Chapter One
Arianne Carmody new that today was a good day. She had taken the name Arianne Carmody today 28 years ago and she was about to see her old friend Skulduggery Pleasant. She still remembered the day she met him, back when she was called Anna Elena Graham. They met 40 years ago, it was had to forget the day her mother had died. The elders had scared her and so had Catriona Karenza, Grand Mage of the Scottish Sanctuary. Now she was fidgeting in her seat on the plane, on her way to Ireland to help capture Logan Clancy, the monster who murdered her mother and father.
She had sought revenge ever since Papa Ben decided she was old enough to know what happened to her parents. Her father, Elijah Bloodlust had been rushing home to save his family when Logan burned him alive in his car and her mother was packing bags to go somewhere safe when Logan had used the air to crush her. She was finally going to get him, after all these years. He was hard to track and left close to nothing behind after he left somewhere.
The Irish Sanctuary had contacted her through the Scottish Sanctuary and told her that he was seen in a bar, that she had once tracked him to before, 2 days ago, asking where he could find a good bodyguard. He was probably trying to get a few hours of sleep before moving again. He would still be in Ireland. He hadn’t encountered her in over 3 years, so he probably thought she had given up or something.
“We will be landing in Dublin shortly, please make sure your seatbelt is fastened and you are comfortable for our descend,” she heard the flight attendant say through the intercom and squealed with joy, everyone stared at her but she just smiled apologetically. It had been years since she had seen Skulduggery and the excitement was overwhelming her, despite the fact that she was there to catch Clancy.
“We have now landed in Dublin, you can now take your seatbelt off and gather your “carry on” luggage. Thank you for flying with Ryanair, we hope you enjoyed your flight and you may now leave the plane through the nearest exit,” the intercom buzzed again. Arianne shot up, grabbed her lucky satchel from the seat beside her and virtually running to claim her luggage.
Once she had recovered her suitcase she went outside and hailed a taxi. The driver was a dirty, middle-aged man and he was holding half of a cigarette out the window.
“Where to?” he asked in a thick English accent.
“Temple Bar, please” she replied, as normal as she could. She couldn’t stop fidgeting with her seatbelt. Click, it was unfastened, Click-click, it was fastened, Click, it was unfastened, Click-click, it was fastened. She repeated the process for another minute, getting faster and faster, until it irritated the taxi driver.
“Will you shut up back there!” he snapped.
“Sorry,” Arianne said, under her breath. She sat back in her seat. With nothing else to do she scanned the taxi. It was dirtier than the driver, and that was hard to beat. There were wrappers everywhere, pizza boxes piled in the passenger seat and there was a horrible smell that had just came from the driver.
“Temple Bar, £14.99,” he said in monotone. Ari gave him a £20 note and got out with all of her belongings. She walked up to the tattoo shop and knocked the door. There were a few bumps and bangs before a very sleepy middle-aged man opened the door.
“Hey man, can I help you with something?” he asked drowsily.
“Yes actually, I’m looking for Finbar Wrong, could you get him. Tell him it’s Ari Carmody,” she instructed him as he walked away to find Finbar.
She had sought revenge ever since Papa Ben decided she was old enough to know what happened to her parents. Her father, Elijah Bloodlust had been rushing home to save his family when Logan burned him alive in his car and her mother was packing bags to go somewhere safe when Logan had used the air to crush her. She was finally going to get him, after all these years. He was hard to track and left close to nothing behind after he left somewhere.
The Irish Sanctuary had contacted her through the Scottish Sanctuary and told her that he was seen in a bar, that she had once tracked him to before, 2 days ago, asking where he could find a good bodyguard. He was probably trying to get a few hours of sleep before moving again. He would still be in Ireland. He hadn’t encountered her in over 3 years, so he probably thought she had given up or something.
“We will be landing in Dublin shortly, please make sure your seatbelt is fastened and you are comfortable for our descend,” she heard the flight attendant say through the intercom and squealed with joy, everyone stared at her but she just smiled apologetically. It had been years since she had seen Skulduggery and the excitement was overwhelming her, despite the fact that she was there to catch Clancy.
“We have now landed in Dublin, you can now take your seatbelt off and gather your “carry on” luggage. Thank you for flying with Ryanair, we hope you enjoyed your flight and you may now leave the plane through the nearest exit,” the intercom buzzed again. Arianne shot up, grabbed her lucky satchel from the seat beside her and virtually running to claim her luggage.
Once she had recovered her suitcase she went outside and hailed a taxi. The driver was a dirty, middle-aged man and he was holding half of a cigarette out the window.
“Where to?” he asked in a thick English accent.
“Temple Bar, please” she replied, as normal as she could. She couldn’t stop fidgeting with her seatbelt. Click, it was unfastened, Click-click, it was fastened, Click, it was unfastened, Click-click, it was fastened. She repeated the process for another minute, getting faster and faster, until it irritated the taxi driver.
“Will you shut up back there!” he snapped.
“Sorry,” Arianne said, under her breath. She sat back in her seat. With nothing else to do she scanned the taxi. It was dirtier than the driver, and that was hard to beat. There were wrappers everywhere, pizza boxes piled in the passenger seat and there was a horrible smell that had just came from the driver.
“Temple Bar, £14.99,” he said in monotone. Ari gave him a £20 note and got out with all of her belongings. She walked up to the tattoo shop and knocked the door. There were a few bumps and bangs before a very sleepy middle-aged man opened the door.
“Hey man, can I help you with something?” he asked drowsily.
“Yes actually, I’m looking for Finbar Wrong, could you get him. Tell him it’s Ari Carmody,” she instructed him as he walked away to find Finbar.
