07. Kingdom of the Wicked by Derek Landy

Author:Derek Landy [Landy, Derek]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Juvenile Fiction, Humorous Stories
ISBN: 9780007480210
Google: tS1bMQEACAAJ
Goodreads: 13537640
Publisher: HarperCollins Children’s Books
Published: 2012-08-29T18:30:00+00:00

he line went quiet for a moment while Ghastly conferred with others. Then he came back. “We have a Sensitive here. He says he’s just started to pick up a psychic wavelength that they’ve managed to keep hidden until now. We think Argeddion is controlling them.”

“They spent the last thirty years in that mountain, watching over him,” Skulduggery said. “At some stage he must have regained a degree of awareness, started reaching out, taking them over. This whole thing was just a ploy to get us to move them all here.”

“I don’t get it,” said Valkyrie. “If they wanted to release him, why not just turn off the Cube?”

Skulduggery shook his head. “I don’t think turning off the Cube is the problem. The problem is that Argeddion has been in an artificially induced coma for the last three decades. Maybe he simply can’t wake up. If I were them, I’d be using the Accelerator as a defibrillator for the mind.”

“They’re going to shock him awake,” said Ghastly. “OK, listen to me. You two are the only people we’ve got in there. I’d love to say we’re coming in after you but this wall is stronger than anything I’ve seen.”

“We could get Fletcher back,” Valkyrie suggested. “He could take everyone in at once.”

“A force field of this strength can’t be teleported through,” Skulduggery said. “If Fletcher tried it, his atoms would be scattered all the way across existence. Don’t worry. We don’t need anyone else. We’ve got surprise on our side, and a deliberate tendency towards extreme violence. We’ll be fine.”

Ghastly sighed. “Try not to kill anyone, at least. Remember that Lament’s sorcerers are not in control of themselves.”

Valkyrie put her phone away, and Skulduggery looked at her, and took out his gun. She nodded. They stole round the corner, ignoring the blue wall and the people on the other side, focusing all their attention on the doorway to the Accelerator Room. No one guarding it. No voices from inside. Valkyrie readied the shadows as Skulduggery counted down on his fingers.

Three... two... one—

They ran in.

“Hello,” said Argeddion.

Lament and his sorcerers were on their knees in a circle around the Accelerator, their heads down. The Cube rotated slowly within the Accelerator itself, an empty cage. Argeddion hovered in mid-air above the remains of the Tempest, smiling at them. Residual energy crackled around his body, and his eyes were glittering orbs of power.

Valkyrie didn’t know what to do.

“Hmm,” Skulduggery said. “This is... disappointing, I don’t mind telling you. I thought we’d arrive in the nick of time and stop this from happening. I blame myself, of course. And other people. Mostly other people. In particular I blame the people in this room on their knees. I blame them an awful lot. I don’t suppose shooting you will do any good at this stage, will it?”

Argeddion smiled again.

“But it couldn’t hurt to try.” Skulduggery went to fire but the gun disappeared from his hand, and reappeared in Argeddion’s.

“Violence,” he said, turning the gun over and examining it.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.