"Can I call you Valkyrie?" Carol asked. "Just when we're alone, like. I promise. I should probably come up with a name of my own, right? If I'm going to be training with you and everything?"

"Yes, you will," said the reflection. "Although I'd actually prefer if you just call me Stephanie."

"Oh," said Carol. "Yeah, OK. Whatever you want. So how do we start? What's in the bag? Can I see?"

"Not yet," the reflection said. "The first thing you have to do is undress."

Carol frowned. "Really?"

"Just down to your underwear. We'll be working with fire, and your clothes are flammable."

"But... um..."

"Don't worry," said the reflection, "I won't laugh. You don't have to be embarrassed." Carol hesitated, and eventually started to remove her clothes. The reflection drew a symbol on Carol's mirror while it waited. When Carol was down to her underwear, the reflection handed her a piece of torn paper. "Read this."

Carol looked at it. "What is it? Is it a spell?"

"That's exactly what it is."

"But I thought you said sorcerers don't use spells."

"It's not that kind of spell," the reflection said. "The words are used to focus the magic of someone like you someone who doesn't know what they're doing."

Carol read from the page. "Surface speak, surface feel, surface think, surface real." She looked up. "Is that it? Did I do it right?"

"I don't know," the reflection said. "Touch the mirror."

Carol hesitated, and then raised her hand and pressed her fingertips against the glass. She took her hand away. The image in the mirror did not.

Carol stepped back. "Oh my God," she whispered. "Why's it doing that? Is it... is it looking at me?"

"Yes," said the reflection. "That's exactly what it's doing."

Carol turned to it. Her eyes were sparkling. "What do I do now? Will you teach me to throw fire?"

The reflection smiled. "All of that takes time."

"How much time? Show me what I can do."

"I'm afraid I can't do that."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't actually have any magic."

"What are you talking about? You've got loads of magic, Valkyrie. You're amazing."

"Even if I could teach you," said the reflection, walking forward, "it wouldn't do you any good. I've told a bit of a lie, actually. I think you'll understand, once I explain myself. You won't like it, but at least you'll understand. Or maybe you won't, I don't know. You were never the brightest twin, now, were you?"

Carol blinked, puzzlement shining in her wet eyes, and the reflection took another step closer and slid the kitchen knife into her belly. Carol made a sound, halfway between a retch and a gasp, and her hand closed around the reflection's arm. She had a surprisingly strong grip for someone so soft.

"And I told you not to call me Valkyrie," said the reflection.

Carol lurched back like she was off balance, then doubled over and fell to one knee. She dropped forward, hand out to catch herself, but her arm buckled and she ended up on the floor. "Am I dying?" she asked. Her voice was small.

"Yes," said the reflection.

Carol's breathing rattled. "Why?"

"I need someone magic," the reflection told her. It reached into its bag and took out the Sceptre, wiped some of the quarry mud off it. "I went back for this, found it under a truck. Darquesse didn't realise she'd brought it with her. Valkyrie didn't think twice about it. I'm the only one who bothered to sort through the memories, because I'm the only one who deserves it. Your death will charge the Sceptre. That's what I'm hoping, anyway. If I were magic, I'd just do it myself, and no one would have to get hurt. But I'm not magic, and I can't ask anyone, now, can I? I can't ask Valkyrie to charge it, because she'd know I was planning to kill her with it." The reflection bent down, pressed the Sceptre into Carol's hand.

"Please," Carol whispered. "Call an ambulance."

"No," the reflection said, straightening up. It turned to the mirror. "Come out," it said.

Carol's reflection did as it was told, and stepped from the glass into the room. It stood over the real Carol.

"You are to take over her life," Valkyrie's reflection told it. "Her sister will probably notice something is wrong. It won't be easy, but avoid her as much as possible. Avoid all sorcerers. Stay away from Valkyrie. You won't have to do it for ever just until I kill her."

"Skulduggery Pleasant will know you're not Valkyrie," Carol's reflection said. Its voice was lifeless, devoid of emotion.

"Of course he will," Valkyrie's reflection responded, "and he'll destroy me once he finds out what I've done. Which is why I'm going to kill him, too. And Tanith. And Ghastly. And anyone else who might come here and take away what I've earned." Carol's reflection did not comprehend what was being said to it. "Maybe you'll be like me," Valkyrie's reflection continued. "Maybe you'll grow, and evolve. Maybe you'll stop being this girl's reflection and start being something else. And if you do, you're lucky, because the only person to challenge you is lying at your feet. I've taken care of your problem for you. Now I have to take care of mine."

Carol's reflection looked down. "She looks dead."

Valkyrie's reflection picked up the Sceptre. The black crystal was glowing. "It worked," it said. It was pleased. "Clean up the blood. I can't have anyone raising the alarm, do you understand?"

"Yes," said Carol's reflection.

"Listen to me. Are you listening?"

"I'm listening."

"The dead person at your feet was a stupid girl. She was a stupid, ignorant, selfish girl. Which means you are a stupid, ignorant, selfish thing. But you can change. You can improve. You can be better than she ever was. You can be a better Carol than the real Carol ever managed to be. Do you understand the gift that I'm giving you?"

"No."

"You will. In a few years, you will. You'll turn into something better. Look at me. I was like you once. Every little thing about me was false. But I'm not like that any more. Valkyrie Cain abandoned Stephanie Edgley when she took a new name. She left Stephanie behind, like a coin, for someone else to pick up. Someone like me. So that's who I am now: Stephanie. And I am a better Stephanie than Valkyrie could ever hope to be. I'm not an empty shell, and you don't have to be, either. This Sceptre bonds to people, not to things. I'm not a thing. I'm not an it. I'm a person. I am a her."

Stephanie pointed the Sceptre at Carol's body and the crystal flashed, the black lightning turning the dead girl to a collapsing pile of dust. "I have a family who loves me. I have parents and a little sister who I'm going to take care of. I have friends in school, and I want to go to college. I want a normal life. A happy life. A life. And I'm going to take it."

Stephanie smiled at her own reflection in Carol's mirror. She liked the way her eyes twinkled when she did that. She put the Sceptre back in the bag and walked to the door. "Dispose of her remains," she said without looking back. "Use a hoover."

COPYRIGHT.

First published in hardback in Great Britain by HarperCollins Children's Books 2012 HarperCollins Children's Books is a division of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 77-85 Fulham Palace Road, Hammersmith, London W6 8JB Visit us on the web at www.harpercollins.co.uk.

end.