Skulduggery Pleasant - Becoming Whole (Valduggery)

6

Doubtful beginnings

Knave Hallow watched as darkness swallowed itself whole and the light of day spread across the room. He saw his shadow appear, projecting on the wall behind him, every slight movement he made caused it to follow him like a lost boy glued to him, or like sin hiding itself from the light of god. Hallow had been unmoving since he returned to his little home in the middle of a small forrest just outside of Roarhaven. His mind was surging, prominent with his new and improved ability. The sigil China had carved into his arm was beautiful, black shapes flowed in circular motions, coming together in the centre. And as he stared at it, he marvelled at the memory of Valkyrie Cain and how he had tortured the girl in her slumber. His lips curled up slightly as he remembered her begging him to stop. But, she was loyal to Skulduggery Pleasant, even in her sleep. She wouldn't give him up. And, by now, the detectives would have probably figured out what her dream was and how Hallow had done it. But that didn't matter to him. Not to Knave Hallow. He couldn't care less if they had figured it out or not.

Then, disturbing his thoughts, he heard the noise of knocking on his front door. The knock was upbeat and probably a little too cheery for Knaves liking, but he sent shadows surging out of him to open the door nonetheless. Guessing who it was he shouted towards the direction they were in. "And what brings you here?" His voice slightly groggy. "I'm almost ashamed by the state of my wee house, how embarrassing." He joked, not making an effort to move towards the door. He heard heavy footsteps as three people strolled into the same room he was in.

"Mister Hallow," An American woman began, "it's a pleasure to see you again." Her accent sounding Texan, she dipped her head at him.

"I'm sure it is. Still, I'm none the wiser for your appearance." No one spoke so Hallow continued. "Come on then, let's have it." Again, silence. "Well, now I know something is up. Who's going to spill?" He gazed up. A sigh left a blonde woman's lips. "Well?" Knave tried again.

"We, erm, we all feel like we have done our fair bit to help you." A short Irish man spoke. "And that is obviously such an honour." He glanced at his peers who all nodded in agreement and in unison said, "An honour." The Irish man continued. "I just...we just...we don't feel very protected."

"Protected?" Knave laughed, rising up off the floor. "And who do you imagine you need protecting from?"

"The detectives, Cain and Pleasant, pose quite a threat upon our lives." The blonde haired woman spoke up, she was English.

"They have no idea you exist. How can anyone pose a threat upon the non existent? The detectives are the very least of your worries, I've fought them, more than once, and do I look injured to you?" Neither of the three spoke, instead they stared at Hallow, expecting him to continue so he did. "Skulduggery Pleasant And Valkyrie Cain are worthless. Anyway, you all knew the risks that came along with helping me, yet here you are. Even so, you're all necromancers for pitty sake, it's not as if you're defenceless." Hallow had begun waving his arms round like a crazed lunatic. "But, if you're not going to help me then I'm afraid I have no further use for any of you." And with that, he conjured the shadows from round his room. "Your decision." His threat didn't escape their attention.

The blonde woman nodded and clapped her hands together. "Right then. Well let's get on with it."

"On with what?" Hallow asked, his brow furrowed.

"Since we are all here, we may as well have an early meeting."

"Of course, why not?" Hallow sighed and released the shadows, made his way over to the dining room and found his chair at the head of the table. The others took their seats before Hallow spoke again. "Right, now that's sorted, let's get onto more pressing matters. Li-"

"Oh my gosh!" The Texan stood up. "Is that a new tattoo?" Her bony finger pointing towards Hallows arm. "I want one!"

"What? No. It's not a tattoo, it's a sigil." Hallow rolled his eyes.

"It's amazing." The blonde woman was at it now too. "Look at it!" She gestured for the Irish man to pay attention to it.

"Really, we are getting away from the point here." Hallow complained. "If I can just continue what I was about to say?" The Texan took her seat. "Thank you. Little by little I am whittling down on the girls morale. Before the month is out she will be broken, she will be beaten and she will be deprived of sleep. That is when we attack."

"So, we are waiting for the destruction of the world on a girls sleeping pattern?"

"No! If Valkyrie Cain is damaged then Skulduggery Pleasant will be too distracted on her to even notice what we are doing."

"And what are we doing, exactly?" The Irish man spoke again.

Knave glanced around the room at his three followers and wandered how he had found himself in this situation. "You all have your amulets, yes?" Each of them held up an identical amulet to Hallows. "Brilliant. That, my dear friends, is the key to our victory."