wasn’t an easy decision to make. I liked Walden. He was a good man. I trusted him. I couldn’t trust Argeddion. How could I? All it would take is one bad day. Maybe that’s what sets Darquesse off. Maybe she’s a normal sorcerer, doing good work, but sometime in the near future she’s going to have one really bad day, and she’ll make the world suffer for it.”
“So what did you do?”
Lament hesitated. “Argeddion enjoyed talking about the things he was learning. Every day he’d develop a new ability, or he’d understand a new law of magic that no one else had even guessed at. He talked about the Source. He talked about the Cradles of Magic and how they related to each other and how they affected everything around them. He was a fascinating man. He was starting to view things in a completely new way.”
“And then you ambushed him.”
“We did. The problem with adopting a radical new perspective is that you lose your old one. We couldn’t afford to let him abandon his humanity. We couldn’t let him start to value magic over people.”
“Was that where he was headed?”
“Possibly. Very possibly. The moment I realised this, I knew we had run out of time. So we ambushed him.”
“How?” asked Valkyrie.
“When Walden was a child, his mother was murdered right in front of him. Her killer, a man who was never caught, turned to Walden and spoke to him. He said three words to a traumatised little boy, and ran. We found out what those three words were, and we used them against him. He froze, and we struck. We didn’t use violence. We just trapped him, sent him to sleep. He hasn’t woken up since.”
“How did you send him to sleep?”
“We targeted his brainwaves. Took them over, regulated them... He was asleep within moments.”
“Could we use that against Darquesse?”
“I don’t know. Argeddion underestimated us. Maybe it was his new power, making our attempts against him look harmless. Whatever the reason, he didn’t view us as a threat, and so he was already calm when we struck. Darquesse, from what I’ve heard, is not going to be calm. If you tried this against her, she’d fight it and win easily.”
“But if we managed it,” Skulduggery pressed, “could she be contained in here?”
“Here? No. This entire facility is equipped for only one patient. But if you were to build an exact replica of this place, I don’t see why not. She would need constant monitoring and supervision, however.”
“If she was trapped in somewhere like this,” Valkyrie said, “that’d be it, though, wouldn’t it? There’d be no chance of talking to her, of getting her to control herself or anything like that?”
“That would be impossible. The only reason Argeddion hasn’t escaped is because he’s been kept in an artificially induced coma. We can’t allow him to wake up – ever. With Darquesse, it would be even more important to keep her sedated. If you give someone like that a moment of consciousness, she’d kill you and everyone else.”
“Well,” Valkyrie said, frowning, “that sucks.”
Lament looked surprised. “You’d prefer the alternative?”
“No,” she said quickly. “No, I was just thinking, from her perspective that sucks, not from our… Never mind. Could we have a copy of the plans?”
“I don’t see why not,” said Lament. “But do you have enough people to monitor her? Do you have anyone who’d be willing to give up the rest of their life to spend with her?”
“I would,” Skulduggery said.
Valkyrie looked away.
A girl rushed in. Petite, blonde hair, huge eyes, somewhere in her twenties. “People,” she gasped. “But…”
Lament smiled. “It’s OK. They’re not our enemies. Lenka Bazaar, this is Skulduggery Pleasant and Valkyrie Cain.”
Valkyrie stood to shake her hand and Lenka jumped on her, wrapping her up in the biggest bear hug Lenka’s little arms could manage. “People!” she screamed. “There are people here! New people!”
Valkyrie couldn’t help but laugh, and finally Lenka released her.
“Hi. I’m Lenka. Will you be my friend?”
“Uh,” said Valkyrie, “sure.”
“Tyren,” Lenka said immediately, “I only have room for a certain number of friends in my life, so you’re not my friend any more. I’m really sorry.”
“I’m sure I’ll survive.”
Lenka grinned at Valkyrie. “I don’t want to alarm you,” she said, “but there’s a skeleton in a hat standing behind you.”
“Don’t worry, he’s supposed to be there,” Valkyrie said with a smile.
“Very pleased to meet you,” Skulduggery said, shaking her hand.
“Lenka is the youngest of us,” said Lament, “a Sensitive and a gifted engineer in her own right.”
“I never thought I’d ever meet someone new,” Lenka said, her eyes still wide. “I thought that the three people I’m down here with were the only people I’d ever know for the rest of my life. And now look. Two more people! And one of them’s the coolest person I’ve ever seen!”
“Thank you,” said Skulduggery.
“I was talking about her,” Lenka said, and Valkyrie laughed.
“Have you seen the Arboretum? Tyren, have you shown them the Arboretum?
“They’ve only just arrived—”
“Then it’s high time they saw the Arboretum!” Lenka announced, seizing Valkyrie’s hand. “Come! The tour!”
Valkyrie cast a look back as Lament turned to Skulduggery. “Do you want me to hold your hand?”
“I’d rather you didn’t.”
“Perfectly understandable,” Lament said, and they followed Lenka and Valkyrie out of the door.
They met Vernon Plight on the way. He was a narrow, dark-skinned man with a warm smile. Valkyrie had read his file. He was almost 300 years old and an Adept, with a reputation as a fierce soldier. He knew Skulduggery and they exchanged a few friendly words before Lenka dragged them on.
“This is a momentous occasion,” said Lament. “When do we ever get the chance to show someone the Arboretum for the first time? Skulduggery, Valkyrie, welcome.”
They stepped through a wide doorway into a vast cavern, and in this cavern a rainforest sat. The heat, the humidity, the sounds of streams and waterfalls and birds and insects met them and enveloped them.
“Oh my God,” Valkyrie said.
Even
