Skullduggery Pleasant Story

"Are you sure this will work?" asked Valkyrie. "I mean, have you done this before?"

"Seatbelt," said Skullduggery. "and yes, I've done it before. You were there." Skullduggery explained the plan. He would wear his façade and walk into the coffee shop with Valkyrie and order coffee. When the coffee was ready, they would collect it, pay and leave. They would then drive to the sanctuary, in time for a meeting with the Supreme Mage, China Sorrows. "simple," finished Skullduggery. "But effective."

"We don't really need a plan, do we?"

"No, but it's useful."

"I'm going to change into my clothes, so get out."

Skullduggery got out of the driver's seat and tapped the sigils carved into his collarbones, and as a face flowed up from beneath his shirt, Valkyrie crawled into the back seat, where her clothes were waiting.

Valkyrie slipped into the black clothes that matched her hair and pulled on the boots that felt like they had fitted her forever. They hadn't, though, and she wondered if she would be able to make her own if she knew how. She shrugged on her jacket and went to walk toward the shop, just as Skullduggery flew out of the window.

A man walked, no, FLEW out of the window after Skullduggery. "I am the Shadow. Face me or DIE," shouted the man. "This man tried to stand up to me, and look what happened to him!" Skullduggery groaned from where he was lying on the floor. Someone in the crowd that had gathered screamed. Then it was chaos, with people going every which way, and the Shadow in the middle of it all, laughing at the chaos that he had caused. Valkyrie summoned white lightning into her hand and threw it at the Shadow. It flew threw the air, and then it stopped in mid-air, turned, and flew back towards her and then- nothing.

Valkyrie was floating through a sea of black, calm and content. She looked around, and realised that there was a tether, a cord of light and dark stretching into the distance. She felt a tug around her waist. It was tethered to her! She felt another tug, harder this time. She grabbed the coil of light and dark. Then she was flying through the darkness, seeing but not seeing the images flying around her and then Skullduggery was shaking her awake.

"Valkyrie. VALKYRIE!" shouted Skullduggery. Valkyrie groaned. "You need a hospital. Fast." Valkyrie became aware of something warm and wet trickling down her face. Blood. She tried to lift her hand to inspect the damage, but found it pinned down by rubble. Skullduggery dug her out, lifted her up and carried her to the car.

The ride to the Sanctuary was uneventful. Valkyrie fell asleep and only woke when Skullduggery pulled up to the Sanctuary. She probed her nose with her fingers and hissed. Broken, she guessed as she now poked the still bleeding cut. It was long, but not very deep. It would heal. Skullduggery opened the door and Valkyrie stepped out… and instantly fell over. "Maybe we should walk together." Skullduggery held out a hand and Valkyrie took it. Skullduggery pulled her up. "I think that we found our kidnapper."

China met Skullduggery and Valkyrie in the hall of mirrors. "who is he? Describe him to me again," said China, who was now pacing up and down the room. "I've told you, I couldn't see anything! He was wearing a hood!"

"I was talking to Skullduggery."

"oh."

"Well?"

Skullduggery watched the exchange and his head tilted in the way that meant that he was smiling. He looked at Valkyrie and then to China and back to Valkyrie. "I had the same experience. I didn't see his face."

"Well, maybe one of the witnesses was able to see under the hood."

"actually… I did. It was full of shadows. I think he was a Necromancer."

Everyone looked at the young man who had been standing behind the throne in the centre of the room unnoticed. "Who the hell are you?" asked Skullduggery.

"My name is Johnathan, sir," said the boy, who looked to be eighteen years old. Of course, he was a sorcerer, so who knew how old he was. "Johnathan Stranth."

"How long have you been standing there?" asked China, "and how did you get into the high sanctuary?" Johnathan looked at his toes. "I… I can't tell you. I'm sorry." Valkyrie stared at him like he was something she forgot was there. "I remember you. You were at Ravel's speech."

"Yes. I was."

"were you a supporter?"

"No, I wasn't. one of the buildings that was shunted from the other dimension crushed my leg. I couldn't walk for weeks."

Valkyrie realised where else she'd seen him. "you've been hurt by Darquesse. I remember your face, screaming." Skullduggery watched them both carefully, making sure that Valkyrie didn't start crying like she was when Skullduggery found her when he picked her up. She'd had a dream that she had killed everyone in her family, and then killed herself. It sounded horrible, and it probably was. Suddenly, Skullduggery became aware that China, who had stayed quiet this entire ordeal, was asking him a question. "So? Will you take him on a little adventure? Or will we put him in the holding cells?" asked China. "because I really want to put him in the holding cells."

"sadly, China, we need those holding cells empty. I have a feeling we'll be arresting a lot of people."

Valkyrie, Skullduggery and Jonathan went for a walk around the lake and talked. Mostly it was Skullduggery talking, trying to fill the awkward silence with banter that actually made no sense, which was very unlike him. Usually some of the things that he said were slightly illogical, but today he didn't seem like himself. It was strange, the way that he was moving, almost like a Jitter Girl. it was almost like he was possessed, although that had happened before, and that was apparently easy to conceal. "so," said Skullduggery, talking to Johnathan. "you broke into the high sanctuary just to talk to us?" Johnathan looked at Skullduggery, as if he was still in awe of him, which was actually highly likely. "Yes, sir. I did." They kept walking, but changed direction, so now they were walking to the Bentley. "What I want to know is, how did you get past the Cleavers?" Johnathan stopped walking for a second, and then started walking again. "My magic is not being noticed. Sometimes it comes in handy, other times… not so much." Valkyrie quietly mumbled something about wanting that ability. The others looked at her. "Of course, you would want that ability, you look exactly like Darquesse."

"Not like I can get a brain transplant like Scapegrace."

"Maybe you could just cut your hair."

"No."

"why not?"

"because I like my hair."

Skullduggery interrupted their conversation by saying they had arrived at the car. Valkyrie got in the front with Skullduggery, while Johnathan went in the back. Skullduggery started the Bentley and told everyone to put on their seatbelts, even though Valkyrie had already done it. They drove off into the distance silently.

Johnathan fell asleep in the back of the Bentley, and he was snoring. It was very annoying and loud, and Valkyrie was contemplating throwing him out of the car door when Skullduggery announced that they had arrived. She got out of the car as Skullduggery woke up Johnathan. She walked towards the old, dilapidated castle and stopped at the front doors. "so, this is where the Shadow likes to go, huh?" she wondered out loud. Surprisingly, it was Johnathan who answered, saying that he'd been spying on him for a while and found that this was the most frequent place that he visited. Skullduggery pushed open the doors and walked inside.

The castle had damp walls, creepy paintings and lots of spiderwebs. It was honestly not that scary, until they walked into the first bedroom. There was blood and gore everywhere, splattered on the walls, floor and ceiling. It stunk of rotting flesh and old blood. Valkyrie stepped out of the room, staggered into the hallway and threw up on the carpet. Johnathan walked in and quietly pulled her hair from her face. She vomited again, then stood up and walked to Skullduggery. "So," said Valkyrie. "this is where the necromancer likes to haunt?" Skullduggery turned to her.

"Yes. I can see that he likes it for its charm." Valkyrie glared at him. "Just kidding! Just kidding. So serious now. Three people dead on the first floor, seven on the second floor. I didn't have time to look around the other two floors." Valkyrie wondered if Skullduggery cared about the fact that she still felt queasy, or even knew. He probably didn't, but she wondered anyway. Skullduggery suddenly looked down the hall, as if he heard something coming. "Valkyrie, find Johnathan and hide."

"why?"

"he's here."

Valkyrie found Johnathan in one of the bedrooms, staring at the ceiling, which had huge claw marks gouged into it, and pulled him into the giant wardrobe, which stood at the end of the end of the room. Johnathan started to ask something, but Valkyrie clapped a hand over his mouth. "He's here," Valkyrie hissed almost silently. "so be very quiet. Does this door creak?"