"I don't."

"That is... troubling."

"No, it's reasonable."

"Melancholia is the Death Bringer. Yes, it's not like we thought it would be. It's not as clean. But it's real, and it's happening. She has the power to do this."

"She had better. If she doesn't, if she fails, we'll never get another chance. They know what we want now a they know what we're after. If we continue with this, and she fails, we'll be hunted down across the world. They'll destroy our Temples, our teachings, everything. She'd better be the one, Craven."

"She is."

"Because if she isn't, we should kill her now and see what we can salvage."

Craven's eyes widened. "What?"

"If we stop, now, immediately, we can take care of this. We can take the blame a me, you, Melancholia, the others. We can take the punishment. But our brothers and sisters around the world will be left alone, left to find the one true Death Bringer."

"Melancholia is the one true Death Bringer!"

"No, she's the one you made."

Craven fell silent.

"This is our last chance. If there is any doubt about her, we should sacrifice ourselves for the greater good."

"There is no doubt in my mind that she can do it."

"Well, there's plenty of doubt in mine."

"Our enemies are closing in," Craven said angrily. "We need to stop them. We need to strike back. Instead, we are at each other's throats once again, when we can least afford it." He sighed, and turned to the window. "Leave me now. I am tired."

Wreath didn't speak for a moment. "Craven, I'm going to be very nice to you, and not break your jaw for what you just said to me. I'm just going to forget you ever said it, and backtrack a little. You think we should strike at our enemies, do you? With what, exactly? We have just over thirty Necromancers, and practically none of them have combat experience. And even if they did, who should we strike against, do you think? The Sanctuary? Its agents? Pleasant and Cain, maybe? Or how about Lord Vile? Should we strike against him?"

Craven turned. "You mock me, Cleric Wreath."

"Oh I do, Cleric Craven, for you are easily mocked. You have no idea what it is you're saying at any given moment, do you? You think just as long as you're issuing orders, you're a leader. Well, here's a newsflash for you, sunshine. That's not how it works."

"You are most insolent."

"You're not the High Priest, Vandameer. If our enemies are closing in, then this would appear to be the perfect time for Melancholia to initiate the Pa.s.sage. If she proves unable to carry out her duties, she must be put down."

"Those are dangerous words you speak."

"Well then," Wreath said, "it's a good thing you're not in charge, or I'd really be in trouble, wouldn't I?"

He walked away, robbing Craven of the chance to do that himself. Craven stayed where he was, at a dirty window he could barely see out of, and seethed with anger.

Chapter 34.

Valkyrie and Fletcher.

orning came, and Valkyrie woke. She pulled on a dressing gown and went downstairs. She left her phone by her bed. She didn't want anyone calling her. Her mum was eating breakfast. Alice lay in her basket on the table.

"How are you feeling?" Valkyrie asked.

Her mum smiled. "I'm fine. You can all stop worrying about me. I had to literally push your father out the door a few minutes ago. He can be really sweet when he wants to be." The smile faded. "What happened to you?"

Valkyrie blinked at her. "Sorry?"

"Is that a bruise?"

Valkyrie ducked back into the hall and checked herself in the mirror. A nice round bruise had appeared where her forehead had met Moore's face. She glared at herself, then returned to the kitchen. "I banged my head last night," she said.

"How?"

Valkyrie shrugged. "Just one of those things. Woke up suddenly, turned the wrong way, banged my head on the wall."

"Nightmare?"

"Can't remember. How did you sleep?"

"Not the best," her mother admitted. "But I'm used to only getting a few hours' sleep with the Little Miss here." She put down her toast and picked up Alice. "You were great yesterday," she said. "Des was just talking about it. You were so calm and collected, and the way you took care of Alice while we were running around like headless chickens... Thank you, sweetheart."

Valkyrie's smile was brittle. It had been the reflection who had been there to help. Valkyrie had been too busy with her other life, where her best friend used to be a ma.s.s murderer.

She went upstairs, selected a small healing rock from the collection Kenspeckle had once given her, stripped off and took a shower. She soaked a sponge around the porous rock and gently dabbed the sponge against her forehead. The bruise would disappear soon enough, just like almost every other injury she'd ever suffered. She looked at the palm of her right hand, where Billy-Ray Sanguine had cut her with his straight razor. She still had the scar. It would never go away. She thought about Tanith, and wondered how she was. She missed her. She missed having someone to talk to.

The water was hot, and felt good. Valkyrie held her face against the spray, eyes closed, standing there for the longest time. When she was done, she stepped out, grabbed a towel, walked barefoot across the landing. She dried off in her room, pulled on a pair of loose jeans and a T-shirt. Her phone rang. It was Fletcher. Again. She ignored it.

He appeared in front of her.

Valkyrie jumped back, then lunged past him, shutting her door. "What the h.e.l.l are you doing?" she whispered. "Anyone could have been in here!"

"You haven't been answering my calls," Fletcher said.

"I was in the shower!"

"I've been calling for days. Val, the last time I saw you, you were in the Sanctuary covered in blood. I've been worried sick."

"You knew I was OK," she shot back.

"Don't I deserve a little more than that? Don't I deserve to see you?"

"Fletcher, seriously, this is not a good time, all right?"

"Ghastly told me Melancholia got away. They'll get her, you know they will. They have every sorcerer out there right now, hunting them down."

"This isn't about that."

"Then what's wrong?"

Valkyrie laughed. "Everything's wrong. Nothing's wrong. I just want to be left alone."

He looked at her, then turned to her desk, started playing music. He turned up the volume. "Now we can talk," he said.

"Turn that down," she snapped. "Mum's been through enough without you giving her a b.l.o.o.d.y headache."

"What do you mean?"

"She was mugged yesterday. She's fine, she's fine, everyone's fine. She was mugged and the Guards grabbed him, a guy called Moore. I paid him a visit in his cell last night."

Fletcher stared at her. "You what?"

"He attacked my mother. What was I supposed to do? Let him get away with it?"

"He didn't get away with it, Valkyrie. He got caught. He was arrested. He was in a cell. What did you do?"

She met his eyes and didn't answer.

"What did you do?" he asked again, stepping forward.

"I hurt him," she said. "I could have killed him, too. He's lucky I didn't."

Fletcher shook his head. "You don't mean that."

"Again, I'll say it because you may have missed it the first time. He attacked my mother."

"You nearly killed him?"

"He deserved it."

"What? What did you say? He deserved it? Are you serious? You went in there with your magic and your training, you almost killed him, and you're OK with that? You'd do it again?"

"n.o.body hurts my family."

"You're spending way too much time with Skulduggery. I'd expect this from him, wading in, leaving a trail of bodies behind. But you? This isn't you. This isn't who you are."

"You don't know me well enough to say that."

"No, obviously I don't. The Valkyrie I thought I knew would argue with me every time I even implied that she was violent. She certainly wouldn't do what you did."

"If you're going to give me another lecture, save your breath."

"Oh, I wouldn't dream of it. I wouldn't dream of telling you what to do. You know it all, don't you? You know exactly what you're doing, and everyone around you is so very happy to let it continue."

"What are you on about now?"

"Did Skulduggery scold you for breaking into that police station? Did he caution you against beating up a prisoner? No? I'm not surprised. That's exactly the kind of thing he'd do."

"Oh I see," said Valkyrie. "Now that Kenspeckle's gone, you've taken it upon yourself to tell everyone when they've crossed a line, have you?"

"Someone has to. It's not going to be Skulduggery. Ghastly's too busy. I was relying on Tanith, but I can't do that any more. You need someone to rein you in."

"And that's you?" she laughed. "You are my moral compa.s.s? My G.o.d, things are worse than I thought. And I haven't told Skulduggery yet. I don't want to talk to him. I don't want to talk to anyone."

"Well, I'm not going to just stand around while you go down a path you're going to regret."

"Do yourself a favour, OK? Stay out of it. You think we're in this together? We're not. I'm in this. That's all."

"I'm your boyfriend, Valkyrie. It's not as simple as that."

"Well, we can make it that simple."

He looked at her. "You want to break up?"

"I don't know," she said, defiance rising in her voice. "If you don't stop complaining all the d.a.m.n time, maybe I do."

"Be careful."

"Of what? Of hurting your feelings? Because you're so delicate?"

"Be careful of saying something you won't be able to take back. You're angry. You're not thinking right."

"I'm thinking fine, Fletcher. Maybe we should break up. Maybe we need a change. We've been together for too long as it is. We should have broken up ages ago."

He shook his head. "You're angry. You don't mean it."

"Yes I do."

"No you don't. Stop being so b.l.o.o.d.y silly."

"Silly?" she snapped. "Silly? You don't say that to me. You don't get to say that to me. We're breaking up, Fletcher. We're through."

"Wait a second, OK? Calm down. Think about it. This is heat of the moment stuff. You don't mean any of it."

"Heat of the moment? This isn't heat of the moment, this has been building for a while. I've wanted to break up with you for a long time, I just didn't realise it. You think we're good together, do you? You think we're a happy little boyfriend and a good little girlfriend? Well, I'm not a good little girlfriend."

"Val, just take a breath, count to ten-"

"I've been seeing Caelan behind your back."