—and she suddenly had physical form again, suddenly had weight and substance and meaning, and the swirl of energy slowed and she stumbled from the in-between into the now, and Skulduggery and Militsa were there to catch her.
She sagged against them, every part of her jolting and yet utterly exhausted.
“Valkyrie,” Militsa said urgently. “Val, can you hear me? Are you OK? Where did this blood come from? Say something!”
“Love your accent,” Valkyrie mumbled.
“Oh, thank God,” Militsa said, guiding her over to the bed. Valkyrie collapsed on to it and Skulduggery waved a finger and the Jericho Candle was extinguished. It had halved in size.
“Where are the others?” Valkyrie asked.
“Tanith had to go, and Jericho was expending too much energy, so Onosa took him back to Roarhaven,” Militsa said. “We didn’t expect you to be gone for so long. What happened? Are you hurt? You’ve got blood all over your face.”
“Not my blood,” Valkyrie said. “I went to the future. I was there. Not as a projection. As me.”
“You actually materialised?” Skulduggery asked, head tilting.
“I materialised so good.”
“That is quite astonishing,” he said. “Jericho will want to talk to you about that. He surmised that your unique power set might have resulted in just such an occurrence. Congratulations, Valkyrie. As far as I know, you are the world’s first time-traveller.”
“I rock.”
“You do, indeed, rock.”
“I was worried sick about you,” Militsa said, kneeling by the bed.
Valkyrie patted her face. “You’re sweet. Did you feed Xena?”
“Of course I did. How are you feeling?”
“I’m good. I’m fine. Just need a minute. It wasn’t this bad going over. Maybe the return trip is always worse – y’know, like jet lag.”
“Did you talk to Alice?” Skulduggery asked.
Valkyrie shook her head. “I don’t know what I did wrong, but I didn’t travel six years into the future – I travelled seventy-two.”
Militsa was about to react to that piece of information when her phone beeped. She scowled. “I’m going to be late for work. Valkyrie, no more travelling into the future while I’m gone.”
“Gotcha.”
Militsa gave her a big kiss. “Fill me in on the details when I get home, OK? Love you.”
“Love you,” said Valkyrie, and Militsa ran out of there. When they heard the front door slam, Valkyrie spoke again. “Sorcerers run the world. The mortals are slaves. The Faceless Ones came back.”
“When?” Skulduggery asked. “When does all that happen?”
“Twelve minutes to midnight on Draíocht.”
“So we have twenty-one days to save the world.”
“That’s more time than we usually get.”
“This is true.”
They heard the dog coming up the stairs, and a moment later Xena burst into the room, tail wagging. She jumped up on the bed, jumped up on Valkyrie, and stood with her front paws on Valkyrie’s chest while Skulduggery scratched behind her ears.
“Ow,” said Valkyrie .
She manoeuvred herself into a seated position and waited until Xena had settled down beside her before continuing. “Creed uses something called the Seven Pillars. Don’t suppose you know what they are?”
“I’m afraid not,” Skulduggery said.
“Well, the Seven Pillars send out an Activation Wave that turns some twenty thousand people into Kith before finding the … before finding Alice. There’s an eye involved, too. A monster’s eye. That’s all I could find out before I attacked me.”
“Before you attacked you?”
“Oh, yes. In the future, I’m a harpy, apparently.”
“A harpy? With the—?”
“With the wings and the claws and the general mindlessness, yes. I killed the guy who was helping me, and then I attacked myself. I have no idea why.”
“Was I there?”
“I didn’t see anyone I knew.”
“Maybe I’m a robot.”
“Why would you be a robot?”
“Half robot, half skeleton, then.”
“Again, why would any part of you be a robot?”
“It’s the future.”
“Tomorrow’s the future. Do you think you’ll be a robot tomorrow?”
He shook his head. “We’re drifting away from the point. Seven Pillars, an Activation Wave, and a monster’s eye – we have three weeks to stop all this from happening.”
They looked at each other.
“What are you thinking?” Valkyrie asked.
“You know what I’m thinking.”
“If I knew, I wouldn’t be asking.”
“I know what you’re thinking.”
“And what would that be?”
“You’re thinking about our earlier conversation. ”
“Which one? We’ve had so many.”
“The one about killing Creed. The idea you opposed. Do you oppose it now?”
She hesitated. “It’s become more complicated.”
“Actually, it’s become much simpler. Now we know, with relative certainty, that Creed is going to do something to call back the Faceless Ones in three weeks’ time. This will probably involve the Activation of your sister. Our window of opportunity is right in front of us, but it has narrowed.”
“You’re still talking about murder.”
“I’m talking about assassination.”
“That’s just a polite way of saying murder.”
“Creed has manoeuvred himself into the most powerful position in the world. There’s no one we can go to, no one who can challenge his authority, and we can’t stop him any other way. Assassinating Creed is the only way we can put an end to his plans.”
“I feel naive just saying these words, but doing something like this would be wrong.”
“I agree.”
“So we can’t do it.”
“I disagree. We shoulder the burden so no one else has to. That’s why the world needs us. That’s the sacrifice we make.”
Valkyrie looked at him. Looked away.
“Damn,” she muttered.