Skulduggery Pleasant_ Death Bringer - Derek Landy [75]
She pushed him again, but this time he caught her wrist, and raised his eyes to look at her. “Three billion ought to do it.”
Valkyrie broke free, spun, sprinted for the door. A wave of shadows crashed into her and sent her to the wall. The shock rattled her body, but when she fell, she managed to keep her feet under her. She pushed at the air and Wreath snapped his cane, deflecting her aim. A tendril of shadow came from nowhere, wrapped around her throat, yanked her back. She staggered, used her ring to cut the tendril, and then the cane came for her face and met her jaw. She was on the ground then, trying to focus, trying to look up as Wreath’s boot came swinging in, and she went spinning into darkness.
Chapter 28
A Vile History
alkyrie woke in a large room with no furniture to find Skulduggery crouching down and peering at her. She groaned. Her face hurt. Her head pounded. Her hands were shackled behind her.
“Wreath,” she croaked.
“I know,” said Skulduggery. “What did I tell you about wandering off ? Why don’t you ever do anything I say? If I didn’t know any better, I would swear that you feel a compulsion to disobey authority figures.”
“That can’t be what it is,” she said.
“Well, that’s what it seems like.”
“But I don’t view you as an authority figure.”
“Oh, not this again.”
Valkyrie sat up. Slowly. “Are you going to lecture me all day, or are you going to get these shackles off me?”
“I’m inclined to lecture you.”
She sighed, turned her back to him, waited for him to start picking the lock.
“Uh,” he said, “exactly what do you think is going on right now?”
She frowned over her shoulder at him. “What do you mean? Skulduggery, I’ve got a headache. Wreath kicked me in the face. He kicked me. In the face. It hurts. So get these shackles off me, and we’ll go find him, and I’ll kick him in the face. Then you kick him in the face. Then I’ll do it again. We’ll take turns. It’ll be fun.”
“It would be fun,” Skulduggery nodded. “I like kicking Wreath in the face. I haven’t had a chance to do it nearly as much as I’d like.”
“See? So, come on, stop delaying.”
“I wish I could.”
Valkyrie shook her head, and managed to get to her feet. Skulduggery stood beside her.
“So what are you doing?” she asked. “Teaching me a lesson? Is that what this is?”
“Indeed it is,” he said brightly.
“OK, lesson learned. I shouldn’t wander off. Got it.”
Skulduggery’s head nodded happily. “Excellent.”
“Now get these shackles off me.”
“I can’t.”
“Why can’t you?”
Skulduggery turned, showing her the shackles that bound his own wrists.
Her eyes widened. “You got captured too?”
“It’s the only way you’ll learn.”
“You got captured on purpose?”
“Don’t be silly. When I triggered the alarm, I did my level best to run away, but I couldn’t find you, so…”
“Ah,” she said. “Sorry.”
“Oh, it’s fine,” he shrugged. “I managed to punch some Necromancers, which is always fun. What was less fun was when they started punching me back. And then the White Cleaver arrived and joined in. It was, if I do say so, an epic battle, but I was heavily outnumbered. It’s a pity you slept through it.”
“I was unconscious.”
“You were asleep.”
“Don’t annoy me, OK? I have a headache. How are we going to get out of here?”
“Oh, escape is easy once you have the right plan.”
“Do we have the right plan?”
“Not yet.”
“Do we have any plan?”
“Not yet.”
“Typical. Still, silver lining. Wreath told me what the Passage is.”
“Oh?”
“They’re going to kill three billion people to stop the other three billion from ever dying.”
Skulduggery hesitated. “That… I’ll be honest, that doesn’t sound too great for the first three billion.”
“Can they do it? Is it possible?”
“Theoretically, yes,” Skulduggery said. “I doubt they have much in the way of hard facts to support this theory, but who