time to build.
“You mentioned the trained investigators I have on the City Guard,” China said, “like they’d notice something you wouldn’t. Like they’d be better than you. You seem to have forgotten that you were trained by the best.”
“I’m not a detective, China.”
“Your badge says differently.”
“I can’t do this without him. You know that.”
“You don’t have a choice. Skulduggery Pleasant is your enemy now. You’ve never faced anyone like him before. But he’s never faced anyone like you, either.”
“He’ll kill me.”
“He’ll certainly try.”
“China, I appreciate the vote of confidence, but I don’t stand a chance against him. The moment he decides to end the game, I’m dead.”
“You know him better than anyone. You know him better than I ever did. With Skulduggery on their side, the anti-Sanctuary will succeed. Abyssinia will be resurrected and, if she wants war, she’ll have war. She’ll lay waste to everything. The entire mortal world is in danger. That means your family, Valkyrie. We have one chance to stop them, and that chance is to stop him. You’re the only one who can do that.”
“No, I’m not. Get Saracen Rue and Dexter Vex back here. Find Tanith, wherever the hell she is. Call Gracious and Donegan off whatever adventure they’re on right now and put guns in their hands. That’s what you need. You need a team.”
“We need you,” said China. “I’ll ask Gracious and Donegan to help you if you need them. I’ll try to find Rue and Vex, but the last I heard they weren’t on good terms. You don’t need Tanith Low, but Roarhaven needs you. I need you, Valkyrie. And Skulduggery definitely needs you. He abandoned his family crest because of the things he’d done during the war, and he’s spent the time since looking for redemption. How do you think he’ll take it if he kills someone while under Smoke’s influence? Do you think he’ll forgive himself?”
“China …”
“This is a burden. I understand that. You wish you could just walk away. I understand that, too. I’m offering you that chance right now. Tell me you want to go. Say yes, and you’ll get a Cleaver escort home. But, if you can’t say yes, then find that girl you once were and be her again. We need that Valkyrie Cain. I’m sorry, but we don’t need you.”
The rain got heavier. Valkyrie watched it hit the shield surrounding the balcony, the drops hissing, steam rising. Cleavers wouldn’t be able to save her, not if Skulduggery came looking, and there wasn’t anywhere she could run that he wouldn’t be able to follow. She felt like she was on a sinking boat. Her only hope, as much as it scared her, was to dive into the churning waters before the boat took her down with it.
“I need Richard Melior’s old address back in San Francisco,” Valkyrie said. “I looked it up in the Neoteric Report, but all contact details have been blacked out.”
China nodded. “I’ll get it for you.”
“And I’m going to need a Teleporter. A healthy one.”
“Difficult,” said China. “There are only three in the world that I know of, plus this Nero and one of Fletcher’s own students. Maybe I can organise something. If not, you’ll have access to my jet. You also have the entire City Guard at your disposal if you need them.”
Valkyrie shook her head. “Skulduggery didn’t trust them. That means I don’t, either. No offence.”
China hesitated. “Of course.”
“But I might need Cleavers. Lots of them. At a moment’s notice.”
“I can give you a sigil,” China said. “It can be both a distress call and a homing device.”
Valkyrie hesitated. “Sure,” she said. “So long as it can’t track me without my knowing.”
China tapped her forefinger and it began to glow. “You can activate and deactivate it at will,” she said. “It’s a small sigil, easily concealable. Where do you want it?”
Valkyrie sat again and leaned back, hooked a thumb into the waistband of her jeans and pulled it down to her hipbone. China got to her knees and pressed her fingernail into Valkyrie’s skin. It was hot, very hot, but not entirely unpleasant.
“Why did he really quit as City Guard Commander?” Valkyrie asked as China worked. “What did he do? What did you do?”
China focused on the tattoo she was carving and didn’t look up. “He felt his time here was at an end. I was sorry to see him go.”
Her fingernail curved around and then slashed backwards slightly. A dot here, a cross there. Incredibly intricate markings. No blood.
“You didn’t answer my question,” Valkyrie said.
“Some questions are not mine to answer.” China glanced up at her with those beautiful eyes. “Skulduggery has his reasons, Valkyrie. I might agree with some of them, I might disagree with others, but there’s no arguing with him. You know that.”
She went back to work. Moments later, she was done.
“It’s called an auxilium,” China said, straightening up. “It’s from a time when all sigils had a Latin name. What a dreary time that was. Anyway, tap it and I’ll know you’re in trouble and where to send assistance.”
The sigil was black and small, maybe a couple of centimetres in circumference. The skin sizzled a little, and a second later the tattoo faded away.
“Thanks,” Valkyrie said, and stood.
“Detective Cain of the Arbiter Corps,” China said. “Good to have you back.”
He was going to kill her. He was going to torture her. He’d make Valkyrie Cain scream and cry and beg. He’d draw it out. Make it last. He was going to enjoy it, too. Killing her would be his most enjoyable murder since the first, all those years ago.
Cadaverous sipped from his glass of water. Thoughts like that made his mouth dry and his heart beat faster.
The others talked. They sat around the table, located in Coldheart’s only conference room, and chatted – Nero and Memphis and Razzia – but Cadaverous stayed quiet. It wasn’t that he couldn’t chat – he could chat with the best of them. He was the master of small talk. He’d had to be, back when he’d been mortal, having to go to all those insufferable social engagements. Book launches for stale academic tomes. Office parties. After-work drinks. He’d been pretending the whole time, of course, hiding his hatred behind a smile or a witty remark. That’s how he’d blended in. That’s how nobody suspected anything – not until the very end.
But these days he just wasn’t in the mood to talk, to chat. Not since Valkyrie Cain had killed Jeremiah.
Skulduggery
