Skulduggery would later tell her that following the explosion, Lord Vile had shadow-walked away, injured. Serpine had picked up the two halves of the magic-sucker, examined them, cursed, and had Peregrine teleport him away. Skulduggery had then bound Valkyrie’s arms and legs so she would be easier to manage, and took her with him on his horse. Ravel went on ahead, his horse tethered to Skulduggery’s. It was slow-going, and they missed their rendezvous, but they made the one after that, and Signate shunted them into the circle that China had devised in the Sanctuary in their own dimension. They’d left Ravel in that circle, hidden from Darquesse.

Valkyrie missed all that. All she saw were blurred faces and faraway voices. If she were lucky, unconsciousness would snatch her away from the pain for hours at a time.

She wasn’t lucky very often.

58

VALKYRIE’S AFFLICTION

isjointed. That’s how Tanith felt. Like nothing fitted right. Like she’d lost the rhythm of how her life was lived. She couldn’t shake the feeling that she was stumbling. She couldn’t shake the feeling that her feet were suddenly leaden.

She was dealing with a life interrupted, and she was lost and alone and she had no one to help guide her back. She hadn’t called her family. She wanted to leave that until she had a handle on where things were going. Which would be a nice change.

Ghastly is dead.

Those three words haunted her. They waited at the end of every thought. Sometimes they’d fade a little, allow her a distraction, a moment of engagement. But they never left her alone for long. They were persistent, those three little words.

She took to exploring Roarhaven. She’d tried to help with preparing the city for Darquesse’s wrath, but she only got in the way. Saracen Rue was too busy to talk and while she’d read their books, she’d never been introduced to Donegan Bane or Gracious O’Callahan. Her Remnant-self knew them, apparently. It was funny. Her Remnant-self had had a better grip on her life than Tanith did.

Mostly, she just hung around the Sanctuary and waited for Valkyrie to get back. She was there when they shunted in. Thank God. She’d even visited Ravel in his little circle. She used to fancy him. He was so smooth, so charming, so good-looking. And those eyes – those beautiful golden eyes. But now she hated him.

Ghastly is dead.

She needed to get out. She needed to get on her bike and ride.

She left Roarhaven in a cloud of dust. She didn’t know where she was going. She got on to the motorway, joined the traffic, found herself taking a familiar exit.

Oh. So that’s where she was going.

She pulled up outside Valkyrie’s house. Knocked on the door.

Melissa Edgley answered it. Desmond passed behind her, with little Alice scampering around after him.