The instant Skulduggery learned that Tesseract was the cause of the commotion - that the Russian assassin had appeared out of nowhere, attacked Corrival, and disappeared just as quickly - he knew that leaving Marr alone in the interrogation room with Tanith was a mistake.
"Marr?" Erskine asked.
Ghastly nodded grimly. "Marr."
Skulduggery was already bolting back down the corridor, and Ghastly and Erskine followed close on his heels. Startled Sanctuary employees scattered before them, Skulduggery paid them no more attention than it took to avoid bumping into anyone, and he shoved his way into the room just as Tesseract ducked under one of Dexter's energy-beams.
It was a weak one, Skulduggery noticed right off the bat. That wasn't a good sign.
Tesseract turned toward Wreath, who was struggling to haul himself up along the wall, and Skulduggery stepped forward to draw the Russian's attention. A well-placed fireball might not get all the way through the mask, but it would sear enough of Tesseract's flesh to keep him occupied, and possibly burn his clothes in the process. Feet slid apart and hands splayed, Skulduggery went to throw it...
... and was hit with a massive sieve of black.
It preceded a feeling, like a slight jerk, as if someone had hooked one of Skulduggery's ribs and tried to pull him forward. It wasn't an unfamiliar feeling. Nor was it welcome. That didn't seem to matter in the next few minutes, as Tesseract's soul faded into the skeleton's awareness and it would have been so easy to reach out and grab it, to absorb the life within it, because it was drifting without being used, and it would have added to the massive sieve of black - power that was practically ripe for the taking -
Something bright flared in Skulduggery's hands and he jerked backwards, hit the wall behind him, looked down to see fire he hadn't summoned dancing over his skeletal fingers.
By the time he snuffed it out, Tesseract's soul was gone.
The world had stopped making sense. Skulduggery closed off his vision and started taking deep deliberate breaths, focusing on nothing more than that for however long it took the world to make sense again. He didn't register Erskine quietly cursing behind him and heading straight for Dexter's side. Nor did he register Ghastly pushing Tesseract's lifeless body off of Tanith and kneeling down to check her pulse.
Then he opened his nonexistent eyes and registered all of it, slowly and carefully. Dexter and Tanith were alive, and would be fine. Skulduggery shifted himself carefully off the wall and snapped his fingers to summon a flame, examining it as if it was the first time he'd ever done so. Elementalism couldn't be used without proper focus and concentration. He knew. He'd tried.
So where did the fire come from?
"Solomon." What did you just do? Skulduggery nearly asked, but he already knew the answer to that. Or at least, part of the answer. The only part that really mattered. So he extinguished the flame in his palm and looked over. "Are you alright?"
no subject
"Marr?" Erskine asked.
Ghastly nodded grimly. "Marr."
Skulduggery was already bolting back down the corridor, and Ghastly and Erskine followed close on his heels. Startled Sanctuary employees scattered before them, Skulduggery paid them no more attention than it took to avoid bumping into anyone, and he shoved his way into the room just as Tesseract ducked under one of Dexter's energy-beams.
It was a weak one, Skulduggery noticed right off the bat. That wasn't a good sign.
Tesseract turned toward Wreath, who was struggling to haul himself up along the wall, and Skulduggery stepped forward to draw the Russian's attention. A well-placed fireball might not get all the way through the mask, but it would sear enough of Tesseract's flesh to keep him occupied, and possibly burn his clothes in the process. Feet slid apart and hands splayed, Skulduggery went to throw it...
... and was hit with a massive sieve of black.
It preceded a feeling, like a slight jerk, as if someone had hooked one of Skulduggery's ribs and tried to pull him forward. It wasn't an unfamiliar feeling. Nor was it welcome. That didn't seem to matter in the next few minutes, as Tesseract's soul faded into the skeleton's awareness and it would have been so easy to reach out and grab it, to absorb the life within it, because it was drifting without being used, and it would have added to the massive sieve of black - power that was practically ripe for the taking -
Something bright flared in Skulduggery's hands and he jerked backwards, hit the wall behind him, looked down to see fire he hadn't summoned dancing over his skeletal fingers.
By the time he snuffed it out, Tesseract's soul was gone.
The world had stopped making sense. Skulduggery closed off his vision and started taking deep deliberate breaths, focusing on nothing more than that for however long it took the world to make sense again. He didn't register Erskine quietly cursing behind him and heading straight for Dexter's side. Nor did he register Ghastly pushing Tesseract's lifeless body off of Tanith and kneeling down to check her pulse.
Then he opened his nonexistent eyes and registered all of it, slowly and carefully. Dexter and Tanith were alive, and would be fine. Skulduggery shifted himself carefully off the wall and snapped his fingers to summon a flame, examining it as if it was the first time he'd ever done so. Elementalism couldn't be used without proper focus and concentration. He knew. He'd tried.
So where did the fire come from?
"Solomon." What did you just do? Skulduggery nearly asked, but he already knew the answer to that. Or at least, part of the answer. The only part that really mattered. So he extinguished the flame in his palm and looked over. "Are you alright?"