LITMIR.BIZ

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      But Skulduggery’s attention had returned to closing the gap on the car in front. They swerved on to a side street and the Bentley roared. They were gaining again.

      Jack crashed on to the bonnet and Skulduggery muttered a curse, craning his neck to see around him. Valkyrie watched Tanith step off the roof. She kicked Jack and he rolled off the side of the car, but as he fell, his fingers found purchase, and for a moment he clung on to the door, his malformed face pressed against Valkyrie’s window.

      And then he hauled himself up out of sight and Tanith joined him, their feet heavy on the roof.

      “Please stop standing on my car,” Skulduggery said softly.

      There was a moment of sudden silence and then Tanith’s boots passed over the windscreen, kicking. Jack followed. He stepped from the roof to the bonnet, his right hand closed around Tanith’s throat, lifting her up and holding her out before him.

      Valkyrie watched in horror as Jack held Tanith over the side of the car, the ground rushing beneath her. He looked down at Valkyrie and as he did so, he let go.

      Valkyrie screamed Tanith’s name as Tanith dropped, but the Bentley sped on and she didn’t see Tanith hit the road.

      Skulduggery put his hand out of the window, his fingers moving, and ahead of them the air started to ripple. Jack turned, realised what was happening, but was unable to prevent it. The Bentley passed through the wall of air, but Jack slammed into it and it knocked him back.

      Valkyrie spun in her seat, and managed to see him land on both feet in the middle of the road, but the Bentley was already rounding another corner.

      “She’ll be all right,” Skulduggery said, not even waiting for Valkyrie to ask. “Tanith Low has fallen off more cars than you’ve ridden in.”

      He wrenched the wheel to the right and the Bentley fishtailed a little, then the tyres found their grip again.

      The car in front wasn’t doing so well. It veered off the road and pedestrians jumped from its path as it mounted the kerb and crashed through an iron gate. The car jolted and spun, and the gate pinwheeled over it and hit the ground. Skulduggery slammed on the brakes.

      The car ahead had stopped, its bonnet crumpled and thick grey smoke billowed from its engine. Valkyrie saw movement.

      “He’s getting out,” she said, unbuckling her seatbelt and kicking open the door. Instantly she heard the siren.

      She ran by a teenage boy, his eyes wide and his mouth open, raising his phone to take a picture, and she snatched the phone from his hand and leaped over the mangled gate. She ran to the ruined car, pushing at the air to clear the smoke from her sight, but the car was empty. She glimpsed Sanguine, dragging Kenspeckle around the corner of a building.

      She grabbed Fletcher’s hand and pointed. “There!”

      And then a Garda squad car braked sharply behind them.

      They froze. She could tell that Fletcher was fighting his natural instinct to teleport. Her eyes flickered to Skulduggery. They all had their backs to the Gardaí, but Skulduggery had lost his scarf. If he turned, they’d see what he was.

      “Get down on the ground!” one of the cops shouted. She watched them out of the corner of her eye as they advanced cautiously. They weren’t armed.

      “Put down any weapons you are carrying and get down on the ground!” the second cop ordered.

      Valkyrie didn’t move. Skulduggery raised his hands above his head. She heard the clink of handcuffs. She saw the first cop reach for Skulduggery and Skulduggery spun, grabbing the cop’s hand and twisting it. The one behind Valkyrie suddenly had a baton in his hand, but she whirled, kicking his feet from under him as he went to help his colleague.

      Skulduggery wrapped an arm around the first Garda’s throat and applied the choke. Valkyrie pushed the air and the second Garda went skidding along the ground. He hit Sanguine’s car and groaned.

      There were more sirens, getting louder.

      Skulduggery laid the unconscious cop on the ground and all three of them walked quickly to the car. Valkyrie took the battery from the teenage boy’s phone and tossed the phone back to him. They got in the car and sped away – pulling in sharply to the side of the road as three squad cars passed. They got back to where they had last seen Tanith and slowed. The street was empty.

      Valkyrie pulled her phone from her pocket and called Tanith’s number. After a few rings, the call was answered.

      “‘Ello, my lovely,” Springheeled Jack said, a smile in his voice. “Tanith can’t come to the phone right now, on account of her bein’ so unconscious. If you’d like to leave a message—”

      “Let her go,” Valkyrie snapped.

      “—I’ll make sure she gets it. ‘Ave a nice day.”

      The phone went dead.

       27 WHEN KENSPECKLE MET SCARAB

       carab laid the Desolation Engine on the worktable in front of Kenspeckle Grouse. It was relatively small for such a destructive weapon, resembling a stone hourglass about the length of Scarab’s hand. There were two glass vials within the stone frame, both of them half-full of a calm green liquid.

       Professor Grouse’s voice was strained when he spoke. “And what do you expect me to do with this?”

       “I want you to fix it,” Scarab said.

       “So you can use it to kill thousands of innocent people? No.”

       “Professor, I’m not going to waste our time. I’m not going to tell you that I was framed and imprisoned for a crime I didn’t commit. I’m not going to tell you how I watched my youth slip away from me while I was in that cell. I’m not going to tell you about the anger or the need to see my enemies suffer. I’m not going to tell you any of that.”

       “Really?” Grouse asked. “Because it sounds like you just did.”

       “You’d die before you’d help me, Professor. I know that full well. But you have the skills, the talent and the knowledge I need, and the only thing that’s stopping you from doing what I ask…is you.”

       “And so your plan is…?”

       “It’s quite simple. If you won’t change you mind, I’m going to change it for you.”

       28 THE MIDNIGHT HOTEL

      uild narrowed his eyes at their approach. “I’m starting to regret my decision,” he said. “A car chase? In broad daylight? Maybe Marr was right. Maybe you should all be locked up.”

      “Maybe you should give Detective Marr something worthwhile to do,” Skulduggery said. “Right now Ghastly is checking out every castle within a two-hour drive of here. I’m sure he’d appreciate the help.”

      “Oh, yes, because a source you will not divulge told you that Scarab’s base is probably a castle. That’s all you have to go on?”

      “We work with what we have, Thurid.”

      “Well, do you have anything else?”

      “We have motive,” Valkyrie said. “Scarab wants revenge on the people who framed him.”

      Guild looked at her. “What are you talking about?” he said at last.

      “You guys killed this Esryn

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