So this begins the third installment of the Progeny series. Still following Ian, Lily, and Skulduggery.
Again, much like Jon Snow, I own nothing
(or at least not this)
Three years later
The crowd at the Louvre was immense. It always was at that time of year. Tourists, students, and art aficionados crowded around oohing and aahing at the masterpieces. Ian was unimpressed. He was able to appreciate art but he couldn't not here and not now.
From across the room an old man in a navy suit made eye contact, he nodded slightly and looked away. Ian searched the crowds, finding his little sister Lily staring at a painting. She blinked at him with mismatched eyes, nodded and looked away. A younger man in a navy suit identical to that of the older man navigated his way to the center of the crowd. He shut his eyes, his hands spread around him. Suddenly the chatter in the crowd froze, some in mid-step, others in mid-sentence.
Lily reached up and placed a hand on the painting that she had been viewing. She and the painting disappeared. She reappeared, and then vanished with the painting next to the other. Ian approached the men in identical suits. "Monsieur Nuit, my sister is transporting the paintings to the indicated warehouse."
The older man spoke with a deep French accent. "And I suppose you want payment."
He drew an envelope from a pocket in his suit. His eyes widened as Lily appeared behind Ian with a soft whoomph. Ian turned, finding Skulduggery pleasant standing beside his handcuffed sister. The shadows in the room spiked angrily but Skulduggery shoved her behind himself and drew his gun from a holster.
"Monsieur Nuit, you are under arrest."
The old man wheezed, dropping the envelope. His associate took off running; he was ignored. Ian snatched up the envelope before it hit the floor.
"You?" Nuit gasped. "I will not be foiled by the likes of you!"
His eyes bulged from their sockets. He grasped his chest as though he would keel over.
"Ian, please take your sister and get behind me." Ian cautiously stepped away from the panicking old man, placing his hand securely on his sister's shoulder.
As the trio watch, Nuit's eyes bulged inhumanly from his face, his mouth opened to reveal small, jagged teeth.
"Chimera." Skulduggery sighed. "I hate those."
The man's face cracked, jutting into a muzzle. A tail emerged from behind his back. His body twisted inhumanly. Skulduggery braced a leg behind him, placed his hands against the air and snapped his palms. A block of air smashed into the creature, taking it backwards off its feet. It rolled disjointedly to its feet and growled. Ian thought he could just make out words.
"You want to stop me but I am a stronger creature than you."
"I don't know about 'stronger'." Skulduggery replied. "Are you referring to your odor? Being a man-eagle-lion is a rather pungent business but your English is clearly far worse."
The muscles of the creature's legs bunched and Ian whipped around, grabbing Lily and bringing her down, shielding her with his body. The Chimera launched itself through the crowd of frozen people who fell stiffly. It struck the group, sending them sprawling. Skulduggery grabbed a hold of its thick coat and flipped it over his hip straight to the floor. The monster snarled and rolled, came back up and met Skulduggery as he tried to manipulate the air. It crashed into him and the two continued to roll, trading blows. The frozen crowd watched with bland expressions.
Ian turned to Lily. From the way her eyes were narrowed he could tell she was itching to teleport. She held out her power binding shackles to him. He took a sliver of shadow, sent it past the magic of the symbol and wrenched the mechanism sideways. The shackles fell away.
"You're under arrest." Skulduggery was standing, holding a pistol pointed at them. The Chimera lie still behind him. Ian stepped in front of his sister.
"We haven't done anything wrong."
"You just aided a notorious criminal. Kids these days…"
"Skulduggery, we're not the enemy."
"We can make a deal. A favor in exchange for amnesty." As Skulduggery spoke, the Chimera shook its head, getting to its feet. It's dazed eyes turned toward Skulduggery.
"You're not going to arrest us." Skulduggery began to speak but the Chimera leapt at him again. Ian wrapped it in shadow, and sent it plowing into Skulduggery. The two struck several paintings and crashed to the floor.
Ian turned to Lily but the air between them was solid. Her eyes were wide with the desire to escape. Skulduggery shoved the man-eagle-lion off of himself, brushed himself off, and stood.
"Now, how about that deal?"
Yep. You know the deal. If you like review and such and such...
Side note: Does anyone ever wonder what's going to happen with Hansard and Valkyrie? I feel like if that isn't resolved in tDotL, I might have a problem.