“The key wasn’t what you held,” Skulduggery said. “It’s the imprint it left on your skin. I’ve got good news and bad news for you, Ryan. The bad news is that you’re the only one in the world who can activate the Doomsday Machine, and Foe and his gang are never going to stop coming after you. The good news is that with myself and Valkyrie protecting you, you stand a very good chance of emerging from this relatively unscathed.”

Valkyrie looked at the back of Skulduggery’s head. “You said they’d probably try to cut his hand off.”

“I said relatively,” Skulduggery reminded her.

FOUR

Deacon Maybury’s apartment was trashed.

Skulduggery and Valkyrie went first, to check if it was safe, and Ryan crept in after them. Papers littered the bad carpet. The ugly couch had been slashed open and its stuffing had been pulled out like fluffy intestines. Chairs were overturned, picture frames smashed and every drawer taken from its slot, the contents dumped and scattered.

“What exactly are we looking for in this mess?” Valkyrie asked.

“Foe secured the Doomsday Machine somewhere,” Skulduggery said, picking through the debris. “We need to find out where. Maybe we’ll get lucky and discover that Deacon was an avid journal keeper. But if we can’t find a solid lead to take us to the Machine, there might be something else here, a clue or a name, something that will take us a step further.”

Valkyrie sighed. “I hate looking for clues.”

Ryan smiled at the cuteness of Valkyrie’s sulk.

“Looking for clues is an integral part of detective work,” Skulduggery told her.

“I prefer the part where we hit people.”

“That’s just because you have a violent nature. You should endeavour to be more peace-loving, like Ryan.”

Ryan stopped admiring Valkyrie and frowned. “Why am I peace-loving?”

“Hmm?” Skulduggery said, looking up. “Oh, I meant nothing by it. I just assumed you were peace-loving because you seem to be terrible at violence. Plus, you scream a lot.”

“Just because I don’t go around getting into fights every day doesn’t mean I can’t fight,” Ryan said, his face growing warm.

“Not being good at violence is nothing to be ashamed of,” Skulduggery said, standing a filing cabinet upright and sifting through it. “If there were more people like you in the world, there’d be less need for people like us.”

“I don’t have a violent nature,” Valkyrie growled.

“And I’m not peace-loving,” Ryan insisted.

“But you do scream a lot,” Skulduggery said.

“How can you know that?” Ryan asked. “You’ve known me for, like, two hours.”

“And in those two hours, you have spent most of your time screaming.” Skulduggery shrugged. “I really can’t see how my logic can be faulted.”

“I don’t have a violent nature,” Valkyrie repeated.