The Dying of the Light (34 page)

She squeezed into the fissure.

Once she was past the opening, the tunnel widened slightly, enough for her to walk normally. The gloom lifted. There was light ahead. She slowed.

The tunnel opened into a cave the size of her back garden. Shafts of sunlight, squinting through the gaps in the ceiling, reflected off the Source Fountain, which was no wider than a paddling pool. Vincent Foe sat with his back against a rock. Samuel, the vampire who dressed like an accountant, lay asleep, head resting on a folded jacket of burnished red. Stephanie’s jacket. Mercy was playing a game on her phone. The quiet little beeps were the only sound in the cave apart from the occasional gurgle of water.

Samuel turned his head and opened his eyes. “The girl is here.”

Valkyrie bit back a curse, then decided
what the hell
, and stepped into plain view, tranq gun in hand. But instead of charging at her, Foe merely nodded, and Mercy didn’t even look up from her game.

This was not what Valkyrie had expected.

“You took Stephanie’s body,” she said, after another few seconds of relative silence.

“Yeah,” said Foe.

That was it. Nothing more.

Valkyrie inched forward, till she could see into the fountain. Stephanie’s corpse lay in the water, still clad in her black T-shirt and burnished red trousers, weighed down with rocks.

Valkyrie stepped back again. “You’re preparing the body for Darquesse.”

Foe nodded. Then he got up, slowly, and stretched, like he’d been sitting there for hours. “What’s the matter, Valkyrie? Not sure what to do without the Skeleton Detective around to issue orders?”

She narrowed her eyes. “How do you know he’s not around?”

Mercy laughed, and finally put her phone away. “Because that was the plan, silly girl.”

Valkyrie didn’t like that. Oh, she didn’t like that one little bit. She backed up further. “What plan? You were expecting us?”

Foe glanced at Mercy, who shrugged, and then he looked back at Valkyrie. “Expecting? Kind of. We knew there was a strong chance you’d come down here, but it wouldn’t have been a total loss if you hadn’t.”

“Where is she? Where’s Darquesse?”

Foe looked at Mercy. “Want to tell her?”

Mercy smiled. “Love to. Valkyrie, you’ve actually saved us quite a hazardous trip, so thank you. Were it not for you, we would have had to go back up ourselves to bring her down here. So, from the bottom of our hearts, thank you for saving us the trouble.”

Valkyrie frowned. “But I didn’t. I didn’t bring anyone down with me.”

“Well,” Gordon said from behind her, “that’s not
strictly
true.”

alkyrie felt herself go ashen-white with shock. “Gordon?”

Gordon’s image flickered as he walked by her, to the edge of the pool. “I’m afraid not,” he said, peering in. “You have to understand, the Echo Stone had all the properties I needed for a place to rest. I figured if it could store a personality then it could store a – what was it? Untethered entity? – even if it is just temporarily. Sort of like a summer home, you know? Mr Foe, you can take my body out now.”

Foe and Mercy waded into the pool while Gordon turned back to Valkyrie. “So I moved some furniture around,” Darquesse continued, “knocked down a few walls, redesigned the interior …”

“What did you do to Gordon?”

A wince. “Ah. Yes. Unfortunately, the previous tenant proved … uncooperative. So I had to evict him.”

“What do you—?”

“I mean he’s gone, Valkyrie. I wiped his consciousness before I moved in.”

Valkyrie’s insides went cold and plummeted. “You murdered him!”

“Gordon died six years ago. It’s taken him this long to shut up about it, that’s all.”

Foe and Mercy laid Stephanie’s body on the ground, then Foe took a Sunburst star from his jacket and placed it on her chest. It started to light up.

“Isn’t that cool?” Gordon’s image said. “Skulduggery used one on you. It kick-starts the brain as well as the heart, and the entire central nervous system along with it. Higher chance of a successful revival than a regular defibrillator, and this one has been tinkered with to increase its power. Just what I need.”

The sigil on the device pulsed red.

“Wish me luck,” came Gordon’s voice, and then his image disappeared and the Echo Stone flashed with a bright light. All at once, Valkyrie’s head was filled with a torturous shrieking and she ducked back, stumbling, as Foe and the others did the same.

Then the shrieking went away and Stephanie’s body gasped and sat bolt upright.

“Wow,” said Darquesse.

Foe took her hand, helped her to her feet. Darquesse wobbled unsteadily.

“Do not let go,” she said. “Until my blood starts flowing properly I won’t be the most agile person in the world. Oh, this feels good. This feels right.” Samuel helped her into her jacket. “Valkyrie, how do I look? What do you think of this colour on me? I like it.”

Valkyrie glared. “I’m going to kill you.”

Darquesse smiled. Her wet hair hung down over a face that was already starting to get some colour back into it. “With a tranquilliser dart? No you’re not. Even while I’m waiting for this body to adapt to the power levels I need it at, I’m still stronger and better than you. You really want to see which one of us would win in a fight? Really? Then let’s go. I can’t access most of my power yet, I can’t even move properly, but I bet I can still rip your head off.”

“There can be only one,” Foe said, grinning.

Darquesse frowned at him. “I’m sure that’s referencing something I’m too young to get, but either way, shut up. This is between me and—”

Valkyrie whirled, made to break for the tunnel, but only managed a few stumbling steps. Tanith stood before her, her lips black and her face riddled with black veins. Her sword was in her hand and her eyes were fixed on Valkyrie.

“You’re not going anywhere,” Darquesse said. “I know how much you hate being the hostage, so let’s just call you the Emergency Negotiation Device and leave it as that. I’m sure Skulduggery, if he’s even still alive, has a last-resort plan to take me down … but if I keep you with me, I think I’ll do OK. Mercy, would you put some shackles on our guest and find her somewhere to sit?”

“My absolute pleasure,” Mercy said, grinning. She came over, smacked the gun out of Valkyrie grip, and Tanith’s sword came up, almost lazily, and cut Mercy’s hand from her wrist.

Mercy stared at the stump and the blood and, before anyone could even react, Tanith took her head off.

Then she grabbed Valkyrie and pushed her into the tunnel.

“
Run.
”

Valkyrie ran. She ran from Vincent Foe’s screams of rage and Samuel’s echoing snarl, then she turned sideways, squeezed out through the fissure. She stuffed the Echo Stone into her jacket as she stumbled out into the cavern. Tanith wasn’t following her.

She sprinted on.

She left the cavern and retraced her steps as well as she could, alternating between jogging and sprinting whenever her lungs and legs would allow it. But she got lost. It was inevitable, really. Only a matter of time.

She had to stop. She sank down, sat with her back to a tunnel wall. It had all gone wrong. They were supposed to have
won
, for God’s sake. Darquesse had been reduced to an untethered entity. She was a ghost. She should have been nothing more than an annoyance. A nuisance. How the hell had this happened?

Valkyrie took the stone from her jacket. “Oh, Gordon,” she whispered.

The stone lit up weakly, and Gordon appeared before her.

She jumped to her feet. “Gordon! You’re OK!”

Gordon’s image flickered, and he frowned. “Hello? I can’t … I can’t see anyone. Who is that? Who’s talking?”

She waved her hands in front of his face. “It’s me, it’s Valkyrie.”

Relief washed over him, but he still wasn’t looking at her. “Oh, thank God. Darquesse, she was here. She took over—”

“I know,” said Valkyrie. “But she’s gone now. Are you OK?”

“I’m fine,” said Gordon. “Not a bother on me. The stone, on the other hand …”

“What? What’s wrong with it?”

His eyes widened, and focused on her. “I can see! I can see you! I don’t mind admitting, that was getting a little worrying. I could hear you, but couldn’t see a single …” He looked around. “I know this. See that rock formation? See how it looks like an old man’s face? Mire mentioned this tunnel. If you keep going straight, you’ll come to a chasm. I don’t know how you’d cross it, but the stairs to my house are on the other side. Maybe if you fashioned a rope bridge out of hair and spiderwebs …”

“What’s wrong with the stone, Gordon?”

He hesitated. “It’s in the process of being wiped clean. Darquesse thought she’d got rid of me, but I was just pushed into a little corner and I’ve been huddling here ever since. I thought that once she left things would get back to normal, but I seem to have misjudged her.”

“But if the stone is wiped clean—”

“Then my personality will be wiped away. I fear I may only have moments left.”

“No,” said Valkyrie. “No, please, there must be something we can do.”

“Darquesse altered the stone so dramatically that there’s no way to stop the—”

He talked on in silence.

“I can’t hear you!” Valkyrie shouted. “I can’t hear you any more!”

Gordon frowned again. He pointed at the stone, mimed shaking it. Valkyrie grabbed it, did as she was told. She smacked it into her open palm a few times, and all at once the sound came back, just as Gordon was launching into the chorus of ‘My Lovely Horse’ from
Father Ted
.

“OK,” she said, “I can hear you. Stop singing.”

Gordon chuckled softly. “So how are you, my favourite niece? Finding yourself in trouble again, are we?”

“Gordon, I’ve already lost you once. Please don’t make me go through that again.”

“I am sorry, Valkyrie. It’s not up to me. It’s not up to you, either.” He started to fade. “But look on the bright side,” he said. “I get to have a second death scene.”

Stupidly, she reached for him, and her hand passed through his shoulder. “Wait, just … let’s think about this. What if we shut down the stone until I find someone to fix it? Can we do that?”

“Valkyrie,” Gordon said, his voice distant, “there are some inevitabilities you can fight against. There are some you can’t. This is one of the latter.”

Tears ran down her face. “Please.”

“Hush now,” he said. His image was still fading. “All those stories I told when I babysat you, do you remember them? They all had one thing in common. Do you know what it was?”

She shook her head.

Gordon smiled. She could see the rock wall through his smile. “The brave princess, the brave mermaid, the brave rider on her brave horse, whatever you wanted the story to be about … the brave little girl always won in the end. That’s what separates real life from the majority of the books I wrote – sometimes, the good guys do actually win.”

“Please don’t die.”

“The mentor figure dying is all part of the hero’s journey, my dear. Look at Obi-Wan Kenobi in
Star Wars
, or Gandalf the Grey in
Lord of the Rings
. How are you supposed to reach your full potential if you’re coddled every step of the way?”

“I’ve been coddled?” asked Valkyrie. “When? Why wasn’t I told this was the coddling part?”

His smiled widened. “You’ll be fine without me.”

“I really wanted Alice to meet you.”

“And I wanted to meet her, too … And I wanted to talk to my brothers again, and Melissa … though not Beryl.”

“She’s not that bad any more.”

“Please, let me have my pettiness.”

Valkyrie wiped her eyes. “Sure.”

Gordon was quiet for a moment. “It’s funny,” he said. “I always imagined my death would include a lot more coughing, and long … gaps … between … words … and maybe even a cheek to brush my finger against. Something dramatic like that. Maybe even enough to prompt the shedding of a few tears upon the telling. But would I be able to go through with it without even
attempting
to subvert the norm and skewer expectations?”

Valkyrie smiled despite her tears. “You have been known to skewer.”

“That I have, my niece. That I have.”

“If it makes you feel any better, you have me crying.”

“It does make me feel better, actually.” A look of alarm crossed his face. “Famous last words! I need to say my famous last words! They must be at least on a par with those uttered by James French or Dominique Bouhours, and maybe even as memorable as those uttered by Oscar Wilde on his deathbed. You must promise me that when you get out of here, you’ll have these inscribed on my headstone, OK?”

“I promise.”

“Good, thank you. I actually came up with these years ago. They’ve gone through a lot of rewrites, but that’s what you get for being a writer, really. Always tinkering. Never satisfied. But finally, they’re perfect, and I get to use them.” He cleared his throat, puffed out his chest, opened his mouth, and then frowned. “No, wait—”

And then he disappeared.

Valkyrie stared at the space where he had just been standing. She shook the stone, smacked it into her palm again. But Gordon didn’t reappear. The stone was wiped. Her uncle was gone.