Chapter Four: Laszlo
"I think she's waking up, guys. Yo, Skul-man, I think I saw her move!"
"Finbar?" Valkyrie groaned, her head span as she tried to move. But the pain in her body was gone, so were the over bright lights that had burned at her eyelids and the sound of rain. Her bed wasn't uncomfortable either, instead it was warm and plush. She felt an entire mound of pillows prop up her head.
"Yeah, it's me, man!" Finbar shouted excitedly and as Valkyrie opened her eyes could see his beaming pierced face leaning over her. In any other circumstance she may have found it disturbing, but it was relief to see him again. "You're back, I mean you never really went anywhere, like physically, but you're actually back back, you know?"
"Give her some room, Finbar," Cassandra Pharos chided patiently from Valkyrie's side. She was sitting on an old armchair that Valkyrie recognised in an instant. It was Skulduggery's. This was his living room, well, one of them. The sofa had been pushed to one side to make room for the bed that Valkyrie now lay in. The curtains had been drawn and only the big ceiling light lit the room. "Valkyrie, it's good to see you again. I wish that it was under nicer conditions but I'm glad that you're okay. Try not to move too quickly, we still have no idea the extent of the damage that was caused."
"I think I've got a pretty good idea," Valkyrie muttered bitterly, the memories of what that place had made her think, made her question made her skin crawl.
"Valkyrie," despite the situation which she found herself, the horrors she had faced and the nightmare she had been forced to endure, Valkyrie couldn't help but smile at the sound of that voice. Dressed in the same exquisite suit that he had worn in her dream was none other than Skulduggery Pleasant. He strolled towards them casually from the next room, as if it was perfectly normal for her to be lying in his front room. "I knew you'd make the right choice."
"Really? Cause you didn't exactly sound so sure earlier."
"Nonsense, I'm always sure," Skulduggery said dismissively a smile in his voice. "Wouldn't you be if you were me? It's very reassuring to be this amazing all the time."
"You're hilarious," Valkyrie muttered dryly, shaking her head at his antics. "Why are we in your house anyway? Shouldn't we be in the Sanctuary?"
"Strictly speaking, yes," Skulduggery conceded. "But I thought you'd rather wake up to more familiar surroundings. That and I imagine the sight of Nye would've made you wish you were back in the nightmare."
"That thing is creepy," Valkyrie agreed laughing a little as she did so. It felt good to smile again.
"So I decided to bring you here," Skulduggery concluded. "Then I called Cassandra, who naturally alerted Finbar to the situation."
"I might not have my powers like," Finbar said, "and it's been ages since I came here or even, you know, left the house but I couldn't just sit and do nothing."
"Thanks Finbar."
"No problemo, man," Finbar shrugged. He looked better than when Valkyrie had last seen him. Whatever that Remnant had done to him had taken its toll, but from the outside at least he appeared to be on the mend.
They stayed in the house for a few hours after that, Cassandra wanted to make sure that Valkyrie's mind hadn't suffered any permanent damage from the effects of her trip down nightmare lane. Only when the old sensitive was done did Valkyrie and Skulduggery, who had been on the phone with Ghastly for the best part of an hour filling him on what had happened, left the confines of his home. Cassandra had turned down an offer of a lift, saying that she and Finbar would manage by themselves, and so instead of returning their friends home Valkyrie and Skulduggery headed straight for the Sanctuary.
"So," Skulduggery said after fifteen minutes of silence filled only by the quiet purring of the Bentley, "why'd you come back?"
"Sorry?" Valkyrie had been hoping to avoid this particular topic of conversation. She was leaning her head against the window, her eyes had been closed as she enjoying the soothing cool of the glass. But as soon as she Skulduggery had spoken she had opened them once more and turned slightly to look at him.
"When I spoke to you, I have to say that you seemed rather adamant I wasn't real." His tone was serious, devoid of the humour which had filled it earlier. "What changed your mind?"
"I don't know," Valkyrie shrugged, but it was a lie, she knew it and so did he. She could see it in the way he titled his head and stayed quiet, as if waiting for her to correct herself. God, why did he have to know her so well? "I guess, part of me was convinced by your whole 'life isn't a dream' thing."
"Part of you?"
"Yeah, I mean I still kind of believed Laszlo too. He'd spent hours telling me what I'd done, shown me pictures and Skulduggery those memories they felt so… real. I know what fake memories should feel like and they weren't that." She sighed, going back to resting her head against the glass and staring out of the window. She couldn't look at him. Even though they hadn't happened it still felt like they had. "Don't get me wrong, I don't want that to be real. I want this. Us. But you don't know what it was like, the way he made everything fit, got me questioning everything, it was hard not to see it his way."
"And now?"
"Now what?"
"Do you see it his way now?"
"No," Valkyrie answered, "it was a trap like you said."
Skulduggery nodded and awkward silence resumed. He wasn't going to push her, she knew that. Unlike anyone else, he knew what it was to deal with demons and walk away. The easy path would have been just to cave in, let the hospital become her life and take the carrot Laszlo had dangled before her. A part of her still wondered if she'd done the right thing, if she was back there, living out a delusion while doctors took notes and locked her away. There was still a chance that was true. But at the same time there had been a chance that it wasn't, and that she'd be making her folks and little baby Alice lose her for good and have the reflection take over her life. No matter how slim that chance was, if there was something Valkyrie could do about it then she wasn't going to let it happen. She couldn't abandon them, just like Skulduggery couldn't abandon her. Falling for the nightmare would've been the coward's way out and if there was one thing Valkyrie Cain wasn't it was a coward.
"After this can you take me home?" Valkyrie asked a few minutes later as they neared Roarhaven. "I don't really feel like training."
"Of course," Skulduggery replied before adding, "we could go now, if you wanted? You don't have to do this."
"I want to," Valkyrie said quickly, she had to see him, had to know why he had done what he had done and perhaps seeing him would settle some of the worries in the back of her mind and put this to bed.
"You don't have to prove anything," Skulduggery told her. "There's nothing shameful in going home."
"I know," Valkyrie nodded. "And I get that you're just trying to look out for me, but I need to do this."
"I understand," Skulduggery said as they continued down the narrow lane which led towards the magical town. Silence fell again and Valkyrie knew he wouldn't push any further. If anyone was going to get it then it was Skulduggery.
Roarhaven was as unimpressive and dingy as Valkyrie remembered it. Even though the sun was shining and casting everywhere else they had been in a beautiful, idyllic light, Roarhaven still managed to look awful. Valkyrie missed the old Sanctuary. Even after it had been blown up it was probably still better looking. Being here at the best of times never made her feel great and as she stepped out of the Bentley and joined Skulduggery on the way to the Sanctuary Valkyrie's mood somehow managed to plummet. The laughter from hours earlier was forgotten as she trudged up the steps and into the main hall. It wasn't just being in Roarhaven, it was the fact that she was minutes away from facing the man who had put her through a living hell.
The journey to the interrogation room was uneventful, Roarhaven mages hurried past them looking miserable, but they always looked miserable so there was no change there. Two Cleavers stood guard, one either side of the door that led to Laszlo. Ghastly Bespoke, who had shed his elder robes as he often did in times of stress and was instead dressed in a black waistcoat, matching trousers, a crisp white shirt and blood red tie, was standing a few feet away from them looking pensive. The look vanished as soon as his head rose and he saw Valkyrie and Skulduggery heading towards him. A relieved smile spread across his scared face.
"Valkyrie," he said, the relief as clear in his voice as it was on his face. "How are you holding up? Skulduggery told me what happened."
"Yeah, good," Valkyrie lied. She had already had to deal with Skulduggery's patient brand of support, she didn't think she could face Ghastly's too.
"Has he said anything else since I've been gone?" Skulduggery asked, steering the conversation away from Valkyrie's state of mind. Had Ghastly not been watching she would've shot him an appreciative smile.
"No," Ghastly answered, "and we haven't told him that Valkyrie managed to make it out either."
"Good," Skulduggery said before turning to Valkyrie, "wait out here."
"What? I thought you said I was coming in too?"
"You are, but I want to talk to him first."
"When you say talk you mean punch him, don't you?" Valkyrie guessed.
"This is the first time I've ever come across something like this," Skulduggery replied, ignoring her question, "we need to find out how it works and if he knows that you're safe. The fact he was able to maintain it without being in direct contact with you suggests an incredible level of power. We can't be taken surprise by this again, Valkyrie."
"Alright, fine," Valkyrie agreed, somewhat snappily. "But you let me know as soon as you've got everything you need."
"Naturally," Skulduggery nodded.
"Okay, good, just so we're on the same page."
"Always," Skulduggery said, a rare touch of sincerity in his voice before he turned, opened the interrogation and stepped inside. Valkyrie found herself leading the way to the room next door, it was a smaller room and one which Valkyrie rarely entered. This was where the other agents sat and watched as she and Skulduggery conducted interviews, took statements and generally did all the work behind the scenes that made their jobs that bit easier. Today there were no agents, just Valkyrie, Ghastly and his constant Cleaver escort. Screens showed the room next door, the Skeleton Detective and his prisoners. It took a Valkyrie a long moment to be able to drag her eyes from her best friend to the man before him.
He looked exactly like he had in the dream and at the same completely different. His face was gaunt, his hair was long and a scratchy stubble had started to grow on jaw and cheeks. Yet the glasses were the same, so was the hooked nose and dark eyes. Gone was the civilised façade that Valkyrie had seen, it was like he'd been stripped bare of any pretences and this was truth that lay beneath.
"Who is he?" Valkyrie asked, she hadn't wanted to in the car but now that she was faced with him she couldn't help herself.
"Dr Charles Laszlo," Ghastly answered as Valkyrie sunk into the desk chair that sat before the desk laden with screen and speakers. So at least that much was true, Valkyrie thought. "Originally his name was Alek Suberov. He was born in 1853 in Ukraine, trained as a doctor there in the mortal world, ran a practice and led a normal life."
"What changed?"
"Magic," Ghastly said sadly. Skulduggery had told Valkyrie once that Ghastly would live a mortal life if he could, Valkyrie had never truly believed him until that point. Some part of her had always thought that the wonder of magic would always be able to tempt him away from the boring mortal world, but the sympathy in his voice left that delusion shattered forever. Just one more to add to the pile. "He discovered his powers pretty late in life, it happens sometimes. One day he was helping his patients, the next he could hear their thoughts. Everyone thought he was going crazy, some of his colleagues tried to lock him away and asylums weren't what they are today. So he ran, left his home, his wife, changed his name and tried to find his place in a world that couldn't understand him."
"So he's been alone all this time?"
"Every time he tried to settle down and start a new life the mortals would figure out something was wrong," Ghastly explained, "they didn't assume it was magic, of course, but he could never live a normal life again. He can't shut it off. He doesn't know how and no-one has ever taught him. He tried to teach himself and that's when we think he learned how to control people."
"Let me guess, he found us and wants to punish sorcerers for magic making his life crap or something?" Valkyrie asked darkly, glowering at the figure shackled to the table.
"We don't know," Ghastly answered, "he's been on his own for the last hundred years on and off, who can tell what he's thinking."
"Doesn't give him the right to be psycho," Valkyrie bit back angrily.
"I never said it did," Ghastly pointed out in that same calming tone he always used.
"No, but you feel sorry for him," Valkyrie snapped accusingly, it wasn't really a question. She didn't even need to look at him to know that it was plastered all over his face. They had been friends for long enough.
"A hundred years is a long time, Valkyrie. He knew no-one, constantly felt rejected and the only reason no sorcerer could take advantage of his powers was because he changed his name to escape his past."
"Just because you understand him doesn't mean he's good guy," Valkyrie countered. Any other day she'd have let this slide, but her temper was snapped and her patience had long since evaporated. "What he did to me was sick. So his life sucked, so what? We all have bad days."
"He didn't have the right to do what he did," Ghastly said, trying to soothe Valkyrie as she reached for the volume control on the speakers.
"No, he didn't," Valkyrie agreed angrily. She knew why it was getting to her, why she had bitten Ghastly's head off like that. Darquesse. One day she was going to be like that, the ending to a bad day or a bad few years. She would be the monster, just like Laszlo. Where Ghastly saw himself, Valkyrie saw what she was going to become and it made her feel sick as dread settled in the pit of her stomach. She shook herself, she couldn't think about that now. Darquesse wasn't the problem, not yet anyway.
She hit the button that unmuted the sound and settled back in her chair as Skulduggery spoke on the other side of the wall.
"What's it like?" He asked, his tone casual as if he was just talking to a neighbour or a stranger in the street. Valkyrie frowned, she'd been expecting anger, maybe some rage, even a dash of annoyance would've been nice. Yet there he was, just chatting away. What the hell was he doing? "Being able to read people's thoughts? I bet it gets a bit crowded in there."
"You don't care," Laszlo ground out, his voice raw and bitter as he glowered at Skulduggery from under his lank fringe.
"No, I don't," Skulduggery admitted. "I just thought I'd make polite conversation, put you at your ease. Well, as much at your ease as you can get when you're shackled to a table. I hope they're not chaffing too much, they do that you know. You'd be surprised how little anyone complains."
"You talk too much," Laszlo noted sourly.
"So I've been told," Skulduggery agreed calmly. "But I'm being sincere, I really am. If they're chaffing we could loosen them up, maybe get you some padding."
"No, you're not."
"And how do you know that? I could be absolutely serious for all you know." Skulduggery said as he took his seat opposite his prisoner. "Of course, I'm not. I don't give a damn if you're comfortable. If anything, I hope you're not. But what I am enjoying is the fact you can't tell that I'm lying by reading my mind. You've not been able to since we got here, have you?"
Laszlo said nothing, biting as his lip and glowering at Skulduggery. It was all the answer he needed.
"I thought not," Skulduggery nodded. Valkyrie smirked, without realising Laszlo had answered the question that Skulduggery had left unasked: whether or not he was fully in control of his magic. Some people were immune to shackles, he could have been one of them. It would've explained a lot, but he wasn't.
"You see, what puzzles me is how we were able to bind your mind reading ability and yet Valkyrie is still trapped in whatever dark little place you put her in. It doesn't make any sense to me, if we've bound you here then surely we've bound you there. Unless, of course, that's not how it works."
"You know nothing," Laszlo spat, "you're a little man, just like all of them, you do not understand. You'll never understand."
He sounded sullen and petty, like a teenager. A hundred year old teenager who'd lost his family and everything he'd ever worked for and who blamed the wider world for the crap hand that life had dealt him.
"Yes, I'm sure you've had to deal with that a lot. Misunderstanding, prejudice, persecution, etcetera, etcetera." Skulduggery listed off, sounding bored. "This is the part where I'd usually pretend to care, try and get on your side to make you feel like you've got a friend and then you'd open up to me. We might laugh, you'd realise I'm amazing and then tell me all about your insidious plots. It's a cliché, I know, but it works. Only that's never going to happen. You're putting my partner through a living hell, one which, for your sake, I hope she returns from. So I'm going to be honest with you, the truth is this: I don't care. You're nothing special and you're not the first person to suffer at the hand of other people's ignorance."
"Then what is then plan?" Laszlo asked, a smirk creasing his pale face. "I have told you before, I'm not going to let her out."
"Yes, but that was when we thought you were in control." Skulduggery said, he leant forwards, elbows coming to rest on the tables and his gloved fingers interlacing. "Now, I know you're not. You've barely scratched the surface with your power, you don't know what you're doing."
"That's what you think," Laszlo retorted, he probably thought he sounded confident and cocksure, but even from behind the screens Valkyrie could see that he was bluffing. No wonder he kept getting found out, he was a terrible liar.
"No, it's what I know." Skulduggery corrected. "You probably have no idea what you even put Valkyrie through. Her imagination did most of the work I'm assuming?" When Laszlo didn't answer Skulduggery continued, "Valkyrie is awake, we got her out a few hours ago."
Valkyrie took that as her cue and got to her feet as she heard Laszlo splutter and protest while Skulduggery just sat there and waited. She was going to enjoy this. The walk to the door of the interrogation room wasn't a long one, but it was enough for Valkyrie zip up her jacket and pull on a passive, calm face. She couldn't let him see that he'd gotten to her, even a hint of weakness and he'd won. She took a final deep, steadying breath as she felt the cool metal of the door handle press against the soft of her palm and then, when she was ready, she turned it and opened the door.
"See for yourself," Skulduggery said gesturing to the door as Valkyrie entered.
Laszlo turned as best as he could with his hands cuffed to the table and, Valkyrie noticed for the first time, his ankles shackled to the legs of the chair. His neck craned and his glasses were pushed further up his nose as he tried to look at her. She waited, thrust her hands in her pockets, making him work for it and then she stepped into his eye line.
"Cat got your tongue?" Valkyrie asked, smirking when he gawked at her.
"You… you can't be here." Laszlo breathed, whatever grasp of control he had had on the situation vanishing as the girl he thought was under his control stood before him safe and sound.
"Sorry to disappoint," Valkyrie shrugged before walking around to join Skulduggery. She did her best to look perfectly normal like nothing had happened, but as she came to rest in front of Laszlo she could feel her heart racing and her stomach tighten. Little did he know that he had been the face of her nightmares, the doctor she had trusted and ultimately, her torturer.
"No, you don't understand, no-one has ever woken up before."
"Look at that, I'm a record breaker," Valkyrie said, keeping her smirk in place.
"I'm sure your parents would be so proud," Skulduggery commented dryly.
"They already know they have the perfect daughter, they don't need more proof," Valkyrie replied, injecting as much confidence into her words as she could.
"Implying that you've proven it before," Skulduggery noted, "I find that hard to believe."
"Shut up."
"Your wit continues to astound me," Skulduggery said sarcasm dripping from his words.
"You said I was the first," Valkyrie pushed on, rolling her eyes at Skulduggery who was too busy enjoying annoying Laszlo to continue to the questioning. "How many more were there?"
"Five," Laszlo answered, his voice quiet. "Not including you."
"Why did you do it?" Skulduggery asked, re-joining the serious part of the conversation once more.
"I didn't mean to, not at first," Laszlo said, his eyes dropping and falling to the table. "It was an accident, I was trying to stop hearing her thoughts. I never wanted to hurt her. When she started screaming, I could hear her, she was stuck in a nightmare. I wanted to get her out, but there was nothing I could do."
"What about the others?" Valkyrie probed.
"I needed test subjects," Laszlo answered, as if it was obvious.
"And that's all they were to you?" Valkyrie said, dumbfounded. "That's all we were, 'test subjects'? They were people with lives and families and people who cared about them. Doesn't that matter to you?"
"I had to fix myself," Laszlo protested, his jaw clenched and eyes back on Valkyrie, all shame banished from them. The first may have been an accident, the woman, whoever she was, had been important to him. Maybe she was someone he loved, maybe that was why he wanted to stop hearing her every thought and private moment, respect – then again, maybe it wasn't. In that moment, Valkyrie didn't care, all she could think about were the people who came after, the people like her. Test subjects. Nothing but laboratory mice in his little quest for self-improvement.
"You're insane," Valkyrie breathed. "You're actually insane, you know that? People aren't just things you can use and then toss away when you're done."
"They were mortals," Laszlo said, "their lives are short and insignificant. I didn't realise until I became one of you but to live as a mortal is to live in a second, a snap shot of time. They wither and fade while we continue to stand the test of time. Generations have lived and died in my lifetime, I have watched as they persist in tearing themselves apart. War after war, a constant cycle of bloodshed that is never going to end. They are inconsequential, their lives bear little meaning, just like the people I chose to test my power on. Alan and Sandra were orphans, they have no family to miss them and worked menial jobs. Their lives did not matter, just like the others."
"Of course they mattered!" Valkyrie shouted. All his talk about Skulduggery not understanding him suddenly was thrown in a new light. It wasn't because he'd been judged or shunned, it was because he thought he was above the mortals while Skulduggery did not.
"No, they don't." Laszlo said flatly. He couldn't be reasoned with, all that time alone or trapped listening to other people's thoughts had warped his brain. She might as well be trying to talk with moose for all the good it was doing her. She'd met people like him before, Valkyrie could see the passion in his dark eyes and the constant belief that he was right. There was no talking someone out of that, and even if there was, she wouldn't waste the energy. "Nobody will miss them, the world will continue to turn as it always will. They were barely a footprint on the road we all travel."
"What about Valkyrie?" Skulduggery asked. "She wasn't a mortal, according to you, therefore, she matters. You lured her into that alley for a reason. Why?"
"You were going to try to stop me, sooner or later." Laszlo replied, "and I wasn't sure if my magic would work on you."
"So you targeted Valkyrie as a way to try and get us to stop, or at least be distracted long enough for you to escape the country."
"How'd that work out for you?" Valkyrie interjected.
"Evidently not as I had planned," Laszlo responded, lifting his arms slightly so as the chain that bound his wrists shook in the air. "But at least now I am free. So it seems that it all worked out in the end."
It took all Valkyrie not to launch across the table and smack him in his smug face, but she couldn't take this anymore. She'd thought maybe her attack had been because she'd just been in the wrong place at the wrong time or some weird, twisted assault against magic. She'd never imagined it would be something like this. All these had died and for what? A sociopath's attempts at coping with a magic he didn't understand. If he'd just gone to a Sanctuary they might have helped him, been able to teach him how to control his magic but he'd just been a mortal, alone and unaware of the secret community of mages and sorcerers until it was too late. Five people had died because of him, for nothing. Nobody else was going to die though. They'd stopped him. So why did she feel like this? Like she was the one that had lost.
She felt herself moving, she wasn't aware of telling her legs to take her out of the room but Valkyrie couldn't bear to look at him anymore, let alone share the air that gave him life. The next thing Valkyrie knew she was out of the door, Ghastly was there concern in his eyes and a frown on his face. The Cleavers didn't look any different than usual, but then again Valkyrie couldn't see past their helmets. For all she knew they could be blubbing their eyes out at the story they had just watched unfold, though somehow she doubted it. They were probably just stoic and resolute, like action heroes or Alfred from Batman.
She heard the door behind her open and Skulduggery step out.
"Take him to a holding cell," he said to the Cleavers, one of them obediently headed into the room. "You okay?"
"Yeah, just take me home."
"Of course," Skulduggery said and without a word to Ghastly or the other Cleaver he led Valkyrie down the corridor and out of the Sanctuary.
