"The first one is simple enough, a basic teleportation circle. You just have to get a good physic down here to tell you where it goes. Its this other one that interests me." China said as her heels clicked across the floor of the gym.
"I brought you down here to open the portal, not to tell me what it is. I know what it is."
"Yes," China said, proceeding ahead of Skulduggery to Blackwood's summoning circle. "But that is a very shoddy circle, and if I try to activate it, there is a good chance I will disintegrate along with it, and well that might make your day, it will also ruin my new dress. I suspect he made it that way purposely, so it would only hold up once and no one could follow him after he used it. Of course, I could be over estimating his ability. He could just be a very stupid man who is very bad with circles."
Skulduggery looked around and beckoned to the Public Relations Officer waiting off to the side for them to finish so he could haul off the evidence before the mortals got there.
"Go to this address," Skulduggery handed the man a slip of paper. "And bring me Finbar Wrong. He'll probably know your coming. And for God's sake, be quick about it."
"Sir!" The man said indigently. "I am not a chauffeur! I am a part of an elite organization most of the world is blind to! I am the first line of defense against exposure to the mortal world! I am a mange and a sorcerer, and I will not be treated with such-"
"Oh, just go, you over righteous little man!" China barked at him, turning away from her examination briefly to glare at him. "The sooner you fetch him, the sooner you can go back to your minimum wage job as a magical janitor."
"Excuse me, Miss! i think I deserve a little more-" Her appearance suddenly registered on his face, and his jaw dropped, face slack and eyes bugging out wide.
China sighed, annoyed. "Yes, yes, I know. I'm beautiful. Now go!"
'Bu..but..I...yes, yes ma'am!" He seemed to fumble with what to do for a second, then settled for giving a clumsy salute and marching off, giving the occasional glance back that he probably thought no one noticed.
"Your in a lovely mood this morning." Skulduggery noted dryly.
"This night."
"Sorry?"
"This night. It's still dark out, Skulduggery, remember? You got me out of bed at three in the morning to come play C.S.I. Dublin with you. Does this ring any bells?"
"Really? Well, I can't bring myself to regret it."
China sighed, her annoyance fading as suddenly as it had come. She just looked tired now. This didn't happen to her. China Sorrows didn't go through mood swings. She was not this emotional. "I know." she said, hating herself for being understanding. "You hate me now. It's ok. I'm Ok with that. You can hate me, you can have that, at least. I would hate me, too, were I to somehow to be you."
Skulduggery remained silent. China waited for him to speak. To yell. To shout. To accuse. To threaten. He didn't.
China nodded. "It's fine. You don't have to talk to me anymore. You don't want me here. You didn't want to call me here. But you had to, for Valkyrie's sake. That is all right. But I'm here, and I will tell all I can as I pick at the secrets in this spell."
Silence for a moment, and then Skulduggery's phone rang, breaking the tension, and he turned away to answer it.
China turned to the items hanging in midair by some mysterious force, glanced at Skulduggery out of the corner of her eye, then went directly for a small glass bubble, gently pulling it free from the elliptical orbit holding it in space. With a fugitive glance around, she placed to tip of one finger to the globe, a small purple symbol flaring to life where the glass touched her skin, and waited, breath held.
A dull blue glow grew to life in the confines of the little glass ball, and China's eyes widened.
"Find anything?" Skulduggery barked, walking up behind her.
China turned. "No." She sighed. "As far as I can tell, this was meant to be a different variation of summoning a Faceless One and giving it a vessel. Directly bring them into the vessel through the portal."
Skulduggery's head tilted, posture stiff. "I suspected something of the sort." He nodded. "Thank you, Mrs. Sorrows. Your input has been invaluable." He turned and began walking.
China couldn't watch him go so cold. "Skulduggery-"
He stopped. "Yes, Miss Sorrows?"
She hesitated. "I- I really am sorry, Skul."
He didn't turn. His voice sounded tired. "Your not sorry you did it, China. Not really." He began walking again. "Your sorry I found out."
The door slammed and echoed in the sudden silence of the gym, and China was left standing alone in the dark and the cold.
She pulled her closed fist out of her pocket and looked at it. Her fingers trembled, jerked, and snapped open with a sickening crunch. The little blue orb glowed innocently in the center of her palm, surrounded by her now black and frostbitten fingers. Her breath whooshed out in a sudden exhale, and ere eyes closed slowly.
"Valkyrie, dear child, for your sake as well as mine, I hope this doesn't mean what I think it does."