03. The Faceless Ones by Derek Landy

Author:Derek Landy [Landy, Derek]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery, Young Adult, Humour, Horror, Fantasy, Adventure
ISBN: 9780061240928
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2009-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

Twenty-two

CONVERSATIONS WITH A LATE UNCLE

THE PURPLE MENACE pulled into Gordon’s estate, and Valkyrie took the door key from her pocket and slid it into the lock. The alarm beeped insistently until she entered the code.

Gordon’s house—for it would always be his house and never hers, not even on the day she turned eighteen—was big and quiet and empty.

“I’ll start in here,” Skulduggery said, walking in behind her and heading for the living room. “If you want to start in the study, hopefully we’ll find something by morning.”

“Hopefully,” Valkyrie said, and climbed the stairs.

She went into the study, closed the door behind her, then made straight for the large bookcase along the wall. She pulled back the false book, the bookcase swung open, and she passed through into the small room beyond. For once, she didn’t even glance at the objects and artifacts on the shelves around her. The Echo Stone in the cradle on the table started to glow, and a slightly overweight man in shirtsleeves shimmered into view. He grinned.

“Hello there,” he said. “I take it, by the serious look on your face, that this is business and you haven’t just dropped by because you miss your dear dead uncle?”

Valkyrie raised an eyebrow. “Is that who you are now? You’re Gordon? Not just a recording of his personality?”

“That’s who I am,” Gordon said proudly.

“And you’re sure about this? You’re not going to change your mind halfway through this conversation?”

“I have come to a decision. The flesh-and-blood Gordon may have imprinted me onto this Echo Stone, but I continue to learn, to experience, to evolve. I make my own memories now. I am as real a person as he was, and because we were the same person, I am now him, now that he’s not. It all comes down to philosophy really. I think, therefore I am, I think.”

“That’s good to know.” Valkyrie nodded. “To be honest with you, I see you as my real uncle too.”

“Well, that’s that then.”

“Does this mean I can tell Skulduggery about you now?”

“Ah,” he said. “Not yet. I … I’m not ready for other people to know what I have been … reduced to. But it won’t be long now before you can share me, I promise.”

“Well, good. I don’t like keeping this secret.”

“I understand and I appreciate it. So tell me, how are your parents?”

“They’re good. It’s their anniversary tomorrow, and they’re heading to Paris in the morning.”

“Ah, Paris,” Gordon said wistfully. “I’ve always felt a real affinity for the French, you know. One of my books was set in France, among the cathedrals and along the Champs-Elysées.”

She nodded. “Braineater. It was one of your best. Gordon, have you ever heard of a man called Batu?”

“I don’t think I have, no.”

“We think he’s behind a series of murders, and he wants to use a Teleporter to open a gateway between this reality and whatever reality the Faceless Ones are stuck in.”

“Is that possible?”

“Skulduggery seems to be taking it seriously, so I imagine it is.

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