Skulduggery Pleasant: Raising Cain

Chapter 112 - Skulduggery

Chapter 112

The ride to the old war Gaol was tense to say the least. She wasn't exactly sure how the others dealt with the weird pressure that tried to suffocate her when socially awkward things came up lately, but it certainly wasn't digging their nails into their wrists like her.

It didn't help that she also felt a little hungry so her stomach would growl once in a while, making her more self-conscious, all while Tanith was blinking wearily at the van wall in her own world. She felt like an intruder in a very personal fight, and honestly, it was worse in the van than when they were shouting because Ghastly was driving and she could see him occasionally looking in the mirror at them.

When they stopped and the van was turned off, Nadia had never been so grateful to be somewhere, and Erskine obviously had the same idea because he was straight up and opened the back door. It was cold – it always felt cold after the summer heat of India – and they were on the other side of a line of trees that separated them from a main road, giving them a sound other than silence. She stretched her legs and back, feeling her spine crackle pleasantly.

"You okay?" Dexter whispered in her ear, almost making her jump.

She looked at him and nodded, seeing how he looked less okay than she probably felt. "Yeah. You look... bad."

He smirked. "I never look bad."

She couldn't help but giggle quietly at his joke but ducked her head while she did it. "How far is the Gaol?"

"It's underneath us," he said a little louder. "Not much of a walk."

She nodded again and gave Tanith a small smile when the pregnant woman joined her side. "How are you doing?" Nadia asked.

"I'm fine," Tanith nodded absently. "I will be, anyway. We'll do this, go home, have something to eat, report to Corrival and sleep."

"Sounds good to me," she replied quietly, watching as Ghastly spoke quietly with Saracen for a moment and then started walking off. Saracen turned and beckoned them to come, and they all walked after Ghastly. They were silent for a moment before Nadia whispered, without exactly meaning to, "Is he always like this?"

Tanith snored. "No. Just since this happened," she said gesturing at her stomach like it was somehow in the wrong, before wrapping an arm around it. "Usually it's not so bad though."

"You mean arguing?"

"Yes," she said shortly, and Nadia thought she'd offended her for a moment before she spoke again. "At first it was this bad, but it was the start, and stressful, and I could understand better because I was constantly sick, but when I told him to shove it, he listened and it wasn't a problem once Corrival told him to back off too. But this thing with Skulduggery sparked it again."

"I'm sorry," she said, not knowing what she should say.

"It's not your fault," she said, giving her a smile and bumping their shoulders together. "Although this place is cold and nasty, I know it's safe. None of us needs to worry."

Nadia agreed with her, in her head, but didn't say anything because Ghastly had stopped and crouched down to lift a manhole with his bare hands. He didn't even look back at them, just lowered himself into it and dropped down to the bottom which didn't sound as if it were very far. Erskine went next, and then Tanith who was caught, Nadia assumed, by Erskine with his magic, then Nadia jumped it and landed heavily about six feet down.

She stood and got out the way quickly. Erskine and Ghastly had a flame in their hands, so Nadia clicked her fingers and held one too, illuminating the dingy, muddy passageway. The ground was wet and soggy but Nadia could feel there were cobblestones, or some type of slabs, beneath the layer of wet dirt.