“Yes you did – though partners may be stretching it a bit. He did what you told him.”

“Well, that’s something,” Tanith said. “At least I didn’t let my standards slip too much.”

Valkyrie adjusted her position. “And he didn’t say anything else?”

“Sanguine? No. Were you hoping for something in particular?”

“No,” said Valkyrie. “Never mind. It’s really good to have you back. I’ve missed you.”

“And I’ve missed a lot. Care to fill me in over some food? I’m starving.”

“Yeah,” said Valkyrie. “Yeah, of course. Come on.”

They walked. Valkyrie was hiding something, but Tanith didn’t press it. It was bad news. Whatever it was, it was bad news.

Before they got to the food, Valkyrie’s phone rang. She listened for a moment, her eyes widening. Then she hung up. “Come on,” she said, and took off at a run. Tanith ran alongside her.

They got to a large room filled with thin, mirrored pillars. The perfect place to find someone like China Sorrows. Tanith hung back by the door while Valkyrie ran in, joining China and Skulduggery and a thin, dishevelled man.

“What happened?” Valkyrie asked. “Where’s Ravel? Where’s everyone else?”

“Mr Signate was about to tell us,” China said, turning her gaze on the dishevelled man. “Please continue. You were saying that our plan worked …?”

Signate nodded. “It did. It worked. I mean, first things first. Shunting Ravel to another dimension did break the link to Darquesse, like you thought it would. The pain went away instantly. The look of relief on his face was just … anyway. So, we arrived. It was quiet. The room we’d shunted into was unsuitable for spending any length of time in, so we set up camp on the surface. Ravel was in shackles. We established a perimeter and I’d turned in for the night.”

Tanith didn’t know what the hell he was talking about, but from the look of panic on Valkyrie’s face she knew this was bad.

“Then I woke up,” said Signate. “There were people fighting. There were those Cleavers, like you said, the Redhoods, and there were so many of them and there were people in robes and …”

Skulduggery tilted his head. “What happened, Mr Signate?”

“I’m … I’m not a fighter. I’m not a soldier. There was nothing I could do. I ran to an injured Cleaver, one of ours, the only one I could get to, and I shunted us both back here.”

“The Cleaver’s being tended to in the Medical Wing,” said China. “I think we can assume the rest have been killed.”

“What about Ravel?” Valkyrie asked, like it was the only question that mattered.

“I saw him,” said Signate. “Only for a moment, but I saw him. He was running. He may have got away in all the confusion. I’m sorry, I just don’t know.”

China looked at Skulduggery. “Well?”