“For how long?” Skulduggery asked, stalking over to examine the plinth. “This amount of sand … it looks like it’ll only run for, what, a little over twenty minutes?”

The Guardian nodded. “Twenty-three, actually.”

Skulduggery looked back at him. “So, if I fight you now and I win, and the sigil is activated, Valkyrie will only be invulnerable for the twenty-three minutes after that moment?”

“Yes,” said the Guardian, sounding surprised at the question. “Twenty-three minutes of invulnerability and strength is quite generous, we thought.”

Skulduggery looked up, and Fletcher had the feeling he was glaring at Wreath. He switched his focus back to the Guardian. “There’s no way to delay it? I activate the sigil and the invulnerability kicks in when we need it?”

“That is not possible, I am afraid. Is there a problem?”

“There is,” Skulduggery said. “That’s not going to work for us.”

“I’m afraid there is no way around it.”

Skulduggery observed him. “Do I have to fight you now? Right at this moment?”

Porcelain eyebrows rose slightly. “Well … No, I suppose not.”

“Can I come back?”

“It is most unusual,” said the Guardian, “but yes. The tests will only be reset after I am engaged in combat.”

“So I can walk straight here and there’ll be no one to stop me?”

“Precisely.”

“Then that’s what I’ll do.”

The Guardian bowed. “I shall await your return.”

Skulduggery turned, looked up at the balcony. “We’re going back to Roarhaven.”

69

STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

here’s someone up ahead,” her dad said.

Valkyrie woke, launched from a troubled sleep like she’d been shot from a cannon. Her body ached. Her broken hand alone made her want to cry. The minivan was slowing as it approached an elderly man, smiling in the headlights. When they came to a stop, he walked to the driver’s side as the window wound down.

“Afraid the road’s closed, folks,” he said. “A few trees down. Where you headed?” But when the elderly man saw Valkyrie, his expression changed. “Ah, excuse me, I didn’t realise. Carry on.”

He nodded to them and stepped back, vanishing into the darkness.

“He’s with the Sanctuary,” Valkyrie said. “We can keep going.”

Valkyrie’s dad put the minivan in gear and they started moving again.

“Slight change of plan,” Vex said, like he’d been waiting for her to catch his eye. “China would throw me in a cell as soon as look at me, so I’ll be fading into the shadows once we’ve arrived. If any of you try to signal to the guards up ahead that something isn’t right, I kill Alice. That’s the first thing I do. We all clear?”

“We are,” said Valkyrie.