by Derek Landy
Valkyrie turned her head. She watched, upside down, as a group of kids were shoved to the railings around her. She recognised one of the men doing the shoving from his photograph.
“Which one first, Doctor Melior?” Parthenios Lilt called down. The kids looked confused. Scared. Some of them wore Corrival Academy uniforms.
Melior had gone pale. “What are you doing? Let them go. They’re children.”
“But they’re not totally innocent,” Lethe told him. “These are the First Wave. They’re on-board the Abyssinia train, Richard. They harbour dark thoughts. Bad apples to a one. And we will kill them all, every bad apple in the barrel, until you do what we want you to do.”
Some of the kids started to struggle. Two of them were already crying.
“Mr Lilt,” Lethe called, “who is your favourite student?”
Lilt pondered. “I think it would have to be Jenan Ispolin,” he answered.
Lethe clapped. “Jenan Ispolin, Student of the Year! Throw him down first, Mr Lilt.”
Lilt seized a lanky boy who started to panic, but could do nothing as he was tipped over the railing.
“Stop!” Melior shouted. “Stop! I’ll do it!”
Lethe held up a hand, and Lilt pulled Jenan back. The kids were led away. Valkyrie saw Lilt pat Jenan on the shoulder, like it had all been part of an act. She wondered if Jenan believed him.
Melior stood at the slab, and his hands began to glow.
Valkyrie didn’t know what she had expected – beams of light, maybe, or some kind of weird chanting – but all Melior did was stand there with his glowing hands and his eyes closed, and the heart didn’t do much of anything. It just lay there on the table.
Her head pounding, Valkyrie glanced across at Rut and Collup. They looked scared.
Melior opened the second box, and took out a glass globe, about the size of a bowling ball. The Soul Catcher. He lifted it on to the tripod where it settled, snug in its perfectly proportioned recess, and immediately a hundred sigils glowed along the transparent hose leading to Collup’s X.
“Please,” Collup called down. “I’m sorry for all the things I done. Please don’t kill me. I’m sorry.”
“I’m sorry, too,” Melior said, and placed his right hand on the Soul Catcher.
Collup screamed so suddenly it made Valkyrie jerk in her clasps. Orange light spilled from the nozzle at his chest, filling the tube with its violent splendour, the sigils burning brightly now, straining to contain the power coursing through it. Collup’s screams turned to a long, agonised howl as his skin dried and wrinkled while Valkyrie watched, and his body hollowed out and his bones snapped in their confinements. His life force flowed through the hose and filled the Soul Catcher and when it was done Melior lifted his hand and the hose went dark and Collup’s head lolled forward.
His right hand trembling a few centimetres above the Soul Catcher, Melior moved his left to the heart on the table. With a look on his face like he was being forced to plunge his hand into boiling water, he took a deep breath and once again placed his hand on the churning sphere. He jerked upright as the energy passed through his body and out from his fingertips.
The heart soaked it up, soaked up every last bit of it, and when the Soul Catcher was empty Melior took his hands away. He stepped back, pale and exhausted, watching the heart.
The heart lay on the table.
Lethe looked at Melior. Melior kept looking at the heart.
And then it began to beat.
63
It was no longer small and dry. The heart was larger now, and it glistened, and it beat faster. Stronger.
It sprouted its first artery.
It happened quickly after that. The arteries grew, were joined by thickening veins, linked to capillaries that spread outwards, that grew pieces of meat, and from those pieces organs formed, lungs and kidneys and now bone, a spinal cord growing right there on the table, a nervous system being birthed, maturing, and Valkyrie saw nerve clusters and vertebrae and a mass of cells becoming a brain. Around that brain a skull was forming, while elsewhere there were ribs curling protectively around the organs and meat covering the ribs and she saw clavicles and a humerus and a pelvic bone and femurs, it was growing legs, and the meat was spreading and the veins were spreading and then it all slowed down.
“Well done, Richard,” said Lethe, examining the half-thing that lay on the table. “Well done.”
“I can hear her,” Cadaverous said. “I can hear her louder than ever. Clearer.”
Razzia giggled, tapping her head, listening to the voice. “She wants more,” she said.
Memphis disconnected the first hose from the tripod and attached the second.
Tanner Rut looked at Valkyrie, but there was nothing either of them could say. They both stared at Collup’s corpse as Memphis climbed the hydraulic arm. Rut closed his eyes as Memphis reached him.
“This won’t hurt a bit,” Memphis said, grinning, as he inserted the nozzle into the curved plate. He locked it.
Melior put his hand on the Soul Catcher and the hose sucked out Tanner Rut’s life force. Valkyrie didn’t watch him die. He tried not to scream, but that didn’t last long. Thankfully, it was over in seconds, and then he was nothing but a dried-out husk and Melior was transferring his energy into Abyssinia.
The birth continued, spurred on with renewed vigour. Valkyrie became aware of the silence. The prisoners weren’t cheering any more; they were staring. Whether in fascination or revulsion Valkyrie didn’t know. On her part, it was a definite mixture of both.
Abyssinia was at her full height now. Her body was curled up like a foetus in the womb. Her internal structure complete, skin was beginning to form. It spread like paint. Silver hair sprouted and grew long.
Then the Soul Catcher emptied.
Lethe stood beside Razzia and Smoke, watching Melior as the doctor ran a glowing hand over Abyssinia’s body.
“Well?” Lethe asked. “Is it done?”
“Almost,” Melior said, his voice cracking with weariness. He looked up at Valkyrie. “I’m so sorry,” he said. “We need just a little more.”
The convicts cheered and hollered, rattling cups against the bars of their cells, and Memphis made to jump down.
“Stay where you are,” Cadaverous said. “I’ll do it.” He grabbed the final hose, swapping it out for the one in the tripod. But as he reached for the nozzle it leaped into Skulduggery’s hand.
“And how do you intend to get to her?” Skulduggery asked, lifting off his feet.
“Lethe!” said Cadaverous. “We had a deal!”
“I really don’t care,” Lethe admitted.
Cadaverous seethed, and glared upwards. “I’ll kill you.”
Skulduggery made an amused sound and came level with Valkyrie’s eyes.
“Hello,” he said.
“Hello,” she said back.
“Your face is very red.”
“I feel like I’m about to pass out – which would be a blessing, by the looks of things.”
“Kill her,” Lethe commanded.
Skulduggery ignored him. “I have hugely enjoyed our time together, Valkyrie. You are one of only two people I have ever known capable of surprising me on a nearly daily basis. You are extravagant and wonderful.”
“You’re not so bad yourself. Sorry I said what I said at Melior’s place, by the way.”
His head tilted. “What did you say?”
“When we were talking about resurrecting people. I said—”
“Ah,” he said, “you asked how many people that I’ve lost would I love to see again. As I recall, you apologised at the time.”
“Yeah, well, I’m apologising again, because I still feel bad about it.”
“You’re forgiven.”
“Thank you,” she said.
“And I apologise for calling your brain ‘semi-remarkable’.”
“That did hurt, but you’re forgiven, too.”
“That’s very gracious of you. You don’t
seem daunted by the prospect of dying.”
“I suppose I’m not,” she said. “I think I’ve become a little immune to the idea. Is that weird?”
“Not for me,” Skulduggery said. “For you … possibly.”
“I think I might deserve it, though, don’t you? Just a little? I don’t know. I might be talking nonsense. Hanging upside down is doing weird things to my brain.”
Below them, Lethe was prodding Smoke.
“Skulduggery!” Smoke said tightly. “Just kill her and be done with it!”
“In a moment,” Skulduggery answered.
Valkyrie was in the perfect position to see the look on Smoke’s face, as the surprise overtook the pain.
“Huh,” Skulduggery said. “I disobeyed an order.”
“Kill her!” Smoke shouted. “Do it now!”
Skulduggery brought up the nozzle, tapped it against the slot over her chest. “I feel the urge to do it,” he said. “But I have to admit, there is some urgency lacking.”
“Because you’re fighting it,” Valkyrie told him. “You’re about to break free.”
“Drain her!” Smoke yelled.
Skulduggery’s hands jerked before he pulled them back.
“This is an odd sensation,” Skulduggery murmured. “You’re really not afraid?”
She gave him a sad smile. “I don’t die like this,” she said. “I die on my knees.”
“Memphis!” Lethe shouted. “You do it!”
“Taking care of business,” Memphis muttered, and jumped from Tanner Rut’s X to Valkyrie’s.
Before he reached it, Skulduggery waved his hand and he was knocked off course. He fell, screaming, into the lake of energy and was instantly vaporised.
“Well, that’s torn it,” Skulduggery said, dropping the nozzle while his hand went to the latches on her clasps. He freed her limbs and her magic came back to her, flooding her system.
Below them, Lethe shoved Nero. “Get him! Teleport him into the lake!”
“My head hurts …”
“Do it!”
Nero scowled and fixed his eyes on Skulduggery as Skulduggery thrust his left hand down, the air rippling, while at the same time his right fist spun behind him. Nero, focusing only on the attacking hand, teleported to a space above Skulduggery and dropped on to him, catching the right fist just behind the ear. Nero’s head snapped back and he fell, too dazed to stop himself from crunching down on to the platform. He rolled over, clutching his left shoulder, screaming.
The curved plate swung away and Valkyrie immediately plummeted, but her fall was curtailed by cushions of air that rolled in beneath her. She found herself turned right way up and then she was drifting down by Skulduggery’s side.
“I know what you’re thinking,” Skulduggery announced. “You outnumber us. You’ve got us trapped in a prison full of people who hate us. But I need you to understand something. When we’re together, Valkyrie and I, there is nothing we cannot accomplish, and no number of enemies we cannot overcome.”
They landed gently. Immediately, Valkyrie toppled over.
Skulduggery looked down at her. “You ruined that.”
“My legs are asleep.” She winced, and thumped her thighs. “Ah. God. Ow. Pins and needles.”
Skulduggery looked up at their enemies. “You can ignore this part.”
Cadaverous and Razzia ran at him. Skulduggery batted Razzia aside with a wall of air, but Cadaverous dived at him, took him backwards. Skulduggery spun, flipping the old man over his hip, but Cadaverous was a lot more durable than he looked. He grabbed Skulduggery and pulled him down, and they went rolling.
Valkyrie got to one knee, still wincing as the blood returned to her feet. She glanced up and Lethe was almost upon her. She jerked back, white lightning bursting from her fingertips. It caught him in the chest, sent him whirling to the ground. She stood up, stamped her feet a few times, turned to help Skulduggery.
Then someone whistled. That whistle was joined by another. And another. Suddenly the world was filled with whistling.
Valkyrie looked up. The cell doors were open. The convicts crowded the tiers.
And they started jumping down.
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The first few convicts tore into Skulduggery with an unholy vengeance, but one of them landed right next to Valkyrie, stumbling slightly. She drove her knee into the point of his chin and he slumped backwards.
She turned to the sound of a maniac’s battle cry. A long-haired prisoner made the leap down, her face contorted with hatred. But she missed the dais by a good arm’s length and kept falling. This made some of the other prisoners rethink their plans.
Movement behind her and Valkyrie spun, but was too late to dodge Razzia’s lunge. They went down, rolled, got up again, and Razzia punched Valkyrie and Valkyrie punched Razzia.
“I’ve been waiting for this,” Razzia said, grinning.
Valkyrie didn’t know what to say to that, so she said, “OK.”
Razzia kicked at Valkyrie’s leg and Valkyrie backed off, rubbing the spot where the kick had landed. The prison reverberated with the cheers of its inmates. She circled to her right, and Razzia stayed close, with that wide smile and those crazy eyes.
Valkyrie rushed her. Razzia tried stepping away and kicking, but Valkyrie was too close. She wrapped an arm round the kicking leg and swept the other one, landed on top. They wrestled there, rolling and tumbling, struggling for the dominant position. Whenever she could, Valkyrie fired a punch into Razzia’s ribs. Whenever she could, Razzia returned the favour.
Suddenly Valkyrie was on top and wrenching Razzia’s arm, turning her on to her side and kneeling on her head – but there was a flash of yellow and a prisoner dropped on to her. The world tilted and she was no longer holding Razzia. The prisoner had her. She could smell his hot breath. She could feel his clawing hands. She lashed out, got a lucky shot into the side of his neck. His eyes bulged and she pushed him off. Scrambled up.
Another prisoner landed. He stumbled and used his momentum to knock her off her feet. He fell on top of her, tried to pin her there. She dug her thumbs into his eyes and squirmed out from underneath as he screamed.
She stood and caught a fist in the jaw, tilted, went down, rolled, came to a stop with the left side of her body hanging over nothing but air. She rolled away from the platform’s edge. A prisoner came at her, face alive with intent. White lightning danced between her fingertips.
She blasted him.
She blasted another.
Someone yanked her hair and pulled her into a headlock and she grabbed him between the legs and twisted, then blasted him off his feet.
She turned, panting. The platform was crawling with yellow jumpsuits. Skulduggery was dealing with a bunch of them. Another bunch were coming for her.
And Razzia was disappearing under another bunch.
Valkyrie leaped in, her knee crunching into the face of a convict who’d been raining down punches. Razzia kicked another away and Valkyrie grabbed her hand, hauled her up. Razzia elbowed and headbutted. Valkyrie stomped and hammered. They stood back to back and dealt viciousness to those who dared get close. When they’d cleared a space, they started using their magic.
Suddenly they had no more enemies left to fight. The convicts still on the platform were either unconscious or too injured to be a threat. The other convicts, still on the tiers, had quietened down considerably. Skulduggery extricated himself from a pile of beaten, moaning bodies. Cadaverous was still under there somewhere.
“This doesn’t mean we’re mates,” Razzia said.
Valkyrie looked round. “Sorry?”
“This,” said Razzia. “It doesn’t mean we’re mates, y’know.”
“Oh. No, I … I didn’t think it would.”
“All right,” Razzia said, nodding. “Just so we’re clear.” She walked for the edge. “Hey, skeleton man. Boost me to the other side, would you?”
Skulduggery looked at Valkyrie and she shrugged. He echoed the shrug, and used the air
to carry Razzia to an empty tier, where she vanished into the corridor beyond.
“OK then,” Skulduggery said, “is that everyone?”
“Not quite,” said Lethe, slowly getting to his feet.
Skulduggery grunted, unimpressed by the turn of events. Valkyrie tapped a finger against the sigil on her hip, felt it glow warmly.
“I’ve never seen anyone break free of Smoke’s influence before it wears off naturally,” Lethe said. “I always knew you were special, Skulduggery. I gather it’s why Abyssinia speaks so highly of you.”
“You gather?” Skulduggery said, circling to Lethe’s right while Valkyrie circled to his left. “She doesn’t speak directly to you?”
“Sadly, no,” Lethe answered. “The only voices in my head are my own.”
“It must be lonely.”
“Finally,” Lethe said, “someone who understands.”
Skulduggery hurled two fireballs that exploded against Lethe’s chest. They didn’t catch, but they forced him back a step and Valkyrie’s hands lit up. Her lightning caught Lethe on the shoulder, spinning him as Skulduggery ran and jumped, his knee crashing into Lethe’s sternum. Lethe ducked under Skulduggery’s next attack and grabbed him, but Valkyrie wrapped an arm around his neck and pulled him away.
Lethe turned, reached for her and she rammed an elbow into his mask and dodged back before his fist could find her.
Skulduggery lashed a kick into the back of Lethe’s leg and Lethe grunted, looked like he might go down for the briefest of moments … but he straightened up again.
“Ah, teamwork,” he said as they continued to circle him. “It won’t help you, you know.”
Valkyrie looked around, expecting a battalion of Cleavers to teleport in at any moment.
Lethe picked up a fallen scythe, twirling it expertly before locking it in place by his side.
“I’m waiting,” he said.
Another scythe rose into Skulduggery’s hands. He didn’t bother twirling it.
“When you see an opening,” he said to Valkyrie, “blast him.”