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“You can’t leave me alone,” she said, following him into the living room.
“Yes,” he corrected, “I can. You’ll be perfectly safe.”
“The front door’s off!”
“Well, yes. You’ll be perfectly safe as long as they don’t come through the front door.”
He pulled on his coat but she snatched his hat away.
“Are you taking my hat hostage?” he asked doubtfully.
“You’re either staying here to make sure no one else attacks me or you’re taking me with you.”
Skulduggery froze. “That,” he said eventually, “wouldn’t be too safe for you.”
“Neither would being left here on my own.”
“But you can hide,” he said, gesturing around the room. “There’s so many places to hide. I’m sure there are plenty of good solid wardrobes your size. Even under a bed. You’d be surprised how many people don’t check under beds these days.”
“Mr Pleasant—”
“Skulduggery, please.”
“Skulduggery, you saved my life tonight. Are you going to undo all that effort by leaving me here so someone else can come along and just kill me?”
“That’s a very defeatist attitude you’ve got there. I once knew a fellow, a little older than you. He wanted to join me in my adventures, wanted to solve mysteries that beggared belief. He kept asking, kept on at me about it. He finally proved himself, after a long time, and we became partners.”
“And did you go on to have lots of exciting adventures?”
“I did. He didn’t. He died on our very first case together. Horrible death. Messy too. Lots of flailing around.”
“Well, I don’t plan on dying any time soon and I’ve got something he didn’t.”
“And that is…?”
“Your hat. Take me with you or I’ll stand on it.”
Skulduggery looked at her with his big hollow eye sockets, then held out his hand for his hat. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
5 (#u6c758559-290f-5778-be67-e22c5b0f77ea)
MEETING CHINA SORROWS
kulduggery Pleasant’s car was a 1954 Bentley R-Type Continental, one of only 208 ever made, a car that housed a six-cylinder, 4.5-litre engine, and was retro-fitted with central locking, climate control, satellite navigation and a host of other modern conveniences. Skulduggery told Stephanie all of this when she asked. She’d have been happy with, “It’s a Bentley.”
They left Gordon’s land via a back road at the rear of the estate to avoid the flooding, a road that Stephanie hadn’t even noticed until they were on it. Skulduggery told her he was a regular visitor here, and knew all the little nooks and crannies. They passed a sign for Haggard and she thought about asking him to drop her home, but quickly banished that idea from her head. If she went home now she’d be turning her back on everything she’d just seen. She needed to know more. She needed to see more.
“Where are we going?” she asked as they drove on.
“Into the city. I’ve got a meeting with an old friend. She might be able to shed some light on recent events.”
“Why were you at the house?”
“Sorry?”
“Tonight. Not that I’m not grateful, but how come you happened to be nearby?”
“Ah,” he said, nodding. “Yes, I can see how that question would arise.”
“So are you going to answer it?”
“That’s unlikely.”
“Well, why not?”
He glanced at her, or at least he turned his head a fraction. “The less you know about all this, the better. You’re a perfectly normal young lady, and after tonight, you’re going to return to your perfectly normal life. It wouldn’t do for you to get too involved in this.”
“But I am involved.”
“But we can limit that involvement.”
“But I don’t want to limit that involvement.”
“But it’s what’s best for you.”
“But I don’t want that!”
“But it might—”
“Don’t start another sentence with ‘but’.”
“Right. Sorry.”
“You can’t expect me to forget about all of this. I’ve seen magic and fire and you, and I’ve learned about wars they don’t tell us about in school. I’ve seen a world I never even knew existed.”
“Don’t you want to get back to that world? It’s safer there.”
“That’s not where I belong.”
Skulduggery turned his whole head to her and cocked it at an angle. “Funny. When I first met your uncle, that’s what he said too.”
“The things he wrote about,” Stephanie said, the idea just dawning on her, “are they true?”
“His books? No, not a one.”
“Oh.”
“They’re more inspired by true stories, really. He just changed them enough so he wouldn’t insult anyone and get hunted down and killed. Your uncle was a good man, he really was. We solved many mysteries together.”
“Really?”
“Oh, yes, you should be proud to have had an uncle like him. Of course, he got me into a hundred fights because I’d bring him somewhere, and he wouldn’t stop pestering people, but… Fun times. Fun times.”
They drove on until they saw the lights of the city looming ahead. Soon the darkness that surrounded the car was replaced with an orange haze that reflected off the wet roads. The city was quiet and still, the streets almost empty. They pulled into a small outdoor car park and Skulduggery switched off the engine and looked at Stephanie.
“OK then, you wait here.”
“Right.”
He got out. Two seconds passed, but Stephanie hadn’t tagged along just to wait on the sidelines – she needed to see what other surprises the world had in store for her. She got out and Skulduggery looked at her.
“Stephanie, I’m not altogether sure you’re respecting my authority.”
“No, I’m not.”
“I see. OK then.” He put on his hat and wrapped his scarf around his jaw, but did without the wig and the sunglasses. He clicked his keyring and the car beeped and the doors locked.
“That’s it?”
He looked up. “Sorry?”
“Aren’t you afraid it might get stolen? We’re not exactly in a good part of town.”
“It’s got a car alarm.”
“Don’t you, like, cast a spell or something? To keep it safe?”
“No. It’s a pretty good car alarm.”
He started walking. She hurried to keep up.
“Do you cast spells then?”
“Sometimes. I try not to depend on magic these days, I try to get by on what’s up here.” He tapped his head.
“There’s empty space up there.”
“Well, yes,” Skulduggery said irritably, “but you know what I mean.”
“What else can you do?”
“Sorry?”
“With magic. Show me something.”
If Skulduggery had had eyebrows, they would most likely be arched. “What, a living skeleton isn’t enough for you? You want more?”
“Yes,” Stephanie said. “Give me a tutorial.”
He shrugged. “Well, I suppose it couldn’t hurt. There are two types of mages, or sorcerers – Adepts practise one branch of magic, Elementals practise another. Adepts are more aggressive; their techniques are more immediately powerful. In contrast, an Elemental, such as myself, chooses the quieter course and works on mastering their command of the elements.”
“Command of the elements?”
“Maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration. We don’t command them as such, we manipulate them. We influence them.”
“Like what? Like earth, wind—”
“Water and fire, yes.”
“So show me.”
Skulduggery tilted his head a little to the right and she could hear the good humour in his voice. “Very well,” he said and held up his open hand in front of her. She frowned, feeling a little chilly, and then she became aware of a droplet of water running down her face. In an instant her hair was drenched, like she had just surfaced from a dive.
“How did you do that?” she asked, shaking her head, flinging drops of water away from her.
“You tell me,” Skulduggery answered.
“I don’t know. You did something to the moisture in the air?”
He looked down at her. “Very good,” he said, impressed. “The first element, water. We can’t part the Red Sea or anything, but we have a little influence with it.”
“Show me fire again,” Stephanie said eagerly.
Skulduggery snapped his gloved fingers and sparks flew, and he curled his hand and the sparks grew to flame, and he held that ball of flame in his palm as they walked. The flame intensified and Stephanie could feel her hair drying.
“Wow,” she said.
“Wow indeed,” Skulduggery responded and thrust his hand out, sending the ball of fire shooting through the air. It burned out as it arced in the night sky and faded to nothing.
“What about earth?” Stephanie asked, but Skulduggery shook his head.
“You don’t want to see that, and hopefully you’ll never have to. The earth power is purely defensive and purely for use as a last resort.”
“So what’s the most powerful? Is it fire?”
“That’s the flashiest, that gets all the ‘wows’, but you’d be surprised what a little air can do if you displace it properly. Displaced air doesn’t just disappear – it needs somewhere to be displaced to.”
“Can I see?”
They reached the edge of the car park and passed the low wall that encircled it. Skulduggery flexed his fingers and suddenly splayed his hand, snapping his palm towards the wall. The air rippled and the bricks exploded outwards. Stephanie stared at the brand-new hole in the wall.
“That,” she said, “is so cool.”
They walked on, Stephanie glancing back at the wall every so often. “What about the Adepts then? What can they do?”
“I knew a fellow, a few years ago, who could read minds. I met this woman once who could change her shape, become anyone, right in front of your eyes.”
“So who’s stronger?” Stephanie asked. “An Elemental or an Adept?”
