By the end of his second day, he was believing that. Haggard was rapidly becoming the nicest town in Ireland, where nothing weird ever happened.

The oddest thing, according to a small old man in a farmer’s cap who didn’t appear to have any teeth, was a car that had been showing up regularly for the last five years or so. Kenny didn’t know much about cars, but he knew what a Bentley was when the old man mentioned it. A real beauty too, apparently. A few times a week, usually at night, the Bentley could be seen driving through town. Nobody knew who owned it. Sometimes there’d be a passenger, a dark-haired girl. She always kept her head down.

Kenny felt the flutter of excitement building inside him. It was them. He knew it was. It had to be.

His attention caught by this mysterious Bentley, Kenny didn’t pay much attention to the news that a local woman had been mugged on Main Street. Everyone was talking about it. Melissa Edgley had had her handbag snatched by a thug called Ian Moore. Melissa’s husband had thrown Moore through a window, and the cops had come and Moore had been escorted into a cell. No magic or super powers involved.

But then, the next day, they were all talking about Moore again. The Guards had been forced to let him go, the nice people of Haggard said, and he’d gone straight to Melissa Edgley’s house looking for revenge. Melissa’s daughter, Stephanie, had been home with her new-born sister, and Stephanie had managed to overpower the thug and call the police. The poor girl, the good people of Haggard said. She must have been terrified. It must have been awful. Isn’t it great how she overpowered him, though? Isn’t that amazing? Wonder how she did it?

And then the good people of Haggard would shrug. But then, she’s always been an odd one, has that Stephanie.

And Kenny’s interest was piqued.

Chapter 46 - The Requiem Ball

Chapter 46
The Requiem Ball

here was a box on the table when they walked into Skulduggery’s house. It was done up with a ribbon tied into a bow. Valkyrie opened it, took out a beautiful black dress.

“Wow,” she said.

“Normally, Ghastly would have been happy to make you a dress,” Skulduggery said, “but all his spare time is invested in tracking down Tanith. So I thought I’d spoil you.”

“This is… wow.”

“I’m glad you like it. We leave for the Ball in twenty minutes.”

She glared at him. “I have to wash my hair.”

“Then you had better hurry.”