Skulduggery looked at Smoke. “You should have seen her, back in the good old days. She sparked. She met every challenge head-on. She was fearless.”

“No,” she said, “I wasn’t.”

“You were fearless in every way that mattered,” he responded. “You were magnificent. You were funny, and tough, and confident, and amazing. You did things no one else could do. You survived what no one else could survive. Just being around you made me a better person. And now look at what you’ve become. This apologetic … shell. Meek. Timid.” His head tilted up. “Ordinary.”

“If I’m not worth your time,” she said, “then go spend it somewhere else.”

“I care for you too much to let your suffering continue,” Skulduggery told her. “I thought you’d come back. I thought you’d wake up, find that old spark again … but now I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

“So … what? Are you going to put me out of my misery?”

He looked at her and didn’t answer for a moment. Then he said, “I think I’ll have to.”

She looked into his eye sockets to the shadows within and her gaze locked there, like he was pulling her towards him. She almost didn’t notice Smoke passing her, reaching out to take Byron’s arm.

“Come on, kid,” he said. “Parthenios Lilt wants a word.”

Byron shook his head. “I don’t … I don’t want to.”

“Let him go,” Omen said, trying to pull Smoke’s hand away.

Smoke shoved Omen back and Valkyrie caught him before he fell.

“Screw this,” Smoke muttered, tapping Byron’s arm. Byron gasped, and Valkyrie didn’t need her aura-vision to know he’d just been corrupted. “Let’s go, kid.”

Byron stared at him, and nodded, then stopped and glanced back at his house. “Can you give me a minute?” he asked. “I’ll be real quick, I swear.”

Smoke sighed. “What, you want to kiss your mommy goodbye?”

“No,” Byron said. “I want to kill her. Please?”

“Fine,” Smoke said. “But be quick about it.”

Byron grinned, and Omen broke free from Valkyrie’s hold and stood in front of him.

“Don’t do it,” he said.

“Out of my way,” Byron snapped, trying to shove past.

Omen wrestled with him. “I can’t let you. I can’t. She’s your mum, Byron. You just told us that you love her.”

“Hey, Byron,” Nero called. “Kick his ass.”

Byron stopped wrestling and looked at Omen, and Omen’s eyes widened. “Now, just wait a second …”

Byron hit him.

“Hey!” Valkyrie shouted, and went to pull Byron back, but Smoke was in her way.

“Let them scrap,” he said, eyes on the fight, not even looking at Valkyrie, like they were in the playground or something. Like this was nothing more serious than a game.