This chapter and the ones after will mention things in The Faceless Ones and maybe hint at some of the rest of the series. No real spoilers or anything, just Remus Crux's name and incompetence, that sort of stuff.

Valkyrie must have fallen asleep eventually because her alarm woke her up at eight.

She groaned as she got out of bed. Three hours sleep wasn't enough. At least it was Saturday, she didn't have to bother with the Reflection, she just had to tell her parents she was going out with some friend she didn't actually have at school.

She wanted to sleep longer but she had to meet Tanith in an hour then they had to meet Mr Bliss. Hopefully after that, they'd know what was going on and be able to solve all this.

Something weird was going on. Weirder than even she was used to.

Guild was in the interrogation room himself this morning, Valkyrie heard someone say as she and Tanith were taken to their meeting with Mr Bliss by the Administrator.

'That isn't going to go down well,' Valkyrie whispered to Tanith.

She nodded and smirked slightly.

"You're late." Bliss stated as they walked in. "Not that it matters. The Grand Mage is too busy celebrating to notice anything out of the ordinary" he added.

Valkyrie nodded. Guild had been determined to get Skulduggery for something since he'd accused Guild of treason earlier that year.

"So I presume you must know what is actually going on?" Bliss.

"Wait," she said after a few seconds. "You don't either?"

"Unfortunately the man Guild had put on the case is a complete incompetent"

Valkyrie nodded again. 'Probably Crux' she thought. Remus Crux was Guild's favourite and had been promoted to lead detective since Guild fired Skulduggery. He played by the rules and didn't see anything other than the obvious, which was usually the wrong answer wherever mages were concerned. He didn't take her seriously. And he had a stupid beard. Valkyrie didn't like him.

"I can't give you any support on this." Bliss said. "The grand mage is keeping a close eye on this case. You're on your own."

Johnny stared out at the dark city from the cheap room of his hotel. He was in Dublin apparently. He still had no idea how he'd got here. He must have been in Ireland about four days.

There was a knock on the door again. People had been coming to the door all morning, asking for autographs. It got on his nerves. He hadn't done a single stunt since he'd become this monster and Mack had been killed, before San Venganza.

He ran a hand through his hair, took a deep breath and wandered to the door again.

"Johnny Blaze" the woman at the door grinned. She was tall with long blonde hair and a leather jacket.

"Tanith?"

"Who else?" she said, still grinning. "I heard you were in Ireland."