The Faceless Ones (Skulduggery Pleasant - Book 3) (15 page)

"You
don't treat me like a child."

He smiled. "Of course I do, but you seem to have this ridiculous notion that being treated like a child means to be treated with less respect than an adult."

"Not everyone sees things the way you do."

"And what have I always told you about other people? "

"They're idiots." She grinned.

177

"And your beautiful smile is back. You know, sometimes I think I'm better than even
I
think I am."

"Is that possible?"

"I wouldn't have thought so."

Valkyrie heard Kenspeckle sigh irritably. Skulduggery stood in the doorway.

"We'd better go," Skulduggery said. "Sooner or later, Guild is going to send someone here to look for us."

"Oh, that's right," said Kenspeckle. "I'm harboring fugitives now, aren't I? Would you look at that? You ask me to help you and then you turn me into a criminal."

"They won't know we've been here," Skulduggery promised.

"And what about the annoying boy? Are you taking him with you?"

"It might be safer if he comes with us."

Kenspeckle laughed. "Safer?
Safer?"

"Thurid Guild can't be trusted. If he finds out who Fletcher is, he might turn him over to the Diablerie. He might
be
the Diablerie."

"Do you hear yourself? Do you? You're delusional! You're seeing enemies and conspiracies

178

round every corner! You are endangering those around you with no thought to their well-being!"

"The threat posed by the Diablerie is real, Professor."

"Then let the Sanctuary handle it. They have the resources. They have the Cleavers. You have a fourteen-year-old girl who puts her life on the line every time she's with you."

Skulduggery turned and started walking. Valkyrie gave a hesitant smile to Kenspeckle and followed. But Kenspeckle wasn't through. He stormed up to Skulduggery and grabbed his arm, swinging him around.

"Do you not feel one iota of responsibility? Valkyrie was in a fight with a grown man less than two hours ago. Don't you feel bad about what happened to her?"

"But I'm okay," Valkyrie said softly.

"She could have been killed," Kenspeckle continued. "Yet again, while out with you, she could have been killed. Would you have felt anything then?"

"Let go of my arm, Professor Grouse."

"Think back to when you were a man, Skulduggery, to when you were flesh and blood,

179

and tell me: Do you remember ever actually
having
a heart, or were you
born
dead? "

Before Skulduggery could respond, Clarabelle ran into the corridor. "It's gone!" she shouted. "The statue of Ghastly is gone!"

Skulduggery ran, Valkyrie right behind him. They passed Clarabelle and sprinted for the chamber. Fletcher emerged from a room and had to jump to one side to avoid being knocked down.

They burst through the doors and Skulduggery ran to the spot where the statue had knelt. Valkyrie hurried around the edge of the chamber, hand trailing along the walls. Kenspeckle and Clarabelle rushed in, and Fletcher followed.

"Has anyone been in here?" Skulduggery demanded.

"No one," Clarabelle said. "What are you looking for?"

"Cracks," Valkyrie told her. She cast her eyes around for any sign that Sanguine had been in the room.

"They have him," Skulduggery said tightly. "The Diablerie. They got in here somehow and they took Ghastly. I don't know how, but they did."

Tanith ran in, and even though Valkyrie hadn't

180

seen her in weeks, she was in no mood to smile. Tanith, on the other hand, seemed to be a great mood.

"Hey!" she said brightly.

"Get your sword," Skulduggery said, taking out his gun. "They may still be in the area."

"I lost my sword," Tanith confessed. "And then I fell off a building. And I got stabbed through the hand." She held up her right hand, which had a thick bandage around it. "Who might still be in the area? What's going on?"

"Ghastly" was all Valkyrie could say.

"I know!" Tanith beamed. "Isn't it amazing?"

Skulduggery turned his head sharply. "Isn't what amazing?"

Tanith's smile faded, and uncertainty clouded her eyes. "Urn, Ghastly."

"What's amazing about Ghastly? He's missing."

Tanith frowned. "But I was just talking to him."

They stared at her, then heard footsteps, and they looked at the door and a man walked through. A man with a boxer's build and a tailor's clothes, with scars that covered his entire head and a smile that was weak but sincere.

181

"Ghastly!" Valkyrie shrieked, embarrassingly high, and launched herself at him. He grunted with the ferocity of her hug, then laughed.

"Out of the way," Kenspeckle ordered, moving forward. "Let me see him."

Valkyrie bounded away and allowed Kenspeckle to examine his patient.

"Do you remember your name?" he asked, shining a light into Ghastly's eyes.

"Yes, I do, Professor. My name is Ghastly Bespoke. I'm a tailor, my favorite color is green, and I don't have any pets."

"Does this hurt?" Kenspeckle asked, and poked him in the face with a finger.

"Ow. Yes."

"All right then." Kenspeckle stood back. "You're fine."

Without waiting for a response, he turned and strode out the door.

"His bedside manner hasn't improved," Ghastly murmured.

Skulduggery stepped in front of him. The two friends looked at each other.

"Tanith told me I've been gone about two years," said Ghastly.

182

"That's right."

"That's a long time."

"It is."

"Not as long as it
could
have been, but still, a long time. You're ... you're not going to
hug
me, are you?"

Skulduggery considered it for a long moment. "Probably not," he concluded.

"It would just be weird," Ghastly explained. "I understand."

"I'm okay with shaking your hand, though."

"I'm not really comfortable with that." Ghastly shrugged. "I get it--you like your space."

Valkyrie stared at them, unable to believe what she was witnessing, and then Ghastly's grin broke out and she realized this was a guy thing. The two friends hugged, and she smiled happily.

Fletcher leaned over. "When is someone going to tell him that his head is all scarred?" he whispered, but she ignored him.

Bespoke Tailors squatted on the edge of the dirty street like a mangy dog too old and too dumb to move in out of the rain. The Purple Menace pulled

183

up outside and Skulduggery and Ghastly got out, then pulled the seats forward to allow Valkyrie and Fletcher to climb out after them. Fletcher was doing a terrible job of trying not to stare at Ghastly's scars, but his discomfort was amusing, so Valkyrie didn't try to make him any more at ease.

Tanith rode up and parked beside them. The rain dripped off her leathers as she swung her leg off the motorbike and removed her helmet, and Fletcher finally had something new to stare at. Valkyrie rolled her eyes.

Ghastly nodded to a passing neighbor and got a quiet "Welcome back" in return. He opened the door of his shop and led them in. It was musty inside, but neat. Half-finished clothes hung on mannequins, and the walls were lined with shelves that held fabrics both familiar and exotic.

"Did you dream?" Tanith asked, like it had been a question that had been bugging her on the way over.

"I did not," Ghastly said, going straight to the shelves, his hands running over the materials.

"Nothing at all? You just have a blank space in your head where the last two years should be?"

"The last memory I have is of fighting the White

184

Cleaver. Then I opened my eyes and I was kneeling in the chamber. As for dreams, I didn't have any that I can remember--but then I can
never
remember my dreams."

"I had a dream last night," Fletcher said, looking at Tanith. "I think you were in it."

"You didn't know me last night."

"And that is a tragedy."

"Okay!" Tanith said, forcing a smile onto her face. "I'm making myself a cup of tea. Anyone else want one?"

"I would
love
a cup of tea," Ghastly said, sounding like he really, truly meant it.

Fletcher gave her a sleazy little smile. "I'll have a whiskey."

"You can have a cup of tea too," Tanith said brusquely, and disappeared into the back room.

"Then I'll help you make it," said Fletcher, trailing after her.

Ghastly looked at Valkyrie. "I think you've outgrown that outfit."

"I think I have," she admitted.

"What do you think we should do for the new one? Black again, or do you want to mix it up a little?"

185

She hesitated. "I really like the black."

"But with something else thrown in? I think we should throw in a little color. Maybe something in the lining." Ghastly pulled down a roll of deep red material and held it to the light while he spoke to Skulduggery. "So Serpine's dead. What about the White Cleaver?"

"We don't know where he is," Skulduggery told him. "He abandoned Serpine just when he was needed the most. That kind of worked out well for us."

"And then Vengeous came back, but now
he's
dead, and now the Diablerie have resurfaced and they're going to bring the Faceless Ones back and we're
all
going to die."

"Yes."

Ghastly put the red material on the table and went hunting for more. "And this Batu person?"

"Solomon Wreath believes that Batu is just a name Jaron Gallow has been using, but I'm not so sure. Whoever Batu is, he released Vengeous, set him up as the mastermind, and used him to do what needed to be done. Now that Vengeous is gone, he might be doing it again--setting
Gallow
up as the mastermind to throw us off the trail."

186

"Keep us distracted long enough to bring the Faceless Ones back," Ghastly said. "Well, that's a particularly insidious plan, I have to say. It means our true enemy could be anyone. Have you spoken with China about this?"

"She doesn't have any leads."

"Please tell me you're not trusting her these days."

Skulduggery hesitated, and Ghastly sighed.

"The leader of the Diablerie, whether it's Gallow or Batu or someone else entirely, has been planning this for years. If there is anyone we know who could use that time to manipulate everyone into thinking she is on the side of the angels, it's China. Manipulating people is what she does."

"I know what I'm doing."

"When it comes to China Sorrows, you
rarely
know what you're doing." Ghastly laid out a black fabric on the table, nodded to himself, and looked up. "Valkyrie. Boots."

"I need new ones."

"You certainly do. Come this way."

They left Skulduggery and went into a smaller room, where Ghastly's old-fashioned shoemaking equipment lay. Different types of leathers hung

187

from the walls, and there were trays of nails and glues and needles and threads.

"Everything a cordwainer needs," he said when he saw Valkyrie examining her surroundings.

"I don't know what that means."

"Skulduggery's not the only one who knows odd words." He smiled. The scars, precisely spaced and covering his whole head, had once seemed ugly to her. But they weren't ugly anymore. They were a symbol of what he had lived with, what he had lived through, and as such they had become something good, something noble.

His smile turned sad. "He's been dragging you into quite a bit of trouble, from what I hear."

She kept her voice neutral. "I've had this talk with Kenspeckle, so I'll tell you what I told him. Skulduggery wouldn't take me if I didn't want to go." She paused, let a moment go by. "Ghastly, why don't you like me?"

His eyes widened slightly. "What?"

"I know you think I'm too young, but there are younger kids than me doing magic. They're all over the place. And
you've
been doing magic since you were born."

He went quiet, then turned to the sink and

188

filled a basin with water. "Could you take off your boots and socks, please?"

She did as he asked, and he laid the basin on the ground and motioned for her to step into it. She hiked up her trousers and plunged her bare feet into the cold water.

"The first time we met," Ghastly said, "I told you to forget about all this and go home. Remember?"

"Yes."

He waved his hand, and the water in the basin started feeling thicker, heavier.

"I still believe that. You should be in school, Valkyrie; you should be living the life you were living before magic interrupted everything. You should go to college, get a job, fall in love, live happily ever after. If you don't, you're going to die."

"Everyone dies," she said, with an attempt at a casual shrug.

"But when you die, it's going to be something awful."

"You can try to scare me as much as you want, but it's not going to work."

"I'm not trying to scare you." With a gesture, the water parted. "You can step out now." She did so, and with another gesture, the water returned to