Blythe flicked through the books in the Sydney library, it was a big library, and she didn't think she had ever seen so many books all in one place for her entire life. They had come to Sydney because her brother had broken his leg and needed to see a specialist. She thought she had heard a fight so she peered out of the stacks, nothing, just people flicking through books or enthralled in their newspapers.
She went back to reading, something about a dragon hunter, she wasn't paying attention, she was thinking about the shoes she had seen in the shop next door, with the buckles and the straps.
She was still thinking about the shoes when she felt a hand on her shoulder, a huge hand, Blythe turned to see a man, a huge man, she gaped at him.
"Hello," he said "My name's Wrath, I know who you are though so no need to introduce yourself, you're going to have to come with me."
Blythe shook her head, she wasn't going with this creep.
"Let me repeat myself," he said through gritted teeth "You're going to come with me, OK? Or I'm going to kill everyone here and drag you out through their remains."
"Oh Wrath," came a voice from the end of the stack Blythe turned to see a pretty girl with black hair standing there casually "You've really got to stop this, you've kidnapped enough girls haven't you?"
"Leave Cain," Wrath snarled "I'm not alone anymore, we'll beat you."
"I don't know about that,"
"You're highly outnumbered, you little bitch."
"Hey, hey, hey" the girl said frowning now "That kind of language is perfectly OK when we're alone but we have company now, don't we?"
"Do I look like I care?"
"You will," and then she stepped sideways, out of Blythe's line of sight
Wrath tensed and looked around like he expected something to happen, after a moment he relaxed and started walking down the row, looking casually at books while gripping Blythe's arm. Just as they were about to turn into the next row Blythe saw something flying towards them, and jumped back quickly. Wrath, fortunately, wasn't as nimble and a desk slammed into him sending him flying back.
Blythe looked around but saw nothing before another hand closed around her wrist, dragging her back, further into the stacks. She turned to see the girl with the black hair.
"Hey," said the girl "I'm Valkyrie, I've come here to save your little ass."
"Uh, thanks." Blythe said before Valkyrie flung herself over Blythe as the bookshelf next to them exploded, shards of wood and charred paper rained down on them. Blythe and Valkyrie coughed in the smoke, Blythe's eyes watered and tears spilled over her cheeks she looked over at Valkyrie who had tears on her cheeks.
"Shit," breathed Valkyrie as she grabbed Blythe's wrist and stumbled out of the smoke
Valkyrie stumbled and fell, dragging Blythe down with her. She lay there, her mind clouding and her breathing slow, ready to fall asleep, she was so tired, so very tired, just a little sleep couldn't hurt, could it? Then Valkyrie was trying to get up, her movements slow and tiering and then she collapsed, no longer moving. Blythe's mind was now racing, what was this smoke? Why did she want to sleep? She tried to get up but she slumped back on the ground, she tried again, this time more determined, she pulled her feet under her and sat up in a crouch. She looked around her, she knew well from dart tag in the bush around her home, if you're down, before you get up, know where you are. She didn't know where she was now, it was an odd sensation, having no idea, she always had a plan, always thinking. Strangers lay around her, dead or alive, she didn't know but she stood up and grabbed a shard of glass from a nearby shattered mirror and ripped a piece of fabric from her shirt wrapping it around the bottom of the shard to create a makeshift knife. She looked at Valkyrie, then all around her, she smoke still hadn't cleared but she could here fighting near the librarian's desk and then an animal shriek.
She stood in a sturdy stance with her legs apart and her legs ready to send a side kick into someone's face.
BANG
The sound of a gunshot echoed all around and Blythe tensed holding the glass so tight that even with the fabric wrapped around it, it was cutting into her skin.
"Valkyrie!" shouted a voice "Valkyrie! Where are you?"
Blythe opened her mouth to answer but closed it instead, this was seriously scaring the shit out of her and she wasn't about to just tell someone where she was.
"Valkyrie!" the voice got desperate "Please, Valkyrie."
A voice screamed in her head, don't you even think about it, itsaid do you want to get us killed? Blythe went against the voice screaming at her in her head "Over here!" she shouted in the direction of the voice "She's over here!"
Nothing for a moment and then a figure was running through the smoke, and a man in a fine navy blue suit, like one of those old detectives, his bald head gleamed white, wait, he wasn't bald he had a skull for a head, he was a skeleton.
"Thankyou," he breathed
"You're a skeleton." Blythe said before realising how stupid she would have sounded
"That's true," he said nodding "And what would your name be?"
"Blythe," she stammered
"Ah, so you're mortal? Well mostly mortal, so how, may I ask, are you still awake?"
"I don't know, I was about to be asleep and then I was getting up."
"You're a strong one, you're stronger than my partner, and that my friend is hard to beat, by the way, did you know your hand's bleeding?"
Blythe looked at her hand, she was clutching the glass so tightly that it had cut through her hand and the blood was flowing steadily forming a pool beside her feet. "Oh," was all she could say but she didn't let go of the glass.
The skeleton leaned over and picked up Valkyrie's limp body, hauling her over his shoulder and then starting to walk off. Blythe stayed where she was.
"Are you coming?" the skeleton asked without turning
Blythe didn't move.
"Do you want to be killed or are you just stupid?" he said this time turning to look at her
Blythe walked up to him, trying to hide the fact that she wanted to just curl up and cry.
They walked around in the smoke for about five minutes, she knew, although the skeleton would have her believe otherwise, that he had about as much idea as she did and that wasn't much.
Another animal shriek and then a cry, then the sound of tearing flesh. Blythe was still gripping the knife but in the other hand now, she cradled her right hand. The skeleton tensed and he pulled a gun out of his coat and then started firing at random into the smoke.
BANG
BANG
BANG
Then a horrific shriek pierced the quiet before a winged monster dived for Blythe, she ducked and rolled and stood up near the skeleton.
"Have you done this before?" he asked as he reloaded his gun
"Nearly getting killed?" she responded ducking behind him "Nah, this is a first for me."
"Could've fooled me," he said firing twice, the bullets bouncing off the leathery wings of the monster
"What in God's name is that?" Blythe breathed
"A keeler," Skulduggery responded calmly
"A killer?"
"No, a keeler a monster that can transform itself into any human or animal form."
"Oh," she said "So it's bad?"
He sighed and clicked his fingers a flame ignited in his palm then he hurled it at the shrieking creature.
"You just threw fire," she said again realising how stupid she would've sounded
"Indeed I did,"
"Can you teach me how to do that?"
"We have much more pressing matters at hand right now."
"Oh, the monster, right."
The keeler swooped down, sending Blythe and the skeleton diving to the ground. Blythe crawled under a table and looked at the creature as it circled above them, she looked for its weak point. The keeler was covered in thick, leathery skin but there had to be a weakness, everything had a weakness. Just like Tony, a kid at the dam, everyone thought he was unbeatable until Blythe discovered that he was vulnerable to overhead attacks. The keeler perched atop a bookshelf and stretched its wings out in a fantastic effort to look intimidating, that's when Blythe saw it. The weakness. Under the keeler's wings was thin skin, right next to the heart.
"Oi, skeleton" she whispered and he turned to her
"What is it?"
"I found its weak point, right under the wings, there's a shot to the heart but you're gonna have to get it right."
He nodded and edged forward, she clutched her knife and crawled out from under the table. The keeler started circling again, shrieking that horrid shriek as it went. The skeleton got into a crouch and Blythe ducked behind him.
"I can't get a clear shot." He whispered "You're going to have to be a distraction."
"What?" she replied "You can't be serious, I'm not going to be monster bait."
"Do you want to die?"
"Do you want to die?"
"Don't be daft, I'm already dead, you're still young and tasty, a perfect little snack for a monster."
"You're not making this any easier, why don't we use Valkyrie?"
"We are not using my unconscious partner as monster bait."
She sighed and her shoulders slumped "What do you want me to do?"
"Walk out there and be distracting."
She got up and walked out into the open, waving her hands in the air "Hey ugly!" she shouted up at the monster "Want a piece of this? Come an' get it."
The keeler shrieked and dived, Blythe took her makeshift knife and raked it across its belly, not that it did much good. The keeler swooped back down and Blythe leaped out of the way, crawling under another table.
"A little to the left," the skeleton shouted
"Shut up!" she snapped as she made a break for the bookshelves followed by the keeler
It shrieked again and cut her off, turning her back around, back into the open.
BANG
BANG
The gunshots took her by surprise and she dived to the ground, the keeler fell with a loud, satisfying thwack on the table beside her. She scampered away from the unmoving body, muttering to herself about stupid skeletons.
"Well," the skeleton said putting his gun away "That was a job well done, if I do say so myself."
Blythe managed a smile and walked over to a comfortable looking chair, she checked it for blood first and then collapsed with a loud sigh. The skeleton was observing the monster's carcass, even from metres away Blythe could see its sharp, jagged teeth.
The skeleton walked over to Blythe "I'm Skulduggery Pleasant," he said holding out a hand "Pleased to meet you."
Blythe shook it, his gloved hand was bony and weird.
Skulduggery ducked down, grabbing Blythe and pulling her off her comfy chair, as a group of men walked past.
"What is it?" Blythe whispered
"People," Skulduggery responded
She sighed and moved to get a better look at things, it was four men, one of which was a badly bleeding Wrath another carried and axe.
"Were you the one to hit him with a desk?" she whispered to Skulduggery
"I might have been."
"You have to teach me how to do that."
"I'm going to try and involve you as little as possible."
Blythe frowned and watched the men talk, her ears straining to hear what was being said.
"Are we going to deliberately get into a fight with those guys or are we going to make a break for an exit?"
"Hopefully the latter,"
She nudged him and pointed in the direction of a glowing green light above a fire door, he nodded.
"Do you think you can carry Valkyrie?" he asked
"I don't even want to dignify that question with an answer,"
"Well?"
"Well what?"
"Can you carry her?"
"Of course not, are you stupid?"
"Well I need you to carry her,"
"Well it's not going to happen,"
"The you're going to have to be a distraction again,"
"Distract them? Good god no,"
"I won't let them kill you, I promise."
"You say that before they bash me into a bloody pulp."
"Well I can't fight and carry her at the same time."
"Well you're going to have to try."
He sighed "Blythe, she's my best friend and I'm not going to be able to keep both of you alive if you don't do as I say."
"Fine," she said through gritted teeth
"Excellent," he said happier now
Blythe crept along the shelves, sticking to the edges where the smoke was thicker and then tried to make herself seen without being too obvious. She walked along the edge of the smoke, in plain sight, but they still didn't see her so she decided to give a little squeal as though she had tripped to get their attention. This only caught Wrath's attention but soon he had nudged his friends and they were all turning to Blythe. She ran like all hell.
Over her shoulder she could hear their battle cries and laughter, of course they were going to catch her. Why didn't she just drag Valkyrie out the door? She skidded around a corner and barged into a bookshelf sending them toppling onto Wrath and his gang. Blythe took a left, heading back towards the exit. She took another left and ran straight into one of the men.
"'Ello love" he said grinning with rotten teeth
"Oh shit," Blythe breathed