Skulduggery drove his Bentley through the streets of Haggard. Valkyrie looked out the window and saw as she passed her house. She thought about how much her life had changed. She still found it unbelievable. She sighed, smiling to herself. Tunica and Jack sat in the back seat, bored. It was night time and it was freezing. Winter was taking its toll on Dublin and everyone was inside for the night to keep warm. Tunica sneezed.

"Bless you," said Jack.

"Thanks," she said, "Turn on the heater, Pleasant. It's freezing!"

"Tunica, you're freezing because you don't wear a jacket with your outfit," he said.

She said nothing. She snapped her fingers and a jacket appeared on her. It was black and made of leather.

"You're just a cheapskate," she muttered, "Making me use my biker jacket."

Jack looked out the window and saw the curtains closing in the house opposite them. "I find it fascinating how ordinary folk will never know the wonders of the magic world."

"I find it funny, actually," said Tunica rubbing her hands against her arms.

"I think it's sad," said Valkyrie. "Imagine not knowing the wonders of this world, the magic that could actually do a lot of good to some and never knowing about it."

"But as you said, some people would use it for good. Some for other reasons," said Skulduggery. "I think they're better off."

Tunica looked at Valkyrie, then at Skulduggery. "Skull-head, you never told me how you met Cain over here. What happened?"

"I took his hat hostage," said Valkyrie grinning.

Tunica giggled. "That's a new one. How did that happen?"

"Well, an evil dude who was working for Serpine crashed through a window and was about to kill me when Skulduggery came crashing through the door like a lunatic and chased him away."

"That sounds like something Pleasant would do," said Jack, trying hard not to grin.

"She fainted you know," Skulduggery said.

"Shut up. I was being introduced to the world of magic back then. How would you like having a skeleton burst into your house and then start talking to you on top of that?" said Valkyrie.

"So he took off his disguise, told you what was going on and was planning to leave when you took hold of his hat?" asked Tunica.

"Yep," said Valkyrie.

"Very clever. I wish I thought of that. Then again, when we met he wasn't wearing a disguise but it would have been so much fun to take his hat," said Tunica and then she sneezed again.

"How did you and Skulduggery meet?" Valkyrie asked.

Tunica went quiet. "Hmm."

"You forgot, didn't you?" said Skulduggery.

"No!" said Tunica quickly and sharply, "Just not sure what would justify as meeting you."

"Tunica, you're using words you don't understand again," said Jack.

"Man, this is the problem with having two arrogant men in the car. What I'm trying to say is did we meet in the war or when you chased me down?"

"Oh. I say go with when I chased you down," said Skulduggery, "And I'm not arrogant, I'm just better than you, is all."

Tunica scowled, mumbling a curse under her breathe. "Well, when Skulduggery started out as a detective, he was hired to…what's the word?"

"Take you out," said Jack looking at her.

"I was trying to put it in a way that doesn't make me sound like a criminal."

"But you were," said Skulduggery.

"Just continue and ignore them," said Valkyrie.

"Thank you. I was starting out my hero days back then but was doing wrong things for the right reasons. I tried to assassinate…" she stopped feeling embarrassed.

"Oh, for Pete's Sake, she tried to take out one of the Elders in the New York Council and failed," said Jack losing his patience.

"What?" said Valkyrie. "Why?"

"He was a mobster and a criminal and…had no fashion sense what so ever, to tell you the truth. I missed when I took aim at him and shot him in the leg instead. And of course, the Council had a fit about it and hired Pleasant to come after me," said Tunica sagging into her seat.

"So what? That makes you a bad guy? Why did Skulduggery let you get away? Did he?" said Valkyrie trying to figure out what was going on.

"Calm down, calm down. See, Skulduggery started to chase me down, trying to stop me from getting away but thanks to a couple of friends who knew I was a good guy helped me out. But, when The Witch put a spell on me, a spell that weakened me and made me unable to fight, my friends had to turn to Pleasant for help."

"What happened?"

"I said yes, of course," said Skulduggery.

"But why? Weren't you meant to be killing her in the first place?"

"Not killing her; just placing her under arrest. Besides, I had to save her; the Council would have thought I killed her or something."

"That's not the only reason, Pleasant," said Tunica grinning.

"And what do you think the other reason was?" he said.

"The fact that you liked me and remembered me from the war," said Tunica, her grin turning into a smile.

"Yeah, keep telling yourself that."

"You know it's true."

Valkyrie grinned. She actually was starting to enjoy the two's arguments.

The Bentley parked outside the snow-filled parking lot and the passengers got out. They walked to the stairs. Valkyrie was thankful she had her boots on. If she had takkies or any other shoes on, she was sure her feet would freeze. Tunica and Jack walked behind Skulduggery and Valkyrie, like they were wary of the area. They knew who they might see and were not happy about it.

They walked up the stairs to the 3rd floor where China's library was. Skulduggery knocked on the door and it opened, just like that. They walked in and past the shelves and shelves of books till they stopped at a shelf and saw a young woman sitting in the corner, reading. She looked up from her book and smiled at them.

"Hello. Ready to go?" she said brightly. Tunica had met Tanith once before but very briefly. Jack had once traded a weapon with her. Other than that, the two had never really met her before let alone fought with her but they still acted friendly with each other.

"Ready to go," said Skulduggery.

"I must admit," said Tanith putting the book back on the shelf, "I'm rather excited at having a mission after all this time. I've really missed beating up the bad guys. Thought we wiped them all out, you know?"

"You should consider taking our job. We fight villains everyday," said Jack.

"Tempting."

The five walked to the door when all of a sudden, China passed through in front of them. Jack and Tunica sighed. This is what they were hoping they would avoid.

"Why, Skulduggery," said China with her beautiful lips and shimmering black hair, "So nice to see you again. It's been a while, I must admit. Still doing your own investigations, I see." She looked at Tunica and Jack.

"China," they both said dryly.

China smiled. "Still not a fan of me? I thought after all these years, you would have forgotten about it."

"Yeah, not so much. Still have the scars and curses and still get those nightmares so I can safely say I haven't quiet gotten over it," said Tunica shrugging with one shoulder, a look of annoyance on her face.

"Oh well. It was still nice seeing you two again. Bye," and with that she disappeared into the shelves. Valkyrie thought she heard Tunica growl.

The five went to the parking lot. Tanith got on her bike and the others got into the Bentley. They all went to the docks where the Twins were hiding.

The warehouse was pitch black and smelled a weird sort of damp. Like the skin of a reptile smells. The inside was nothing more than a black hole. Tanith found a light switch on the wall and a few lights flicked on. Everyone went quiet. It was if they stopped breathing. There were colossal cages all about, four in total and inside, darkness. They walked around, very, very quietly.

They walked up to the cages on the cracked, concrete floor and Valkyrie and Tanith looked inside one. Out of the darkness came a huge snake head. It snapped at them but couldn't get out of its cage. Tanith and Valkyrie screamed and fell backwards. Skulduggery, Jack and Tunica turned around, looked at the two, and then saw the snake. Jack, Tunica and Skulduggery got out their guns. Jack had his machine gun that somehow managed to fit in his jacket while Tunica had a regular pistol.

They were about to shoot when voices laughed from above them. They all looked up to see two identical people standing on a platform. One was a man, who had short, sort of spiked out hair that was a navy blue. He wore jeans and a white sleeveless top. His sister had sort of spiked out long hair that was red. She as well had jeans and a sleeveless top. They opened their eyes that matched their hair colour and stopped laughing.

The man spoke. "So Tunica; curiosity called to you and you and your meddling…"

"…friends decided to answer. Idiots," said the woman, completing her brother's sentence.

Tunica grinned, trying to look brave, even though she was scared out of her mind. "Really? You two as well? What? Crime not paying any more? That's sad, Jess and Jessica. That really is sad."

"Let's see how sad you are when you get to play with our new creatures," said Jess pushing a button on a remote control. The cage doors opened. In each one, a huge snake came slithering out. Each one was a different colour and each was hungry for food.

"I've seen these things before," said Jack, "They're…they're…"

"Elemental Snakes," said Tanith taking out her sword from her scabbard.

They each bolted towards a snake. Black Jack went after the white snake, the Air Snake. Skulduggery went after the brown snake, the Earth snake. Tunica went after the blue snake, the Water Snake. And Tanith helped Valkyrie with the red snake, the Fire Snake. Each was flung back after trying to knock the snakes down. They each go up and tried a different tactic. Tanith and Valkyrie nodded, and then Tanith ran for the snake and jumped. The roof was too high for her to jump onto so she just jumped on top of the snake and put her sword through its neck. The snake howled in pain and tried to swing Tanith off. She hung on tight.

"YeeHaa!" she shouted out, "Ride 'em snakie!"

The snake tried again to swing her off but now, she was just having fun. The snake thumped on to the ground hoping that would shake her off but all he got was a face full of wind as Valkyrie made the air ripple. The snake flipped backwards and Tanith jumped off before it fell. It was lying on the ground, upside down. It wouldn't get up. Tanith walked up to Valkyrie and gave her two thumbs up. She smiled. They then noticed Tunica being hit on the wall and Jack being swung around by his leg. The snake had used its tail to grip onto his leg. Skulduggery was shooting but his snake was solid rock. His bullets ricocheted off its hard skin.

"Maybe we should help them," said Tanith.

"Maybe we should," said Valkyrie.

The two women ran up to Jack and his snake. Valkyrie clicked her fingers and summoned flame. She hurled the fire ball at the snake. It hissed at her and dropped Jack. He cursed as his head hit the ground. He was fine, just sore. The snake opened its mouth and a gust of wind knocked the two women off their feet. They were pushed into Skulduggery's snake. Jack got up and stood perfectly still. Then more of him appeared. When he opened his eyes, there was now five of him, excluding him of course. They ran after the Air snake and attacked all together.

Valkyrie and Tanith got up in time to see the snake reverting back to slimy itself. The Earth snake swung its tail hoping to knock all three onto their feet but they all jumped and the snake hissed. Out of nowhere Tunica came skidding past the three and crashed into the Earth Snake. It hissed even louder. Tunica's eyes widened. She turned around and saw the snake as its tail lifted off the ground. She jumped out of the way as the tail crashed down onto making it crack even more. She rolled when she hit the floor and go to her feet quickly. The snake she was fighting came slithering in next to its mate and they both hissed.

Tunica groaned. "Come on! That's not fair."

"Who said life's fair?" said Skulduggery, "I'm a skeleton, for Pete's Sake!"

Tunica grinned. "True, true; and believe me, I feel for you but let's focus on the two giant snakes heading towards you."

Skulduggery looked forward and saw the Water Snake slithering towards him. He jumped and as the snake's head passed over him, he ploughed his left foot into its skull. The snake howled and Skulduggery was flicked backwards as the snake's head moved. He was about to crack a few bones when someone caught him. He was put back on his feet and saw Jack behind him.

"Thanks," he said.

"Anything for a friend," said Jack. Then yelled in pain.

"What's wrong?"

"One of my guys got knocked in the stomach," he said running to the Air Snake.

Tunica summoned fire, as did Valkyrie. Tanith run to the Earth Snake with Pleasant and the two struck together. Valkyrie hurled the flame at the Water Snake but Tunica kept hers. Her body set alight and she was on fire, her eyes closed while this happened. Valkyrie looked at her, wondering if it was a trick or if she was hurt. Her eyes opened, just like when she was asleep and smiled.

"The saying goes "Never Play with Fire." They are so right," and she hurled her arms out; a gush of fire hitting the snake. It howled again and Tunica ran up to its mouth and did her move again into the snake's mouth. It closed its mouth as smoke came out its nose. Its head fell to the ground and it was out for the count.

"See, this is why I've never liked snakes," said Tunica as the flames on her body recoiled back into her hand. She threw the fireball against the wall.

"How did you…" said Valkyrie utterly confused, probably the seventh time that day.

Before Tunica could answer, the Air Snake fell hard onto the ground. As did the Earth Snake. The heroes rejoined their colleagues and looked up at the platform where the Twins were standing. They were gone.

"Well, that's surprising. Thought they would stick around and gloat," said Tunica.

"Ah, guys; there were four snakes, right?" asked Tanith looking around curiously.

'Well, there are four elements Tanith, so presumably there'd be four snakes," said Skulduggery as sarcastically as possible.

"Then why are there only three snakes lying on the ground?" she said, panic rising in her voice.

They looked around and only saw a white snake, a blue snake and a brown snake. Where was the Fire Snake?! Everyone armed themselves. Skulduggery pulled Valkyrie closer to him.

Tunica sighed, "Of all things I've lost or misplaced in my life, a giant Fire Snake is one thing I would have never guessed to see on this list."

Valkyrie strayed off from Skulduggery a bit and clicked her fingers. She summoned flame and then extinguished it realizing fire wouldn't really hurt a Fire Snake. All of a sudden, a breeze blew behind her neck. Like someone was breathing behind her. She shivered. Then realized something was behind her. Before she could even turn around, an extreme pain went through her arm. She turned to look at her left arm and saw the snake's huge fang through it. It wasn't poking all the way through but it hurt. She heard gunshots as her sight became blurry. She fell into someone arms, a man's. She could hear more gunshots, the snake crying out in pain and then a thud. She tried to focus as she heard Skulduggery's voice call out to her, but she couldn't. All she felt was hot, then…

Nothing.