Cadaverous reached over the bank with both hands, grabbed her by the hair and hauled her up and dragged her back, spine arched across the roof of the bank. He landed a fist in her belly and she curled up, fell sideways off the bank roof, knees flattening cars and snapping lamp posts. Cadaverous took hold of her head in both his hands and picked her up, walked her backwards, grunting out curses and obscenities the entire time. He cracked the back of her skull off a building and stood over her as she collapsed.
When she was lying on the ground, he stepped on her head, grinding it into the street.
“How many times,” he asked, “do I have to beat you before it registers?”
Valkyrie wanted to throw him off, to jump to her feet, to knock that triumphant gleam out of his eyes, but she was way too tired and far too hurt. His shoe scraped against her cheek. His heel crushed her ear.
From down here, she was seeing the city from a new angle, and realised that this was the street she’d visited earlier. It looked quite different now, like a playset. Rubble and glass covered the road, and all the little Cadaverous-people had scampered away. It was quiet and still, so that when Valkyrie glimpsed movement it stood out like it was caught in a spotlight. She watched Skulduggery – tiny, tiny Skulduggery – creeping up, using the debris for cover.
Cadaverous, all the way up there, hadn’t noticed him yet.
“You’re not worthy of this,” Cadaverous said. “You know that, don’t you? You’re not worth the time and the effort that has gone into killing you. You should have been just another name added to the list of the people I’ve killed. That’s all you deserved. And yet somehow, somehow, you’ve survived up until now. Why is that, do you think?”
Skulduggery crouched, waiting for something, waiting for Cadaverous to look away. Valkyrie didn’t know what he was planning to do, or what he even could do. He was about the size of her thumbnail.
“Do you think you’re special?” Cadaverous asked. “Do you think you’re unique? Do you think I view you as a mortal enemy?”
Skulduggery launched himself forward, flying low to the ground, and disappeared under her bracelet.
The sound of Cadaverous’s voice changed slightly, and Valkyrie knew he was looking down at her. “I do not view you as any such thing,” he said. “You are an annoyance. That’s all you ever were. And you’re lucky. I will give you that. But luck, like blood, runs out eventually.”
Cadaverous gave Valkyrie’s head a push, then stepped away. Clutching her left wrist to keep her injured hand steady, she hid Skulduggery from view as she sat up slowly. Cadaverous hunkered down next to her.
“This was a good attempt,” he said. “Growing a new hotel, smashing your way into it … That shows ingenuity. It shows initiative. I respect that, much as it pains me to admit it. Jeremiah … Jeremiah wouldn’t have thought of something like this. It would, sadly, have been beyond him. It’s even got me confused, and I’m a very smart man. Let me see if I’ve got everything in the correct order. The hotel you dropped into – that’s what we’re in right now, yes? We were all teleported into it the moment it took root. But then you left the hotel we were in, and dropped into here, which is still the hotel we were in, but … not. Am I right? Am I making any sense? I don’t think I am. Let me try again.”
He laughed, closed his eyes, focusing, and Valkyrie did her best not to gasp as the bracelet sprang open and magic flooded her body. She immediately twisted her arm so that Cadaverous wouldn’t see what had happened. Skulduggery vanished behind a building.
“Let’s think about exits,” Cadaverous said. “If we were to walk out of here the way we came in, we’d emerge into the first hotel, wouldn’t we? And when we walked out of that the way we came in, we would actually be outside, wouldn’t we? I think we would.” He laughed again, and clapped. “This is wonderful! Are we caught in a paradox? I’ve never been caught in a paradox before. It’s quite fun. And why haven’t the old versions of the hotel withered away yet? Are we damaging it beyond repair by forcing previous versions to maintain their structures? Will I need to find a new home when all this is over? Oh, I do hope not, not after all the work I’ve put into the place.”
“I should never have come in here,” Valkyrie muttered.
“What was that?” Cadaverous asked. “What did you say?”
She cleared her throat, and spoke more clearly. “I should never have come in here.”
Cadaverous nodded. “Obviously.”
“Will you let her go? My sister? She hasn’t done anything. She’s a child.”
“She is a child, yes,” said Cadaverous, “and a relentlessly upbeat child, at that. It would actually please me no end to allow her to leave after I’ve killed you and the skeleton.”
“Thank you,” said Valkyrie.
“But I’m afraid I can’t do that,” he continued. “In ten years, she’ll be formidable – especially if she follows your example. And she’ll remember me, and she’ll come after me. I’m dreadfully sorry, I just can’t have someone out there who harbours any kind of grudge, let alone a vendetta. I’ll have to kill her.”
“Cadaverous, she’s a kid. Please.”
He waved a hand. “I don’t see why you’re getting upset. You’re going to die now. Why should you care what happens to anyone after you’ve died? It seems to me to be a waste of energy.” He stood, towering over her. “You really shouldn’t have come in here. Look at you. You’re growing smaller every moment.”
He was right. The hotel must have hit a growth spurt in its final stages, because cars that Valkyrie could have crushed between two fingers a moment ago were now bigger than her hand.
“I suppose your failure isn’t entirely your own fault,” he said. “It’s not every day you fight a god.”
Gritting her teeth against the pain from her broken ribs, Valkyrie started getting up. “Actually, I’ve fought gods before.” She straightened, and flicked her wet, filthy hair out of her eyes. “They’re not so tough.”
Cadaverous looked displeased, opened his mouth to say something and she raised her right hand and sent an arc of lightning straight into his face.
He stepped back, cursed, turned away, the damage already fading, but Valkyrie hopped on to a nearby building and sprang at him, crying out in pain as she wrapped an arm round his throat.
First rule of fighting gods is to keep them off balance. If they can’t form a coherent thought, they can’t assert their power.
Valkyrie kicked at the back of Cadaverous’s leg and his knee buckled and they toppled backwards. She tried to steel herself before they landed, Cadaverous on top, but her ribs sent daggers shooting through her side. Tears streaming from her eyes, she wrapped her legs round his waist while she locked in the sleeper choke. He thrashed wildly, pulling at her arms, almost breaking the hold by pure strength alone. If he’d kept at it, he could have snapped her bones, but both air and blood were being cut off from his brain, and Cadaverous was doing what everyone did in that situation – he was panicking.
Valkyrie clung on as he rolled to his hands and knees. He tried standing but she pulled at him, toppling him again. He was shrinking now and she had to adjust her position, had to tighten her arms. There were a few moments when they were of equal size, but he was shrinking faster than she was.
She squeezed. She squeezed with everything she had left. Her exhausted arms were little more than useless bands of rubber, and still she squeezed. She didn’t stop. She couldn’t. Her sister was in here. She had to save her sister.
Valkyrie squeezed and squeezed and shut her eyes and gritted her teeth, and when she let go it wasn’t because she wanted to, it was because she had no other choice. Her arms failed her and sprang apart as she collapsed back, Cadaverous rolling off to one side.
But he didn’t get up. He just continued to shrink.
She took a few deep breaths, then heaved herself on to her knees and, moving slowly and awkwardly, with her left hand held away from her body, she stood. Skulduggery ran up, Alice in his arms. Valkyrie was twice as big as him.
Skulduggery put Alice down and turned Cadaverous on to his belly. He tried snapping the cuffs on, but Cadaverous’s wrists were still too thick.
Another few seconds. That’s all they needed. Another few seconds and this would all be over.
Cadaverous opened his eyes.
He threw Skulduggery back and ignored Valkyrie’s lightning as he got to his feet.
“That was close,” he said. “That was astonishingly close. Congratulations might well be in order – but failure is failure, and the game is at an end.”
“Not yet it isn’t,” Valkyrie said.
“What else do you have?” Cadaverous asked. “What else is there? You have nothing. Do you still think your little bolts of lightning are going to hurt me in here?”
“I’ve got more than lightning.”
“Do you now? And what might that be?”
Valkyrie showed him.