Skulduggery – Crow

Anton – Bear

Ghastly – Panda

Dexter – Wolf

Saracen – Weasel

Erskine – Snake

Chapter 4

Stephanie woke up in the morning to an empty room but the sound of a lot of activity. She groaned, remembering exactly what a blubbering mess she had been the day before, but then she remembered that this was her house and her friends were here and they owed her a lot of hugs, especially now they were her brothers. How dare they be her brothers for – she checked her phone – twelve hours and she only got a hug from anyone but Skulduggery!

She stomped from the room and found them scattered in the hallway with various pieces of furniture and objects.

"Unacceptable!" She shouted at them. They all went silent and looked at her nervously. "How dare you!"

Dexter stepped forwards and put his hands up when she glared. "Stephanie, we thought you wouldn't mind if we did some changes. We thought you would like it if you didn't have to move home, you see, and we were moving out things–"

"Unacceptable! You did all this, made plans, and I haven't even gotten any hugs. It's not fair!"

She stepped forwards and clutched Dexter in a hug as tight as she could. "I love you!" She shouted into his chest.

He started laughing and hugged her back. "I love you too."

She moved onto the others, getting better hugs as she went down the maturity scale, leaving her finally with Snake. "I got you a present," he declared and looked around. His grin was replaced with a frown. "I lost it."

Stephanie laughed and left to get herself breakfast since all they were doing was moving boxes into the bedrooms next to hers. When her stomach was full, she went back up to find the place clear of almost everything and the big man was carving names into some of the doors expertly. They were really nice – Erskine, Saracen, Ghastly, Anton. "Whose Anton?"

"Me," he grunted.

She grinned. "I like that name."

"Thank you."

"I've always called you Bear."

"Why?"

She shrugged. "I gave you all nicknames. They're fun, and I was little when I did it."

He nodded and got back to his work so she left him and used the bathroom at the end of the hall – there was one on either end, luckily, and the rooms were large enough that they were not actually that close to each other. She'd have to really shout to get someone's attention if they were at the other end of the hall. When she was ready, she went downstairs to the living room to find her friends sitting in there looking quite at home. It made her smile. They looked like a family.

Her smile faded.

She felt a little excluded with them looking so happy and close. They knew each other from every angle. She couldn't compete with that type of friendship, couldn't dominate that type of love. Where would she fit now Gordon wasn't here to help her?

"Steph!" Dexter said, spotting her first. "What are you doing standing around? Come sit."

There were no seats so Stephanie dragged the bean bag into the middle of the room and sat in the centre. Gordon said she if she was unsure, get right in the middle. She was probably misunderstanding but she was doing it, right?

"What are we doing today?" She asked them.

"Well," Skulduggery, Crow, said, "I think a talk is necessary before we do anything."

Ghastly, Panda, nodded. "Your uncle wanted to wait but this is different."

Crow nodded. "Usually I would try to respect Gordon's decisions even when he is not around but in this case our hands are simply being forced. Stephanie, do you believe in magic?"

And that was how she learned about magic. About skeletons and mages and fire and Elementals and Adepts and that her uncle had tried to keep her from such incredible things.

"Why didn't Gordon want me to know about this?" She asked, feeling a little resentful.

"Your Uncle wanted you to understand the repercussions of making life decisions before you had to make one. I know that it may seem like he held you back from this, but he really just wanted to make you happy."

Stephanie mulled it over in her mind. She supposed that was possible. It sounded like something he'd said once, so…

"Okay. So what are we doing today?" She asked again.

"Well, there is one more thing we need to tell you," Panda said, scratching the back of his scared head. "Your uncle…"

"He was murdered," Stephanie said. The others were incredibly quiet and looked almost guilty. "Yeah… I sort of got the impression when you started talking about that Serpine man, and how angry you are, and how much you all hate him, and how he keeps killing people. It was suspiciously stressed upon. I mean, it feels like you sort of wanted me to work it out. But Gordon told me you guys take down bad guys all the time. So you're going to track him down, aren't you?"

There was a long silence. "Fuck, this is going to be fun," Wolf laughed, standing and pulling Stephanie into his arms. "Come along little brothers, we have a case to solve!"

Stephanie laughed and banged her head against the top of the door frame and laughed even more, falling over Wolf's shoulder and just sort of hung there laughing. They were followed out to the cars. Panda's van was there and so was Crow's beautiful Bentley.

"So," Wolf said when they were standing in front of their options. "Do you want to go with Skulduggery and visit China for information or do you want to go with Ghastly and help him make you some awesome new protective clothes?"

Stephanie pretended to think about it. "Crow. But I want to help afterwards."

"That's my girl," and she was let down to get in the car. Wolf opened the door and pulled down the front seat for her. "In you get."

Stephanie looked at the car. She looked at Wolf. "No."

He hesitated. "Why?"

"I call shotgun."

He grinned and she almost grinned back. "But I want shotgun."

"I called it first," she informed him. "Now get in."

He sighed but did get in and Stephanie allowed herself to grin. It was a silly victory, but it was so fun to boss Wolf around.

Crow joined them and the three drove into the city to a residential area to park. Stephanie wasn't worried about the car as she was too busy laughing with Wolf as he showed her his purple electricity magic.

"Aww, come on Crow," she said, looking over her shoulder. He looked grumpy. "It's not all that bad."

He shook his head. "I promised Gordon I'd raise you into a respectable young woman with good prospects and without bias. Dexter is ruining that."

"Are you saying Wolf is going to ruin me?"

"Yeah, don't be so mean to my Cub!" Wolf defended her, putting an arm around her shoulder.

"I will not be ruined by anything. I am quite happy here. I've wanted to get to know you all since I was a little kid and go on adventures and solve cases and have fun. I'm doing that. Isn't that exactly what Gordon would have wanted?"

He sighed. "Of course," Crow admitted. "But not like this."

Stephanie didn't have an answer to that. She just asked Wolf if he could electrocute her if he used his magic with his other hand if he was holding her. He laughed but she felt like electricity would flow through him to her – it wasn't that bad of a question.

Crow went ahead of them into the dingy old building and the two made a ruckus laughing and joking about falling through the stairs. "You two need to quieten down," Crow told them. "China won't be happy if you don't stop."

"Whose China?" Stephanie asked.

"China is a lady I often go to for information. She is the most beautiful lady in the world and people fall in love with her on sight. She abuses that love and makes them bring her things for her collection. She owns a library, you see."

"Oh. She doesn't sound the nicest."

"She isn't," Wolf said, more serious than she'd seen that day. "China isn't to ever be trusted, but she is a good ally, and very useful for getting information. People talk to her you see. And one more thing before we go in," he said as they stood in front of a man with a bow tie. "Do not tell anyone your name. If you do they can control you, remember?"

She nodded. "Never."

"That's my Cub."

They went silently through the aisles of the library in search of the beautiful lady. Stephanie had been worried she wouldn't know it was her but as soon as the woman was in front of her she could do nothing but stare entranced by her. She wanted to fall to her knees, kiss her feet, do anything and everything for her.

"China," Crow said, "stop it."

The wonderful creature laughed, making Stephanie think of little crystal bells blowing in the breeze, and the feeling of absolute devotion lessened to a minor obsession. "I'm sorry, I forget what effect I can have on new people, especially the young. Allow me to introduce myself: I am China Sorrows. And you are?"

Stephanie almost told her but Wolf squeezed her shoulder, where his arm still lay, and she shut her mouth again.

Wolf rolled his eye. "She's too smart to fall for that."

China grinned, and Stephanie felt she was being mocked. It certainly let her shake off a little more of the overpowering emotions she was feeling.

"Don't you have anything for me today Dexter? Not even a hug?" China asked.

"Naa, this is my only girl now."

"I see I've been replaced then, and I don't even get to hear her speak. So, tell me, why are you visiting me today?"

Crow took over. "We have reason to believe Gordon was murdered."

"By who?"

He was silent.

"Oh, no," China said with a gentle laugh. "Not Serpine again? Skulduggery, you think Serpine is guilty of every crime you stumble across."

"That's because he usually is."

"Well I still can't help you. I have heard nothing but nonsense rumours that don't even deserve to be called rumours," she said with a smirk. "I imagine it would make you laugh."

"What is it then?" Stephanie asked, getting annoyed at the back and forth.

China laughed. "The word is that Serpine has begun believing in fairy tales. In the Sceptre of the Ancients."

Crow was silent for a moment. "Has he found it?"

"Skulduggery, dear, the Sceptre is a legend and nothing more. There is nothing to find no matter how much he searches."

"If he's looking it has some value."

"That doesn't mean it exists though, only that he has become more insane."

"He doesn't sound like a stupid man," Stephanie said quietly. "If he thinks it's real, there has to be a reason, and you said he was looking right? So, he has an idea of where it was. Does that mean he killed Gordon for it? Did Gordon have it?"

The adults looked at each other. "I think you found a lead," Skulduggery said after a moment of consideration.

They left quickly, trotting down the stairs and out to the car. Crow called the others and put it on speaker, letting Stephanie hold the phone up for him while he drove to Panda's tailor shop.

"What did you find?" Panda asked when he picked up.

"He's searching for the Sceptre," Crow said.

"How did you figure that out?" Weasel, who was really Saracen Rue, asked confusedly. "I never would have thought up that."

"I didn't need you to," Crow said. "My partner in crime did."

There was a short silence. "Why does she get to be your apprentice? I want a prodigy too."

Stephanie grinned and tried not to start giggling as all six men started bickering over her. Eventually it was too much, and she started laughing uproariously at them, making them stop. She could feel them get embarrassed and probably defensive, but it just made her laugh more.

"Oh, please, stop!" She choked out between her laughs. "I'm gonna pee."

"No! Ghastly, she's yours," Crow said in a panic.

She snorted. "I'm not really."

"She's mine."

"You never said about what I thought."

"Ah, yes. Stephanie realised that Gordon must have had it in his possession at some point, or else had information on where it must be. That's why Serpine killed him," Crow said, working it through. "Remember the legends. There can only be one owner of the Sceptre. If Gordon found it after centuries of it being lost, then he was the owner. Upon his death, the Sceptre became free for the taking again, making Serpine able to take the Sceptre with no problems."

"That means it must be in the mansion," Stephanie said. "There's so many trap doors and spaces in the walls, and he never let me in the basement or loft or most of the third floor, or the fourth at all. It could be anywhere in there."

Crow nodded. "Exactly." He pulled the car to park on a dodgy looking street. Crow told them they were coming to the shop and they hung up, Stephanie letting Wolf out the back at which point his protective arm returned to her shoulders. It was fun having a big brother.

The shop was grey and a little run down, like the rest of the area, but when they entered it was bight, open and nice looking, if a little like a bachelor pad that had clashed badly with silk, chiffon, tweed and every imaginable button, thread, colour and material. It somehow was still masculine, made better by the muscles on Panda as he run a black as night material through his sewing machine with tender care. She couldn't help but grin.

"Where in the mansion?" Snake, really Erskine, asked when they had locked the door. They were sprawled around the room, leaving Stephanie the only person standing. They had even taken the table space. She sat, instead, on the arm of the sofa next to Anton.

"Under the mansion is a cave system," Crow admitted. "Gordon said when he was looking for his home that it was the only place with a magic history – he only wanted one steeped in as much magic as possible – that had only a negative history attached to its magic. Of course, he loved the scandal and bought it, and said once that it had a cave system beneath it. He found a journal from the owner a year later and was raving that he got in and there're magic creatures. I agree he could have decided to hide the Sceptre anywhere, perhaps to trick someone into going into the caves, but it doesn't seem his style."

"If Gordon loved magic as much as you say, and he has a magical cave system with magic security, why wouldn't he hide it there? It sort of makes sense he'd decide that."

"Precisely. The Sceptre is free for taking so long as you can get into the caves, so long as you can get passed the monsters and whatever other traps have been set up, if you can get out afterwards. It can be done, but can he do it before us?"

"Nope," Stephanie said. "We have the house, we can get it today."

"How do we get in?" Bear asked.

"We need a key. I doubt Gordon would have left that around the house," Crow said, rubbing his bone jaw.

"So the key is to find the key," Snake said, smirking. "Any ideas."

They were silent thinking it through.

Crow cleared his non-throat. "Gordon said what I searched for was right in front of me."

"Oh fuck," Stephanie said, sagging. She got looks of shock and scandal, and a few winks. "Fergus and Beryl have the key."

Thank's for reading again! I'd love some comments on what you think, and to know if people would rather I put reminders on each chapter on who each of the Dead Men are (edit: I'm doing that now, thank you for comments), as in what their nickname's and. I want to make as many improvements as possible, been out of writing for a while! Hope to hear from someone soon! :)