Skulduggery had to half-carry her from the car, but Valkyrie managed to remain conscious the rest of the way to the Sanctuary. A feat which required a herculean effort, and probably deserved an award.
The medical bay was quiet when they entered. Doctor Synechdoche was sitting at a desk, with a cup of tea and a plate of sandwiches. She put the cup down when saw them and stood up.
"Detectives... what happened?"
"Need a booster jab," Valkyrie murmured.
"Valkyrie's fever has gotten worse. She's a little delirious with periods of unconsciousness," Skulduggery added, by way of explanation.
Synecdoche's brow furrowed. "The first booster should have been more than enough to see off an ordinary viral infection. This must be something else. Let me just..."
Her voice trailed off as she began rummaging around a cabinet. After half a minute, she pulled out a thermometer. She ordered Valkyrie to open her mouth and hold it under her tongue.
"40.1" Synecdoche declared. "You're right, her fever is getting worse. Have any new symptoms developed? Nausea?Breathlessness? Joint pain...?"
"Dizziness. My neck hurts." Valkyrie said.
She realised she was sitting down again, on the edge of a bed. She didn't remember sitting down. Forgetfulness was probably another symptom, but not one she was going to mention.
You appear to be losing your mind, Darquesse said. Valkyrie wasn't going to mention that either.
"She's been having hallucinations, I think." Skulduggery said. "And trouble focusing."
Synecdoche nodded, but her frown was deepening. "How was she after the first booster I gave her? Was she her usual self?"
Skulduggery gave her a quick little glance, "Quieter than usual. And more irritable."
Busy talking to the voice in her head is what he wants to say.
Valkyrie rubbed her temples and mumbled. "I was fine. I just need a stronger dose."
Synecdoche pursed her lips, giving it a moment's thought. "Mm. I suppose I could give you a second jab if you thought the first one helped. But only on the condition that you stay in the medical bay overnight, so I can monitor you this time. "
"That sound's reasonable," Skulduggery said.
"Sure," Valkyrie agreed halfheartedly.
Synecdoche rummaged around some more in another cabinet. She pulled out a small, clear plastic case with a bottle, some needles, a syringe and a stack of plasters.
"We'll put you in a private room after this, in case you're contagious. I also think a brain scan would be useful, to make sure you don't have a concussion." Synecdoche said as she assembled the booster jab. "Let's see your arm. The other one this time, if you don't mind. You can sit down here for a moment."
Valkyrie took off her jacket, sat down, and let the doctor do her job. She'd had enough of needles to last a lifetime by now, but if it got rid of the woolly feeling in her brain, she was willing to put up with it.
"All done. Stay sitting down for the next fifteen minutes while I tidy up. Then I'll show you to your room."
The booster jab was a godsend. Quick and effective. As the minutes ticked by she felt the brain fog dissipate. She could think again. Clearly enough to analyse the situation, and to feel embarrassed about it. This was the second time in two days Skulduggery had had to carry her somewhere.
"You're looking better already," Skulduggery commented.
"I'm feeling better," she said. And she meant it.
After her fifteen minutes were up, Synecdoche ushered her and Skulduggery past rows of beds. A few weeks ago Ed Stynes and the rest of Argeddion's experiments had lain unconscious here. Now the beds lay empty.
They entered one of the private rooms at the end of the ward. A purple haired nurse sat on the bed, playing candy crush on his phone. His face turned pink when he was them and he hastily shoved the phone into his pocket.
"Ah, excellent. Zevar, can you bring me the CI scanner? Oh, and the results for Valkyrie Cain's blood test, please?" Synecdoche asked.
"Uh, yeah, sure."
The nurse hurried from the room, returning a few minutes later with a folder marked 'Cain, Valkyrie' and what looked like a swimming cap. He handed the folder to Synecdoche and helped Valkyrie put on the CI scanner cap. He was short, a lot shorter than Valkyrie, and she had to sit down on the edge of the bed so he could reach her head.
Valkyrie was an old hand when it came to CI Scans. They were useful for diagnosing concussions, and she'd had quite a few of those over the past five years. Although she still thought she looked daft wearing the cap.
As they waited for the scanner to do its job, Synecdoche thumbed through the report. Valkyrie watched her eyes darted from side to side. Her face fell.
"That's odd," she said.
"What's odd?" Skulduggery asked.
She glanced up at them, then back at the report, and then up at them once more.
"There's an unknown substance showing up on the blood test. The substance shares some similarities to snail venom, but it appears to be multiplying, like a bacterium. I've never seen anything quite like it."
"Unknown substance..." Skulduggery echoed. Then his voice turned brittle. "You, Zevar. Get Nye in here. Now."
The nurse looked terrified but he did as Skulduggery bade.
"What's is it?" asked Synecdoche.
"We've got a body in the morgue with an unknown substance in his cardiovascular system. We think the monster we found in the sewer injected it into his body."
Valkyrie had barely thought about the monster or the corpse from the sewers since she'd gone home. She hadn't even asked Skulduggery if he'd made any progress on the case while she'd been resting at home.
Skulduggery's figured it out. Look, you can practicallysee the wheels turning. Now it's your turn.
"You think it's the same substance?" Valkyrie asked.
Skulduggery nodded. "I think it's a likely possibility. Nye will be able to confirm it. The question is: how did it get there? Yesterday you said the monster's needle couldn't pierce your clothes but are you certain of it?"
"Yeah, or I was. It went for my heart. I would have felt it if I'd been stabbed through the heart, right?"
"And it didn't stab you anywhere else?"
Instinctively, Valkyrie's left hand moved towards her neck. Her fingertips brushed the tender skin and she flinched.
"It was just a scratch."
"Let me see."
She pulled back her long hair and turned her head, so Skulduggery and Synecdoche could peer at her neck. They shared a look.
"You don't think that was enough to infect me with whatever this is, do you?" Valkyrie asked.
"If this was a bacterial infection, I would say without a doubt," Synecdoche said. "But as it's not, I can only guess."
The CI scanner attached to Valkyrie's head beeped. She jumped. She'd forgotten she'd been wearing it. Maybe she wasn't back on the ball yet.
Synecdoche turned on the computer screen in the corner of the room, typed in a security clearance code, and opened up the results of the CI scan.
"Well, that's not good," Synecdoche murmured, as she poured over the screen.
Before Valkyrie or Skulduggery could ask her to elaborate, Nye entered the room. It had to bend in half to squeeze through the door.
"I hope you have a good reason for calling me away from my laboratory, detectives," it said.
"The unknown substance you found in Jack Walsh's body; have you managed to identify it yet?" Skulduggery asked.
Nye sneered. "I have not. Is that all you wished to know?"
"Have you found out anything more about it?"
"I ran a few experiments on some test subjects," it said. "Rats" Nye clarified when Valkyrie shot it a murderous look.
"And?" Skulduggery prompted.
"The substance is made from a multitude of compounds, that would no doubt bore you if I were to list them. It multiples rapidly inside the host, causing inflation and then the breakdown of the brain."
"It's deadly then?" Synechdoche asked. It didn't sound like a question though, more like a confirmation.
"In a large enough quantity."
"What's the Ld50?"
"For a rat? 982 milligrams per kilogram."
"Have you calculated the CFU?
Valkyrie frowned, this conversation was getting out of her depth. "Hold on, can we back up to the deadly part?"
Nye's beady yellow eyes darted to where she sat. She realised she still had that stupid cap on her head. She tore it off.
Nye smiled. "Is the girl infected?"
"The girl has a name. And she wants you to explain what's happening in simple English," Valkyrie said, annoyed because it was easier to be annoyed than afraid.
"You're dying," it said, unable to keep the glee from its voice. "Assuming you are infected. It'll be slow and painful, although nearly as slow or painful as I might have liked. It will start with a fever and vertigo. You'll grow more and more confused and tired as time goes by. They'll be hallucinations, and maybe a few personality changes or emotional outbursts along the way. And then the headaches will start, as your brain begins to swell. If the pressure of it pressing against the inside of your skull doesn't kill you, the liquidation of your remaining brain cells certainly will."
Valkyrie looked at Skulduggery, and Skulduggery looked away. There was tension in his stance, shoulder tight, hands balled into fists. But his voice was cool when he spoke. "How do we stop that from happening?"
I have an idea, said Darquesse.
Nye shrugged, a smile still playing at its lips. "I have no idea. My attempts to make an anti-venom have been unsuccessful so far. The substance multiples faster than the mammalian immune system can destroy it. Even the most minute amount of this substance will kill its host eventually. It could completely change the face of biological warfare. You should be proud to be part of such a discovery."
"I'll try and remember that on my death bed," Valkyrie said, with more than a trace of sarcasm. "How long do we have to find a cure for this thing?"
Judging by the scan on the screen behind you I'd say no more than 60 hours, although I imagine the brain damage will be irreversible before then."
"It's possible that the creature itself may have the cure," said Synecdoche, tentatively. "Some venomous animals produce their own antivenom, this creature may be among them. If Doctor Nye and myself could dissect it in the laboratory, we may be able to develop a cure. Of course, there's no guarantee we would find an antivenom and even if we did we might not able to synthesise a cure in time for... well, in time."
Could work. But I have a better solution.
"I can get you the monster," Skulduggery said. He still wasn't looking at her. His attention was on the two doctors. "See if there's anything you can do to slow down the poison in the meantime."
Valkyrie stood up. "I'm coming with you."
"Absolutely not," said Synecdoche.
"It's too much of a risk," said Skulduggery.
Valkyrie held her chin high and tried to meet Skulduggery's gaze, but he avoided it, fixing onto a point somewhere over her right shoulder.
"You can't fight this thing on your own, Skulduggery," she said. "It's too strong. And besides, we work better together. We're partners."
"You're in no fit state to fight," said s "If Doctor Nye is right about this substance, then it's likely that the effects of the booster jab I gave you will only be temporary."
"Then we better leave before it wears off," Valkyrie said. "Because I'm not letting Skulduggery go back down into the sewers on his own. The two of us barely hurt the monster last time. There's no way only one of us could catch it alive."
"Oh, it wouldn't have to alive," Nye interjected. "Dead would be fine, provided you could bring it back to my laboratory quickly."
"Good. I can work with that," Skulduggery said. His fists unravelled, and he flexed his fingers. The tension in his stance was still there, but there was something else now. It was like Darquesse had said: You can practically see the wheels turning. He had an idea. A plan. Probably something ridiculously dangerous, that would never work if he was anyone else, but it would work for him. Because he was Skulduggery Pleasant. Because it had to work. Because she needed it to work. Because it always worked. Almost always.
You know, he wouldn't have to risk his life if you'd just listen to me.
"I have a plan," Skulduggery said. "But I need to make a couple of phone calls first. If you'll excuse me..."
He turned on his heels and walked out of the room.
"Skulduggery, wait!" she said, following him into the hallway. "Slow down."
He did. And finally, for the first time since Nye had told her she was dying, he looked at her. And the gravity of the situation hit her. Her chest felt heavy. That ache in the back of her throat was back. She tried to swallow it, so she could speak, but the words caught in her throat.
We don't have to die.
"Valkyrie..." he began, his voice soothing. "You're right. We do work better as a team. And it would be foolish of me to try and face this on my own. But you're not going be much help to me if you collapse again. Go back to your room. Rest. See if there's anything Doctor Synecdoche can do to buy us more time. I'll handle the rest."
Valkyrie took a deep breath. "I meant what I said, I'm not letting you go down there on your own."
"I won't. I'm going to call in a few favours from some friends of friends. We'll get the professionals on this case. The cream of the crop. So you can kick back, relax, and focus on not dying."
She raised an eyebrow, "What professionals? I thought we were the professionals."
"We're professional detectives. What we need are professional monster hunters. It's a different skill set. And fortunately, two of the best arrived in the country last week."
"And you can't phone them here and now?"
"It's a sensitive matter, I don't want to be overheard."
Valkyrie glanced back at the door they'd just come through, where the two doctors were no doubt awaiting her return, so they could poke and prod some more. Then she looked back at Skulduggery.
"This isn't a trick, is it?" she asked. "You're not going to run off like some big damn hero and try and save the day on your own, are you?"
"I wouldn't dream of it."
"Good. Because I'm not your damsel in distress. And I'll be furious with you if you're lying to me right now, Skulduggery"
He titled his head in amusement. "I know. Go rest. I'll be back in fifteen minutes. We can talk more then." He took her hand, gave it a brief affectionate squeeze, before adding. "You're going to be fine, Valkyrie. I promise you that."