Skulduggery Pleasant
Skulduggery Pleasant and Valkyrie Cain are back in their most gripping story yet, as book 11, Midnight, picks up where Resurrection left off – and runs.For years, Valkyrie Cain has struggled to keep her loved ones safe from harm, plunging into battle – time and time again – by Skulduggery Pleasant’s side, and always emerging triumphant.But now the very thing that Valkyrie fights for is in danger, as a ruthless killer snatches her little sister in order to lure Valkyrie into a final confrontation. With Skulduggery racing to catch up and young sorcerer Omen scrambling along behind, Valkyrie only has twelve hours to find Alice before it’s too late. The clock is ticking…
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First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins Children’s Books in 2018
First published in this edition in the United States of America by HarperCollins Children’s Books in 2019
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Skulduggery Pleasant rests his weary bones on the web at:
Derek Landy blogs under duress at
Text copyright © Derek Landy 2018
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Cover design © blacksheep-uk.com
Cover illustration © Neil Swabb
Derek Landy asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of the work.
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Source ISBN: 9780008303938
Ebook Edition © ISBN: 9780008303945
Version: 2019-05-01
This book is dedicated to Reggie.
What is there left to be said about you, my friend?
You’re smart, and yet wilfully stupid. You’re good-looking, yet kind of ugly. You’ve got wonderful hair, yet you’re always wearing hats.
You’ve saved my life three times now – in contrast to the measly once that I’ve saved yours – and you’ve taught me more about Icelandic cuisine that I ever wanted to know (seriously dude – hákarl? Seriously?), but there is something that I’ve been meaning to tell you for years, but I’ve never found the right opportunity.
Remember that girl, your pen pal, back when we were kids? Remember how you kind of loved her?
That was me. Sorry, dude.
And from the nothing came the everything.
Contents
The old castle stood dark against the star-filled sky, its tall windows empty, its battlements jutting like teeth. Upon those battlements, and indifferent to the cold winds that scoured the mountaintops, stood Wretchlings, monstrous things of scabs and sores whose insides boiled with poisoned blood and decaying meat.
Lying on a blanket on a snow-covered perch 809 metres west and 193 metres up, Skulduggery Pleasant put his right eye socket to the scope of his rifle and adjusted the dial.
He wriggled slightly, settling deeper into the blanket, then went perfectly still. His gloved finger began to slowly squeeze the trigger, and Valkyrie raised her binoculars, training them on the closest Wretchling.
The gun went off with a loud crack that the wind snatched away, but they were so far from the target that it took a few seconds for the bullet to hit.
The Wretchling jerked slightly, and looked down at its chest. A moment later, it started to tremble. The stitches that held it together unravelled, and the Wretchling came undone, its body parts falling, its stolen entrails spilling out, and it collapsed on top of itself, a pile of meat steaming in the cold air.
Skulduggery moved on to the next target and adjusted the scope once more.
“You think they feel pain?” Valkyrie asked.
Skulduggery paused for a moment, and looked at her. “I’m sorry?”
“The Wretchlings,” she said. “Do you think they feel pain?”
“Not really,” he answered, and went back to aiming his rifle.
“But they have brains, right? Fair enough, they might not be thinking great thoughts, but they do still think. And if they think, they might be able to feel. And if their body can feel physically, can’t their minds feel emotionally?”
Skulduggery fired again. Valkyrie didn’t bother looking to see if the bullet hit its target. Of course it did.
“They do have brains,” Skulduggery said. “They’re stolen from the dead, along with the limbs and the internal organs, and they’re twisted and warped and attached to the Wretchling like the parts of a machine – because that’s what they are. They look alive, but it’s all artificial. Are you feeling guilty about what we’re doing?”
