“You’ll walk out on to that football field,” Scarab said, “and you’ll drop the Desolation Engine. And all around you 80,000 people will be disintegrated.”

“Why?”

The crowd roared again.

“I never liked Nefarian Serpine,” Scarab said as if he hadn’t heard Guild’s question. “Vengeous was a good man. I never got to meet Lord Vile, but I couldn’t stand Serpine. Couldn’t see why Mevolent put so much faith in him. But credit where it’s due – he knew how to get to people. That’s how he killed Skulduggery Pleasant. Went after the family, you know? Made him so mad, so full of rage, he didn’t stand a chance. Rage clouds the mind. Vengeance can make you blind. Which is why you have to wait, and choose your moment carefully. Timing, as they say, is everything.”

“And this is your moment?” Guild snarled. “All I have to do is press this spider against you and this will be the last moment you ever have.”

“My last moment’s coming, don’t you worry. But no, you miss my point. Serpine knew how to get to people. The family is an effective way of doing this. I’m going to reach into my coat now. If I were you, I wouldn’t kill me just yet.”

Moving slowly, Scarab took a phone from his coat.

“You might have to shield the screen from the light,” he said as he pressed some buttons – “it’s kind of hard to see the picture.”

He held it out. Guild swallowed, hurriedly put the spider back in his pocket and took the phone from Scarab. He angled it out of the glare of the dull sun and saw what he knew he would see – his wife and daughter, bound and gagged.

“They’re OK,” Scarab said, looking back at the football game. “Unharmed. And they’re going to stay that way too, if you do what I tell you.”

“Let them go,” Guild said, all breath gone from his body.

“Billy-Ray’s with them right now and they’re all watching TV. As soon as you drop the Engine, he’ll release them. We got no reason to kill them, Grand Mage. Your family never did anything bad to us.”

“I’m not going to kill these people.”

“Yes, you are.”

“You’re insane.”

“You’ve said that. Guild, you don’t like these people, these mortals. From what I’ve heard, you never did. It’s time to break the rules, Grand Mage.”

“I won’t do it.”

“You are not only going to do it, but you’re going to do it in the next three minutes or Billy-Ray will kill your wife and daughter.”

“This isn’t revenge. These people never did anything to you. You don’t have to do this. You don’t even want to do this. You want to make me pay, fine, make me pay. Not them. Not my family.”