“I don’t understand,” Skulduggery continued. “Were you talking to him?”
“This morning,” Mr Bliss said. He had a resigned tone to his voice, and Stephanie narrowed her eyes. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong. She stepped back, but Skulduggery was too caught up in the conversation to notice.
“Did you see him?” Skulduggery said, moving closer to Bliss. “You saw him and you didn’t take him down?”
“The reaches of his power were unknown to me and I do not start battles I cannot win. It was too dangerous.”
“Where is he? The Elders are looking for him!”
“They don’t need to. He will go to them when the time is right.”
“Why did you meet him?”
“Serpine had something to say. I listened.”
“What are you talking about?”
“He already knows about the caves. The only thing that had delayed him is the search for the key.”
Skulduggery looked at Mr Bliss. Mr Bliss looked at Skulduggery. Stephanie realised that he was standing right on the edge of the cliff.
Mr Bliss put a hand on Skulduggery’s chest and before Stephanie could even shout he shoved, and Skulduggery shot backward over the edge and disappeared from view. And then Mr Bliss turned to her.
THE CAVE
She glanced back but Bliss wasn’t there, and then a shadow fell across her and he dropped from the sky. She ran straight into him and stumbled back. His hand moved like an attacking snake, snatching the brooch from her grasp. She landed on the seat of her jeans.
She looked to the edge of the cliff, expecting to see Skulduggery swoop up to save her. He didn’t. Mr Bliss slipped the brooch into his jacket.
“You’re going to give it to him,” Stephanie said.
“I am.”
“Why?”
“He’s too powerful to fight.”
“But you’re stronger than anyone! If you all go after him—”
“I do not gamble, Miss Cain. If we went after him, we might beat him, or he might elude us and strike at us when we least expect it. It is far too unpredictable for my liking. War should be a delicate thing. It requires precision.”
Stephanie frowned. Those words. Those eyes, the palest blue…
“China betrayed us too,” she said, understanding. “It must run in the family.”
“My sister’s affairs, and her motivations, are her own.”
“Is she siding with Serpine as well?”
“Not to my knowledge,” Mr Bliss answered. “But then, I could be lying. That’s the thing about allies and enemies – you’re never quite sure which is which until the final move is made.”
Stephanie got to her feet as he walked to his car, powerless to get the brooch back.
“We’re going to stop him,” she called out.
“Do what you must,” Mr Bliss said without looking back. He got into his car and, without another glance at her, drove off down the dirt road away from the Martello tower, heading out of town. She watched the dust kick up in his wake then hurried down the narrow path to the bottom of the cliffs.
Please be all right, she repeated in her head. Please be all right please be all right.
When she finally reached the bottom of the path she looked over at the rocks, terrified that she might see him there. A fall like that would have smashed his bones to pieces. He wasn’t on the rocks, however, so she turned her attention to the sea, just as Skulduggery’s head broke the surface of the water.
“Skulduggery?” she called out, relief sweeping through her. “Are you all right?” He didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he kept rising, rising straight up out of the sea until he was standing on the waves.
“I’m fine,” he said curtly, walking to her. Stephanie had seen such peculiarities over the past few days that she was mildly surprised when anything struck her as odd any more, but Skulduggery walking on water definitely struck her as odd. He bobbed up and down with the waves but kept his balance perfectly, and when he stepped off the water on to the path, the vapour rose from his suit and dropped back into the sea. His clothes, she noticed, were undamaged by the fall.
“So that’s why Serpine didn’t send anyone after us,” he said sourly. “He let us go so that we’d get the key, knowing he had someone on the inside to get the key from us. That’s just… that’s just cheating.”
“Do you know anyone who wouldn’t betray you?” Stephanie asked as they started walking back up the path.
“Hush now.”
“And thanks for letting me know that Mr Bliss and China were brother and sister, by the way.”
“You’re welcome.”
“If I’d have known that, I might have been able to warn you not to trust him.”
“I must admit, China’s treachery didn’t come as a surprise, but Mr Bliss… He never does anything without due consideration.”
“I suppose he thought Serpine was the winning side.”
“Maybe.”
“So what do we do now? We can’t let Serpine find the Sceptre; he’ll be unstoppable.”
“What do you suggest?”
“I suggest I go get my work clothes, let my reflection out of the mirror, and we follow him into the caves and get the Sceptre before he does.”
“That’s a very good plan. We’ll do that then.”
*
They arrived at Gordon’s estate to find a gleaming silver car parked outside and the front door once again lying in the hallway. Skulduggery led the way into the house, revolver in hand. Stephanie followed close behind, clad all in black. They gave the ground floor a cursory examination before moving downstairs into the cellar.
The key was in the lock and the door was revealed. A section of the floor was open, exposing stone steps descending into the earth. They followed these steps, sinking deeper into the gloom. They walked in near darkness for a few minutes until they came to the bottom, then walked through a narrow tunnel carved out of the rock. It was brighter down here, their way lit by dozens of small holes designed to catch the sunlight from above and cast it down into the depths.
They stepped out of the tunnel into a cave that split in two directions.
“Which way?” Stephanie whispered.
Skulduggery extended his arm and opened his hand. After a moment, he nodded. “A group of them, headed north.”
“Are you reading the air?” Stephanie asked, frowning.
“Reading disturbances in the air, yes.”
“So do we go after them?”
Skulduggery thought on this. “They don’t know the exact location of the Sceptre any more than we do. They chose that path as simply the place