Chapter four

"Are you sure she's been taken?" Skulduggery asked for the umpteenth time, as he, Valkyrie and Fletcher stood in the middle of Myra's room.

"Why don't you look around? I thought you were a detective; you should be looking for clues to see if she has been Myranapped." Fletcher insisted, his face pale with worry. Valkyrie snorted and began to search for anything which might've indicated to what happened in the room. Skulduggery still bombarded Fletcher with questions.

"Her room could be messy like this all the time. Is it?" Skulduggery offered. Fletcher threw his arms up in frustration and shouted, "LOOK! IT'S NEVER UNTIDY, SHE HATES IT LIKE THAT! NOW ARE YOU GOING TO HELP ME OR NOT?!"

Skulduggery raised his hands up in surrender and said, "Alright, alright, just doing what a detective should be doing."

Valkyrie raised her head up from beneath the bed, triumphant. In her hand she clasped a roughly cut piece of paper with an odd sign scribbled on in magenta ink. "Look what I found, Detective." She taunted. Skulduggery spun around, whipped the paper out of her hand and studied it carefully.

"What does it mean Skulduggery?" Valkyrie pressed.

"It means we need to visit our dear friend China." He announced before stuffing it in his pocket and holding his arm out for Fletcher.

Valkyrie had travelled so many times with Fletcher by teleporting that she didn't feel that wave of nausea or unsettlement when she arrived outside of China Sorrows library. She missed going there and reading, so the moment Fletcher let go of her, Valkyrie strode to the front doors, thrust them open, and went in. The first thing she noticed was how much the library hadn't changed. The shelves were just as dusty as ever, and China seemed to have kept to her particular taste in reading material. Magic.

"Valkyrie dear, such a long time, and you never thought to visit." China Sorrows stood in the hallway, as beautiful as ever. Her hair as black as sin, her lips bloody red, and her blue eyes icy as Valkyrie remembered. Valkyrie grinned broadly and said, "I thought you made it clear I wasn't to come."

"Valkyrie dear, did you think that I would for one minute believe you would obey?" China replied, "Nobody can resist staying away from me."

"Are you sure that's not just your magical charm which makes people fall in love with you at first sight?" Skulduggery interjected sarcastically from one of the aisles.

"Ah, Skulduggery. Same as always. I do enjoy our small talk sessions. And may I just say, that suit suits you very well. Bespoke I assume?"

"The very best."

"Of course. Now what do I owe this pleasure to?" China led them into her office, which was furnished tastefully. She took the seat behind the desk and beckoned Valkyrie, Fletcher and Skulduggery to take a seat each too.

"We need your help China. But before that, may I ask how your sigil classes are going, and that you are absolutely remarkable at that area of magic." Skulduggery hinted.

"Ah, as flattering as ever." China grimaced.

"I have seen this sign only once before, and I only vaguely know a few things about it. It's quite startling that you've found it in a girl's bedroom. Ransacked, did you say?"

"Yep, I left Myra after coming back from surfing, then when I went to say goodnight, she was gone, and her room was completely messed up." Fletcher stuttered.

China raised her eyebrows at him and said, "I've heard several stories of people going missing and the room they were in rattled up, but these were only shady little pieces of news, nothing special."

"Well now they are. What did you say the sign was?" Skulduggery enquired.

China studied it again and told them. "It's the symbol of the Persons."

After having a small pot of tea with China, and bidding her goodbye, Fletcher, Valkyrie and Skulduggery teleported back to Valkyries bedroom. Her reflection was sitting at the desk, its head down and scribbling furiously on a piece of homework.

"Hey," Valkyrie tapped her reflections shoulder.

"Hi, what's up?" the reflection said.

"I need you to go back to the mirror. We'll talk later, it's just now something serious has happened, and if mum walks in, she'll be a bit surprised to see two of us."

The reflection nodded, and Valkyrie could swear she saw a small smile playing on her lips. But she pushed that out of her mind, reflections don't have feelings after all, it wouldn't be able to smile. Nevertheless, it was slightly unnerving.

Once the reflection was back in the mirror, Skulduggery began to outline his theories to them, something which he had never done before.

"So Myra's been supposedly kidnapped by the Persons. And apparently other people have been too."

Valkyrie interrupted him and asked, "Who are the Persons?"

"If you remember Deacon?" Valkyrie nodded, "Well these people share the same abilities, except they want Power. They prefer control over most things, and have been waiting hundreds of years to gain it. It was only a matter of time before they would try to get it I guess." Skulduggery tilted his head thoughtfully. Fletcher seemed only more agitated, "So Myra has been kidnapped by these weird people who can input new personalities into people and want power more than anything in the world? You know Skulduggery, they make you look like a fluffy pink bunny,"

Valkyrie eyed Skulduggery nervously, remembering how he was actually Lord Vile, and at the peak of his malevolence, was far more dangerous than anyone could expect.

"Yes, at least that's what I think. I would guess that if they are taking so many people, they would probably be building…"

Valkyrie realised what Skulduggery was getting at, "an army to take over."

Skulduggery nodded grimly. Fletcher panicked and started murmuring curses and obscenities. Then Skulduggery's phone rang.

"Ghastly? I'm a bit busy right now." He alleged. There were some funny squeaks from the other side, and at last, Skulduggery put the phone down and said, "We need to get down to the sanctuary, apparently there are four mortals claiming to be sorcerers."