by Landy Derek
Crux was dragging his leg toward her, summoning a flame into his hand. "Assault on a Sanctuary official!" he screeched.
Valkyrie launched herself at him, smacking down his right hand as she punched him across the jaw, and he went staggering back.
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"You could have broken my neck!" she shouted, and lashed a kick into his bad leg. Crux screamed and dropped to the ground, and Valkyrie stepped back, clutching her fist. She hoped she hadn't broken it. Tanith was always telling her to use her elbows, not her knuckles. She really should have listened.
She looked down at him as he writhed and screamed and sobbed. He wasn't going anywhere soon. She turned and ran back the way she had come.
She saw someone ahead, sitting against a tree trunk. Fletcher Renn. His shoulders were slumped forward and his head was down. His shirt was soaked in blood. His hair was matted.
He heard her and looked up slowly, as if every moment brought with it a new kind of pain.
"I helped them," he said.
"I know. But now we need you to help us. Have you seen Paddy? "
He shook his head. "Haven't seen anyone. I didn't even fight them. They threatened me, they cut me, and that's all it took. I always thought I'd be the hero, you know?" His laugh was brittle.
Valkyrie looked down at him. "I don't mean to
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sound cruel," she said, "but we don't have time for this."
"You want to get out of here? I'm gathering my strength to teleport somewhere, anywhere. Home, maybe. For some reason, I really want to go back to London right now."
"You can't leave. Paddy--you know that old man? He's Batu. He's the one behind all of this, and he has the Scepter. He's probably already hidden it, or dropped it in a ditch or something. Fletcher, if I can't find it, we'll have to lure the Faceless Ones back through the gateway. We're going to need you to open it."
Fletcher stared at her, frowning. "Are you nuts? Opening it the first time wiped me out. I mean, if I could use my power, don't you think I would have by now? Do you think I'm staying here because I'm brave? The moment I'm strong enough, I'm gone."
"You can't leave us. This is our chance to save everyone. This is the only chance we're going to get."
"It's not my fight."
"It's everyone's fight."
"When the other sorcerers hear about this, they'll all come running to help, from all over the
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world. They'll stop them. Not me. I'm just a kid." He looked at her. "You should come with me."
"I can't. If you won't help us, finding the Scepter is our only chance."
"You'll be killed."
"Apparently, that's been coming for a while now," she said, getting to her feet.
She gave him a chance. She stood there long enough for him to change his mind, but he didn't. He just sat there.
She ran on, emerging from the tree line in time to see Skulduggery battling the Faceless One. He pushed at the air, but it was no use--the air just rippled and folded around the Faceless One harmlessly.
The female Necromancer attacked from behind, swirling her cloak of shadows. The Faceless One extended its hand, and her body turned inside out.
It kept walking, and Skulduggery backed off, and it raised its arm to him.
Then it saw her, and it stopped. Its body turned toward her.
"Valkyrie!" Skulduggery shouted. "Run!"
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Thirty-nine
***
C risis of Faith
It was coming for him.
Jaron Gallow could feel it above him, feel it drawing closer. The mark, the one that Batu had made them all burn into their arms--it was a beacon. No matter where he hid or how fast he ran, the Faceless One would find him.
This wasn't how it was supposed to be. He tore off his belt as he ran, wrapped it around his biceps, and pulled it tight. Already he could feel his circulation being cut off. By the time he reached the yard beside the farmhouse, his left hand was numb.
He dropped to his knees and grabbed a Cleaver's fallen
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scythe. He laid his forearm flat on the ground and pressed the curved blade to just below his elbow. He was breathing fast and sweating, and he couldn't afford the luxury of doubt.
There was a rush of air and his ears popped. It had found him.
He closed his eyes and bellowed, forcing the scythe down on his forearm. The blade cut through flesh and bone in one smooth movement, and his bellow turned to a scream.
He collapsed, clutching the bloody stump to his body, and when he opened his eyes, he saw his severed arm lying next to him, and the Faceless One was gone.
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Forty
***
K illing Gods
China found Crux sitting on the ground between the woods and the meadow. His head was lowered and his arms were crossed over his body. He was hurt--she could see that as she walked toward him. There was no one else around. There was no one to see. "Hello, Remus," China said. He looked up. His pupils were dilated and he was muttering to himself.
"What happened to you?" she asked gently.
"You're all in on it," he mumbled.
Her blue eyes narrowed. "Did you see them,
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Remus? Did you see those things? Those flying things? Did you look at them?"
He tutted and shook his head and held himself tighter. His mind was broken. He must have looked up as the third Faceless One passed by in search of its vessel.
Which would make this so much easier.
China hunkered down, laying a comforting arm across his shoulders. "Did you tell anyone my secret, Remus? Anyone at all?"
"Secret?" he whispered.
"I won't be mad." She smiled. "I promise I won't. Who did you tell? About Skulduggery?"
"Skulduggery ..." Crux said, trying to remember.
"Did you tell anyone?"
He turned his head to think, and his jacket opened, and she glimpsed gold.
"What have you got there?" she asked softly, reaching in slowly. His hands closed around it, and she saw it was the Scepter.
"Mine."
"Yes, it is yours, Remus. It's so pretty. Can I see?"
"It's mine. I found it. Saw a man dig a hole. Saw him dig. And then she came."
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"Who came?"
"The girl. She hurt me."
"She's a mean girl. Can I see that? I'll give it right back, I promise."
Reluctantly, Crux released his hold, and China took the Scepter from him and smiled again.
"We're friends, aren't we? Did you tell anyone about my secret? I'm not going to be mad."
He shook his head. "No. No. Told no one."
"Good boy." She took a long, thin blade from the sheath on her boot. "You're confused, aren't you? I'm going to make the confusion go away. I promise."
"Give it back now."
"I'm afraid not."
He snarled and turned suddenly. The rock in his hand cracked against her head. China fell back, and Crux tried getting up on his broken leg.
"You're in on it!" he screeched. "You're all in on it!"
He made it up and stood over her, the rock ready to smash down, but something hit him and he was flung off his feet.
China sat up, dazed, and Valkyrie ran up to her.
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"Give me the Scepter!" the girl shouted. There was a Faceless One right behind her and it was running.
China threw the Scepter and Valkyrie caught it and turned. The Faceless One stopped running and studied her with its blank face. It raised its hand to her slowly.
China could see the panic on Valkyrie's face, like she expected her body to explode or implode or, at the very least, twist. Then she raised the Scepter and fired.
The crystal glowed and the black lightning crackled and shot out, hitting the Faceless One in the chest. It staggered, and even though it had no mouth, it shrieked, an inhuman scream of pain and rage. The black lightning curled around it
s body, and Valkyrie hit it again. The skin dried and cracked.
China saw the god try to abandon its vessel, but it was too late, and the body erupted into a cloud of dust. China got to her feet as the wind took the dust away.
Valkyrie realized she was still holding the Scepter straight out, and she tried to lower her arms, but they didn't seem to want to go down.
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Skulduggery ran over. "What happened? Are you all right? What was that scream?"
"That was the sound of a god dying," China said.
"Paddy!" Valkyrie blurted. "Paddy is Batu!"
China didn't know who this Paddy was, but Skulduggery tilted his head, and his fist clenched.
"That's how he got close enough to kill the Teleporters," he said. "I doubt he even came to Peregrine's mind when we asked him who he'd been talking to."
China could see that Valkyrie was barely listening. She pointed at the spot where the Faceless One had been standing.
"It just looked at me," she said. "It could have turned me inside out, but it didn't. Why didn't it? "
"It must have recognized you," China said. "It must have recognized the Ancient blood in your veins, marking you out as something different."
China wiped the blood from her forehead and glanced around for Crux, but he was gone. Her jaw clenched in anger, but she said nothing.
"Now we can stop them," Valkyrie said. "We have the Scepter--we can stop them. All I have to do is point and shoot."
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"That's right," Skulduggery said. "Okay then, so where's the next one?" China heard something in the trees behind her and turned.
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Forty-one
***
T he Moment
The hair on the back of Batu's neck stood up. The Faceless One was above him. He
could feel it. His god was gazing upon him at that very moment.
Batu turned, spread his arms, and raised his eyes to his god, and as it rushed to fill him, he screamed with terror and exultation.
And then Batu was gone.
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Forty-two
***
B lack Lightning
There was a sound like a stampede behind them, and the Faceless One
that had taken over the body of Murder Rose crashed through the trees. It batted China away and slammed into Skulduggery. Valkyrie fell back and dropped the Scepter. The Faceless One reached for her just as an arm encircled her waist.
Fletcher Renn said, "Hold on," in her ear, and then they teleported.
A blink.
Then they were on the far side of the farmhouse,
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beside the burning van. Fletcher let go and she whirled.
"You came back!"
"Naturally."
"Skulduggery!" she exclaimed. "We can't leave them!"
"Wasn't planning on it." He moved against her, and she hung on to him.
In an instant, they were back in the field. China was still down, and the Faceless One saw them, picked up Skulduggery, and hurled him at them. Valkyrie dived and Skulduggery slammed into Fletcher.
The Faceless One strode to her.
She saw the Scepter and opened her hand, felt the air, and used it to tug at the weapon. It rolled slightly. The Faceless One was almost upon her.
She held out both hands, clutching at the air and dragging it back, and the Scepter flew at her. She jumped to her feet, but the Faceless One snatched the Scepter from her grasp.
Valkyrie tried to take it back, but the Faceless One shook her hand off with such force that she was sent sprawling. It took the Scepter in a
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two-handed grip, and she saw the anger in its stance, and the violence, like it was remembering what this weapon was, and what it could do, and what it had done, an eternity before. The golden rod began to crumple, began to break, and she saw the black crystal, glowing fiercely beneath the fingers that were tightening around it. It shattered, and lightning spilled out, and then the Faceless One was crumbling to dust.
The Scepter fell, mangled and beyond use, and the fragments of crystal, which were dull and robbed of power, fell with it.
Valkyrie got up, hurrying over to Skulduggery and Fletcher. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Skulduggery said gruffly, but she ran by him and helped Fletcher to his feet.
"I'm okay," Fletcher groaned. "One more to go, huh? Not doing too badly."
"Actually," she said, "we kind of are. The Scepter's been destroyed." She looked around at Skulduggery. "What do we do?"
Skulduggery straightened his tie and buttoned his torn jacket. "The first thing we do," he said, "is get over the fact that my well-being is obviously of
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less importance to you than Fletcher's here."
"I'm already over that," she told him. "Oh, good."
"What's the second thing?"
"The second thing is for Fletcher to reopen that gateway. Do you think you can do that?"
Fletcher nodded. "Yes. I mean, I think so. I hope
so."
Skulduggery stooped to help up China. "That fills me with such confidence."
"What's to stop more Faceless Ones from coming through once it's open?" Valkyrie asked as they all hurried back to the meadow.
"Absolutely nothing," Skulduggery said. "What we're going to do is make a really big wish that they don't notice."
"Seriously? Skulduggery, seriously?"
"Seriously. The fact is, we stand a decent chance. The Faceless Ones that did get through were drawn here because of the markings the Diablerie wore. Now that there are no markings left, there is nothing to make them look over."
"That's a plan that could fall apart in so many ways." Had he forgotten Batu?
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"The fun ones are like that."
"But how do we get the last Faceless One to back through? "
"We're going to let it chase us."
"Us?"
"Well, I say us. I mean you."
"Terrific," Valkyrie muttered.
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Forty-three
***
T he Gateway
Skulduggery Pleasant and Valkyrie Cain found the Faceless One that had once been Batu on the other side of the wood. Ghastly was suspended in the air before it, his back arched, his mouth open, trying to scream. Veins were popping out all over his body, as if the Faceless One was bringing each one to the surface with the intention of ripping them all out.
"Hey!" Valkyrie shouted.
It looked over at them, didn't move for three or four seconds, then cast Ghastly aside and started to run toward them.
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"Okay," Skulduggery said, "the moment it--" The Faceless One waved its arm, and Skulduggery was wrenched off his feet and sent flying through the air.
Valkyrie cursed and spun, sprinting into the trees. The idea had been for Skulduggery to distract it if it got too close too fast, but now there was no one between them. This was already going badly.
She darted between trees and jumped over fallen branches. She glanced back, saw trees uprooting and branches disintegrating, clearing a path for the Faceless One to run straight through.
She saw it wave its arm, and she was thrown forward. She hit the ground and got a mouthful of dirt as she rolled.
Something white blurred in her peripheral vision, and the White Cleaver jumped to intercept. He raked his scythe across the Faceless One's torso, then spun to go for the neck. Any other enemy would have fallen, such was the speed and precision of the move, but the blade didn't even penetrate the skin. The Faceless One slammed its fist against the Cleaver's chest, and he hurtled back, quickly disappearing from view.
The Faceless One strode toward Valkyrie. She
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spat out dirt and wiped her mouth, watching it come. She timed its steps and then splayed her hands. The air rippled, striking not the Faceless One but the loose ground just in front of it. Its foot touched down and its weight shifted onto it just
as the ground shot backward, and the Faceless One fell.
Valkyrie burst from the tree line, and to her left she saw Skulduggery running parallel. They raced to the top of the meadow, to where Fletcher was once again kneeling with his hands on the Grotesquery. The yellow gateway was opening.
China was doing her thing with the symbols around the circle. Red and black smoke began to rise. "Where is it?" she shouted.
"Behind me," Valkyrie said breathlessly. A shadow fell and Skulduggery dived into her as the Faceless One landed where she had just been.
She saw Solomon Wreath, riding a wave of darkness that spilled from his cane. He jumped to the ground beside them and pulled her up, and used the cane to drive a hundred needles of dark into the Faceless One's chest.
"Drive it back!" China shouted from the swirling column of smoke. "Get it close enough to the
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gateway so it'll be sucked in!"
The gravitational pull from the yellow portal was immense. Even from where she stood, Valkyrie could feel herself slipping toward it. She forced herself back as Skulduggery joined Wreath in his efforts.
She pushed at the air to dislodge the ground beneath the Faceless One's feet, but she wasn't rewarded. Its movements were solid as it battled, and its steps were impossible to predict.
"Gateway's as open as it's going to get!" Fletcher shouted.
Wreath suddenly started screaming. His right leg buckled and twisted and blood spurted, and Skulduggery snapped his hand against the air, throwing the Necromancer out of the fight before he was killed. Wreath landed and clutched at his leg, but now Skulduggery was the only one left.
