie asked.

‘Just down to the basement.’

‘Is it flooded?’

Cassandra laughed, and led the way down a set of stairs.

The cellar was cool and dark, but flared orange as Skulduggery lit a fireball and dropped it through the grating on the floor. Coals beneath glowed red and the ignition spread at Skulduggery’s direction.

A chair with an umbrella leaning against it stood in the centre of the room. Pipes criss-crossed the ceiling, small sprinklers set into them. Cassandra took Valkyrie’s hands, eyes intent on her.

‘Keep in mind that none of this is guaranteed to happen. What you’re about to see is not real- not yet.’

Distinctly unsettled, Valkyrie watched her walk to the chair and sit down, legs crossed, eyes closed. When she opened the umbrella and rested it on her shoulder, Skulduggery twisted a valve on the wall and the sprinklers began to gush. Valkyrie stepped out of splashing range.

Water rained down, sizzling and sputtering against the coals. The heat lessened. The red glow faded. Steam billowed until Cassandra was completely obscured. Valkyrie knew Skulduggery was closer by, but she could barely see him either. When he turned off the water, the squeak was more muffled than it ought to have been.

Unsure what was going on, Valkyrie stepped away from the wall towards where Cassandra had been, further into the clouds. The grating was slippery, but her boots held firm.

‘Skulduggery?’ she called.

‘Over here.’

She turned, saw him striding closer. He drew his gun from a holster on his thigh and fired straight at her.

She flinched with a cry. Then the steam broke apart, scattering his image, and the real Skulduggery plunged through.

‘That wasn’t me,’ he said, grabbing her and holding her close. ‘It was just a vision.’

‘Got it,’ Valkyrie gasped, clutching him tightly.

Distant shouts and screams echoed around them, the sounds of a pitched battle growing steadily louder. Bursts of energy and fire lit up the fog, but no more figures rushed out of it. Gradually, it faded away.

Valkyrie relaxed her grip on Skulduggery unwillingly, her heartrate winding down a few Hertz.

‘Is that it?’ she asked him.

A groan of pain answered her. She spun, glad Skulduggery kept a hand on her shoulder.

A boy with meticulously maintained hair was lying on the ground, faced creased in agony, shirt drenched in blood. He was gone in the next instant.

Laughter, delighted and disbelieving. Tanith’s. They moved towards it, and clouds parted. An image of a man Valkyrie didn’t know stood there. The shock on his face morphed into grimness, and his hands lit up purple.

Scythes flashed to their left. Cleavers, one of them all in black, spun and slashed in the midst of Ghastly, China, and Ravel, who were fighting so furiously it was impossible to tell who was against who.

Herself, sprinting desperately through a corridor she recognised as belonging to the new Roarhaven Sanctuary, the entire building collapsing behind her.

A man in sunglasses, holding a discoloured gold dagger.

Valkyrie again, bloody and dirty and older. She was tall, strong, snarling, the Sceptre of the Ancients levelled in her hands.

Skulduggery on his knees, unmoving, shadows coiling above him.

Then her parents. They were right in front of her, running down a street, calling her name, looking scared. Valkyrie’s world tilted.

‘Stephanie!’ her mother cried. ‘Steph, we’re here!’

Searing orange flame burgeoned in a ring, hiding whoever was at the epicentre from view. The wall of fire rushed outwards and obliterated Desmond and Melissa..

‘NO!’

Her legs gave out but arms were around her, keeping her up.

All light vanished. Not even the steam clouds were visible. Pitch black on all sides, and Tanith’s voice rang out clearly.

‘Darquesse. Wake up.’

Everything whited out.

‘Valkyrie. Valkyrie.’

Stairs were passing by beneath her. She rolled her head and met the crook of an elbow, then a shoulder as she was shifted.

‘Valkyrie, you’re safe. It’s okay. Valkyrie, wake up.’

She could listen to that voice for hours, but Skulduggery sure did sound concerned, repeating her name insistently like he was. She opened her eyes properly just as he lowered her onto Cassandra’s living room couch.

‘What was that?’ she muttered, managing to sit up.

‘Exhaustion,’ Skulduggery answered abruptly. Exhaustion, an extremely eventful day, and then stress and overstimulation brought on by the vision. How are you feeling?’

‘Less fainty.’

He took her head in his hands and made her look at him, and then seemed to relax, satisfied. Cassandra came in and he stood back up.

‘It was an especially vivid and chaotic one,’ she said apologetically, handing Valkyrie a warm mug of tea. At Valkyrie’s surprised expression, she smiled and said, ‘I’ve had the kettle on for you since I woke up.’ Which would have been before she called Skulduggery.

‘Oh… um, thanks.’

By gripping the mug tight enough, she could stop her hands from shaking.

‘Did you know who any of those people were?’ she made herself ask.

‘All of them,’ Skulduggery replied. ‘The boy on the ground was Fletcher Renn, a friend of ours. The Energy-Thrower with purple light in his hands was Dexter Vex, also a friend; one of the Dead Men, actually. The man in sunglasses…’

An explosion of fire replayed again and again in Valkyrie’s head, consuming her parents over and over. They’d been searching frantically for her, scared for her, exactly what she never wanted. Before she knew it, there were tears in her eyes and all she wanted was to see them and hug them and convince herself they were fine. When was the last time she spoke to them? It seemed like so long ago, and was therefore fairly jarring to remember she’d hugged them goodbye only that morning.

Skulduggery sat beside her. She’d stopped listening, and he’d noticed.

Crying wasn’t going to help anyone, she told herself, clenching her jaw. She couldn’t see her family, and that was that.

If anything, it made her feel worse.

‘Do you know how far ahead it is?’ she asked Cassandra, swallowing hard.

She shook her head. ‘I’m afraid not. However, we can make some guesses based on what we saw of you in them. You didn’t appear too different when you were running through the building, so we might expect that, or something like it, to occur in the near future. It isn’t guaranteed to happen though, Valkyrie. None of it is.’

‘I’ll keep an eye out for structural integrity in the Sanctuary then,’ Valkyrie said past the tightness in her throat. She should have a knack for it, her dad was in construction after all…

Another wave of distress hit her.

‘On the other hand, much of it may not happen for several more years,’ Cassandra considered. ‘You looked like you were seventeen when we saw you holding the Sceptre.’

‘But that might not have been me,’ she interjected, facing Skulduggery, a wild hope suddenly flaring in her chest. ‘What if that was her? It could have been, right? Somehow, she comes back- we do figure out a way to get me home.’

‘It’s a possibility,’ he acknowledged.

The hope rushed out of her as fast as it had come.

‘She was holding the Sceptre. She was holding it like she was using it. But… it’s Deadlocked, isn’t it? It can’t be used by anyone until its owner is dead. But… but you’re its owner,’ she finished weakly.

He inclined his head. ‘Again, it’s a possibility.’

‘Right.’ She didn’t like that at all. Skulduggery was supposed to be invincible; nothing could keep him down- he was already dead. ‘Right.’ She sipped the tea and glared at the carpet.

‘What about Tanith? It was her we heard, wasn’t it? Why would she be…’ she searched for the right word, ‘…encouraging Darquesse like that?’

Cassandra and Skulduggery exchanged glances.

‘One of our adventures-’ Skulduggery started.

‘You mean our heroic, world-saving ones, where we beat the bad guys into dust? Those adventures?’ Valkyrie said frustratedly.

‘One of those, yes, dealt with the escape of the Remnants- little slices of darkness that would possess people and relish in bringing out their worst, most violent, sadistic depths. One of them caught Tanith, and is now permanently bonded to her. She’s fixed on doing everything she can to help Darquesse end the world.’

‘What,’ said Valkyrie, ‘the hell.’ And then whatever dam had been building inside her crumbled and Skulduggery hugged her as she sobbed. Cassandra tactfully took Valkyrie’s cup of half-drunk tea into the kitchen.

Once the torrent had lessened, which took a while, Skulduggery said, ‘The other Valkyrie and I have seen similar visions. I’m working on it. I promised her, and I promise you, that I’ll-’

‘-figure something out, yeah,’ Valkyrie bit out, roughly pulling away. ‘You say that a lot.’

There was a heavy silence. The pounding headache faded away.

‘Sorry,’ Valkyrie said.

‘Don’t worry about it. It’s more than understandable,’ Skulduggery dismissed without the slightest trace of resentment.

Valkyrie wiped her nose and steadied her voice.

‘I know the library’s gone, but China might still know something about healing reflections, right? Or she could point us to someone who does? I just… really don’t want my parents to be worried, or alone right now.’

Skulduggery nodded. ‘I’ll talk to Ghastly tomorrow, see if he can get in contact with her.’

Valkyrie’s face dropped in dread. ‘Oh no.’

 ‘Oh no what?’

‘You’re holding something back about you and China.’

‘And how do you know that?’

‘You’re asking Ghastly to call her, and you’re putting it off, when I know for a fact you have her on speed-dial. Or used to, anyway.’

‘That’s very astute of you.’

Her eyes narrowed. ‘Why are you two fighting?’

‘Now that was quick.’ Skulduggery sounded quite impressed, but she paid no heed. Whatever had happened, it was bad enough to put a big divide between two people who were already very lenient about any transgressions the other made.

‘Come on,’ she said, some helplessness sliding into her voice. ‘Tanith’s gone, so many people have died, and now you and China can’t even speak to each other? Please, just tell me what’s going on.’

Valkyrie maintained the imploring expression until Skulduggery said flatly, ‘You’re trying to guilt me, aren’t you?’

She sighed. ‘Yeah. I almost had you, though.’ Then quietly, ‘Really, what happened?’

Skulduggery considered her, and replied, ‘I don’t I think I should tell you. Not tonight, at least.’

Valkyrie wanted to argue, but she wouldn’t win, and her heart wasn’t in it. She was utterly drained.

Despite this, on the drive Valkyrie couldn’t stop thinking.

‘If Darquesse is supposed to be destroying the world, why isn’t she yet?’

‘She’s not strong enough,’ Skulduggery said with utmost surety. ‘Nowhere near strong enough, at the moment.’

‘And no one knows where she is? We can’t stop her before she does get strong enough?’

‘Well, the actual fact of the matter is that no one knows who she is, let alone where she is. No information exists about her on record. Nevertheless, there are teams around the world who are searching.’

‘Then what about off record? And how are you so certain that she isn’t strong enough? She could be biding her time, or something. And if Tanith’s hell-bent on finding her, who’s to say she hasn’t? It’s Tanith. What if-’

‘You don’t need to worry about Darquesse right now, Valkyrie. Tanith hasn’t gotten to her, and she’s not about to strike suddenly at any moment. We’ve got time.’

‘How do you know?’

She thought he might not answer her for a moment. His fingers drummed on the steering wheel, tapping out the beat she recognised from earlier.

‘Because I’ve met her,’ he said at last.

Valkyrie rolled her eyes. ‘I know that.’

His head whipped to her, startled.

‘You get her to train me whenever she’s in town.’

He kept staring at her. Then he enunciated clearly, ‘I’ve met Darquesse. I’m aware you know I’ve met Tanith.’

‘Ah.’ Then the reason why she’d assumed he’d been talking about Tanith caught up with her: the alternative possibility was too outrageous to contemplate. ‘What? Hold on, hold on… what? You’ve met Darquesse?’

‘Yes,’ said Skulduggery testily, the drama sucked from the moment. ‘A few times, in fact.’

‘That’s… Skulduggery, that’s…’

There wasn’t anything she could say to that, actually. Obviously, it was a secret; he would have been more forthcoming otherwise. He also wasn’t dead- that is, any deader than usual, which was a plus. Unfortunately, he clearly hadn’t managed to kill or arrest her, either. Those were the main things she had wanted to know, and she could answer them herself. What else was there to say? What more did she want to know?

‘What’s she like?’ she asked.

The beat again, on the steering wheel.

‘She’s curious. She wants to understand how things work, especially her powers. A fast learner, too. I’ve never seen anyone pick up how to use magic so quickly, or so proficiently. She lives for a challenge, loves to laugh, likes to joke… and while I don’t know if I’d go so far as to say she doesn’t care about anyone, she certainly doesn’t have any compassion.’

So that was who she’d seen kill her parents. Valkyrie had pictured someone evil, someone she’d be ready to hate, but that didn’t line up with Skulduggery’s description. And she trusted Skulduggery.

‘She doesn’t… sound like a monster,’ she said hesitantly. ‘Just a bit cold.’

‘You’re right. Sometimes monsters don’t seem like it. But they still can be.’ He let that sit in the air for a while, and then continued in a tone that made Valkyrie want to pay special attention. ‘I don’t think of Darquesse as a monster. I think of her the same as any other person: a well of untapped potential. Unlimited potential, in her case. We’ve seen how easily she could do so much evil, but she can also do an incredible amount of good. She can change. Do you understand?’

Valkyrie nodded, a little uncertainly.

Perhaps sensing that he’d gone a little off-track, Skulduggery proceeded to swear her to secrecy and tell her more about the actual events of the Death Bringer’s destruction of O’Connell Street in Dublin. As it turned out, the battle hadn’t involved the Death Bringer at all. Instead, it took place between Darquesse and Lord Vile, who was, uncomfortably enough, not dead in this dimension. The idea that he was still around made fear lick at her. She’d assumed that everyone who had made the situation in Mevolent’s dimension possible had been killed or permanently incarcerated, and the idea that one of his Three Generals hadn’t been was none too pleasant.

Skulduggery’s voice was captivating, her seat was comfortable, and the story was immersive. It surprised her when the Bentley rolled to a halt.

Feeling like her limbs were lead, Valkyrie heaved herself out and trudged forwards a few steps before she realised that she recognised the gravel path she was walking on.

They were at Gordon’s mansion. Skulduggery was already inside, holding the door for her.

‘What are we doing here?’

He remained quiet. She followed him up the stairs and to the study. ‘Skulduggery, I’m tired, and there’s a bed so, so close. Do you want to have to carry me into it? Because that’s what’s going to happen soon.’

He tugged on a book she’d never taken notice of and a room that she’d previously had no idea existed opened up behind a bookshelf.

Gordon’s study had a secret room. Whoop-de-doo. She could be excited and energetic in the morning. Standing up was getting to be actual torture.

‘Alright, I’ve had it. I’m collapsing in three, two-’

Blue light shone in the secret room.

‘I thought seeing your family might do you some good,’ said Skulduggery.

‘Valkyrie, Skulduggery, good to- oh. Um.’ Gordon Edgley, slightly transparent, paused in surprise.

Chapter Text

An insistent throbbing at the back of her head drew Valkyrie from sleep. She groaned into her pillow. She wasn’t ready to wake up. After everything that had happened yesterday, she needed more time to process. For a start, she hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before- she’d had trouble convincing her parents that she was fine for school- and then she and Skulduggery had gone to the Sanctuary and Guild had been annoyed at them and told them to bring in Jamie Morton for something so far beneath their job description it was insulting, and then… time travel. And then so much more.

She snuggled deeper into the blankets. She wasn’t ready to face all the ‘more’ yet. There hadn’t been much good news. Ghastly was no longer a statue, though. And-

She leapt out of bed, ran down the hall, caught the edge of the study as she shot past and swung herself inside.

The echo stone was already lit up when she breathlessly entered the secret room. Her Uncle Gordon smiled at her.

‘I have to say, it’s been a while since anyone’s been so excited to see me,’ he said, looking very pleased.

Valkyrie grinned. ‘Can you blame me?’

‘Not at all. I regularly expect it, in fact, and yet my visitors continually disappoint. It’s always, “Nice to see you, Gordan,” or “How have you been, Gordan?” None of them have sprinted in here as though my very presence was a Christmas miracle.’

‘How dare they heap you with mere cordial greetings.’

‘Indeed.’

‘You know, you’re the first person who’s actually been happy to see me, as well,’ Valkyrie mused.

‘I’m always happy to see my niece, no matter what her age is. Particularly if she’s four. I do remember you possessing a certain awe and hero-worship then, which you unfortunately grew out of after, oh, maybe a week? I can’t imagine why.’

‘I must have developed some immunity to egotism.’

‘Something that has served you very well in your dealings with Skulduggery and myself, I have no doubt.’

Valkyrie laughed. She wandered around the edge of the room, trailing a hand along the spines of books. Most of them dealt with arcane pieces of history, but there were more than a few notebooks, too.

‘Is there anything in here about time travel?’ she wondered, but Gordon was already shaking his head before she had finished.

‘Skulduggery wanted to know the same thing. I don’t have any more information than he does.’ His smile turned regretful.

Another road blocked. First Skulduggery, then the Elders, now Gordon. Again, she pushed away the lurch of fear. She was getting quite good at it by now.

Needing something to take her mind off the path it was going down, she naturally turned to the impending doomsday. She hadn’t spent nearly enough time talking to Gordon, but they did need to head back to the Sanctuary and start planning their next move. She checked the time.

‘Whoa! Why didn’t Skulduggery wake me up?’ It wasn’t late, not by a long shot, but it had been longer than the three or so hours Valkyrie had been expecting to sleep for.

‘I’m not sure. He went down to the living room earlier, I think. See if he’s there.’

‘Thanks. And I’ll come by again soon, when this is all over.’ She automatically went to hug him, then stopped, embarrassed.

‘Don’t worry about it,’ Gordon waved away, but there was a sorrow underneath the next smile he gave. ‘Off you go, save the world- and tell me all about it when you have so I can adapt it into my next “undiscovered masterpiece.”’

‘Will do,’ Valkyrie promised. The door to the secret room closed quietly behind her.

The kitchen was her first stop. The last thing she’d eaten had been breakfast the previous day, and she was feeling it now that the shock of… everything… had worn off.

Once the cereal and milk had been dashed hastily into a bowl, Valkyrie went to the living room, shovelling it determinedly into her mouth.

‘Kulduggkkkkaaaergh-’

She choked and tried again, spying him slumped in an armchair opposite her, hat on the coffee table.

‘Skulduggery, we gotta go, it’s almost nine o’clock.’ As soon as the words were out, she refilled her mouth. ‘‘Ome on, ‘et’s ‘o. ‘R ‘ate ‘or wwork.’

She nudged his leg with her foot. He grunted, but didn’t move. It struck her then that he must be meditating. She’d seen him do it a few times, but never this deeply.

Shuffling the bowl into the arm holding her spoon, Valkyrie swallowed, wiped her mouth and reached out to shake him.

Her hand met a solid wall of air. Disbelievingly, her face broke into a grin.

He’s asleep. How is he doing this?

She closed her eyes, concentrating, feeling the strange, cushiony surface of the shield and how it interacted with normal air. Then she felt the spaces between the two, the different densities of packing, and flexed her fingers.

The shield rippled, almost caved, and her headache spiked. Skulduggery jerked awake and a shockwave erupted out from him.

Valkyrie brought her hand up instinctively. The air parted around her, barely stirring her hair while every single piece of furniture in the room was blown backwards a metre. Chairs hit walls, books fell out of shelves. The coffee table skidded across the floor on two legs, teetered, and then fell back onto all four.

Skulduggery was on his feet, air shimmering around one of his fists. Valkryie had no doubt that it would pack a punch like a cannon if let loose.

‘Whoa! It’s me!’ she exclaimed.

He was staring at her. ‘Valkyrie?’ he said after a moment.

‘Yeah. You almost made me spill my cereal,’ she complained. Oddly enough, that seemed to relax him. She bet it wouldn’t have if it had been his cereal.

‘How on earth did you almost break through that shield?’ he said incredulously, releasing his fistful of air.

‘Just good, I guess.’ She grinned and ate another spoonful. ‘I just pushed at it, like you’ve been showing me.’ Although, it did seem pretty unrealistic that she’d be able to go toe-to-toe with Skulduggery at using magic.

‘You were asleep,’ she reasoned. ‘It probably wasn’t that strong.’

He kept staring at her, and when he was motionless like that, she couldn’t tell what he was feeling. She got the impression it was intentional.

He took in the disarrayed room.

‘I’m sorry. That won’t happen again,’ he promised her, his hat floating into his outstretched hand. Distractedly, he tapped at the brim.

‘S’All good,’ Valkyrie said, wolfing down another few mouthfuls. She wouldn’t have to put the room back together until later. It was a problem for future her to deal with- perhaps even far future her, if they found a way to get her back.

‘I take it we’ve overslept?’ said Skulduggery.

‘A little.’

‘A lot. There’s no such thing as too little rest when the world’s at stake.’

‘Justice never sleeps.’ Valkyrie grinned, and upended the bowl of remaining milk into her mouth, face, lungs, and shirt.

‘Dear God,’ said Skulduggery.

‘Yep, that was a mistake,’ she coughed.

‘Give me that and go change.’ He disarmed her of the bowl and spoon and took it into the kitchen while she rushed upstairs.

Once she was sufficiently clean and dry enough for Skulduggery to allow her into the Bentley, they took off for Roarhaven. Valkyrie hadn’t gotten a good look at it in the dark, so she was interested in seeing what the only sorcerer town in Ireland was like.

‘Drab.’

‘Yes.’

‘Unfriendly.’

‘Very.’

‘Disappointing.’

‘Undoubtedly.’

Valkyrie sighed unhappily. ‘The sorcerers in Mevolent’s dimension might have dressed stupidly, but at least they knew how to build a city.’

‘I’d point out that they also considered themselves superior to mortals, but actually that’s a bias commonly held by Roarhaven sorcerers too. Building ability has nothing to do with it.’

‘And so you have no leg to stand on, and this town is still as charming as my Aunt Beryl. You know, I don’t think I’ve ever been let down more?’

‘You’re just being dramatic now.’

‘Too right I am. I know what to expect. I’ve seen an alternate dimension. I’ve read Harry Potter. Other sorcerers should too. They could take notes on how to inspire wonder and awe.’

There was a grey, unpleasant lake on their right, to match the grey, unpleasant town, which was sparsely populated with grey, unpleasant sorcerers.

‘Is there anything I can do to reinvigorate the enchantment you had when you first discovered this world?’ Skulduggery asked in amusement.

‘People were trying to kill me. I wasn’t enchanted,’ Valkyrie denied flatly.

‘Ah, you say that, but I definitely remember you bouncing along at my side, so eager to learn about magic…’

‘I didn’t bounce.’

‘You did. You do.’

‘I do not.’

‘Well, we’ll see about that when I teach you how to make one of those shields.’

‘Really? Like the one from this morning?’

“Exactly like that one.”

‘And the stream of fire too, right?’

‘Of course.’

‘That’s so cool.’

‘You’re smiling.’

‘No I’m not.’

‘You’ve regained your enthusiasm for magic. Feel free to thank me at any time.’

Valkyrie laughed.

Skulduggery slammed on the brakes.

The Bentley’s tyres squealed and she lurched forward, the seatbelt cutting into her. The car shuddered to a halt- Valkyrie noted that it had changed, too. Back in her time it wouldn’t have complained nearly as much.

Through the windshield were three teenagers, standing nonchalantly in the middle of the wide road. One of the boys was on edge and trying to hide it, but the other was looking at them in anticipation. The girl in the middle was the most confident, her arms folded over a black jacket.

‘Stay here,’ Skulduggery said, and got out of the car. So did Valkyrie.

Skulduggery glanced at her, but didn’t say anything. He drew his gun and pointed it right at the girl. She was staring at Valkyrie, one eyebrow raised.

‘Who’s this?’ she inquired lightly, appearing entirely unconcerned about the weapon levelled at her face.

‘What are you doing here?’ Skulduggery countered.

‘Hey, she looks like your friend- down to the clothes, even. Is she her little sister or something? Why is she with you?’

‘I’m assuming you’re here for some reason other than just to get shot at, but I’ll admit I could be wrong.’

‘Come on, you know that’s not going to do any good.’

‘On the contrary, it would make me feel quite a lot better.’

The comment about clothes had stuck with Valkyrie. The jacket the girl was wearing appeared to be made out of the same material Ghastly made armoured clothes from, but it didn’t go with the rest of her outfit, the kind that would be found in any mortal shop- amply ripped skinny jeans and an airy summer top. If anything, the jacket was of the style that Valkyrie herself liked.

Add in the facts that this girl seemed not only to know the older Valkyrie, but thought she was far better than her, had the air of being one of those popular girls who was used to getting what she wanted, and that her friends looked like they would do just about anything she asked, and Valkyrie’s eyes narrowed.

‘Did you take my jacket?’ she interrupted.

The girl paused. ‘Your jacket?’

‘You did take my jacket,’ Valkyrie realised.

‘Valkyrie, stop talking,’ said Skulduggery sharply.

‘This is a grown-up conversation,’ the girl agreed, but her gaze remained on Valkyrie. ‘And whatever you meant, kid, it’s finders’ keepers.’

Valkyrie really didn’t like her, and the tiredness and the headache getting on her nerves was not helping. Irritated, she found herself snapping back, ‘I meant that I’ve only just gotten here and even I can tell you need your butt kicked.’

The girl, annoyingly, laughed.

‘You cow,’ Valkyrie added impulsively, which stopped the laughter, but widened the grin. The boys’ stances changed, but Valkyrie wasn’t worried. They were teenagers, she had Skulduggery with her, and whether they were mortal or sorcerer, they weren’t trained. The girl turned more fully towards her.

‘Aren’t you a little brat? Unfortunat-’

Skulduggery shot her. Valkyrie jumped violently. The boys jerked back, and an orange glow flared for a moment around one’s fist.

‘Do I have your attention now?’ Skulduggery said coldly. ‘What do you want?’

‘Jesus,’ said the girl, who was clutching her chest in shock. The bullet rolled across the asphalt. Valkyrie stared. It hadn’t even left a bruise.

‘I was going to say,’ the girl said with a glare, ‘that we’re here to offer you a deal, not fight you. So no need to freak out, alright?’

‘What kind of deal?’

‘We want to help take down Argeddion.’

‘Why?’

‘We saw him kill those scientists, and we figure he can do the same to us. Obviously, that’s not something we want. And, as we’re the only ones around here who can even get close to him, you can’t really afford to say no, can you?’ She put her head to one side and placed a hand on her hip, smiling cockily as she waited for his answer.

Skulduggery lowered the gun but didn’t holster it. ‘I’ll talk to the Elders,’ he said.

‘You do that.’

‘In the meantime, don’t go anywhere.’

‘Right, because you could stop us if we tried.’

Skulduggery stared at them for a moment longer, then stepped towards Valkyrie and circled round to the Sanctuary entrance. A steady stream of Cleavers were already exiting it, forming a perimeter around the teenagers.

As soon as they were through the doors, Skulduggery faced her.

‘Do you remember when I said that I wanted you to leave anyone who could kill you with a look for me to deal with? That was one of those times.’

Valkyrie found her voice again. ‘Who are they?’

Skulduggery sighed. ‘They would be the murderous psychopaths Argeddion gifted some of his power to.’

‘So, she’s not going to give me back my jacket?’

‘Your focus on that is admirable.’

‘Thanks,’ Valkyrie said, rubbing her forehead.

‘You okay?’

‘It’s nothing,’ Valkyrie waved away. ‘Just got a headache last night and it hasn’t gone away yet.’

Skulduggery nodded. ‘We’ll stop by the medical ward and pick up some painkillers on the way to Ghastly and Ravel.’

As it turned out, Ghastly found them. They turned down a corridor and he and Tipstaff almost walked into them.

‘Not that way,’ he said firmly, taking them by the arms and steering them around. ‘There’s a situation down there.’

‘There’s situations everywhere,’ Valkyrie pointed out.

‘That one’s bad.’

‘There’s bad situa-’

‘Yes, alright. I mean that Bernard Sult is back there and he wants to know where Grand Mage Strom is.’

‘Ah,’ said Skulduggery. ‘We’ve used up all the time we were buying, then?’

‘And now we’re going into debt,’ confirmed Ghastly. ‘Sult began to get suspicious this morning, and he’s just about on a rampage now. I redirected him and used Tipstaff to escape. Thanks for that, by the way,’ he added to the man. ‘What was it you wanted?’

On Valkyrie’s other side, the Sanctuary Administrator spoke quickly and concisely. ‘Kitana Kellaway, Doran Purcell, and Sean Mackin are in the street outside. Your immediate evacuation is required, Elder Bespoke.’

Ghastly stopped.

‘They’re back?’ he said to Skulduggery.

‘Not to attack anyone,’ Skulduggery assured him. ‘But all the same, I wouldn’t try to arrest them. They want to help us take down Argeddion.’

Not a muscle moved on Ghastly’s face, and then he started walking down the curving corridor again. ‘Sure. The more the merrier. And it’s not like we’re enlisting help we trust anyway, so, yes, I’ll back this. They do understand that we’re trying to take him alive, don’t they?’

Skulduggery hesitated.

Now Ghastly’s expression changed. ‘Did you get any details off them?’

Annoyed, Skulduggery replied, ‘I was ever so slightly busy trying to keep a jacket from becoming the motivation Kitana needed to murder little Valk-’ he stopped. ‘Just Valkyrie. No little. It’s Valkyrie.’

Valkyrie glowered.

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Ghastly continued, ‘Regardless, we do need the firepower. Call it crazy, but I’m still with you.’

‘Dead Men-crazy,’ Valkyrie said, the phrase wandering into her mind.

Ghastly flashed a smile. ‘I guess so.’

‘Elder Bespoke, you along with Grand Mage Ravel and Elder Mist ought to be removed to a secondary location for the time being,’ Tipstaff persisted.

‘You’re making us sound like prized pieces of furniture,’ objected Ghastly.

‘My apologies sir, that is far from what I intended; a notable distinction is the fact that furniture doesn’t complain about being moved. Sir, all inessential personnel are being evacuated.’

People did seem to be hurrying by with more than the usual Sanctuary bustle, Valkyrie noticed.

‘Well, it’s a good thing I’m an Elder, and therefore very much not inessential- I might even go so far as to call myself occasionally helpful. I’m not going anywhere, Tipstaff,’ Ghastly said with finality.

‘Understood, sir.’ Tipstaff nodded and turned on his heel, presumably heading off to see to duties less stubborn.

‘This isn’t the way to the Accelerator Room,’ Skulduggery observed.

‘No,’ Ghastly agreed. ‘I was mainly focused on heading away from Sult.’

Valkyrie frowned. ‘In a circular building?’

Ghastly stopped again.

‘Shut up,’ he told Skulduggery, who tilted his head innocently, and received a glare from Ghastly nevertheless.

‘Actually, we do need to turn off here,’ Ghastly continued, stepping into a smaller side corridor.

‘Are we meeting someone?’ asked Valkyrie, which reminded her- ‘Oh! And we have an idea about how to fix my reflection-’

‘-China, yes,’ Ghastly finished. ‘Skulduggery called me early this morning, which I did not appreciate, by the way.’

‘You did?’ Valkyrie said to Skulduggery. ‘When? I thought you were, like, determined to procrastinate that.’

Tilting his head in the equivalent of small smile, he answered, ‘I did it after you went to sleep. You’re right, the less problems we have to worry about, the better, and your reflection being unable to stand in for you is certainly a problem.’

She smiled back.

Ghastly continued, ‘After you hung up, I called China, which she also did not appreciate, but she agreed to come in. Which brings us to here.’ He gestured at a door. Valkyrie stepped through.

The most beautiful woman Valkyrie had ever seen was indeed waiting for them in the meeting room. She was not sitting at the table, but standing with her arms folded. She was not wearing an easy smile, but waiting quite expressionlessly. Her appearance, while of course still lovely, was not as resplendent as Valkyrie was used to expecting. When she spoke, her words held tension- more than was warranted.

‘Ghastly Bespoke, keeping me waiting after summoning me to this detestable little town has not in any way engendered me to help with whatever-’

Her tirade halted when she saw Valkyrie. On one heel, she pivoted slowly to fully face her.

‘Hi China. Um. Time travel,’ was Valkyrie’s greeting. She was thinking of adopting it as her standard, now.

‘I see,’ China said levelly after a reasonable interim of time had passed.

‘That’s not what we need your help with though,’ Valkyrie told her quickly.

‘It isn’t?’

‘My- older me’s- reflection has been hurt. Really badly. We were wondering if you knew of any way to heal it without returning it to its mirror.’

China finally took her eyes off her, and saw Skulduggery leaning casually by the door. Ghastly and Valkyrie stayed quiet. A glance at Ghastly’s closed-down face gave Valkyrie no indication of what was going on. No one moved, until Skulduggery cocked his head slightly.

‘Well China? Do you know of anything that could help?’ he said, his voice as normal as ever.

And with that, it was as though all the tension had been nothing more than a figment of Valkyrie’s imagination; were it not for the fact that Valkyrie wasn’t an absolute imbecile, she might have believed it was. An unspoken precedence had been set, and China followed Skulduggery’s lead with iron conviction.

‘Of course I do. Sigils are our friend here, my dear.’ With a welcoming gesture for Valkyrie to follow her, she stepped over to the conference table and flipped open one of the notebooks sitting there.

‘As far as I know, no one has ever healed a reflection outside of its mirror, but this is more due to a lack of bother rather than a lack of ability,’ she assured Valkyrie, sketching a few quick lines on the paper. ‘Do you recognise this sigil?’

‘It’s the one used to activate a reflection,’ Valkyrie supplied.

‘Very good,’ China smiled. ‘These, on the other hand, I doubt you’ve seen before…’ Another few strokes of the pen brought several more symbols to the page.

‘These are some examples of healing sigils,’ China told her. ‘Now, simplistically put, combinations of sigils can yield combinations of results, which means that some combination of one or more healing sigils with the activation symbol should be able to give us the result you are searching for.’

Valkyrie beamed at her. ‘Really? That’s it, you can do it?’

China arched an eyebrow. ‘This has been my discipline for four hundred years. I’ll need to see the reflection’s injuries myself to determine which sigils will be appropriate, but yes. I can most certainly do it.’

‘I’ll have someone show you to the medical ward,’ Ghastly nodded.

‘Thank you,’ Valkyrie said earnestly. To her surprise, China squeezed her shoulder warmly.

‘I gave up resisting that smile long ago, my dear,’ she confided.

‘You don’t seem too perturbed by the whole time travel thing,’ Valkyrie noticed.

‘Would you expect me to ever be perturbed by anything, Valkyrie? Besides, after the adventures you two have been on, I’m sure time travel is simply the natural escalation of events,’ China answered, closing the notebook and straightening up.

‘Alright. Thank you for your help.’ Skulduggery held open the door for Valkyrie.

‘Anytime, Detective,’ said China smoothly. ‘I expect I’m to endure more waiting in this room, Elder Bespoke?’

‘Unavoidable, I’m afraid. But it won’t be for long,’ Ghastly assured her.

‘In that case, I’m sure you all have important matters to attend to. Please, don’t let me keep you from them.’

Out in the hall, Valkyrie considered that it had all gotten very formal in there once the others had entered the conversation. China didn’t joke, as such, but she was playful, especially with Skulduggery. Their attempt at normalcy left much to be desired, Valkyrie thought.

Speaking of, Skulduggery was strangely silent as Ghastly led them down to the Accelerator Room. She tugged his sleeve. He turned his head.

‘I don’t like that you’re keeping things from me,’ she accused.

‘I said I’d tell you about China and I later, once this is all dealt with.’

‘I’m not just talking about that. You’re keeping so many secrets, ever since we were in Mevolent’s dimension. What aren’t you telling me?’

‘Valkyrie, we’ve been over this-’

‘But this is something that’s relevant now, not to some mission from the war- it’s not classified, and whatever it is, it’s big. You keep… I don’t know, you’re just holding something back and I can tell. Skulduggery, what is going on?’

They’d stopped walking. When he didn’t answer, she pressed again.

‘We’re partners. Aren’t we?’ She faltered a bit, the doubt that began in the other dimension flowing back.

But Skulduggery said, ‘We are,’ without hesitation, so Valkyrie unclenched her stomach and continued.

‘Well I have no secrets from you. So fair’s fair.’

Skulduggery considered her, head on one side.

‘You don’t, do you?’ he murmured, something like fondness in his voice.

Before she could ask what he meant, a raised voice called out angrily to Ghastly up ahead. Abandoning the dispute, Valkyrie and Skulduggery moved towards the brewing new one.

A man with an American accent marched up to Ghastly, Erskine Ravel following and not happy about it.

‘Elder Bespoke, Grand Mage Ravel, good to find you in the same place: maybe you’ll be able to get your stories straight now. I’ll ask you both again- where is Grand Mage Strom?’

‘Mr Sult, I assured you that Grand Mage Ravel would-’ began Ghastly.

‘Redirect me to you,’ Sult cut in, ‘right after you redirected me to him.’

Ghastly looked at Ravel and Ravel winced as if saying I know, I know.

‘Since you’re both here though, you should be able to provide some explanation.’

‘He’s in a meeting,’ Ghastly said.

‘With Madame Mist,’ added Ravel. ‘Mr Sult-’

‘Where?’ Sult demanded.

‘I’ve just answered that: with Madame Mist,’ Ravel repeated. ‘Now, if you don’t mind Mr Sult, we are currently dealing with a crisis and we don’t have time to be answering your every whim. I suggest you occupy yourself with… whatever it is you usually do around here. Antagonising our sorcerers, perhaps.’

‘You’re dealing with a crisis, are you? Is that why there are three extreme threats currently standing unarrested outside your front door? Gentlemen, you are losing control of the situation.’

‘And I suppose you know all about controlling a situation, do you? I expect your solution would be something along the lines of “invade”?’

‘The Supreme Council is not invading anywhere, its purpose is to ensure that you are fully equipped to deal with the current threat-’

‘Which this conversation is currently keeping us from doing-’ said Ravel loudly.

‘-but it is also to determine whether Ireland’s leaders are up to the task, and as Grand Mage Strom is currently missing under your watch, I’m inclined to believe you aren’t!’

‘He’s not missing, we’ve told you where he is,’ said Ghastly stolidly.

‘In a meeting! Right! With Madame Mist!’ Sult took a breath and visibly tried to calm down. He turned to Skulduggery.

‘Detective Pleasant, is at least the plan for dealing with Argeddion in place? I heard your mission to reclaim the Sceptre of the Ancients was successful, even if the rest was not.’

‘It was,’ confirmed Skulduggery, folding his arms. ‘However, using it remains a last resort. With Kitana, Doran, and Sean’s help, we have a chance at getting Argeddion back into the Cube.’

Sult’s eyebrows rocketed up so fast they almost entered orbit around his head. What did you say? Their help?’

‘They’ve offered it. He’s the only one who can hurt them, and they’re the only ones who can hurt him.’

‘This entire plan hinges on- on a hope that three teenagers will be able to disarm the most powerful magical being on the planet? Teenagers who were gleefully murdering your own people not even twenty-four hours ago? Incredibly, Detective, that plan doesn’t appeal to me in the slightest.’

‘Isn’t it nice that it doesn’t have to, then?’ said Ravel brusquely. ‘This is an Irish matter, Sult.’

‘This matter has consequences for the entire world if it is not dealt with properly; I think I can safely say that it can easily be the Supreme Council’s matter too.’

‘There you go, threatening invasion again. Funny, how you keep reassuring us you’re not here for that, and yet you always need to placate us in the first place,’ said Ghastly acidly.

‘Don’t make the mistake of thinking we’ll just lie down and play dead,’ warned Ravel. ‘If we have to face both you and Argeddion, we will.’

‘You know, Grand Mage Strom had already formed the impression that you were too inexperienced and impetuous to be leading Ireland, but I have to say Erskine, up until now I didn’t think you were an idiot to boot,’ Sult sneered.

The thump of Valkyrie’s heart was beating in time to the pulse of her headache.

‘None of us want a war, Sult,’ said Ghastly.

‘So I suggest you deal with this as quickly and efficiently as possible. Detective Pleasant, you have the Sceptre. Use it.’

Now he was ordering Skulduggery around. It was a testament to Sult’s anger that he’d presumed to in the first place. Skulduggery, for his part, didn’t give any indication of obeying.

‘If there is no other choice, then yes, I will. But we’ll proceed as planned,’ he answered evenly.

‘So you and your pet project travelled to another dimension in order to achieve basically nothing, then, is that what-’ For the first time, Sult seemed to notice Valkyrie. He stopped dead, and various expressions crossed his face. ‘What the hell is this?’ he demanded.

‘Time travel,’ Valkyrie bit out. ‘It’s old news by now. And I’m a who not a what, thanks.’

‘Time travel,’ repeated Sult, looking even angrier, if that were possible. ‘Time travel. And you’ve seriously managed to convince yourself that you remain in control of things, have you?’ He was talking like she’d ceased to exist. She swore her blood was boiling by now.

‘I can’t believe this. I’ve played along for long enough. Elder Bespoke, tell me where Grand Mage Strom is right now. Ravel, you better hope that he can supplement your story, because as far as I’m concerned, the Supreme Council has just been granted more than enough reason to step in and take over operations here. Detective Pleasant, this crisis needs to be dealt with as soon as possible, and there are three perpetrators standing outside the Sanctuary doors this very second. You will get the Sceptre,’ he raised a finger, ‘and you will use it on them,’ he pressed it into Skulduggery’s chest, ‘because despite appearances you did have a successful mission, and the loss of Valkyrie Cain practically enhances that, in my view.’

Skulduggery had gone still, dangerously so.

‘Shut up,’ said Valkyrie, and the walls, ceiling, and floor cracked.

There was a split second where they all looked at her. Then, with invigorating blood pounding in her head and exhilarating power rushing through her veins, Valkyrie’s magic detonated in the hallway.

Chapter Text

The force of it knocked her backwards. She barely felt hitting the floor, and it wasn’t only due to Ghastly’s protective coat; she felt extraordinary, like eight pints of the best energy drink in the world had been dumped directly into her veins. Her fingertips tingled, shivers raced down her spine, and she wanted to laugh. It was as though invincibility was just on the horizon, and all she had to do was reach…

But the feeling faded as suddenly as it had surfaced, leaving Valkyrie sore, prone, and disappointingly low after such a high. Propping herself up, she managed to sit just as Skulduggery slid to a halt beside her and grasped her shoulders.

‘Valkyrie?’ he said with urgency.

When that seemed to be the extent of his question, she answered uncertainly, ‘Yes?’ Then she saw past him.

Everyone else had been taken off their feet too. Ghastly- and Skulduggery, who had been beside him- had hit the wall. Ravel and Sult had been flung unobstructed down the other end of the hall.

Ghastly was on his feet, shaking his head as though dazed but coming over quickly. Ravel and Sult approached more warily, but on the bright side, the entire argument had been defused.

‘What was that?’ said Ghastly, crouching on her other side.

Valkyrie’s mouth dried. ‘I- I don’t know. Ghastly, I am so sorry, I swear I didn’t mean to-’

‘It’s fine,’ Ghastly cut her off.

‘Are you alright?’ Skulduggery demanded of her.

‘Yeah, I’m- are you?’

‘We’re fine. We’re all fine. Aren’t we?’ That was to Ravel and Sult, who wore strangely similar expressions of guarded concern.

‘Had a worse time getting out of bed this morning,’ Ravel quipped with enough feeling that Valkyrie started to relax again.

‘You didn’t mean to do that?’ re-confirmed Ghastly.

‘No! Not at all,’ said Valkyrie vehemently.

‘Then…?’ he looked askance at Skulduggery, and when he didn’t volunteer any insight, at Ravel, prepared to consider any explanation.

Ravel rubbed his forehead. ‘Some sort of… time travel energy surge?’

Any explanation apart from that one, Ghastly’s face seemed to broadcast.

‘Look, I don’t know!’ said Ravel defensively. ‘Do you have any better ideas?’

‘I suppose not.’

‘I’m going to take you to Doctor Synecdoche,’ Skulduggery told Valkyrie, who nodded. ‘We’ll get your magic levels checked, and anything else she thinks is necessary.’

Then he went to pick her up, and that’s when Valkyrie started protesting. Grim would be the day when she was carried through the Sanctuary like a baby.

‘What? No! I can walk, I am fine Skulduggery, really. I don’t know what that was, but it didn’t hurt me at all. I don’t even feel tired.’

It was an exercise in futility trying to read a skeleton’s face, which was all Valkyrie had left because he was doing that thing again where he didn’t want her to read his body language.

‘Alright,’ he said, and helped her stand instead. ‘I assume this discussion is over?’ he added to Sult.

Sult nodded tersely. ‘For now. We’ll pick it up soon, though. I think it’s best we all cool down for a while, and… for my part, I apologise that I let my anger get the better of me.’

Ravel and Ghastly agreed, and followed Skulduggery and Valkyrie back towards the medical ward. Tipstaff saw the Elders and whisked them away for something or other, but not before they’d extracted assurances from Skulduggery and herself that they would let them know if anything ‘time travel energy surge-related’ did turn out to be going on with her.

‘As far as I can tell, you’re right as rain,’ Reverie Synecdoche informed her after fifteen minutes.

Valkyrie sat up and swung her legs over the edge of the bed in the private examination room. The instrument the doctor had used to check for fluctuations in her magic was box-like, and covered with many strange contraptions. There was an extendable plate on one side which Valkyrie had been instructed to push inwards using the air for several minutes. Doctor Synecdoche had then scanned her using nothing more than her own glowing hands, hovering them gradually up and down over Valkyrie’s body. Apparently, nothing had seemed out of sorts.

‘Power fluctuations aren’t unheard of in young sorcerers, and while this was indeed an exceptionally strong one, it appears to be nothing more than that.’

‘How’s your headache?’ Skulduggery asked.

‘Gone now,’ Valkyrie answered.

‘She was complaining of one not long before the incident,’ Skulduggery told Synecdoche. ‘Could it be related?’

‘Possibly. I can do a few more tests, if you like,’ she said, more to Valkyrie than Skulduggery, which Valkyrie appreciated. ‘However, I suspect that it’s nothing more than stress, tiredness, and perhaps some dehydration. I also understand that while these are exceptionally unique circumstances, I’ve found no evidence of anything that could be-’ her lips quirked- ‘a “time travel energy surge.” All the magic that is in you- while much more than I expected- is your own.’

‘“Much more than you expected”?’ Skulduggery picked up.

Reverie glanced at him. ‘Oh yes. You’re going to be a powerful sorcerer one day, Detective Cain.’

‘Cool,’ Valkyrie grinned broadly. Skulduggery said nothing.

When the doctor had left to find the equipment she would need to run a blood test, Valkyrie noted Skulduggery’s continued silence and did her best Yoda impression.

‘Strong in the magic, I am. Proud of me are you, hmm, Detective Pleasant?’

He sighed. ‘Generally, yes. Now? No.’

‘What? You liked Star Wars! You watched all the movies with me and Tanith!’

‘Because Tanith threatened me with her sword and you threatened my couch with a flame. I enjoyed those movies before they turned you two into lunatics.’

‘That was only to get you to sit down. You could have left at any point afterwards.’

‘You were sandwiching me.’

‘Excuses, excuses. You liked them. But, if I must, I guess I can bring myself to accuse you of liking us too much to say no instead.’

Skulduggery made an amused sound. While Reverie was drawing blood, a text alert went off on his phone.

‘Sult wants to continue that discussion now, apparently,’ he said, the edges of a bad temper creeping back into his voice. ‘I’ll be down in the Accelerator Room. You’re okay to stay here until the doctor finishes up?’

Valkyrie nodded her assent and he left. Certain that the Sanctuary medical facilities must be magically enhanced in some way, she listened to Reverie in bemusement as the blood results came back within the hour, appearing normal, and was prescribed a jelly snake, ten hours sleep when she could afford it, and the freedom to talk about her feelings. Then she followed the doctor out into the cold concrete corridor, snagging a second lolly.

Chewing, she asked, ‘Has China been to see my reflection yet?’

‘She has,’ confirmed Reverie. ‘I believe they’re in another room now, working out the correct symbols required for the reflection’s injuries. It shouldn’t be too long before it’s in working order again.’

‘And what about-?’

‘The bed your reflection was using has been left right where it was, with strict instructions for no one to touch it,’ Reverie informed her. Valkyrie nodded. The Sceptre was still safe and anonymous.

Everything seemed very normal, in fact, right up until Reverie opened a door labelled the Doctor Nye Ward and Valkyrie absent-mindedly followed her through.

The beds did not alarm her. They were beds, and even if there were privacy curtains around some of them which might be construed as suspicious if one were especially mistrustful, they did not cause any undue consternation in Valkyrie. Neither did the lights, a normal, sterile, stark white. The floor was quite absolved of any dubiety, what with its cleanliness and sturdiness.

No, what did cause Valkyrie to stop dead and stare open-mouthed was the ten-foot-tall, smock-wearing, gangly, greyish-green being missing a nose. That was fairly unexpected. So too was the way Doctor Synecdoche calmly walked up to it and began a conversation.

‘Here are the files on bodily reconstruction you requested, and the medical staff authorised for such procedures,’ she said in a clipped tone.

‘That will not be necessary,’ said the being in a high, soft voice laced with equal dislike. ‘I am more than capable of carrying them out myself.’

‘Oh, I’m aware of that,’ Reverie replied with chilly politeness, ‘however I think I need to remind you that Elder Bespoke has forbidden you from performing these operations without ample assistance and supervision. If there is such a patient requiring this treatment, then they should be first directed to another surgeon.’

A loud crash from a side room interrupted Valkyrie’s internal refrain of this is Doctor Nye?!

Nye took the files quickly. ‘There is no such patient. I am only preparing for any eventualities. A confrontation with Argeddion is sure to result in such casualties, after all.’

‘What was that?’ probed Reverie, looking beyond the doctor in the direction of the sound.

‘A nuisance,’ said Nye with feeling. Under Reverie’s scrutiny, it elaborated, ‘Patients who have yet to regain full motor control after an intensive operation. Now please, I would not wish to keep you from your duties, Doctor.’

Another crash sounded.

Valkyrie had only been a detective for a short time, but even she could tell that this was all very suspicious.

In valiantly but unsuccessfully attempting to usher them out, Nye finally saw Valkyrie. Its eyes narrowed.

‘What is this?’

‘A bunny,’ said Valkyrie, deadpan.

‘Time travel,’ said Reverie, impatient. Muffled yelling worked its way into the ward. ‘What is that?’

‘Unfamiliar vocal cord action,’ assuaged Nye, more nervously. Again, it tried to herd them away, looming over Valkyrie. A light behind it gave it the appearance of something truly otherworldly.

‘Skulduggery is in so much trouble when I find him,’ Valkyrie breathed, gazing up.

‘Good to hear. I never did like the man,’ said Nye automatically.

‘He said there was no such thing as octopus-people,’ Valkyrie continued, her mouth having become disconnected from her brain at some point.

‘I am not an octopus,’ said Nye coldly. ‘Do you see an abundance of arms?’

Something heavy collided with the door.

‘Doctor Nye, while you may be head surgeon for the Sanctuary, that does not grant you the right to perform unapproved experiments-’ began Reverie.

‘I am a scientist of many fields, Doctor, not just the medical ones, and the Sanctuary regulates only those activities it employs me for. If I wish to undertake an experiment, I will.’

‘But not on people,’ said Reverie sharply. ‘Have you forgotten that condition?’

‘I have not,’ Nye glared. More yelling, right on the other side of the door.

‘I think you’re lying,’ said Valkyrie, folding her arms. ‘Probably about the octopus stuff too. Now, I’m a Sanctuary detective- right?’ she glanced at Doctor Synecdoche for confirmation. ‘And if you don’t open this door now, I will arrest you on charges of obstruction, suspicion of illicit activity, and lying about your species. Move aside.’

‘I was not lying about my species.’

‘Sure you were. I know a two-armed octopus when I see one. Doctor Nye, do you want me to call Skulduggery Pleasant up here or not?’

Nye hesitated, then stepped aside while Valkyrie swallowed her triumphant grin. Reverie made for the door.

‘You said you’re a scientist, didn’t you?’ asked Valkyrie suddenly. ‘Know anything about quantum magic theory?’

It was slightly gruesome, the way Nye’s scabbed face morphed from an expression of resentment to distaste as it scowled at her.

‘I do not, and never will, have an interest in your time travel situation.’

‘Oh.’

‘The nature of bodies, minds, and souls intrigue me. You are a sorcerer child who was once somewhere else and is now here. You present as much interest and annoyance as a decaying zombie looking to be transplanted into a living body.’

‘…what?’

Reverie finished unfastening the multiple locks on the metal door. She pulled it open, and instantly, an extremely well-muscled man with only a sheet tied around his waist to prevent the world from appreciating the rest of him too, sprinted out at full speed. Halfway across the ward, he was tackled by a similarly built woman.

‘GIVE IT TO ME!’ she howled. The man screamed. There was a lot of noise all of a sudden.

‘Master, please!’ wailed the man, struggling to keep her from throttling him.

‘YOU STOLE IT! THAT IS MY BODY! MINE! GIVE IT BACK GIVE IT BACK GIVE IT-’

Reverie hadn’t moved. Nye wasn’t reacting. Valkyrie started to wonder if she was the only person seeing this. Then-

‘What is going on?’ Reverie demanded loudly, and Valkyrie took some comfort in not having finally cracked under all the craziness that had happened to her so far.

‘Two zombies wished to be transplanted into new bodies before their old ones fell apart,’ Nye explained coolly. ‘I was able to do that.’

‘Out of the goodness of your heart?’ said Valkyrie dryly.

‘Yes,’ hissed Nye. The challenge for her to prove it wrong was there, but she didn’t take it. These were uncharted waters.

The new-bodied zombies continued screaming at each other in fury/supplication.

Nye continued, ‘There was, unfortunately, a miscommunication with the transplant.’

‘A MISCOMMUNICATION?!’ screeched the woman as she got menacingly to her feet, this apparently the one thing that could dislodge the current goal of murder from her mind.

‘Mr Scapegrace,’ sighed Reverie, ‘if you don’t calm down, I will call in the Cleavers to remove you from the premises.’

Good, because Valkyrie sure as hell wasn’t going to do it, detective or not.

The man’s beautiful lip began to tremble, the beginning syllables of curses each fighting to be the first ones out, his lovely green eyes filling with tears of rage. Apparently, that was enough of a catalyst to incite the man he’d been trying to kill to burst into tears himself and attempt to hug the misery out of his master. In doing so, his sheet gave up supporting itself and fell to the floor.

Aaaaaand Valkyrie was out.

Spinning, she hurried away just as another crash echoed from the ward. The ability to tell the specific sound a naked transplanted zombie body makes when it is rage-thrown across a room was not a skill Valkyrie had been hoping to acquire, but it was one that would probably stay with her for an unfortunate length of time. She shuddered.

When Ghastly found her, she was leaning against a wall, thoughtfully munching on the rest of her jelly snake as she accepted that she might never truly understand this place.

‘You are just what I need,’ he said, gesturing for her to follow him.

‘Where are we going?’

‘To show Sult where Grand Mage Strom is.’

Valkyrie sighed tiredly. ‘So much has been happening that at this point I’m really not sure if I’m already supposed to know where that is.’

‘The holding cells.’

‘Oh. Well, I definitely would have remembered that. You arrested the grand mage of the English Sanctuary?’

‘It was necessary at the time.’

‘And now that time is over?’

‘I doubt it, but we do need help from the sorcerers he and Sult brought along. Skulduggery’s figured out a plan for attacking Argeddion that everyone is… more or less on board with.’

‘That doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence,’ Valkyrie admitted.

Ghastly mouth quirked. ‘His plans rarely do. Actually, there is something I’ve been meaning to bring up with you…’

He brought her to a halt in the corridor. As Valkyrie waited for him to gather his thoughts, it struck her that the only other one-on-one conversation she’d had with Ghastly had occurred that night when Serpine had captured Skulduggery. He’d been a tailor back then, not an Elder.

The symmetrical scars all over his face were familiar and unchanged. His presence retained that reassuring and sturdy quality she remembered so vividly. There wasn’t the slightest hint of his age having advanced; for him, it had been about six years since he’d seen her. To her dismay, the tiredness in Ghastly’s eyes and the hard set to his mouth whenever his face should have been relaxing into a neutral expression told her that the intervening time had not been easy.

‘Valkyrie, this is a conversation we have had before, and one that I have had with your alternate self many times. I know how this is going to go. So when I ask you what I am going to ask you, I want you to bear that in mind.’

‘Okay,’ Valkyrie agreed quizzically.

‘Are you sure you want to be involved in this?’

Oh. That conversation. She’d almost forgotten about it, to be honest. She opened her mouth to emphatically respond ‘yes,’ thus shutting it down immediately, but stopped. Ghastly had said he already knew what she would say. That meant he was searching for an answer that might not initially seem to go with the question, and he wanted her to think about it carefully. The gaze he was levelling her with, though, was not catechizing; if she did want to cut the conversation off, he wasn’t going to press her.

‘I can’t just wait around for other people’s schedules to clear up so they can solve this time travel problem for me,’ Valkyrie said instead. ‘If I don’t try my best now, then no one else will try for me. I know, I know, you and Skulduggery are going to help no matter what,’ she said quickly when Ghastly went to protest, ‘but… I can’t do nothing about this. I really can’t. This isn’t my home. I can’t see my family whenever I want. So many things have gone wrong here. There’s so much I don’t understand. Everywhere, there’s reminders that I’m not the Valkyrie that should be here. You’re not… mine. None of you are. And… I have never felt so alone in my life.’

She barely even realised what she was saying. All she knew was that something was trying to get out of her, something clawing and kicking that she’d been burying under anything and everything she could reach for, but it was fighting to get a glimpse of daylight now. So suddenly, she needed Ghastly just to understand any small shred of emotion that she could manage to communicate, no matter how garbled it came out. A kind of panic that she had never felt before was flooding her veins, something that made her want to cry and scream but simultaneously froze her solid.

‘I feel so helpless, all the time. Everything changed so suddenly, but none of it is starting to feel normal, nothing is… settling into a pattern I can predict. Something’s just taken control of my life and I have no idea how to get it back. It’s like… there’s nothing I can do, so I have to do something. I have to help, no matter how.

‘I know Argeddion’s not my problem, and I really am glad that you want to keep me safe, but I need this now more than I ever did.’

Finally managing to unfix her eyes from the point on the wall over Ghastly’s shoulder, Valkyrie saw an analytical sort of understanding in his expression, and he nodded.

‘Alright,’ he accepted, and began walking again without another word. Clenching her fingers to force the shaking to stop, Valkyrie followed and cleared her throat.

‘Why do you need me, again?’

With much more levity than the follow-up to her outpouring of emotions suggested was achievable, Ghastly answered, ‘I’m hoping you’ll act as a buffer for Sult and Strom’s anger at me.’

‘You think that I’ll be able to curb their tempers? An hour ago I blasted Sult the length of a hallway.’

‘No, no, I’m just hoping they’ll keep the swearing to a minimum with a thirteen-year-old around. That, or be too afraid you’ll do it again if they upset you. By the way, Skulduggery said that Doctor Synecdoche wasn’t worried when he left you, but nothing came up in the blood test, did it?’

‘Oh no, she’s says I’m fine.’

‘Good.’ He placed a hand on her shoulder and caught her eye. ‘And you are going to be, by the way. I promise.’

As far as Valkyrie could figure, the plan was thus:

Skulduggery, herself, and a contingent of American, English, and Irish Sanctuary sorcerers were going to drive to Argeddion’s girlfriend’s house and secretly set up some pyramid-looking thing that many scientists plus Skulduggery were quite thrilled with. By holding onto hubcaps that they’d attempted to convince everyone were actually not hubcaps but super-cool science contraptions, their magic would be sucked out of them, fired through the pyramid, and used to blast Argeddion. Argeddion’s girlfriend- Greta Dapple- was going to be used as bait.

The plan to get him back into the Cube had been scrapped; instead the psychopathic teenagers were going to do their best to kill him. So was Skulduggery, with the Sceptre of the Ancients.

Skulduggery had explained to her that if they wanted to stop Kitana, Sean, and Doran as well, then Argeddion couldn’t be allowed to live. He was determined to let them keep his power, so his death was the only thing that would be assured of taking it away, reverting them to merely murderous teenagers instead of murderous, super-powered teenagers.

The gold of the Sceptre gleamed in Skulduggery’s gloved hand. Mevolent had kept it well-maintained back in his dimension. Valkyrie remembered their version being decidedly shabbier after several centuries hidden away. The black crystal set in its tip, however, radiated the same power she remembered.

Expectantly, Valkyrie waited for him to fire it at the bin in the corner of the evacuated ward, which was acting as their test target. He raised it steadily.

After five seconds, nothing had happened. Slowly, Skulduggery lowered the Sceptre again, and then looked from it to her.

‘What,’ he said unenthusiastically, ‘do you think the chances are of this actually being very good news?’

‘What do you mean the Sceptre doesn’t work?’ said Ravel over the phone for the third time.

‘It. Won’t. Fire,’ said Valkyrie, allowing some irritation to creep into her voice. ‘No matter what we tried, Skulduggery couldn’t make it work.’

‘Did you try it?’

‘Yes. It wouldn’t work for me either. I guess you were wrong, it didn’t reset when we brought it back to our dimension after all. We’ve left it in my reflection’s hospital bed.’

The Bentley turned away from Roarhaven, letting Valkyrie see in the wing mirror the convoy of vehicles they were leading to Greta Dapple’s house. The grey sorcerer town disappeared from view.

‘So now you’re heading to a confrontation with Argeddion in which you have no sure-fire way of defeating him?’

‘Sounds about right.’

‘I want to talk to Skulduggery.’

‘He’s driving.’

‘Valkyrie.’

She covered the speakers. ‘I can just throw your phone out the window if you want,’ she suggested to Skulduggery.

‘Please don’t. Put him on speaker.’

She did so.

‘Erskine, whatever you’re about to do, don’t,’ said Skulduggery.

‘I’m not about to do anything. If Bernard Sult hears about this though, he’s going to lose it all over again and this plan of yours will no longer be enough of a compromise for him.’

‘So just don’t tell him,’ Valkyrie said. ‘What’s the problem? It’s not like you’re a stranger to lying to the Supreme Council by this point.’

‘If we lie to the Supreme Council any more then they’re going to invade no matter how this confrontation goes. And it does not look like it’s going to go well. Skulduggery, do you remember what Sult initially wanted to do?’

Skulduggery started shaking his head, despite the fact that Ravel couldn’t see him. ‘Letting any of his sorcerers use the Accelerator will just create more problems- that amount of power will drive anyone mad, as we’ve seen.’

‘Trust me, I’m not going to let them near it. Now that the Sceptre’s apparently done for, you are going to need back up though. I’ll call the van transporting Kitana, Sean, and Doran, have it turn back. We can use the Accelerator on them instead, and make sure they’re as strong as they possibly can be before facing Argeddion.’

For a moment, Skulduggery weighed it up in his mind.

‘It’s already past noon,’ he dismissed eventually. ‘Today’s the First of May, when Argeddion is going to put his plan into action, and we are running out of time to stop him. Every moment we lose is a moment he gains, and if he shows up early at Greta’s, then we’ll need Kitana and her friends right there with us. No one’s turning back. We need to get this done.’

Reluctantly, Ravel agreed. ‘Alright. And Skulduggery? Don’t lose.’

‘Thanks for the concern, Erskine. We’ll do our best.’

‘Because if you do, the Supreme Council will definitely invade,’ Ravel continued. ‘And even if you win, we’re still on the edge of a knife here.’

‘We’ll try to win really, really spectacularly, how about that?’

‘That would be nice, yes, thank you.’

The convoy parked on the edge of Greta’s property, a long line of vans that was vastly out of place in the rural surroundings. The sheds and foliage planted along the fence-line concealed them, for the most part, and a cloaking sphere did the rest. A miniature pyramid full of boiling white energy was placed in the middle of a field that acted as a garden for Greta’s cottage. Dozens of cables were hooked up to it, and dozens of sorcerers took hold of them by the hubcaps attached to their ends, organising themselves into concealed strike positions in the tall, thick weeds. They formed a large circle with the pyramid at the centre, and Valkyrie’s mouth went dry as she realised that this place was most likely about to become a battleground.

‘Pretty scary, huh?’ said a teasing voice. Valkyrie turned and scowled at Kitana Kellaway.

‘Don’t worry,’ she continued, kicking a few particularly tangled weeds out of her way as she wandered closer. ‘We’ll take care of everything for you and then you won’t have to worry about the big, bad man anymore.’

Valkyrie didn’t respond. This time, she kept the biting comments to herself; the operation was too important to jeopardise over something so petty.

‘Not so talkative now you know who we are, are you?’ grinned one of the boys- Doran, who was just as bloodthirsty as Kitana, if Valkyrie was any judge. He approached on her other side.

‘Speaking of, who are you?’ Kitana asked with a touch of disbelief. “I mean, what is a twelve-year-old doing here, in the middle of all this? Ooh, do you have some sort of awesome secret power? Is that it? Sean, what do you think her secret power is?’

Sean Mackin was closing in on her from behind. She turned slowly, watching him and Kitana, but now that the three of them were surrounding her, she couldn’t keep all of them in her sights at once.

Before Sean could answer with something about as clever as he was (seriously, he thought hanging around Kitana and Doran was a good idea, how smart could he be), Valkyrie retorted, ‘I’m a detective. This is my job. Also, I’m thirteen. Also, shut up.’

Doran’s eyebrows shot up. ‘A detective? Do you know how long it took me to get a job, and I’m seventeen?’

‘You don’t have a job,’ Sean said, rolling his eyes.

‘That’s my point!’

‘So the skeleton and your sister let you hang around while all this important stuff goes on, do they?’ Kitana guessed, ignoring the boys.

It took Valkyrie a moment to realise she was talking about the older Valkyrie. Not particularly wanting to prolong the conversation, she maintained the glare. They took it as confirmation.

‘Cool,’ Kitana said, grinning like it was the best news she’d heard all day. ‘Hey, do you get to use those magical handcuff things?’

Sean was behind Valkyrie now. She heard him step closer and swivelled, trading out Doran. The other sorcerers she could see were all still busy setting up the pyramid. Where was Skulduggery?

‘Yeah,’ she answered guardedly.

‘Sean got a pair put on him, didn’t you Sean?’

Sean nodded. ‘Couldn’t do anything. It was like they drained all my magic.’

‘Is that what they do? They can take anyone’s power away? Like, all of it?’

‘Yes. And every single one of the sorcerers here has some to use on you if you don’t stick to the plan,’ Valkyrie said through gritted teeth.

‘Oh, we know,’ Doran concurred. ‘In our van, everyone was so tense. They were practically waving those things in our face that whole drive, so we decided not to try anything. Right then, that is. Now, though, everyone’s a bit distracted.’

Valkyrie whipped around to face him, her fingers itching to summon a fireball, and he laughed. She kept her other eye on Sean. Kitana was to her back. That was bad. She sacrificed her view of Sean. Kitana smiled brilliantly. Heart in her throat, Valkyrie clicked her fingers, heat flaring.

‘Everything dandy over here?’ said Skulduggery, in a tone that promised the exact opposite state of affairs were on the horizon. Kitana’s eyes flicked to where he stood.

‘Oh yeah. Nothing like a bit of youth-work to inspire our younger peers, is there Doran?’ she said easily.

‘Yep. That’s us. Anything for the community,’ Doran sniggered. They didn’t seem the least bit intimidated by Skulduggery’s doomsday presence, yet another thing Valkyrie added to her list of reasons why she didn’t like the teenagers. It was getting quite long.

Skulduggery regarded them stonily. ‘Argeddion can sense your presence if you get close enough to him. You’re going to have to wait behind the tree line at least, if we don’t want to let him know what we’re planning.’

‘Sir yes sir,’ Doran said with a mock salute. Kitana winked at Valkyrie, and then they all headed off unconcernedly, as if nothing but a friendly chat had transpired.

‘What was that about?’ Valkyrie wondered, finally extinguishing the spark in her hand.

‘Nothing good,’ Skulduggery said, watching them retreat. ‘You alright?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Well in that case, we’re ready to summon Argeddion.’ Raising a hand, he signalled to the group of sorcerers clustered around the pyramid. They signalled back, and began to disperse, disappearing into the grass with the other hidden sorcerers.

‘It’s up to us to convince Greta to help persuade Argeddion to stand down,’ Skulduggery said as they started walking towards the cottage. ‘Of course, and you don’t have to do this. But the world might literally depend on you being able to use your age to its full advantage here-’

‘I’m on it. My cuteness is armed and ready,’ Valkyrie assured him resolutely.

‘Good. If we can’t get her on our side, however,’ Skulduggery continued, ‘then we’ll have to take advantage of the bond they share to draw him here.’ He glanced at her. ‘We’ll have to make her afraid. I don’t expect it’ll take much, but even so, if you want to stay back-’

‘What? Why?’

“It might be difficult, purposefully evoking that kind of feeling in someone who has done very little to deserve it, especially someone who you’ve never met, and who is rather frail-’

‘You know what else is difficult? Seeing the world ended. I’ll be fine, Skulduggery,’ Valkyrie dismissed. Around them, a haze rippled through the air as the cloaking sphere surrounding their operation shrunk to cover just the pyramid.

‘Fair enough. A very astute observation,’ Skulduggery nodded, ‘Although, I was actually hoping you wouldn’t, in fact, observe it. The thing is, I need you out of the way for that part.’ Just as she fixed him with a glare, he continued quickly, ‘Not because I’m trying to throw myself in the line of fire for you- trust me, I’d rather not get hit by Argeddion any more times than necessary. This is for another reason: if he tries, Argeddion is going to be able to read your mind, and then our plan will be in ruins. Everyone else has defences, but since we don’t have a Sensitive on hand to put any psychic blocks in your mind, we have to keep him from knowing you’re here.’

Valkyrie’s glare only intensified. ‘We were literally just at Cassandra’s this morning.’

Skulduggery deflated. ‘I know, I know…’

The door to the cottage opened when they knocked. Greta Dapple stepped into view. She was an old woman with a kind smile, and Valkyrie consciously fortified her resolve.

The entire world is in danger, she reminded herself. Besides, Skulduggery won’t be that scary. He might not need to be at all.

‘Detective Pleasant, Valkyrie,’ she welcomed warmly, and then started in surprise. Valkyrie grinned sheepishly.

‘I’ve kind of… reverse Marty McFly’d it,’ she admitted. ‘Guess I’m trapped in the future for a little while.’

‘Oh, I doubt that,’ said Greta placidly, and beckoned them inside. They glanced at each other, and followed.

‘Walden said you would be around, before long.’ Greta led them towards a living room, where comfortably-cushioned couches sat neatly around a coffee table.

‘You’ve talked to him?’ inquired Skulduggery, removing his hat.

‘For most of last night,’ confirmed Greta contentedly. ‘There is so much to discuss when you’ve been apart for as long as we have. Would you like anything to drink, Valkyrie? I can put on some tea, if you like.’

‘I’m okay, thank you,’ Valkyrie said politely, and helped her to sit down. She and Skulduggery took the couch opposite.

‘Greta, you know why we’re here. Argeddion is putting the entire world in danger with his Summer of Light. We need you to convince him to stop,’ Skulduggery pressed.

‘No one is in danger,’ dismissed Greta. ‘Walden is going to elevate humankind, not destroy it. There will be no more wars, no more fighting… doesn’t that sound ideal? Wouldn’t you like to live in a world like that? Well, perhaps you wouldn’t, Detective Pleasant, but I’d hope that at such a young age Valkyrie hasn’t yet become corrupted by the violence you live in. Wouldn’t you like to grow up in a peaceful world, Valkyrie?’

Shifting uneasily as Greta’s words brought up some very uncomfortable recent memories of conversations people had had with Skulduggery over and over about her, Valkyrie replied honestly, ‘I’d actually just settle for growing up in my own one at the moment.’

‘But you can,’ said Greta earnestly. Valkyrie’s words died in her mouth.

‘Walden is a scientist- he knows more about magic than any other person on the planet. He has been studying it for years, long before he became Argeddion, and since he did, his knowledge has only grown. Valkyrie, Walden can send you home.’

The bottom felt like it had dropped out of the floor. Her ears were working fine, but it nevertheless took a moment to register that Skulduggery was speaking.

‘There’s no guarantee he’d be able to.’

‘There’s no guarantee you’ll be able to, Detective. And like I said, he has studied magic for centuries. Out of the two of you, I know who I would place my confidence in.’

‘And he would freely help us, would he?’

‘Of course, once the Summer of Light begins. Why shouldn’t he?’

Tilting his head, Skulduggery reminded her, ‘We have ever-so-slightly been working towards his downfall. He’d have ample reason to hold a grudge.’

‘Walden’s not like that. Once the Summer of Light begins, he will be more than happy to continue working towards whatever goal will better people’s lives.’

‘Once the Summer of Light begins,’ echoed Skulduggery. ‘I doubt he’d consider doing it before, would he?’

Greta smiled. ‘It does sound awfully like you would use it as an opportunity to trap him, you must admit. But once he is through enacting his plan, I’m sure he would willingly agree to whatever help you ask of him. And you do want to help Valkyrie, don’t you Detective?’

‘I do. More than anything, believe me. But not like this, not when there’s another way that won’t cost us the world.’ He looked at Valkyrie. She met his eyeless gaze, and exhaled, nodding.

‘And what if you’re wrong?’ said Greta mildly.

‘He’s not,’ Valkyrie said forcefully, finding her voice again and fixing her determined stare directly on Greta’s eyes.

Greta acknowledged her with understanding. ‘I hope so, Valkyrie. But know that regardless, you will have a home here; this world is going to become a place of wonder and beauty thanks to Walden.’

‘It already is, Greta,’ said Valkyrie, sitting forward. ‘It is. Just because there’s so much bad as well, it doesn’t detract from the good.’

‘I’m happy you realise that, Valkyrie, I truly am. But wouldn’t it be better if there was none of the bad?’

‘Giving magic to the whole world is not the way to achieve that,’ Skulduggery averred. ‘It’s not going to cure everyone instantly of all evils- nothing will. That’s up to everyone, individually. All Argeddion’s plan will achieve is hysteria, confusion, and bedlam. And then people will weaponise it.’

‘Have you so little faith in humanity?’

‘Quite the opposite. I’m rather certain about this, actually.’

Greta sighed sadly and Skulduggery considered her. ‘You won’t be persuaded, will you?’

‘No, I won’t be. I suspect neither will you. I do appreciate how gracious you’ve been about it, though.’

Skulduggery inclined his head courteously. ‘Of course.’ Standing up, he offered her a hand to help her to her own feet. ‘Could I ask you to accompany us for a walk outside?’

Smiling in pleased surprise, Greta accepted. Replacing his hat, Skulduggery met Valkyrie’s eyes again before he followed Greta out, more meaningfully this time. She nodded in hesitant acknowledgement. As they passed outside and began a walk through the grass and the sunlight, Greta kept up a light conversational chatter which Skulduggery responded effortlessly to. Valkyrie didn’t speak, and didn’t look at them. When they led the oblivious Greta through the circle of concealed sorcerers, Valkyrie dropped back, and crouched in the long green wisps. They easily covered her. The sorcerer on her left passed over a hubcap. They watched through the weeds.

Skulduggery and Greta came to halt not far from the small, invisible pyramid. They talked. Greta covered her mouth in shock. Valkyrie clenched her jaw. The camouflaged sorcerers raised their hands into the air at Skulduggery’s signal, revealing the trap. She winced as Greta began shaking her head, her fear clearly visible, a hollow feeling burrowing through Valkyrie’s chest, and she kept reassuring herself that the woman would be fine, that Skulduggery wasn’t threatening or hurting her, that she was just a soft-hearted elderly lady who they had deliberately chosen to betray the trust of…

Argeddion appeared. He stepped out of thin air and embraced Greta. Skulduggery stepped backwards.

It was weird, seeing how different he was to his counterpart in Mevolent’s dimension. The man Valkyrie was seeing now, even from a distance, could not be mistaken for Walden D’Essai. It wasn’t just the longer hair, or the robes he wore. It wasn’t the confidence and assurance he exuded. It wasn’t even the power he demonstrated when he vanished Greta to somewhere safe. No, what really convinced Valkyrie that Argeddion was someone new, was his expression- his eyes were slightly narrow as they fixed on Skulduggery, and his mouth was downturned in mild disappointment, but mostly, he was insouciant. Only by the barest traces did Argeddion look like he could be compelled to care about anything. Aside from Greta, Valkyrie doubted he did.

He wasn’t mental, not in the way Kitana, Doran, and Sean were. He was frightening in a whole other way. As he rose into the air, it was clearer than ever how detached from the world he had become.

Valkyrie’s gaze dropped to where the pyramid was invisibly concealed underneath him. She held her breath.

“Now!” someone yelled.

The cloaking sphere zoomed inwards, and the sorcerers leapt to their feet, hubcaps in hand. Power pulsed down the cables, roiled in the pyramid, and let loose in a blinding stream of energy that struck Argeddion with a flash. Static electricity crackled in the grass.

Once she was sure he was thoroughly distracted and wouldn’t pay her any attention even if he did notice her, Valkyrie scrambled up and took hold of her own metal disc. The effect was like a tranquilliser. Her energy drained away, her head felt light, her breaths were loud in her ears. It only felt like a few seconds had passed before she had to let go.

Argeddion was trapped in the bright beam. It was holding him. It was working. She saw Skulduggery had rushed to the opposite side of the circle near the barn and was holding his own disc. Feeling her strength return, she picked up hers again, watching Argeddion. He twisted and writhed in mid-air, trying to escape. A splayed hand pressed down. The other followed. Light spilled over his palms, but no further- stopped, as if by a shield. Even from this distance, Valkyrie could see the strain on his face. He shoved back at the stream, and a ripple rushed down, hit the pyramid, dynamized the radiance inside, and blew the glass casing outwards.

The explosion took everyone on the property off their feet.

Head ringing, Valkyrie came back to herself lying crumpled with her back against the cottage. Her shoulder blades ached, but there wasn’t too much damage, thanks once again to Ghastly. She lifted her head muzzily.

Sorcerers were strewn across the field. A hole in the barn had taken Skulduggery’s position. Argeddion was still in the air, disoriented but recovering quickly.

Where the hell is Kitana?

She made it to her hands and knees, desperately looking around for someone who knew what to do next, but everything had been so badly scattered and as far as she could tell she was the only one even capable of standing-

An orange burst of light hit Argeddion in the back. Kitana, Sean, and Doran swooped out of the sky.

They can fly.

Valkyrie frowned, because lately, it seemed that everyone but her could do that.

Doran tackled Argeddion and hurled him at the ground. When he hit it, she felt it in her hands.

‘Hey there,’ Kitana said with a brilliant smile as she landed beside him. Valkyrie didn’t hear the rest of her taunts over the sear of orange energy and Argeddion’s screams as it cut into him. The light shut off with Kitana’s laughs. Doran and Sean touched down too, and the teenagers began to circle him, joking with each other. With a viciousness that was stunning, Doran casually fired a blast through Argeddion’s leg as he tried to get up. A few more steps of circling. Sean lifted him into the air without touching him, and he contorted painfully before dropping again. A few more steps. More orange light. More screams. Argeddion reached out a hand and Doran stumbled, but Kitana kicked it sharply and there was the sickening crack of breaking bone. Blood pounded in Valkyrie’s head. So did footsteps.

Greta Dapple’s legs rushed past her out of the cottage door, straight towards the fight, if it could be called that.

‘Stop! Leave him alone! Leave him alone!’

‘Stay back!’ Argeddion shouted, and then Doran crouched over him and began hitting him again and again.

‘Stop!’

‘Greta, don’t!’ Valkyrie got to her feet and ran after her. She caught up quickly and got one hand on the woman’s arm, pulling her back. Greta ripped free, and Valkyrie stumbled on still-shaky legs, the grass cushioning her knees.

Kitana, no longer circling, turned to Greta as she approached, a hand on her hip, a grin on her face.

‘No,’ Argeddion gasped, completely ignoring the punches that were raining down on him.

Out of breath, Greta reached them. Valkyrie started sprinting. Kitana waited, anticipatory.

‘You let… him go…’ Greta panted.

Over her shoulder to Argeddion, Kitana said, ‘I have to say, and I don’t mean this as a come-on, but you could probably-’

Valkyrie collided with her. They went down. She heard Sean give an exclamation as she rolled across the grass and came up on her feet, fire in her hands. Kitana was up too, Greta forgotten, an incredulous look on her face and a laugh on her lips. Doran had temporarily frozen, but was rising to his feet.

‘You do have a secret power!’ Kitana cheered. ‘God, you must have cleared that distance in a second! Hey guys, we have got to work on doing that.’

Valkyrie threw the fireballs. One of them missed, catching on the grass to Kitana’s left. The other burst and dissipated against the protective jacket she was wearing. Not wasting time cursing, Valkyrie waved a hand, catching the wind, and pushed it back towards the teenagers. It was barely a gust, but she hadn’t wanted it to be more- the fire in the grass spread into a line, then blazed wildly on the back-sweep. Smoke stung Valkyrie’s eyes and flames leapt in the greenery-becoming-blackery, licking greedily at any fuel in their path. Kitana darted into the air to avoid it. Doran, close but out of range, reared back, and Argeddion seized his chance to break free.

He shoved Doran away, staggering towards Greta. With a touch, he vanished her again, and Valkyrie hoped that this time he’d chosen somewhere further away.

Sean landed beside her. Valkyrie raised an arm in instinctive defence that probably saved her life. The punch, aimed at her head, caught her forearm instead, pain exploding in it as she was rammed to the ground. Not broken, maybe fractured. Her head spun where her arm had collided with it, but it was still better than being smashed like an egg.

‘Sean, how many times? If you want to hurt her, get that jacket off,’ said Kitana impatiently, landing again. Sean seized Valkyrie and hauled her up. She pushed his hands away, trying and failing to twist out of his grip.

On the other side of the rapidly expanding wildfire, Doran had wrestled Argeddion to the floor again and wasn’t giving him a chance to recover any more than he already had, coming in with hard blows that the weakened man was barely managing to defend against. Standing up, Doran lashed a kick like a sledgehammer into his face, and Argeddion slumped.

A beam of blue light lacerated the ground beside them. The sorcerers were on their feet and moving in. The Energy-Thrower who had fired re-aimed at Argeddion. Like a shot, Kitana flew at him and punched him so hard he launched back ten metres. An Elemental readied her fireballs, but she was focused on Argeddion, not the teenagers. All around them, magic was warming up, the sorcerers fixated on completing their mission.

“Doran! Sean! Let’s go!” Kitana shouted and jettisoned into the sky. Doran hauled Argeddion over his shoulder and followed. Sean burst upwards too.

Valkyrie was still in his grip.

Her ears popped at the rate they ascended, stomach dropping when she saw the tininess Greta’s property had shrunk to. The cold bit at her through her coat, her skin still sensitive from the scorching heat of the fire- which was now little more than a dot on the landscape. Her stomach dropped and she grabbed Sean tightly, terrified of being let go of.

They slowed, and stopped. They fell. A scream tore itself from Valkyrie’s throat, and then she realised the wind in her ears was growing more intense- they weren’t just falling, they were accelerating. Sean had a destination in mind- or Kitana did. He’d be following her.

The freezing wind whipped at her hair and eyes, her vision blurring as tears were pulled from them. She squeezed them closed. Her ears roared with sound, but it was muted as they popped again, and again. A pressure was building around Valkyrie, more and more intense. Sean’s chest was vibrating- either laughing or whooping.

The sonic boom was just about the loudest thing Valkyrie had ever heard. The thunder died away to ringing and she gritted her teeth and forced her eyes open again.

They weren’t in the sky anymore. A road rushed beneath her, so close it was jarring. They were flying down a street. Sean pulled up abruptly, their feet thudding to the asphalt, and Valkyrie spilled onto the ground for the umpteenth time that day.

She was shaking, gasping, she couldn’t get up. Her ears ached from the wind that had been rushing through them and the noise they’d been bombarded with. All sound was muted, but discernible.

Kitana and Doran were a little ahead of her and Sean, standing boldly in the middle of the street, Argeddion on the ground between them. A couple cars were stopped beyond, the drivers stunned at seeing them drop out of the sky. People gaped from shops and cafes and the pavement outside. Not good. Looking the other way, Valkyrie could see a plume of smoke rising behind the buildings. The fire. They were in the town near Greta’s cottage.

‘Have you got the handcuffs?’ said Kitana brusquely.

‘Yeah, yeah, they’re right here,’ Doran replied, withdrawing a pair from his pocket. He looked at them for a moment, and began fiddling.

‘Really?’ said Sean in disbelief.

‘Well, have you ever used any before?’ Doran snapped. ‘Look, I think this is it…’

Valkyrie started to push herself up while they were distracted, and crumpled with a cry as she placed weight on her fractured forearm. They looked around.

‘Hey, you’re a detective, aren’t you kid?’ Kitana said, swiping the cuffs from Doran and striding over. ‘Open these up.’

The metal melted in her hands, glowing red hot. Kitana jumped in surprise, but a broad grin broke across her face when the liquid dripped off her hands without harming her in the slightest; a force field hovered over her skin. The grin faded when she turned and saw Argeddion standing up behind her.

‘Jesus, Doran!’

‘Come on man! You’re supposed to be watching him!’

‘Would you shut up? I’m on it, okay?’

Three orange streams combined into one bigger, brighter one and shot towards Argeddion, who raised his hands. The beam was reflected away from him as if by a curved mirror, splitting into multitudes. People screamed and ran for shelter as furrows were carved into the street, gouges were dug out of buildings, bricks cracked and crumbled and metal buckled. Valkyrie, safe behind Kitana, Sean and Doran- who Argeddion seemed to be trying to avoid hurting even after all they’d done to him- saw at least three people filming the show with their phones.

Argeddion must have still been dazed and worn out though, because when the teenagers upped their power output with a burst, his force field shattered. Instantly, Doran was there again, flying at him and driving his fist into his head. He took him to the ground and kept him there, knocking him out again.

Kitana looked back and saw Valkyrie’s expression.

‘What, you think we’re just going to blindly kill him like all you magic-people so obviously want us to? We’re not idiots. If he dies, we lose our powers, don’t we? So we’re not going to kill him. We were going take away his powers with those little cuffs everyone around us so helpfully wore, but I guess that’s not an option anymore.’ She gestured carelessly at the puddle of cooling steel.

Valkyrie didn’t like the way Kitana was looking at her. She didn’t like the way people were still nearby, hidden but unsafe. She didn’t like the way that Doran and Argeddion were the focus of several people’s filming. The sirens that were nearing? Another stressor.

‘You know, we heard some of your friends talking in the van? They were going on and on about how powerful Argeddion was, how difficult he was going to be to beat, blah blah blah- difficult for you maybe. We’ve done it twice, now.’ Kitana laughed.

Wailing Garda cars came into the street at Doran’s end. Police piled out, weapons raised and voices too, initially unsure but rapidly becoming certain that the teenagers were indeed the cause of the destruction in the street. They called out warnings and demands. Kitana didn’t even turn around. Sean went to stand beside Doran. Their hands lit up orange and blasted one of the cars back, and with that, chaos was unleashed.

Bullets and energy flew through the air. Force fields protected the teenagers from any harm, and while Doran and Sean initially flinched, they quickly grew in confidence of their own abilities, and attacked back with every sign of enjoyment. Valkyrie covered her head where she lay, gunshots and adrenaline pounding through her.

The guards retreated, using their cars as cover. The torrent of bullets lessened, but didn’t die. Still keeping her head covered, and trying not to jerk at every shot that echoed, Valkyrie found Kitana standing right over her. Her mouth went dry.

An explosion lit up the scene, but Valkyrie didn’t move. She heard Doran cheering, ‘We’re here all week, folks! Come and see our magic show!’

Kitana’s words echoed in her ears louder. She continued, as if there had been no interruption at all, ‘We heard them talking about all the things Argeddion could do, and we were like, uh, hello? Yeah, we can do all that too. Adults, right? They can be so dismissive.’ She squatted, batting Valkyrie’s hand away as it came up in a fist, and keeping a tight hold of it. Valkyrie tried to focus, tried to feel the air against her palm, but the pain in her arm was intensifying, people were screaming, every gunshot went through her like a bolt of electricity, and Kitana, crouched over her, was occupying quite a lot of her mind.

‘One of the things they said he could do was read minds,’ Kitana said offhandedly. ‘And I thought, well, shouldn’t we be able to do that? I don’t know if you get this, but teachers are always telling me to apply myself, and you seem like a good person to give it a go on, since you hang around all these important people who might have an idea of how to keep Argeddion contained, and you also seem like an easy first go, because… I mean, really? A kid?’

And with that, she pressed her hand to Valkyrie’s forehead and ripped into her mind.

Chapter Text

Serpine’s red hand was levelled at her, his eyes boring into her as she screamed and screamed and screamed, in more pain than she’d ever been in her life. The scene came apart around her.

She was in Gordon’s mansion, but the pain was still there, localised in her brain. She clutched at her head. Across from her, Skulduggery tilted his.

‘You look like you might faint.’

‘Please help me,’ she whispered. ‘Please help me, please help me…’

With another breathtaking burst of pain, he was gone and she fell to the floor of her kitchen. Her mother laughed.

‘Watch out for that wet patch, you father picked up the milk carton upside down.’

Valkyrie contorted but it didn’t relieve the pain in the slightest. She rolled onto her stomach and her hand slapped against-

-the Book of Names, open where it had fallen, the writing rearranging itself before her eyes and she saw her given name and her taken name and beside it-

‘OW! What the hell?!’

Valkyrie drew breath into flat lungs, her throat raw, unable to see clearly. She was lying on the road again, back in the town, Kitana rocking back from her, clutching her own head. Valkyrie flung out her hand, bringing the air with it, but her aim was off and the rush sailed right over Kitana. She scrambled, trying to see, trying to think, trying to push herself up on her elbows.

‘Hey, you little brat! Enough!’ Kitana grabbed her wrists with iron fingers and tore open her coat where Valkyrie and Sean had been struggling over it before. She pulled it off and flung it away, and Valkyrie used the moment of free movement she had to kick upwards, her boot catching Kitana in the side and doing absolutely nothing at all thanks to her older self’s own jacket. Valkyrie swore violently and Kitana’s fist came down like a jackhammer into her ribs.

Now she couldn’t breathe for a whole different reason. Her ribs were broken for sure. Doing anything to move was unimaginable. Doing nothing was already agony. Distantly, she heard Kitana say, ‘You better have some good information after all this…’

Kitana’s hand hovered into view. ‘Now concentrate.’

Her head split open again, but this time she could feel the foreign presence rooting roughly through her memories, not as clumsy, not as random this time.

Her parents were engulfed in a wall of flame and she shrieked in tandem with the memory of the first time she’d seen it happen.

The presence shied away from replaying any scenes of the attack on the Dublin Sanctuary, having learned its lesson. It focused on more recent ones.

She was sitting in a grassy field at night and Skulduggery was talking gently to her. She reached for him desperately, crying out.

Ravel was asking her about the Sceptre and she sunk to her knees, but when they hit the floor it was China sitting elegantly next to her, smiling as she pointed out a passage in the book on the coffee table.

Arms were around her and a horse was under her, Skulduggery’s voice explaining all about Argeddion, about how he’d been trapped, unconscious, in a mountain for thirty years, imprisoned in a cell called the Cube, the only thing strong enough to contain him- if boosted by the Accelerator. The presence pulled back.

Valkyrie’s head lolled across the asphalt and she tried to remember how to breathe. The gunshots had stopped, and she hoped it was because the Garda had retreated. Civilians had stopped crying out. The same hope went for them.

‘Did you get anything useful?’ called Sean’s voice.

‘Oh yeah,’ responded Kitana euphorically. Valkyrie’s view of her was tilted as she watched her hurry over to him and Doran. ‘We need to get back to that Sanctuary place now-’

Gunshots echoed again. The teenagers flinched habitually, but unharmed they took hold of the unconscious Argeddion, lifted off the ground, and were gone in an instant.

Skulduggery dropped out of the sky beside her and crouched, calling her name before he’d even touched down.

‘Valkyrie! Valk-’

“Hey,” Valkyrie managed, wiping an arm over her eyes and trying to sit up. Raising her head was as far as she made it before both the pain and Skulduggery stopped her, hands on her shoulders.

‘It is extraordinary that you’re still alive, you know that?’ he told her.

‘I try,’ she mumbled weakly. ‘They’ve- they’ve gone to the Sanctuary, they’re going to use the Accelerator to boost the Cube. We have to warn them…’

‘Everyone’s been evacuated,’ Skulduggery assured her. ‘I suppose it’s fruitless of me to try and convince you not to attack beings who are so much more powerful than yourself, isn’t it?’

‘Probably,’ she coughed, and groaned as shards of agony flashed through her.

‘This really is a very familiar conversation,’ Skulduggery murmured, lifting her into his arms. It required some adjustment. A black metal case hung from one hand.

‘Guess you’ll have to train me up really well,’ Valkyrie grinned.

‘I guess so.’ They rose into the air, much more gently than Kitana, Sean and Doran. They didn’t fly as blindingly fast either, for which Valkyrie was immeasurably grateful.

‘Where are we going?’

‘To attack some beings who are much more powerful than us.’

She hated that she had to admit this, but, ‘I- I don’t know how much more of that I have in me…’

‘Don’t worry. Apart from one small thing, all you have to do is stay safely out of the way.’

‘I like the sound of that.’ They were coming up on Roarhaven. The squat circle of the Sanctuary grew beneath them as they descended. ‘What’s the one small thing?’

‘Bring me back when it’s over.’ His voice was strange.

‘Huh?’

They swooped through the entrance of the building, the hallways flying past as they headed down to the Accelerator Room. True to Skulduggery’s word, the Sanctuary was completely devoid of people.

‘All you’ll need to do is talk to me.’

‘Skulduggery, what are you-’

He hushed her as they whisked down the corridor to the Accelerator. There were the sounds of fists hitting flesh from the room up ahead- Doran, keeping Argeddion unconscious.

Kitana’s voice. ‘No, Sean, I don’t know how to open it. Would you use some of those brains you allegedly have and try to think for yourself for once? I can’t do it for you all the time. Maybe then we’ll get this done.’

Skulduggery drifted into a room and lowered her down. Hissing at having to stand on her own, Valkyrie braced herself on a wall and tried not to black out. Skulduggery picked up the metal case again.

‘What is that?’ Valkyrie whispered.

Skulduggery didn’t answer, checking the hallway briefly before turning back to her.

‘Stay here,’ he said lowly. ‘And don’t be scared.’

‘I’m not,’ Valkyrie grunted out, hovering a hand over her middle but not daring to touch it.

‘Well, actually, be little scared- it might help keep you alive.’

‘I’m just confused.’

‘Don’t be confused,’ said Skulduggery. ‘Be scared. But not too scared. Have a healthy amount of fear and you’ll be just fine.’

‘What?’

He stepped out into the corridor, undoing one of the clasps on the case.

Sean appeared, grabbed him, and threw him into the corridor wall directly opposite the doorway. The case bounced off it beside Skulduggery, and hit the floor. Valkyrie’s muscles locked up, feeling the shadow of Kitana’s hand on her head again. Sean, who by some miracle hadn’t seen her, had his attention fixed on Skulduggery. Sweat broke out on Valkyrie’s forehead, adrenaline pushing at her to do something, fear rooting her to the spot.

In the breathless moment, there was a sound. The spring, of a clasp undoing.

The case burst open. Inky blackness leapt out, hitting Skulduggery in the chest and spreading. It didn’t coat him like a liquid; it reformed into solid shapes: a breastplate, rerebraces, gauntlets, greaves, a dark helmet. The black suit of armour finished amassing into a form that was familiar even though she’d only seen it once…

…and Lord Vile raised his head.

‘Um,’ Sean started to say, and then shadows slammed into him. He hurtled out of view as suddenly as he’d appeared. The man in black armour strode after him.

Valkyrie remained frozen in the room where Skulduggery had told her to stay, leaning against the wall Skulduggery had set her against, listening to the sounds of the fight that Skulduggery had flown them here for, and tried very hard to stop reliving memories of Mevolent’s dimension, of the scariest person she’d ever seen pausing at the sight of Skulduggery- not because he was thinking twice about fighting him, she now realised, but out of sheer shock at seeing himself. At seeing himself.

Skulduggery Pleasant was Lord Vile.

Skulduggery Pleasant fought by Mevolent’s side.

Skulduggery had allied himself with Serpine.

Skulduggery fought Darquesse in O’Connell Street.

And Skulduggery was out in the corridor right now, trying to stop the greatest threats to the world from wreaking any more damage on it. Valkyrie pulled herself together. She could ask him about it later, after this was dealt with.

Her sweaty palm slipped on the wall as she pushed herself off it and made for the doorway. Clenching her jaw tightly and stepping gingerly didn’t do much to lessen the pain in her middle or the ache in her arm, but she made it, and looked out.

 Almost immediately, she came to the unpleasant realisation that whatever this was, it wasn’t as simple as Skulduggery just putting on some armour and using a different name and magic. The man in the armour was only attached to Skulduggery by the barest of shreds.

Bring me back when it’s over.

Lord Vile had taken full control.

Sean’s yell was cut off as Vile slammed him into a wall by his throat. The boy panicked for a moment, flailing, face reddening, and then he grabbed Vile’s arm and began forcing it back. He sucked in a sliver of air. A spike of darkness grew from Vile’s other gauntlet and he drew it back. Kitana emerged from the Accelerator Room and fired a searing bolt of orange at Vile before the fist could connect. It hit him in the back, and he staggered away, shadows bleeding off his armour and thrashing.

‘What’s this?’ demanded Kitana.

‘It’s him, it’s the skeleton!’ Sean shouted back.

Bring me back when it’s over.

Kitana sent another beam of energy at Vile. He dodged it and flung javelins of black back at them. The teenagers’ forcefields had reasserted themselves however, and the spears dissipated upon impact even as Kitana and Sean covered up. Vile was right there with them in the next instant. He shot a kick into Kitana’s torso that should have broken bones but instead only propelled her back a couple of steps. She gasped out a laugh. Physical attacks weren’t working. Sean flung out a hand and Vile flew into the wall with such force it cracked, chunks of brick smashing on the floor. Sean didn’t let up, keeping the pressure on him, driving him further in with a spreading of cracks all the way up to the ceiling.

‘Yay, go Sean!’ Kitana cheered, spurring him on.

Vile’s breastplate began to warp.

Valkyrie stepped out, concentrated, splayed her hand, and sent a wall of air slamming into Sean. He tripped onto his knees and Vile tore himself free, striding over to Sean and driving a powerful but ineffective kick into his middle. Then shadows darted forward at his command, coiling around Sean, picking him up and pinning him to the opposite wall, turning sharp. The restraints around the boy’s neck, wrists, and chest grated fruitlessly against the forcefield- which didn’t make sense, because the clear sound of blood splattering to the floor rang out.

Sean howled. Everyone’s attention was drawn down, to where a shadow around Sean’s thigh had sliced clean through his jeans and bitten into his leg.

The forcefields could be outmanoeuvred. Vile tilted his head.

Kitana, though, wasn’t fazed. Valkyrie had thought that no one had noticed her attack in the chaos of the fight, until the girl turned around and saw her.

She made a disgusted sort of noise and rolled her eyes, calling over her shoulder, ‘Doran! Get out here and help Sean.’ Then she flicked her hair out of her face and advanced on Valkyrie. Behind her, Vile had been forced to let go of Sean or risk being skewered by wildly flaring energy beams.

Valkyrie backed away, pain stabbing through her with every movement. Doran barged out of the Accelerator Room only to be instantly swamped by shadows. Tendrils slashed across him, sending him stumbling, but didn’t break through his shield. He swung a punch at Vile that Vile caught and twisted, bringing his other fist down on the boy’s shoulder. There was a crack and a scream. Sean leapt at Vile again. Kitana grabbed Valkyrie by her shirt.

‘You just couldn’t leave it alone, could you?’ she said, and Valkyrie’s heart almost stopped prematurely as Kitana drew back her fist and punched with all her enhanced strength-

A shroud of darkness enveloped Kitana and yanked her back. Valkyrie fell from her grip and cried out through clenched teeth as she hit the floor. She coughed, swearing that she could feel her ribs migrating in her chest. Tears obscured her vision, but she still saw Vile with a hand outstretched, keeping Kitana contained even as he blasted Sean down the opposite end of the corridor with a wave of darkness.

Orange exploded out of the cocoon, ripping it to shreds. Kitana spun back to Vile. The torn, wispy shadows that hung around her whipped inwards, slicing like garotte wires at her face, legs, stomach. They gathered in front of her, concentrating their attacks, but couldn’t get close- the invisible forcefield hovering over her skin must have blown out in front of her to keep them away- and so she was unprepared for the spear of darkness that drove through the back of her neck, above the collar of her jacket.

Kitana tried to gasp, wetly and breathlessly, and dropped to her knees. The spear withdrew, and she slumped.

Doran roared, and threw himself at Vile. The shadows that had been creeping unnoticed along the ceiling above Kitana like a scorpion’s stinger retracted in an instant. Doran tackled Vile, driving him back a step, but then Vile’s armour sprouted jagged spikes, dozens of them. Most couldn’t get through Doran’s forcefield; three did, puncturing his chest, stomach, and eye.

Sean, racing back down the hallway, slowed and halted, a strange expression on his face. He wavered on his feet, staring into Vile’s visor, and then with a little tug, like something had been pulled out of him, collapsed without a sound.

Valkyrie stared.

Skulduggery was a good fighter, she knew. He could be vicious and brutal when it was necessary, and if someone was attacking them, Valkyrie would infinitely prefer him to act as such and deal with the other guy quickly than get hurt herself.

This though… three teenagers in the span of a few seconds. This was something else. This, more than anything so far, was not Skulduggery.

Bring me back when it’s over.

How the hell was she supposed to? By talking to him? Really? That was going to work?

Vile turned towards her. Valkyrie’s mouth went dry and she tried to sit up. Vile started walking.

You just have to talk, right?

Shadows turned sharp.

Just talk, and Skulduggery will come back.

She opened her mouth, and screamed, ‘BEHIND YOU!’

He whirled around just in time to catch Doran’s freight-train punch and hip-throw him to the floor. Doran didn’t seem bothered, rolling to his feet easily.

Kitana and Sean were getting up too. Their clothes might have been bloody and torn, but all their wounds were healed, and their expressions reflected nothing but glee. Shadows threaded their way between them, and then struck, almost experimentally. They slashed and scored, tendril upon tendril, but could find no weaknesses in the teenagers’ forcefields.

They were stronger, Valkyrie realised. How were they stronger? They’d been dying- she was pretty sure Sean had been dead- and now they practically oozed power.

‘Let’s see what you’ve got, skeleton,’ Kitana taunted, stepping forward. Sean laughed and Doran cricked his neck. Vile waited, shadows rising from him like steam.

Kitana struck first, firing off an orange laser. A wall of darkness rose between it and Vile, swallowing it up. The darkness crackled with bright veins for a moment, twisted towards Kitana, and exploded. The corridor shook. Dust rained from the ceiling.

Kitana hit the wall where Vile had been pinned earlier and dislodged another load of bricks. Valkyrie watched her bones heal almost instantly. She flew back into the fray like Superman, catching Vile around the middle and bulleting down the other end of the corridor, Sean and Doran running after them. Shadows swooped down like the night, holding Vile fast as he got Kitana in a headlock and reversed their flight path. He threw her into Sean and slammed his shoulder into Doran. Doran rebounded off the wall. Vile planted his feet, the shadows releasing him, pivoted around Doran so quickly he blurred and suddenly both hands were on the boy’s head and were wrenching it to one side. It should have broken his neck. Whether it did or not, Doran wrested himself free and was for all intents and purposes fine. Sean and Kitana hit Vile from behind.

By bracing herself against the side of the corridor, Valkyrie managed, with much gasping and a few tears, to stand. Her path now clear, she moved stiffly towards the Accelerator Room and entered.

Like she’d suspected, Argeddion was standing- barely. He looked absolutely drained, but Valkyrie supposed resurrecting someone would do that. He must have given Kitana, Sean, and Doran another helping of his power to make them stronger. They’d been beating him to a pulp, and this was how he reacted? He was such a nutcase.

What did that make her for trying to reason with him, she wondered?

‘Stop them,’ she demanded. There was no point in dithering. ‘Take your power back, stop them, and surrender yourself.’

Argeddion looked up. ‘Valkyrie,’ he said warmly, if tiredly. ‘I thought there was something different about you.’

‘Wow, you’re observant. Now stop them.’

‘I’m not going to do that, Valkyrie.’ Still with that incessantly patient tone.

‘Your experiment is not going to work, Arg-’

‘Let’s not argue about positions that we each have no intention of switching sides on. I’ve heard your views, and Skulduggery has heard mine. Nothing has been changed by words, and so-’ he gave a sorrowful smile as a boom echoed from the corridor- ‘it is time for actions to do the talking.’

‘Who cares about the damn experiment anymore?’ snapped Valkyrie. ‘Who cares about your plan? This is about Kitana, Sean, and Doran- they’re hurting people, that’s all they want to do! And you keep letting them!’

‘Yes, I can see they have been, in their eagerness to expand their boundaries,’ said Argeddion softly. ‘I am sorry about that, by the way.’ With a wave of his hand, Valkyrie felt her insides piece themselves back together. She could draw breaths that weren’t ragged, and stand up straight again. She nodded a frigid thanks, but that was all he was getting from her.

‘If you can see how dangerous they are, why won’t you stop them?’

‘Because of your friend out there,’ Argeddion answered.

‘Skulduggery.’

‘Lord Vile.’

‘Whatever,’ she seethed.

‘The only people capable of stopping him are the children. I took away that armour to prevent him from endangering the world. He knew the risks, and yet he has done so again anyway.’

Valkyrie went cold. She remembered all too readily the sight of Vile striding into the throne room in Mevolent’s dimension, the terrifying figure he had cut in those few seconds alone easily allowing her to believe that there was no exaggeration in Argeddion’s words. But even so…

‘No,’ she said. ‘I think you took the armour because you didn’t want him upsetting your plans. Against someone as powerful as you, he’s the only one who’d have a chance, isn’t he?’

Argeddion smiled like he knew something she didn’t. ‘It is true that taking the armour was a neat resolution to both problems; removing the most powerful players is an important step in this-’

‘Hostile takeover?’

‘Reformation. For the greater good,’ he continued smoothly. ‘And make no mistake, Vile is a very powerful player. He must be dealt with before I increase the magical potential of the world. I would be a fool to not consider stopping him a priority.’

‘They’re trying to kill him, not just stop him!’

‘And he is trying to kill them, is he not? If it were not for me, he already would have, along with you. Oh Valkyrie, I can see into your mind: you have no idea the things he has done. You’re afraid now? Wait until you learn more.’

If she ever got the chance to give this guy a right smack, Valkyrie decided, she was taking it. She was also getting off-task. The mission was to disarm Kitana, Sean and Doran. She could save Skulduggery after that was done.

In the corridor, the sounds of the fight neared.

‘If you’re so supposedly powerful, why don’t you take back your magic and beat him yourself?’ she challenged, and then cursed herself. Oh, good one. Nice. Operation Obliterate Skulduggery has been launched.

Argeddion’s mouth quirked. He must have caught that thought. ‘I’m a pacifist, Valkyrie. I won’t raise my hand in violence towards another.’

‘So what you’ve been doing have been acts of peace, then?’

‘I think we’ve already established that it is futile to try and dissuade me from my path, just as I know I won’t persuade you of it in the time we have. Once the Summer begins, however, I will help you understand. Now, why don’t you ask what you have so desperately been wondering ever since you stepped in here?’ He watched her congenially, hands linked before him.

She met his gaze, biting her tongue. For a moment, all that could be heard were the shouts and blasts of the fight. If anything, they had upped in intensity. Argeddion waited with condescending forbearance until she made herself ask, ‘Can you send me home?’

‘Yes,’ he answered simply. She breathed in quickly, already feeling the sting in her eyes.

‘If I took my power back, then it would be more than sufficient to provide me with enough energy to open a rift in time. Apart from that, all I would need to do is study enough theory to locate your timeline and send you back.’

‘So do it.’

He made no move.

‘Do it!’ she said furiously, enraged at his sad smile, his sympathetic voice, his whole demeanour which made a mockery of the kindly, superpowered leader act. ‘I don’t belong here, I don’t want to be here! I can’t ever see my family! So many bad things have happened, and I need to stop them from happening to my world! I can’t stay here. This isn’t how things were supposed to happen. Send. Me. Back.’

She glared, trembling.

‘No,’ he said, like she knew he would. She didn’t know why, and she didn’t care either, but she knew his answer. She didn’t get favours from the universe, as was becoming apparent.

‘You think you must have swapped places with the older Valkyrie, yes? Or killed her when you arrived? I admit, I can’t know for certain which it is, but I also will not take the risk of bringing your older self back here. The world is safer without her.’

Valkyrie swallowed and a tear dripped down her cheek. ‘But you could… you said you needed to study the theory, so then- then you could send me back without bringing her forward-’ she hated the words as soon as they came out of her mouth.

‘The theory would require time to understand, Valkyrie, time that you won’t have once the Summer of Light begins. I’m afraid that after that I cannot allow you to do anything but stay by my side. Sending you back would be unconscionable.’

Now he was talking absolute rubbish, enough that it brought Valkyrie back to the present- where a supercharged battle between four psychos was raging about twenty feet away.  

‘What the hell do you-’ she began, and was interrupted by Lord Vile and Doran bursting straight through the wall.

Vile was on his feet first. He seized Doran by his hoodie and flung him straight up into the ceiling. Plaster rained down. Doran hit the ground and Vile stomped on his head. Sean flew through the hole in the wall feet-first and kicked Vile to the opposite end of the room.

There was a cracking sound behind Valkyrie. She dodged aside just as Kitana knocked another hole in the wall beside the doorway- for fun, apparently. The girl was breathing hard, fixated viciously on Vile, or so it seemed right up until she raised a burning orange palm and pointed it at Valkyrie.

‘HEY SKELETON!’ she shouted. ‘Take off the armour or she loses her head!’

In an eyeblink, darkness coalesced around Vile and vanished him. A gruesome chopping sound ensued, and he stepped out of a shadow between Kitana and Valkyrie, a spike in his gauntlet retracting. Kitana screamed as her forearm flopped to the floor. Valkyrie backed away, stumbling over debris. Vile grabbed Kitana by the throat and slammed a fist into her face. She blocked it on the second strike with her newly reformed hand, then tore at his breastplate. The armour fought back.

Sean and Doran combined energy and blasted Vile in the side. In response, a cyclone-like funnel of shadow vortexed at them with the beam at its centre. Sean flew sideways to avoid it. Doran didn’t, and hit the ceiling again. They both got up and fired energy bursts from opposite ends of the room. Vile let go of Kitana and kicked her backwards, shadows writhing over his armour, trying to absorb the boys’ energy. He thrust out both hands, and everything went pitch black.

Valkyrie whipped around, prayed that she was remembering her position correctly, and took a flying leap through the thankfully present hole Doran and Vile had made. As soon as she was in the corridor, she could see again. Back inside the Accelerator Room everything was darker than the void, but the sounds of fighting were more prevalent than ever.

An energy beam, stronger than any she had seen so far, almost decapitated her, carving a line through both holes and the doorway. The top half of the wall dividing the Accelerator Room from the corridor collapsed. The darkness flattened into thin slices that scissored across the room but burst apart on impact with Kitana, Sean, and Doran. The fight resumed. Argeddion was nowhere to be seen.

Vile wasn’t winning, Valkyrie realised. She’d gotten used to seeing Skulduggery be able to match and best the skills of whoever they were fighting, and this was not that. The teenagers were stronger, but he was more adept, and for the life of her she couldn’t predict who would triumph; with Argeddion on standby to resurrect Kitana, Sean, and Doran if Vile managed to kill them before they killed him, the odds didn’t look good. The effort might have exhausted Argeddion before, but he’d regain that strength, and she didn’t doubt that he would never give up trying.

Skulduggery needed backup, no matter how, no matter where from, no matter how slim the chance was that it would actually work.

Valkyrie felt her heart stutter, and started running. More of the corridor crumbled behind her.

She hurtled into Doctor Synecdoche’s empty ward. The reflection’s bed was just where they’d left it, in a curtained-off section by itself. China and the reflection had left hours before, either with the evacuation or because they’d finished working.

They had to give the Sceptre another chance. She didn’t know what had happened to it before, but everyone had seemed so certain that it would short-circuit once it entered their dimension, and Skulduggery had been the first person to touch it, so he had to be the owner. If it refused to fire again… well, the black crystal would still disintegrate anyone apart from Valkyrie who touched it. The Sceptre was the extra kick they needed, and she knew right where to fi-

‘What?!’

It was gone. She’d ripped back the covers and it was gone.

‘No, no, no…’ Valkyrie dropped to her knees and peered under the bed. The floor was clear. Desperately, she rooted through the bundled up covers in case it was caught in them. It wasn’t.

She stood, her heart racing and her breathing quick. Stolen. Someone stole it. No, that was stupid, hardly anyone had known where it was. But they didn’t trust Madame Mist, did they? Although what purpose would stealing it serve? It hadn’t been stolen. That was paranoid. Once she and Skulduggery had discovered it wouldn’t work, someone must have removed it to a safer location- one not too out of the way, in case it was needed, but safer than in a bed. Who would have done that?

“Doctor Synecdoche!” she shouted, and ran for her office. The door burst open when she flung herself at it. She made for the filing cabinets and drawers, papers flying as she dug through. She used the air to shove the desk away from the wall, looking behind it. She spun in the centre of the room. She overturned the wheelie chair. She pushed over the normal chair. She blasted the top cupboards near the ceiling with air and they ricocheted open. Medical equipment, but no Sceptre.

It wasn’t here either. She was tempted to keep frantically searching the office, but that would only waste time.

The Repository. Someone must have taken it to the Repository.

She had no idea where the Repository was. She had no idea where a map to the Repository was.

Very faintly, she felt a rumble through her boots. The fight was still raging in the lower levels. How could she help? What could she do? There had to be something. Could she call someone? The sorcerers at the field, let them know where they were? Ghastly? She didn’t have a phone, let alone know their numbers. She’d accidentally left it in Skulduggery’s car six years ago, before they went to arrest Morton. Besides, what if they found out Skulduggery was Lord Vile? What would they do then?

Valkyrie stayed rooted to the spot in the office. She stared at nothing. Well, nothing in particular. Her eyes rested on some sort of medical tool. Kenspeckle had shown it to her once. It looked like a baton. A pain-number. One touch could short-circuit the nerves in any part of the body.

She snatched it up.

The staircase trembled as Valkyrie raced down it. She sprinted up the heavily damaged corridor, leaping over rubble.

The fight had moved back out of the Accelerator Room. Sean was down on one knee inside, covered in blood, his face screwed up while he healed himself. Doran and Kitana had their backs to Valkyrie, concentrating on Vile, who was standing before them, braced as if against a strong wind. A foot shifted. He was going to try something.

Kitana and Doran noticed, and pushed harder against him. Darkness bled from Vile’s armour, leaking onto the floor, creeping towards the teenagers. Kitana withdrew her contribution to the pressure and blasted the shadows with energy instead. Doran scrambled to adjust, and Vile surged forwards- providing quite a good distraction for Valkyrie, who had finished closing in. She dropped and slid between Kitana and Doran, jabbing them both with the baton as she went past. Their legs deadened instantly and they stumbled. Vile sprang over her and between the teenagers, spikes protruding out of both gauntlets. He stabbed at Kitana and Doran. Although the blows glanced off, their real purpose of keeping their attention on him was accomplished. Valkyrie got to her feet and struck them both in the back of the head in quick succession.

They toppled to the floor.

“YES!” Valkyrie shouted, punching the air with the baton. She whipped ecstatically around to Sean, and she drew back her arm, prepared to the hurl the baton right at him while he was fully concentrated on repairing the damage to his body.

A shadow sliced his head from his shoulders. He slumped over. A crease formed between Valkyrie’s eyebrows. She scrutinised the sudden absence of Sean.

When she looked around at Vile, she saw him decapitate Kitana and Doran, too. Their heads rolled limply from their bodies, shadows sweeping them away.

‘What did you… what?’ Valkyrie said to him dumbly. Shadows raced past overhead and to the sides, stirring her hair. A solid mass of them closed off the space behind her. Vile regarded her impassively.

Move.

The baton slipped from her numb fingers, and the sound of it clattering to the wreckage-strewn floor jerked her back to her senses.

She circled away from the undulating blackness and made for the entrance to the Accelerator Room. Vile followed without hurry. She stiffened and didn’t take her eyes off him as one of her boots brushed against Sean. The floor felt sticky.

Black filled the gaps and holes in the partially demolished wall behind Vile as he crossed the threshold. The glow from the Accelerator made even the ordinary shadows dance.

She tried to say his name, but only a small, strangled sound escaped her. She tried again, and its softness meant she only technically succeeded.

‘Skulduggery.’

Nothing.

‘You’re- you’re not going to kill me,’ she said, her voice cracking.

This must look convincing, she found herself thinking sourly. Vile didn’t stop his slow, deliberate walk, but he angled his helmet briefly in a gut-wrenchingly familiar way.

‘You’re not,’ she bit out defiantly, and forced herself to stop backing away. She managed stillness for all of two seconds before the trembling started. Oh yes, the picture of confidence.

‘So what?!’ Valkyrie snapped suddenly. ‘So what if I’m scared? That doesn’t change the fact that you’re not going to lay one finger on me.’

Vile continued advancing, and came to a halt right in front of her. She looked up into his visor.

‘I mean… first of all… what can I do against you?’ The weak laugh she gave verged on hysterical territory.

Almost absent-mindedly, he tapped on his thigh: one repetition of a quick, irregular, and above all, familiar rhythm. Skulduggery had been tapping it ever since she’d arrived. He was still in there somewhere.

Cold shadows coiled sinisterly all the way up her arms and pulled her- not especially roughly- back against the wall two paces away.

Her mouth was dry but she still said it. ‘See? You still haven’t hurt me. Not a finger, like I said.’

The shadows dragged her down, wrapping around her securely, her legs folded beneath her. Vile hunkered down with her.

‘Haha, very funny,’ Valkyrie said sarcastically. ‘Message received, you don’t have touch to me to hurt me. It’s all very frightening.’ If she tried very, very hard, she could almost imagine the shadows were a blanket. A very cold, death-magicky blanket.

‘You’re still not going to, though,’ she maintained. It was much easier to suppress the shaking when she was curled up like this. Vile stayed exactly where he was.

‘I thought you might, earlier. When it looked like you beat them the first time. You saved me from Kitana… but that could have just been strategy, couldn’t it? She was distracted, and you went in.’

Vile watched her, making no move. He just listened.

‘Bit harder to justify that second time,’ Valkyrie said softly. ‘I mean, you straight-up teleported between us, and then cut her arm off to boot.’ A smile tugged at her. ‘You’re not going to hurt me. Skulduggery won’t let you. You save me, I save you. That’s how it works. And you want to see how I know it’s going to work this time?’

She took a breath, and reached out. The shadows released her gently, like so much vapour, as she moved against them. Valkyrie shifted until she was kneeling, and took hold of one of his hands. Unresisting, he let her, the cold gauntlet turning over in her palms.

‘Sap,’ she told him.

She unbuckled the gauntlet, but the vambrace after it gave her trouble. An armoured hand helped her, and afterwards took over fully. Pieces came off. Once the dark helmet had been set down on the growing pile of metal between them, the rest of the armour melted away, streaming up into the air. The shadows gathered above them, and then seeped under the newly-exposed shirt and tie. Valkyrie met his eyeless gaze.

‘That was close,’ Skulduggery said. One hand went to his chest, where the darkness had melted into him. He shifted back from her slightly.

‘Thank you.’ His voice was very, carefully even. ‘You did a good job. For all of it.’ She watched him as he looked away, at Sean’s body and Kitana’s and Doran’s beyond. Valkyrie drew in a breath.

‘I know you must have questions, Valkyrie,’ Skulduggery said, pre-emptively interrupting her, ‘and I swear I’ll do my best to answer them- but later. Right now, we have to focus on Argeddion- he’ll have gained his full power back and-’

‘Are you okay?’

Skulduggery stopped.

‘That fight was… really something, is all.’

He tilted his head and observed her for a moment. Sounding normal at last, he said, ‘Valkyrie Cain, you are really something,’ and hugged her. It was a good, nice hug. He’d never given her one before.

‘Good thinking with the nerve-stick,’ he told her.

‘Is that its name?’

‘Well, it’s what I call it, so yes.’

There was a stirring noise from the far side of the room. They looked around as Argeddion entered. Sean sat up, his head reattached, but he hadn’t regained his powers. Kitana and Doran were standing in the corridor too, similarly vulnerable. Skulduggery got to his feet and moved in front of the Accelerator. Valkyrie followed.

‘It’s good to have you back, Detective,’ said Argeddion.

‘It is, isn’t it,’ agreed Skulduggery. ‘Much less bloody for everyone. Speaking of keeping things nice and clean: accept defeat, surrender yourself to be arrested, and send Valkyrie home.’

‘No, I’m afraid I can’t do that. You tried valiantly, but you didn’t defeat me, and you certainly won’t now.’

‘Right. And Valkyrie?’

‘He won’t bring older me back,’ Valkyrie said, glaring.

‘Is that so.’

‘The world is safer without her,’ said Argeddion placidly.

‘The world is safer without you, too, but I don’t see you making any absolute judgements there,’ Skulduggery pointed out lightly. ‘Valkyrie saved Greta’s life. If it wasn’t for her, your own experiments would have killed the woman you love. That has to count for something.’

‘It does, and believe me, dear child, you have more gratitude than I can express for that,’ Argeddion told Valkyrie. ‘But this way is better; I will help you understand that, soon. In the meantime, there is nothing either of you can do to change my mind. I must begin the Summer of Light.’

‘I see,’ murmured Skulduggery, leaning against the Accelerator.

‘I don’t,’ Valkyrie objected. ‘You’ve lost. You lost before we even arrived at Greta’s. You can’t begin the Summer of Light. Skulduggery explained everything to me; you can’t boost the entire world’s magic by yourself, and since I can’t shunt you over to the other dimension to pick up your alternate self, there is no one who can help with the sheer amount of power you need. I mean-’ she gave a little laugh, already starting to feel giddy with triumphant relief- ‘who are you going to call for backup? Darquesse?’

Things got very quiet all of a sudden. Argeddion smiled.

‘That’s… that’s crazy,’ Valkyrie stammered. ‘No one even knows where she is. You won’t be able to find her.’

‘I quite like my chances, in fact,’ Argeddion corrected, his eyes on Skulduggery.

Skulduggery stared back. ‘You’re insane.’

‘Don’t be afraid, Detective, I won’t harm her.’

‘Your definition of “harm” is very skewed. And I know Darquesse. She would never help you.’

‘But Darquesse doesn’t know her true name yet, does she?’

Skulduggery went incredibly still. All apart from his fingers, which began to beat that rapid rhythm against the Accelerator. ‘What are you saying?’

‘I would think it’s obvious.’

‘Do me a favour and spell it out.’

‘For Valkyrie’s benefit?’ Argeddion said, amused. ‘Very well. I did say I would help her understand.’ He turned to Valkyrie.

‘You see, Valkyrie, if someone has no taken name, their given name can be used to-’

‘-control their actions, yeah, I know,’ said Valkyrie. She was finding it hard to focus on him. The lights on the walls around them were pulsing with the beat Skulduggery was tapping out.

‘And regardless of whether someone has taken a name, if another sorcerer finds out their true name before it has been sealed, do you know what happens?’

She didn’t like his teacherish tone, but she answered anyway, frowning against the persistent dance of light. ‘They get complete control over the person.’

The glow from the Accelerator itself was infected with the rhythm.

Argeddion nodded. ‘Their free will disappears. Their soul is owned by whomever commands their name, no matter who uses it, or for what purpose. If someone discovers their true name before they themselves do, then they are powerless to do anything but obey. And what Detective Pleasant here has so cleverly figured out is that since Darquesse does not actually know her true name… she can be controlled.

‘However, if I reveal her name to her before using it to control her, I will give her more power than she could imagine. But since her name is not sealed, I can tell her to help me bring about the Summer of Light, and she would obey. As a bonus, this would avoid all the destruction and death she wishes to wreak upon the world. Do you understand, Valkyrie?’

The lights were blinding her. She was barely taking in any of Argeddion’s weird monologue. She nodded, just to get him to shut up so she could refocus. She didn’t know what Skulduggery was trying to do, but she should probably let him know that it was affecting her.

‘Unfortunately, you don’t. Not fully.’

There was nothing but light now. Her vision was almost completely whited out. She was having trouble breathing. Abandoning all pretence, she turned to Skulduggery and almost lost her balance from the disorientation.

‘But you will soon.’

He started to say something else, something familiar, but she couldn’t hear him, her hands were over her ears and her eyes were squeezed tightly shut but it didn’t stop the tapping or the pulsing and then-

Valkyrie opened her eyes.

She was lying on the floor, again, and she had a headache, again. Thankfully, this time it was pretty faint.

Reverie Synecdoche was peering down at her.

‘Oh, I’m really sorry,’ Valkyrie said immediately.

Reverie frowned. ‘What for?’

‘Your office. I kind of destroyed it looking for the Sceptre,’ Valkyrie admitted.

‘But it was left in your reflection’s bed. I made certain that no one was to touch it myself.’

Valkyrie’s eyes widened as she sat up. ‘It wasn’t there. I checked. You mean it really is missing?’

Reverie stared at her, and then steady professionalism took the wheel. ‘I’ll inform the Council of Elders.’ Then she raised her voice, addressing someone behind Valkyrie. ‘She’s awake, by the way.’

Ghastly and Skulduggery abandoned the conversation they’d been having by the half-demolished entrance to the Accelerator Room. Reverie intercepted Ghastly on her way past, drawing him into another quiet talk. Skulduggery pulled Valkyrie up.

Argeddion was slumped against a wall, surrounded by a small group of people, one of whom was Cassandra Pharos. She had her hands on his head, and was concentrating deeply.

‘What did you do?’ Valkyrie asked Skulduggery.

‘You fainted, and Argeddion was so shocked you would dare interrupt his wonderful speech like that that he fainted too,’ he replied.

‘Ha ha.’ Valkyrie rolled her eyes.

‘Very well. Ghastly defeated him in single combat.’

‘I wish. No come on, what happened?’

‘He had a sudden attack of virtuosity and surrendered.’

‘I remember lights,’ Valkyrie mused.

‘I hypnotised you both.’

‘Skulduggery-’

‘Alright, alright. It was a kind of magical seizure.’

She side-eyed him, but he seemed to be telling the truth this time. ‘You didn’t think that might be a little dangerous, maybe?’

Skulduggery’s voice was amused. ‘Considering what he was saying? I thought it preferable.’

‘Fair enough, I guess,’ Valkyrie allowed. There’d be plenty of time to nag him about it later.

She caught sight of Kitana, Sean, and Doran, healthy and whole, if a bit pale, being led away in handcuffs.

‘Right,’ Skulduggery said quietly. ‘We should have a talk…’

Valkyrie nodded.

‘…but that was it, right? You took it off and left it in that mountain, and then you went back to fight for the good guys again.’

‘I did. That was the end of Lord Vile… until last year, when my subconscious apparently decided that it didn’t want a new Death Bringer stealing its thunder, and started animating the armour on its own.’

Valkyrie felt her mouth drop open. They were sitting cross-legged on the floor of a small, dimly lit room in a less-traversed area of the Sanctuary, talking softly so that no one could hear even their muffled voices through the door.

‘That’s just wrong,’ she squirmed.

‘Oh yes.’

‘Must’ve been scary.’

‘For five months I thought I was going to kill you. It was scary.’

‘But you solved the problem, didn’t you? The armour doesn’t get up and walk around by itself anymore?’

‘No, it doesn’t. The problem was more… nullified than solved when I put it on to defeat the actual Death Bringer.’

‘And then Darquesse showed up.’

‘That she did.’

‘And then I showed up.’

Skulduggery chuckled. ‘Yes, you did.’

Valkyrie exhaled, and they sat in silence for a while.

Eventually though, she broke it.

‘I’m sorry,’ she blurted out. ‘I’m sorry I’m here instead of Valkyrie. And if she is gone- like, really gone- I am so, so sorry, Skulduggery.’

He didn’t say anything.

‘Argeddion didn’t know if she was alive,’ she continued, ‘and he wouldn’t send me back. And now that they’re giving him a new identity, we don’t have the first clue of where to find any of that “theory” he talked about. Everything just feels… really, really hopeless.

‘So, I mean,’ she sighed, ‘I guess at least there’s plenty to do, work-wise.’

‘Look at you,’ Skulduggery said. ‘You’ve only been here twenty-four hours and you’re already learning.’

Valkyrie’s face dropped. ‘I’ve only been here how long?’

Skulduggery laughed, and the air lightened a little.

‘I agree with everything you said,’ he confirmed, ‘apart from the bit where you implied that you have anything to be blamed for. No matter what happened to her, none of this is your fault. Your older self would be the first to let you know that.’

‘Don’t you miss her though?’

‘Of course I do. But unfortunately, it’s also rather difficult to mourn someone when they’re right in front of you.’

Mourn. The implications of that word bounced around in Valkyrie’s head until she released them. There was no sense in agonising over things she wasn’t going to get an answer to. All she could do was her best to put things right.

‘What’s she like?’ she asked softly.

Skulduggery tilted his head. ‘A lot like you,’ he answered. ‘But different as well. Taller, for one thing. And equally resistant to my jokes, for some reason. What am I like?’

‘A little different,’ Valkyrie said slowly. ‘But mostly the same. You’re more open, here, I think. With me at least.’ She paused, then added, ‘You wear a bow tie over there.’

‘No,’ said Skulduggery.

‘It has polka dots on it. They match your hat.’

‘Very funny. We’re going to work on your lying skills.’

‘I’m not lying.’

‘If you grin any more, the top of your head will fall off.’

Valkyrie let out a loud laugh and the door opened.

Ghastly appeared, looking grim. ‘Your phone’s off,’ he told Skulduggery. ‘I’ve been looking for you for half an hour.’

Skulduggery stood. ‘What’s happened?’

‘Grand Mage Strom’s been assassinated. Tanith’s work.’

Valkyrie felt the blood drain from her face. ‘Tanith?’

The expression Ghastly wore was nothing short of harrowed. ‘There’s no doubt about it. She was here in the Sanctuary, right under our noses, and we didn’t notice. Sult’s already left to report this to the Supreme Council, and he took all his sorcerers with him.’

‘So what does that mean for Ireland?’

Ghastly didn’t answer. A muscle jumped in his jaw.

‘Like you said,’ Skulduggery told her, buttoning his jacket and straightening his cuffs, ‘we’ve got plenty of work to do.’

The reflection gazed at her herself in the mirror, and then turned it to dust. This was easy, as she held the Sceptre of the Ancients in her hands. Contrary to what Skulduggery and Valkyrie had assumed, it had not bonded to either of them, but instead to Stephanie Edgley.

She couldn’t charge the Sceptre- only a sorcerer could do that, and afterwards they would become its owner. In normal circumstances, that would mean she would have to kill them to take control of it. However, Skulduggery had charged the Sceptre right after coming through the portal, and he was already dead, a fact Stephanie had exploited upon taking it back.

She was a person. Not a thing. Not a replacement. Not a stand-in. Her name was Stephanie, and it was hers. Valkyrie had left the name behind, and then she had left the world behind. Regardless of whether or not she was alive, she wasn’t coming back. Stephanie didn’t have to leave her family, her life, for Valkyrie to come in and pick up whenever she felt like it anymore. She could just live… without fear, or an obligation to her existence. She tipped her head back and sighed. She was free.

And it wasn’t fair that she’d been denied this for so long. It wasn’t fair that sorcerers so glibly ignored the life they gave so carelessly. Had any other reflections done what she’d done? Had any of them gained a soul? She doubted they had lived long enough to treasure it. Sorcerers had more than likely decommissioned them without thinking twice. They’d decommission- no, they’d kill her without thinking twice too, if they found out. They couldn’t find out. Luckily, it wouldn’t be hard to hide. No one had any reason to come knocking at Stephanie’s window any more. And if they did, well, she’d been playing the part of a mindless thing for years now, as she slowly woke up more and more. She had practice- not that she’d need to pretend for long. Her fingers tightened on the Sceptre. Sorcerers wouldn’t be a problem.

The more she thought about it, the more she wanted them to try, to treat her like a thing just one more time, to ignore her pain, to act like it was ridiculous to spare her a thought-

There was a loud bang on the outside of her wall, followed by a pained groan. Young fingers gripped Stephanie’s window sill.

She hesitated. Then she frowned and placed the Sceptre in the closet, shutting the de-mirrored door after it. Once that was taken care of, she opened the window and helped Valkyrie inside. On the ground, Skulduggery shook his head and walked back in the direction of the pier.

‘Ow. Thanks. First time trying that by myself,’ Valkyrie said, brushing herself off and standing up straight. She was largely covered in brick dust. As the world didn’t seem to have ended yet, Stephanie gathered that this meant Argeddion had been defeated.

Valkyrie was taking in her room. ‘There’s no riding posters,’ she noticed.

‘No,’ Stephanie said shortly, before clamping down on her temper. In any case, Valkyrie hadn’t paid attention, but Stephanie was very aware that this Valkyrie also hadn’t grown accustomed to what the other Valkyrie had called Stephanie’s ‘glitches’- the little idiosyncrasies that had slipped through when she’d been gaining a life of her own. This Valkyrie would notice Stephanie’s odd behaviour much more than her older self had. Furthermore, Stephanie wasn’t entirely sure that she could even shut herself down into the complete unfeeling compliance that had characterised the beginning of her existence, even for an act. If Valkyrie figured it out, if she told Skulduggery…

Stephanie’s eyes flicked to the closet- but that would only bring down on her for certain something that might be avoided.

‘You took them down when you were fourteen,’ she said instead, resolving to keep close to the closet just in case.

Valkyrie nodded, and brought her wandering eyes back to her. ‘How are you?’ she asked.

Stephanie stared.

‘You’re not hurt anymore?’ Valkyrie clarified.

Stephanie found herself massaging the newly-restored fingers on her right hand. ‘I’m fine,’ she said slowly. ‘China found the right sigils without any trouble.’

‘That’s good,’ Valkyrie nodded. ‘I was worried. You looked like you were in a lot of pain.’

‘I… was,’ Stephanie answered, studying her.

Another silence descended, during which Valkyrie couldn’t seem able to keep herself from peering around at the room. The careful steps she took in a circle gave the impression that she was at a crime scene, where nothing could be disturbed, rather than in the room she’d had since she was born. The other Valkyrie had never been anything but at ease in here.

With a casualness that didn’t fool Stephanie in the slightest, Valkyrie asked, ‘Mum and Dad home?’

‘At the shops. Mum’s planning on doing a roast tonight.’ Another slip-up went by unnoticed. Stephanie wasn’t supposed to refer to her parents as her parents.

‘Oh. Right.’

Valkyrie had stopped looking around. She fidgeted. Her gaze was on a section of wall, but Stephanie doubted she was seeing it. Then she winced, and rubbed her temple.

‘Everything okay?’ Stephanie asked.

‘Yeah, I’ve just had a bit of a headache the last day or so. Doctor Synecdoche said I was dehydrated.’ Valkyrie gave a brief grin. ‘It’s funny though, it almost feels like I’m forgetting something. Weird, right?’

Something pinged in the back of Stephanie’s mind. Dread pooled in her stomach. She remembered that feeling. No. She remembered the memory of that feeling. It had been one of Valkyrie’s, right after she’d rescued Skulduggery from the Faceless Ones’ dimension. Right after the Sensitives had started seeing visions about a sorcerer who would destroy the world.

Stephanie stared at the thirteen-year-old in front of her who was dressed in torn, dusty clothes and wearing a thinly-veiled expression of utter loneliness.

‘I’m sure it’s nothing,’ she said. She stepped away from the closet. ‘There’s some painkillers downstairs though, if you want them.’

Valkyrie nodded gratefully, and Stephanie led the way out.

She was so caught up in her thoughts- a good few of which were on the subject of how soon she would come to regret not whipping out the Sceptre as soon as Valkyrie had mentioned her headache- that it wasn’t until she turned around with the glass of water and tablets in hand that she noticed Valkyrie wasn’t in the kitchen with her.

‘Valkyrie?’

She wasn’t in the lounge room, or the hall. Making her way back upstairs, Stephanie eventually found her on the second floor. Valkyrie had ducked into the room with the open door and closed curtains, through which a soft, dim light suffused, illuminating the crib holding the baby that had woken up inside.

Valkyrie was gazing down at her, her eyes wide. One of her fingers was caught in Alice’s little hand. The baby stretched like she was thinking about turning over onto her belly, but overall seemed quite happy with the current situation.

‘Oh,’ said Stephanie. Alice held Valkyrie’s undivided attention. The corner of the girl’s mouth twitched briefly, but that was all the smile that was forthcoming.

‘Her name’s Alice,’ Stephanie said, because the silence was getting to be too much. ‘She’s fifteen months, now.’

Valkyrie nodded. Stephanie put the glass and the tablet down.

‘You can pick her up if you want.’ She didn’t know why she said that. Valkyrie hadn’t liked it when Stephanie held Alice, and vice versa.

Still, Stephanie helped Valkyrie do it when she seemed uncertain.

Valkyrie hugged her little sister. Alice blew a bubble at her and laughed. Valkyrie held her stiffly. She looked at Stephanie. She opened her mouth and tried to say something. She couldn’t.

Before she knew it Stephanie found herself sitting on the floor of the nursery holding a second little girl, who didn’t entirely know what was wrong, but needed to let it all out.