Guess who's back again :)

I'm so excited for this book because I've decided to introduce a few new OCs as well as a few of Derek's characters earlier because I'm very impatient :))

"Your turn." Satya Eka leaned over and plucked the cigarette that Ghastly Bespoke held between his two fingers, bringing it to her lips as she leaned back into her armchair, a grin on her lips.

Ghastly observed the chessboard for a moment before sighing, knocking over his king, "You win."

"For the eighteenth game in a row!" Satya exclaimed with a grin, raising her glass to him and putting down her cigarette and downing her drink, "Face it, Ghastly- You'll never beat me, I learnt from the best!"

Ghastly snorted, "We learnt from the same person," he reminded her, referring to their evenings they spent being instructed by Ghastly's father.

"Proves that I'm simply better," Satya said with a shrug before straightening with a strange glint in her eye, "Unless you're head has been in cloud- Thinking about a certain blonde, are we?"

Ghastly scoffed, shaking his bald head, "Don't be ridiculous."

Satya sighed in exasperation, "Well, why not? You are both adults who like eachother- Suck it up and ask her out, for god's sake!"

Ghastly took a sip of his whiskey, "She's far too young."

Satya looked at him disbelievingly, "She's eighty."

"And I'm close to four-fifty," Ghastly reminded her before sighing, yet again, "Besides, she doesn't need a man like me. She's far to beautiful to get stuck with me."

"Jesus Christ," Satya said, almost slamming her glass down, "Haven't you ever heard of a date? You go on one, if it works out then you go on, hunky-dory."

"And if not?"

Satya threw up her hands in exasperation, "You have sex and move on!" She exclaimed.

Ghastly choked on his drink, coughing with a splutter.

"Grow up, Bespoke," Satya told him.

"Have sex and move on?" He repeated, "You mean like you and China?"

"Oh, don't you dare," Satya warned him, "We are not talking about China and I- We are talking about you and a woman who clearly like eachother."

"What, and you don't like China?" Ghastly asked, tilting his head in a very Skulduggery-esque manner.

"What on earth did I just say?" Satya told him, "We're not talking about me and China- But if you must know, China and I have an understanding."

"An understanding, you say?"

"Oh, fuck off."

Ghastly grinned, reaching for his phone which had started to buzz.

00000000000

"Oh, I think I'm going to be sick," Valkyrie Cain crinkled her nose, feeling her stomach turn slightly.

"Bridegroom to the goddess, She tightened her torc on him. And opened her fen, Those dark juices working, Him to a saint's kept body," Satya quoted darkly.

"What the hell does that mean?" Valkyrie stared at her, mouth agape.

"A Tollund man?" Skulduggery Pleasant asked, "That's what you think this is?"

"No, not really," Satya said with a shrug, "I just felt like quoting a bit of Heaney."

"I have never been so confused," Valkyrie said as the three of them and Dexter Vex stood around the dead corpse of Cameron Light. He had been stabbed in the back, his blood surrounding him like wings on the carpet of his living room.

She ducked her head slightly, avoiding the sight of the body.

"What do we know?" Skulduggery asked, with the air of a teacher in a classroom.

"He's dead," Satya said bluntly, "I'm feeling very cold."

"As much as they are correlating factors, they are not particularly useful," Skulduggery told her.

"He was taken by surprise," Valkyrie answered, "That's why he doesn't have any defensive wounds."

"Or didn't simply teleport away," Dexter added.

"So either he knew the killer," Valkyrie said, observing the bare walls of the house, "Or the killer was just really good at hiding."

"But what did the killer want?" Skulduggery asked, again, with the air of a teacher.

"Like I said," Satya said, slightly bored, "A Tollund man."

"Yes, then you said you didn't think so and you just fancied a bit of poetry," Dexter reminded her.

"Well," Satya waved her hand, "Think about it. All the teleporters are being killed. Why? Because they have something the killer wants."

"Yes, but you're forgetting the whole idea of the Tollund man," Skulduggery said, "He was sacrificed to the goddess of fertility and harvest. I highly doubt- Oh."

Satya snapped her fingers, "Now, you're getting it."

"I swear I don't understand half the conversations that you two have," Dexter said, shaking his head.

"Wait, what was the poem about?" Valkyrie asked in slight confusion.

"I'm not much of a Heaney fan myself," Dexter said, "So, I have no clue what exactly is going on but I think the gist of it is that they think the teleporters are being used to bring back the gods."

"How on earth did they-" Valkyrie shook her head, a grin, "Satya, you talked to Saracen, didn't you?"

"Ruin my fun, why don't you?" Satya grumbled, pulling out her phone as it began ringing, "Yes, Hopeless?"

After a moment she sighed, "Okay, tell him that we understand that he's on a hit list but that doesn't make us work any damn faster." She hung up.

"Emmett Peregrine showed up at the Sanctuary, demanding answers," She informed them, "He wants to speak with Skulduggery."

"I'm flattered, really," Skulduggery said, leaning over to examine the body, "But what exactly can I say to him that the Grand Mage and two Elders can't say?"

"He wants to speak to someone who knows how to solve a murder," Satya replied with a scoff, "Quite ridiculous if you ask me, everyone knows that Saracen can solve more murders than you."

"Yes, but he takes the fun out of it," Dexter said off handedly, "Can we please go now? I'm not sure what else you can get out of this."

"Yes, let's," Skulduggery said, placing his hat back onto his skull, "I want to talk to Emmett, it's been a while."