He saw the vans arrive. There were thousands of them, he was impressed. He had just finished torturing her today he had cut her skin all over. Mevolent saw them hiding in the forest, best to get out of here.

XxX

Valkyrie assembled the teams on their sides fitted people with communication units (coms). Once they were set the rescue team went off. They jogged together and looked around the half way point. They saw nothing they were in plain view and nothing was jumping out at them. They honestly thought they would be dead by now.

"Miss Cain we have your back nothing so far," her coms sounded in her ear.

She nodded and signalled for them to keep going. They reached the base of the ruined castle wall. There were no evident holes so they went over it. Tanith walked up the wall, Fletcher teleported to the top, Ghastly, Valkyrie and Skulduggery used air manipulation and Dexter climbed up easily. They dropped and rolled to their feet moving slower now, more cautious.

They saw some steps into the castle and went up. The top step crumbled beneath Skulduggery and he dropped and Dexter saved him by grabbing his wrist at the last moment. He pulled Skulduggery up to safety.

"Thanks," Skulduggery said brushing of his suit.

"Don't mention it."

Once they were ready they moved on. They listened careful at doors. They knew that Shadow would be down in the dungeons but they had not come across any stairs leading down.

They past corridors and doors, moving around the castle using only intuition and luck. They thought they had searched they whole castle without any trace of a stair case leading down when they saw a corridor they had not yet searched. A painting of Mevolent in his battle armour and the God Killer was hanging on the wall. They moved down checking rooms on the way. They objects and painting no longer any affect on them. They were immune to any of the gothic creepiness.

"It's so dark here," Valkyrie said as she explored the end of the corridor.

"Hang on you could use a fire ball," Tanith pointed out.

"Oh yeah, boy I'm dumb sometimes," Valkyrie replied fireball in hand as she walked backwards talking to the group. "I could have walked off a cliff and I wouldn't have seen it," as she finished she fell backwards.

Valkyrie screamed and she lost concentration on her fire ball.

"Valkyrie!" Skulduggery yelled running forward, fire ball in hand.

The others followed cautiously to the edge of the corridor to find out that Valkyrie had fallen backwards down some stairs.

They ran down the stair case in search of Valkyrie. The screaming stopped. They heard the sound of a person landing awkwardly. They continued running in the silence.

At the bottom of the stairs they found Valkyrie sprawled in an awkward heap on the ground. They started laughing at her as she got up from the ground.

"It's not funny," Valkyrie said.

"Of course it is, otherwise we wouldn't be laughing," China replied.

"You screamed really high pitched and your face as you fell down the stairs," Dexter said.

"It was so funny in fact that I'm laughing," said the usually serious Shudder.

They laughed at her for five more minutes in which time Valkyrie was steaming with anger. The rescue team stopped laughing long enough to wipe tears from their eyes and to take in their surroundings.

"I've been in enough dungeons long enough to tell you that this is a very good dungeon," Skulduggery said.

"I find it a bit cleshayed," Tanith responded.

They walked through, footsteps echoing on dirty ground. Disgusting water dripped on their heads through the ceiling. Slime coated their fingers after touching the walls. The only light source was torches held in medieval styled brackets. They walked past tones of cells. They were nearing the end of the corridor when on the left they saw a heaped figure lying on the floor. Blood coated the whole cell, like it was painted in it. They approached the bars.

The door swung open easily with the slightest bit of pressure. Dexter and Skulduggery rushed into the tiny cell. The others followed.

"Shadow?" Dexter called.

The figure looked up. They saw everyone in the cell and smiled. There was a huge gash down her face but the smile was immediately recognised able.

"Shadow we found you," Valkyrie said moving in for a hug.

Skulduggery held up his arm and no one moved forward. Shadow stood up and stretched. The cut on her face healed over. Skulduggery's head tilted like he was worried but it disappeared too quickly. They all took in Shadow's appearance. Her dress from the night she was taken hung off her and was ripped. Her shoes were ruined by bloodstains her hair was waist length and scruffy. Her clothes were dirty and bloody. Blood stained her hair and skin. She was just as tall but she had lost any fat that was on her before.

Valkyrie, Tanith and China took turns hugging the poor girl. She was patted on the back by Ghastly, Ravel and Shudder. Skulduggery hugged her for a really long time. Dexter took her in his arms and kissed her.

"I missed you," he said.

"I missed you too, between screaming my head off."

"Dear me Shadow your humours gone dry," Skulduggery said.

"I know. No one to talk to except Mevolent but he doesn't count."

"Shadow how could you? Your dress is ruined!" China said.

"I'm sorry China. I know that it was entirely my fault."

"At least your sarcasm is still intact," China responded with a little smile.

"Did it hurt?" Valkyrie asked.

"Like hell."

"Poor you," Tanith said.

"We need to get you out of here and find Mevolent," Shudder said.

"There is one problem with that."

"What is it Shadow?" asked Skulduggery concerned that the door had been locked behind them.

"Mevolent is gone already," she replied.