It never ceased to amaze the people under Corrival's command how quickly and easily he could take things in stride. If Skulduggery had harboured even a faint idea that the existence of angels and God could shake that flexibility, it was now quickly dismissed.
In the meantime, Skulduggery's head was starting to swim. It had been hard enough keeping the origin of the Faceless One's remains used in the Grotesquery a secret; harder still to pretend no knowledge of what the Faceless Ones were like when everyone was panicking about their potential appearance at Aranmore Farm. Neither of those even compared to hiding how he felt now. But hide it he did, despite the swimming sensation it induced. This discussion wasn't for the Faceless Ones, or what they used to be. It was for Corrival and Ghastly, and their questions about Vile.
Besides, Gabe would feel everything truly important, if he hadn't already. Those feelings were what he'd been trying to protect Skulduggery from.
"I don't mean to darken the mood again," said Ghastly, "but we do have to know. Skulduggery, how badly broken is your control right now? Before you went through the portal..." He had to stop for a moment and wonder how on earth it was possible to phrase something so complicated, when he wasn't even sure of the developing thought in his own mind. "Before you went through the portal, you wouldn't have used Necromancy at all. Like that. For any reason. What changed?"
Skulduggery answered slowly, and without looking away from Gabe. Cautiously, like he thought the slightest wrong move would dislodge the wing - or make Gabe take it back. "There was a man. Dr. Martin Landel. He ran an inter-dimensional prison, of sorts, and he had an annoying ability of dragging anyone he wanted, from any point on their timelines, to that prison. And that was far from his only ability. My fourth night there, one of his doctors had me at his mercy, and he knew the exact points to put pressure on. The exact triggers. I very nearly became Vile that night, and it's been a tightrope walk ever since. A rope I fell off of more than once."
He hesitated, and then finally he looked away to make eye contact with Ghastly and Corrival in turn. "He made the natural instinct to use Necromancy my strongest one. We had an idea that sending everyone back to their respective homes would reverse everything he'd ever done to us. In my case, that was wrong. And, I'll admit, being tortured for months didn't help."
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In the meantime, Skulduggery's head was starting to swim. It had been hard enough keeping the origin of the Faceless One's remains used in the Grotesquery a secret; harder still to pretend no knowledge of what the Faceless Ones were like when everyone was panicking about their potential appearance at Aranmore Farm. Neither of those even compared to hiding how he felt now. But hide it he did, despite the swimming sensation it induced. This discussion wasn't for the Faceless Ones, or what they used to be. It was for Corrival and Ghastly, and their questions about Vile.
Besides, Gabe would feel everything truly important, if he hadn't already. Those feelings were what he'd been trying to protect Skulduggery from.
"I don't mean to darken the mood again," said Ghastly, "but we do have to know. Skulduggery, how badly broken is your control right now? Before you went through the portal..." He had to stop for a moment and wonder how on earth it was possible to phrase something so complicated, when he wasn't even sure of the developing thought in his own mind. "Before you went through the portal, you wouldn't have used Necromancy at all. Like that. For any reason. What changed?"
Skulduggery answered slowly, and without looking away from Gabe. Cautiously, like he thought the slightest wrong move would dislodge the wing - or make Gabe take it back. "There was a man. Dr. Martin Landel. He ran an inter-dimensional prison, of sorts, and he had an annoying ability of dragging anyone he wanted, from any point on their timelines, to that prison. And that was far from his only ability. My fourth night there, one of his doctors had me at his mercy, and he knew the exact points to put pressure on. The exact triggers. I very nearly became Vile that night, and it's been a tightrope walk ever since. A rope I fell off of more than once."
He hesitated, and then finally he looked away to make eye contact with Ghastly and Corrival in turn. "He made the natural instinct to use Necromancy my strongest one. We had an idea that sending everyone back to their respective homes would reverse everything he'd ever done to us. In my case, that was wrong. And, I'll admit, being tortured for months didn't help."