Valkyrie shook her head, unable to speak until there was breath in her lungs again. Something flew round the corner, bouncing on the floor beside them. She hadn’t even registered what it was before Skulduggery reached out his hand. The grenade went off, but Skulduggery kept the explosion contained in a tight bubble of air. He released his grip and the smoke curled through the corridor.

They ran back the way they had come.

Dragonclaw was in the corridor, using the wall to support himself. He saw them coming and his eyes managed to widen. He dug a hand into his robes.

Valkyrie sprinted for him. Two Necromancers emerged from an adjoining corridor just as she passed. They raised their weapons, but she left them to Skulduggery. She heard their grunts and cries of pain and kept going towards Dragonclaw. He pulled a gun from his robe, Skulduggery’s gun, raised it with a trembling hand and fired. The bullet missed Valkyrie completely and she swiped at the air, yanking the weapon away from him. The gun fell and she collided with him, her elbow crunching into his face. He reeled back, squawking, but she was latched on to him now and she didn’t stop hitting until he was on the floor, his arms flopping uselessly at his sides.

Skulduggery hauled her up with one hand, his gun flying into the other, and he kept her moving as he fired behind them. Sub-machine guns peppered the corridor with bullets, the walls spitting chunks of plaster and plumes of dust. They got behind the next corner and ran on, straight into a dead end. They turned, but it was too late, the Necromancers were already there.

And then the Necromancer furthest away stiffened, his gun falling. Valkyrie frowned as the next one did the same, and the next one, and finally the Necromancer closest to them exhaled, and his face went blank. All six of them stood there, suddenly very pale. Then they fell, one at a time, the closest Necromancer first, the effect rippling backwards.

Skulduggery walked forward warily, and checked for a pulse. “He’s dead,” he said, a hint of surprise in his voice.

He picked up a sub-machine gun, stepped over the dead Necromancer and continued on, back the way they had come. Valkyrie’s ring was like ice.

The Temple was quiet. Every corner they turned revealed more dead people in black robes. Bison Dragonclaw lay sprawled across the floor, eyes open, seeing nothing.

Doors opened ahead of them and Melancholia stepped through. She was smiling. “Wasn’t that fun?”

Skulduggery raised the sub-machine gun to his shoulder, finger hovering over the trigger. “You did this?”