“They’ve been trying to contact you. The Administrator, the Sanctuary.”
“What’s wrong?” Stephanie asked.
“The Elders,” Tanith said, her voice empty. “Sagacious Tome betrayed them. The Elders are dead.”
Stephanie’s hand was at her mouth. “Oh, God.”
“Tome’s been working with Serpine all along. He’s a traitor. Like Mr Bliss. They’re all traitors. Skulduggery, what are we going to do?”
Stephanie looked to him, praying that he’d come up with a great new plan, a scheme to ensure victory and a happy ending. He didn’t answer.
“Did you hear me?” Tanith continued, the emptiness in her voice giving way to sudden anger. “Are you even listening? Do you even care? Maybe you don’t. Maybe you want to die again; maybe you want to join your wife and child, but hey! We don’t want to die, OK? I don’t. Valkyrie doesn’t.”
Skulduggery stood there. A mannequin. Silent.
“Do you think we stand a chance against Serpine?” Tanith asked. “Tome? Bliss? That Cleaver? Do you really think we stand a chance against all of them?”
“What do you suggest we do?” Skulduggery said, his voice slow and steady. “Stand back and let Serpine grow stronger? Stand back and let him recruit more allies, let him open the door and let the Faceless Ones come through?”
“He’s winning, OK? Serpine is winning this war!”
“No such thing.”
“What?”
“There’s no such thing as winning or losing. There is won and there is lost; there is victory and defeat. There are absolutes. Everything in between is still left to fight for. Serpine will have won only when there is no one left to stand against him. Until then, there is only the struggle, because tides do what tides do – they turn.”
“This is insane—”
He turned to her so sharply Stephanie thought he might strike her.
“I’ve just seen a very dear friend turn into a statue, Tanith. Meritorious and Crow, two of the few people in this world I respected, have been murdered. So yes, you’re right when you say our allies are dropping like flies, but this was never going to be an easy fight. Casualties are to be expected. And you know what we do? We step over them and we move on because we don’t have any other choice. Now I’m going to stop Serpine once and for all. Anyone who wants to come with me, they’re welcome. Anyone who doesn’t, it won’t make a blind bit of difference. Serpine will be stopped and that’s all there is to it.”
He got into the Bentley and started the engine. Stephanie hesitated, then opened the passenger door and slid in. She glanced at Skulduggery as she buckled up but he was staring straight ahead. He waited three seconds, then put the car in gear and was about to drive off when Tanith got in behind them.
“No need to get all dramatic about it,” she muttered and Stephanie managed to smile. Skulduggery pulled out on to the road, driving fast.
“Where are we going?” Stephanie asked.
“Weren’t you listening?” Skulduggery responded, sounding like he was back to his old self. “We’re going to stop Serpine. I just made a whole speech about it. It was very good.”
Tanith leaned forward. “You know where he is?”
“Yes, I do. It came to me just there as I was filling the tank.”
“What did?”
“The Sceptre. Why did Serpine go after the Sceptre?”
Stephanie frowned. “Because it’s the ultimate weapon.”
“And why did he want it?”
“To, you know, to retrieve the ritual he needs to bring the Faceless Ones back, to force whoever knows it to tell him.”
“No.”
“He isn’t going to use it to retrieve the ritual?”
“The Sceptre’s too clumsy, too unwieldy. If he threatens to kill the only person in the world who knows how to work the ritual – what if that person chooses death rather than hand it over? What’s he supposed to do then? No. He used the Sceptre to kill the Elders. That’s the only reason he wanted it. He knew he wasn’t powerful enough to take them on without it.”
“And so how does that help him retrieve the ritual?”
“This isn’t just about the ritual any more. What do you get if you kill the Elders?”
“This sounds like a joke.”
“Valkyrie—”
“I don’t know.”
“Yes, you do. Now think. What would killing the Elders result in?”
“Panic? Fear? Three empty parking spaces in the Sanctuary?”
Skulduggery looked at her and Stephanie’s confusion lifted. “Oh, God,” she said.
“He’s after the Book,” Skulduggery said. “He needed the Sceptre to kill Meritorious and Morwenna Crow in order to dismantle the spell protecting it. He doesn’t have to force anyone to do anything; all he’ll have to do is ask. He’s been after the Book of Names all along.”
CARNAGE
Stephanie had expected to arrive in the middle of a pitched battle – she expected to hear the sounds of fighting. But the Waxworks was silent. As they walked through the exhibits to the hidden door, Skulduggery slowed and eventually came to a complete stop.
“What’s wrong?” Stephanie whispered.
He turned his head slowly, peering into the darkness. “I don’t want to alarm anybody, but we’re not alone.”
That’s when they came, the Hollow Men, detaching themselves from the shadows with only the faintest rasp of warning. In an instant they were surrounded by the mindless, heartless, soulless things.
Tanith waded through them, her sword strokes deliberate and devastating, every move claiming another un-life. Skulduggery clicked his fingers and a group of Hollow Men were suddenly alight. Stephanie shrank back as they wheeled around blindly. The flames ate through their skin and ignited the putrid gas trapped inside, and with a burst of fire and heat, the Hollow Men fell.
One of them avoided the flames and lunged at Stephanie and she punched it square in the face, her fist sinking into its head slightly. Its own fist swung at her and she ducked, then moved into it like she’d seen Skulduggery do, jammed her hip into it and twisted, and the Hollow Man hit the ground. It wasn’t graceful and it wasn’t pretty, but it worked. While it was down there she grabbed its wrist and stomped on its chest, and with a loud tear she pulled its arm off.
As the Hollow Man deflated beneath her, Stephanie realised everything had gone quiet again. She looked up at Skulduggery and Tanith,