take them on without it.'
'And so how does that help him retrieve the ritual?'
'This isn't just about the ritual anymore. What do you get if you kill the Elders?'
'This sounds like a joke.'
'Valkyrie — '
'I don't know.'
'Yes, you do. Now think. What would killing the Elders result in?'
'Panic? Fear? Three empty parking spaces in the Sanctuary?'
Skulduggery looked at her, and Stephanie's confusion lifted. 'Oh God,' she said.
'He's after the Book,' Skulduggery said. 'He needed the Scepter to kill Meritorious and Morwenna Crow, in order to dismantle the spell protecting it. He doesn't have to force anyone to do anything; all he'll have to do is ask. He's been after the Book of Names all along.'
Chapter Twenty-eight
Carnage
dublin City was quiet when they reached the Waxwork Museum, as if it was holding its breath.
The stars-were obscured by a veil of dark clouds, and as they left the Bentley and approached the rear entrance, the rain fell steadily. On the street beyond the museum's gates, cars splashed through puddles, and the occasional pedestrian hurried by with his head down. Skulduggery moved quickly but cautiously up to the open door, and Stephanie and Tanith followed.
Stephanie had expected to arrive in the middle of a pitched battle — she expected to hear the sounds of fighting. But the Waxworks Museum was silent. As they walked through the exhibits to the hidden door, Skulduggery slowed and eventually came to a complete stop.
'What's wrong?' Stephanie whispered.
He turned his head slowly, peering into the darkness. 'I don't want to alarm anybody, but we're not alone.'
That's when they came, the Hollow Men, detaching themselves from the shadows with only the faintest rasp of warning. In an instant Stephanie, Skulduggery, and Tanith were surrounded by the mindless, heartless, soulless things.
Tanith waded through them, her sword strokes deliberate and devastating, every move claiming another unlife. Skulduggery clicked his fingers and a group of Hollow Men was suddenly alight. Stephanie shrank back as they wheeled around blindly. The flames ate through their skin and ignited the putrid gas trapped inside, and with a burst of fire and heat the Hollow Men fell.
One of them avoided the flames and lunged at Stephanie. She punched it square in the face, her fist sinking into its head slightly. Its own fist swung at her and she ducked, then moved into it as she'd seen Skulduggery do. She jammed her hip into it and twisted, and the Hollow Man hit the ground. It wasn't graceful and it wasn't pretty, but it worked. While the Hollow Man was down there, she grabbed its wrist and stomped on its chest, and with a loud tear she pulled its arm off.
As the Hollow Man deflated beneath her, Stephanie realized everything had gone quiet again.
She looked up at Skulduggery and Tanith, who stood watching.
'Not bad,' Tanith said, an eyebrow raised.
'That's the last of them,' Skulduggery said. 'Now for the main event.'
The hidden door to the Sanctuary hung open like a gaping wound. A dead Cleaver lay just inside. Stephanie hesitated for a moment, then stepped over the body, and they followed the steps down.
The Sanctuary's foyer had witnessed most of the carnage. It was littered with the dead. There were no wounded here, there were no dying, there were only corpses. Some had been cut to ribbons, some were unmarked, and there were places, spread across the floor, where there was only the dust of those who had fallen before the Scepter. Stephanie tried to step without touching the remains, but they were piled so deep that this was impossible.
She passed the Administrator. His body was curled, his fingers hooked and frozen in death. His face was a mask of agony. A victim of Serpine's red right hand.
Skulduggery went to the doorway on their left and peered around, making sure the corridor was empty. Tanith passed, pressing herself against the wall and nodding to him. He moved forward, stopped, nodded back to her; and they continued like this as they stalked deeper into the Sanctuary.
No more walking straight into danger, Stephanie thought. This was the only sign they gave that they might actually be afraid.
She followed along behind. Her palms were slick with sweat and her mouth was dry. She felt as if her legs weren't going to support her for very much longer. Her thoughts went to her parents, her loving parents. If she died here, if she died tonight, would they even notice? Her reflection would carry on with its empty masquerade, and they'd gradually begin to realize that this thing, this thing they thought was their daughter — its affections 352
weren't even real. They'd realize it all was an act, but they'd still think it was her. And they'd live out the rest of their days thinking that their own daughter didn't love them.
Stephanie didn't want to put them through that. She was going to die, she knew she was. She should turn now and run, run away. This wasn't her business. This wasn't her world. It was as Ghastly had said, the first time she'd met him: Gordon had already lost his life because of this nonsense. Was she so keen to join him?
She didn't hear the footsteps, not even when he was so close he could have reached out and stroked her hair. She didn't catch a glimpse out of the corner of her eye, and she didn't notice his shadow or see a reflection, because if he didn't want to be seen, he wouldn't be seen. But as he was moving behind her, she felt his presence: She felt the air shift slightly and brush against the skin of her hands and she didn't even have to turn her head — she just knew.
She launched herself forward, and Skulduggery and Tanith looked back as she rolled and came up.
The White Cleaver stood there, silent as a ghost, deadly as a plague.
Tanith turned to see Valkyrie coming up out of a roll, and she saw the White Cleaver standing behind her.
'Valkyrie,' Tanith said, keeping her voice low and steady, 'get behind me.'
Stephanie moved backward, and the Cleaver attempted to stop her.
'I'll hold him off,' Tanith said, not taking her eyes off her adversary. 'You stop Serpine.'
Tanith drew her sword, and she heard Skulduggery and Stephanie hurry away. The White Cleaver reached over his shoulder and pulled out his scythe.
Tanith stepped toward him.
'I ordered you to distract the Hollow Men, didn't I?' she said. 'You were one of the Cleavers assigned to us.'
He didn't answer. He didn't even move.
'For what's it worth,' Tanith said, 'I'm sorry about what happened to you. But it was necessary.
And for what it's worth, I'm sorry for what is going to happen to you. But that's necessary too.'
He started twirling his scythe, and she raised an eyebrow. 'Come and have a go if you think you're hard enough.'
He lunged, and she blocked and sprang at him, her sword slicing through the air. He ducked back and blocked, spinning as the scythe whistled over Tanith's head. Her sword clashed with his blade and then the handle of the scythe, and his blade clashed with her sword and then the lacquered scabbard she still held in her left hand.
She ducked under his guard, staying in close, where she had the advantage, where he couldn't maneuver the scythe.
His blocks were lightning fast but he was on the defensive, and one of her strikes would get through eventually. Her sword sliced through his side and he stumbled back, out of range.
Tanith looked at the blood on his white coat and gave him a smile. Then the blood started to darken, and a black stain moved over the red.
Her smile dropped, and the bleeding stopped altogether.
She backed away. There was a door behind her, and she waved it open as the Cleaver advanced.
The room she backed into was filled with cages, and in these cages, men and women stood and sat. She realized instantly where she was: the Sanctuary's jail. The people in these cages were the worst of the worst, criminals of such a sickening and grotesque order that they had to be held here, in the Sanctuary itself. The cages bound their powers while at the same time sustaining their bodies, keeping them healthy and nourished. It meant
