“I know,” said Ravel quietly. “But Saracen, Skulduggery … Valkyrie … if I leave this circle, Darquesse will come for me. You don’t know what it was like. Please. Don’t ask me to go through that again.”

“You’re bait,” Skulduggery said. “You’ve known for days now that you were going to be bait. You knew this was coming.”

“So that’s it? You’re just going to leave me alone and defenceless against her?”

“No. Because we’re not like you. We prefer to give people a fighting chance. She’ll be coming for you, and we’re going to be ready. You’ll be with us.”

Ravel looked shocked. “You want me fighting beside you? After … after what I’ve done?”

“Do we want you beside us?” Skulduggery said. “No. But that’s where you’ll be. We don’t know how long it’ll take her to get here, but we’re as ready as we’re going to be. Let’s go.”

For a moment, Ravel seemed pinned to the spot. Then he took a shuddering breath, and stepped out of the circle.

71

Ravel.

He came through loud and clear, lit up in her mind like a star in the night sky. She turned, her eyes closed, until the star burned bright enough for her to follow.

South. Towards Roarhaven. He was in the Sanctuary.

It was a trap. It was so obviously a trap.

Darquesse opened her eyes and smiled.

Good.

72

The mission was a go.

Scapegrace had never felt anything like this before. While his stomach was incapable of producing the butterflies effect he felt sure should have accompanied such a moment, he nonetheless felt thrilled beyond measure at the thought of doing something so important. Of doing something so worthy.

Thrasher was unusually quiet, which was a good thing, and they stood quietly in the Ops Room while people around them talked really fast to each other.

“She’s coming,” Saracen Rue said.

China Sorrows, the most beautiful woman Scapegrace had ever seen, walked quickly to the hologram of the city. “She’s been seen?”

“Our Sensitives are blacking out,” said Rue. “The ones we’ve had searching for her. Finbar says their minds are being overloaded the closer she gets.”

“Get Finbar isolated,” China said. “Cassandra, too. Where are Geoffrey Scrutinous and Philomena Random? We need them all isolated.”

“I’ve sent for them,” said Skulduggery. “They’ll be ready when we need them, you can count on that. Where’s the Black Cleaver?”

China scowled. “I have no idea.”

Skulduggery nodded, and looked at Tanith Low. “Tanith, you’ve just been assigned bodyguard duty.”

“Me?” said Tanith, appalled.

“Her?” said China, appalled.

“Deal with it and move on,” Skulduggery said. “How long do we have before Darquesse gets here?”

“We estimate no longer than half an hour,” Rue answered.

Skulduggery turned to Scapegrace. “Are you ready to go?”