China glanced at him. “And yet nobody asked you. Valkyrie, without knowing what you can do or how to control it, I’m afraid you need every advantage you can get. Take the gauntlet. Please.”

Valkyrie shook her head. “I’ve seen myself wear it in the vision, just before Darquesse kills my family. My family is here now, China. Because of Vex, we have to keep them close. We can’t even let them leave. The vision is coming true. If I wear that, I’m allowing that future to happen.”

“And if you don’t wear it,” China said, “you might be allowing it to happen that much sooner.”

Valkyrie glared, her heat matched by the cool of those ice-blue eyes. Finally, she looked away, and turned to Skulduggery. “I can’t wear it …”

“You have to,” he said. “China’s right.”

“That’s Grand Mage Sorrows,” China corrected, “or I’ll have you both flogged.”

“The circumstances in the visions are coming true,” Skulduggery said, ignoring China, “so you know you’ll be called upon to fight. You owe it to yourself, to us, and to your family, to give yourself every advantage. The circumstances haven’t changed, but the details have. We’ve seen clothes change. We’ve seen people in the early visions that aren’t there in the later ones. Your family dying? That could be one more detail that we see changed. But only if you fight hard enough.”

Valkyrie folded her arms. “Fine,” she muttered.

Skulduggery waved his hand, and the gauntlet floated down to her. She took hold of it, and stuffed it in her jacket pocket. It was too big to fit in all the way.

“Tell us about your plan,” China said to Skulduggery. “When Darquesse attacks, we’ll need you here to lead the initial defence.”

Skulduggery nodded. “If Sanguine is right, her targets will be Ravel and Valkyrie. Ravel will draw her in, but when she realises that Valkyrie is here, I fully expect her to forget about Ravel and focus on her. So our main objective in the opening stages is to protect Valkyrie Cain. Questions?”

“We have sorcerers and Cleavers and God-Killers on our side,” said Gracious, “not to mention our own nutball Death Bringer, but unless we get lucky, we’re not going to be able to contain Darquesse for long.”

“That’s where Fletcher comes in,” Skulduggery said. “He’ll teleport me to the Necropolis, where I’ll face the Guardian in the final test. So, if and when Darquesse does reach Valkyrie, hopefully she’ll get a nasty surprise.”

“How long will the final test take?” asked Saracen.

“I have no idea.”

“This is far from ideal.”

“Of that, I am aware.”

“Are we sure this is a wise course of action?” Donegan asked. “Skulduggery, like it or not, you’re one of our heavy hitters. We can’t afford to lose you in the middle of a pitched battle.”