Jack crashed on to the bonnet and Skulduggery muttered a curse, craning his neck to see around him. Valkyrie watched Tanith step off the roof. She kicked Jack and he rolled off the side of the car, but as he fell, his fingers found purchase, and for a moment he clung on to the door, his malformed face pressed against Valkyrie’s window.

And then he hauled himself up out of sight and Tanith joined him, their feet heavy on the roof.

“Please stop standing on my car,” Skulduggery said softly.

There was a moment of sudden silence and then Tanith’s boots passed over the windscreen, kicking. Jack followed. He stepped from the roof to the bonnet, his right hand closed around Tanith’s throat, lifting her up and holding her out before him.

Valkyrie watched in horror as Jack held Tanith over the side of the car, the ground rushing beneath her. He looked down at Valkyrie and as he did so, he let go.

Valkyrie screamed Tanith’s name as Tanith dropped, but the Bentley sped on and she didn’t see Tanith hit the road.

Skulduggery put his hand out of the window, his fingers moving, and ahead of them the air started to ripple. Jack turned, realised what was happening, but was unable to prevent it. The Bentley passed through the wall of air, but Jack slammed into it and it knocked him back.

Valkyrie spun in her seat, and managed to see him land on both feet in the middle of the road, but the Bentley was already rounding another corner.

“She’ll be all right,” Skulduggery said, not even waiting for Valkyrie to ask. “Tanith Low has fallen off more cars than you’ve ridden in.”

He wrenched the wheel to the right and the Bentley fishtailed a little, then the tyres found their grip again.

The car in front wasn’t doing so well. It veered off the road and pedestrians jumped from its path as it mounted the kerb and crashed through an iron gate. The car jolted and spun, and the gate pinwheeled over it and hit the ground. Skulduggery slammed on the brakes.

The car ahead had stopped, its bonnet crumpled and thick grey smoke billowed from its engine. Valkyrie saw movement.

“He’s getting out,” she said, unbuckling her seatbelt and kicking open the door. Instantly she heard the siren.

She ran by a teenage boy, his eyes wide and his mouth open, raising his phone to take a picture, and she snatched the phone from his hand and leaped over the mangled gate. She ran to the ruined car, pushing at the air to clear the smoke from her sight, but the car was empty. She glimpsed Sanguine, dragging Kenspeckle around the corner of a building.

She grabbed Fletcher’s hand and pointed. “There!”

And then a Garda squad car braked sharply behind them.