Chapters (115)
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Table of Contents
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
- 13
- 14
- 15
- 16
- 17
- 18
- 19
- 20
- 21
- 22
- 23
- 24
- 25
- 26
- 27
- 28
- 29
- 30
- 31
- 32
- 33
- 34
- 35
- 36
- 37
- 38
- 39
- 40
- 41
- 42
- 43
- 44
- 45
- 46
- 47
- 48
- 49
- 50
- 51
- 52
- 53
- 54
- 55
- 56
- 57
- 58
- 59
- 60
- 61
- 62
- 63
- 64
- 65
- 66
- 67
- 68
- 69
- 70
- 71
- 72
- 73
- 74
- 75
- 76
- 77
- 78
- 79
- 80
- 81
- 82
- 83
- 84
- 85
- 86
- 87
- 88
- 89
- 90
- 91
- 92
- 93
- 94
- 95
- 96
- 97
- 98
- 99
- 100
- 101
- 102
- 103
- 104
- 105
- 106
- 107
- 108
- Also by Derek Landy
- About the Publisher
Tanith smiled. “Hi,” she said. “I’m—”
“I know you,” Melissa said. She looked agitated. “You came to our house a few years ago after Christmas. You were Stephanie’s substitute teacher.”
“Ah,” Tanith said. “Right. That actually wasn’t me – not really. And I don’t remember it, so I apologise for anything I may have said or done. I was possessed at the time by this horrible little thing that turned me evil for a few years. I just got rid of it, actually. Today is my first Saturday Remnant-free for over two years. My name is Tanith Low, and I suppose I was a teacher to your daughter, actually. I handled half of her fight training.”
Melissa stared at her.
“Valkyrie told me you found out about the whole magic thing. I, uh, I didn’t misunderstand or anything, did I?”
“Where is she?” Melissa asked. “She hasn’t been answering our calls and we don’t know where she is. Is she all right?”
“She’s in the Medical Wing in the Sanctuary. Basically, she’s in hospital. I thought you’d probably be worried about her, and it would never occur to Skulduggery to let you know these things.”
Melissa went very pale. “Take us to her.”
“That’s not a good idea.”
“She’s our daughter and you’d better—”
“Melissa,” Tanith said, talking over her, “it isn’t a good idea to take you to see her because seeing her would distress you too much.”
“What’s wrong with her?”
“She’s in pain,” said Tanith. “A hideous amount of pain, if I’m honest. But it shouldn’t be too long now before it passes.”
“What happened?”
“It’s a long story, and full of aspects that you’d find confusing, so I’m going to stick to the simplest explanation, if that’s OK with you. Valkyrie and Skulduggery went away to do a job. While they were gone, she was caught in an explosion of sorts.”
“An explosion?”
“Of sorts. Physically, she’s fine, she’s uninjured, but she is in an incredible amount of pain. Our doctors didn’t know what to make of it at first, until they realised that it wasn’t nearly as complicated as they’d feared. In fact, Valkyrie is going through something that everyone there is very familiar with.”
“What?” Melissa asked. “For God’s sake, what’s wrong with her?”
“It’s a magic thing.”
“But she’s not magic. She told us herself, she lost her magic.”
“So she did,” said Tanith. “But the facts are the facts, and the fact is the explosion kick-started her Surge. What she’ll be when she emerges is anyone’s guess.”