Skulduggery Pleasant: Mortal Cole (25 page)

She gripped the water and it churned, lifting her from its depths, throwing her to the barrier. She crashed against it and held on, gasping, then threw a leg over and fell to the road on the other side. She’d lost her shoes somewhere in the sea.

There was water in her ears, so she didn’t hear the cop behind her until his arms encircled her waist. He threw her into the side of a parked van and she fell. He grabbed her ankles and hauled her back. She cried out, her dress bunched up and her shoes gone and her wet hair in her eyes. The cop dragged her some more and laughed.

Valkyrie swept her hand behind her, and a gust of wind hit
the cop hard enough to make him release her. She got up as he pulled a long baton from a deep pocket and grinned at her. A sliver of streetlight caught the side of his face – Valkyrie could see the dark veins beneath his pale skin.

She snapped her palm against the air. The space shimmered, but the cop was already moving, dodging the strike. She clicked her fingers in his face and a flame flared. He cursed and staggered back, hands at his eyes. She kicked him square between the legs and he buckled, but he blocked the knee that came for his face and lunged at her. Valkyrie sidestepped and he went past, tripping over her foot. His face hit the side of the van with a sickening
thud.
He lurched unsteadily to his feet. She kicked his leg, deadening the muscle. He toppled sideways against the van, blood streaming from his shattered nose. She clicked her fingers and hurled a fireball. It hit his arm. He howled and dropped the baton, and she kicked it away.

“No way,” said a disbelieving voice behind her, and she turned, snarling at whoever it was who dared interrupt. Then she froze.

“Stephanie,” her cousin Carol said in astonishment, “why are you beating up that policeman?”

T
he cop seized the opportunity offered by Valkyrie’s distraction, and dived on her. She fell back, his hands on her throat, his face twisted. “Let go of her!” Crystal roared, trying to drag him off.

Carol started whacking her handbag into his head. When that had no effect, she tried clawing his eyes out. The cop cursed, but didn’t take his hands from Valkyrie, and then Fletcher was there, barging between Carol and Crystal. He wrapped an arm around the cop’s throat, and all three of them managed to haul him away. Carol and Crystal let go, and Fletcher and the cop vanished.

The twins stared.

“
Whu?
” said Carol.

Fletcher arrived back, without the cop. “They’re everywhere,” he said. “The entire club…”

Managing to get her breathing under control, Valkyrie listened. “No more screams,” she said. “Oh my God, they got everyone.”

“Where did you go?” Crystal asked Fletcher.

Valkyrie picked her phone up off the ground. “Everyone hold hands. Fletcher, the pier beside my house. Go.”

They teleported to the pier, just four miles up the coast. Carol and Crystal staggered away from them, eyes wide at their new surroundings, and in unison, they doubled over and threw up on their own shoes.

“What’s happening?” Carol wailed.

“You’re safe now,” said Fletcher.

“We were outside Shenanigans!” Crystal screeched. “How are we here?”

“I teleported you,” he said, doing his best to sound reassuring.

Carol blinked. “Like in
Star Trek?
”

“Exactly like in
Star Trek,”
he smiled, “without the machines.”

Carol swung her gaze to Valkyrie. “And you. You. You set fire to that Guard. You set fire to a policeman!”

“No,” Crystal said. “She
threw
fire. Stephanie, you
threw
fire at him. And then you pushed him away, but you didn’t even
touch
him. How did you do that?”

“It’s complicated,” Valkyrie said, suddenly feeling very wet and very cold.

Crystal stepped back, wary. “Are you a mutant?”

“I’m sorry?”

Carol’s eyes widened. “Do you have super powers?”

“No, I don’t. It wasn’t super powers, it was… well, magic.”

Carol laughed suddenly, and a little crazily. “You expect us to believe that?”

“You’d be willing to believe that Valkyrie is a super-powered mutant,” Fletcher said, “but not that she’s magic?”

“Who’s Valkyrie?” Crystal asked.

“I am,” Valkyrie answered. “It’s like a code name, or something. You can still call me Stephanie, though. In fact, I’d really rather you still called me Stephanie. I’ll answer your questions in a second, OK? I have to make a call.”

She turned away, and speed-dialled Skulduggery. “Remnants,” she said when he answered.

“I know,” he said. “What happened?”

“They came after me in the nightclub. Hundreds of them. They’ve taken over everyone inside.”

“Are you OK?”

“Yeah,” she said. “I’m sore, and freezing, but we got out.”

“Get to Kenspeckle’s. Ghastly’s already there.”

“We have to warn the others.”

Skulduggery hesitated. “You let me worry about that.”

“What do you mean? They’re all in danger.”

“For all we know, the Remnants have already got to them. Valkyrie, I’ll check it out. I’ll do my best to gauge if they’re still who they are, but you have got to get
yourself
to safety.”

“What about my parents? If the Remnants possess someone who knows where I live…”

“Your reflection isn’t alive – they can’t possess it. Tell it to alert you if anything happens. That’s the best you can do.”

“I don’t like this…”

“Just get to Kenspeckle. He’s already locking down the building. You and Fletcher stay there with Ghastly and wait for me. Do not answer your phone to anyone. Understand?”

“Yes.”

“Be careful. I’ll see you soon.”

He hung up.

“OK,” Carol said. “Just what is going on? Explain it to us.
Right now. Or we will… We will tell our parents. And they’ll tell your parents, and you’ll be in serious trouble.”

“Don’t tell your parents,” Valkyrie said, her eyes narrowing. She forced herself to be nice. “Guys, we don’t have a lot of time here, but you know all those things Uncle Gordon wrote about?”

“In his books?” asked Carol. “We were never allowed to read his books. Mum said there were dirty bits.”

“I read them,” Crystal said, somewhat meekly.

Carol looked astonished. “When did you read a book?”

“I read a few of them,” Crystal said defensively. “They’re all about magicians and wizards and monsters. There are some dirty bits, but they’re not that bad.”

“It’s all true,” Valkyrie interrupted, “except they’re not called magicians and wizards, they’re called sorcerers and mages. Everything Gordon wrote about was true.”

“Even the dirty bits?” Crystal asked.

“Well… maybe not the dirty bits.”

Carol put her hands on her hips. “How did
you
become magic?”

“Some people are born with magic inside them. All it takes is the proper training to let it come out.”

“We’re your cousins,” Carol said. “Are we magic? Does it run in the family? Is there a test we can take to find out?”

“There’s no actual test,” Valkyrie said slowly, desperately searching for a believable lie, “but the fact is, you’re not tall enough to be magic.”

Crystal looked disappointed. “Really?”

“That’s true,” Fletcher said. “There is a height requirement, and you guys are just a little under it.”

“We could wear higher heels,” Crystal tried.

“Not going to work,” he said with a sad shake of his head.

“That man,” Carol said. “The thin man at Gordon’s will reading, with the ridiculous name. He’s involved in this, isn’t he?”

“Skulduggery Pleasant,” Valkyrie nodded. “And yes, he is.”

“I knew there was something wrong about him. I knew it the moment Mum said there was something wrong about him. I’m a very good judge of character. So, OK, you’re witches and wizards and whatever else…”

“Sorcerers,” Valkyrie insisted.

“…but why were you fighting with the cop?” Carol continued. “What’s that all about? And what was going on in there? The bouncers said it was full, so we were trying to sneak round the back, and then we heard all this screaming.”

“The cop wasn’t a cop. He was a Remnant – like an evil ghost. They crawl inside your mouth and absorb your
personality and possess you. If you don’t get rid of them within four days, they’re inside you forever.”

“Gross,” Carol muttered.

“Listen, I have to dry off and get changed. Fletcher can fill you in on everything else while I’m gone, and then we’ll take you home. Fletcher, my room.”

“Wait,” Carol said, “you’re going to leave us here alone?”

“Two seconds,” Fletcher smiled. He took Valkyrie’s hand, and they appeared in her bedroom.

“Keep them calm,” she told him. He nodded, and vanished. She crept to the bathroom, stripped off her clothes and jumped in under the hot shower. She hugged herself until the goose pimples went away, then got out and found a towel. She scooped up her wet clothes and hurried across the landing, just as her mother reached the top of the stairs.

“You’re back early, I see.”

Valkyrie forced a smile on to her face. “Yep.”

“I didn’t hear you come in.”

“I’m ninja quiet,” Valkyrie nodded. “Just got home there now.”

“Did you have a good time?”

“It was OK. The music was rubbish and the people were annoying. Apart from that it was fine.”

“And did Fletcher enjoy himself?”

“I suppose. I was really tired, though, so I just wanted to go to bed.”

“Do you think you’ll be seeing him again?”

“Fletcher? Yes. He’s great, actually. He just
seems
stupid.”

“Well, I thought he was lovely,” her mum said, then frowned. “Are your clothes wet?”

“I left the shower door open,” Valkyrie replied, as sheepishly as she could.

Her mother rolled her eyes, then kissed her cheek. “Goodnight, sweetheart.”

“Night, Mum.”

Valkyrie went to her room and closed the door quietly behind her. She touched the mirror and her reflection blinked, and stepped out.

“Let me know,” Valkyrie said, “the moment anything goes wrong. Now get into bed.” She took out her black clothes and began to dress.

“What are you going to do?” the reflection asked.

Valkyrie looked around. “I told you to get into bed.”

“I will,” the reflection said. “But you need someone to talk to.”

Valkyrie laughed. “You? I’d be better off talking to
myself.
”

“The Remnants know you’re Darquesse.”

“None of that’s going to happen any more. Why are you asking questions? Every time you’re activated you have all of my thoughts and memories. You know everything I know.”

“Actually, I know more.”

Valkyrie narrowed her eyes. “What?”

“I know the things that you don’t want to face. The Remnants know that you are Darquesse, so that means they have a Sensitive. It makes sense that they’d take over one, if not both, of the most powerful Sensitives in the country.”

“Finbar Wrong,” Valkyrie said, “or Cassandra Pharos.”

“And if they have control over one or both of
them,
who else do they have control over? China, maybe? Tanith? Fletcher?”

“What are you talking about? Fletcher helped me escape just five minutes ago.”

“And in the four minutes since he’s been out of your sight, anything could have happened.”

Valkyrie wanted to tell the reflection to shut up, but it was speaking the truth and she knew it.

“You can’t trust your friends,” the reflection said.

“I can trust Skulduggery. Remnants can’t inhabit anything dead.”

“And yet you
don’t
trust Skulduggery,” the reflection said
casually “If you did, you would have told him that you were Darquesse months ago.”

“You
know
why I didn’t tell him that,” Valkyrie said angrily.

“Yes I do, but you don’t.”

“I’m getting kind of sick of this snarky new attitude of yours.”

“You were telling yourself that you didn’t want Skulduggery to look at you any differently, but that’s not the reason at all.”

“That’s enough,” Valkyrie growled. “Just go to sleep, would you?”

“The reason you didn’t tell him…”

“I said,
go to sleep.
”

“Is because you’re scared of him.”

Valkyrie laughed. “I’m scared of him? That’s it? That’s your big insight? I’m not scared of Skulduggery, you idiot.”

“You were afraid of what he’d do to you if he found out. When you were strapped to that table and you hallucinated, when you saw him take out his gun to shoot you…
That’s
what you’re afraid of.”

“He would never hurt me,” said Valkyrie.

“You don’t believe that.”

“Actually, yes, I do.”

“Actually, no, you don’t. Ask yourself, what if the visions don’t stop?”

“What?”

“If the Sensitives keep having visions of Darquesse – if sealing your name didn’t change the future. What do you think Skulduggery will do if you’re still a threat?”

“Shut your mouth,” Valkyrie snarled, “and go to sleep.”

“Of course,” the reflection said, and did what it was told.

Valkyrie fumed as she pulled on her jacket over her T-shirt. She called Fletcher’s phone. “I’m ready,” she said when he answered.

In the three seconds in which she waited for him to teleport over, she was seized by a panic. Maybe the Remnants
had
got to him. Maybe he was going to teleport her right into the clutches of her enemy. Fletcher appeared in front of her, and held out his hand.

She hesitated.

“How are the twins?” she asked.

“I think I’ve managed to calm them down.”

Valkyrie took his hand with her left hand, leaving her right hand free to fight if she needed to. Her heart pounded, and then they were outside again, by the pier –
not
surrounded by Remnants. She did her best not to make her sigh of relief too audible.

“Carol’s having a panic attack,” Crystal said, jerking a thumb at her sister, who was walking in circles and hyperventilating.

“I just got her to stop that,” Fletcher muttered, and hurried over to her.