Skulduggery Pleasant: Mortal Cole

by Derek Landy

  Her soul was sealed, Nye had seen to that. It was hers, and hers alone. All the Remnant had managed to do was break down some walls between Valkyrie Cain and the source of her magic. It may have tainted something along the way, Darquesse couldn’t be entirely sure. Not that it mattered. It was Darquesse who was in control here.

  The Remnant wanted to get out. It was trying to bring itself back together and crawl out of her, but Darquesse wouldn’t allow it. She kept it where it was, isolating it, draining its malevolence to add to the magic that was pumping through her body.

  The sorcerers were attacking her now, trying to subdue her, trying to save themselves. She used the air to fling three of them upwards, then sent three spears of shadows after them.

  Hands seized her from behind, trying to choke her. She poured darkness through her skin into his, and the man shrieked and fell back, his hands melting away to stumps. A stream of energy sizzled to her and she caught it in her palm, countered its effects without even knowing how she was doing it, and threw it back. The stream hit its owner, and its owner split apart in a fine red mist.

  She crushed the skull of a handsome man and tossed him away from her. His body spiralled over the angry crowd. Things were not going as they had planned.

  Darquesse clicked her fingers and flame enveloped her. Her skin and hair and clothes all burned, fiercely and brightly, but the fire didn’t damage her. People scrambled to get away. She held out a hand and fire leaped at them. They rolled and writhed and screamed. She laughed. A man tried to run. Tesseract caught him by the throat.

  “You run from your saviour, you ungrateful wretch?”

  “She’s killing us,” the man gasped.

  “This is what we call warming up.” Tesseract shoved him back. “Darquesse, please accept my apologies. Kill as many as you like. When you are ready to begin the decimation of the world, please know that we will be ready to serve, to help in any way.”

  Darquesse used the fire to kill the man who had run, then let the flame go out and stalked towards Tesseract, wondering how long he would stay faithful once she started pulling out his spine. But then the ground started to crack, and Skulduggery Pleasant and Tanith Low burst up in a shower of dirt and rock. Billy-Ray Sanguine collapsed behind them and didn’t move.

  “Valkyrie,” Skulduggery said, “stop this.”

  Darquesse looked at him, then looked at Tanith. Tanith looked scared, and shocked, and upset, and worried. She held her sword like she was ready to use it on anyone who got close. Darquesse could see her own reflection in the blade. A pretty girl with a scar in her cheek, sixteen years old and dark-haired. Her pale face splattered with other people’s blood. Her eyes, dark-ringed. Is this what they all saw, she wondered, or did they see something else? Something magnificent and terrible? Something monstrous?

  “Valkyrie,” Skulduggery said. She looked back at him. “You’re not yourself. Do you understand me? You’re confused. You are Valkyrie Cain. You are not Darquesse.”

  “You cannot change who she is,” Tesseract said from behind him.

  “Shut up,” Skulduggery said without looking around. “Valkyrie. Listen to my voice. I’m your friend. I’m your partner. I promised you I’d help you with this and I intend to. You don’t want this to happen, I know you don’t.”

  A man lunged at Tanith and Darquesse gestured, took his head off with a shadow.

  “Val,” Tanith said, her voice shaking. “Please. It’s me. It’s us. You don’t want to hurt anyone. Come back to us.”

  “I could kill you,” Darquesse said. She didn’t have to talk loudly to be heard. “I could reach out, take hold of your face and squeeze, turn your head to mush. In your last few seconds of life, what would you think of me? Would you still love me? What about you, Skulduggery? I could kill you just as easily.”

  “You’re not going to kill me, Valkyrie.”

  “Valkyrie is gone.”

  “No, she’s not,” Skulduggery said. “I’m talking to her.”

  Darquesse shook her head. “You don’t understand.”

  “I understand perfectly. Darquesse isn’t a separate entity. She isn’t another person. She’s you. If you make the wrong choices, if you stop loving the people who love you, if you allow the world to twist and turn and change you, then yes, the future we’ve seen will come to pass. But if you fight, and if you kick, and struggle, and refuse to give in to the apathy, or the anger, or the hopelessness, then you’ll change the future, and you’ll walk your own path. And I’ll be right there beside you, Valkyrie. I’ll always be beside you.”

  She felt the Remnant inside her, its anguish, and she grew tired of playing with it. It had come into her so eagerly, impatient to share her being and help her fulfil the fate that the psychics had foreseen. But now it understood that there would be no sharing. The Remnant’s presence was merely offering her a peek at what was to come – but she would get there on her own. She didn’t need any help.

  It squirmed and fought and its screams filled her head, and when she was done enjoying it all, she flooded her body with heat, and the heat burned away the cold that the Remnant had brought. She purged it from her body, and purged it from her mind, and then it was gone. And with it, for the moment, went the bad thoughts and the emptiness.

  Valkyrie’s legs folded beneath her and Skulduggery darted forward to keep her from falling. “Thanks,” she mumbled, as the crowd surged around her.

  “No problem,” Skulduggery said softly, then pressed his gun into her temple and said loudly, “Any of you take even one more step and Valkyrie dies.”

  51

  THE RECEPTACLE

  The crowd froze. Tesseract stared.

  “You’re bluffing,” he said.

  “Try us,” Tanith told him, her sword flashing to Valkyrie’s throat, where it lay cold against her skin. “You’re not going to kill her,” Tesseract said. “Put the weapons down.”

  Skulduggery thumbed back the hammer of his gun. “Valkyrie would rather die, here and now, than allow another one of you to possess her and drive her to become the monster that kills the world. We’d be doing her a favour, she knows we would.”

  Wreath came up beside Tesseract, smiling. “Don’t be ridiculous. She’s your friend. She’s your partner. She’s an honest, decent, innocent girl with her whole life ahead of her. You’re not going to kill her in cold blood.”

  “Ghastly,” Skulduggery called. “Are you here?”

  The crowd parted, and Ghastly made his way forward.

  “You’ve known me a long time,” Skulduggery said. “Do you think I’d be willing to kill Valkyrie to save the world?”

  Ghastly’s fist clenched, and he looked at Tesseract. “He’ll do it,” he said.

  “I agree,” said China, gliding easily through the throng of people. “To be perfectly honest, I’m surprised he hasn’t pulled the trigger already.”

  Wreath’s lip curled in a snarl. “Then we’ll take her from him.”

  “I don’t like your chances,” Skulduggery said. “There are some among you who could probably take down either myself or Tanith before we could act. But both of us? You don’t have a hope. We’re giving you ten seconds to vacate the people you’ve possessed.”

  “I’m not going back to prison,” Ghastly said. “If you’re going to kill Valkyrie, then go ahead. We might not get our dead world, but anything is better than going back to that room.”

  “We’re not telling you to,” Tanith said. “Vacate those people and leave. Neither side is going to win here today, so we’re calling it a draw. Try your luck again tomorrow, and tomorrow we’ll kick the hell out of you.”

  “You expect us to give you back these people?” China asked. “I think not. I rather like this body and this mind, and all the magic that comes with them.”

  “Those of us who are inhabiting the forms of sorcerers are weapons now,” said Tesseract. “We’re not going to relinquish these weapons so you can use them against us the next time we meet.”

 
; “I’m afraid you don’t have a choice,” Skulduggery said. “Those ten seconds start now.”

  Tesseract glared at him with hatred in his eyes, and then he looked at Valkyrie. “Your friends are prepared to kill you, Darquesse. They fear you. As well they should.”

  “Five seconds,” Skulduggery said.

  “This isn’t over,” Tesseract said.

  He pried his mask away from his face and opened his mouth wide, as all around him his companions did the same. The Remnant squirmed out and flitted to the sky, and Tesseract collapsed, unconscious, the mask snapping back into place. All around Valkyrie, Remnants crawled out of the mouths of their vessels to emerge as a cloud of writhing blackness that filled the air with angry shrieks.

  Valkyrie looked up at Skulduggery. “The Receptacle,” she whispered.

  “Don’t worry, Val,” Tanith said. “We already found it. See that little cave over there? That’s the entrance.” And even as she spoke, the ground started to rumble.

  The Remnants’ movements grew erratic, as the first of them felt the pull. Three of them suddenly whipped out of the cloud, yanked by an invisible hand to the mountain, their screeches turning from anger to terror. More followed, in greater numbers, forming a continuous stream of howling darkness.

  The Remnant that had vacated Tesseract’s body dived down, clinging on to the collar of the assassin’s coat, fighting the pull. It dragged itself towards his masked face, stopping only when Skulduggery went to stand over it.

  “The moment you inhabit that man,” Skulduggery said, speaking loudly to be heard over the shrieking and the rumbling, “I’ll kill him and you’ll be destroyed. Do you think I’m bluffing?”

  Tanith lowered her sword from Valkyrie’s neck, and Valkyrie started to breathe again. The stream ended, disappearing into the mouth of the cavern. The Remnant clinging defiantly on to Tesseract was the last one. And then it too let go.

  But instead of allowing itself to be pulled into the mountain, it veered off and lunged at Valkyrie. Tanith shoved her out of the way and the Remnant collided with her instead. Tanith went rolling down the embankment, and Valkyrie and Skulduggery leaped down after her. Tanith tried to pull the Remnant from her, but it was no use. Her throat bulged, and she stopped gagging.

  Immediately, she spun on to her back, her boot striking Skulduggery’s leg with a sharp crack of breaking bone. He yelled in pain and Tanith was up and jumping, spinning in mid-air to deliver another kick to his ribs. Skulduggery stumbled and went down.

  Tanith reached for Valkyrie, who stepped back and slapped the hand away, struggling to adjust to Tanith as an enemy. Tanith had no such qualms. Her elbow smacked into Valkyrie’s jaw and Valkyrie sprawled in the gorse brush. She got up and blocked a kick that drove her back, tried to respond with one of her own, but Tanith just laughed.

  The air rippled and Tanith hurtled off her feet.

  “Run!” Skulduggery shouted as he tried to get up.

  Valkyrie sprinted for the cavern. The Receptacle was still active, she could hear the rumble and feel the ground tremble beneath her boots. If she could lure Tanith into the cavern, the machine would rip the Remnant out of her, but she didn’t have much time. It was already slowing down. She glanced back to see Tanith flipping over Skulduggery’s head, landing to scoop something off the ground. Skulduggery’s gun.

  Valkyrie turned to run back. Tanith fired twice and Skulduggery jerked, stumbling on his bad leg. He went down and Tanith threw the gun away, then looked up to grin at Valkyrie.

  Cursing, Valkyrie resumed her run to the cavern. Tanith was behind her and gaining fast, and Valkyrie realised just how much her friend had been holding back during their time training together. Tanith was always stronger, faster and better, but she had never made it too obvious. There were occasions when Valkyrie had even fancied that they were becoming equals. Now, with the effortless way Tanith was closing the distance between them, Valkyrie could see what a self-deluding fool she’d been.

  She reached the cavern before Tanith caught up to her. The deep roar from the Receptacle was almost deafening, dust falling from the rock ceiling. The orb in the machine was alive with swirling blackness. Valkyrie turned, panting, as Tanith staggered in behind her. The grin was gone, replaced with a strained determination. The Remnant inside her must have been screaming in pain.

  “Let her go!” Valkyrie shouted.

  Tanith kept coming, lurching with each step. Valkyrie pushed at the air, just hard enough to hurt and maybe loosen the Remnant’s hold, but Tanith sprang, catching her by surprise. Valkyrie fell back, whipping the shadows to cover her retreat, but Tanith cartwheeled on one hand and ran to the wall, running up and disappearing behind a jagged outcrop.

  Valkyrie kept stepping back, searching for a place to stand that wouldn’t leave her vulnerable. She saw movement out of the corner of her eye as Tanith dropped behind her, but she was too slow to do anything about it. Tanith wrapped an arm around her throat, going for a sleeper hold. Panic flashed in Valkyrie’s mind. Her hands moved of their own accord, snapping flat against the air, the way she used to do at home to boost herself up to her windowsill. This time, she shot backwards, hearing Tanith’s surprised yell as they both went sprawling.

  She expected Tanith to already be on her feet by the time she looked up, but the effect of the machine was becoming more noticeable. Tanith’s lips were black, and the veins were spreading as she dragged herself up off the ground.

  Valkyrie ran at her, intent on piling on the pressure until the Remnant couldn’t take any more. Tanith blocked the first punch and dodged the second, but Valkyrie kicked at her shin and connected with the third. She followed it with a side kick, shooting it out like Tanith herself had taught her. Tanith doubled over and Valkyrie pulled her head down to meet her knee. Tanith snapped back on impact and staggered away, tripping over her own feet and falling in the dust.

  “Leave her,” Valkyrie demanded.

  Tanith laughed, and spat blood. “You’re going to have to kill me, Val.”

  Valkyrie went to move forward, but she could tell Tanith was trying to draw her in. Instead, she grasped a trail of shadows and flicked it. Tanith dived and rolled, the shadows missing her completely. She kicked out, sweeping Valkyrie’s legs from under her. Valkyrie hit the ground, felt Tanith’s hands on her, and then her jacket was yanked off. Tanith hauled her up and threw her against the wall. A fist flew at her face and suns exploded before her eyes. Another one came in low, swooping into her side. Without the protection of her jacket her lungs turned sharp and painful and she knew a couple of ribs were broken.

  Her eyes were blurred with tears and she couldn’t see what she was doing, but she knew roughly where Tanith was, so she launched her head forward. She felt the impact and heard Tanith’s howl of pain. She wiped her eyes, saw Tanith holding her nose. She shuffled forward with a kick that would have felled anyone without Tanith’s abdominal muscles. As it was, all the kick did was to give her a little more room.

  Tanith grimaced suddenly, and gasped, and for a moment the veins went away and Valkyrie knew it was her friend looking at her through tortured eyes. Then the eyes turned narrow as the Remnant regained control.

  Valkyrie stepped up with a punch that jarred her whole body and sent Tanith to the ground. “Fight it!” she screamed. “Tanith, fight it!”

  Tanith rolled over. She tried to get up, then collapsed.

  “Force it out of you!” Valkyrie called. “Do it now!”

  The Receptacle was starting to slow down. They only had a few more seconds before it deactivated. Valkyrie grabbed Tanith’s ankles, started dragging her closer to the spinning orb. Tanith kicked and struggled, but she was weakening. Valkyrie dropped the ankles and bent over her, slipping her hands under Tanith’s arms and pulling her up. Grunting with the effort, she shoved Tanith the last few metres to the machine. Tanith grabbed on to an outcrop to keep herself upright and stood there, gasping.

  “It’s over,” Valkyrie said. She didn’t have to sh
out any more because the rumbling was dying down. “Please. Leave Tanith alone. You’ve lost, OK? You’re not going to win this so please leave her. Rejoin the others.”

  “Now why…” Tanith managed to say, “would I want to do that?”

  “Because you’ve lost!”

  “No, Val… I’ll only have lost if I get stuck back in that room.”

  Valkyrie stalked up. Tanith raised a hand to stop her, but Valkyrie pushed it down, and her fingers closed around Tanith’s throat. “If I have to choke you out of there, I will.”

  Tanith’s black lips parted in a weak laugh that Valkyrie cut off by squeezing.

  The rumbling was now nothing but a low, rhythmic throb. The orb was spinning on nothing but its own momentum, and that was slowing with every turn. Valkyrie squeezed tighter, and Tanith’s free hand tapped uselessly at her.

  “Get out of there!” Valkyrie screamed.

  The orb stopped spinning, and the rumbling stopped, and the Receptacle deactivated.

  “No,” Valkyrie whispered.

  Tanith smiled, grabbed Valkyrie’s t-shirt and pulled her closer, and her elbow cracked against Valkyrie’s head. The next thing Valkyrie was aware of was a gunshot. She was on the ground – she couldn’t remember falling – and she was watching Tanith run up a wall of rock and vanish into the darkness.

  Skulduggery limped over, keeping his gun-hand trained on where Tanith had last been.

  “Are you OK?” he asked.

  “No,” Valkyrie whispered.

  52

  NEW YEAR’S EVE

  Ireland was under quarantine, all flights in and out of the country cancelled. There were no boats or ferries, not even the fishermen could leave port. Europe was on high alert, even now that a cure had been found for the so-called Insanity Virus. The scientists had a technical name for it, but because they didn’t have a clue how it started, no one bothered with them.