Playing With Fire

  But it moved. It took another step, and another, and soon it was out of sight, moving on down the corridor.

  Valkyrie felt tears mix with the water that was running down her face. She blinked them back. She wasn't going to die-- not today.

  She pushed away from the wall, balanced herself

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  on shaky legs. She waited a few moments, then made her way to the door, her feet splashing slightly as she moved. She got to the door and peeked out, and fingers closed around her throat. She was yanked out into the corridor, her feet off the ground, gagging and spitting and trying to breathe.

  The Grotesquery had its head raised, looking up at her with no eyes, examining her. Her hands were at its massive wrist, at those fingers, trying to pry them loose.

  Something less than an insect.

  She kicked, her boots slamming into the thing. She pelted her fists down on its forearm. It didn't make one bit of difference.

  Her heartbeat thundered in her ears. Darkness crept into her vision. She couldn't breathe. She needed to breathe. She was going to die.

  She clicked her fingers, managed to summon a flame, then pressed her hand to the Grotesquery's bandages. The bandages instantly caught fire, and then instantly snuffed out.

  No more tricks. She was done.

  Then there was movement behind the Grotesquery: Skulduggery and Tanith, sprinting.

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  The Grotesquery didn't need to turn. When they were right behind, it swung its left fist back. Skulduggery dodged under it and Tanith leaped to the ceiling, her sword flashing, and now Valkyrie was dropping. Skulduggery swooped in, snatched her up, and kept running, Tanith beside them.

  The Grotesquery regarded its injured hand with something approaching curiosity.

  They stopped and looked back, as the flesh closed over and healed.

  There was movement at the doorway beside them, and Kenspeckle limped into the corridor.

  "Stay behind us," Skulduggery ordered.

  Kenspeckle grunted. "I plan to."

  They felt the air pressure change, and Valkyrie's ears popped.

  "What's happening?" she called out, over the alarm.

  "Its power is returning," Kenspeckle said grimly.

  Skulduggery took his gun from his jacket. "This is our only chance to stop it before it becomes too strong."

  He walked up to the Grotesquery, firing six times as he went, and six small explosions of black blood erupted against the Grotesquery's chest,

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  barely making it stagger.

  Skulduggery put the gun away, clicked his fingers, and unleashed two continuous streams of fire, turning the space between them to steam. The flames hit the Grotesquery but didn't catch.

  Skulduggery pushed at the air with both hands, and the air rippled. The Grotesquery was forced backward. Skulduggery did it again, and the Grotesquery fought to resist. Skulduggery went to do it a third time, and the Grotesquery reached out with its huge right arm and the arm unraveled. Long strips of flesh, each tipped with a talon, lacerated the air around Skulduggery. He cried out and fell back, and the strips returned, wrapped around each other, and re-formed the arm. The Grotesquery smacked Skulduggery, and he hurtled backward through the air.

  Tanith ran up, her hair plastered to her scalp and her sword darting out. The Grotesquery tried grabbing her, but she was too fast. She rolled and cut its leg, then leaped up and slashed its arm. Both wounds closed over.

  Its right arm unraveled again, and she ducked and dodged, then jumped and flipped, and now she was upside down on the ceiling. She advanced, but

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  the Grotesquery kept its distance. It raised its left arm.

  Kenspeckle shouted a warning, but the fire alarm drowned him out. The growth on top of the Grotesquery's left wrist, what Valkyrie had thought was a massive boil, suddenly contracted, and a yellow liquid shot out. Tanith had to fling herself sideways to avoid it, and she crashed to the ground. The liquid hit the ceiling and ate through it in an instant, leaving a gaping hole.

  Skulduggery ran to join her, and Tanith got to her feet. And even though the boil was now empty, the Grotesquery was still holding out its left arm. Skulduggery reached for Tanith, but he was a second too late.

  A thin spike emerged from the ridge on the underside of the Grotesquery's wrist and jabbed into Tanith's side. She cried out and the spike retracted, returning to its sheath. Skulduggery caught Tanith as she collapsed.

  He backed away. The Grotesquery looked at its hands and flexed its fingers, as if with each passing moment it was discovering what it could do.

  Valkyrie and Kenspeckle ran up. Tanith was unconscious. Her veins were visible through her

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  skin, and they were a sickly green color.

  "She's been infected," Kenspeckle said. "Helaquin poison. She has maybe twenty minutes before she dies."

  "How do we cure it?" Skulduggery asked.

  The alarm whined and went silent, and the sprinklers cut off.

  "I haven't seen this poison for fifty years," Kenspeckle said. "I don't have an antidote here. There is some at the Sanctuary, if we can get there in time."

  "I'll lead the Grotesquery away," Valkyrie said. "Meet you at the car."

  Skulduggery looked up sharply. "What? No! You take Tanith-- "

  "Don't tell her this," Valkyrie said, "but she's too heavy for me to carry." And she ran before Skulduggery could stop her.

  "Valkyrie!" he roared.

  Her boots splashed as she sprinted. The Grotesquery held its arms wide, welcoming her. There was no way past it on either side, and she didn't have Tanith's ceiling-running skills, so the Grotesquery reached for her and Valkyrie dropped, sliding on the wet floor, between its legs. Once she

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  was clear, she scrambled up and ran on.

  She glanced back. The Grotesquery was turning, following her.

  So that worked, Valkyrie thought to herself. Now what the hell am 1 going to do?

  Just as she turned the corner, Skulduggery shouted something, something that sounded like the vanity light. She kept running. She passed the elevators, shut down because of the fire alert, and headed for the back stairs. The Grotesquery hadn't even reached the corner yet.

  She slowed, catching her breath, keeping her eyes on the corner. The vanity light. What had Skulduggery meant?

  The Grotesquery came around the corner. The back stairs, the ones that joined up with the main stairs behind the screen, were right behind her, and she readied herself to sprint if the patchwork monstrosity came up with any more surprises.

  And then it disappeared, as though it had been swallowed by the empty space around it. Valkyrie blinked.

  Another of its hybrid abilities, like the stinger and the acid and the unraveling arm. Teleportation.

  Skulduggery hadn't said the vanity light, he had

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  said The Vanishing Night. The Vanishing Night had been one of Gordon's earliest bestsellers. It had dealt with a creature, a Shibbach, that could appear anywhere, commit a very messy and overly detailed murder, then vanish and reappear a hundred miles away. She remembered Gordon now, the Gordon in the Echo Stone, telling her about the pieces of a Shibbach that Vengeous had grafted on.

  Valkyrie didn't even have to look around to know the Grotesquery was behind her. She tried to run but her boot slipped on the wet floor just as its right hand snatched at her. She fell sideways, glimpsed the Grotesquery's bandaged head, and tumbled down the stairs. She sprawled to a painful stop, grabbed the banister, and hauled herself to her feet. She was at the main stairs now, and she took them two at a time, going dangerously fast.

  She reached the ground and sprinted for the screen, passed through, and leaped off the stage. She ran for the exit and crashed through the door, and the midday sunlight struck her like a fist.

  "Valkyrie!" Skulduggery shouted.

  The Bentley was ahead, engine running, and beyond it Baron Vengeous was striding thr
ough the lane toward them, followed by Sanguine and Dusk

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  and his pack of Infected.

  The Grotesquery stepped out of thin air with a soft whump. Valkyrie dodged it and ran as the Bentley started moving. She jumped for the open window, and Kenspeckle grabbed her and dragged her in as Skulduggery floored it. Tanith was in the backseat, still unconscious, and when Valkyrie righted herself, she looked back and saw Baron Vengeous approaching the Grotesquery.

  The Grotesquery turned its head, keeping its eyeless gaze fixed on the car.

  "Seat belt," Skulduggery said.

  Chapter Twenty-eight

  GOOD GUYS CONVENE

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  DLISS, FLANKED BY Cleavers, was waiting at the rear of the Sanctuary. The Bentley pulled up sharply and Bliss yanked the door open, then lifted Tanith out.

  Her veins were sickly yellow spiderwebs that spread beneath her waxy skin, and she was barely breathing.

  "Out of my way, out of my way," Kenspeckle muttered, shoving people aside. Bliss laid Tanith on the ground and handed Kenspeckle three different colored leaves. Kenspeckle wrapped them around each other, tightly, then held them between his

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  clasped hands and closed his eyes. A light shone from within, bright enough to almost turn his hands translucent. Valkyrie could see the bones of his fingers.

  The light faded. Bliss took a clear tube and held it out, and Kenspeckle opened his hands slightly. He let a fine, multicolored dust-- the remains of the leaves-- sift gently into the tube. Bliss added a few drops of a deep red liquid that smelled vaguely of sulfur, and Kenspeckle took the tube and shook it, mixing the contents.

  Bliss handed him a syringe gun, and Kenspeckle loaded the tube into it.

  "Hold her," Kenspeckle said.

  Bliss placed his hands on Tanith's shoulders, Skulduggery held down one arm, and Valkyrie pinned the other. The Cleavers secured her legs. Kenspeckle pressed the syringe gun to Tanith's neck, and the gun hissed with compressed air. The concoction emptied into her bloodstream.

  Tanith thrashed and Valkyrie lost her grip on her arm. She grabbed it again, struggled to press it to the ground, eventually had to kneel on it to keep it in place. Tanith bucked and writhed as the antidote worked through her. The yellow veins surged

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  red, and her muscles knotted and strained.

  "Try to make sure she doesn't swallow her tongue," Kenspeckle said.

  And then Tanith went limp, and the veins were no longer visible. Color returned to her face.

  "Will she be all right?" Valkyrie asked.

  Kenspeckle raised an eyebrow. "Am I a magic-scientific genius or am I not?"

  "You . . . you are."

  "Then of course she'll be all right," he said. "Which is more than I can say for my assistants. Do you know how hard it is to get good assistants these days? Granted, neither of them were actually any good, but . . ."He brushed his hands off and shook his head. "They were fine lads. They didn't deserve to die like that." He looked at Skulduggery. "You'll stop it, then?"

  "We'll stop it."

  "Fair enough." Kenspeckle stood up. "Let's get her inside."

  Valkyrie was sore. Her arm was stiffening up and her body was covered in bruises. She had cut her lip without realizing it, and for some reason had a black eye-- presumably the result of crashing the

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  van or the tumble she'd taken down the stairs.

  Tanith was sitting beside her, and she was sulking. Tanith always sulked when she lost a fight. After she had fought the White Cleaver last year, she had spent most of her recovery time staring out the window, scowling.

  The antidote had neutralized the effects of the Helaquin poison, and the wound the stinger had made was already stitched up and healing. The moment she was able, Tanith had gone off and sharpened her sword. It lay on the table before them in its black scabbard.

  They were in the Sanctuary meeting room. Mr. Bliss was seated at the far end of the table, and Skulduggery was standing against the wall, arms crossed, and unmoving.

  The doors opened. Guild stalked in.

  "Who do I blame?" he thundered. "Tell me, who? We had the Grotesquery in custody? We had it and I wasn't informed?"

  "I take full responsibility," Skulduggery said.

  "You do, do you? That would be quite noble if I wouldn't be blaming you anyway! You went behind my back, Detective. You requested the services of three Cleavers for guard duty and you didn't follow

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  procedure. Where are those Cleavers now?"

  Skulduggery hesitated. "They were killed."

  "Well, that's marvelous news, isn't it?" Guild snapped. "Tell me, is there any part of this operation that you didn't botch?"

  "Operation's not over yet."

  Guild glared. "You're lucky I even let you in here, Detective. I don't know how Eachan Meritorious handled things, but your reckless behavior will not be tolerated by the new Council!"

  "Council of one," Tanith murmured.

  Guild whirled. "I'm sorry? I didn't quite catch that. Could you repeat what you said so we can all hear it?"

  Tanith looked at him. "Sure. I said 'Council of one,' referring to the fact that the Council is not the Council until it has all three members."

  The Elder Mage bristled. "Your opinion is of little consequence in this country, Miss Low. You work for the Sanctuary in London; you shouldn't even be here."

  "Actually I'm freelance," Tanith responded.

  "And I requested her help," Skulduggery said. "It seems we could use it. Didn't you say we would be getting reinforcements?"

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  Guild's face went red, but Bliss spoke before he could start shouting again.

  "All the offers of international aid have been withdrawn. In the past few hours there have been attacks on personnel connected to practically every Sanctuary around the world."

  "Distractions," Skulduggery said, "to keep everyone else busy. We've been isolated."

  "Indeed we have."

  "But who would be powerful enough to organize all this?" Valkyrie asked. "Vengeous?"

  "This has taken a lot of planning," Skulduggery said. "Vengeous wouldn't have had the time."

  "That's not what we should be concentrating on," Guild snapped. "We have to find the Grotesquery and stop it. That is our one and only concern."

  "The lunar eclipse will take place at ten minutes past midnight tonight," Bliss said. "That leaves us with nine hours until the Grotesquery is strong enough to open the portal."

  Guild laid both hands flat on the table. "So what are we doing about it? Please tell me we're not all sitting around just waiting for something to happen!"

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  "We have all the sensitives on alert," Skulduggery said. "Every psychic and Seer we know is reaching out."

  "And if they don't find anything, Skeleton?"

  Skulduggery, who was still leaning against the wall, still with his arms crossed, tilted his head as he looked back at Guild. "Then I recommend we work the case."

  "What does that even mean?" Guild raged. "We are facing a global catastrophe that could mean the end of everything, and you're talking about working the case?"

  "I'm a detective," Skulduggery said. "It's what I do."

  "Well you haven't been doing a very good job of it, have you?"

  Skulduggery stood up straight now, hands down by his sides. "Working backward," he said calmly. "Person or persons unknown have arranged to isolate us just when we need reinforcements to stop the Grotesquery. The Grotesquery is up and about because Vengeous finally got the missing ingredients he'd needed. Vengeous is out of his secret prison because Billy-Ray Sanguine broke in and freed him. Billy-Ray Sanguine knew where

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  this secret prison was located because somebody in a position of power divulged this information."

  "You're getting off topic again." Guild scowled.

  "Somebody in a position of power," Skulduggery continued, "divulged th
is information, presumably for a big reward. Now, here's where I start speculating. It's possible that this same somebody rose to this position of power only because he promised that once he was there, he would find the location of the secret prison, and pass it on. He would have made a deal with a powerful person or persons unknown, very possibly the same powerful person or persons unknown who have isolated us from the international community. But very likely he wouldn't have known who these mysterious benefactors planned to break out of that secret prison or, indeed, why."

  Guild narrowed his eyes. "You better not be implying what I think you're implying."

  Skulduggery nodded to a slim file on the table. "That file is a record of the meetings you've had with other Councils across the world since you were elected Grand Mage. You have had approximately twice the number of meetings with the Russian Council as you have had with anyone else."

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  "These are official Sanctuary matters and are none of your business," Guild said, the veins in his neck standing out.

  "Three of those meetings were about security concerns in the wake of Serpine's activities, where you would have been privy to confidential information including, but not restricted to, the location of various secret prisons in Russian territories."

  Guild stalked up to Skulduggery, and for a moment Valkyrie thought he might hit him. Skulduggery didn't move a fraction.

  "You are accusing me of aiding a prison break?"

  "Like I said, I'm speculating. But if I were to accuse you of anything, it would probably be more along the lines of treason."

  "You're fired," Guild said.

  Skulduggery tilted his head. "You can't afford to lose me."