Skulduggery Pleasant: Raising Cain

Chapter 83 - Oh God

Skulduggery – Crow

Anton – Bear

Ghastly – Panda

Dexter – Wolf

Saracen – Weasel

Erskine – Snake

Solomon – Raven

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Chapter 83

By the time they got to the Temple, they all had numerous phone calls from unknown numbers. They knew they were all Temple members that had somehow gotten them, but they were unsure where from.

To be safe, they had told Meritorious directly what they were doing and not mentioned it to any other mage in the hopes of stopping a spy in the Sanctuary if there was one. Elder Crow, a Necromancer herself, was also trying to calm the Temple members and had gathered over twenty as a support cross peace group. It wouldn't stop the other several hundred after them, but it helped to have a significant, popular and well-respected Necromancer on their side. They hoped more would join her.

"This is the hole?" Valkyrie asked in partial disbelief. "How do you get supplies down there?"

"I assure you it is a large enough space for a crate at a time, it merely looks dark," Raven told her comfortingly, even putting a hand on her shoulder. He stood next to Crow and when he did that, it looked almost as if they were her parents and she the child. It filled her with warmth and she had to swallow down some sudden emotion. She faced the hole instead.

"I don't think we'll fit," she said.

"You will. I can fit, so you surely can," he said.

"How do you know you fit?"

"I've used it before."

"Why?"

He cleared his throat and looked around. "I think it is time for you to go. I'll keep an eye out and stop anyone trying to get in. Try to disarm the building if you can and I'll send for Cleavers," Raven said and quickly made his leave.

They watched him go and then Valkyrie smirked at Crow.

"I don't know why he used the hole," Crow said.

"But you want to," she grinned.

"I do not."

"You do too."

"I do not. Get in the hole."

"You do. You want to hear the whole thing," she sang to him. He grabbed her shoulder and spun her to face the foreboding, dark, damp, horrible hole. She leant back to stop herself going in, but resistance was futile. He pushed her in and followed behind.

"I don't like this," she whispered, crouching low. There was height above her but her stomach was tight with anxiety in the tight space anyway. Only Crow's hand on her waist in support was keeping her moving, even if it was at a snail's pace.

"You've been in tighter places, you'll be fine," he said. "Just keep moving."

"I am."

"Well, keep doing it."

She muttered under her breath but did keep going, and though it probably took over ten minutes, they eventually got to the other side, marked by Valkyrie falling out the hole with a bloodcurdling screech. She hugged the floor and breathed in raggedly as she tried to relax and stop shaking.