Skulduggery Pleasant: Raising Cain

Chapter 179 - Preparation

Chapter 179

"Oh my God," Nadia whispered, eyes wide, a few tears on her cheeks. "This is awful."

Valkyrie sat on her bed, back on the wall. Nadia sat with her legs crossed at the headboard, Tanith and Ghastly sat together at the end with a sleeping Laila. The rest of the family was on Tanith's bed. They were all exhausted, all sweaty, all ready for some sleep. But their information couldn't wait.

Dexter had to tell them because Valkyrie was struggling to process it still. Sure, she'd always know that her being tortured was planned. They'd had to hire the torturer and place him in the right place, capture them and select her out of the group. That was a planned torture. But this was in the organisation she worked for. Someone she may well have met from her job. And they had ordered her, as a young girl by anyone's standards, to be tortured for information. It was just a lot to take in.

Of course, then there was the general information of the Spiders. Important but not unexpected. They knew a general amount from their own sightings, Skulduggery and Solomon, and from their missions in America. But God, it was a long list of names, each more dangerous and deadly, or sickening, than the last.

"We have to tell Meritorious," Ghastly said solemnly.

Dexter sighed heavily and rubbed his face. Saracen put a hand on his back. "It could cause us problems."

"It's already caused us problems," Ghastly replied tiredly.

"We may be better keeping it to just a few people," Anton suggested, shifting from one foot to the other. He and Solomon were the only ones standing. "We can use it as a way to blackmail the Sanctuary. With political tensions as high as they are, it may actually be the safer option. As much as I am loath to say it."

"But who – why would they do that?" Nadia whispered, looking between them all with horror. Valkyrie put out an arm and Nadia fell into her heavily, wrapping her slim arms around her waist. "Val's just a little kid to these people."

"I expect they hoped to get more information out of her," Tanith said slowly. "Being younger, they probably thought she'd crack faster than anyone else available."

"But didn't they t-" she choked on the word, "hurt Saracen first?"

Saracen hummed. "Mr Sorry asked us different questions. I'm thinking that Grievers wanted me tortured for information on the Sanctuary, and the corrupt politician paid for Valkyrie."

Nadia opened her mouth but no sound came out. She buried her head in Valkyrie's neck instead.

"How many names are there?" Anton asked after a moment.

"Seventeen," Dexter said. "There were more faces, but Crux didn't know them. Mercy might be able to shed some light but she'll be out for a long time yet, Valkyrie caused her some serious brain damage."

Valkyrie was so tired all she did was breath in response. Solomon tried to comfort her. "You're still new to this magic. You're going to make mistakes. Don't be too hard on yourself over her."

She nodded a little. She had been awake for almost thirty hours now and sitting down was making her body incredibly tired, so she didn't do anything else.

"What names do we know?" Tanith asked.

"Noirette Paine, the Sensitive. Keme Stolen, proficient in Signals and an assassin cross thief, as far as we can tell. He stole that Necromancer thing from the Repository," Dexter listed. "He knew the Wild Brothers by their group name, and had spoken to their leader. He didn't seem to have much contact with them. Madam Mist, The Torment, Ruette Dagger, Dark, and Darling Ciphers are among the known Spiders up top. They said there were dozens, perhaps hundreds in his memories but those were the big names. He also had met Craven any time he went to their Irish base which they move a lot. Also someone called Richard Killer. He was mentioned by Mr Sorry to Valkyrie according to the people we met. They had studied the recording of Valkyrie and Saracen with Mr Sorry."