Skulduggery Pleasant: Kingdom of the Wicked (29 page)

When they were done, Valkyrie took him to see Lenka, whose reaction was, as she had expected, one to treasure. Fletcher walked in, and Lenka laughed so hard she fell off the table on which she’d been sitting.

“His hair!” Lenka gasped from the floor. “Oh my God, his hair!”

Fletcher sighed.

Lament came in, shook Fletcher’s hand and asked him to ignore the hysterical girl rolling across the ground. He took them to the Cube, and Fletcher peered in at Argeddion.

“You’re sure he’s asleep?” he asked.

“We were,” Lament said, frowning slightly. “These days, we’re not so sure. And so time is of the essence.”

Fletcher nodded, and looked at the machine. “So you need all of this moved at the same time?”

“Yes,” said Lament. “The Tempest, that’s the pyramid there, won’t be needed once we’ve attached the Cube directly to the Accelerator, but that will require a day or so of work. In the mean time, we’ll need everything just as it is – but in the Sanctuary. Do you think that would be a problem?”

“Wouldn’t say so,” said Fletcher. “It’s all hooked up and everything is connected, so it doesn’t look like anything will be left behind. Should be a clean teleport right into the room Ghastly showed me.”

“You’ve seen the Accelerator?”

“Yep,” he said. “Weird-looking thing.”

Lament smiled. “Thank you very much for doing this, Fletcher. I don’t know how we’d manage it without you.”

Fletcher shrugged. “Just doing my bit to help out,” he said, and walked from the room with an extra bit of swagger. Valkyrie rolled her eyes, and followed.

The clearing-out of the mountain facility took a few hours. Valkyrie stayed with Fletcher for most of it, having a laugh and chatting while they waited for the next shipment of equipment or animals or whatever to be made ready. Lenka had tears in her eyes when it was time to say goodbye to some of the monkeys, but Fletcher transported them to nice safe places, and this helped her sniffling. The last thing to be moved was Argeddion himself and all the machinery that held him in stasis.

Fletcher looked tense. Valkyrie felt for him. If this went wrong, they’d be releasing a sorcerer on the world who was more powerful than anyone else alive.

Lament and his three sorcerers came together and joined hands.

“This place is our home,” said Lament. “We came here thirty years ago to protect the world from a threat, and in doing so we found a new place to love. It certainly hasn’t been easy living here, isolated and alone, but we got through it. We didn’t think we’d ever return. But now, thanks to these people standing beside us, the impossible is possible, and we have a second chance at life. I’ll miss this place.” He smiled sadly. “But I won’t miss it a lot.”

There were a few laughs, then everyone linked arms and Fletcher placed a hand on the chair, and in less than an eyeblink, much quicker and more easily than seemed to befit the gravity of the situation, they were in a large room deep within the Sanctuary, beside a machine that could only have been the Accelerator.

It was done. No explosions, no screaming, no all-powerful sorcerer suddenly loosed upon the world. It was, if Valkyrie was being honest, a bit of an anticlimax.

Ravel came in to welcome them, and Lenka turned and threw up all over his shoes.

Valkyrie and Fletcher sneaked away while the introductions were going on. They left the Sanctuary and took a walk around the lake. The stagnant water wasn’t very pretty, but it was the only walk available.

“Good job,” Valkyrie said. “Thanks.”

He shrugged. “It’s not easy being the one you all run to in an emergency, but I cope admirably well.”

“That you do,” she said with a laugh. “Are you heading off now?”

“Unless there’s something else I’m needed for.”

She stopped walking, and looked at him. “Well,” she said, “I’m not doing anything for the next few hours...”

He looked back at her, and his smile dimmed a little. “Oh.”

Valkyrie laughed. “Wow. Now that was
not
the reaction I was expecting.”

“No, sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant...”

She held up her hands. “Fletcher, relax. It’s no big deal.”

“No, Val, it’s just, I’m kind of seeing someone.”

Now it was her turn to say, “Oh.”

“She’s really nice,” he said. “We’ve only been going out for two months or so, but she’s dead cool. You’d like her, I think. Here, hold on.”

He vanished.

Valkyrie blinked.
He
was going out with someone? He had found someone before she had? While not having any kind of plan or timetable arranged, she was still pretty sure that she was supposed to move on before he did. She’d dumped
him
, after all.

Fletcher reappeared before her, holding hands with a pretty girl.

“Valkyrie,” he said, “this is Myra.”

Myra had light brown hair and a nice smile and Valkyrie wanted to punch her in her stupid face. “Hi,” Valkyrie said.

“Pleased to meet you,” said Myra, and they shook hands. Valkyrie was pretty sure she’d be able to crush that little hand in hers. When Myra spoke, she spoke with an Australian accent. It was annoying. “Fletcher’s told me all about you. To be honest I was starting to think he’d made you up. I reckoned no one could be as great as the way he described you.”

Valkyrie found a smile somewhere and put it on. “I have my moments,” she said. “So how did you two meet?”

Myra wrapped an arm round Fletcher’s waist. “He saved me. There was a fire at my college and he got me out. My knight in shining armour.”

Valkyrie blinked. “You’re mortal?”

Fletcher laughed. “I thought you hated that term.”

“What? Oh, yeah, I do, I meant you’re not a sorcerer, then?”

Myra shook her head. “Depressingly normal, I’m afraid. But don’t worry, I can keep a secret. Fletch was telling me about all the things you can do and what a kick-ass fighter you are and all that. That is so cool. I couldn’t fight my way out of a paper bag, if I’m being honest. I’d love to be able to do magic, but I reckon having a boyfriend who can do magic is almost as good.”

Valkyrie didn’t want to hit her any more. Myra was too nice a person to hit. Valkyrie wanted to hit
someone
, though. Maybe Fletcher.

“I’ve been wanting to introduce you two for a while,” Fletcher said, “but I didn’t know how to do it without making it look like I was trying to prove a point. Like,
Look at me now, Valkyrie, I have a new girlfriend and a new life
. But... well, here we are. I just want you to know that there are no hard feelings about what happened and how it ended and I’m glad we’re still, you know, friends.”

“Yeah,” Valkyrie said. “Me too.”

They stood there, the three of them, all friends, in awkward silence.

“We should get going,” Fletcher said. “I grabbed her just as she was about to take the muffins out of the oven.”

Valkyrie looked at Myra. “You make muffins?”

“Not very well,” Myra said. “I used to make them with my mum all the time. It’s such an old person thing to do, isn’t it? Make muffins?” She laughed. “Anyway, it was so good to meet you, Valkyrie.”

“Good to meet you, too.”

Myra smiled, and Fletcher gave her that grin that used to make Valkyrie’s heart beat faster, and then they both vanished.

“Well,” Valkyrie said aloud, “that sucks.”

lsie O’Brien wasn’t a brave girl. She wasn’t an especially bright girl, or an especially talented girl, and she definitely wasn’t an especially pretty girl. But these things she already knew about herself. These were the honest, inescapable facts that formed the basis of who she was. As for bravery, she’d never given it a second thought. She’d more or less assumed that she’d be the type of person to do the right thing in a bad situation, but here she was, trailing from bad situation to bad situation with no idea what the right thing to do was any more.

Kitana and Doran certainly didn’t know. They were lost. They were drunk on this power they’d been given. There was no hope for them. She didn’t know if there was any hope for her, either, but she didn’t much care about that. The only person she cared about was Sean, but he was slipping away every day, becoming more like the others.

“Keep up,” Kitana said, and Elsie dutifully trotted along after them a little faster. All she wanted to do was turn and run. But she didn’t. She kept following, because that’s what she did. She was a follower.

They got to Doran’s house. His dad was out. His mum was gone, having abandoned the family years ago. Doran never talked about it and Elsie had never asked. Not that he’d have answered her if she had. When Doran was ready, they went inside, into the living room, where his older brother was playing a video game.

“Hey, Tommy,” said Doran.

Tommy looked around. His scowl turned nonchalant when he saw Kitana. She had a habit of making guys act differently.

“Hey,” he said, sitting a little straighter.

Doran was trying not to grin, and doing a really bad job of it. “What’s the game like? Is it good? Are you good at it? Are you good at playing your little video game?”

Tommy put the controller on the coffee table and slowly stood up. “What’s this?” he asked. “Acting tough in front of your friends? You weren’t so tough last week when I twisted your arm so much you started crying, were you?”

Whatever reaction Tommy was expecting, a wider grin was not it.

“No, I wasn’t,” said Doran. “Wasn’t nearly as tough as I am now, big brother. You want to try that again?”

Tommy’s eyes flickered to Kitana, then back to Doran. “You really want that? You really want me to embarrass you in front of your girlfriend?”

“Oh, I’m not his girlfriend,” Kitana said sweetly. “I prefer older men. What age are you, Tommy?”

“Twenty,” he said, squaring his shoulders.

“Twenty,” Kitana breathed. “That’s the perfect age for me.”

Tommy had a grin of his own now, and he looked back at Doran. “Why don’t the rest of you run along? Kitana, you want to hang out for while?”

“Actually,” said Kitana, “I’d really like to go somewhere private. Maybe go for a drive.”

Doran laughed so suddenly it was like a gunshot. “Yeah, Tommy,” he said. “Take her for a drive. Take her for a drive in your car. How is your car, anyway? Is it in good shape? Is it roadworthy? Have you seen it lately?”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Your car,” Doran said, laughing again. “Have you seen it in, say, the last few minutes?”

Tommy frowned. “You better not have done anything to it.”

Doran shrugged. Tommy barged past him on his way to the window. Doran stumbled back against the wall, still laughing.

Elsie didn’t need to look out of the window to know what Tommy was seeing. He was seeing his prized car – the car he had so lovingly restored – dismantled and in pieces in the driveway. He was seeing the dissected engine and the sheared body and the shredded tyres. He was seeing what it had taken Doran five minutes to accomplish.

Tommy sagged so quickly he had to grip the windowsill to stay upright. His eyes were wide, his mouth open. He had gone a dangerous shade of pale.

Doran was doubled over he was laughing so hard. Tommy spun, face contorted with utter, utter hatred. He ran at his younger brother, fist arcing downwards to catch Doran full in the face. Doran fell back, still laughing. Tommy started lashing kicks in, and with every kick Doran would just laugh harder. Tommy straddled him, began raining down punches. Doran howled like he was being tickled.

Finally, Tommy fell backwards, panting hard, upset and confused as Doran sat up like he hadn’t a care in the world.

“Oh,” Doran said, wiping the tears from his eyes, “oh man, that was funny. The look on your face. I’m going to remember that for as long as I live.”

He got to his feet without any hurry. Tommy scrambled up.

Elsie felt sorry for Tommy. She didn’t like him, she never had. Any time she’d seen him he was beating up Doran, humiliating him in front of everyone out of some need to be seen as strong. Sometimes he beat him up just out of sheer meanness. Tommy wasn’t a nice guy at all, but she felt sorry for him all the same. He didn’t have the first idea what was going on or what he was dealing with.