Skulduggery Pleasant: Last Stand of Dead Men (41 page)

“We’ll tell them we’re not protecting you,” Prave said.

“They won’t listen,” Scorn said, her eyes glinting with anger. “Activate the defences.”

China left them to it, found a small room and took the thick piece of chalk from her pocket. She drew the sigil on the floor quickly. She could hear crashes and breaking glass. She lay down on top of the sigil, took a deep breath, and tapped the edge.

The sigil glowed, and China gritted her teeth as a pulse of light shot upwards, hit the ceiling, lighting up the whole room. Her cracked ribs burned as they healed. Pain ran the entire length of her body, but there had been no time for subtlety. She’d needed a safe place to do this ever since that vampire had thrown her into that wall.

She tapped the sigil and the light cut off and she gasped. She turned over, tried to stand. Her body trembled. She was sore, bruised and battered, but at least her ribs were no longer broken. From elsewhere in the church, she heard the door being kicked down.

So much for Eliza’s defences.

She forced herself up, stepped from the room in time to see Scorn running and Prave scrambling after her.

“She’s that way!” Prave screeched, pointing in China’s direction.

Foe and Mercy came into view, stumbling. Whatever defences Scorn set up had obviously had
some
effect, but they looked more annoyed than hurt. Still, it was something, and China would take whatever she was given. She ran for a narrow set of wooden stairs, found herself climbing into a loft space with a large, stained-glass window at one end. No other way down.

A voice crept up inside her mind, Obloquy’s voice, bringing with it distant promises of pain. Her psychic defences were higher than most – secrets had been her livelihood, after all – but this kind of attack could not be blocked by conventional means.

Pain
, said Obloquy and China cried out, her knees buckling beneath her. She fell, turned to watch Obloquy climb the stairs after her, his eyes narrowed.
More pain. More pain than you’ve ever felt.
China tried to scream, but her body was seizing up, her muscles contracting. Obloquy was in the loft now, coming closer, closer, and when he was within range China clutched her head with both hands, her fingers digging through her hair to press against the tattoo on her scalp.

Her thoughts turned jagged. Grew thorns. Spikes. Obloquy grunted. Tried pulling away. His thoughts caught on her thoughts. Caught on the spikes. Spikes ripped him. Tore him. China jabbed. Slashed. Obloquy flailed. Panicked. China’s thorns spread, piercing, then retracted, pulling.

China blinked and sat up. Obloquy stood over her, swaying slightly, his face slack. She got to her feet, wincing as a headache began to pound behind her eyes. She tried to hurry away, but her legs were like lead. She’d only had to use that sigil once before. The after-effects had been similar. A few minutes. That’s all she needed. Just a few minutes and her strength would return.

The window smashed ahead of her and Samuel climbed through. Typical.

She tapped her forearms. Whether she had enough strength to use magic at all proved irrelevant – Samuel darted at her so fast she didn’t have time to find out. His palm found her chest and she flew backwards, hit the ground and sprawled. Even before she could open her eyes she felt his cold hands on her, lifting her. He threw her into the wall. She turned her head at the last instant, saved herself a fractured skull, but her shoulder crunched and pain blossomed.

She’d come here to heal her broken ribs, and now had a broken collarbone.

She got to one knee as Samuel came for her. She held out a hand to stop him, to keep him away, and he grabbed her wrist, stepped back and yanked. China spun through the air, but he still had hold of her, and he turned and swung her back into the wall.

She dropped, gasping, unable to breathe. Collarbone broken. Those ribs again. Shoulder dislocated.

His fingers closed round her ankle, and Samuel started pulling her after him as he walked. They passed Obloquy, still standing there with his eyes half-closed. China managed to wrap an arm round his leg, but Samuel barely noticed. He tugged her and she slipped by, almost missing the knife in Obloquy’s boot. She reached out, snatched it, and then she was being pulled along the floor again.

She sucked in a sliver of breath. Then another. Then she sat up and plunged the knife through Samuel’s arm.

His grip opened and he stumbled, gave a roar that was more outrage than agony. China scrambled up, ran at him, jumped and crunched her forehead into his face. He collapsed backwards and she fell on him and rolled off, crying out in pain. Darkness swarmed, but she fought against it. Samuel might have been unconscious, but it wouldn’t be long before Obloquy’s brain came back online. If she passed out now, he’d kill her. If she took even one moment to rest, she’d never make it out of here alive.

Groaning, China sat up, got to her knees, got to her feet. Forced herself to walk to the broken window. She climbed out on to the roof of the extension. Below her, the motorbikes were parked.

China sat on the edge of the roof, dangled her legs over. Taking a deep breath, she let herself fall.

Her feet hit the ground and gave out and she collapsed in a screaming heap. She turned the scream into a string of curses and used her anger to make herself stand.

She straddled the biggest bike there, clicked her fingers and the engine growled to life. She flicked back the kickstand, put it in gear and spun it in place. With one arm held tight against her side, she released the brake and took off.

n eyeblink, and they were in London.

The Dead Men turned in all directions, silenced weapons already locked and loaded while Tanith moved to the alley wall. Valkyrie stood beside Fletcher, realised she was holding her breath and started breathing again.

Tanith ran her hands over the bricks. “Just give me a second,” she murmured.

Without taking his eyes off the rooftops, Ghastly frowned. “You said you knew how to get us through.”

“I know how to get us through from the other side,” she said. “I just have to find out how to do it from this one.”

The more seconds that dragged by, the more Valkyrie expected the alley to fill with Cleavers. Ghastly and Ravel were keeping their mouths shut, but she could tell they were furious.

“Saracen,” Skulduggery said, “I don’t suppose you could help her out, could you?”

Saracen shook his head. “I have no idea how to get us through, I’m afraid. Although I can tell you that if we do get through, there isn’t an army lying in wait for us.”

“Well, that’s something.”

“Found it,” Tanith said. “See? Told you I could do it. Everyone face the wall now. When you start to tingle, walk on through.”

They formed up, and Skulduggery looked at Fletcher. “The moment we’re inside, teleport out. When we’re in position, we’ll signal you.”

Fletcher nodded, gave a good luck wink to Valkyrie, and then a light hit them and Valkyrie felt her whole body start to buzz. Skulduggery was in front of her and the light was making him glow so much he was almost transparent. Suddenly they were all moving, walking forward, through the wall, and Valkyrie couldn’t help it, she closed her eyes as she passed through the bricks. When she opened them, they were standing in a dimly-lit storeroom, and none of them were glowing any more.

No words were spoken. Saracen moved to the door, nodded to the others, and they swarmed out into the corridor, weapons ready to fire. Valkyrie stayed in the middle. She’d been through the door enough times with Skulduggery to know what to do in situations like this, but it was very different going through with a team. At any given moment there were guns pointed in five or six different directions. When it was just the two of them, Skulduggery would scan all corners, check all doorways and clear all rooms. As a squad, though, they all seemed to rely on Saracen’s hand signals for which rooms were empty and which rooms were occupied. Obeying without question, they avoided every possible confrontation.
Saracen Rue knows things
, they’d said. They hadn’t been exaggerating.

Their passage through the building was done in silence. Even the way they moved was silent – their quick footsteps strangely muted on the polished floor. Security cameras were disabled as they went.

Almost one minute after they had arrived, they split up without a word. Valkyrie and Skulduggery took the stairs towards the Repository, avoiding all sorcerers who passed. They reached a corner, and peered round.

At the doors to the Repository, a boy of around fifteen was standing beside a Cleaver. While the Cleaver stood straight and unmoving, the boy was obviously having a hard time keeping still. Valkyrie felt Skulduggery’s arm encircle her waist, pull her tight to his side. They waited there for the boy to get so bored that he started to look around. And then he did it. The boy glanced at the Cleaver beside him, taking his eyes off the corridor, and Skulduggery lunged, taking Valkyrie with him. They flew towards the Repository. The Cleaver snapped his head round, but it was too late. Valkyrie slammed into the boy and Skulduggery collided with the Cleaver. Such was the force of the collision that the Repository doors burst open and all four of them fell through.

Valkyrie rolled with the boy, glimpsing his wide eyes, the shock on his face. She got to her feet, hauled him up. He tried to hit her, but she caught his arm, pinned it between them. He struggled, but she was stronger than he was. She didn’t want to hurt him. He was still in training. He was just doing what he was told. But then he opened his mouth to shout and she didn’t have a choice. Her gauntlet-clad elbow cracked into his jaw, and he was suddenly a dead weight in her arms. She laid him on the floor and turned to Skulduggery just as he managed to get the Cleaver in a sleeper hold. When the Cleaver’s struggles ceased, Skulduggery dumped him on the ground and straightened his tie.

The Repository was bigger than the one in Ireland, but as Valkyrie walked the aisles she decided that the artefacts on display were simply not as impressive, and there were a lot of gaps on those shelves. She reached the end of the first row, saw an empty glass case up a few steps. The plaque on the side informed her that it was meant to hold the God-Killer sword, and she wondered why they hadn’t bothered removing it yet. Tanith had stolen the sword and Sanguine had melted it down. No matter how much they hoped and prayed, that case was going to remain empty.

She started down the second row, scanning the shelves. She got to the end, to where Skulduggery had shackled the Cleaver and the boy, and then Skulduggery walked out of the aisle to her right.

“Found one,” he said, tossing her the cloaking sphere. They moved to the doors and she twisted the hemispheres away from each other. A bubble of invisibility enveloped them as they stepped out.

Staying close, they jogged the length of the corridor, took the stairs up. They passed a half-dozen mages, each one as oblivious to their presence as the last. When they got to the top floor, their progress slowed, as Skulduggery had to deactivate each security measure they came across. Finally, they made it to a set of white marble steps that led up to another corridor, this one decorated with paintings on the walls. A dark-haired girl dressed in black, around Valkyrie’s age, stood at the base of the steps with her eyes fixed on the floor as an older mage scolded her.

“You have an assignment,” he was saying. “Do you know what that is? We brought you in here with the others because we thought you were up to the task. You want to work in the Sanctuary once your training is complete, don’t you?”

The girl muttered something.

“What was that? I didn’t hear you, Ivy.”

“Yes,” the girl said sullenly.

“And is this how you intend to achieve that goal? By slacking off?”

Ivy shrugged. “It’s boring.”

The mage stiffened. “What?”

She looked at him. “It’s boring. Standing in the same place for hours. I got bored.”

“So you went for a walk?”

“I just want to be near the action.”

“There is no action, Ivy. Everyone on guard duty is as bored as you are, but they don’t let it affect them. They do their duty. You should feel honoured. You’re the last sentry before the Grand Mage’s office. I expect more from you, do you understand?”