Skulduggery Pleasant: Books 1 - 12. Derek Landy

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СКАЧАТЬ so she threw it. It struck the pool player right between the eyes and bounced away. The pool player stood there, a look of puzzlement on his face, then he fell to the floor and went to sleep.

      Valkyrie watched Deadfall slam one of those sledgehammer fists into Skulduggery’s side and Skulduggery stumbled back to the wall. Deadfall swung for his head but Skulduggery ducked, and the fist hit the wooden panelling and went through. Deadfall tried pulling it out but his fist wouldn’t budge. Skulduggery hit him. Hit him again.

      Deadfall twisted and turned and swung his other fist. It hit the wood panelling and stayed stuck. “Aw, no,” Deadfall whimpered.

      Skulduggery took careful aim and punched. Deadfall’s head rocked back and his body slumped against the wall. He would have fallen in a heap were his sledgehammer fists not keeping him upright.

      “Skulduggery,” Valkyrie warned. Brobding the giant was getting to his feet, and he looked angry.

      “Once again,” Skulduggery told him, “nothing personal.”

      Brobding growled and Skulduggery ran at him and jumped, his body spinning and his right foot snaking out. His kick caught Brobding right on the hinge of the jaw. Skulduggery landed and Brobding whirled and fell to one knee. Valkyrie stared at Skulduggery.

      “What?” he asked.

      “You kicked him,” she said. “But you don’t do those kind of kicks. Tanith does those kind of kicks.”

      “You’re impressed, aren’t you?” He put both hands flat against the side of the pool table and shrugged. “I’m probably your hero.”

      “Oh, shut up.”

      Brobding the giant looked around then the air rippled and the pool table shot across the room and crashed into him. The pool table tipped over on impact, the balls flying through the air, and Brobding was sent sprawling. He didn’t get up.

      “Well,” Valkyrie admitted, “you did warn him.”

      “That I did,” Skulduggery said, leaving through the door they had come in through. A moment later he returned, pushing Scapegrace ahead of him.

      “Hey, steady on!” Scapegrace yelled. “These shackles don’t make it easy to walk, you know!”

      Valkyrie looked at him. “You didn’t get very far, did you?”

      Scapegrace looked around at all the still bodies. “Oh, good,” he said unenthusiastically. “You beat them.”

      “Nice try.”

      He shrugged. “Forgot Deadfall owned the place, honest.”

      “The cellar,” Skulduggery said.

      “Behind the bar,” Scapegrace grumbled. Valkyrie went to the bar and peered over, saw the trapdoor. She nodded at Skulduggery.

      Skulduggery shackled Scapegrace to a pipe that ran along the wall to stop him from shuffling away. Valkyrie opened the trapdoor and Skulduggery went first, drawing his revolver. Valkyrie followed him down the wooden steps, closing the trapdoor behind them.

      The cellar was dimly lit and cold. The steps took them down into a badly wallpapered corridor. The carpet was worn, like a trail in a forest. One doorway led off to their right and another, a little further up, led off to their left. A small painting hung at an odd angle. It was a painting of a boat in a harbour. It wasn’t very good. At the end of the corridor was a living room. Music played. The End of the World, by the Carpenters. Holding the revolver in both hands, Skulduggery took the lead.

      The first room had a single bed and a set of drawers. Skulduggery stepped in, crossed to the bed and checked under it. Satisfied that the room was empty, he rejoined Valkyrie in the corridor. The second room had a toilet, a sink and a bath. None of these three were particularly clean, and there was nowhere for anyone to hide. They moved on towards the living room.

      There was a lamp, and it was on, but the bulb was fading. The closer they got, the more Valkyrie could see. She could see that the carpet didn’t match the wallpaper, and the curtains, which must have been added for aesthetic reasons because there certainly weren’t any windows down here, didn’t match anything.

      Skulduggery had his back to the corridor wall and was sliding soundlessly closer. Valkyrie did the same thing on the opposite wall, allowing herself a view of the room that Skulduggery couldn’t get. She saw two old-fashioned heaters, neither of which was turned on. She saw another painting, this time of a ship on a stormy sea. There was an armchair underneath the painting and a small table beside the armchair. No sign of the Torment though. They stopped moving and she shook her head at Skulduggery. He nodded, and stepped into the living room, sweeping his gun from one corner of the room to the other. He checked behind the armchair. Nothing.

      Valkyrie followed him in. On the other side of the room were a radio, a portable TV with a cracked screen and the record player that was playing the Carpenters. She parted the curtains, which led to nothing more interesting than a wall, and turned to tell Skulduggery that Scapegrace must have somehow warned the Torment, when she saw the old man glaring at her from the ceiling.

      He had long dirty hair and a long dirty beard. He dropped from the rafters on to Skulduggery and knocked him to the ground. The gun flew from Skulduggery’s hand and the old man grabbed it. Valkyrie threw herself sideways as he fired. The bullet hit the record player and the song cut off. Skulduggery twisted and pushed at the air, but the old man was already running through the corridor. Skulduggery scrambled up then stepped sideways as the old man fired twice more. Skulduggery peeked out to make sure it was clear and then ran after him.

      Valkyrie wasn’t entirely certain that her armoured clothes could stop a bullet. And what about her head? For the first time, she wished her coat had come with a hood. She ran after Skulduggery, just as he ducked into the bedroom. She got to the bedroom, raised an eyebrow at the opposite wall which had parted to reveal a stone corridor, and sprinted through the gap. She could just make out Skulduggery ahead of her, moving fast in the darkness. She saw light flare up, saw his silhouette hurling a fireball.

      Valkyrie ran on, aware that the ground was now slanting upwards. Her legs were getting tired. Her footsteps on the stone ground were uncomfortably loud in her ears. She couldn’t see anything now. It was pitch black. She focused on the energy inside her then clicked her fingers and caught the spark. The flame grew and flickered in her palm, and she held it at arm’s length to light her way. She didn’t like the fact that it made her an easy target, but neither did she like the idea of falling into a pit full of metal spikes or something equally nasty. And then she came to a junction.

      “Oh, come on,” she muttered, in between gasps for breath.

      She could go straight on or turn either right or left. She had no idea which direction Skulduggery had taken. She tried to stop herself from imagining lethal traps, or getting lost in a maze of corridors and dying down here, in the darkness and the cold.

      Valkyrie cursed. She had to turn back. She decided to head up and look around the town, try and find where these tunnels would surface. It was better than standing around being useless, she figured.

      It was at this exact moment that she heard a rumbling.

      The path to the cellar was closing up. The walls were shifting back together. Right, left or straight ahead. She chose straight ahead and she ran.

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