Skulduggery Pleasant: Books 10 - 12. Derek Landy

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СКАЧАТЬ that crackling, cackling power that she held in her fingertips.

      Cadaverous had wanted immediate vengeance, but the voice in his head commanded him to wait. Soon, she said. Soon you will have her life in your hands. Free me, and you will have both your reward and your revenge.

      And it was almost here.

      He stood on the clifftop, looking out to sea, the cold wind snagging at his coat. The others stood beside him but not with him. He was apart from them. He was special.

      “I can’t see it,” said Nero. His voice had adopted the annoying whine that irritated Cadaverous so much.

      “Of course you can’t,” Smoke said. “It’s got a cloaking shield around it.”

      “But if I can’t see it then I can’t teleport on to it, can I?”

      “You can and you will,” said Lethe. “We know exactly where it’ll be in three minutes, so, in three minutes’ time, you’re going to teleport out there.” He pointed directly in front of them. “It’s perfectly safe.”

      “What if you’re wrong?” Nero asked.

      “We’re not. We have its schedule.”

      Nero hugged himself against the cold. “What if the schedule’s wrong? We’re going to be teleporting into empty space.”

      “It won’t be empty.”

      “But what if it is?”

      “Then you’ll start falling, and you’ll teleport yourself to safety.”

      Nero’s eyes narrowed. “Wait, what? No one’s coming with me?”

      “It’s too risky.”

      “You just said it was safe.”

      “It is safe. But it’s too risky for all of us to go at once. You go, confirm it’s there, then come back for us.”

      “Sounds pretty easy to me,” Razzia said, nodding with confidence.

      “OK,” said Nero, “so what if it is there, but I ’port right into the middle of a group of Cleavers?”

      “Then extricate yourself from the situation,” Smoke said, like he was talking to a four-year-old.

      Nero shook his head. “Everyone here seems to have this idea that I’m just a mode of transport. Listen to me: I’m not a car, OK? I’m not a car or a train or a plane. I’m a person. Teleporting somewhere blind is a sure way to get myself killed.”

      “Trust in the plan,” said Lethe.

      “If I get caught or get killed, there is no plan,” Nero countered. “I want someone to come with me.”

      Razzia stuck her hand in the air. “I’ll go with him!”

      “Not her,” Nero said immediately.

      Razzia frowned. “Why not me? What’s wrong with me?”

      Nero looked around for help. With none forthcoming, he swallowed thickly. “Uh … you’re just … You’re not very stealthy.”

      “Bull dust! I take off these heels and I barely make a sound when I walk. My feet are tiny. Look at them. It’s amazing I don’t fall over more often.”

      “Well, it’s not really the stealth that’s the problem,” Nero said. “You just, in certain circumstances, you tend to go a little … crazy.”

      Her eyes narrowed. “What?”

      “At times.”

      “Crazy?”

      “A little.”

      “I go crazy?”

      “No,” Nero said. “No, you don’t. At all.”

      She snarled. “Then you’ll let me go with you?”

      Nero paled. “Of course.”

      “Yay!” Razzia said, happy again.

      Lethe held up a hand. “Nero may have a point, Razzia. This infiltration requires a certain deft touch that you may be lacking.”

      Razzia bit her lower lip while she pondered. “Well,” she said, “I suppose I do go a little crazy sometimes.”

      “I’ll take Memphis,” said Nero, but Memphis shook his head.

      “Hell, no, I ain’t going.”

      Nero looked dismayed. “Why not?”

      “You might get it wrong, man,” Memphis said, running a comb through his hair. “Or you might teleport us into a group of Cleavers. I’ll stay here until I know the coast is clear, thank you very much.”

      Cadaverous sighed. “I’ll go with him.”

      Nero scowled. “I don’t want him to come.”

      “You’ve already turned down one and been rejected by another,” Cadaverous said. “It’s me or it’s no one. I’m sick of listening to you complain about not being appreciated for who you are or what you contribute to the team. That’s all I’ve heard from you for the last few weeks. If you’re too scared to go alone, then I shall hold your hand. Is that acceptable to you, Mr Nero?”

      “I don’t like the way you’re talking to me.”

      “I somehow fail to care.”

      “Gentlemen, gentlemen,” Lethe said, holding up his hands, “there’s no need for hostility. Cadaverous has made a kind-hearted offer. Nero, will you accept?”

      “Sure,” Nero said grudgingly.

      “Beautiful,” Lethe said. “Razzia: what is the time?”

      Razzia nodded. “Time is a social construct designed to derive order from chaos.”

      “Well put, Razzia. And do you have the time?”

      “Oh,” she said. “No, I don’t wear a watch. I don’t believe in them. Time’s never done me any favours, and that’s fair dinkum.”

      “I see. Smoke?”

      “It’s twelve oh four,” Smoke said. “Twenty seconds to go.”

      Lethe rolled his shoulders. “Nero, Cadaverous, prepare yourselves. The rest of us will stand ready.”

      Cadaverous took hold of Nero’s wrist.

      “We don’t need to be touching,” Nero complained.

      Cadaverous СКАЧАТЬ