Skulduggery Pleasant- Daughter Of Darkness

MEETING CHINA SORROWS P3

Both the sister's looked at them. "What?" Roselyn asked the same time Stephanie did. 

"The question," Skulduggery said, "Is not what did Gordon have that someone might want to steal, but rather what did Gordon have that someone had to wait until he was dead in order to steal it?"

Roselyn watched as Stephanie looked at him, "There's a difference?" Stephanie asked.

China answered her. "There are items that cannot be taken, possessions that cannot be stolen. In such cases, the owner must be dead before anyone else can take advantage of its powers."

"If you hear anything that might be of use," Skulduggery said, "will you let me know?"

"And what do i get in return?" China responded, that smile playing on her lips again.

"My appreciation?"

"Tempting. That is tempting."

"Then how about this?" Skulduggery said. "Do it as a favor, for a friend."

"A friend?" China said. "After all these years, after everything that's happened, are you saying that you're my friend again?"

"I was talking about Gordon."

China laughed and the sisters followed Skulduggery as he walked back through the stacks. They left the library and travelled back the way they'd come.

When they were out on the street, Stephanie spoke up. "So that was China Sorrows," she said.

"Yes, that was," Skulduggery responded. "A woman not to be trusted."

"Beautiful name though." Stephanie said.

"Like i said, names are power. There are three names for everyone. The name you're born with, the name you're given and the name you take. Everyone, no matter who they are, is born with a name. You were born with a name. Do you know it?"

"Is this a trick question?" Stephanie asked

"Do you know what your name is?"

"Yes. Stephanie Edgley."

"No."

"No?"

"That's your given name. That's the name other people handed you. If a mage with any kind of knowledge wanted to, he could use that name to influence you, to attain some small degree of control - to make you stand, sit, speak, things like that."

"Like a dog."

"I suppose so."

"You're likening me to a dog?"

"No," he said, and then paused. "Well, yes."

"Oh, cheers."

"But you have another name, a real name, a true name. A name unique to you and you alone."

"What is it?"

"I don't know. You don't know it either, at least not consciously. This name gives you power, but it would also give other people absolute power over you. If someone knew it, they could command your loyalty, your love, everything about you. Your free will could be totally eradicated. Which is why we keep our true names hidden."

"So what's the third name then?" Roselyn spoke up

"The name you take. It can't be used against you, it can't be used to influence you and it's your first defence against a sorcerer's attack. Your taken name seals your given name, protects it, and that's why it's so important to get it right."

"So Skulduggery is the name you took?" Roselyn asked

"It is."

"What about us? Should we have a third name?" Roselyn asked 

He hesitated for only a moment. "If you're going to be accompanying me on this, then yes, you probably should."

"And are we going to be accompanying you?" 

"That depends. Do you need your parents' permission?"

Roselyn and Stephanie looked to each other before looking back to Skulduggery

"Nope" Roselyn said, popping the 'p'

No, not really." Stephanie replied

"Well, that's good enough for me." Skulduggery said.

They reached the car and got in, Roselyn calling dibs on the front seat, Stephanie frowned but then got into the back seat.

As they pulled out to the road, Roselyn tuned her head towards Skulduggery.

"Why did China not affect me like she did Stephanie?" Roselyn finally asked.

"That." Skuldugerry said in a low voice.  "I have yet to understand" He finished. 

"What do you mean?" "there must be other people who dont get affected by her?" 

Skulduggery shook his head, " Ive heard of only one person who wasn't effected by China, A woman, her magic was different, it made her immune to certain magic, like an invisible shield would be around her, but only sometimes, only to certain magic, not all."

Roselyn's heart picked up, could it be? was that woman her mother? her birth mother? She did'nt know if Kate was a mage or not, but could it all just be a coincidence?

"What..What was her name? " Roselyn asked, trying to appear calm even with her heart beating crazy in her chest.

Skulduggery shook his head, " I dont know, i didnt personally know her" Skuldugerry said, Roselyn deflated a little,  a quiet sign leaving her lips. Skulduggery noticed, and cleared his throat.

"i understand why you you want to know more, If there's a possibility that shes your mother...I could look into it, see if we can find out a bit more about her" 

Roselyn looked at Skulduggery shocked. 

"Gordon told me about you being adopted, about your birth mother, kate. The note that was left." 

Roselyn nodded, " I mean, could it be possible that she was a mage?, she said my father was into the wrong crowd, bad news, she had said, but she had told Desmond not long before she, ah, died. That nothing was as it seemed, that there was more to the world then he even knew. that there were things in this world that I couldn't grow up knowing, things, people, that she wanted to protect me from."

 "It could be a possibility " Skuldugerry said, nodding his head. 

After a while  of driving in comfortable silence. Stephanie spoke up.

"So, who's this Serpine you were talking about?"

"Nefarian Serpine is one of the bad guys. I Suppose, now that Mevolent is gone, he'd be consisdered the bad guy."

"What's so bad about him?"

The purr of the engine was all that filled the car for a few moments. "Serpine is an Adept," Skulduggery said at last. "He was mevolent's most trusted lieutenant. You heard what China was saying, about how he is a collector, how Gordon was a collector? Serpine is a collector too. He collects magic. He has tortured, maimed and killed in order to learn other people's secret's. He has committed untold atrocities in order to uncover obscure rituals, searching for the one ritual the he, and religious fanatics like him, have been seeking for generations. Back when the war broke out, he had this... weapon. These days he's full of surprises, but he still uses it because, quite frankly, there is no defennce agaisnt it."

"Whats the weapon?"

"To put it simply, agonising death."

"Agonising death... on it's own? Not, like, fired from a gun or something?"

"He just has to point his red right hand at you and... Well, like i said, agonising death. It's a necromancy technique."

"Necromancy?"

"Death magic, a particularly dangerous Adept discipline. I dont know how he hearned it, but learn it he did."

"And what does the Sceptre thing have to do with all this?" 

"Nothing. It has nothing to do with anything."