“Mum is sad,” Carol’s reflection said. “But she’s always been sad. She just disguised it with a sharp tongue. She thought money would make things better, but it hasn’t. Dad is worried about her. I think he’s worried about a lot of things. Stephanie told me that one of my jobs is to make their lives better by pretending they’ve been good parents. That is what I plan to do.”

“OK,” said Valkyrie. “Well, I’ll … I’ll head off, then.”

“Very well,” said the reflection, and went to close the door.

“Wait,” said Valkyrie. “Listen. My reflection malfunctioned. She did some terrible things. But in the end … in the end, she’d changed. She had become a good person. I’d like you to become a good person.”

“Very well.”

Valkyrie stepped back. “OK,” she said. “See you around.”

The reflection gave a convincing smile, and closed the door. Valkyrie got to the top of the road and a car passed her. Fergus and Beryl, returning home. She waved, and kept going.

She hadn’t walked through Haggard in months. It felt nice. It felt normal. It was cold, and it looked like rain, but her childhood had been spent here, on these streets, on that beach, running and playing and chatting and laughing. It had been a normal life. It hadn’t been boring, as she had once thought. It hadn’t been drab. It had just been normal. Haggard was her own personal sanctuary, the place she could go now and be the person she used to be. Here, nobody knew her secret. Here, she could be Stephanie Edgley again.

She got back to her house and walked into the kitchen. Her parents were sitting at the table, staring at the laptop.

She grinned. “You get it working?”

At the sound of her voice, they both looked up, startled. Afraid. Her eyes flickered to the screen. The video playing was of a war zone. Screams and shouts and a shaking camera. And there, in full view and perfect focus, was Stephanie Edgley, firing black lightning from the Sceptre of the Ancients.

45

A BRUTAL ACT OF KINDNESS

arquesse stood over Tanith. “So, young lady,” she said. “Do you have anything you want to say to me?”

Tanith looked straight up at her. Not confrontational, exactly. Just … confident. Assured. From where she was sitting, with her hands shackled to the radiator, that was quite a feat. “What did you have in mind?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” said Darquesse. “Perhaps an apology? You let Valkyrie escape and you cut off Mercy’s head. The second one was funny. The first was not.”

“What do you care?” Tanith asked. “You’re getting your power back, aren’t you? Let Valkyrie be free. Let her enjoy her last few days.”

Darquesse hunkered down. “What is this? Why did you betray me?”