Skulduggery Pleasant: Books 1 - 12. Derek Landy

Dusk bit me and basically spat me back out. It’s not even bleeding any more.”

      “Yes, it is.”

      “Well, it’s not bleeding much.”

      “Valkyrie, you have to listen to me. Go back to Fletcher and get him to teleport you both out.”

      She pulled away from him. “What?”

      “The Desolation Engine could go off at any moment. If it does, it won’t care how strong you are or how tough. It won’t be something you can fight.”

      “I’m staying with you.”

      “Damn it, Valkyrie, if it goes off, I won’t be able to save you.”

      “I’m not going to need you to save me.”

      “I didn’t involve you in all this just so you could die by my side, do you hear me?”

      “You didn’t involve me in this – I involved myself. I tagged along after Gordon was killed, I got you to teach me magic, I did it, OK? You didn’t have a choice in the matter.”

      “For once, please will you do what I ask?”

      “Not a chance. And the more we argue about it, the less time we have to stop Scarab.”

      Skulduggery looked at her then wrapped his scarf around his jaw. “He’ll be among the crowd now,” he said. “It’s the safest place for him now that he knows we’re after him. We’ll have to keep each other in sight at all times.”

      “I’ll be able to move faster than you. I don’t have to worry about a disguise slipping off.”

      “You’ve got blood all over you.”

      She snapped up the collar of her coat. “Better? Now come on, we don’t have much time.”

      

      uild watched Scarab move in off the steps and take a seat in the crowd. There was a time when an assassin of Scarab’s calibre would never have allowed himself to be followed like this, but that time had drifted by while Scarab had been sitting in his cell. Now he was just an old man who thought he had escaped. There was an empty seat beside Scarab and Guild sat in it.

      “Hello, Dreylan,” he said. “Don’t try to run. I wouldn’t want you to embarrass yourself.”

      Scarab’s jaw tightened, but he didn’t move from his seat.

      “Look what I found in the Repository,” Guild continued, opening his hand. The copper disc he held was almost as wide as his palm and it had eight thin legs curled up against its underside like a dead spider. “Do you recognise it? I’m sure you do. You built it, didn’t you? How many did you kill with this particular little weapon?”

      “I didn’t keep count,” Scarab said.

      “It just attaches to its target, isn’t that right? And releases all this awful energy? So, for example, if I were to press it against you, the power it would release would be enough to give you a heart attack a hundred times over, yes?”

      The eight legs flexed, as if the device had sensed a new victim.

      Scarab swallowed. “Yes.”

      The crowd roared and people jumped to their feet around them. Guild and Scarab remained seated.

      “Where’s the Desolation Engine, Scarab?”

      “In my pocket.”

      “Your near pocket?”

      “Yes.”

      Guild smiled, carefully dipping his free hand into Scarab’s coat. His fingers closed around the bomb and he pulled it out slowly. The liquid within the glass was still a calm green colour. It hadn’t even been armed yet. He held it under his jacket, away from prying eyes.

      “You have caused us so much worry,” he murmured. “It’s a good thing I found you before you did something to actually trouble us.”

      “You’re going to kill me,” Scarab said, “is that it? Right here?”

      “I think it would be for the best.”

      Scarab turned his head and looked at him. “Do you have what it takes? To look into a man’s eyes and kill him? You’ve ordered deaths. You’ve orchestrated them, facilitated them, covered them up … But have you actually been this close when you murdered someone? Close enough to look into their eyes as they die?”

      “I haven’t,” Guild admitted. “But I’m curious to find out what it’s like.”

      “Can I be honest? I wish Meritorious were still alive. I would have much preferred him to do this.”

      “Well, we can’t always choose who gets to kill us.”

      “That’s true I guess. I mean, I chose you, but none of these people did.”

      “I’m not sure I follow your ramblings, Scarab. I’m not going to be killing these people.”

      “Actually, Grand Mage Guild, you kind of are. I didn’t have this Engine built to set it off myself, you know. I did it so you could set it off.”

      Guild laughed. “And why on earth would I do that?”

      “Because I’m about to tell you to.”

      “Two hundred years of loneliness has cracked your mind, old man. I’m not going to kill these people. I’m not going to kill myself. I’m only going to kill you.”

      “You’ll kill me, you’ll kill these people, but you won’t kill yourself. I had the Professor make sure of that. The bomb’s designed to spare your life and your life alone. I wouldn’t let go of it just yet, by the way. That’s when it’ll detonate.”

      “What are you talking about? It’s not even armed.”

      “Once it’s been in your hand for more than ten seconds, Grand Mage, it arms itself.”

      Guild frowned and glanced down at the bomb in his hand. The liquid was red, churning and bubbling against the glass. Guild’s heart sank into the chasm that his chest had become.

      “Eighty thousand people,” Scarab continued, “live on air. Rebroadcast around the world as the moment that changed everything. And the Grand Mage of the Irish Council of Elders is going to be the one held responsible. It’s just … perfect, don’t you think?”

      “You’re insane,” Guild said. “I’ll have it deactivated. I’ll—”

      “You’ll walk out on to that football field,” Scarab said, “and you’ll drop the Desolation Engine. And all around you 80,000 people will be disintegrated.”

      “Why?”

      The crowd roared again.

      “I never liked Nefarian Serpine,” Scarab said as if he hadn’t heard Guild’s question. “Vengeous was a good man. I never got to meet Lord Vile, but I couldn’t stand Serpine. Couldn’t see why Mevolent put so much faith in him. But credit where it’s due – he knew how to get to people. That’s how he killed Skulduggery Pleasant. Went after the family, you know? Made him so mad, so full of rage, he didn’t stand a chance. Rage clouds the mind. Vengeance can make you blind. Which is why you have to wait, and choose your moment carefully. Timing, as they say, is everything.”

      “And this is your moment?” Guild snarled. “All I have to do is press this spider against you