Everything is moving quickly now, shouldn't be long before the ending.
It had been three days since Skulduggery had left to talk to the Russian Sanctuary. Three days with nothing much happening, nothing to do. Three days without hot food, because somehow, after the first night, all that remained of the gas stove and the oven were small bits of metal and plastic scattered across the kitchen floor.
Valkyrie sat on the roof, watching as the last sliver of sun disappeared behind Moscow's buildings. She took another bite of her chocolate bar, one of the last few that remained since Owen and Tyrone had gone shopping, and almost fell off the edge of the roof when a voice came from behind her. "Hey," the voice said.
She turned round and saw a smiling face, with tufty blond hair falling over his eyes. "Gideon, hey. How you doing?"
"Not bad thanks Val. You?"
"Worried, about Skulduggery, but I think he's ok."
"Not worried about taking on an army of, what are they, Redhoods? And those mages?"
"Nah," Valkyrie smiled slightly. "We have a plan."
As Gideon lowered himself onto the edge of the hotel roof next to Valkyrie, a falcon swooped from a cloud and landed on the near to them. Next second, Dax was crouched there. He stood up and dusted himself down, before slumping next to Gideon. "Seems I'm not the only one who can't sleep. Nervous?"
"Sort of…" Valkyrie sighed.
A grumpy voice sounded from behind them. "You three are making so much mental noise that you're keeping me awake." Lisa flicked her blond hair back and sat down beside Valkyrie, feet planted on the roof rather than dangling over the edge like the others were.
Tom followed a moment later. "Don't leave me out."
"Can't sleep?" Valkyrie asked.
"When you're practically the most powerful super computer in the world, able to do anything involving data in just a few seconds, sleep is kinda low on the list of things you need." Tom sat down cross legged on the roof, facing the Valkyrie.
"Val," Gideon started cautiously. "I've been meaning to ask something. What's in that case that Skulduggery wanted to get?"
Valkyrie took a deep breath. "Ok, so… Skulduggery is a good person, ok? But like all of us, he's made some bad choices sometimes. In the case is some armour, with a type of magic known as necromancy. That armour belongs to a person known as Lord Vile, one of the most powerful Sorcerers who's ever existed. But Lord Vile fought for Mevolent in the war. Mevolent wanted to control everyone in the world; you could probably class him as a 'bad guy'. Now here's the tricky part. Lord Vile and Skulduggery are the same person."
The others gasped.
Valkyrie held up a hand to ward off questions. "Wait, wait. Skulduggery is on our side, the good side, don't worry. He can use the armour to become as powerful as Lord Vile, and that will help take down the Redhood army."
Tom nodded. "It makes sense. Will he be able to control himself?"
Valkyrie sighed. "I don't know, but we have to try this method. If we don't, we'll have even less chance of survival."
Gideon scratched his head. "Do you have a secret weapon, Val?"
Valkyrie closed her eyes for a moment. "Not one I'm proud of, Gid. Just as Skulduggery is partly a necromancer who's murdered many hundreds, I'm partly a necromancer who might, if prophecies are correct, murder millions. I am partly Darquess, the World Breaker. And no, it's not something I can control. We'll have to rely on Skulduggery to stop me, but last time Darquess took over, she almost kept control. As much as this might be our only hope for survival, it might also be what kills us all."
There was silence for a few seconds, before Lisa gasped and her hand flew to cover her mouth. "Oh God… she thinks she's going to kill her own parents."
Dax's eyes widened, Gideon covered his mouth and Tom stared grimly.
Lisa continued. "She's been shown a vision of Darquess turning her parents to dust…"
Valkyrie smiled grimly. "You sure are talented. Anyone who's tried to break into my head before has been… injured by the experience."
Lisa looked at her. "I'm so, so sorry…" She trailed off.
Valkyrie tried to smile properly. "Don't worry. We've found a possible way to avoid it, a way that doesn't involve killing me either. But you mustn't tell anyone from the Sanctuaries, ok? This crew we're traveling with, you guys and Owen, they're gonna have to know, but we keep this from official Sorcerers, ok?"
The others swore to keep silent about it.
Dax stood up. "I'm going to fly around a little, maybe spot if Skulduggery is on his way back. Sleep well you lot." With that, Dax let himself drop off the building. Seconds later, a majestic peregrine falcon shot into the air.
Lisa left next; slightly shaken still because of the vision Valkyrie had been shown. Tom's eyes started glowing blue, and he said he'd be fine outside; he had some internet browsing to do.
Gideon got up, and offered his hand to Valkyrie, who accepted it. They walked into the hotel together.
They were woken that morning by an almighty racket coming from the lobby. Owen was the first down there, and he found a rather injured Skulduggery lying in the remains of the reception desk.
"The Russian Sanctuary has agreed to let us operate," Skulduggery told everyone, staggering to his feet. "But they have refused to help in our inquiries, no matter how I tried to persuade them. Fortunately, I managed to follow one lead whilst out, and it appears to have been successful. A Sanctuary agent by the name of Vockbrottle Rishavich seems to have ties to the cult, so we're going to tail him tonight."
"What is Rishavich's discipline?" Valkyrie asked.
"That's what first caught Dispel's attention," Skulduggery replied. "Rishavich is a Natural. It appears he has a Gist, much like Shudder."
Valkyrie hadn't realised that a Gist was a Natural discipline of Sorcery, and voiced her confusion.
"In theory, it's not, but actually you need a very powerful soul to have a Gist. Shudder has one, and so, it appears, does Vockbrottle."
Luke made several fast signs, and Gideon nodded before turning to Skulduggery and asking; "Are we all going to tail him?"
Skulduggery realised that Gideon was translating for his brother, so spoke directly to Luke. "Yes. If Vockbrottle realises we're tailing him, he'll no doubt inform the cult, which means an attack could come at any moment, and though we'll be fighting on our ground, if we're clever, it'll be on their terms. We can't allow that. Gather whatever you don't want left behind, and be down here in one hour at the latest."
Anna and Alex made a hasty breakfast for everyone, while they packed what they wanted to keep with them. After ham and egg sandwiches, and forty-five minutes of packing, they were ready to go.