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.”
“Well, a lot’s happened,” Valkyrie said. “You look great.”
“Flattery means little to a woman of my age, my dear. But it still works, so thank you.” Her smile dipped. “Now that I have you, I don’t suppose you’ve heard from Finbar lately?”
Valkyrie shook her head. “I was kind of hoping you had.”
“Sadly, no. I’ll be honest, I’m getting worried about him. Being used by the Remnants like that could have... damaged him. Permanently.”
“Maybe he just needs more time. It might even be doing him some good, just living a normal life for a change.”
“Maybe,” Cassandra said, “maybe. But we have more pressing matters to deal with, do we not? You need a wall built in your mind.”
“Apparently so.”
“I don’t want you to worry about this. I won’t be able to read your thoughts while I’m constructing it, and it’s not going to affect you in any way once it’s in. All it does is form a protective shield should anyone try to enter your mind without permission. It’s entirely painless. Just lie back and close your eyes. That’s it. I want you to relax now. Just feel the tension drain from your body...”
They drove back to Haggard through darkness. There was something wrong for the entire journey, and Valkyrie only realised what it was when they pulled up at the pier. She turned to him. “Was there somebody sitting in my seat?”
“Hmm?” he said. “Oh, yes. Elsie O’Brien. Very nice girl. Terrible self-image. She should take lessons from you on confidence. I think you’d do her a lot of good.”
“Never mind all that, Skulduggery. You let her adjust my seat.”
“She’s not as tall as you.”
“But you let her adjust my seat.”
“I did, yes.”
She stared at him.
He hesitated. “I’m really sorry?”
“I’m gone for not even twenty-four hours and you let someone adjust my seat? What, were you looking for a new partner already? Am I that easily replaced?”
“I take back what I said. Elsie shouldn’t talk to you. You’re quite obviously unhinged.”
Valkyrie spent a minute trying to get the seat back to its original position. She sat back in it, frowning. “I don’t even know if this is how I left it. Was I this far
