this way.”
They walked into an oval-shaped room and stood facing a large door. There was only one light source, from somewhere overhead, and the edges of the room remained in relative darkness.
“The Elders will be but a moment,” the Administrator said and walked quietly away.
“They always do this,” Skulduggery said. “Keep people waiting.”
“My headmaster does the same thing whenever someone’s called to his office. He thinks it makes him look important.”
“Does it work?”
“It makes him look late.”
The door ahead opened and an old man entered. He had short white hair and a tightly cropped beard, and he was tall, taller than Skulduggery. He wore a suit the colour of 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, materialised 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?”
“No.”
“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, because you have not yet picked a name, that 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.”
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 Sceptre of the Ancients.”
“I never know when you’re joking, Skulduggery,” Meritorious said, starting to smile.
“I hear that a lot.”
“You are aware that the Sceptre 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, “where 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 has 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 Sceptre!”
“Which doesn’t even exist.” Meritorious shook his head sadly. “I am sorry, Skulduggery. There is nothing we can do.”
“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 acknowledgement but said nothing.
“Thank you for agreeing to meet 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
