Skulduggery Pleasant: Books 1 - 12. Derek Landy

strolled to the middle of the room, thinking about it. Finally, she stopped and looked at him. “The offer is, admittedly, somewhat tempting, but the fact of the matter is inescapable. I am a traitor to a race of sadistic gods who loathe humanity. Why would I want them to return?”

      Gallow sighed. “That is unfortunate. I really didn’t want to have to kill you.”

      “And I really didn’t want to have to be killed. I don’t suppose you’ve developed a sense of fair play since last we met?”

      “You mean would I free you from those shackles? I’m afraid not.” He picked Crux’s gun up off the floor. “I’ll make it quick though. I promise.”

      China stamped her foot. “How gracious of you.” She took a step back and stamped her foot again.

      He frowned. “No one’s going to hear that, China.”

      She moved again, stamping her foot a third time. Gallow looked down at the carpet and his eyes narrowed when he recognised the three symbols she had just stamped on. She stepped out of her gorgeous shoes and stood in the middle of the triangle. She smiled as the floor gave way beneath her.

      China dropped through the trapdoor, landing awkwardly in the second-floor corridor. The ceiling closed up above her just as Gallow was about to follow her down. She rolled to her knees and got up and ran for the stairs.

      There’d be someone out the front waiting for Gallow to emerge. It would either be someone in a car – Gruesome Krav or Murder Rose – or someone capable of their own kind of travel, like Sanguine. She didn’t want to find out which.

      She got to the first floor. Gallow’s footsteps were heavy on the stairs above her. She ran the length of the corridor, the floor sticky beneath her bare feet. She had built a lot of escape routes into this building and she ran for the nearest one.

      Once again, events beyond her control had dragged her into the middle of things. China was not impressed.

      

      he Liffey Bridge is a bridge with three names.

      It is a pedestrian bridge a little over 40 metres long, spanning the River Liffey from Ormond Quay to Aston Quay. Steps on either side lead up on to the walkway, and there are three lamps – one at the centre and two on either side – supported overhead by ironwork that curves out from the railings.

      Its given name is the Wellington Bridge, its true name the Liffey Bridge, but it is by its taken name that it is most commonly known.

      As a young girl, Tanith had been taken over to Dublin by her parents. The first time she crossed this bridge there were turnstiles, and the cost of travelling was one penny and one halfpenny. The turnstiles were done away with a few years later, around 1919 or so, but by then everyone knew the bridge as the Penny Ha’penny Bridge, which was eventually shortened to, simply, the Ha’Penny Bridge.

      And it was at the Ha’penny Bridge, the bridge with three names, that they were expected to hand Fletcher Renn over to the enemy, giving them exactly what they needed to end the world.

      “This is a really bad idea,” Tanith said.

      “I agree completely,” Fletcher Renn murmured from beside her.

      They had cordoned off the bridge on both sides, put up signs that alerted passers-by to delicate maintenance work. There was a red and white striped tent at either end to shield workers from wind and rain. There wasn’t much of a wind today, and while the dark clouds rolled threateningly, no rain had yet fallen.

      Tanith and Fletcher stood in the tent on the north side of the Liffey. There was a rush of sound as Ghastly joined them, and then the flap fell again and muted the noise from the traffic at their backs.

      “No one sneaking up behind us,” Ghastly informed them. He shook his head as he pulled down the well-tailored hood of his coat, revealing his scars.

      They looked to the middle of the bridge, where Skulduggery was taking a cloaking sphere from his coat. He twisted both hemispheres in opposite directions and a bubble of haze erupted outwards, enveloping him, the bridge and the tents. He put the sphere down at his feet.

      “What was that?” Fletcher asked, stunned.

      “It makes us invisible to everyone outside the bubble,” Ghastly said. “They won’t be able to see or hear anything that goes on.”

      “So if I die screaming in agony, I won’t disturb anyone? Oh, that’s comforting.”

      Skulduggery walked back into the tent.

      “Any word from Valkyrie?” Ghastly asked.

      “Still none,” Skulduggery said darkly. “When we have Guild, we’ll make him release her, and then let me in a room alone with Crux for five long and painful minutes. Until then, we concentrate on the job.”

      “So what’s the plan?” Fletcher asked. “How does this trade thing work?”

      “In theory,” Ghastly said, “the two of you will start walking across the bridge at the same time, passing in the middle and walking on to the opposite side. In practice, however, that’s not how it’s going to work at all.”

      “Here’s how it really works,” Tanith told him. “Both sides start out playing fair. Then one side double-crosses the other. Then the other side springs their double-cross. Then the first side reacts accordingly.”

      Fletcher nodded. “So it’s all about how many double-crosses you have?”

      “Exactly, and the side with the most double-crosses wins.”

      “How many double-crosses do we have?”

      Ghastly looked at Skulduggery.

      “Two,” Skulduggery said.

      “That’s … that’s not an awful lot.”

      “Sometimes simplicity is best.”

      “Is this one of those times?”

      “Probably not,” Ghastly admitted.

      “We’re restricted in what we can do,” Tanith said. “This is a public place, in broad daylight. We can’t have a hundred Cleavers ready to spring into action.”

      “Do you have a hundred Cleavers?”

      “Well, no.”

      “This is an unofficial operation,” Skulduggery said. “There is a spy in the Sanctuary, and until we find out who it is, we can’t trust any of them.”

      “But if we are restricted in what we can do,” Ghastly said, “then so are they.”

      “Right,” Fletcher said. “All right. OK. And they value this whole ‘never in public’ rule as much as you do, yeah?”

      Ghastly hesitated. “Sure,” he said, completely failing to sound convincing.

      “They’re here,” said Tanith quietly.

      They all peeked out. At the other end of the bridge a black van had pulled into the side of the road, eliciting angry horn-blaring from the cars in the lane behind. Gruesome Krav stepped out and suddenly the blaring stopped. The cars behind indicated politely and pulled into the other lane.

      Murder Rose got out next, followed by Sanguine and then Gallow, pulling Thurid Guild with him. Guild’s hands were shackled and his face was bruised. The sordid little group were attracting a lot of attention, but they quickly disappeared into the striped tent.

      “What