The Torment turned his head to him, and frowned. 'Who are you?'
'I'm ... sorry? It's me, it's Vaurien. Vaurien Scapegrace. I. . . built the cellar for you?'
'Oh,' the Torment said. 'You. Why are you back? I thought you were dead. It would have been nice if you were dead.'
Although he had never known the Torment to make a joke, Scapegrace decided he was making a joke now, so he laughed.
'This is brilliant,' he said again. 'Making him kill Cain. I mean, it's just brilliant. It's genius. I'd have never thought of something like this.'
'I know.'
'Do you mind me asking, where do you get your ideas? Do they come to you in a dream, or is it just, you know, instinct? I'm keeping a, like a journal, where I jot down all my ideas and my thoughts and — '
The Torment looked at him again and Scapegrace shut up.
'You irritate me,' the Torment said.
'Sorry.'
The Torment went back to ignoring him. 'Dead man,' he said loudly. 'Your minute is up.'
Pleasant put his hands on Cain's shoulders. He spoke to her and went to hug her. She twisted and broke away, shoved him back. For a moment she was obscured from view, but when Pleasant moved again, Scapegrace could see the tears in her eyes.
Pleasant took her arm, and they walked back.
'You will kill her?' the Torment asked.
Pleasant sagged. 'Yes.'
Scapegrace looked at Cain. She was standing silently, as straight as she could, trying to be fearless despite the tears.
'Then by all means,' the Torment said, 'kill her.'
Pleasant hesitated, then took his gun from his jacket.
'I'm sorry, Valkyrie,' Pleasant said softly.
'Don't talk to me,' Cain said. 'Just do what you have to do.'
'That looks like protective clothing,' the
Torment commented. 'Be sure to shoot into her flesh. You wouldn't want me to think you cheated, after all.'
Cain parted her tunic, and Scapegrace smiled. He wished this entire thing were being recorded so he could play it back in the future, again and again. The moment when Skulduggery Pleasant killed Valkyrie Cain.
'Please forgive me,' Pleasant said, then aimed the gun at the girl and pulled the trigger.
The gunshot hurt Scapegrace's ears, and Cain's body jerked and her eyes widened and she stepped back, then fell awkwardly to her knees, clutching the wound. Blood trickled from her fingers.
Valkyrie Cain fell forward, her face hitting the ground.
Pleasant looked down at her.
'She was an innocent girl,' he whispered.
'She had Ancient blood in her veins,' the Torment responded, 'and so was a fitting payment for the information you require. The Grotesquery is hidden in a castle ruins, on the hill in Bancrook. Detective? Can you hear me?'
Pleasant raised his head slowly.
'I wonder if you can get there before Vengeous,'
the Torment continued. 'What do you think?'
'If you're lying . . .,' Pleasant began.
'Why would I lie? I asked you to kill the child, and you did. I keep my bargains.'
Pleasant stood over Valkyrie Cain's dead body. After a moment he hunkered down and picked it up.
'Scapegrace,' he said. 'Back to the car.'
Scapegrace laughed. 'What, do you think I'm nuts? I'm staying here.'
'No. I'm taking you back.'
Scapegrace grinned and looked over at the Torment.
'Why are you looking at me?' the Torment asked.
Scapegrace's smile faded. 'What?'
'There was nothing in our bargain concerning you.'
'But I can't go back!' Scapegrace cried. 'He'll put me in jail!'
'You seem to think I care.'
'Scapegrace,' Pleasant said, in a voice devoid of any human emotion. 'Get back to the car.
Start walking.'
Scapegrace looked around desperately, but there was no one to help him. Trying not to cry, he shuffled off.
'I wish to thank you, Detective,' the Torment said. 'I look around at this world, at what it's become, I look around at my fellow sorcerers as they huddle in shadows, and I realize now that I have been waiting. Do you see? I have been waiting for a reason to live again, to emerge from my dank and squalid cellar. I have a reason now. I have a purpose now. For years I have slumbered, but now I am awake. You have awoken me, Detective. And we shall meet again.'
'Count on it,' Pleasant responded.
The Torment smiled, then turned his back and walked away.
Scapegrace was betrayed. Let down. Abandoned. Pleasant walked beside him, carrying the dead girl in his arms. Scapegrace doubted he would survive the journey back to the Sanctuary.
He had heard tales of the Skeleton Detective's fury, and there was no one else around for him to take it out on. Scapegrace couldn't reason with him, he couldn't bargain with him. There was no hope. No hope left.
They got to the car, and Pleasant laid the girl's body in the trunk, carefully, then looked back at the town. The Torment was gone from sight, and the town looked empty now, as night fell.
'Well, we did it,' Pleasant said, sounding relieved.
Scapegrace frowned but didn't say anything.
'This has been a good day so far, all things considered,' Pleasant continued. 'I have the location of the Grotesquery and I got to kill Valkyrie, which admittedly is something I've been wanting to do since I met her. She can be incredibly annoying. Had you noticed that?'
'Urn.'
'She hardly ever shut up. I pretended to be friends with her, but honestly, I just felt sorry for the poor girl. Not the brightest, you know?'
'You're such a goon,' said a voice from behind, and Scapegrace whirled around and squealed as Valkyrie Cain walked up, hands in her pockets and a smile on her face.
Chapter Sixteen
THE SWITCH
VALKYRIE KNEW IT was a bluff, she just knew it, and Skulduggery confirmed it when he uttered the code words.
'Be brave.'
He was gripping her wrist tightly. Her knees were sore from where she had dropped. Her performance was pretty impressive, she had to admit. Hopefully it was also pretty believable.
'Let go of me!' she shouted.
Skulduggery looked over at the Torment. Scapegrace was standing beside him, enjoying every second of what
