“Good day, Detectives.”
“Where is he, Mr Mien?”
“Good day.”
“How about the Summer of Light?”
Mien froze. Turned. “How do you know about that?”
“You know what it is?”
“No. No, I don’t have the first idea what it is. But the inmates... Our more psychologically disturbed inmates have taken to screaming about a man named Argeddion. They say he comes to them in their nightmares. Some of them have written his name, in their own blood, on the walls of their cells, along with that phrase. The Summer of Light.”
“What do they say about Argeddion?”
“Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Just his name and that he appears in their dreams.”
Skulduggery considered the gaoler. “We’d like to speak to one of these inmates, if you wouldn’t mind. Preferably one of the more lucid ones. Do you have the list there?”
Skulduggery walked up to him, Valkyrie following behind.
“What does any of this have to do with Nadir?” asked Mien.
Skulduggery didn’t get a chance to answer. An alarm rang out, so sudden and so loud it made Valkyrie jump. She looked around, looked back, and a wall of glass slammed down in front of her, sealing her off from Skulduggery and Mien. At that moment, sigils faded up along the walls, and she felt her power dampen. On the other side of the glass, Skulduggery looked at her, then spoke to Mien, who was clearly agitated. Valkyrie couldn’t hear a word of what they were saying. Mien hurried away, and she raised an eyebrow at Skulduggery.
His jaw moved up and down. She pointed at her mouth.
His hand went to his collarbones, and a false face spread over his skull. This time, she could read his lips.
Don’t panic, he said.
I’m not, she mouthed back.
He knocked on the glass. We can’t break through this. We’ll get you out in a second.
Cool.
Mien appeared behind Skulduggery. He looked even more agitated than before. Skulduggery exchanged words with him. A lot of words. Still the alarm rang out. Finally, Skulduggery turned back to her. Good news, he said. You can start panicking now.
She glared. He took out his phone and rang her.
“It seems that a riot has broken out,” he said when she answered. “That prisoner who was released back into the general population evidently started some trouble. Now, before you begin to worry, the section of the gaol that I’m standing in is completely secure. No problems here. I’m not in any danger whatsoever.”
“And the section I’m standing in?”
“Well,” he said, “the important thing to remember is that I’m perfectly safe.”
Valkyrie sighed. “I’m stuck in here with the bad guys, aren’t I?”
“Or you could be glass-half-full about it and say that they are stuck in there with you. Which might make you feel better.”
“It really doesn’t.”
“Mien’s working on a way to isolate this corridor from the rest of the gaol in order to get the door open, but it might take – oh, do you mind holding on for a moment? I have another call coming in.”
She stared. “What?”
The line went silent, and she watched Skulduggery talk into his phone. She knocked on the glass. He held up a finger as he spoke.
She stood there and fumed.
Finally, he nodded to her, and she raised her phone to her ear.
“You look angry,” he said.
“You put me on hold.”
“For a very good reason.”
“You put me,” she said very, very slowly, “on hold.”
“And judging by the look on your face, and what a pretty face it is, I’m going to be very sorry about that later on. Back to now, though, that was Ghastly. A few moments ago I called him, asked him to get a Sensitive to run a remote scan of the facility, just out of curiosity. I wanted to know where the power was coming from to keep this place oscillating between dimensions. It’s coming from deep down in the lower levels.”
“Yay,” Valkyrie growled, still glaring.
“Before his apparent demise, Silas Nadir was a Dimensional Shunter. He could move himself, or other people or objects – such as the bodies of his victims – into different realities. They call it shunting.”
“I gathered that. You think he’s still alive and he’s being kept in the basement, where he’s constantly shunting this whole building around.”
“Yes, I do.”
“And you can’t get to the basement, can you? But I can. And that’s where you want me to go. You want me, a seventeen-year-old girl without any magic or protection, to wander through a prison while the convicted murderers and God-knows-whats are running around having a riot. Is that what you want me to do, Skulduggery?”
“It is.”
“And is this a safe thing for me to do, Skulduggery?”
“It isn’t. But there are two very good reasons why you should do it anyway. Reason number one, it’s our chance to look around without Mien’s interference. Reason number two, the corridor you’re standing in will soon be filled with convicts.”
“How do you know?”
“You heard Mien. The front door is the only exit. This is the only corridor to the front door. There are bound to be some convicts who are going to try and take advantage of the distraction the riot provides.”
“So I should go now, before they get here.”
“Indeed you should. Keep your phone to your ear, I’ll guide you.”
“How do you know the way?”
“I glanced at the schematic on the way in.”
“You memorised it?”
“Glancing, memorising, it’s the same thing. You should really, really go now.”
She took a deep breath. “Get this door open and come after me.”
“Count on it.”
Valkyrie looked at him, then turned, ran down the corridor and round the corner.
“At the junction,” Skulduggery said, “turn right. Can you see anyone?”
“No,” she said, moving fast, “not yet.”
“Hopefully, we’ll be able to keep you out of sight. You won’t be in the prison area as such – but then neither will the prisoners, so...”
“I have to admit,” she said, “I’m worrying.”
“Perfectly understandable. I’m heading to the security room. I’ll be able to see you on the monitors soon enough. You should be seeing three doors ahead of you.”
“Yeah, I’ve just reached them.”
“Take the second one to your left.”
She tried it. “It’s locked.”
“Kick it open.”
“It’s a sturdy door, Skulduggery.”
“But it’s not reinforced. It’s not designed to keep any prisoners in or out, it’s designed to keep unauthorised personnel from going places they don’t have clearance for. It’s just a simple door