Valkyrie clung on to Skulduggery and she wasn’t screaming any more. She was laughing. He was in a standing position and he moved them quickly through the air with an unnerving casualness. This was what he must have meant by the new tricks he’d taught himself. She looked down. All that empty space beneath them, added to the reality of what they were doing, took her breath away. Then she looked up, at the red sky, and saw the winged beasts swooping down.

Skulduggery altered course, avoiding the claws of the nearest beast. They spun in place then shifted left and a second beast missed them, screeching its displeasure. It was dangerous up here, even more so than in the city, and they flew back over the streets. They dodged another flying creature and passed over the riders, until Skulduggery found a suitable place to touch down. They landed and hurried through a door, into the quiet gloom.

“You can fly,” she whispered.

“I got bored walking everywhere,” he said.

“Can you teach me to fly?”

“You’ll need to master everything else about Elemental magic first, but yes. If we live through this, and if you continue your training, and if you’re real, then yes, I’ll teach you to fly. I’ll teach every Elemental to fly. It’s fun.”

“What else can you do?”

He looked at her and cocked his head. “Lots.”

A shape loomed in the doorway and Valkyrie’s smile vanished. They backed away as the Faceless One came through. Skulduggery clicked the fingers of both hands then thrust them out straight. Twin streams of flame hit the Faceless One, enveloping it completely. Valkyrie stared in amazement. The flame streams were continuous, like two flame-throwers. She’d never seen Elemental magic used like that before – she hadn’t even known it could be. But it wasn’t enough to stop the Faceless One or even slow it down.

Skulduggery cut off the fire and retreated. “It never works,” he muttered. “Nothing I do ever works.”

Something bright caught Valkyrie’s eye and she looked past the shambling form that had once been Batu, through the door it had come through, and saw the yellow portal.

“The gateway!” she said. “It’s open!”

“You better get going then,” Skulduggery said dully. His hands had dropped by his sides and he’d stopped walking backwards.

“Come on!” she yelled.

“The mind plays such cruel tricks,” he murmured.

Valkyrie ducked past the Faceless One. It turned its head to her then refocused on Skulduggery. She had a clear run to the portal. “Skulduggery!”

“You’re not real.”

“Please!”

The Faceless One held up its hand and Skulduggery moaned a little. His legs buckled and he dropped to his knees, his bones shaking.

“I have done terrible things,” he managed to say.