Skulduggery Pleasant: Raising Cain

Chapter 154 - Mr Sorry and his knives

Chapter 154

Nadia's POV

The back of the van was swelteringly hot. Outside was picking up wind, but the people at the front of the van had turned the heat on high and Nadia was sweating badly. She had no idea where they were going or what was going on or, so much more importantly, where Laila and Myra were. She wished Tanith would wake up.

Despite how uncomfortable she was, Nadia was listening. There were two people at the front, two men, and the woman that had come was in the back with them staring daggers into Tanith unconscious form. The men were whispering but every once in a while they would say something louder and have a short conversation about it with the woman in the back. She knew all their names now. Lilo, Marvin and Smith. Smith was the woman. Nadia didn't know if that was a first, last or only name, but it was all they said.

"What the fuck is up with all this traffic?" Marvin muttered loudly. He'd been the one on his phone 'watching' her earlier. He was also responsible for her bleeding lips, swelling eye and bruised ribs. He spoke and acted like a typical idiot, roll-his-eyes play-online-all-night guy, but he had been brutal to her. "We've got somewhere to fucking be, god."

"Shut up," Smith snapped quietly, still just glaring at Tanith. They went around a corner and Tanith's body slid across the floor. Smith watched Tanith; Nadia stared at her lap.

"You shut up!" He snapped back. There was a long pause and then he continued in a normal tone once more. "How long is it now?"

"Thirty-two minutes until we're there," Lilo said quietly, probably thinking Nadia couldn't hear. As if there was anything she could do anyway. She was tied up with proper anti-magic shackles now. "Forty-three until he arrives."

Nadia heard that also. She didn't move, tried not to make it obvious that she had any idea what they were saying. Someone was going to meet them where they were going. Was 'he' one person, or a main person followed with a dozen followers? Nadia couldn't do anything, now or when they got there, but Tanith would want to know when she woke up and broke them out of this mess.

Marvin tutted. "Not if this traffic doesn't fuck off."

"That's not how traffic works," Lilo continued in a useless whisper.

"Yeah but still. It's a weekday, it's not even lunchtime! Why so much traffic? Hey, what happens if we're late?" Marvin asked.

"I don't know."

He tutted again. "After, I'm getting food. Got to get ready for a date."

"With buying food?" Smith asked, her angry glare turning into an equally mean frown and still aimed at Tanith. "Not like you to cook. Or go on dates."

"Yeah, this one's got me though," Marvin said, chuckling. "Met her at this crap place yesterday and asked her out. And for the record, I can cook! I just hate it. Anyway, we're going out for dinner, I'm just fucking starving."

Smith rolled her eyes and went back to staring.

"What're you even doing, since you think my nights so stupid?" Marvin asked, glancing back from the passenger seat to glare at Smith. "God, are you still staring at her. Fuck off, Smith, glare at the kid. She's a fucking idiot anyway."

"No, you just don't know how to keep an eye on a captive child with next to no defensive abilities," Smith snapped, actually turning to glare at Marvin now. Nadia was tied up underneath their shouting area. "You're the idiot."

"Oh, shut up," he taunted. "She had a knife!"

"Your knife," Smith reminded him of the moment she had pulled herself free enough to try and attack him. It hadn't worked for more than a second. She should have Shocked him. "If you hadn't messed around with the TV that wouldn't have happened. So yeah, you're an idiot that can't even watch a defenceless, tied up child."