“But we need to be ready to face her,” China said. “Skulduggery, do we have any kind of a time frame?”

“The city will never be ready,” he answered, “but we can make a decent stab at it. We’ll need the night. Tomorrow morning, we’ll take Ravel out of the circle that’s keeping him hidden. Once Darquesse senses him, she should be drawn straight here.”

“She will be,” said Sanguine, nodding. “I reckon punishing him was her last act that’s even remotely human, and there’s a part of her that’s clinging to that.”

“When she gets here, what do we do with Ravel?” Donegan asked.

China sat back. “We arm him.”

Saracen frowned. “We what?”

“It’s in his best interests to help us,” China explained.

“I am not fighting beside that man,” said Saracen. “He murdered Ghastly, for God’s sake. Shudder is dead because of him. Skulduggery, come on, talk some sense into her.”

“Actually,” China said, “it was Skulduggery’s idea.”

Valkyrie’s eyebrows shot up. “What?”

“Ravel will fight alongside us or he’ll spend the rest of his life in agony,” Skulduggery said. “He doesn’t have a choice. I don’t like it any more than you, but we’re going up against an enemy the likes of which we’ve never faced. We need everyone we can get – and at least we know how Ravel fights.”

“This is unbelievable,” Saracen muttered, but said no more.

“We have three God-Killer weapons,” said China. “Mr Sanguine here has a fourth, but I doubt we’d get that off him without a fight.”

Sanguine grinned. “Not a chance.”

“Three God-Killers, then. Skulduggery, Saracen and Ravel will wield them. There is another out there, of course, the most powerful, but Dexter Vex has run off with it. If anyone encounters him over the next few hours, feel free to liberate the Sceptre from his person.”

“What good will that do?” Valkyrie asked. “It’s bonded to my sister. No one here is laying a finger on her, even if we do get the Sceptre back.”

“I wasn’t suggesting that at all,” China said, but failed to elaborate on what she was suggesting. “And speaking of secret weapons,” she continued, “we have one last weapon to take into account.” She produced the Deathtouch Gauntlet from somewhere behind her, and put it on the arm of the throne.

“I told you,” Valkyrie said, “I’m not wearing that. I don’t even need it now that I’ve got my freaky new powers.”

“New powers that we’ve never seen before,” China said. “White lightning, a type of energy we have yet to identify … We don’t even know what to classify your discipline as.”

“Freak sounds good to me,” said Sanguine.