Disclaimer: I do not own Skulduggery. Or Anyone else from his series. Or the series of Death Note. So THERE.
8—The Elders
They sat waiting for the Elders. Anita had wiped her face dry the
instant they got out of the car, and had managed—barely—to get water to wash
her face with from the air. Now she sat huddled in a corner, with Skulduggery
next to her. She had refused all physical contact, wanting to be alone in her
misery, but now there was only an awkward silence.
The door opened and closed again, and all three looked up to see
Ghastly. He frowned at Anita but said nothing about her puffy red eyes.
"Come on, then. I may be surprised that you shot a girl and then
took her as your companion, but then you were
acting oddly. Anyway, we need to talk," Ghastly said. His tone and manner
showed that this was time for business.
"Yes, understood, Elder Bespoke, but first, I would like to
introduce you two. Anita, this is Ghastly Bespoke," Skulduggery said as he
rose. Anita's head jerked up at her name—she had been close to tears again—and
stood when she saw Ghastly. "Elder Bespoke, this is my wife, Anita Heathers."
Ghastly's mouth opened and closed again as if he was trying to say
something. His eyes bulged and then he stopped and swallowed. His voice came
out thin as he asked, "What? Skulduggery, your wife is dead…I mean…how…?"
"Apparently I remarried. Happily, too, it would seem. And I can
see why, after all, who wouldn't love me?" Skulduggery replied happily. If he
were a teen girl, he would most likely have giggled. But he wasn't, and so he
didn't.
"'Ello," Anita greeted him faintly. "Sorry if I'm a bit…subdued.
The people at the docks were my parents, and I've just found out, so I most
likely won't talk much. Though I might as compensation. But I shouldn't, should
I? You doubtless have plenty to talk about without my blathering on. Oh, there I
go again, my apologies, I'm going to shut up now."
"Well, come on to my office, then. I'm still a bit shocked, but we
do have things we need to discuss,"
Ghastly said slowly. Anita could tell that it was an effort for him to keep his
voice even.
Within minutes, they were seated in his office.
"The sensitives have been having visions. A girl lying on the
ground, and a man with a glowing stone, and then the stone cracks and falls,
and the girl screams. Another man falls over, apparently dead, and then the
world ends," Ghastly explained.
"Il'Guin!" Anita gasped.
"What?" the other three all exclaimed.
"No need to yell in unison like that," Anita said. The phrase
seemed to be a quote, and it brought a smile to Anita as she said it. "Il'Guin
is the leader of the Hunters—the people that killed off my race," she explained
quickly at their looks of confusion. "Anyway, he killed my mother and has tried to kill me, many times. It never
works. Usually someone shoots him before he can finish. He's got a bit of a
death wish for me—he's hunted me down my entire life."
"So, how do you know it's him?" Skulduggery asked.
"The glowing stone? It's a Nafar's soulstone. He's the only hunter
that uses that technique—for all I know, the only one who knows about it,"
Anita told them quickly. She seemed to like having something to tell them.
She put her hand out, palm up, and conjured a flame—this time
without snapping. Valkyrie gasped, Ghastly started back, and Skulduggery just
stared. The flame coalesced into an oblong solid, looking very much like a
stone made from fire.
"That's what a soulstone looks like. Anyway, Il'Guin pulls it out
and cracks it, destroying the Nafar's soul. The Nafar is left alive long enough
that Il'Guin can kill them with their former life force—fire for a
fire-specified Nafar, ice for an ice-specified Nafar, and water for such a
specified Nafar," Anita concluded.
"So, who's the man that dies? And why does the world end?" Ghastly
asked quickly.
"Romanius. He's the reason I'm still alive. I'm charged with
protecting him, so luck favors me more than most. He did something in the past
so great, so noble, that he got a lot of enemies trying to kill him. A side
effect of it, though, is that the universe decided that when he died, all other
life—on Earth or otherwise—would die. Sentience wouldn't change a thing,
either. So I keep him alive. Protect him. It's my job," Anita declared.
"So we need to stop
this…Eel Green or whatever?" Valkyrie replied.
"Il'Guin. And yes, that might be good. Plus, he really likes to
torture people…he's a bit like a mix between Hitler and Serpine!" Anita chirped
brightly.
"Oh, joy, just what we needed," Skulduggery commented dryly.
"How are you so cheerful?" Valkyrie asked.
"Oh, it's a defense mechanism. When I was in a racist community
where they hated white people…well, I got tougher, but went mad," Anita
replied. Her knees bounced and her hands tapped a lively, repetitive rhythm on
the tabletop.
"And how long will it last?" Skulduggery asked.
"Until it doesn't. I don't know, maybe half an hour? Basically
until I stop to think. Then I'll crash," Anita said.
"Well then we'd better hurry," Ghastly said.
"Not really. Il'Guin won't go after Romanius. And anyway, I can
get rid of the link between us, but make it one way, so that if he gets hurt
I'll know but if I die he'll be fine," Anita told them. Her legs were still
bouncing, but she'd stopped the tapping to scratch at her head erratically. It
looked a bit like a dog.
"Are you ok?" Skulduggery asked.
"Not in the slightest. I've gone mad. But I'll survive," Anita
said. Her leg slowed to a stop and her hands folded quietly. She was shaking
slightly. Skulduggery stood and put a hand on her shoulder. Anita wilted at the
touch, her gaze turning inwards. Skulduggery could almost see a woman with ice
on her face, lying in a pool of blood…
"Can you fight?" Valkyrie asked.
Anita's head snapped up. "Of course I can fight. I don't keep
eight daggers on me in my microcosm for nothing. Granted, I can't take a hit,
because this is the first time I can even feel them, and if I can't breathe
I'll freak, but yes, I think I can fight. I'm good with fire," she informed
them. Her voice was now soft and gentle.
Her mood swings could be as sudden and scary as Skulduggery's, Valkyrie decided.
"Well, maybe not as scary..." Valkyrie corrected herself. "But definitely as sudden."
"You're an elemental. We knew that," Skulduggery murmured. Without seeming to realize what he was doing, he stood, draping his jacket over her still-shaking form. Valkyrie, despite the newfound pity for Anita, felt a twinge of envy when she saw the tenderness, though slight and unsure, that was present.
"Well, I am an elemental now in more than one sense. I am both an elemental mage and an elemental being...how interesting," Anita replied. A smile curved her lips. Light danced behind her eyes, if only for a moment.
"Well," Ghastly broke into the silence that had formed like a slight film over water, "We should probably go see one of the sensitives. To see what we're up against."
"Cassandra," Valkyrie piped up immediately. "We should go and see Cassandra again." At the looks she was getting, Valkyrie cried, "Oh, come on! It's what we did for Darquesse! And her dream whisperers do work..."
"I'm not sure-" Ghastly started.
"All due respect, Elder Bespoke," Anita cut him off. "I think I'm quite prepared. So long as Skulduggery, Anita, and I are the only ones in the steam room with Cassandra, I think it'll be quite alright-I apologize for not letting anyone else in, but I don't know what will be shown, so..."
"Completely understood," Ghastly responded. "And I'll accept. But, please, call me Ghastly!"
"We wouldn't want to break protocol, though, would we?" Skulduggery responded.
"Yes, that would be terrible," Valkyrie agreed.
"Out. Now. And Skulduggery, Anita...congratulations to the both of you," Ghastly growled, his voice lightening considerably on the last sentence.
"Thank you, Elder Bespoke," Skulduggery replied warmly.
"Out."
A/N: So, you guys are awesome, but I'm going to be bad and go write the prequel now so I won't be updating this for a while. I'm so sorry. Look for 'Images'-It'll be a while, though, before the first chapter up. (Oh, and it starts out as a Dungeons and Dragons fanfic.)
So. See this fanfic in a while. Everyone wave goobye. And then review or something crazy like that.