Diamond stood on the rough asphalt of the abandoned parking lot, alone.
A single streetlight and the single LED-light in the van lightly illuminated the space and threw soft shadows onto the ground. Otherwise, it was dark. Too dark. Beside the parking lot there was… nothing. Nothing and no one.
Except…
Diamond frowned and peered at the spot. Inside the van, there were shadows that looked different than the others. They looked… plastic; hovered above the metal flooring. And they moved.
A little heap of shadow; expanding into a wider, swirling mass and back again, as if it were moving along to an invisible force.
Diamond watched the smoky blob in fascination, as it took its shapes. It was beautiful, somehow. Elegant; the way the clouds and strands of darkness flowed out, and into each other.
Eventually, the heap moved out of the van and upwards, and floated at a distance to the ground.
"Hi." Diamond said.
It ignored her.
"Hey, you." She said louder.
It changed course, moving sideways, floated by, and then headed towards the exit of the parking lot.
Diamond followed it but noticed she could not hear her own footsteps. Frowning, she paused, but then quickly moved on, caught up with the heap, and walked beside it. Diamond mustered it curiously, as it hovered along.
"You seem familiar." She said to it. "Do you know where everyone went?"
It continued ignoring her.
"I don't really remember anything. I do know this lot, though…"
Diamond looked back, as they left it, walking along a small path that opened itself up ahead, in and out of sheer nothingness.
She sighed. "Where is Skulduggery when you need him?"
The heap stopped.
Diamond stopped too and blinked at it. "Hi?"
It stayed in its spot but started floating up and down slightly, bobbing gently, as if it were aware of the attention.
"What's going on?" She asked it.
The heap sped up, hovering up and down, and up and down, emitting strands and puffs of shadow that became erratic, as if it were telling her a frantic story.
"Alright, slow down, slow down," Diamond said softly.
It calmed down a bit but kept bobbing.
"I'm Diamond," she introduced herself, holding out her hand to a shake.
The heap slowed and seemed to consider the hand unsurely.
"Don't worry. I don't want to hurt you," she gently assured it and carefully edged closer.
When her hand was just centimeters away from the shadows, it twitched back skittishly.
"It's alright," Diamond continued soothingly.
Hesitantly, a little strand of shadow emerged from the heap, a thick bit bulging at the end, like an ink blob that pulled itself over the air, towards her hand. It approached her palm very slowly, nearing, inch by inch, until the skin underneath started feeling cold.
Diamond chuckled and closed her eyes, as a wave of goosebumps rushed through her entire body. "That's nice," she praised it. "Thank you."
The heap moved closer, seemed to be pulled in by its strand, and quickly nestled against her hand entirely, as if it were looking for protection.
"Oh, there, there." Diamond said sympathetically, as her hand grew even colder. She pulled it closer to her chest, where it made her skin tingle and her heart flutter. "You're alone too, hm?"
It seemed content there, sending little tentacles to stroke around the spot on her body, so Diamond held it gently. "Hey, you know, we don't speak the same language. But maybe, you could make me some pictures with those pretty shadows there?"
It moved away from her again. Some strands separated mostly from it, seven of them on each of its sides, who then became elongated and thin, grew longer and thinner, until seven slim bars of shadow were separating Diamond from the heap, and another twenty-one around it, shaping a box.
She frowned. "You're in a cage?"
It bobbed excitedly up and down behind its makeshift bars before making them disappear and reclaiming the shadows.
"Where?" Diamond asked confusedly, looking around in the parking lot, where no actual cage or jail was to be seen, just the path and nothing but darkness beyond. "Here? Who put you here?"
It swung side-to-side to convey some sort of meaning.
She frowned and pointed a thumb at the path away from the parking lot. "Do you... wanna get out of here?"
The heap stopped swinging and shadows separated from it to reshape the prison bars it had made before.
"Not that simple, huh?" Diamond interpreted. She looked around again and found nothing had changed. The area was as empty and quiet as before; not even a breeze blew. She turned her attention back to the blob of shadow. "Well, I don't really know how to leave this place either. But we'll figure it out, yeah? You and I together."
Suddenly, the heap moved backwards. But not as if it were moving away willingly, rather as if something were pulling it away from her at high-speed.
"No, wait!" She called to it, reaching out, but it was too late. Within seconds, it disappeared into the darkness beyond the path.
Diamond opened her eyes.
White ceiling. White walls. White LED-light.
She looked down at herself. White bedsheets. Metal bed.
Hospital.
Confused, Diamond shook her head. "What on bloody planet earth?"
"Excellent question." Said Skulduggery.
She looked over to where his voice had come from and spotted him by a dark window, sitting on a waiting chair. His sights were on her but his head was low, as if he were just looking up from a daydream.
Suddenly, Diamond remembered the parking lot. And the girls. The girls screaming, running, panicking. Blood everywhere. And then… pain.
Diamond gasped when her body suddenly became aware to her. Skulduggery got up and calmly walked over, pushing her down by the shoulders, when she tried to sit up frantically.
Her entire midsection was sore, her body was aching, as the memory of the past events flew by her, the scared expressions, the horror in everyone's eyes, while they were murdered, one after the other.
"Breathe," Skulduggery said softly, somewhere beyond her closed lids, and Diamond forced herself to breathe but it came out as panicked, dry half-sobs.
It took quite a while for her to stop gasping like a fish out of water and not move as much, as not to put stress on her injured muscles.
"Fuck," Diamond whined, wrapping an arm around her belly. "Ouch."
"Ouch, indeed." Skulduggery agreed.
She took another deep breath, slowly settling down.
"What do you remember?" He asked and let go of her shoulders, to sit down on the edge of the bed.
Diamond exhaled the breath sharply. "I remember us waiting for the Sanctuary team, and then suddenly someone started stabbing the girls."
Skulduggery nodded slowly. "That sounds about right."
"But I couldn't see them."
"Neither could any of us."
Diamond sighed. "And then, one of them stabbed me. And then, I was talking to…" She paused.
He tilted his head at her. "Talking to who?"
Diamond shook her head, adapting his confusion. "I… don't know…" She realized.
"It was probably a dream." Skulduggery told her. "You were under anesthesia for a couple of hours."
"A couple of…" She started but then just frowned puzzledly again. "How long was I out?"
He shrugged lightly. "Ten hours, maybe?"
She looked down at her belly underneath her arms and her sheets, and decided not to look at it, for now.
Skulduggery said nothing, just took her hand and held on to it. As he did so, it made goosebumps trickle from her arm, over her entire body.
Diamond frowned again. That was odd. She could have sworn…
"We managed to stop one of them. But the other one, the one that stabbed you, got away." Skulduggery informed her unfortunately.
Diamond tried to hide the pang of fear that shot through her hurting stomach. "Where are the others?" She asked quietly.
"They're fine. They are taking a break from talking to Wayward and the Romanian Sanctuary."
"Any info on the girls?"
"Nothing conclusive." Skulduggery replied. "But many mages in Romania live in Romani tribes, mostly since they are very exclusive, remote, and avoided by locals. The Grand Mage believes most of the girls were Romanies because they tend to venture far without parental supervision, they usually grow up poor, and are easily allured by wealth, luxury, and the alike."
"Which makes them great targets to give them a couple of nice things and a bit of emotional brain-washing, until they will do anything for you."
He nodded affirmatively.
"Yeah." Diamond sniffed bitterly. "Loverboys. I know the type. I've extracted girls before that got 'pulled in' by guys like that. Most of their victims have to be made to leave because they become so dependent."
"Which is, supposedly, what your client, aka. deliverer, did." Skulduggery concluded. "Judging by how uncooperative most of the girls were, he probably talked them into leaving."
"Any news on him?"
A headshake. "Nuce gave a description to a sketch artist, and a Sensitive checked his memories. But we have found nothing yet."
"Fantastic," Diamond sighed sharply.
"We will keep searching," he assured her.
"Hey, Skulduggery?" She asked quietly, her eyes on her legs beneath the sheet.
"Yes?"
"Could… I just be alone for a moment?"
He nodded and got up. "Of course."
She watched Skulduggery leave and muster her from the doorframe, in her peripheral. But he said nothing else and quietly closed the door behind himself.
"Hey, Nuce." Valkyrie said as she stepped up beside him.
"Hey, Valkyrie." He muttered, eyes hazily fixed onto the view ahead.
It had taken her a while to find him. After the job had been done, Nuce had disappeared onto one of the higher balconies of the High Sanctuary. Outside, the sun was already rising, hanging low behind a blanket of grey clouds. The remaining freeze of the night laid a glitter over the streets and rooftops of Roarhaven. Town houses, shiny highrise buildings, and different stores slowly came to life far below them. But the people were tiny from this distance, leaving them to watch the cars that started filling the streets.
Up here, it was even colder but Valkyrie found the icy air refreshing after a long night. It cooled her aching head. And even though she was tired, and her muscles were tired, her heart still wanted to escape from her chest and make her run. Run, run, and punch someone.
"How are you doing?" She asked him.
"I'm alright," Nuce replied; voice even and stable.
"Ever been in a situation like this before?" Valkyrie asked.
Nice snorted bitterly. "No. Have you?"
She thought for a second, then exhaled admittedly. "Actually, no."
"I just..." He grunted uncertainly. "I just wasn't worried, you know. As we were standing there. It never even occured to me that someone would want to..." Nuce shook his head disgustedly.
Valkyrie sighed and turned his way. "You did well, Nuce."
He gave that same bitter snort, still staring at the city below.
"I mean it," she enforced. "You reacted quickly and effectively. There was nothing you could have done differently that would have saved them."
"How can you know that," Nuce asked blankly.
"They had trackers," Valkyrie replied.
That made him frown and look at her. His eyes were tired but calm. The puffiness of crying had faded from them hours ago.
"Trackers?"
She nodded. "They insert trackers into the girls' legs. The only way to unlock those, and safely take them out, is to use a specific, magnetic key."
"And we couldn't see them because it's winter, and they all had their legs covered."
Valkyrie gave him another nod. "The trackers go beneath the skin. And even if we could have found them on time; we didn't have the keys. These invisible killers could have found us and gotten in anywhere."
"Body-searching the girls wouldn't have been a great idea either way..." Nuce muttered agreeingly.
"No, it wouldn't have." She joined him in leaning against the railing and looking straight down staggering heights.
"So, what now?" Nuce asked.
"Well, since we couldn't see anything, we don't have much more to go on than the bodies and your description." Valkyrie unfortunately told him. "But we still have some leads on the guys we busted last week."
"What about us?" He prodded.
"For now?" She shrugged. "Not much. Diamond is down, and you don't have jurisdiction in Ireland."
"She won't be down for long..." Nuce just grumbled.
"We'll keep you updated, ok?" Valkyrie tried.
They fell quiet for a moment; watched the cars traverse and more lights turn on in various windows.
"So, I guess I'll be seeing more of you two around, then." Nuce said, eventually.
Valkyrie mustered him. "I guess you will."
"Hm." He made, sounding as if he were considering it. Then, Nuce shrugged. "Ok." He said nonchalantly and pushed off the railing to stand ready to leave. He nodded to her as he made a step back. "See you."
"See you." Valkyrie said and watched Nuce turn and leave through the door.
For a second, she stood there, alone on the balcony, staring at the closed door. But then, Valkyrie chuckled to herself and turned back to take in the view again.
"Hello, Diamond." Said Doctor Reverie Synecdoche gently, as she entered her hospital room, a clipboard in her hand.
"Hey, Doc." She replied.
"How are you feeling?"
Diamond gave her a light shrug, trying not to move too much. "Pretty sore. But otherwise alright, I suppose."
"Any dizziness? Cramps? Nausea?" The Healer prodded as she checked off points on her clipboard.
She felt her face crinkle up at being reminded of the feeling. "I feel a bit sick."
Synecdoche nodded as if that made sense. "I'm here with your file. How much do you know of what happened?"
Diamond shrugged and gestured at her stomach. She had checked it earlier but a large bandage was covering it, reaching from above her belly button down to her underbelly. "I got cut up by a bloke, and then cut up by a Doctor?"
She smiled faintly. "That could be a summary, yes. There is a bit more to that surgery, however."
Diamond frowned. "What do you mean?"
Synecdoche stepped closer, sighing. "Well, there was some damage to your inner organs that we could not repair. And in order to keep you from bleeding out, we had to remove a large amount of tissue."
"What tissue?" Diamond asked, eyes growing wide.
"Unfortunately, we had to remove the entirety of your reproductive organs."
She stared at her. "What?"
Synecdoche watched her carefully. "Do you have plans of having children?"
Diamond felt sorrow fall over her face. "Yes." She whispered, although her voice broke and went up at the end, making it sound more like a question.
Synecdoche sighed sympathetically. "I'm afraid that won't be possible, anymore. But there are still lots of ways, right? Adoption, fertilization with a donor… you'll see, in fifty years, they'll make babies from hair samples."
Diamond sniffed blankly at the joke and kept staring. She could understand the words, could understand the meaning behind them, but it did not fully arrive with her. It was as if her brain had simply overloaded and shut down.
"I'm sorry." Synecdoche said honestly. "I know it's not the same."
Diamond frowned and looked down at her lap.
"Mr. Evans is outside. I would like to keep you here for observation until tomorrow morning. We'll remove the bandages, and you will retain the scar for a while, but it should pale significantly with time. I will prescribe you something for your hormones. We have good medical records of you, there shouldn't be any problems."
Diamond nodded.
She heard Synecdoche leave and, a moment later, Nuce sat down beside her on the bed. She said nothing, and he said nothing, just put an arm around her shoulders. Diamond leaned against him, and they sat there for a long while, staring silently together.