Another prisoner landed. He stumbled and used his momentum to knock her off her feet. He fell on top of her, tried to pin her there. She dug her thumbs into his eyes and squirmed out from underneath as he screamed.

She stood and caught a fist in the jaw, tilted, went down, rolled, came to a stop with the left side of her body hanging over nothing but air. She rolled away from the platform’s edge. A prisoner came at her, face alive with intent. White lightning danced between her fingertips.

She blasted him.

She blasted another.

Someone yanked her hair and pulled her into a headlock and she grabbed him between the legs and twisted, then blasted him off his feet.

She turned, panting. The platform was crawling with yellow jumpsuits. Skulduggery was dealing with a bunch of them. Another bunch were coming for her.

And Razzia was disappearing under another bunch.

Valkyrie leaped in, her knee crunching into the face of a convict who’d been raining down punches. Razzia kicked another away and Valkyrie grabbed her hand, hauled her up. Razzia elbowed and headbutted. Valkyrie stomped and hammered. They stood back to back and dealt viciousness to those who dared get close. When they’d cleared a space, they started using their magic.

Suddenly they had no more enemies left to fight. The convicts still on the platform were either unconscious or too injured to be a threat. The other convicts, still on the tiers, had quietened down considerably. Skulduggery extricated himself from a pile of beaten, moaning bodies. Cadaverous was still under there somewhere.

“This doesn’t mean we’re mates,” Razzia said.

Valkyrie looked round. “Sorry?”

“This,” said Razzia. “It doesn’t mean we’re mates, y’know.”

“Oh. No, I … I didn’t think it would.”

“All right,” Razzia said, nodding. “Just so we’re clear.” She walked for the edge. “Hey, skeleton man. Boost me to the other side, would you?”

Skulduggery looked at Valkyrie and she shrugged. He echoed the shrug, and used the air to carry Razzia to an empty tier, where she vanished into the corridor beyond.

“OK then,” Skulduggery said, “is that everyone?”

“Not quite,” said Lethe, slowly getting to his feet.

Skulduggery grunted, unimpressed by the turn of events. Valkyrie tapped a finger against the sigil on her hip, felt it glow warmly.

“I’ve never seen anyone break free of Smoke’s influence before it wears off naturally,” Lethe said. “I always knew you were special, Skulduggery. I gather it’s why Abyssinia speaks so highly of you.”

“You gather?” Skulduggery said, circling to Lethe’s right while Valkyrie circled to his left. “She doesn’t speak directly to you?”

“Sadly, no,” Lethe answered. “The only voices in my head are my own.”

“It must be lonely.”

“Finally,” Lethe said, “someone who understands.”