reached for her sword, but a talon stepped on it.
Tanith backed away. The Torment-spider chattered once more, then went quiet. His three eyes, devoid of any recognizable human trait, observed her. She knew he could strike and she'd never see it coming.
'Excuse me,' she said, as politely as she could, 'I believe you're standing on my sword.'
The Torment-spider didn't answer. She briefly wondered if he could answer, if there was any kind of rational being left in there.
'I don't think this is entirely fair,' she continued. 'You're angry with Skulduggery because he didn't kill Valkyrie, but you and me, we've never even met. I mean, you have no reason to attack me.
You don't even know me. If you got to know me, if you took the time, I'm sure you'd really like me. I'm a likable girl. Everyone says so.'
The Torment-spider chattered in a short burst.
'Did you know — and this is a fact here — did you know that most spiders are really, really ugly? It's true. The women spiders have a really hard time of it. I saw it in a documentary. Why do you think the black widow kills the guys she mates with? Shame, that's why. I'm not saying you're ugly. Who am I to judge? I've only got two legs, right?'
The Torment-spider advanced. Tanith took another step back.
'I didn't mean to insult you. Did I insult you? I didn't mean to. I'm sure, for a giant spider person, you're quite the catch. And, hey, looks aren't everything, yeah? You know what us girls really go for? A sense of humor. And you look like a guy who is ready to laugh. Am I right?'
The Torment-spider chattered angrily.
'I thought so. So now that we've had this little talk, what do you say we stop beating around the bush, and you come and have a go?'
The Torment-spider went quiet again, and
Tanith smiled up at him.
'If you think you're hard enough.'
A moment passed, then the Torment-spider reared up, ready to strike, and Tanith sprinted toward him, dove between the legs that were still supporting his weight, and snatched up her sword.
The giant spider scuttled around, and Tanith slashed upward. Her sword raked across the armor until it found the space between the plates. The Torment-spider squealed and thrashed, and Tanith threw herself out from under him to avoid being crushed.
She felt a gust of wind, and Skulduggery dropped onto the rooftop. He splayed his hands and the air pulsed, catching the Torment-spider on his underside and flipping him over. He landed on his back, his eight legs kicking and flailing. Tanith leaped in, landed on the spider's belly, and stuck the tip of her blade in between the armor plates.
The Torment-spider stopped flailing instantly.
'Good boy,' Tanith said.
Skulduggery walked around so he could see the Torment-spider's eyes. 'I'm assuming, because you know when to stop struggling, that you're still capable of logical thought, so I'm only going to say this once. You either get in line, or you get out of our way. We have a job to do tonight, and right now my partner is in danger and I have run out of patience. So what do you want to do — continue fighting or make a deal?'
For a second, Tanith didn't think Skulduggery would get an answer, but then that mouth opened and an old man's voice croaked from between those teeth.
'I'm listening.'
Chapter Thirty-seven
TOOTH AND CLAW
VALKYRIE SPRINTED FOR the next wall and leaped over it, into the garden. There was a higher wall ahead, and she ran and snapped her hands out. The air rippled and she was propelled upward, grabbing the top of the wall and hauling herself over. When she landed, the garden was dark, the wall casting a deep shadow over the grass, and she ran up by the side of the house and beyond.
She was on a narrow road now and turned left, her lungs burning with a fierceness she liked, the kind of fierceness she felt when she was swimming.
She knew she could run forever with that fire inside her. She veered off onto an even narrower road, more like a lane than anything else. She could hear them behind her. The pack of Infected was more dispersed now, but the faster ones were steadily gaining. She passed her house.
The pier was just ahead, and she sprinted for it. The sea was rough tonight — she could hear its strength, and she knew this wasn't going to be easy, but she didn't have a choice. They were right behind her.
Did they know? Had Dusk told them about their vulnerability to salt water? A thought flashed into her mind. These weren't full vampires, they were only Infected. Would the water still have the fatal effect? She didn't have time to second-guess herself. This was the only plan she had, and the only chance she had left.
Valkyrie ran to the edge of the pier and jumped, just like she had done on countless occasions when she was a child. She hit the water and it clutched at her and swallowed her completely. She kicked and shot back to the surface. She lost her other shoe. It was too dark for the Infected to see what was below them, and they had no idea there was only one safe way to make that jump. Valkyrie heard sudden cries of pain mixed with sickening thuds as they landed, just like J. J. Pearl, smashing their bones on the rocks.
She'd never swum here at this time of night, however, and the waters were strong and strange to her. They pulled and pushed and threatened to drag her down, or away from the shore, but she fought them. More of the Infected came, splashing into the water all around her, and immediately they began to panic. She heard their cries, choked off by their rapidly constricting windpipes. One of them reached out in desperation, grabbing her and pulling her down.
Valkyrie's head went under and she twisted, prying the fingers from her arm and kicking the Infected person away from her. She lost sight of him in the cold blackness, but she was too far down, and the water was too rough. She was going to drown.
An image flashed into her mind: the previous year, Skulduggery rising from the sea and walking across its surface. Her training. She needed to use her training. Skulduggery had taught her what she needed to know. She just had to calm down and focus.
Ignoring the pain in her lungs, Valkyrie brought her hands in close. She felt the current that was trying to drag her downward, felt its strength and speed, but stopped fighting and let it take her, surrendering herself until she was a part of it. She hooked her fingers and for the first time became aware of the water as a mass of conflicting and opposing forces. She could feel these forces beneath her, above her, and around her. She hooked into them, and then she turned.
The current twisted behind her and now she was swimming, buffeted by the water. She passed the Infected as they flailed, and she broke the surface, taking a deep breath. She thrust her arms out and caught the current again, went under, and for a terrible second thought she had misjudged this whole thing, but she regained her control, guided the current as best she could toward the beach. She let go and the water around her turned gentle — relatively gentle — and she swam on until she could stand.
Gulping in lungfuls of air, she looked back at the pier. It was hard to see because of the lights that faced her, making everything before her one solid black mass. She dragged herself out of the sea. The tide was in, so there wasn't much beach for her to stagger onto, but she managed to stagger onto the shore that remained. And then something came out of the shadows and struck her and she hit the sand.
She struggled and twisted, but now there was someone else there and a fist hit her face.
The shape of a man, standing above her, crouching slightly.
Dusk.
