Skulduggery Pleasant (12 page)

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granite, and as he walked, Stephanie became aware of the shadows to his right. They seemed to shift and stretch alongside him, and she watched as more of them reached over from the corners of the room to join the mass. The shadows suddenly rose up from the floor and melted into an elderly woman in black. She fell into step beside the tall man, and their footsteps slowed as they neared. A third person faded up from nothing, materialized right out of thin air on the other side of the tall man. He looked a little younger than the others, and he wore a sky-blue suit, the jacket of which was struggling to contain his hefty paunch.

Stephanie looked at the Elder Mages, and the Elder Mages looked at Stephanie.

"Skulduggery," the tall man said eventually, his voice deep and resonant, "trouble follows in your wake, doesn't it?"

"I wouldn't say 'follows,'" Skulduggery answered. "It more kind of sits around and waits for me to get there."

The man shook his head. "This is your new partner, then?"

"Indeed it is," Skulduggery answered.

"No taken name?"

"Not yet."

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"That's something, at least." The man shifted his focus to Stephanie. "I am Eachan Meritorious, Grand Mage of this Council. Beside me are Morwenna Crow and Sagacious Tome. Can I assume that because you have not picked a name, you do not intend to involve yourself in our affairs for very much longer?"

Stephanie's throat was dry. "I'm not sure."

"See?" Skulduggery said. "Insubordinate."

"You have been placed in dangerous situations," Meritorious continued. "Surely you would prefer to go back to the safety of your normal life?"

"What's so safe about it?"

"Ah," Skulduggery chimed in. "Rebellious."

"I mean," Stephanie continued, "I could get knocked down crossing the road tomorrow. I could get mugged tonight. I could get sick next week. It's not safe anywhere."

Meritorious raised an eyebrow. "While this is true, in your normal life you never had to deal with sorcerers and murder attempts."

The Elders were gazing at her with interest. "Maybe," she admitted. "But I don't think I can just forget about all this."

Skulduggery shook his head sadly. "Troublesome."

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The woman, Morwenna Crow, took over. "Detective, you have petitioned the Council on numerous occasions concerning a supposed threat to the Truce."

"I have."

"And as yet you have failed to produce evidence."

"This girl standing beside me is my evidence," Skulduggery said. "Twice she has been attacked, and twice her attacker has been after a key."

"What key?" asked Sagacious Tome.

Skulduggery hesitated.

"Mr. Pleasant?"

"I believe the attacker's master to be Serpine."

"What key, detective?"

"If Serpine is ordering attacks on civilians, this is a clear breach of the Truce, and the Council has no choice but to--"

"The key, Mr. Pleasant--what does it open?"

Stephanie glanced at Skulduggery's inscrutable visage, and thought she could detect hints of frustration in the small movements he was making.

"I believe the key will lead Serpine to the recovery of the Scepter of the Ancients."

"I never know when you're joking, Skulduggery,"

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Meritorious said, starting to smile.

"I hear that a lot."

"You are aware that the Scepter is a fable?"

"I am aware that it is thought to be, yes. But I am also aware that Serpine has been working on tracking it down, and I believe Gordon Edgley may have had it."

"Nefarian Serpine is now an ally," said Sagacious Tome. "We live in a time of peace."

"We live in a time of fear," Skulduggery said, "when we're too scared of upsetting the status quo to ask the questions we need to be asking."

"Skulduggery," Meritorious said, "we all know what Serpine did; we all know the atrocities he committed in the name of his master, Mevolent, and for his own gains. But for as long as the Truce holds, we cannot act against him without good cause."

"He has ordered the attacks on my companion."

"You have no proof."

"He murdered Gordon Edgley!"

"But you have no proof."

"He is after the Scepter!"

"Which doesn't even exist." Meritorious shook his head sadly. "I am sorry, Skulduggery. There is nothing we can do."

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"As for the girl," said Morwenna, "we had hoped her involvement in all this would be minimal.''

"She's not going to tell anyone," Skulduggery said quietly.

"Maybe so, but if she takes one more step deeper into our world, it may be impossible for her to step out again. We want you to consider this carefully, Detective. Consider what it would mean."

Skulduggery gave a slight nod of acknowledgment but said nothing.

"Thank you for agreeing to meet with us," Meritorious said. "You may leave."

Skulduggery turned and walked out, Stephanie right behind him. The Administrator hurried over.

"I know the way out," Skulduggery growled, and the Administrator backed off. They passed the Cleavers, standing as still as the wax models above them, and climbed the staircase out of the Sanctuary.

Skulduggery donned his disguise, and they walked back to the Canary Car in silence. They had almost reached it when he stopped and turned his head.

"What's wrong?" Stephanie asked.

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He didn't answer. She couldn't see anything beneath his disguise. Stephanie looked around, paranoid. It appeared to be a normal street, populated by normal people doing normal things. Granted, the street had potholes and the people were scruffy, but there was nothing out of the ordinary. And then she saw him: a tall man, broad and bald, his age impossible to gauge. He walked toward them like he had all the time in the world, and Stephanie stood by Skulduggery and waited.

"Mr. Pleasant," the man said when he had reached them.

"Mr. Bliss," Skulduggery responded.

Stephanie looked at the man. He radiated power. His pale-blue eyes settled on her.

"And you must be the girl who attracts all sorts of attention."

Stephanie couldn't speak. She didn't know what she would have said, but she did know that her voice would have been thin and reedy if she had tried. There was something about Mr. Bliss that made her want to curl up and cry.

"I haven't seen you in a while," Skulduggery said. "I heard you'd retired."

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There was something peaceful about Mr. Bliss's eyes, but it wasn't the calming kind of peaceful. It wasn't a peaceful that comforted you and made you feel safe. It was another kind of peaceful, the kind that promised you no more pain, no more joy, no more anything. Looking at him was like looking into a void with no beginning and no ending. Oblivion.

"The Elders asked me to return," Mr. Bliss said. "These are troubling times, after all."

"Is that so?"

"The two men who had Serpine under surveillance were found dead a few days ago. He is up to something, something he doesn't want the Elders to know about."

Skulduggery paused. "Why didn't Meritorious tell me this?"

"The Truce is a house of cards, Mr. Pleasant. If it is disturbed, it will all come down. And you are known for your disturbances. The Elders hoped my involvement would be enough of a deterrent, but I fear they have underestimated Serpine's ambition. They refuse to believe that anyone would benefit from war. And of course, they still think the Scepter of the Ancients is a fairy tale."

Skulduggery's voice changed, but only slightly.

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"You think the Scepter's real?"

"Oh, I know it is. Whether it can do everything the legends claim, that I do not know, but as an object, the Scepter is quite real. It was uncovered during a recent archaeological dig. As I understand it, Gordon Edgley had been searching for the Scepter for some time, as part of his research for a book about the Faceless Ones, and he paid a substantial amount of money to gain possession of it. I imagine he worked to verify its authenticity, and once he had done so, he realized he couldn't keep it. Nor could he pass it on. Gordon Edgley, for all his faults, was a good man, and if there was a chance that it did have the destructive capabilities we've all heard about, he would have felt that the Scepter was too powerful for anyone to possess."

"Do you know what he did with it?" Stephanie asked, finding her voice at last.

"I don't."

"But you think Serpine's willing to risk war?" Skulduggery asked.

Mr. Bliss nodded. "I think he views the Truce as having outlived its usefulness, yes. I imagine he has been waiting for this moment for quite some time, when he can seize all

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the power and plunder every secret, and invite the Faceless Ones back into the world."

"You believe in the Faceless Ones?" Stephanie asked.

"I do. I grew up with those teachings, and I have carried my faith through to this day. Some dismiss them, some view them as morality tales, some view them as stories to tell children at night. But I believe. I believe that once we were ruled by beings so evil, even their own shadows shied away from them. And I believe they have been waiting to come back, to punish us for our transgressions."

Skulduggery cocked his head. "The Elders would listen to you."

"They are bound by their rules. I have learned what I can, and I have passed it on to the only person who would know what to do with it. What you do next is up to you."

"With you on our side," Skulduggery said, "things would be a lot easier."

A small smile appeared on Mr. Bliss's face. "If I have to act, I will."

Without even a "Good day," Mr. Bliss turned and walked away. They stayed where they were for a few moments, then got into the Canary Car.

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Skulduggery pulled away from the curb. They drove for a bit before Stephanie spoke.

"He's kind of scary."

"That happens when you rarely smile. Mr. Bliss is, physically, the most powerful individual on the face of the planet. His strength is beyond legendary."

"So he is scary?"

"Oh yes, very much so."

He drove on, and they settled into silence. She let a few more moments drift by.

"What are you thinking?"

He gave a small shrug. "Lots of clever little things."

"So do you believe that the Scepter is real?"

"It certainly looks that way."

"I suppose this is a big deal for you, huh? Finding out that your gods really existed?"

"Ah, but we don't know that. If the Scepter is real, its true history could have been mixed up with the legends. Its existence does not prove that it was used to drive away the Faceless Ones."

"Funny. I wouldn't have thought that a living skeleton would be such a skeptic. So what's our next move?"

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He was silent for a bit. "Right, well, we've got to work out what we need. We've got to work out what we need, how we get it, and what we need to get to get what we need."

"I think I actually understood that," Stephanie said slowly. The car went over a bump. "No, it's gone again."

"We need the Elders to take action, so we need proof that Serpine has broken the Truce. We need to find the Scepter, and we also need to find out how to destroy the Scepter."

"Okay, so how do we do the first one?"

"We'll get the proof once we find the Scepter."

"And how do we find the Scepter?"

"We find the key."

"And how do we destroy the Scepter?"

"Ah," he said. "That'll be the little bit of crime that we'll have to embark on."

"Crime," she said with a smile. "Finally."

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Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven

The Little Bit of Crime

From their vantage point, parked across the road, they watched the vampires, once again in their blue overalls, walk up the steps and enter the gleaming art gallery. The vampires were chatting, and didn't look intimidating at all. A few minutes later the staff and day-shift security started to trickle out of the building. When every one of them was accounted for, Skulduggery reached into the backseat and brought the black bag into his lap.

"We're going now?" Stephanie asked, looking up into the evening sky. "But it's still bright."

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"And that's precisely why we're going now," he said. "Twenty minutes from now, there'll be two full-fledged vampires prowling around in there. I want to get in, find out how to destroy the Scepter, and get out before that happens."

"Ah. Probably wise."

"Very probably."

They got out of the horrible Canary Car and crossed the street, then moved through the garden area to a tall tree behind the gallery. Making sure they wouldn't be seen, Skulduggery put the bag over his shoulder and started to climb. Stephanie jumped for the lowest branch, grabbed it, and started climbing up after him. She hadn't done anything like this in years, but climbing a tree was like falling out of one---easy. The tree's limbs were long and strong, and they quickly came adjacent to the gallery's roof, which was ridged with a dozen skylights. Stephanie hoisted herself up onto a branch and sat there, regarding the large gap between building and tree with curiosity. It looked too far to jump.

"You sure I can't come with you?" Stephanie asked.

"I need you out here in case something goes terribly, terribly wrong."

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"Like what?"

"Oh, any one of a number of things."

"Fills me with confidence, that," she muttered.

Skulduggery maneuvered himself onto the longest branch and then walked, bent legged and stooped over, along its length. His balance was unnatural. But there was still that gap. Without pausing, he sprang forward off the branch. He brought his arms up, and a tremendous gust of wind buffeted him over to the rooftop.

Stephanie promised herself that one day she'd get him to teach her how to do that.

Skulduggery looked back. "The gallery is outfitted with the most elaborate security system," he said as he opened the bag. "But because of the vampires, the alarms on the outer corridors are never set, so once I get by the main hall, it should be smooth sailing, as they say."

"As who say?"

"I don't know. People who sail, presumably." He opened the bag and took out a harness, which he started to strap himself into. He looked up at her. "Where was I?"

"I have no idea."