14 hours.
Skulduggery had been unusually quiet and Valkyrie didn't like it. She understood, of course. It seemed like everything was falling apart. Cassandra and Finbar both dead, Ezra had teamed up with team bad, Saracen was not okay and Dexter was beaten, broken and bloody. The night club had been... harrowing. They had fourteen hours to get Ezra back and no leads, and no explanation as to why the remnant inside of Ezra hadn't come out with Dexter and Anton's. They were driving to the sanctuary, in silence, to try and form something of a plan. Valkyrie inhaled deeply, preparing herself for what she was about to say.
"Skulduggery?" She said softly.
"Hmm?"
"What if... What if we can't get her back?"
"We will."
"Skulduggery, I know that she's your sister and you don't want anything to happen to her but there might be a chance we can't do it."
"We will, Valkyrie."
Valkyrie frowned but didn't say anything. Truth was, Valkyrie was scared. Because if they couldn't get Ezra back, what would become of Darquesse? Now didn't feel like the time to bring this up. Once they got to the sanctuary, Tipstaff lead them to the Elders. Erskine Ravel, Ghastly Bespoke and Madame Mist were sitting in their robes looking stressed. Well, Mist might have been looking stressed, it was hard to tell. Saracen Rue and Dexter Vex were there, standing in front of the three. Dexter looked... rough. China Sorrows was standing next to Saracen, looking perfect and pristine as usual, but even her delicate features were twisted in a frown.
"Our main priority is getting back Ezra Bloom." Ghastly stated. Everyone knew this, of course, but he felt like there had to be a starting point.
"Darquesse is a threat enough, with Tanith Low and Billy-Ray Sanguine it is even more difficult but if she has Ezra Bloom on her side too, it will simply be impossible." Mist said, in her annoyingly breathy voice. "However," She continued, "If the fourteen hours up, we must kill her."
"No." Dexter, Valkyrie and Skulduggery said in unison.
"If it were up to me-"
"It isn't." Saracen interjected.
"I'd say kill her now whenever we get the chance, before she is at full strength."
"Lucky you're not in charge then, isn't it?" Erskine mused.
"Okay, okay. We need to subdue her; restrain her, and then China will use the chant." Ghastly said, loudly, forever the voice of reason.
"I have done some research, there are symbols to help the extraction process." China confirmed. Ghastly nodded.
"Then what are we waiting for?" Ghastly asked.
In thirty minutes, they were all in Ghastly's van, driving to that warehouse.
12 hours.
Nobody was at the warehouse.
"Shit." Valkyrie hissed, once they had searched it.
"How do we find her?" Dexter asked, the panic clear in his voice.
"I was hopin' y'all would show up here." Someone drawled. Everyone turned to where the voice was coming from, to see Billy-Ray standing there. Skulduggery took aim.
"What do you want?" He asked, tilting his head. Billy-Ray shrugged.
"I wanna help." He said casually.
"Why's that?" Valkyrie asked.
"Because, Ezra is bad for my health with a remnant inside her."
"How's that?" Saracen inquired.
"Tanith is growing... distant from me and I don't like it. Plus, an I-O-U from the mighty Dead Men is always nice. I know where they are, I'll tell ya if ya don't tell Tanith I told ya, and if you owe me a favour." Billy-Ray drawled.
"Okay." Dexter said urgently.
Billy-Ray told them where she was.
8 Hours
They were in Scotland, for whatever reason. Somewhere in Edinburgh. They went to the address Sanguine had scribbled down and it lead to an old, somewhat ruined castle. Saracen frowned at Dexter and Valkyrie raised an eyebrow.
"Dramatic." China said quietly. The plan was to isolate Ezra and, to be blunt, knock her out and get her out. Valkyrie took photographs of the castle and sent them to Fletcher who popped up next to her moments later. He nodded a greeting. Skulduggery crept in first, feeling the air with his left hand, his right hand holding his beloved pistol. He lowered his hand and tilted his hand. He glanced over at Valkyrie, nodding to her to try. She tried to spark lightning and nothing happened. Saracen sighed as they trudged upstairs. Nobody liked not having their magic. There were a lot of steps, but the faint sound of talking filtered down to them. They followed it. Okay but seriously, there was a lot of stairs. Valkyrie was not in the least bit happy, and Saracen and Dexter winced with every step. What seemed like three years later, but was actually about fifteen minutes, they reached the top. It was what would have been a room, were there walls. But there wasn't, it was just a long, flat, stone surface that stretched on for miles in every direction, then suddenly stopped where walls should be. Ezra, Tanith and Billy-Ray were sitting, playing cards, casually.
"Hello." Skulduggery offered. The three looked up at the eight of them and smiled.
"The Great Detectives did some detecting I see. How did you find us?" Ezra asked sweetly. Dexter couldn't take his eyes off of her black lips. Valkyrie shrugged.
"A hunch." She said.
" 'A hunch' brought you all the way to Edinburgh?" Tanith asked, raising an eyebrow. Nobody said anything and the silence was suffocating. Tanith looked at her cards and shrugged.
"We took some safety precautions, were something like this to happen." She said mildly.
"Magic binding. I'm impressed, Low, never knew you had it in you." China said curtly.
"I can guess what's going to happen now." Ezra mused, laying a card down. Tanith did something of a sneer, realizing she was out of the game.
"You're going to attack us, try to subdue me or restrain me, or something of the sort, to get this pesky little remnant out... Am I right so far?" Ezra continued. Billy-Ray put a card down and Ezra tutted.
"Sounds like a good plan to me." Anton said tentatively.
"Yes, I suppose it does. But I'm important, very important, so it will not end well for you, I can promise. I can hear her, you know. Ezra? She's a sweet girl. No dirty little secrets. No nasty thoughts... Well, maybe some with regards to Dexter," She winked a black eye at Vex and went on; "But no nasty, violent thoughts. She wants to be free. But I am important. I am missing piece to this glorious Darquesse puzzle. And I simply must stay in her." Erskine shrugged.
"And we simply must get you out of her." He said. And all at once everyone was moving. Dexter and Skulduggery went for Ezra, followed closely by China. Valkyrie, Anton and Erskine went for Tanith. Ghastly and Fletcher went for Billy-Ray. It seemed like chaos as the fighting skills and levels were ranging, Fletcher being the worst, Tanith and Ghastly being the best, and everyone else in-between. Gun shots rang, Ezra's arnis and Valkyrie's shock stick were occasionally seen, doing brilliant arcs in the air, Tanith's sword snipping and slashing. The remnants snarled and hissed and lunged, the others trying to steal their space from them without getting too close to that daring edge. Tanith had rendered Anton and Erskine unconscious and Valkyrie needed back up. She called out as Tanith backed her to edge, and China went to help her. Ezra had managed take down Dexter, and Fletcher was pretty sure his arm was broken. Skulduggery dropped his gun as Ezra closed in on him. He just couldn't do it. He couldn't kill her. He cursed, and Ezra grinned. She swung her arnis, not to much avail as Skulduggery dodged and swerved out of the way, taking step backs. Then one foot wasn't on the edge. He looked down and had an overwhelming sense of vertigo and lurched forward, grabbing Ezra's hand. She grinned, her grip loosening. Then her eyes turned blue and all to quickly she smiled, Ezra smiled her usual, dazzling smile. And her blue eyes were wide and full of fear.
"I'm sorry, I love you, look after Dexter." She said urgently.
"What?" Skulduggery asked, baffled.
"It's still in me." She whispered. Then she jumped.