“Well what exactly do we know?” Morwenna asked. “We know he has a lunatic scheme to bring back the Faceless Ones, but we don’t know how he intends to do it.”
“Mr Bliss said the Sceptre was nothing more than a stepping stone,” Stephanie offered.
“This is a grown-up conversation,” Tome said, exasperated. “We don’t need input from you, child.”
Tanith and China spoke as one. “Don’t call her child.”
Clearly unused to admonitions from anyone who wasn’t an Elder, Tome spluttered a bit and his face grew redder. Stephanie did her best to hide her grin behind a mask of serene indifference. Tanith caught her eye and winked.
“If the Sceptre is a stepping stone,” Skulduggery said, ignoring Tome’s indignation, “then he’s going to use it to somehow retrieve the ritual he needs.”
“Then it’s our job to make sure that doesn’t happen,” Meritorious said. “Skulduggery, on behalf of the Council of Elders, I apologise for not involving you in this when we found Serpine’s surveillance team dead. I also apologise for not listening to your warnings.”
“Serpine would have had a back-up plan,” Skulduggery said. “That’s what makes him so dangerous.”
“Maybe so. I’m afraid it’s up to you and Miss Cain, and whoever else you might need, to try and find out what his next move is. I’m sorry for saddling you with that responsibility, but my fellow Elders and I are needed to prepare for all-out war.”
Skulduggery bowed slightly. “In that case, we’ll get right on it.”
“Thank you.”
Skulduggery wrapped the scarf around his face and put on his hat, then looked at the serious faces around him.
“Cheer up everyone,” he said, a new brightness to his voice. “Since we’re all going to die horribly anyway, what’s there to be worried about?”
Stephanie very much feared she was going ever so slightly insane, because she found herself agreeing wholeheartedly with the living skeleton she was now following out of the room.
The Bentley was waiting for them when they left the Sanctuary. It gleamed like it was glad to be back to its former beauty. Stephanie got in and sank into the seat. The Bentley smelled nice. It smelled how beautiful cars ought to smell. The Canary Car hadn’t smelled nice. It had just smelled yellow.
“It’s good to have it back,” Stephanie said when Skulduggery got in. “They worked miracles on it, they really did. Two days and it looks brand new.”
Skulduggery nodded. “Cost me a fortune.”
“It’s worth it.”
“Glad you think so. Also glad that I don’t have to eat anytime soon. Or at all.” She smiled and looked at him. He was looking out of the windscreen. Neither of them spoke for a few seconds.
“What is it?” she asked.
“I’m sorry?”
“You’re thinking about something.”
“I’m always thinking about something. Thinking is what I do. I’m very good at it.”
“But you’ve just figured something out.”
“And how did you know that?”
“You hold your head differently when you’ve just figured something out. So what is it?”
“It just occurred to me,” he said. “In the cave, the Sceptre’s crystal warned Serpine that I was close – but it didn’t warn him that you were right there beside him.”
She shrugged. “Maybe it didn’t see me as a threat. It’s not like I could have hurt him or anything.”
“That’s hardly the point,” Skulduggery said. “We may have found a weakness in the ultimate weapon.”
Stephanie frowned. “What?”
“Remember what Oisin, the nice man in the Echo Stone, said?” Skulduggery asked. “The black crystal sang to the gods whenever an enemy neared, but it was silent when the Ancients took it.”
“So, what, it thinks I’m an Ancient?”
“Technically, according to your father at least, you might well be.”
“Does that mean you’re starting to believe that they were more than just legends and myths?”
“I’m… keeping an open mind about it. The thing I still don’t understand, however, is why didn’t Gordon tell me about your family history? We were friends for years, we had conversations about the Ancients and the Faceless Ones that went on for days, so why didn’t he tell me?”
“Does it mean anything else? Being descended from the Ancients, I mean. What does it, what…”
“What does it signify?”
“Yes.”
“It means you’re special. It means you’re meant to do this – you’re meant to be involved in this world, in this life.”
“I am?”
“You are.”
“Then maybe that’s why he didn’t tell you. He wanted to write about it, from the outside, not be stuck in the middle of it all.”
He cocked his head. “You’re wise beyond your years, Valkyrie.”
“Yes,” she said. “Yes, I am.”
PLANNING FOR MURDER
Serpine climbed into the palm with ease and Bliss bowed slightly. Serpine, for his part, merely smiled.
“Do you have it?” Bliss asked.
“Luckily for you, yes.”
“Luckily for me?”
“My dear Mr Bliss, if I had gone down to those caves and emerged without the Sceptre, where would that have left you? You would be standing in one of those cages in the Sanctuary’s Gaol, powerless, awaiting judgement. Instead, you are here, standing with me, on the verge of a new world. Be thankful.”
“You seem to forget that if you had emerged with nothing, you’d be in the cage next to me…”
Serpine looked at him. A short time ago they would have been equals. But not now.
“… my master,” Bliss finished respectfully, inclining his head.
Serpine smiled again and turned his back to him, looking out through the curled fingers of the rock and down at the valley below them.
“Is it as powerful as the scholars have imagined?” Bliss asked.
“What the scholars have imagined pales in comparison to the reality. No one can stop us now.”
“The Elders,” Bliss said.
Serpine turned his head. “I have a plan to deal with the Elders. They are nothing if not predictable, and they will die because of it. Meritorious himself will crumble to dust. Nothing can stand