Skulduggery Pleasant: Last Stand of Dead Men (76 page)

“With what? I’ll melt any shackles that get close.”

“For God’s sake, there has to be something I can do. I can’t just watch you die in front of me.”

“Turn away and you won’t have to.”

“
No!
” he roared, then stepped back, standing straight. “No,” he said again, calmer this time. “You did terrible things hundreds of years ago. So did I. I’m no hypocrite. I can’t hate you any more than I can hate myself.”

She laughed despite the pain that was building. “Skulduggery, darling, you
do
hate yourself.”

“Nonsense,” he said. “I love myself. I think I’m hilarious. And you’re not going to die.”

“Do you know why I like you, you dear, sweet man? Because, while you may not have ever loved me, you have never bored me, either. That’s a rare quality, and one which I have always found most … attractive.”

“I need you, China.”

“How I have longed to hear those words …”

“I need you to help me get Valkyrie back.”

“… followed by those. I wish I had more time to think of something suitably pithy to leave you with but, unfortunately, the pain is becoming quite distracting. Goodbye, Skulduggery.”

Of course, even on the brink of death, things still refused to go her way. Darquesse walked into the Hall, successfully stealing China’s big moment away from her. China almost laughed.

“Valkyrie—” Skulduggery started, and was lifted off his feet by an invisible hand and slammed back against the far wall.

China’s eyesight was failing, so she couldn’t be sure, but for some reason Darquesse seemed to be dressed like a Bride of Blood Tears as she walked up to Ravel.

“You killed my friend,” Darquesse said with Valkyrie’s voice.

“Yes I did,” said Ravel, standing. “I didn’t want to have to do it, but a change had to be made and I—”

“He was your friend, too,” Darquesse interrupted. “But you killed him.”

“Look at you,” he said. “Look at your power. Look at the things you’ve done. Why should you have to live in a world run by mortals? Why should any of us? We’re stronger than them. We’re better than them. Join us, Darquesse. You’re one of us.”

China’s insides were cooking themselves. Her strength was almost used up. It was all she could do to stay standing. And her eyes, her pale blue eyes, her beautiful pale blue eyes, were already sizzling in their sockets. But even so, she could see the look on the face of Darquesse.

“I’m one of you?” Darquesse repeated. “Is that what you think? You look at me like we’re equals? The gap between you and a mortal is far less than the gap between you and me, Erskine. To someone like me, a mortal could be viewed as an insect. But a sorcerer? A sorcerer is only a slightly bigger insect.”

Ravel looked at her, his face unreadable. “Do what you came here to do, Darquesse. I’m not going to beg for my life. I don’t deserve your mercy.”

“What mercy? But no, death is too good for someone like you. You know what isn’t too good for you, though? You know what’s just right? Pain. Lots and lots of pain.”

Darquesse smiled, and a small ball of light started to glow between her eyes. It moved slowly down, glowing through her skin, moving down her throat. It did a little twirl when it reached her clavicle and she giggled, and then it moved under her clothes and off to one bare shoulder, and down her arm to her hand, to her fingertip, where it stayed, pulsing gently.

Darquesse tapped Ravel’s forehead, and the little ball of light transferred to him. He jerked away, panicking, as it pulsed and pulsed again, and faded.

Ravel frowned. Darquesse smiled.

Ravel’s shriek caught China by surprise as his body snapped back. He fell sideways to the floor, convulsing.

“Agony,” said Darquesse. “Constant agony for twenty-three hours a day. No painkillers or sedatives will do anything to alleviate what you’re feeling. If and when your body compensates, if you find that you’re starting to get used to it, the pain will increase. One hour a day, it’ll stop. You can eat, drink – sleep, if you can. But mostly you’ll just dread the agony returning.” Darquesse looked up, forgetting all about Ravel as he kicked and thrashed on the ground. She looked at China.

“What have you done to yourself?” she asked softly.

China took a step forward. And another. If she had to die, the least she could do was take Darquesse with her. She held her hand out. Darquesse came to meet her. The closer she got, the clearer she got. It was Valkyrie’s face. Those were Valkyrie’s eyes.

China took her hand back an instant before Darquesse could clasp it.

Darquesse smiled. “You are an interesting woman, China Sorrows. In your last moments you might have a chance to stop me and save the world – and you hesitate.”

China tried saying Valkyrie’s name, but her tongue was frying in her mouth.

“Who am I to you?” Darquesse asked. “Who was I? The daughter you never had? The sister you always wanted? Was I a friend? A plaything? A chance at redemption?”

China’s vision failed. She could feel her eyes about to burst.

Darquesse’s voice in front of her. “You know who you were to me? A mystery. An enigma. A rare and beautiful creature, to be admired and … Oh, China. You are magnificent.”

Two words. China wanted to say two words. She only wanted to say
I’m sorry
, as she reached out through the darkness, found Darquesse’s arm and closed her hand round it.

“Oh, dear,” she heard Darquesse say. “Did you really think that would work?”

China tightened her grip, but she had no more strength and her knees were about to buckle and she stepped back and then there was something cool pressing against her chest.

“It’s going to be OK,” she heard Darquesse whisper.

The darkness shifted to gloom and then brightness and she had eyes again, and she could see Darquesse standing there, her left hand sucking the heat from China’s body. It filled Darquesse now, making her glow, incinerating her clothes, burning through the gold bands in her hair, turning the arm bracelet to ash. The Necromancer ring burst open as it disintegrated, the shadows curling and twisting madly.

China stepped back, repelled by the heat, but in an instant it was gone, absorbed, and Darquesse stopped glowing. The twisting shadows latched on to her, flowed across her strong arms and broad shoulders like oil, down her chest and her belly and her long legs, covering her body like a second skin. China remembered the young girl who had walked into her library six years earlier, and compared her to the young woman who stood before her now. That dimple. Those eyes. That smile. So similar. So incredibly different.

Skulduggery approached slowly. “Valkyrie,” he said.

Darquesse turned to him. “She’s gone. She’s not even a quiet little voice in the back of my mind any more. I won’t tell you how easy it was to take over. You don’t want to hear things like that.”

“Let me talk to her.”

“There is no
her
any more. There’s only me. There are no tricks you can pull to change that. You’ve used them all up.”

Skulduggery tilted his head. “Then what do you want? I’ve seen the visions. I’ve seen you kill and destroy. I’ve seen what you do to Valkyrie’s family.”

“
My
family,” Darquesse corrected. “And I’ve seen that too, remember. But I don’t want to hurt them. I don’t want to hurt anyone. I just want to live.”

“If you’re really not a threat, come with me. Let us run some tests.”

“So you can figure out how to stop me? Imprison me? No thanks. I’m out, and I have no intention of going back in. But I’m not your enemy, Skulduggery. I’m still the same girl I always was. Just, you know … don’t stand in my way.”

“What happens if I do?”

She smiled as the ceiling melted above her. “I don’t know,” she said. “But won’t it be fun finding out?”

She rose up through the ceiling, and was gone.

or a city that had just come into being, Roarhaven had had its fair share of ups and downs. Its glorious unveiling, its citizens so excited, the gates ready to open to tens of thousands of new sorcerers, flooding in from around the world … and now look at it. Quiet, subdued, anxious. Its outer wall, originally so imposing, so strong, was now a smoking, cratered, fragile shell. Its people no longer strolled with confidence through its broad streets. Now they hurried, their eyes furtive and darting, wary of the Cleavers who were no longer under Erskine Ravel’s control.

Every single one of these people knew of Ravel’s plan. Even the children knew. Their parents told them stories of what was to come as they tucked them in at night. They were all complicit in Ravel’s crimes. They all shared his guilt.

“What the hell do we do now?” Vex muttered.

He stood with Saracen on the steps of the Sanctuary. The bodies had been cleared from the streets and the blood had been washed away, but the memories left stains everywhere he looked. And the people, the few to pass within sight, kept their heads down, like they didn’t want to be noticed.

“How about we build up another shield,” said Saracen, “but this time it’s to keep people in, not out? We charge everyone here as accessories to the murders of Ghastly Bespoke and Anton Shudder, and we turn Roarhaven into a prison. See how they like it then.”

Vex didn’t say anything. He didn’t say how much he agreed with that idea.

The Bentley pulled up and Skulduggery got out, joined them at the top of the steps and they all walked into the Sanctuary without uttering another word. Vex didn’t like when Skulduggery went quiet. Bad things tended to happen.

It took them longer than necessary to get to the Accelerator Room – the corridors were different in this new palace, the rooms were switched around, and everything was so much bigger than before. They passed the Medical Wing, where Doctor Synecdoche was now in charge, and picked up the Monster Hunters along the way, who already had their bags packed for Tokyo. Fletcher Renn had offered to teleport them straight there, and possibly help out if he could. He didn’t want to go back to Australia. Not yet.

They eventually got to the Accelerator Room, and the Engineer swivelled its head to them as they entered.

“Good afternoon,” it said. “Is there something I can help you with?”

When Skulduggery didn’t respond, Vex spoke up, grateful for the opportunity to tackle problems that could be solved. “One or two things, actually. These mages whose magic has been boosted – some are dead, some are in shackles, but some are on the run. How long will they stay at this power level?”

“By Doctor Rote’s calculations, no more than five weeks.”

Donegan made a face. “Five weeks? These people are bordering on
insane
as it is. Is there any way to, I don’t know, de-boost them?”

“Not that I am aware,” the Engineer said. “Their power levels will begin to fluctuate after the first two weeks, however. If you can catch them while their power has dipped, they would be easier to apprehend.”

“Wonderful,” Saracen muttered.

“So there’s nothing you can do, or the Accelerator can do, to help us?” Vex asked.

“Regretfully, nothing.”

Vex sighed. “OK then. In that case, the fourteen days are up, so we’d like you to shut the Accelerator down now, please.”

“Of course,” said the Engineer. “Which one of you shall be contributing?”

Skulduggery looked round. “I’m sorry?”

“Oh, yes,” the Engineer said, “I lacked a piece of information when last we spoke of this. Very well, I shall explain. It is quite simple. The Accelerator can be powered down without incident for up to four weeks from its initial activation. We have obviously missed that deadline. After that, the deactivation requires a substantial sacrifice.”

“What kind of sacrifice?”

“A soul,” the Engineer said, “willingly given.”

Saracen frowned. “What?”

“The chosen person steps inside the Accelerator thusly.” The Engineer stepped on to the dais and turned to face them. “Death is instantaneous and, one would imagine, painless. Upon their death, their soul is released,” the Engineer mimed something flying from its chest, “and is then used to close the rift between this reality and the source of all magic, thus deactivating the Accelerator.”

Gracious crossed his arms. He did not look impressed. “Someone has to sacrifice themself? That’s a tad drastic, isn’t it? As far as off switches go?”