Scepter of the Ancients (15 page)

Stephanie frowned. “You’re not supposed to be here?”

“We had a vote. I voted for me. No one else did. They’re just jealous. They said I’d waste time, talk too much. So I stole the Stone and went away for a few days to imprint it with my consciousness. They can’t imprint anything over it, you see. And now here I am.” He beamed, then his whole body faded, became suddenly transparent, and his beaming smile vanished. “Ah. Time seems to be running out. If you have any more questions …”

“Who created the crystal?” Skulduggery asked quickly.

“Well, if you’ll allow me to quote from the text that I discovered: ‘The Faceless Ones created the crystal, and the crystal sang to the Faceless Ones when an enemy neared. But when the Ancients approached, the crystal was silent, and it did not sing to the Faceless Ones, and the Faceless Ones did not know it was taken.’”

“So their security system had a blind spot,” Stephanie said.

“It looks that way,” Oisin said, nodding. His image grew even fainter, and he held up a hand and gazed through it. “This is sort of unnerving.”

“The Scepter has returned,” Skulduggery said.

Oisin looked up. “What?”

“It was uncovered recently, then hidden again. We need to know how to find it.”

“Oh my,” Oisin said. “If the wrong sort of person takes possession of the Scepter …”

“It’ll be bad, we know. Oisin, how do we find it?”

The old man vanished for a moment, then flickered back into sight. “I don’t know, dear boy. Who hid it?”

“My uncle,” Stephanie said. “He realized it was too powerful for anyone to own.”

“A wise man, it seems. Of course, a truly wise man would return it to the place he found it. Failing that, somewhere similar.”

Skulduggery straightened. “Of course.”

A smile popped up on Oisin’s face. “Have I helped you?”

“You have. I know where it is. Thank you, Oisin.”

Oisin nodded proudly. “I knew I could do this. I knew I could answer questions and not talk too much. That’s what I told them. Right before they called for a vote, I said, ‘Listen, I can—’”

And he vanished, and the Echo Stone stopped glowing.

Stephanie looked at Skulduggery. “Well?”

“Gordon followed the example of the Last of the Ancients and buried the Scepter deep within the Earth. It’s in the caves.”

“What caves?”

“Beneath Gordon’s land is a network of caves and tunnels, stretching for miles in each direction. It’s a death trap, even for the most powerful sorcerer.”

“Why?”

“There are creatures in those caves that feed off magic. It would be the safest place to hide the Scepter. I should have thought of it sooner.”

Beneath Gordon’s house, a world of magic and wonder she never knew was there. Bit by bit, she was seeing how close magic had been to her when she was growing up, if only she had known where to look. It was such a strange sensation—but what had Skulduggery told her when they were about to enter the Sanctuary?
Better get used to that feeling
.

Skulduggery closed his hand over the puzzle box and the top slid over, hiding the Echo Stone once again.

“Maybe Oisin has more information,” Stephanie said. “How long does it take to recharge the Stone?”

“About a year.”

She blinked. “Ah. Well … okay then, that’s probably a little too long. Still, who knows what else he could help people with? I’m sure it’ll be invaluable to, you know, folks who are interested in history. Historians, like.”

“Actually, we can’t tell anyone we were here.”

“You could tell Ghastly. I’m sure he’d forgive the little trespass if you told him what we’d found.”

“Not really. See, this is his family’s chamber. It’s a sacred thing. Our being here is inexcusable.”

“What? You said this was just like a storage shed. You didn’t say anything about it being
sacred
.”

“Now you know why I have difficulty keeping friends.”

Skulduggery put the box back where he had found it. Stephanie was still staring at him.

“Is this disrespectful?” she asked. “Is this like dancing on someone’s grave?”

“A little worse than that,” he admitted. “It’s like digging up that grave, taking out the body, rifling through its pockets, and
then
dancing on the whole thing. It’s a little more than disrespectful.”

“Then yes,” she said as he walked over, “I can see why you have difficulty keeping friends.”

Skulduggery waved his hand and every candle in the chamber flickered out. They were plunged into darkness. Stephanie opened the door and peeked out. The corridor was long and silent and empty. She stepped out and Skulduggery followed, closing the door behind them.

They crept along the corridor, up the stone steps, and out the wood-and-iron door. They moved quickly through the gallery. The corners
were the worst, as they were always expecting a vampire to round them just as they approached. They were nearing the main hall when Skulduggery held up his hand.

Ahead of them, crouching in the middle of the corridor, was a vampire.

Stephanie stopped breathing. Its back was to them, so they moved backward, careful not to make a sound. They were just turning when Stephanie saw something out of the corner of her eye. She clutched Skulduggery’s arm.

The other vampire was approaching from the opposite direction.

They sank behind a marble pillar, trapped. Across from them was an archway leading into another section of the gallery, but Stephanie was pretty sure that even if they made it through without being seen, they’d be cut off. Their only way out was back in the main hall, with the harness, but their chances of making it without being torn to pieces were getting slimmer with every moment. Skulduggery had his powers, and he had his gun, but she knew he didn’t hold out much hope that he’d be able to fend off
one
of those creatures, let alone two.

He turned to her, hand raised. One finger, pointing at her, then pointing at the ground.
Stay
. The same finger, pointing at himself, then pointing at the arch.
Go
.

Stephanie’s eyes widened and she shook her head, but now that finger was at his mouth, pressed against his teeth. If he’d had lips, she knew, his finger would be on them. She didn’t want to agree to this—she didn’t want to, but she knew she had no choice.

He took his gun from his jacket and passed it to her, gave her a nod, then immediately sprang up and lunged for the arch.

The vampire approaching from behind saw him and broke into a run. The vampire up ahead turned and sprang off its haunches, and Stephanie shrank back as it passed the pillar and took off through the archway, joining the hunt for the intruder.

The gun was surprisingly heavy in her hand as Stephanie crept out and started running for the main hall. Her footsteps echoed loudly in the dark corridors, but she didn’t care—the only thing going through her mind was the fact that she needed to get out. She took each corner quickly, knowing the threat was behind her, and every time she took a
corner, she let herself glance back.

Empty corridor. Nothing coming for her. Not yet.

She was approaching the main hall. Just a few more turns and she’d be there. She tucked the gun into her coat—she’d need both hands to strap herself into the harness. She turned the next corner and skidded to a stop.

No. No, this couldn’t be right.

She looked up at the blank wall, her eyes wide. This couldn’t be right. This wall should not have been here.

She’d taken a wrong turn. She’d taken a wrong turn in this stupid gallery, and now she didn’t know where she was. She was lost.

She turned away from the dead end, wanting to scream at herself in frustration. She hurried back the way she had come, glancing through every arch and doorway she passed, looking for something she recognized. Everything looked the same in the gloom. Why weren’t there any signs? Where were the signs?

There was an intersecting corridor up ahead. Could that be it? She tried remembering their trail from the hall to the iron door and mentally reversing
it. Had they turned at an intersecting corridor? She cursed herself for not paying attention, cursed herself for relying on Skulduggery to lead the way. They must have come from there. Every turn behind her seemed to lead to the dead end, so they
must
have come from there.

She was ten paces from the intersecting corridor when the vampire emerged from a small hall up ahead. It saw her instantly. She didn’t even have time to duck down.

The corridor was ten paces away. The vampire was about thirty paces beyond that. She couldn’t go back. If she went back, she’d be cut off. She had to go forward. She didn’t have a choice.

She bolted. The vampire kicked off and bounded toward her. It was going to cover the thirty paces faster than she would cover the ten. They ran straight at each other, and the vampire leaped. Stephanie dropped and slid beneath it, feeling the rushing air as it passed overhead. She came out of the slide on her feet and twisted her body, then sprinted down the intersecting corridor. This was it.

She recognized the statue. Only a few more turns.

She heard the vampire behind her. Every corner she turned cost her precious moments, but the vampire just leaped to the outer wall and sprang diagonally to the wall beyond the corner.

It was closing the distance between them.

Stephanie burst through the doors to the main hall, and Skulduggery was there, launching himself at the vampire as it reached for her. They crashed backward and tumbled.

“Get out of here!” Skulduggery shouted, kicking the vampire away and scrambling to his feet.

Stephanie grabbed the harness and hit the control button. Her arms were almost jerked out of their sockets as the harness withdrew. She rose to the skylight too fast, and when the harness hit the top, she lost her grip. She managed to get one hand around the edge of the skylight as her body swung wildly.

Her other hand found a grip, and she gritted her teeth and pulled herself up. Her head and shoulders emerged into the night air, and she climbed up the rest of the way to tumble out onto the roof. Fighting to catch her breath, she immediately went back to the skylight and looked down, just in time to see the vampire leap.

She cried out and fell backward as the vampire burst through the closed section of the skylight, showering her with glass. It hit the roof in a crouch. Stephanie didn’t even have time to get to her feet before it dived at her.

She turned away, and its claws raked across her coat but didn’t penetrate the material, although the impact slammed her to the roof again. The vampire overshot but spun as soon as it landed, snarling. Its fangs dripped with saliva, and its eyes locked onto hers.

For a moment, neither of them made a move; then Stephanie slowly got to her hands and knees. The vampire hissed, but she didn’t break eye contact.

She got her feet beneath her, and now she was hunkering. The vampire was waiting for her to make a sudden move. The gun was in her pocket, but she didn’t go for it.

She moved slowly. She kept her eyes open, didn’t blink, didn’t do anything that might give it an excuse to resume its attack. Her knees straightened, though she stayed bent over. She took her first step, to her left. The vampire moved with her.

Its eyes blazed with sheer animal ferocity. All it
wanted to do was rip her apart. All it wanted was her complete and utter annihilation. She forced herself to keep calm.

“Easy, boy,” she said softly, and the vampire snapped at the air. Its claws clicked against themselves. Even though they hadn’t pierced her coat, her back was throbbing in pain. She knew that if it hadn’t been for whatever material this coat was made from, that single swipe would have killed her.

The vampire began moving toward her. The moment Stephanie started to back away, the vampire’s hackles raised. She froze. If it leaped from that distance, it would be on her before she knew what was happening. It kept coming, slowly stalking its prey.

The second skylight exploded, and then everything was happening too fast.

The vampire broke its eye lock and lunged, but Stephanie was already moving, twisting to the side as the claws lacerated the space where she had just been. The other vampire was on the roof and closing in, and Stephanie sprinted for the edge of the building and jumped.

Her legs hit branches, and she flipped over and
was crashing headlong into the tree and falling. She smacked from one branch to the next, each impact spinning her and making her cry out. She hit a branch with her ribs and the breath rushed out of her and still she was falling, then the impacts went away and for a moment it was just her and the sound of rushing air, and then the ground slammed into her from behind.

Stephanie lay on the grass, trying to breathe. She could see the tree, she could see the gallery, she could see the sky. Something was falling toward her. Two things, two figures, dropping from the edge of the building. The vampires hit the ground and came at her.

The window to her left shattered, and the security alarm pierced the night. Skulduggery landed in front of her. He thrust his hand out and the air shimmered and he caught one of the vampires, sending it hurtling back. The second one kept coming and Skulduggery threw fire at it, but it leaped, cleared the flame, and landed with both feet on Skulduggery’s chest. They went down, and Stephanie’s body started obeying her again. She got up, still struggling to breathe. The vampire swiped, and Skulduggery’s shirt parted and
he cried out in pain.

Stephanie wrapped both arms around the vampire’s neck and pulled back. It hissed and flailed, and she stumbled back to avoid its claws. Skulduggery sat up and pressed his hand against the vampire. The vampire shot backward as if it had been fired from a cannon. It hit the wall of the building with a sickening thwack and fell to the ground and didn’t get up. Stephanie grabbed Skulduggery’s arm and dragged him to his feet, and they ran for the car.