Never sighed, and looked away for a moment, gathering her thoughts. “There’s nothing actually wrong with you. I mean, you know that, right? Your parents are obsessed with making sure Auger is ready to fight the King of the Darklands, whoever the hell he is. So yeah, you get ignored. But you’re still a worthwhile person. You’re decent, you can occasionally be funny and you have a good heart. It’s why people like you.”
Omen’s eyes widened. “People like me?”
“Probably, yeah.”
“Wow. Do you know who?”
“No. We don’t have a club. We don’t have badges or go to meetings. I’m just assuming other people like you because, well, because I cannot be the only one, I swear to God.”
“Thanks, Never. You’re cool, too.”
She frowned at him. “I know.”
The door opened, and Auger stepped in, smiling when he saw Omen looking up.
“What’d you do this time?” Auger asked. “Hey, Never.”
“Hi, Auger,” Never said, giving a little wave.
“I missed a class,” Omen said. “By accident. Don’t tell Mum and Dad.”
“Dude, if I told them half the stuff you got in trouble for, you’d never be able to leave the house. I thought Miss Ether supervised on Wednesdays.”
“I’m the only one in detention,” Omen said, “so she told me to get on with it and then she left.”
“Never, what are you doing here?”
Never shrugged. “Keeping him company.”
Auger smiled another one of his dazzling smiles. “You’re a class act, you know that?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Why do you want Miss Ether?” Omen asked.
Auger gave a quick one-shouldered shrug. “Nothing important. Just have to check something with her. Homework stuff. Anyway, try and stay out of trouble, you two.”
And then he was gone.
Never looked at Omen. “What do you think’s going on?”
“I bet he’s on another adventure,” Omen said.
“Me too. Like the time with the substitute teacher who turned out to be a serial killer, or all that possession stuff last year. Hey, you think he’ll ever invite the two of us along? I mean, you are his brother, and we are best friends.”
“Are we?”
“Aren’t we?”
“Well,” said Omen, “you’re my best friend, but am I your best friend?”
Never thought about it. “Probably not,” she admitted. “But you’re up there. Top four.”
“Four?”
“I’m very popular with a lot of diverse groups,” Never explained.
“Four, though.”
“Maybe five.”
“Ah, for God’s sake.”
“One of these days,” said Never, “the Chosen One will ask for our help, and we will prove ourselves and then we’ll be part of his gang. Wouldn’t that be something? You, me, Kase, Mahala and Auger, saving the school, saving the city, saving the world.”
“Ah, I don’t know,” Omen said, slouching.
Never arched an eyebrow. “What’s wrong with that?”
“Nothing. It’s just … I’ve seen him save the school and save the city, and in a few years I’ll see him save the world … and it’s not really that glamorous. He gets hurt. Like, seriously hurt. A lot. Last year he almost died.”
“I heard about that.”
“I don’t know. Having adventures is fine and everything, but I’ve been around this stuff my whole life. It starts to wear thin after a while.”
“Yeah,” Never said, “maybe. Or maybe it wears thin when you’re watching it. Maybe if you were having those adventures yourself, it wouldn’t seem quite as bad.”
“Yeah,” Omen said quietly. “Maybe.”
Never’s phone beeped and she checked it, then slid her book into her bag and stood up. “OK, I’m off.”
Omen frowned. “Who was that?”
“Who was what?” she asked, walking to the door.
“Who was that messaging you?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. You’re talking crazy. Stop talking crazy now, you hear? All that crazy talk will land you in the crazy house, you crazy biscuit.” And then she was gone.
Omen stayed in his seat for another ten minutes, spectacularly failing to complete the work that Peccant had set for him. Once the allotted time was up, he hurried to his locker, dumped his bag and climbed the stairs to the fifth floor.
He slipped into the library. Lounging around in the seating area, Jenan Ispolin and his friends congregated and chatted – loudly. The librarian, a bald old man with an astonishingly white beard, like a skinny Santa Claus, was asleep behind his desk.
Omen darted behind the bookcases as more Arcanum’s Scholars joined the group. He got into a position where he could peek without being seen.
“Did you hear?” Colleen Stint said, talking in her usual breathless fashion. “Did you hear what happened?”
Jenan took his time looking at her. Everyone knew Colleen fancied him like mad, and Omen was sure that Jenan despised her for it.
“What happened to what?” Jenan asked, like he couldn’t be bothered hearing the answer.
“What happened to Skulduggery Pleasant and Valkyrie Cain,” Colleen said.
Omen crept a little closer, making sure he caught all of it.
“They were in the Narrows,” Colleen continued. “Went to arrest someone. Just the two of them, like. No Cleavers or back-up or nothing.”
Jenan sat straighter. “They dead?”
“No,” said Colleen, “but close to it. They got the crap kicked out of them.”
“Everyone’s talking about it,” said Byron Grace. “There was a Teleporter and a man in black, and he went up against Pleasant and—”
“Kicked the crap out of him!” Colleen finished, shooting a glare at Byron for daring to interrupt. “Like, threw him about the place. I heard he pulled the skeleton’s head off.”
Jenan sat forward. “Seriously?”
Colleen folded her arms. “That’s what I heard.”
Jenan took a moment to absorb the news. “Well now,” he said, “looks like we chose the winning team.”
A few of them laughed at this. Omen’s frown deepened.
“You think it’s them?” Lapse asked, too stupid to put things together by himself.
“Of course it is,” said Jenan. “We’ve been told for ages that they’re a force to be reckoned with, right? Who else could do something like that? This is it, boys and girls. This is where it all kicks off.”
“About time,” muttered Gall.
Byron took a seat, like he was exhausted, his bag spilling open on the ground beside him. “We don’t know for sure,” he said.
Jenan shot him a look that boiled with hostility. “What