Derek Landy - Dark Days

First published in Great Britain by

HarperCollins Children’s Books in 2010

Reissued in this edition in 2017

HarperCollins Children’s Books is a division of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd,

HarperCollins Publishers

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

The HarperCollins website address is:

www.harpercollins.co.uk

Skulduggery Pleasant rests his weary bones on the web at:

www.skulduggerypleasant.co.uk

Derek Landy blogs under duress at

www.dereklandy.blogspot.com

Text copyright © Derek Landy 2010

Illuminated letters copyright © Tom Percival 2010

Skulduggery Pleasant logo TMHarperCollins Publishers

Skulduggery Pleasant © TMDerek Landy

Cover design © blacksheep-uk.com

Cover illustration © Tom Percival

Derek Landy asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of the work.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780007325979

Ebook Edition © ISBN: 9780007382279

Version: 2019-04-15

This book is dedicated to Laura.

I’m not going to make any jokes here, because apparently you are the one person on Earth who does not find me even remotely funny.

I am HILARIOUS. Ask anyone. Ask your sister. She thinks I’m HYSTERICAL (you do, don’t you Katie …?)

And yet, even though you refuse to recognise my comedy genius, and you refuse to publicly admit how impressed you are by everything I do, you’re still getting a book dedicated to you – because without you, Skulduggery wouldn’t have his Valkyrie.

You’re my best friend and my muse, and I owe you a lot.

(A “lot” being, of course, entirely figurative, and in no way implies that you’re getting a share of the royalties.)

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins Children’s Books in 2010 Reissued in this edition in 2017 HarperCollins Children’s Books is a division of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF The HarperCollins website address is: www.harpercollins.co.uk Skulduggery Pleasant rests his weary bones on the web at: www.skulduggerypleasant.co.uk Derek Landy blogs under duress at www.dereklandy.blogspot.com Text copyright © Derek Landy 2010 Illuminated letters copyright © Tom Percival 2010 Skulduggery Pleasant logo TM HarperCollins Publishers Skulduggery Pleasant © TM Derek Landy Cover design © blacksheep-uk.com Cover illustration © Tom Percival Derek Landy asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of the work. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins. Source ISBN: 9780007325979 Ebook Edition © ISBN: 9780007382279 Version: 2019-04-15

Dedication This book is dedicated to Laura. I’m not going to make any jokes here, because apparently you are the one person on Earth who does not find me even remotely funny. I am HILARIOUS. Ask anyone. Ask your sister. She thinks I’m HYSTERICAL (you do, don’t you Katie …?) And yet, even though you refuse to recognise my comedy genius, and you refuse to publicly admit how impressed you are by everything I do, you’re still getting a book dedicated to you – because without you, Skulduggery wouldn’t have his Valkyrie. You’re my best friend and my muse, and I owe you a lot. (A “lot” being, of course, entirely figurative, and in no way implies that you’re getting a share of the royalties.)

Chapter 1: Scarab

Chapter 2: Home Invasion

Chapter 3: The Plan, Such as It Is

Chapter 4: Bring Me the Head of Skulduggery Pleasant

Chapter 5: The Revengers’ Club

Chapter 6: Into the Sanctuary

Chapter 7: Back to Aranmore

Chapter 8: Calling Dibs

Chapter 9: Dead New World

Chapter 10: Blood and Bullets

Chapter 11: The Faceless Ones

Chapter 12: Down the Barrel

Chapter 13: No Thanks

Chapter 14: The Fact of the Matter

Chapter 15: Back on Cemetery Road

Chapter 16: The Temple

Chapter 17: Dead Man Talking

Chapter 18: Darquesse

Chapter 19: The New Pet

Chapter 20: The Zombie Horde

Chapter 21: The Raid

Chapter 22: The Man Who Killed Esryn Vanguard

Chapter 23: Crux

Chapter 24: The Plot Thickens …

Chapter 25: Last Vampire Standing

Chapter 26: Kidnapped

Chapter 27: When Kenspeckle Met Scarab

Chapter 28: The Midnight Hotel

Chapter 29: The Sit-Down

Chapter 30: Mid-Aftrnoon of the Dead

Chapter 31: Billy-Ray

Chapter 32: Things Get Worse

Chapter 33: Possessed

Chapter 34: The Meeting

Chapter 35: Myron Stray

Chapter 36: Playtime

Chapter 37: China’s Dark Secret

Chapter 38: The Castle

Chapter 39: Hollow Man

Chapter 40: With Gordon

Chapter 41: The Exorcists

Chapter 42: The Necromancers

Chapter 43: The Road to Croke Park

Chapter 44: Revenge

Chapter 45: Searching for Scarab

Chapter 46: Endgame

Chapter 47: Crazy

Chapter 48: A Quiet Moment

Chapter 49: Escorting the Prisoner

Chapter 50: Back to Haggard

Chapter 51: Whispers

Keep Reading …

The Skulduggery Pleasant series

About the Publisher

hen Dreylan Scarab had been locked away in his little cell, he’d thought about nothing but murder. He liked murder. Murder and long walks had been two of his favourite things when he was younger. He’d walk a long way to kill someone, he’d often said, and he’d kill for a long walk. But after close to 200 years in that cell, he’d kind of lost interest in walks. His passion for murder, however, burned brighter than ever.

They let him out of prison a few days early, and he stepped into the Arizona sunshine an old man. They had kept his power from him, and without his power his body had withered and aged. But his mind stayed sharp. Try as they might, the years could not dull his mind. Still, he didn’t like being old. He counted how long it took him to cross the road and wasn’t pleased with the result.