Skulduggery Pleasant: Books 7 - 9

Through tear-blurred eyes she saw the Resistance fighters struggling to hold the Redhoods at bay while China made her escape. They didn’t last long. Scythe blades turned red and screams filled the air. Valkyrie still couldn’t breathe. Her head thundered and she felt like she was going to pass out. Then the world flickered.

She squirmed in the dirt, looking back through the gleaming boots of the Redhoods towards the reflection. It caught her eye, understood what was about to happen, and started crawling towards her. Valkyrie reached out, the world flickered again, and the reflection stretched for her hand, and right before their fingers touched, the reflection and the world went away and Valkyrie gasped for breath as she lay on a road in the glare of headlights.

There was a screech of brakes and Valkyrie got to her hands and knees, forced herself up, staggered away. The driver got out of his car, pointed and shouted, telling everyone what he’d seen, a girl appearing out of nowhere. Valkyrie kept going, arms wrapped round her midsection. They wouldn’t believe him. By the next morning, he’d start to doubt what he’d seen himself. She didn’t have to worry about it.

Now all she had to worry about was her reflection, trapped in a world it didn’t understand. Scared. Defenceless.

Alone.

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evolent has the Sceptre of the Ancients.”

Valkyrie sat in the Medical Bay in the brown clothes that swamped her while Reverie patched her up. The Elders stood beside Skulduggery, staring at her as the implications of this sank in. Quintin Strom and Bernard Sult stood to one side with Grim, Strom’s bodyguard, close by.

“And it’s functional?” Ravel asked.

“I didn’t see it in action,” Valkyrie said, “but it’s in one piece and it has a black crystal. Yes, I’d say it’s functional.”

“If we went in there and got it,” said Ghastly, “we would have a weapon capable of stopping Argeddion.”

Valkyrie nodded, and let her gaze linger on Ghastly for a little while. It was nice to see him in one piece.

“But how?” asked Strom. “Silas Nadir is no longer in custody, which means we would need a team of our top operatives to stay within arm’s reach of Valkyrie at all times. And who knows how long it will be before she’s pulled through again? It’s impractical.”

“First things first,” said Ravel. “Valkyrie, where does Mevolent keep the Sceptre?”

“In his throne room.”

Mist shook her head, ever so slightly. “If we do manage to steal it, what then? The Sceptre’s previous owner must be dead before the new owner can use it. Mevolent would have to be killed.”

“Not necessarily,” said Dr Nye, looming over them all. “Forgive me. I couldn’t help overhearing. I do not profess to be an expert on Sceptre lore, but I have a casual understanding of transdimensional physics. More of a hobby than anything else.”

“Get on with it,” Skulduggery said.

Nye cleared its long, skinny throat. “The transportation of any object of power, the Sceptre included, between dimensions, would invariably result in what can only be described as a short circuit. Upon its arrival, the Sceptre’s power would be depleted. All it would need in order to reactivate would be a simple recharge of magic. The result would be a fully operational Sceptre that was ready to imprint upon a new owner.”

“You’re sure about this?” asked Ravel. “You’re sure it would just wipe clean?”

“I’m ninety per cent sure.”

“So there’s a ten per cent chance it won’t work.”

“Yes, but my ten per cent is someone else’s fifty. I assure you, Kenspeckle Grouse would agree with me if he weren’t so amusingly dead.”

Ravel looked at Skulduggery. “It’s your call.”

Skulduggery’s head tilted. “Mine?”

“If anyone is going to be close enough to Valkyrie the next time she shunts, it’ll be you. You might be able to take another few people with you, maybe a few Cleavers, but it could just be the two of you.”

“And if it is, then this is the mission you’re assigning us. To steal the Sceptre of the Ancients from Mevolent, one of the most powerful and evil sorcerers who ever lived.”

Ravel nodded. “I’m afraid so. You’re going to have to improvise. If China’s Resistance survived the attack, enlist their help. Either mount an offensive or sneak into the Palace. Take the cloaking sphere from the Repository and keep it on you. Take whatever else you think you might need. Your primary objective, the both of you, is to retrieve the Sceptre.”

“We have another option, too,” Valkyrie said. “We don’t have to kill Argeddion to stop him. Lament didn’t, thirty years ago. He just used three words that the killer of Walden D’Essai’s mother said to him. What was it he called it? A traumatic phrase from his childhood. It stunned him, giving them the time they needed.”

“And what’s the phrase?” Strom asked.

“We don’t know,” Valkyrie said. “But if we find Walden D’Essai in that other reality, we could ask him.”

“What makes you think he’s even alive over there? And what makes you think you’d be able to find him?”

“Mevolent’s City is thriving. Every piece of progress is reserved for the people inside those walls. Someone like Walden, with the work he does and the mind he has... he’d be in the City. Mevolent wouldn’t let someone like that go.”

Ravel looked at her. “You have a point. OK then, primary objective is to retrieve the Sceptre. Secondary objective is to find Argeddion’s traumatic phrase, in case we can use it to temporarily disable him.”

“Third objective,” she said, “is to get my reflection back.”

“Don’t worry about that,” said Ravel. “Reflections don’t feel pain if they don’t have to, and no Sensitive will be able to read its thoughts. It won’t tell them anything about where it’s from.”

“I’m not worried about what it might say, I’m worried about it. I don’t want it over there alone.”

“Valkyrie—”

“I don’t want to hear that the reflection is not a real person. I know it isn’t. But that doesn’t stop me from wanting it to be safe.”

Ravel looked at Skulduggery for help.

“I’ve given up trying to convince her otherwise,” Skulduggery said. “Her reflection is unique. It’s not like the obvious fakes we’ve seen before.”

“But it’s still not a person,” said Ravel.

“It is to me,” Valkyrie responded.

He sighed. “Fine. Recovering the reflection is your third objective – but only if it doesn’t put you at risk. And in exchange, Valkyrie, we’ll need a Sensitive to build a wall in your mind as soon as possible.”

Valkyrie frowned. “What? Why?”

“We can’t let Argeddion read your thoughts if you encounter him again. The Sceptre must remain secret.”

“Oh, yeah,” Valkyrie said. “Right.”

“We’ll need the best. Luckily, we’d already called her in for any help she might give us on breaking the psychic link between Argeddion and Lament’s group. Let’s leave them to it.”

They dispersed, and standing behind them was a woman with long grey hair and a kind face.

“Hello, Valkyrie,” said Cassandra Pharos. She came forward, gently clasped Valkyrie’s hands between hers. She had a very serene way about her that would have been comforting if Valkyrie’s mind wasn’t suddenly full of images of the dream whisperer she’d burned. “How are you? You’ve grown up so much since the last time I saw you.”