Skulduggery Pleasant- Daughter Of Darkness

MEETING CHINA SORROWS

Skulduggery Pleasant's car was a 1954 Bentley R-Type Continental, one of only 208 ever made, a car that housed a six- cylinder, 4.5- litre engine, and was retro-fitted with central locking, climate control, satellite navigation and a host of other modern conveniences. Skulduggery told the sisters all of this when they asked. they'd have been happy with, "It's a Bentley."

They left Gordon's land via a back road at the rear of the estate to avoid the flooding, a road that they hadn't even noticed until they were on it. Skulduggery told her he was a regular visitor here, and he knew all the little nooks and crannies. They passed a sign for Haggard, Roselyn could see Stephanie wanted to ask something but she stayed quiet.

"Where are we going?" Stephanie asked as they drove on. "Into the city. I've got a meeting with an old friend. She might be able to shed some light on recent events."

"why were you at the house?" Roselyn asked

"Sorry?"

"tonight. Not that I'm not grateful, but how come you happened to be nearby?"

"Ah" he said, nodding. "Yes, i can see how that question would arise."

"So are you going to answer it?"

"Well, why not?"

He glanced at the both of them, or at least turned his head a fraction. "The less you know about all this, the better. You are both perfectly normal young lady's,

and after tonight, you're going to return to your perfectly normal life. It wouldn't do for you to get too involved in this."

"But we are involved." Stephanie spoke up.

"But we can limit that involvement."

"But we don't want to limit that involvement."

"But it's what's best for the both of you."

But we don't want that!"

"but it might - "

"Don't start another sentence with 'but'." Roselyn groaned.

"Right. Sorry."

"You can't expect us to forget about all of this, We've seen magic and fire and you, and learned about wars they don't tell us about in school. I've seen a world I never even knew existed." Stephanie said

"Don't you want to get back to that world? Its safer there."

"That's not were we belong" Stephanie said, Roselyn agreed.

Skulduggery turned his whole head to them and cocked it at an angle. "Funny, when i first met your uncle, that's what he said too."

"The things he wrote about," Roselyn said, the idea just dawning on her, "are they true?"

"His books? No, not a one."

"Oh."

"They're more inspired by true stories, really. He just changed them enough so he wouldn't insult anyone and get hunted down and killed. Your uncle was a good man, he really was. We solved many mysteries together."

"Really?" Stephanie asked

"Oh, yes, you should be proud to have had an uncle like him. Of course, he got me into a hundred fights because I'd bring him somewhere, and he wouldn't stop pestering people, but... Fun times. Fun times."

They drove on until they saw the lights of the city looming ahead. Soon the darkness that surrounded the car was replaced with an orange haze that reflected off the wet roads. The city was quiet and still, the streets almost empty. They pulled into a small outdoor car park and Skulduggery switched off the engine and looked to the sisters.