by Derek Landy
“Seeing as how the last time we spoke I was cutting her heart out, I sincerely doubt it.”
“How worried do we have to be, Skulduggery? Now that she’s alive again?”
Skulduggery hesitated, then started to turn.
“Oi,” she said. “Eyes front, Mr Pleasant.”
He turned back. “Ah, yes, sorry. We’ll deal with it, Valkyrie. We’ll deal with Abyssinia and with her anti-Sanctuary the same way we deal with everything: with remarkable style and unerring good grace.”
“That does sound like us,” Valkyrie admitted, pulling on a fresh T-shirt. “I’m dropping in to see the family tomorrow, by the way.”
“You are?” Skulduggery said, sounding pleased.
“Sent Mum a text before you arrived, just to check they’d all be home.”
“And how are you feeling about that?”
She didn’t answer for a moment. “Nervous,” she said. “I don’t know what I’ll say. I know how it’s going to go, though. Mum will be cool and Dad will be making stupid jokes and I’ll be sitting there, trying to remember how I used to act when I was comfortable around them.”
“It’ll come to you,” Skulduggery said. “You’ll slip right back into place there. What about Alice?”
Valkyrie shimmied into her trousers. “What about her?”
“Do you think you’ll be able to relax when she’s around?”
“I don’t know. I really don’t.”
“Do you want my advice? Give yourself a little time. And allow in the possibility that someday you might forgive yourself.”
“Yeah,” she said. “Tell you what – I’ll forgive me when you forgive you. Deal?”
“Deal.”
She sat on the bed, pulled on her boots. “Seriously, where is all this new-found optimism coming from?”
He shrugged again. “Even a pessimist can feel optimistic about certain things. I think that emerging from Smoke’s influence has allowed me a little perspective. After you left for America, I took a wrong turn somewhere along the way. I let my priorities slip. Things happened. Mistakes were made.”
“And now that I’m back?”
“You’re back and so am I. Back to my old self. The person I like to be.”
“Good,” said Valkyrie, standing. “I’m quite fond of him, too, just so you know. You can turn round now.”
He did so, and tilted his head as she slipped on her jacket. “You look good,” he said.
She glanced at herself in the mirror. The black clung to her. “Yeah,” she said.
“And you are back, aren’t you?” he asked. “No more thoughts of leaving again?”
“Where would I go? Everything and everyone I care about is here. But … Skulduggery, you’ve got to understand that I’m not … I’m not the same person I was. There are times when I don’t even recognise who I used to be. Then there are times when I glimpse her, you know? When I manage to forget everything that’s happened and I just go back to being … normal.”
“You were never normal.”
She smiled. “Normal for me.”
“Most people in the world walk nice, sunlit paths,” Skulduggery said, “and when they look down they see their shadows clinging to their feet – attached but apart. Their shadows are not them. But you and I walk a different path. Our shadows are within us. We can’t ignore them or forget them. They’re a part of who we are, and they are vital to our survival.
“You may not like the darkness inside you, but it allows you to do things other people can’t, or won’t. And all those others – the good, the bad, the ordinary – they need people like us to protect them.”
“And what about when we’re the ones endangering them?”
“We’ll just have to help each other find our way back to the light.”
“I like that,” she said, and walked over to him. Xena was still on her back, her paws in the air. Valkyrie put her hands on Skulduggery’s chest. “Your tie’s crooked,” she said, adjusting it. “I can’t have you looking dishevelled when you’re out with me. I have a pretty terrible reputation to protect.”
“We’re going out, are we?”
“Of course,” she said. “We have mysteries to solve, and adventures to undertake, and I need my partner looking dapper by my side.”
“Are we taking the dog?”
“The dog is staying. Tonight it’s just you and me.” She gave the tie a slight adjustment, and nodded. “There. Perfect.”
“Are you with me?” he asked.
She looked up at him. “Until the end,” she said.
Glossary
Magical Disciplines
There are two main types of sorcerers – Elementals, who possess the ability to manipulate fire, earth, water and wind, and Adepts, whose wide variety of disciplines tend to be more aggressive.
The Three Names
You are born with three names. Your given name is what you were called upon birth, but this can be used to exert some rudimentary control over you. Your taken name is what you use to protect yourself from that control. Your true name is hidden from you, and is the source of all your magic.
Dramatis Personae
Alice Edgley: Valkyrie’s six-year-old sister.
The Ancients: the first sorcerers. Exiled their gods, the Faceless Ones, from this reality. All dead now.
Baron Vengeous: One of the Mevolent’s Three Generals. Fierce. Loyal. Deceased.
Cadaverous Gant: American. Dangerous.
China Sorrows: Intelligent. Beautiful. Not traditionally trustworthy.
Darquesse: Valkyrie’s true name come to life. Mass-murderer. God. No longer in this reality.
The Dead Men: Skulduggery, Ghastly, Dexter Vex, Saracen Rue, Anton Shudder, Erskine Ravel, Hopeless (later replaced by Larrikin).
The Faceless Ones: A race of super-powered gods. Insane.
Fletcher Renn: English Teleporter. Young. Ridiculous hair.
Ghastly Bespoke: Elemental. Tailor. Made Valkyrie’s armoured black clothes. Deceased.
Gordon Edgley: Valkyrie’s uncle. Skulduggery’s friend. Believed the Edgleys were descendants from the Last of the Ancients. Deceased.
Lord Vile: One of Mevolent’s Three Generals. Necromancer. Merciless. Skulduggery’s dark side.
Mevolent: Elemental. Disciple of the Faceless Ones. Worst of the worst. Waged a war against the Sanctuaries. Deceased.
Mevolent: Alternate-reality version of our universe’s Mevolent. Very much alive.
Nefarian Serpine: One of Mevolent’s Three Generals. Murdered Skulduggery’s family and Skulduggery himself. Deceased.
Skulduggery Pleasant: The Skeleton Detective. Wears exquisite suits exquisitely.
Tanith Low: English. Wall-walker. Carries a sword.
Tipstaff: Administrator at the Sanctuary.
Valkyrie Cain: A young lady with a lot on her mind.
He’s dead.
She’s cool.
Evil doesn’t stand a chance.
Read the first book in the bestselling
SKULDUGGERY PLEASANT series!
Meet Skulduggery Pleasant: detective, magician, warrior.
“A debut that brings a much-needed twist to the mystery/fantasy genre with its wisecracking detective hero” The New York Times
He’s dead.
She’s cool.
Evil doesn’t stand a chance.
Read the second book in the bestselling
SKULDUGGERY PLEASANT series!
Vengeous. Dusk. Sanguine. Three of the deadliest killers alive are in town to resurrect an unstoppable creature of horrifying power … And only Skulduggery and Valkyrie stand in their way.
He’s dead.
She’s cool.
Evil doesn’t stand a chance.
Read the third book in the bestselling
SKULDUGGERY PLEASANT series!
You’ve seen it all before: some bad guy wants to bring about the end of the world. A few people get hurt, sure, but everything’s all right in the end. Well …
not this time.
He’s dead.
She’s deadly.
The bad guys don’t stand a chance.
Read the fourth book in the bestselling
SKULDUGGERY PLEASANT series …
Skulduggery is gone, sucked into a parallel dimension.
There is no official plan to save him.
But Valkyrie’s never had much time for plans …
He’s dead.
She’s deadly.
The bad guys don’t stand a chance.
Read the fifth book in the bestselling
SKULDUGGERY PLEASANT series …
With Valkyrie struggling to protect her dark secret, Skulduggery and the gang are more vulnerable than ever, just as a plague of body-snatching Remnants are released upon the world …
He’s dead.
She’s deadly.
The bad guys don’t stand a chance.
Read the sixth book in the bestselling
SKULDUGGERY PLEASANT series …
The Death Bringer has risen. Skulduggery and Valkyrie have seven days to uncover the Necromancers’ secret before it’s too late. The clock is ticking. Lord Vile is loose. And after this one nothing will ever be the same again.
He’s dead.
She’s deadly.
The bad guys don’t stand a chance.
Read the seventh book in the bestselling
SKULDUGGERY PLEASANT series …
Magic is a disease. Across the land, normal people are suddenly developing wild and unstable powers. Wielding the magic of the gods, they’re set to tea the city apart, unless someone stands up to them.
For Skulduggery and Valkyrie, it’s going to be another one of those days …
He’s dead.
She’s deadly.
The bad guys don’t stand a chance.
Read the eighth book in the bestselling
SKULDUGGERY PLEASANT series …
Two wars rage. One is a war between Sanctuaries – a war of loyalty and betrayal and last, desperate stands. The other is a war within Valkyrie Cain’s own soul. If she loses, Darquesse will rise.
And the world will burn.
He’s dead.
She’s deadly.
The bad guys don’t stand a chance.
Read the ninth book in the bestselling
SKULDUGGERY PLEASANT series …
Following the loss of Valkyrie Cain, Skulduggery Pleasant must track down Darquesse before she turns the world into a charred, lifeless cinder – and so he draws together a team of soldiers, monster hunters, criminals … and Valkyrie’s own murderous reflection.
Not everyone gets out of this alive.
The Skulduggery Pleasant series
SKULDUGGERY PLEASANT
PLAYING WITH FIRE
THE FACELESS ONES
DARK DAYS
MORTAL COIL
DEATH BRINGER
KINGDOM OF THE WICKED
LAST STAND OF DEAD MEN
THE DYING OF THE LIGHT
RESURRECTION
THE MALEFICENT SEVEN
ARMAGEDDON OUTTA HERE
(a Skulduggery Pleasant short-story collection)
The Demon Road trilogy
DEMON ROAD
DESOLATION
AMERICAN MONSTERS
About the Publisher
Australia
HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty. Ltd.
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Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia
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Canada
HarperCollins Canada
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New Zealand
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http://www.harpercollins.co.nz
United Kingdom
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
1 London Bridge Street
London, SE1 9GF
http://www.harpercollins.co.uk
United States
HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
195 Broadway
New York, NY 10007
http://www.harpercollins.com
