"So Fletcher told me the news he found out."

I'm gonna die. I didn't ever think I'd go out like this. I always thought it'd be fightin' or somethin'. Not like this.

I looked at Valkyrie. She was tryin' not to panic. "What news, Skulduggery?"

He titled his head to the right at our reactions. "He found where those creatures come from."

...Oh. Well thank God!

Valkyrie relaxed too. "Where are they, then? Who bought them?"

"They can be found in Madagascar, it looks like," Funny Bones explained. "As to who has the 'ghouls' now, we're not sure. A man purchased some, but they were stolen. The only thing left from their crate was a note that had the letters L and S on it. Sneaky, I'd say."

"Well how're we supposed to find 'em? Ain't like they left their address or nothin'."

"Ah, however I was taken to their hideout. Remember? Up north? Unless they've moved places, that's where they'll still be."

"If you've made it back to us, though," Valkyrie added, "how do we know they haven't moved? You've told us all where you were kept, so these guys would want to move places to avoid detection."

"It seemed they rather wanted me to escape. I think they think I'd return later with the Death Bringer."

Valkyrie rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, it all comes back to the Death Bringer."

"The world does revolve around ya, yep."

"Well, fine." Valkyrie stretched and grabbed her coat to slip it on. "Let's head on out and get rid of these stupid ghouls and German freaks. I'm tired of all this."

"Ghastly said to let him know when we planned to head out," Funny Bones replied. "And make sure you have your gun, Valkyrie. Those ghoul things have a hard time flying and moving around when you've shot them."

She nodded and bolted from the room to grab her gun from upstairs. She returned and laced her boots up quickly. "Well, come on then, Sanguine." She gestured for me to follow her.

I don't think this is gonna go that well. I just kinda feel like this is gonna suck, ya know?

Valkyrie had been kicked out of her passenger seat. She sat in the back with me, and Funny Bones and Bespoke sat up front. For quite a while we just drove and drove.

"How do you know where yer goin'?"

"I remember flying over that rock we just passed," Funny Bones explained. "I'm using plain sense of direction and observation."

"Oh yes, I've never a tree like that before!" Valkyrie sarcastically replied, pointin' to a tree.

Bespoke laughed at her remark. He switched his gaze to outside where he watched the trees fly by. "It looks like we're getting close," he said. "I can see half-broken trees with missing limbs all around. Those ghoul things probably caused all that."

Funny Bones nodded and kept a harsh eye on the road. He wouldn't look at anythin' else but the beaten path we were ridin' on. Abruptly, though, he pulled off to the side and stopped the car.

"We walk the rest of the way," he stated simply. He cocked his gun and held it tightly. Bespoke followed behind slowly. Valkyrie wrung her hands; dark shadows splattered the ground with each shake. I walked next to her as she advanced up ahead.

"Ready for this?" she muttered.

"I'm tired of all this mystery and crap. It should really just stop right now."

She smiled and said nothin' more. Funny Bones led the way for a while. He weaved in and out of trees and growth so much we had essentially made a giant zigzagged line. Though, he stopped suddenly in a clearin'.

"There it is!" he said happily and pressed on.

The buildin' in front of us was awful. It was a plain, white rectangle with broken windows and missin' doors. Grime and moss covered the outside and probably a good part of the inside too. This didn't seem like a place daddy dearest would pick out, that's for sure. Around us was totally silent. No birds were around to happily chirp or nothin'. The wind blew and the buildin' creaked because of it. As we moved along, we kept seein' wooden boards all over the place. They were scattered practically everywhere. Valkyrie tripped a few times over some holes in the ground, but I caught her. She wrenched herself from my grasp to avoid any suspicions on us or the likes.

After our long walk to the front door, we all stopped.

"This should be lots of fun, everyone," Funny Bones said. "If all goes right, we should be able to get rid of whoever is in here fairly easy."

"And what if it goes wrong?"

"That's not a very good thing for us, then, I should think." He gestured to the door. "Who would like to enter first?"

We were all silent.

"Ah, Sanguine!" he called. "Thank you for volunteering. We appreciate that."

I rolled my eyes and groaned. I climbed up the stairs leadin' to the door and listened to it for a second. I couldn't hear anythin' breathin' or movin' on the other side. I jiggled the door handle, only to find it was locked. I sighed and shrugged and kicked it open forcefully. The door burst open and wobbled wildly on its hinges. I took a step into the buildin' and motioned for everyone to follow. I could tell Valkyrie was behind me, with Funny Bones and Ghastly at the back. The entire inside was white, too. And I was right: moss and grime was everywhere. Sharp nails jutted out from the wall at odd angles.

"Watch yer head," I muttered back at an approachin' low doorway. We passed through the doorway and ended up in another plain white room. Tables and chairs were strewn around carelessly. Glass had shattered, obviously, from all the crunchin' out feet made as we stepped around. We searched around the room for a bit until off to the left there was a strange thump noise.

We dropped everythin'. I raced ahead of everyone and wrenched open an old wooden door. Before I could avoid it, a stupid wooden board came swingin' and hit me in the back of the head. I fell over from the force, and I could hear a high-pitched scream. I lost consciousness after a few more seconds, though, and was out for the count.

Slowly and sadly I came back and awake. The dim light in the room I was in hurt my eyes, and my head hurt even more. I moved stiffly but noticed I wasn't chained up or shackled anywhere. I also noticed I was totally alone except for someone in the corner sittin' in a chair. They were almost totally hidden in the darkness, but I could see their folded legs.

"Glad you're up, son."

I moaned. "Seriously? Yer behind this?"

Daddy dearest got up from his chair and bent down to my level on the ground. "It wasn't my idea, no. But when two young gentlemen approached me with a very nice offer, I figured I couldn't refuse. I can bring death and destruction to the world and get to kill Valkyrie Cain. Good plan in my mind."

"Where are they? What happened to them?"

"They're fine, son, they're fine. Don't worry."

"I will go on some rampage if I see you've hurt 'em in anyway."

"I think, though, son, if we replace the 'them' with 'Valkyrie' your true feelings can be revealed." Daddy dearest smiled.

"H-How?"

"Don't know what you're talking about, son. Now do you want to see your 'friends' or not?"

I staggered up and followed him out of the little room. Scarab led us around down windin' and dark hallways. He pushed open a door slowly to reveal another freakin' white room. A plain wooden door was off to the side.

"Wait here," he said. "And don't think you'll be able to escape or anything. I'd hope my son wouldn't be moronic enough to try that."

He left me in the room and disappeared behind the other door. He returned a few minutes later, alone again.

"Where are they!" I demanded.

"Hold your horses!" he shouted, roundin' on me. "God, you're getting to be an impatient brat, aren't you?"

I folded my arms and stared at the door for what felt like hours. Eventually, though, the door opened. One very tall and very muscular man walked through first. He carried a canvas bag with him. He stopped short and turned around and grabbed somethin'. When he turned back, though, I saw he had grabbed onto Valkyrie's arm and was draggin' her around. She looked tired and beaten up, and her face had a bit of dried blood on it. He stood her straight to the side and went back to the door and returned, grippin' Funny Bones on the arm. Bespoke emerged next, and right after him, almost an exact clone of the first big guy. They had the same hair, eyes, face, body, and muscles. It was pretty freaky, to say the least.

There was a nice and tense silence for a while until Funny Bones finally said, "Well, I suppose things did go wrong, Valkyrie."

Daddy dearest only laughed.

I AM CRANKING THESE CHAPTERS OUT LIKE MAD.

What's gonna happen? The next chapter's gonna be a pretty fun one, I can tell already. Just you waaaait!

Thanks for reading and sorry for any mistakes! :DDD