They ran on, until Valkyrie pointed at a door and Skulduggery blasted it open.
Kenspeckle Grouse leaped to his feet, snarling. Tanith could barely raise her head. Ghastly moved to Kenspeckle and hit him with a right cross. Kenspeckle laughed. He pushed Ghastly and Ghastly hit the far wall. Kenspeckle threw his chair at Skulduggery and used the distraction to get closer. He laughed again as he yanked Skulduggery’s arm from his shoulder. Skulduggery roared in pain and Kenspeckle shoved him away. Valkyrie splayed her hand against the air and Kenspeckle went tumbling backwards.
There were footsteps behind her and Davina Marr burst into the room. “Do not move!” she commanded, gun aimed at Kenspeckle.
Kenspeckle snarled again and turned on his knees, his mouth opening wide. Something bulged in his throat, something that was trying to crawl its way out. If that Remnant got loose in here, it could possess any one of them, or seize its chance to escape, and they’d never get it back. Valkyrie ran forward and kicked, the toe of her boot slamming into Kenspeckle’s chin. He lifted slightly with the impact and dropped on to his back.
Marr hurried over, shackles in his hand. She cuffed Kenspeckle’s wrists behind him, sealing the Remnant back inside. Valkyrie looked around, realising there were Cleavers over by Tanith, freeing her from the seat.
“This won’t hold me for long,” Kenspeckle said, spitting blood as Marr hauled him up. “I’ll get out. I’ll come for you. Every last one of you.”
“Cleavers” Marr said, “take him away.”
Fletcher came in as Kenspeckle was led out.
“Fletcher,” Skulduggery said, stifling a groan as he fixed his arm into place, “take Tanith to the Sanctuary. She needs urgent medical attention.”
“You got it,” Fletcher said, gently placing his hand on Tanith’s arm. They vanished.
“Did you catch Scarab?” Ghastly asked Marr when he’d picked himself up off the floor.
Marr shook her head. “All the major players are gone. All we’ve come across so far are Hollow Men.”
“Look what I found,” Detective Pennant said as he walked in. He was smiling triumphantly, a strange stone hourglass in his hand. Green liquid sloshed inside the twin vials. “Looks like they left without their toy.”
Valkyrie stared. “That’s the Desolation Engine?”
“I found a bunch of other stuff,” Pennant continued. “Bits and pieces, junk really. One of the Cleavers is taking it to the boffins to make them happy. But this – this is the big one.”
“That bomb is live,” Skulduggery said quietly.
Pennant laughed. “It can’t be live. The old man didn’t have time to fix it. You’re talking days of work and he had, what, a few hours?”
“There are three steps to setting that thing off. Do you see the way the liquid is slightly luminous? That tells us it’s live. That’s the first step. The second step is arming it. We’ll know that happens when the liquid turns red and starts to bubble. The third and final step is when it’s triggered. Detective Pennant, you are two steps away from obliterating us all. Maybe you should hand that over to me.”
Skulduggery stepped forward, but Marr took it from Pennant before Skulduggery got near. “You may have been granted temporary authority, Mr Pleasant, but I am still Prime Detective and, as such, this is my responsibility. Once it has been declared safe by Sanctuary experts, maybe then I will allow you to examine it. But right now, this is ours.”
Pennant strained to look professional, even as he backed away from the bomb.
Fletcher appeared beside Valkyrie and she jumped.
“Sorry,” he said. “The doctors are looking at Tanith now.” He saw Pennant and waved. “Hi. Didn’t I beat you up once?” Pennant glared, but said nothing.
“You should all return with us to the Sanctuary for a debriefing,” said Marr. She hadn’t even glanced at the Engine. “Standard operating procedure.”
“But as you’ve just pointed out,” Skulduggery said, “we’re not official Sanctuary operatives, so I think we’ll be skipping that part of things, if it’s all right with you.”
“It’s not all right with me.”
“And yet we’re going to skip it anyway. Please, feel free to tell Thurid Guild that this was all your doing, while we focus on going after Scarab and his lot. And don’t worry, when we arrest them, you can tell everyone you did it. We don’t do what we do for the glory or the fame or the credit; we do it for the quiet satisfaction of making the world a better place, saving the lives of innocents, and being better than you are.”
Skulduggery tilted his head to one side and Valkyrie knew he was smiling.
“I’ll be back in a minute,” said Valkyrie, making for the stairs.
“I’ll come with you,” Fletcher said, following.
She turned. “Why?”
“Why what?”
“I’m just going up to the study.”
“I’ll help you.”
“You don’t read.”
“I read loads. Just not when you’re around.”
“Read down here.”
“Why can’t I come up?”
“Because the study is a treasure trove of secrets, and somewhere I like to be alone. It’s my uncle’s space.”
“What’s a trove?”
“A trove is a collection of valuable objects.”
“How would you know that?”
“It’s the kind of thing Skulduggery tells me.”
“You must have scintillating conversations.”
“They do put this one in the shade. I like the use of scintillating by the way.”
“I thought you’d be impressed. So can I see the study?”
“You ask that like you think you’ve argued your point and won.”
“I haven’t?”
“Big words don’t win arguments.”
She left him and climbed the stairs. The study was the same as she’d left it – books on shelves, notes in bundles, awards as paperweights. Valkyrie closed the door and pulled back the false book on the far bookcase, causing the bookcase to swing open. She walked through into the hidden room, the room that contained all of her uncle’s most secret magical possessions. The Echo Stone glowed on the table, and Gordon Edgley shimmered into existence before her.
“Well?” he asked. “How did the rescue mission go? How is Skulduggery?”
“Oh, yes, we got him back.”
“You did? Well, that’s wonderful news! I’m so happy!”
“Yeah.”
Gordon looked around. “I’m always in this room. There are no windows in here.” He looked back at her. “What’s wrong? You