Chapters (81)
Abyssinia looked at them all and laughed, and Never teleported Valkyrie and the others away and suddenly they were outside, in a courtyard with Corrival Academy’s South Tower looming over them, and Valkyrie’s knees gave way and sent her tripping over Lethe and she went down in a tangle with Never and Melior.
She breathed, quick and shallow. Skulduggery crouched over her, pressing his hands against her wound. He was issuing orders. People were panicking. Valkyrie just kept her eyes on him.
68
It had been a rough few days.
Flanery was tired and cranky. He’d left the Oval Office by mid-afternoon, taking calls and holding meetings instead in the Executive Residence. He had the TV on in the background. Every few seconds, he’d look away from whoever was talking to flick to another news network. He knew he should stick to the friendly channels, the smart ones with smart journalists that understood him and what he was trying to do, but, like an itch he couldn’t scratch, he always found himself going back to the ones who said mean things about him.
It wasn’t that they didn’t get it – he understood that now. It wasn’t that they couldn’t see the terrific things he was doing. It was that they had an agenda, and that agenda was to ruin him. They were stacked with liars and frauds and people who had it in for him.
Irritated, he started to cut meetings short, skipped phone calls and then cancelled briefings altogether. He wanted to be alone with the television. He wanted to stew in his own hatred.
His phone rang. The cellphone that only three people on the planet knew about.
He hesitated, and answered. “Hello?”
“Mr President,” a man said, “it is an honour to finally talk to you, sir. My name is Parthenios Lilt. I think it’s about time we met.”
69
“Hello?”
Sebastian knocked again on the open door. Still no answer. He walked into the gloom, past the suitcases in the hall.
“Bennet? You home?”
He found him in the darkness of the kitchen, sitting at the table, half a mug of coffee left to go cold in his hand. Sebastian flicked on the light.
“It’s my son,” Bennet said without looking up. “Kase. He … he’s staying. I’m moving but he’s … not. He’ll be living with his mother and … and Conrad. He says he’ll see me in a couple of weeks when things have settled.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” said Sebastian.
“I’ve lost my family. I’ve lost my job. The only thing I have left … is her.”
“Darquesse.”
Bennet didn’t answer. He wiped a tear from his eye and sniffed loudly, then cleared his throat. He looked up. “What do you need?”
“Sorry?”