Bedlam by Derek Landy

Author:Derek Landy [Derek Landy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2019-04-19T16:00:00+00:00

Tanith’s bike was parked outside the Museum of Magical History, and Valkyrie and Militsa met her inside, by the reception desk. The guy at the desk frowned at them.

“This nice gentleman has been telling me that they’re about to close,” Tanith informed them with a strained smile.

“We won’t be long,” Valkyrie promised, and walked quickly to the East Wing. “Tanith Low, this is Militsa Gnosis. She and I are a thing.”

“Hello,” Militsa said, shaking Tanith’s hand. “It’s very nice to meet you.”

“Likewise,” said Tanith. “Do you know why we’re here?”

“Not a clue. She’s being all mysterious.”

“I’ve seen that happen,” Tanith said, nodding. “She gets it from Skulduggery.”

“Really?” Valkyrie said without turning. “I always thought he got it from me.”

They arrived in the East Wing. This part of the museum was a lot less spacious than Valkyrie remembered, and now resembled a cosy old antiques shop, every surface packed with curious oddities.

“They’re refitting one of the other wings,” Militsa explained as they squeezed between exhibits. “Everything in there is now in here. It’s a bit of a mess, to be honest. What are we looking for?”

Valkyrie stopped before the glass case in which stood a mannequin wearing the necronaut suit.

There were two layers to it. The outer layer was a frayed, burnt, torn fabric – but it was covering something else. Something black. It had a hood, and a mask – a white skull, stylised, angular, with glass-covered eye sockets.

“This is what I need,” Valkyrie said.

Militsa nodded, and looked around. “What is?”

“This.”

“The mannequin?”

“The mannequin? Why would I need the mannequin? No. The suit.”

“What’s so special about it?” Tanith asked.

“It’s designed for Deep Venturing,” Valkyrie told her. “Necromancers would go exploring the realms of death and they’d wear a necronaut suit like this to protect themselves. They wouldn’t need food, wouldn’t need water, wouldn’t need air …”

“So you put this on and you can just walk into the Necropolis?”

“Yep.”

“OK. That’s pretty cool.”

None of this was computing for Militsa. “But it’s … I mean, it’s part of the museum. They’re not going to just give it to you.”

“I think Valkyrie means to steal it,” Tanith whispered.

“Oh,” Militsa responded, her eyes widening. “Oh. Right. Wow.”

A lady walked by. “The museum is closing now,” she said with a smile.

They smiled back. When she was gone, Valkyrie turned to Militsa. “How do you feel about that?”

“I’m not sure,” Militsa said. “On the one hand, it goes against absolutely everything inside me. All my little nerve endings are screaming, No, no, don’t steal from a museum!” Militsa laughed uneasily. “But on the other hand …”

“On the other hand,” Valkyrie prompted, “you’d do anything to make me happy …?”

“I would,” Militsa said. “I totally would. Well, almost. It’s just, the two of you, you’re used to this sort of thing. You break the rules, you break the law, you go rogue and do cool stuff … but that’s not me. I’m the one who thinks that rules are actually a pretty good idea, and the world would be better off if more of us respected them and, you know, just did what they told us.

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