“Darquesse is my magic,” she said in a quiet voice. “When we separated, she took it all, left me with nothing.”

Wreath sat back, staring at her. “I’ve … never heard of anything like that ever happening.”

Valkyrie offered up a half-smile. “Yep. I’m unique.”

“No magic at all?”

“Not a peep.”

“How distressing.”

“I’m pretty distressed, all right.”

“So what are you going to do?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “I thought my life was going to be magic and monsters and fighting and … whatever. But if I don’t have magic, then …”

“Does that mean a mortal life?” Wreath asked. She could have sworn he had paled slightly.

“It might.” Over his shoulder, she saw Skulduggery walk in. “Oh, hell,” she muttered.

Wreath’s smile reappeared. “It’s Skulduggery, isn’t it?”

“Please don’t annoy him.”

“Me? When have I ever annoyed the great Skulduggery Pleasant?”

Skulduggery arrived at their table. Wreath smiled up at him. “Hello.”

“I will shoot you in the eye,” Skulduggery said.

Wreath glanced at Valkyrie. “I think I’ve annoyed him.”

“What are you doing here, Wreath? How the hell did you get in the front door?”

“The Cleavers love me,” Wreath said. “I told a few jokes, we had a few laughs, they invited me in. Also, I shadow-walked past them. I’m sure they won’t mind, though.”

Skulduggery motioned to someone behind Valkyrie. “And I’m sure you won’t mind if I assign one of them to stick by your side while you’re here.”

“Not at all,” said Wreath. “I love making new friends.”

A Cleaver came over and Skulduggery nodded to Wreath and said, “Don’t let him leave your sight. Valkyrie, if I may?”

She got up, followed him to a quiet corner. “We were just talking,” she said.

“Wreath doesn’t bother me,” he responded. “I need you to go home. In all the confusion, we’ve let something very important slip our minds. You need to go home and claim the Sceptre.”

“Me?” she asked, frowning. “No, you should be the one to control it. I don’t even have any magic any more.”

“That won’t stop the Sceptre from binding itself to you.”

“No, I mean, I don’t have any magic, so what use am I to you, long term?”

He tilted his head. “Meaning what? You’re thinking of walking away?”

“I don’t … I don’t know. I don’t want to. I want to … I want to do this for the rest of my life. But without magic, I’ll just be a hindrance.”

Skulduggery folded his arms, and tapped one gloved finger against his chin. “Hmm.”

“You see?”

“I think so.”

Tears came to her eyes again. “So … you agree? I mean, you think I should … stop? With Stephanie gone, I could just go home and be normal and … You think I should do that?”

He sighed. “If you think it’s best.”