Present Day

"Drive faster!" Valkyrie Cain urged.

"I can't go any faster," Skulduggery Pleasant murmured, as he focused on driving at high-speed through the streets of downtown Roarhaven. "I might hit someone."

"No, you won't," she argued, "you've never hit someone you didn't mean to hit."

"I might hit an old Lady on a walker. Or a baby in a stroller. Or a child that's chasing a ball down the street."

Valkyrie scowled. "We're about to miss the perpetrators, again. And you're busy coming up with scenarios of which types of people you could possibly hit with your car?"

He shrugged, "there's not much else I can do."

"Yes, you can," she impatiently argued, "you can drive faster!"

Skulduggery sighed and drove just a little bit faster. He steered the Bentley around a Mini Cooper on the road, and whooshed by an old lady by the sidewalk. She looked angry as she yelled and lifted up her walker and sharply pointed it at them.

"See?" Skulduggery said, and had the audacity take one hand off the wheel to demonstrably gesture back at her, "told you that would happen."

Valkyrie frustratedly sagged into her passenger's seat. "We're going to miss them again, aren't we..."

"Now now," Skulduggery scolded, "if you wanted us to go faster, we could have chosen to fly to the active crime scene."

"Okay, now you're just trying to annoy me," Valkyrie sneered, "we both know that my flying is shabby at best. I never stick the landing, I end up looking like an absolute dork, and then the bad guys won't take me seriously!"

"You just need more practice," he halfway assured and halfway reminded her, "which you won't get, if you never do it."

"I could make the car fly," Valkyrie suggested.

"Do not," Skulduggery warned, "touch the Bentley with your crushy bendy lightning powers."

"Hey, I only crushed that one car because the henchmen abducted me and my claustrophobia kicked in, okay? Maybe I can do it without the crushy bendy part this time..."

"Do not," Skulduggery insisted, "touch the Bentley."

Valkyrie smirked and daringly reached her hand out for the Bentley's dashboard. "Then, drive faster."

Skulduggery irritably grumbled something and drove faster. He came close to hitting a couple of other cars and people on the road but, as Valkyrie had predicted, he never actually did so.

Soon after, they arrived at the crime scene. A couple of people were out in the streets of the suburban neighborhood. They seemed to have gathered to watch something happen. They all looked either shell-shocked or confused. Some had bruises and scrapes and ruffled hair from a recent fight.

On second glance, Valkyrie also spotted some fresh puddles of blood on the ground.

Skulduggery stopped the Bentley at the next opportune spot by the side of the road. They immediately jumped out and hurried over to the various victims and witnesses on the street.

Valkyrie steered directly towards the closest person. It was an older mage, short and slender with with dark brown hair and hazy green eyes. He had a lost look on his face, like someone who had gone to the kitchen, only to forget why they had gone there in the first place.

"Hello," Valkyrie said to him, and noticed herself sounding slightly out breath from all the stress of getting here. "What happened? Do you need any help? Are you missing anyone?"

The man confusedly looked at her. "Hello," he cheerfully said, as if nothing was wrong in the world. "Aren't you Valkyrie Cain? Oh, and there's Skulduggery Pleasant as well! What are you two doing here?"

"We were called here because someone reported a violent crime," she both replied and pressed, "can you tell me what happened? Are you hurt?"

The man smiled obliviously. "Why would I be hurt? Nothing happened."

"Daamn... That sounds annoying!" Finbar Wrong commented.

"It's frustrating to say the least," Valkyrie grumbled.

"Mind-numbing," Skulduggery glumly agreed.

"So, you get a call, you rush to the crime scene, you get there, and..."

"Yup, and nothing," Valkyrie concluded.

All three of them went quiet for a moment, and she and Finbar focused on sipping their tea.

They were sitting on the sofa of Finbar Wrong's living room, in the same spot where they always sat during these visits. To their left, there was the adjacent kitchen that showed various signs of busy family life. To their right, Finbar's private tattooing set-up waited to receive the next customer that happened to swing by.

Visiting the modern but lived-in and cluttered family home, aka tattoo studio, always felt a bit like returning home, Valkyrie found.

"Well, that definitely sounds like sensitive magic to me," Finbar deduced. "Can't the sanctuary sensitives find anything?"

"Nope, they've got nothing either," Valkyrie confirmed. "According to them, there is nothing wrong with their brains or their memories. To be honest, they seem just as confused as the witnesses."

"Huh, sounds like it's not targeting the brain, then. Maybe it's their magic or their soul that's being affected?"

"That was our theory as well," Skulduggery chimed in, "but there are barely any magical disciplines that would allow for this type of manipulation."

Finbar importantly raised a finger off his tea cup. It was a home-made blue mug, adorned with big crooked letters that spelled; Best Dad.

"From this part of the world."

They both sagged in dismay.

"I was afraid you might say that," Skulduggery grumbled.

"There goes another point to our Warlock theory..." Valkyrie lamented.

Finbar shook his head. "Nah, this isn't Warlock magic, I'm pretty sure. I'm saying; even further away than that. Must be from a whole different Cradle of Magic."

She uncertainly looked at Skulduggery. "How familiar are you, exactly, with foreign magical communities from other Cradles of Magic?"

"Well," Skulduggery sighed, "I'm well travelled and well read. I have made contact with members of the vast majority of them. I have visited many personally, and carried out investigations for a handful. However, understanding a culture means more than simply observing it from afar. You need to be invited in, to live it, to practice their ceremonies and their form of magic. And, well... I'm not necessarily first on the guest list of exclusive clubs, unless they need me snooping through their pantries."

Valkyrie comprehendingly cringed, "right..."

"Therefore, I unfortunately must admit, I don't know many foreign magical cultures personally. I only understand them as well as an outsider could."

"Speaking of travel," Finbar mentioned, "Sharon and the kid and I were thinking of going on a trip this summer. Got any recs, skull-man?"

Skulduggery hesitated and then replied; "I reccomend, somewhere safe and close-by."

Finbar faltered and then nodded. "Right, yeah, you're probably right. Best to keep a low profile, with everything going on..."

"How is your family doing, by the way?" Valkyrie politely asked.

"Oh, they're awesome! My kid plays football now, and he's actually good at it! Wanna come see a game sometime?"

"No thank you," Skulduggery declined, "now, about this foreign magic. Is there any way you can find out more for us?"

Finbar hesitated. "Well, umm... After what we just said about keeping a low profile, maybe... I should try and stay away from there? I'd rather not get the kid into trouble."

"We're not asking you to take any risks," Valkyrie clarified, "we just need a sensitive informant."

Finbar's face lit up at this. "You want me to be your informant?"

"You've been my informant for decades, Finbar," Skulduggery deadpanned.

He looked outright thrilled now. "Really? That's dope! Why'd you never tell me, skull-man?"

Skulduggery sighed. "As much as I value this highly insightful conversation; I would like to know the reason for why you have called us here today, Finbar."

"Oh! Right," he remembered, "I was the one that called you! And now that I think about it... these things might be related, actually."

"Which things?"

"The reason I called you, and your case," Finbar elaborated. "I've also noticed some weird sensitive activity recently, and I'm not the only one. The entire community is buzzing at the news, and everyone is taking shots at it. Maybe they're connected to your forgetful witnesses somehow."

Skulduggery and Valkyrie interestingly glanced at each other.

"Do say more," he encouraged Finbar with an increasingly approving tone.

"So, you know how us sensitives have, like, a network? To communicate with each other, share visions and prophecies and so on?"

"Sure...?"

"Okay, so, I've recently found a brand new frequency!"

They exchanged another meaningful glance.

Finbar seemed excited about their growing curiosity and approval. "But when I try to listen to that channel, when any of us try to catch a sound or an image of some sort...?" He shrugged, "nothing. Not a peep."

"So, it just sits there, this channel?" Valkyrie confusedly asked, "what's the use of that?"

"Or maybe, Finbar simply doesn't have the correct frequency..." Skulduggery thoughtfully murmured.

"Exactly," Finbar contentedly nodded, "that's what most of us agree on. Someone could be using that channel, we just can't tap into it for some reason. It's like we're missing a piece of the access code."

"A piece in the form of information or magical energy," Skulduggery asked, "or a physical object of some sort?"

Finbar shrugged. "Can't say for sure, sorry. But after all this stuff you guys just told me about your case... It could easily be an object. Maybe you can only unlock those people's memories by using that object."

Valkyrie's brow shot up in surprise. "Like a channeling object, but for a sensitive?"

"Channeling objects can apply to many disciplines," Skulduggery informed her. "Technically speaking, any a magical weapon is one, as it creates a seperate gateway for a sorcerer's magic. Channeling objects are simply designed to make the use of a specific magic safer for the wielder. Necromancy is merely the only discipline that requires a channeling object, as touching death with your bare hands would usually lead to, well, death."

Valkyrie slowly nodded in understanding, "right..."

"Totally," Finbar wisely agreed, "channeling objects for sensitives aren't common, but they aren't rare either."

Skulduggery visibly slumped at his next question. "And let me guess; they're more common abroad?"

Finbar made an apologetic face at him. "Yeah..."

"Guys...?" Valkyrie glanced between them, stomach sinking like a stone. "Are we being invaded?"

Skulduggery heavily sighed. "Unfortunately, my dear, it seems as though that's exactly what's happening."