Skulduggery Pleasant: Books 1 - 12. Derek Landy

to accept that there are aspects to this life that are beyond our current understanding?”

      Paddy shrugged. “The older you get, the more you realise you don’t actually know. So, yes, I accept that.”

      “And what about magic?”

      “Bunny-from-a-top-hat magic?”

      “No.”

      “You mean real magic? Do I believe real magic exists?”

      “Do you?”

      Paddy paused a moment. “Funny you should say that. My father, Pat Hanratty, he believed. At least, I think he did. From little things he said when I was growing up, I got that impression. Why do you ask?”

      Skulduggery looked at Valkyrie, and Valkyrie clicked her fingers and summoned a flame.

      Paddy’s face cracked and Valkyrie realised he was smiling. “Well, that is impressive, I have to say. How do you do it?”

      “Magic,” Valkyrie said and pulled back her sleeve to show that it was no trick.

      Paddy’s smile faded a little. “I’m … I’m not sure I understand …”

      “Your father was right,” Skulduggery said. “Real magic exists. Real sorcerers exist. Paddy, there are bad people who want to change the world, and they need this land to do it.”

      Paddy shook his head slowly. “I don’t know what you want …”

      “This land is important,” Valkyrie said, extinguishing the flame. “This is where it will all happen.”

      “Where what will happen?”

      “A gateway will open,” Skulduggery told him, “between this world and another, and the Faceless Ones will come through.”

      “Faceless …?

      “They’re the bad guys. We’re the good guys.”

      “No offence,” Paddy said, “but I think you’re both a little insane.”

      Skulduggery took off his sunglasses, and his scarf, and his hat, and Paddy stared at him.

      “No,” the old man said. “Apparently, I’m the insane one.”

      Valkyrie watched him carefully. His face was pale and his eyes were wide, and she readied herself to rush forward if he passed out. But instead of passing out, Paddy pressed his lips together and nodded.

      “All right. OK. Fair enough. You’re a skeleton.”

      “I am.”

      “Right so. Just making sure. And you, are you magic too?”

      “I am,” Valkyrie said.

      “Right. I might need to sit down.”

      “Before you do that,” Skulduggery said, “I want to introduce you to some friends of ours.”

      The side door of the van opened and Ghastly and Tanith got out, followed by Fletcher.

      Paddy stared at Ghastly. “What happened to you?”

      “I was cursed before I was born,” Ghastly told him.

      “That’d do it all right. And you’re all magic then? Even the boy with the ridiculous hair?”

      “I’m Fletcher Renn,” Fletcher scowled. “I’m the most important person in the world right now.”

      Paddy looked at Fletcher, then at Skulduggery and turned to Valkyrie. “Does magic automatically make you an insufferable pain, or am I just lucky to get two at the same time?”

      “Just lucky,” she grinned.

      He shook his head in wonder. “My father would have loved this. He would have really loved this. And my land is important, is it?”

      “Very,” Skulduggery said and turned to Fletcher. He told him what to do and Fletcher looked at him sceptically, but eventually did as he was instructed. He raised his hands and walked slowly forward with his eyes closed. Skulduggery followed.

      Leaving Tanith with Ghastly, Valkyrie and Paddy walked along behind.

      “Do you still need to sit down?” she asked.

      “I think I’m OK, thank you.”

      She looked at the shovel in his hands. “Working hard?”

      He nodded. “Digging. Do you have a spell for digging?”

      “Uh, not that I know of …”

      “That would have been handy. I wasted so much of my life digging holes with a shovel. I probably wasted so much of my life doing other things as well. Life would have been easier with magic. What’s it like?”

      For a moment Valkyrie was going to downplay everything, but the look in his eyes made her tell the truth. “It’s amazing,” she admitted.

      “How do you know I can even do this?” she heard Fletcher ask.

      “You can do this because it’s something you can do,” Skulduggery said. “You’ll start to feel a tingling sensation when you’re at a spot where the walls of reality are thinnest.”

      “Tingling?”

      “Or tickling. Or burning.”

      “Burning?”

      “Or you might get a toothache or a nosebleed or you might have a seizure – it’s hard to say.”

      “I might have a seizure?”

      “Don’t worry, I’ll stop you from swallowing your tongue.”

      Fletcher scowled.

      “Can I ask you something?” Paddy said quietly. “When you meet the people you used to know, like other kids your age, what do you feel? Do you despise them?”

      “Why would I despise them?”

      “Someone who can run fast dismisses the people slower than he is. What if it’s someone who can run really fast? Then the slower people become little more than an annoyance, and then an irritation. Superiority breeds contempt.”

      “I don’t agree with that at all,” Valkyrie said, shaking her head. “I can do some things other people can’t, but those other people can do things I can’t. It evens itself out.”

      Paddy smiled. “But those other people might be better than you at schoolwork, or tennis, or fixing bicycles … whereas you have magic. I wouldn’t call that a level playing field.”

      “Well, OK, I’d agree with that, but it still doesn’t mean that mortals have to be despised.”

      “Mortals? That’s what you call us?”

      Valkyrie blushed. “It’s not, like, an official term or anything. I mean, it is accurate because you’re mortal, but so are we, so …”

      He couldn’t help but smile. “I think my point has been proven.”

      “What? No, it hasn’t.”

      “What do magic people call themselves? Magicians?”

      “Sorcerers,” she said. “Or mages.”

      “So magic people view themselves as mages and everyone else as mortals. And that doesn’t sound like a group of people elevating themselves to godhood to you?”

      “Sorcerers don’t believe that they’re gods.”

      “Why shouldn’t they? They have the power of gods, don’t they? They have magic at their fingertips. Their affairs affect the world. If you fail in your current ‘mission’, what will happen?”

      She hesitated. “The world will end.”

      Paddy