Skulduggery – Crow

Anton – Bear

Ghastly – Panda

Dexter – Wolf

Saracen – Weasel

Erskine – Snake

Chapter 10

Stephanie immediately sat on Bear's lap when she kicked off her shoes despite the other seats and the fact he had a cup of tea he was attempting to enjoy alone. He allowed her though and she rested her head against his shoulder. It was almost eight at night and she was waiting for whoever was cooking to serve as she was very hungry.

Also, she was a little embarrassed she had thought Tanith was so pretty, so she was happy to close her eyes and pretend it didn't happen. Something about Anton made it easy for her to rest. He was quiet, soothing, strong. They hadn't known each other long in real life, but he was exactly the way she had imagined in her childhood dreams. It made her feel closer to him than anyone else would have after only a few days.

"What did you find?" Bear asked her quietly. The others were somewhere else, probably plotting. She was grateful for that though. She wanted privacy.

She yawned and looked at her knees. "We spoke to an Echo stone and then went to China's and Crow and Panda looked at books to destroy the Sceptre's power source and I looked at magic."

He sipped his tea. "Anything luck?"

"Not yet," she said disappointedly. She hesitated for a moment and then decided to continue. "I made a friend," she admitted in a whisper, grasping a lock of her hair and beginning to braid it tightly. "She was pretty. She helped me with the magic."

She saw the smile tug at his lips. "And who was this pretty girl?"

"She wasn't a girl," she said, rolling her eyes to seem less nervous. "Her name is Tanith. She's English. And I think she's here to fight but I don't know who for, so we didn't speak much I guess. She didn't mind though; I think she knew what I was thinking the whole time. It was so embarrassing. I can never see her again."

He chuckled softly. "I'm sure it wasn't that bad. Maybe she'll be on our side and you can be friends."

"Maybe," she said uncertainly. She definitely didn't want to face those feelings again. "I think I'm going to know my name soon. I feel like it's right there, but I just haven't clicked the pieces together yet."

He nodded. "I hope you find it soon, and that it is as bold as you want. A name is always best if it fits the person not just as they are, but as far as they are willing to become. It has a lot of meaning, Stephanie. Don't pick it just on yourself now – think about the type of person you want to be."

She nodded, and they were called to dinner. She ran to the table and took her place before most of the others and was grateful Crow took his place too even though she hadn't said anything. She had enjoyed eating together the night before. They had several Turkish dishes that night, all of which she couldn't name but absolutely loved, courtesy of Wolf and Weasel.

When they finished they all got ready for bed and Stephanie let them talk in the living room about the Sceptre and book stuff and the Elders while she stayed upstairs. She used half the stone in a shallow bath to get rid of her bruises and then got a shower to get really clean. She was glad for it afterwards – she felt and looked a lot better without marred skin.

She passed out in bed in just her shorts that night.

.*****.

When morning came, so did the responsibility of getting rid of the Sceptre. She pulled on her top and went downstairs slowly, finding most of her men around the dining table with toast, cereal and tea, but slipped down the hall to find just Dexter in the kitchen trying to work the blender for a banana smoothie. She reached over and put power on at the socket and it began working for him.

"Thanks Cub," he said brightly. "How are you this fine morning?"

She gave him a hug. "No."

"That bad? Want a smoothie?"

She nodded into his chest. "What are we doing today?"

"Well, the Elders have demanded we visit them, you included, but after they tell us off for having you work with us, they're going to be helping us. They admitted yesterday that Serpine has killed some of their people, although they're actually forced to take him in because of you, Cub. They can't allow someone to torture and kidnap a child without serious consequences. Not that we'd allow him to live after that anyway but it's always nice to have the Sanctuary at our backs."

She nodded and shuffled along as he went to grab things around the kitchen for her smoothie. She liked his hugs; he was always so warm. "How are you?"

"I'm good," he said, placing a small kiss on the top of her head. "Trust me, this isn't our first rodeo. I'm looking forwards to finally being rid of him."

She smiled and took the drink he offered, gave him a kiss on the cheek and went to the dining room. She sat in her chair and listened to the others make small talk about little things like work and Bear's hotel. When they were all finished and sitting around the living room – she could see a routine coming into play – and they finally got down to business.

"Stephanie, I want to try something," Crow said. "I'm going to get the Sceptre and you're going to go near it. Okay?"

She frowned. "Why?"

"I just have a feeling about something. Just do it, alright?"

She shrugged, and everyone left the room. Crow brought in the Sceptre and put it on the coffee table. She was standing right next to it. As Crow left the room, the singing faded to nothing until it was silent. Stephanie looked at it and uncertainly pocked it with her finger. Nothing.

"Um, Crow? Shouldn't it be making noise or something?" Stephanie asked.

He shook his head from the dining room. "It's like I thought. You're a descendant, Stephanie."

"What? You really think?"

"Absolutely. And if we search the house I bet you'd find a family tree right back to those girls the Echo stone said about, and probably even further. I imagine Gordon knew and that's how he was able to get the Sceptre," he explained, coming back with a cloth and covering the singing-again Sceptre. "Now we just need to destroy it."

"Could you instruct it to destroy itself?" Stephanie asked.

"I doubt that would work," Crow said. "Like the Echo stone said, its purpose is to destroy and nothing more. To destroy itself would be to stop future destruction and that wouldn't fit its purpose."

"What about a mirror?" Wolf suggested. "Maybe the shot will come back on itself?"

Crow shook his head. The singing was sort of getting on Stephanie's nerves. "Unlikely to have that type of flaw. Even then, I'd rather not eradicate myself."

Wolf nodded. "Worth a try though."

Crow crooked his head. "Are you asking me to see if it will kill me?"

Wolf grinned. "Would I do that to you?"

Crow snorted. "Let me think on that. In the meantime, any other suggestions?"

They all thought about it.

"Oh," Stephanie said. "We could just push the stone out."

They all looked at her.

"How?" Panda said.

"Well, we already think the Ancients and their descendants, me, are safe against the stone itself. So maybe we could push it out and just hide the crystal. The Sceptre can't be destroyed but it's useless so long as it isn't powered, and assuming it needs a very exact amount of power, or was designed around the crystal, no one could use it again even if we handed it over. I wouldn't risk it, but at least if it's found we can claim it had no crystal in the first place. Once the stones gone we could just, like, dump it in sea."

"Why the sea?" Wolf asked. Crow seemed to be considering her.

"Well, it would take anyone quite a while to get it out, and it would be costly, so not many people would do it. If we put it in the right place, it would be basically impossible to get out. And again, even if it did somehow resurfaces, as long as there's no crystal and we never say where the crystal is, the Sceptre itself is useless and likely no other power source will work. It doesn't destroy it exactly, but it does neutralise it. If we're lucky, the stones can only be touched by descendants too, and that keeps it ultra-safe."

They were all nodding now. "This is the best plan we have, I think," Dexter smiled, crossing his arms.

"I vote Cub makes all our plans now," Snake said, putting his hand in the air. "All in favour of replacing Skul as plan maker with Cub, say aye!"

Everyone, including Stephanie, put their hands in the air except for Crow and said 'aye'.

"Am I really that replaceable?" He asked them. "I make amazing plans. They always work out."

"Your plans are rubbish," Panda said. "Let's work out how to get rid of this damn crystal."

They removed the cloth again and inspected the crystal carefully. They all about had a heart attack when Stephanie reached out and touched the crystal itself. They all shouted and put hands over their faces and told her off but there was so much fondness in their eyes she didn't listen to it. She was fine, it wasn't a big deal!

They got power tools out after a while, trying to drill into it without success before getting a hammer and chisel to try and slowly knock it out, as well as a knife sharpener to sharpen the chisel. It took half an hour before Stephanie with the help of Bear and a hammer was able to knock the crystal free, jarring her whole right arm in the process.

The Sceptre glowed for a moment before 'powering down' and the singing stopped completely. They grinned at each other and Stephanie took the stone and they split to do their tasks. Bear and Wolf left with the Sceptre in Gordon's old car to be more inconspicuous on their way to the dock Gordon's small yacht was stored at.

Meanwhile, Stephanie and Crow went back into the caves to dump the crystal somewhere deep and dark. They took a shovel to help and buried it deep. They walked for so long that Stephanie was glad for two reasons when they emerged. Firstly, she could get lunch. Secondly, even if she was captured and tortured, she could neither tell nor show them the exact place because she would never find it again.

She almost couldn't believe she had thought that.

Ooh, we're close to having more exciting times! You'll enjoy what I came up with! I should probably say if you haven't worked it out, this is a long fic and I will be continuing for a very long time. I've written a lot of it already, so I can assure you the up and coming fight will be fun. And Tanith too! Please tell me what you think about that by the way, I like reactions :)