He wasn't sure what he heard, exactly, but he heard it. Felt it. Felt something, anyway, like a strong ripple through his soul, and heard it in a way that made it feel like he'd always known. Less like receiving new information, and more like remembering something he couldn't have ever known before.
They weren't words. They weren't anything explainable. Just a thought. An understanding. Skulduggery's entire being snapped to attention, causing the bones of his frame to stiffen. While Ghastly said something else to Paddy, maybe explaining further, maybe asking a question, maybe answering a question, Skulduggery tuned them both out and pulled out his phone.
Valkyrie answered after one ring. "We're just about to go to the Hibernian," she told him. "He's not - "
"I know where he is. Meet us at Paddy's church. Now."
He hung up the instant Valkyrie agreed, audibly startled but acting with the urgency of Skulduggery's tone, thankfully. Ghastly and Paddy were both looking at him, and Skulduggery nodded as he put the phone back into his breast pocket. "I know where he is," Skulduggery repeated, and this time a measure of relief settled beside the urgency. "The safehouse."
"We've already been there," Ghastly reminded him.
"Hours ago, yes. This just happened."
"What just happened?"
Skulduggery wrapped the scarf back around his lower jaw, pulled his hat back on, and picked up the sunglasses. "I don't know. I just know. A little like when you remember something you've forgotten for years. He's there. He's in that same living room."
Ghastly frowned. "Is that something else Archangels can do?"
"Not to my knowledge." It was a mystery, but it was one mystery Skulduggery had absolutely no qualms about setting aside for the time being. "Right now, it doesn't matter. Sorry to bother you, Paddy. If you could hold on to these for me, I'd be ever so grateful." Without another word, Skulduggery carefully placed the sunglasses squarely on Paddy's face, and the priest didn't even have time to question the gesture before Fletcher popped into existence just behind him, Valkyrie and Tanith in tow.
"Fletcher, the safehouse please." Skulduggery put one hand on the boy's shoulder and the other on Ghastly's. "That same living room as before."
It was, without a doubt, the most agonising Teleport any of them had ever gone through. Skulduggery was expecting himself and Valkyrie to be the only ones immediately able to walk with all their balance intact, although he wouldn't have been surprised if Ghastly and Tanith had enough experience by now that they'd barely stumble.
Instead, Fletcher pitched to the floor the moment he was solid enough, taking Valkyrie down with him. Tanith stepped forward to help them both up and nearly keeled over herself, stumbling back against the wall to keep from doing so, her breath coming out in a strangled gasp. Ghastly tried to do the same thing against the other wall, realised too late that there wasn't one because it had collapsed, and almost fell through into the other room.
Agony filled the air. Pure, unadulterated agony. It wasn't physical, but that almost made it worse; pain pounded through Skulduggery's head and raced through the bones of his limbs, making him feel for a split second like he was being torn apart all over again. Torn apart by a Faceless One. A Fallen angel. Terror gripped him, and even though it was impossible for Skulduggery not to sink to his knees with the fiery and burning haze, he let an ounce of his control slip. Enough to clear his head, clear his thoughts, make them sharp and reasonable and, above all, possible. And it was in that moment that he had two very separate and very distinct recognitions.
Gabriel used his true name.
Gabriel was emitting the same kind of piercing, aching agony that the Faceless Ones made a habit of inducing in Skulduggery for countless months. It meant that Gabriel was close to Falling himself.
The pain in the air didn't last. It wasn't a physical thing, and so it was possible to adjust to - and fairly quickly. The others managed to get to their feet, managed to think again, to make sense of their observations again. But by the time they did, Skulduggery had already managed to crawl into the crater Gabriel made. And as his pain slowly cleared, as Gabe's whimpering became the only thing Skulduggery could focus on, even Skulduggery himself wasn't aware of just how tightly his arms were wrapped around the Archangel.
He didn't know how any of this worked, why Gabe found his soul soothing, or why it worked as an anchor. But if it meant he couldn't move from this spot until Raphael finally arrived, then it was a very good thing Skulduggery had trained Valkyrie to be such a capable detective herself.
no subject
He wasn't sure what he heard, exactly, but he heard it. Felt it. Felt something, anyway, like a strong ripple through his soul, and heard it in a way that made it feel like he'd always known. Less like receiving new information, and more like remembering something he couldn't have ever known before.
They weren't words. They weren't anything explainable. Just a thought. An understanding. Skulduggery's entire being snapped to attention, causing the bones of his frame to stiffen. While Ghastly said something else to Paddy, maybe explaining further, maybe asking a question, maybe answering a question, Skulduggery tuned them both out and pulled out his phone.
Valkyrie answered after one ring. "We're just about to go to the Hibernian," she told him. "He's not - "
"I know where he is. Meet us at Paddy's church. Now."
He hung up the instant Valkyrie agreed, audibly startled but acting with the urgency of Skulduggery's tone, thankfully. Ghastly and Paddy were both looking at him, and Skulduggery nodded as he put the phone back into his breast pocket. "I know where he is," Skulduggery repeated, and this time a measure of relief settled beside the urgency. "The safehouse."
"We've already been there," Ghastly reminded him.
"Hours ago, yes. This just happened."
"What just happened?"
Skulduggery wrapped the scarf back around his lower jaw, pulled his hat back on, and picked up the sunglasses. "I don't know. I just know. A little like when you remember something you've forgotten for years. He's there. He's in that same living room."
Ghastly frowned. "Is that something else Archangels can do?"
"Not to my knowledge." It was a mystery, but it was one mystery Skulduggery had absolutely no qualms about setting aside for the time being. "Right now, it doesn't matter. Sorry to bother you, Paddy. If you could hold on to these for me, I'd be ever so grateful." Without another word, Skulduggery carefully placed the sunglasses squarely on Paddy's face, and the priest didn't even have time to question the gesture before Fletcher popped into existence just behind him, Valkyrie and Tanith in tow.
"Fletcher, the safehouse please." Skulduggery put one hand on the boy's shoulder and the other on Ghastly's. "That same living room as before."
It was, without a doubt, the most agonising Teleport any of them had ever gone through. Skulduggery was expecting himself and Valkyrie to be the only ones immediately able to walk with all their balance intact, although he wouldn't have been surprised if Ghastly and Tanith had enough experience by now that they'd barely stumble.
Instead, Fletcher pitched to the floor the moment he was solid enough, taking Valkyrie down with him. Tanith stepped forward to help them both up and nearly keeled over herself, stumbling back against the wall to keep from doing so, her breath coming out in a strangled gasp. Ghastly tried to do the same thing against the other wall, realised too late that there wasn't one because it had collapsed, and almost fell through into the other room.
Agony filled the air. Pure, unadulterated agony. It wasn't physical, but that almost made it worse; pain pounded through Skulduggery's head and raced through the bones of his limbs, making him feel for a split second like he was being torn apart all over again. Torn apart by a Faceless One. A Fallen angel. Terror gripped him, and even though it was impossible for Skulduggery not to sink to his knees with the fiery and burning haze, he let an ounce of his control slip. Enough to clear his head, clear his thoughts, make them sharp and reasonable and, above all, possible. And it was in that moment that he had two very separate and very distinct recognitions.
Gabriel used his true name.
Gabriel was emitting the same kind of piercing, aching agony that the Faceless Ones made a habit of inducing in Skulduggery for countless months. It meant that Gabriel was close to Falling himself.
The pain in the air didn't last. It wasn't a physical thing, and so it was possible to adjust to - and fairly quickly. The others managed to get to their feet, managed to think again, to make sense of their observations again. But by the time they did, Skulduggery had already managed to crawl into the crater Gabriel made. And as his pain slowly cleared, as Gabe's whimpering became the only thing Skulduggery could focus on, even Skulduggery himself wasn't aware of just how tightly his arms were wrapped around the Archangel.
He didn't know how any of this worked, why Gabe found his soul soothing, or why it worked as an anchor. But if it meant he couldn't move from this spot until Raphael finally arrived, then it was a very good thing Skulduggery had trained Valkyrie to be such a capable detective herself.