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alone?”

      “That’s really not what I meant.”

      “Then what did you mean? My God, Skulduggery, just tell me. Be honest with me. Fletcher’s moved on, Hansard doesn’t fancy me...” She buried her face in her hands. “Oh, God, I’m seventeen years old and no one will ever love me. I’m going to be alone for the rest of my life. I’ve missed my chance. I’ve missed my chance at happiness. I’m an old maid. Oh, God...”

      Skulduggery folded his arms. “You’re mocking me.”

      She took her hands down. “Well, duh.”

      “I was only trying to be sensitive.”

      “I don’t need you sensitive, Skulduggery. I need you aloof and irresponsible and arrogant. That’s why I love you. That’s why I let you hang out with me.”

      “I’m truly blessed.”

      She grinned. “You love me, too. Once you admit it, everything will be better.”

      “They’re about to hook up the Cube to the Accelerator,” he said, and turned and walked off.

      She followed. “You can’t run from your feelings.”

      “I can walk from them.”

      She laughed, and a blue light shone from behind them. They turned. A curved wall of transparent blue energy filled the corridor behind them. Valkyrie frowned. “And what’s this now?”

      “A force field,” Skulduggery said, tapping against it. It sizzled slightly under his touch. “Judging from the curvature it’s a spherical shield, bisecting floors and walls outwards of its epicentre.”

      “Right,” Valkyrie said. “So we’re in a big ball, then.”

      They started walking again. “Lament must have thrown it up,” Skulduggery said. “Hopefully, it’s a precaution, and nothing more serious.” He slowed. “Wait a second. Hear that?”

      Coming from the adjoining corridor, raised voices. They moved quietly and peered around.

      The force field cut off the far end of the corridor, keeping a crowd of people back who were now trying to break through the wall of energy by blasting it with whatever they had. Lament stood inside the shield, watching them. He looked taller than usual. It took Valkyrie a moment to realise he was hovering a few centimetres off the ground. He turned slowly, and Valkyrie glimpsed his sandalled feet pointing downwards so that his toes almost brushed against the floor. He started drifting back to the Accelerator Room, and Skulduggery and Valkyrie ducked away before they were seen.

      Valkyrie got out her phone, dialled Ghastly’s number.

      He answered immediately. “Where are you? We’ve got a situation.”

      “We know,” she whispered. “We’re in it.”

      “You’re inside the force field? Is Skulduggery with you?”

      “Yes. He can hear you. What’s going on?”

      “Lament guides us all out, he says this next stage might be dangerous, and then the force field appears. I turn around and he’s floating, and his eyes are closed, and he apologises.”

      “What for?” Skulduggery asked. “What did he say?”

      Ghastly’s voice was tight. “He said they aren’t here to keep Argeddion imprisoned. He said they’re here to set him free.”

      he line went quiet for a moment while Ghastly conferred with others. Then he came back. “We have a Sensitive here. He says he’s just started to pick up a psychic wavelength that they’ve managed to keep hidden until now. We think Argeddion is controlling them.”

      “They spent the last thirty years in that mountain, watching over him,” Skulduggery said. “At some stage he must have regained a degree of awareness, started reaching out, taking them over. This whole thing was just a ploy to get us to move them all here.”

      “I don’t get it,” said Valkyrie. “If they wanted to release him, why not just turn off the Cube?”

      Skulduggery shook his head. “I don’t think turning off the Cube is the problem. The problem is that Argeddion has been in an artificially induced coma for the last three decades. Maybe he simply can’t wake up. If I were them, I’d be using the Accelerator as a defibrillator for the mind.”

      “They’re going to shock him awake,” said Ghastly. “OK, listen to me. You two are the only people we’ve got in there. I’d love to say we’re coming in after you but this wall is stronger than anything I’ve seen.”

      “We could get Fletcher back,” Valkyrie suggested. “He could take everyone in at once.”

      “A force field of this strength can’t be teleported through,” Skulduggery said. “If Fletcher tried it, his atoms would be scattered all the way across existence. Don’t worry. We don’t need anyone else. We’ve got surprise on our side, and a deliberate tendency towards extreme violence. We’ll be fine.”

      Ghastly sighed. “Try not to kill anyone, at least. Remember that Lament’s sorcerers are not in control of themselves.”

      Valkyrie put her phone away, and Skulduggery looked at her, and took out his gun. She nodded. They stole round the corner, ignoring the blue wall and the people on the other side, focusing all their attention on the doorway to the Accelerator Room. No one guarding it. No voices from inside. Valkyrie readied the shadows as Skulduggery counted down on his fingers.

      Three... two... one—

      They ran in.

      “Hello,” said Argeddion.

      Lament and his sorcerers were on their knees in a circle around the Accelerator, their heads down. The Cube rotated slowly within the Accelerator itself, an empty cage. Argeddion hovered in mid-air above the remains of the Tempest, smiling at them. Residual energy crackled around his body, and his eyes were glittering orbs of power.

      Valkyrie didn’t know what to do.

      “Hmm,” Skulduggery said. “This is... disappointing, I don’t mind telling you. I thought we’d arrive in the nick of time and stop this from happening. I blame myself, of course. And other people. Mostly other people. In particular I blame the people in this room on their knees. I blame them an awful lot. I don’t suppose shooting you will do any good at this stage, will it?”

      Argeddion smiled again.

      “But it couldn’t hurt to try.” Skulduggery went to fire but the gun disappeared from his hand, and reappeared in Argeddion’s.

      “Violence,” he said, turning the gun over and examining it. “Why do you always resort to violence?”

      “Could I have that back?” Skulduggery asked. “It’s my favourite.”

      “I don’t like violence.”

      “All the same, that gun has sentimental value, so...”

      Argeddion released his hold and the gun floated back to Skulduggery.

      “Thank you,” Skulduggery said, and went to put it away. Apparently as an afterthought he aimed and fired and the bullet bounced off Argeddion’s head. “Yeah, that’s what I thought might happen.” He holstered it.

      “Skulduggery Pleasant,” Argeddion said, “pleased to meet you. Valkyrie, I feel like I’ve known you my whole life. I’ve been inside your head. You have such wonderful thoughts.”

      Alarm

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