Derek Landy - Midnight

“I believe I have,” said Nye.

“So what next? Now that you’ve found where it hides, what are you going to do with it?”

“Finding the soul was only the first step. Now I follow it to where it leads. I’m not hurting anyone. I’m not experimenting on anyone. You can search the castle. I have no patients here.”

“No?” Valkyrie asked. “You don’t have anyone strapped to a table somewhere, their ribcage open, their organs on a nearby tray while they look around, hallucinating friends and family come to rescue them? No? Well, I have to say that’s an improvement. You’re practically reformed. Skulduggery?”

“You’re quite sure there is no one being tortured, Doctor?” Skulduggery asked. “Maybe having their skin peeled off? I heard about one experiment you ran during the war where you decapitated prisoners and then kept their heads alive in jars.”

Nye backed up. “What do you want?”

“You’re under arrest,” Skulduggery said. “You’re going back to Ironpoint.”

“We’ll be sure to request a smaller cell this time,” Valkyrie said. “Something snug.”

“Or you can make it easy on yourself,” Skulduggery said. “You can tell us where Abyssinia is.”

Incredibly, Nye paled even further.

“Wow,” said Valkyrie, “your poker face sucks, dude. That means we get to bypass the bit where you tell us you don’t know what we’re talking about – and we threaten you and you eventually break – and go straight to the part where you answer our questions. So where is she?”

“I do not know.”

“I’m just going to warn you that we’ve been looking for Abyssinia for almost seven months. Do you hear me? Seven months. And we haven’t found her, or the flying prison she’s commandeered, or any of her little anti-Sanctuary friends. We’re both extremely annoyed about this. Our patience has worn thin, Doctor. When we found out that she paid a visit to this charming castle no less than two days ago … Well, I’m not going to lie: I cried a little. Tears of happiness. And when we learned that you were working here? It was like all my birthdays had come at once. Not only do I get to see my old friend Doctor Nye, but Doctor Nye gets to help us in our search, and tell us where Abyssinia has gone.”

“I promise you, I do not know.”

“Then why was she here?” Skulduggery asked.

“If … if I tell you, you must let me go.”

“OK.”

“I think you are lying.”

“Of course I’m lying. You’re going back to prison, Doctor. The only choice you’ve got is the size of your cell.”

Nye hesitated, then sagged. “It was not a thing she was looking for. It was a person. His name is Caisson.”

“And who is Caisson?”

“Abyssinia said he is her son.”

“I see,” Skulduggery said, taking a moment. “Does he work here? Is he a scientist or manual labour?”

Nye hesitated.

Valkyrie folded her arms. “He was a patient, wasn’t he? You may not be experimenting on anyone right now, but up until two days ago you were.”

“When I came here, this facility had already been running for decades,” Nye said. “I was brought in to replace a scientist who had gone missing. My instructions were clear: I was to continue the work of my predecessor. On my initial tour, I was shown the room in which Caisson was being kept – but I was not the one who worked on him.”

“How long had the experiments been going on for?”

“As far as I am aware, for as long as this facility has been operational.”

“Which is?”

“Sixty years.”

Valkyrie frowned. “He’s been experimented on for sixty years?”

“No,” said Nye. “He was experimented on here for sixty years. I do not know where he was before this.”

“What else do you know about him?” Skulduggery asked.

“Nothing. Experimenting on Caisson was not my job.”

“So who did the work?”

“An associate. Doctor Quidnunc.”

“Is he in today?” Valkyrie asked.

“I have not seen him in a week, since Caisson was removed from this facility.”

“Caisson was removed a week ago?” Valkyrie said. “So when Abyssinia came for him, he was already gone? Why was he moved?”

“I do not know for certain,” said Nye, “but I imagine somebody learned that Abyssinia was drawing close and we were told to evacuate as a result. Caisson was the first to be moved.”

“Then why are you still here?”

“I, and a handful of other scientists, refused to leave. I can only speak for myself, but my work had reached a critical stage and I could not possibly depart.”

“Abyssinia wouldn’t have been happy that her son wasn’t here,” Skulduggery said.

“She was not,” said Nye. “She killed many Rippers.”

“Did you tell her where he was moved to?”

“I did not, and do not, possess that information.”

“Who took him?”

“I do not know. A small team of people. The owner of this facility sent them.”

“Which brings us back to Eliza Scorn.”

Nye shook its head. “Eliza Scorn does not own this facility. As far as I know, she was merely obeying orders when she delivered me here.”

“Then who’s your employer?”

“I am afraid I do not know.”

“You’re working for someone and you don’t even know who it is?”

“What does it matter?” Nye asked. “My work is important and needs resources. I do not care who provides them.”

Valkyrie sighed. “What about Abyssinia? Did she say anything that could lead us to her? Remember, you really want to make us happy.”

“She provided no such information.”

“Did you tell her about Quidnunc and his experiments?” Skulduggery asked.

“Yes.”

“Did you tell her where she could find the good doctor?”

“I do not know where he is.”

“Then how are you still alive?” Skulduggery asked. “You don’t know anything helpful, you worked in the same facility where her son was being experimented on … Why didn’t she kill you, Doctor?”

“Because I did to her the same thing as I am doing to you,” Nye responded.

“And what is that?”

“Delaying you.”

The shadows converged and twisted and from the darkness stepped a woman in a black cloak, her face covered by a cloth mask so that only her eyes were visible.

Skulduggery raised his gun and the woman’s cloak lashed out, and Skulduggery ducked and fired. The cloak absorbed the bullets and whipped again, slicing through the table to get to him. Skulduggery jerked to the side, his hand filling with flame, but the cloak twisted back, covering him – and when it whipped away, Skulduggery was gone.

The woman turned to Valkyrie, but Valkyrie had already moved behind Nye and was buckling its legs. It dropped to its knees and she gripped its throat, keeping her eyes on the newcomer.

“Have to admit,” Valkyrie said, “that was pretty cool, even for a Necromancer. But, if you try anything like that on me, I will fry the stick insect here.”

The woman in black didn’t respond. Her cloak coiled around her.

“You would not kill me,” said Nye, its voice a little garbled. Its skin felt oily in her grip.

“I wouldn’t want to kill you,” Valkyrie corrected him. “I wouldn’t want to kill anyone. But, if your awesome bodyguard tries to kill me, I’ll kill you faster than your beady little eyes can blink.”

Nye made a small sound, like a laugh. “Then it seems that we have reached an impasse.”

“Not at all,” said Valkyrie. “An impasse implies that we’re evenly matched. But we all know that’s not true.” She glanced at the woman in black. “I dabbled with Necromancy. Did you know that? Solomon Wreath taught me a few things. So I know that you can shadow-walk. That’s what you did with Skulduggery, right? But I also know that the range for shadow-walking is limited – so he’s already on his way back here and he’s coming mighty fast. We only have a few seconds before he bursts through these doors, and when that happens … it’s not going to be pretty. All I have to do is wait, because time is on my side. But for you the clock is ticking. Can you hear that? The tick-tock in your head?”