The Purple Haired Craze

In Which A Castle Is Stormed By Accident

The trapdoor was unlocked, but the problem was the boxes that were piled on top of the door.

"Saracen, I thought you said the storage room was empty?" Ghastly groaned as they all tried to budge the door.

Saracen scratched the back of his neck, looking awkward. "Yeah, I couldn't tell whether or not there was anything in the room.

Ghastly gave a groan. "Is anyone good at sneaking in and could shift the boxes, so we can do more snooping?"

Valkyrie rolled her eyes. "Can neither of you two manipulate earth at all?" giving him, Erskine and Skulduggery a look. The three of them looked a bit embarrassed before shaking their heads. "Unbelievable."

They watched as she read the air, carefully noting where the crates in the room were. "There are no crates in that direction, only a short distance away from the door."

They sat, Skulduggery, Erskine and Ghastly illuminating the passage, trying to dry everyone off simultaneously whilst Valkyrie began to dig a small opening to the room above. It was a full hour before they were in the storeroom, where they were faced by yet another locked door. Fortunately, Dexter had also learnt some of the more minor adept tricks, including unlocking locked doors. The corridor, a small side one, was completely deserted. They ducked back into the security of the storeroom again, and Skulduggery turned to them.

"We should probably split up into three groups. Ghastly, Anton, you go down that way." The green eyed boy pointed to the left. "Search about, don't get caught, but if you hear anything useful, hang around for a bit." He turned to Dexter and Saracen, opening his mouth before hesitating. "Actually, putting you two together alone is probably not a good idea. Val, can you go with Saracen, Erskine and Dexter can go with me and therefore we won't have anyone getting distracted."

Ghastly struggled to hold back a laugh at Dexter and Valkyrie's distressed expressions.

"Fine," Val grumbled giving Skulduggery a small glare, who pouted at her.

"Why?" Dexter grouched. "We aren't going to really make out the entire time."

Anton raised his eyebrows.

"Valkyrie, Saracen, if you go down the same route as Ghastly and Anton, but divide out at the first fork in the corridors, then you can explore there. Meet back here as soon as you can, preferably in about two or three hours, in the tunnel if necessary."

They all nodded and got to work.

Working with Saracen wasn't so bad. He didn't get distracted, but wasn't silent and boring for the entire time either. They ended up bumping into a small Hollow Men patrol again, which they easily evaded, but they didn't meet anyone of any importance at all. They made small talk, Valkyrie asking him about Dexter and how they were doing. He didn't mention much, asking the girl more questions about Skulduggery, suggestively raising his eyebrows when he asked if they had gone anywhere yet.

"If you know what I mean," he said, looking smug.

Valkyrie rolled her eyes, blushing slightly, peering round another corner, finding another empty corridor. "Not in that way!" she whispered.

He gave a quiet chuckle, before they continue aimlessly wandering down more empty corridors.

Somehow, they ended up in a rather dank part of the castle, and suddenly there were more patrols and they could hear the wails of people in the distance.

Saracen gave her a grimace. "Prisoners," he mumbled.

"Can we not help anybody?" Valkyrie asked as they continued to carefully walk down the edges of the corridors, what with the patrols becoming more frequent. They only just managed to duck into a small alcove to hide as another patrol passed in the corridor in front of them.

"We are already incredibly likely to get caught if you are not careful!" he muttered into her ear. "We can't just rescue people otherwise Mevolent is bound to know someone has come scouting, making it harder to do other missions, with the rebels on hyper alert."

But it was the prisoners that came to them.

They had been moving past the entrance to the dungeons when it was flung open, a Hollow Man flying through it, along with a man in scruffy rags. The fumes got to Valkyrie's eyes immediately, making them water, choking at her throat. She only just managed to duck a swipe from the second Hollow man, stumbling to her feet and pushing him towards the window, a slit in the brickwork. She could vaguely hear the sounds of another person careering through the door, and the sound of a punch. Looking round to check that Saracen had the situation vaguely under control, she concentrated on making a slit in the head of the shell, letting the fumes pour out of the window. When it had deflated enough, she pushed the balloon like substance out of the gap before launching herself into the fray.

There had been a few Hollow Men inside the prison and two guards, one who was already out cold on the floor, but the other was putting up a difficult fight. Saracen had knocked the rebels head twice against the floor and the wall, but it had only resulted in an angrier man, blood spraying in several directions as the hauled each other around. It was only when Saracen had held the man down and Valkyrie had punch his face another two times did he finally lose consciousness.

They turned to the man in rags on the floor, who was more of a teenager, roughly their age. He looked a bit worse for the wear. but otherwise seemed fairly healthy.  Valkyrie opened her mouth to say something, but was cut off by the sound of more rebels down the corridor.

They didn't even speak, moving together to pick up the boy and then sprinted down the way they came from, knowing the boy was following them.

Saracen led the way, appearing to know the way, and soon they were back in the tunnel.

"What about the others? Will they get caught?"

"I don't know, but let's hope they do."

They forgot all about the boy who was shivering with them in the dark, Valkyrie not daring to light a small fire in case anyone came into the dark storeroom and saw the flame through the hole. It was only when the other boys were safely back in the tunnel, cursing at the fact that their mission was cut short, and they had got out of the claustrophobic space, well away from the tunnel, did Dexter finally ask.

"Who are you?"

Skulduggery turned around sharply and saw a thin faced boy in rags. He looked very afraid, but there was a fighting gleam in his eye.

"Oh, my goodness, I completely forgot!" cried Valkyrie. She pulled off her cloak, wrapping it around his cold shoulders.

"Thank you," he croaked as they passed him a pouch of water.

"Who are you?" Dexter repeated, a little more kindly than originally.

"My name is Hopeless."