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“No,” Ieni said, her eyes widening, “I swear I wasn’t.”
Valkyrie was about to interject when a man in a good suit stepped out of the room beside them.
“Leave the girl alone,” he said, making the order sound like a suggestion. He wasn’t quite as tall as Valkyrie and he was carrying a few extra pounds around the midsection, but his smile was easy and his vibe was laid-back. “She got taken unawares by professionals. It happens to the best of us.”
The mage glared. “I don’t know who you are, but I’m fairly certain that this is none of your business.”
“You don’t know who I am?” the man said. “Really? I know who you are, Mr Dacanay. Newly-appointed sheriff of Roarhaven, am I right? You even have a little badge and ID card that you’re suddenly embarrassed about, tucked away in your pocket there.”
Dacanay loomed over him. “I don’t like psychics picking through my head.”
“Good thing I’m not a psychic, then. My name is Saracen Rue. I know things.” At the mention of Saracen’s name, Dacanay backed down considerably. “I know, for example, that you’re going to walk away from this conversation within the next five seconds. Four … three … two …”
Dacanay scowled, turned to Ieni. “I’ll be watching you.”
As he stormed off, Saracen leaned in. “He might be the law in Roarhaven, but not in the Sanctuary. You don’t have to worry about him.”
“Thank you,” Ieni said.
“Did you have a doctor look you over? That probably wouldn’t be a bad idea.”
Ieni nodded and hurried away, and Saracen turned to Valkyrie, stepped back to look her up and down, and smiled. “Valkyrie Cain. You are exactly what I expected.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Is that good or bad?”
“Good,” he said, shaking her hand. “It’s great to finally meet you. Come on, everyone’s meeting in the conference room.”
“Is Ghastly OK?” she asked as they started walking.
“He’s fine,” said Saracen. “A headache and a few mild burns. Hey, well done on saving the world that time.”
“Which time was that?”
Saracen laughed. “Take your pick. I haven’t been home in years – this morning was the first time I’d set foot on Irish soil in the last decade – but I’ve heard so much about you.”
“Likewise,” Valkyrie said. “Although Skulduggery never mentioned what discipline you studied.”
Saracen’s smile turned to a grin. “I know things.”
“But you said you’re not a psychic.”
“You don’t have to be a Sensitive to know things.”
“So … that’s your magic? Knowing things is your power?”
“Knowing things is a result of my power.”
“OK. No offence, but that vagueness is really annoying.”
“I know. Dexter has been trying to figure out what I can do for over three hundred and fifty years. Seeing the annoyance in his eyes is just about the most hilarious thing I’ve ever experienced.”
“Does anyone know what your power is?”
“Erskine,” said Saracen. “About twenty years before the war with Mevolent ended, I was poisoned. I was dying. I was on my sickbed and Erskine was the only friend I had in the place, and in a moment of weakness I told him what I could do.”
“But you survived.”
“The next morning I started to recover. Dexter likes to say that it was the burden of this secret that was killing me, and only when I told someone was that burden lifted. I think that’s the reason we’re still friends. He wants to be around if I ever get sick again.”
“And do you know … everything?”
“Not even close,” Saracen said. “After you.”
The Cleavers opened the doors for them and they joined Skulduggery and the Elders just as Tipstaff was handing Ravel a note. Valkyrie looked at Ghastly. He caught her eye and winked, and she smiled.
Ravel took a moment to read the note, then looked up. “All right, then,” he said, “before we get on to Bernard Sult and what this means, I have to ask Skulduggery and Valkyrie if Tyren Lament or any of his sorcerers ever mentioned anything about the Engineer?”
Valkyrie frowned. “What engineer?”
“The Engineer,” said Ravel. “The Sensitives were able to get a few snippets of information out of the mind of one of Sult’s people before the psychic block went up. The Supreme Council has been doing a little research into the Accelerator, it seems, and they came across a mention of this ‘Engineer’.”
“So who is he?” Skulduggery asked.
“Not who – what. It’s a machine. Apparently it’s the only way to deactivate the Accelerator.”
“And where is it?”
“No one knows. It wandered off.”
“How can it wander off? It’s a machine.”
“It’s humanoid, has an independent brain and is most likely sentient in a—”
Valkyrie’s eyes bulged. “It’s a robot?”
“Well … yes.”
Excitement bubbled inside her. “There’s a robot out there? That is so cool! Can it transform into anything?”
Ravel hesitated. “No.”
“Really?” Valkyrie said, suddenly disappointed. “Wow. You’d think if someone went to the trouble of building a robot, they’d at least make one that transforms.”
“Yes,” said Ravel slowly, “that was my first thought, too. Anyway, it was supposed to stay with the Accelerator, but obviously it wandered off. I can only assume that when the Supreme Council couldn’t find it, they decided to cut out the middleman, plant a few bombs and just hope for the best. Luckily for us, Ghastly was on hand to save the day.”
“Ghastly’s my hero,” said Saracen.
“But before I interrupted them,” Ghastly said, ignoring Saracen, “Sult did manage to transmit an energy reading to the American Sanctuary. If the Accelerator and the Engineer were built together, and we have every reason to believe they were, then the energy reading of one could theoretically be used to track down the other.”
“What does all this matter?” Valkyrie asked. “We’re not going to use the Accelerator anyway, right?”
“The Supreme Council doesn’t know that,” said Ghastly. “All they know is that we have a weapon that we could deploy at any time. It’s our nuclear deterrent: it stops them from doing anything too stupid. But if we no longer have the option of supercharging our sorcerers …”
“They’re free to be as stupid as they like.”
“Sadly, yes.”
Skulduggery looked back to Ravel. “What has been their reaction to Sult’s arrest?”
Ravel gave a shrug of exasperation. “The Supreme Council is demanding Sult’s release, as you can expect. The interesting thing is that they haven’t even attempted to lie about what he was doing here.”
“So they don’t think they owe anyone an explanation,” Skulduggery said. “Then they’ve already decided on war – now they’re just waiting for the instigating moment.”
Ravel sat heavily into his chair. “It would appear so. In response to our refusal to release him, they’re rounding up Irish mages all over the world, accusing them of spying and putting them in shackles. We’ll use whatever contacts and resources we can to smuggle our people back to us, but we don’t have a number yet on how many have been taken. And there’s something you all should know – Dexter Vex was one of the first arrested.”
“Do we know anything further?” asked Saracen.
“Only that he didn’t resist, which is probably a good thing.”
“And what are we doing about foreign agents on Irish soil?” Ghastly asked.
Ravel hesitated. “We’re asking them to leave, and we’re making sure they do. We can’t afford to be as brash as the Supreme Council. If their sorcerers, people we know and have fought beside, see how respectfully we’re treating them despite Sult’s attack, then maybe they’ll have second thoughts about the part they’re playing in all this.”
“Weakness,” said Madame Mist.
Ravel looked at her. “Excuse me?”
“You’re worried about being rude, and so we tiptoe where we should stride. Our enemies will see this as a weakness.”
“They are not our enemies.”
“Of course they are. Friends become enemies in times of war. If we enter into this with timid hearts, we will be crushed. We must stride, we must bellow, we must be merciless. That is how we win.”
“What are you talking about?” Ravel asked, frowning at her. “Win? What might we win? If we defeat the Supreme Council, then what? Do we take over? Do we run every Sanctuary around the world? Why would we even want that? We’re not in this to win. We’re in it to survive. We defend ourselves. If we have to go to war, we strike at key strategic points. We weaken the Supreme Council and we chip away at their support. Then, when their rank-and-file sorcerers have had enough, we withdraw and let them sort it out among themselves.”
Mist looked at him a moment longer, then sat back. “How … noble,” she said, distaste curling the word.
“We don’t want a war, Elder Mist,” Ravel said. “If you find fault in our tactics, I invite you to offer alternatives. If you don’t have any, we may as well work with what we have. Valkyrie, I see you’ve met Saracen. Only believe half of what he tells you. Skulduggery, you’ve been looking deeper into these Warlock rumours. Any progress?”
Skulduggery took a moment to answer. “Our investigation is ongoing,” he said.
“Do you know something you’re not telling us?”
“Yes.”
“Right. Well, at least someone knows something. That’s a nice bloody change.”
“Can we interrogate Bernard Sult?” Valkyrie asked as they searched.
“Why would we want to?” Skulduggery murmured, his gloved fingers rifling through a large box of smaller boxes.
“Because we might get a confession out of him.”
Skulduggery put the large box back on the shelf, and kept looking. “We don’t need a confession. Ghastly caught him red-handed.”
“But a confession might make the Supreme Council back off.”
“Only if they were denying his mission, which they’re not.”
She frowned. “I still think we should interrogate him.”
“Why?”
“To get the truth, the facts … also to gloat.”
Skulduggery got to the end of the aisle, and started down the next one. “Gloating is unbecoming of you.”
Valkyrie trailed after him. “You gloat all the time.”
“Because when I do it it’s admirable and funny. Bernard Sult is a political prisoner. The situation must be handled with great care and sensitivity – neither of which are your strong points.”
“Did … you just insult me?”
He stopped, and looked back. “Not that I am aware. Let others be caring and sensitive, Valkyrie. You concentrate on being effective. It’s what you’re good at.” He resumed his search.
“I can be effective while I’m being caring and sensitive,” she said to the back of his head. “You’ve seen me with Alice. You’ve seen how caring I can be. I’m the most caring person in the world when I’m with her. I’m almost too caring.”
“Let’s not get carried away.”
She glared. “I care. And I’m sensitive. You need to be sensitive in order to be a good big sister.”
“I’ve clearly struck a nerve.”
“No you haven’t. It’s not a nerve. It’s just a thing. I’m a good big sister, and I’m going to keep being a good big sister while she grows up. I’m going to give her advice on school, on clothes, on boys … I’m going to make sure she’s happy and safe and nothing bad ever happens to her.”
Skulduggery turned. “This conversation has shifted.”
“Has it?”
“It has. Who have you been speaking to?”
Valkyrie hesitated.
“Ah,” said Skulduggery. “It was something you were discussing with China. I see. And what did China say that has you so confrontational?”
“I’m not confrontational.”
“You think there’s an argument coming so you’ve started arguing early. It’s what you always do.”
“Fine. OK. Yes, there’s an argument coming. Oh, look, it’s already arrived. Big deal.”
“And may I ask what it is we are arguing about?”
“You don’t want to know.”
“Maybe not, but I think it would probably be useful nevertheless.”
Valkyrie sighed, and put some irritation into it to hide her own uneasiness. “I was talking to China about the Second Lifetime Syndrome, and about maybe telling my parents the truth.”
Skulduggery looked at her with his empty eye sockets.
It was very quiet in the Repository. She could hear her own breathing, and every slight rustle her clothes made as she stood there.
“Hmm,” Skulduggery said.
“China’s not in favour,” Valkyrie said quickly. “Just in case you think she’s talked me into anything.”
He nodded. “Hmm,” he said again.
“She gave me loads of reasons why I shouldn’t, so you don’t have to. I haven’t even decided. I just mentioned it. It’s a possibility. I don’t want to lose my family. Is that so wrong?”
He didn’t answer, and her eyes widened.
“I mean … I’m sorry, I didn’t … That was a dumb thing to say.”
“Why?” he asked, and tilted his head. Then he clicked his fingers. “Oh, yes, because my family is dead. I’d completely forgotten.”
The warmth in his voice made her smile. “You’re such a moron. Sorry, though.”
He waved her words away. “If people had to apologise to me every time they made some random comment about dead families, I’d never get any work done. As for your dilemma, I’m not going to tell you what to do. I want you to be happy and for your parents and sister to be happy and safe. Whatever way you can achieve that is fine with me.”
“Thank you.”
“So long as you take into account all the possible repercussions of your actions before you do anything, I’m confident you’ll make the right decision.”
Her smile soured. “Cheers. Are we going to find this crystal or not?”
“Already have,” Skulduggery said, and held up a small, felt-covered box. He opened it and withdrew a purple crystal the size of a peanut.
“Hmph.”
He tilted his head. “Hmph?”
Valkyrie shrugged. “It’s not very impressive, is it? I was expecting … I don’t know what I was expecting, but I was expecting something less … meh.”
“I have never admired your professionalism more than right at this moment. Anyway, this is the amethyst crystal China told you about – though, to be honest, I didn’t know it could be used to affect the memory in such a selective way. It’s usually wielded with such clumsiness, used to wipe a mind clear. Whoever our mystery man is, he knows what he’s doing.”
“If they’re so powerful,” Valkyrie said, “it couldn’t be easy getting your hands on one.”
“It’s not – certainly not one as loaded with power as this is. A lot of them have been destroyed. Most of the others have been locked away in vaults and Repositories around the world.”
“So our mystery man has a crystal of his very own,” said Valkyrie.
Skulduggery nodded slowly. “Either that or he uses this one.”
She looked at him. “Are you being serious?”
“They’re really not easy to get hold of.”
“So he borrows this one whenever he needs it, then puts it back when he’s done? But then … I mean, if that’s true, then we’ve probably passed him in the corridor a hundred times.”
“Maybe.”
“So we’re pretty sure now that not only is he a Roarhaven mage, he’s also a Sanctuary mage. That means he’s one of us.”
He looked at her. “Yes.”
“Well … that’s just creepy. Can we take fingerprints or something?”
“Crystals of this nature don’t hold any oily residue,” Skulduggery said, “and the box is covered in felt. We’ll have someone go over the CCTV footage for this room, but I doubt we’ll find anything useful. The one lead we have, though, that we didn’t have before, is the description of the old man with the long grey beard. Take that description, combine it with Roarhaven, and who springs to mind?”
“The Torment.”
“That being the case, what do you think our next move should be?”
Valkyrie smiled. “Scapegrace.”
Scapegrace threw the sweeping brush away and came forward, clasped Skulduggery’s hand and gave it a firm shake. “My friend,” he said. “It is good to see you again.”
“Uh,” Skulduggery said. “Right.”
“And Valkyrie,” Scapegrace said, turning to her, smiling broadly. “How goes the fight?”
She had to look past the impressive figure, the pretty face, the dazzling smile, and remember the brain that lurked within that head. “What fight would that be?”
“The fight against evil,” said Scapegrace. “How goes it? Does it go well?”
“Sure,” Valkyrie said, a little doubtfully.
“I heard there was an explosion in the Sanctuary. Do you have any leads?”
She frowned. “Yeah.”
“Any suspects?”
“The people who set the bomb were arrested at the scene.”
Scapegrace nodded thoughtfully. “I see, I see. Convenient. A little too convenient, wouldn’t you say? Almost as if they wanted to be caught.”
“I don’t think so …”
“Well, maybe not, I know nothing about it. But if you need our help, just give us the sign. We’ll need to work out a sign. Then you can give it, and we’ll come and help. Some kind of signal, or alarm, or, I don’t know, maybe I could give you my phone number, or you could pop by, I suppose. We’re only up the road from you, so that’d probably be handiest.”
“You feeling OK?”
Scapegrace laughed, and stepped back. “Me? I’m fine. Better than Thrasher, that’s for sure.”
Thrasher walked up, a sheepish look on his handsome face. “Hi, Valkyrie. Hi, Skulduggery.”
“You’re not feeling well?” Skulduggery asked.
Before Thrasher could answer, Scapegrace did it for him. “He’s constipated.”
“Master!” Thrasher said, horrified.
“Oh, shut up. We’re all friends here. We can talk about these things. It’s just like Doctor Nye told us. We each got a blast of magic to reanimate these bodies, and that magic has been keeping us going for the past few months. But now our own biological processes are starting to reawaken and take over.”
“I got hungry for the first time on Tuesday,” Thrasher said, somewhat guiltily. “So I ate something.”
Scapegrace grinned happily. “But while his stomach has reactivated, his bowels are still asleep.”
“It’s very uncomfortable,” Thrasher confessed.
“As zombies, we didn’t feel anything,” Scapegrace said, “but now that we’re human again, something like constipation is a real problem. For some of us.”
Thrasher blushed and Scapegrace’s grin widened. Valkyrie felt the need to step in.
“How about you?” she asked. “Have all of your biological processes reawakened yet?”
Scapegrace’s grin faded immediately. “Not yet,” he said. “I can feel my magic beginning to reawaken, but the biological processes are … taking their time. But it … it should be fine. I have a book about it. About what to expect. Actually, now that you’re here, I was wondering … If I have any questions about, you know, certain aspects of womanhood, could I ask you?”
“No,” she said.
“But just a few tips—”
“Under no circumstances. God, no. No way.”
“Oh,” he said. “Fair enough. I suppose … I suppose, OK, let’s keep this professional.”
“Professional is a good way to keep it.”
“It’s just … I don’t have any other female friends.”
She frowned. “We’re friends?”
“What about Clarabelle?” Skulduggery said. “Have you asked her?”
“I have,” Scapegrace said. “She tried to help, but then she started laughing, and she wouldn’t stop. She was laughing so much she couldn’t catch her breath, and she passed out.”
“She did,” said Thrasher. “I was there.”
“It’s all so confusing,” Scapegrace said, sitting down. “I don’t even know what size clothes to wear. I got a big bundle of clothes from a charity shop, but I don’t even know how to wear most of it. This top, the top I’m wearing now, it took me fifteen minutes to work out how to do it up.”
“It’s on backwards,” Valkyrie said gently. “It’s got a scoop neckline. That shouldn’t be on your back.”
“How am I supposed to know that? That’s ridiculous!”
“Also, yellow is not your colour.”
“I told him that,” Thrasher murmured.
Scapegrace jumped to his feet. “Now I have to figure out what my colour is? How is any of this fair?”
“It can’t be all bad,” Valkyrie said, trying for a reassuring smile. “You’re healthy, aren’t you? You’re alive. That’s something.”
“Yeah,” Scapegrace said, face in his hands. “I suppose.”
“And from what I’ve heard, the pub is doing really well.”
At this, Thrasher’s face soured. “It’s just a pity our clientele couldn’t be a bit … classier, that’s all.”
Scapegrace glared. “Our?”
“Sorry, Master. Yours.”
“There is nothing wrong with my clientele. Most of them are old friends of mine. Well, not really friends, but … but people I’ve known for years.”
“It’s nice that they’re supporting you,” Valkyrie said.
Scapegrace took a moment. “They treat me differently,” he said. “They’re nicer to me. They laugh now when I say something funny. No one ignores me any more.”
“That’s good.”
“Yes,” he said, and then shook his head. “Oh, who am I kidding? At least when they ignored me, they ignored me for the man I was, not the woman I’m not. Now I’m just an object to them. A pretty face serving them drinks.”
Thrasher’s eyes welled up. “They don’t see you like I see you.”
Scapegrace whirled round to him instantly. “Again, kind of an odd thing to say.”
“Sorry, Master.”
“Stop saying odd things.”
“Yes, Master.”
Scapegrace turned back to Valkyrie and Skulduggery. “You need something. Information? I’m your man. Sort of.”
“We’re looking for information about the Torment,” said Skulduggery.
“Ah, the Torment. I haven’t thought about him for years.”
“Who is he?” Thrasher asked.
“He’s before your time,” Scapegrace said, somewhat wistfully. “He was a Child of the Spider, or an Old Man of the Spider, whatever. He didn’t like Valkyrie because he could sense Ancient blood in her, and also he just wasn’t a very nice man. He could turn into a giant spider, though, which was pretty cool. Skulduggery, remember the first time you questioned me? You wanted me to bring you to him. They were good times, weren’t they? I was so different then. I wasn’t a zombie. I wasn’t a woman. I was me.”
“You brought the Torment to Roarhaven,” Valkyrie said. “You let him stay beneath this very pub.”
“And did I get any thanks for that? All the work I put into converting the cellar into a place someone could live – do you know how long that took? I mean, fine, I may have stolen most of the materials, but it was still a huge undertaking.”
Skulduggery tilted his head. “You stole the materials to convert the cellar?”
“Sure I did. There were enough construction supplies coming into Roarhaven to rebuild the town ten times over.”