Resurrection recap

Five years after Darquesse's defeat, Valkyrie Cain returns from self-imposed exile in America, burdened by guilt and trauma. Skulduggery draws her into an investigation of the Anti-Sanctuary, while overlooked Corrival Academy student Omen Darkly becomes an unlikely source inside the school. The conspirators include Lethe, Razzia, Cadaverous Gant, and Smoke, whose magic strips away inhibitions and turns Skulduggery against his allies. Valkyrie helps free him from that influence, but the heroes discover too late that the group's real objective is the restoration of Abyssinia, a powerful figure from Skulduggery's past. The healer Melior is coerced into rebuilding her from her preserved heart. Abyssinia returns to life and escapes with her followers. Valkyrie elects to remain beside Skulduggery, and Omen earns a place in their continuing work, as the revived Abyssinia becomes the central threat ahead.

Five years have passed since the battle in which Darquesse was removed from Valkyrie Cain and sent away, ending the immediate threat she posed to the world. The victory did not restore Valkyrie's old life. She withdrew to the United States, separated herself from Skulduggery and most of her friends, and has lived with guilt, depression, and recurring memories of the harm done through her. Skulduggery remains a Sanctuary detective in Ireland, where China Sorrows now leads the sorcerer government from Roarhaven. Valkyrie's younger sister Alice is alive and growing up, but Valkyrie remains deeply troubled by what happened to her family during the Darquesse crisis.

Valkyrie returns to Ireland after five years away and finds that neither contact with her family nor a reunion with Skulduggery can erase the damage she carries. Skulduggery is investigating a new pattern of violence around the Sanctuary and persuades her to help, initially on a limited basis. At Corrival Academy, Omen Darkly lives in the shadow of his brother Auger, the celebrated Chosen One. Because Omen attracts little attention, he is well placed to notice tensions and secret allegiances among the students. Skulduggery begins using him as an inside source, giving Omen a dangerous responsibility for which neither his family nor his classmates consider him suited.

The investigation points to the Anti-Sanctuary, a group that rejects China's government and is building a network inside and outside Roarhaven. Its field operatives include the masked fighter Lethe and several Neoterics whose unusual powers do not fit the older magical disciplines. Omen's work at Corrival Academy ties part of the conspiracy to young sorcerers, placing him and his friends in increasing danger. Valkyrie struggles to function through panic and exhaustion but continues beside Skulduggery. The pair learn that the enemy is collecting people and abilities for a coordinated purpose rather than carrying out isolated attacks.

Smoke, one of the Anti-Sanctuary's Neoterics, can loosen the moral restraints that keep a person's darker impulses in check. His power is used on Skulduggery, turning the detective's ruthlessness against Valkyrie and the Sanctuary. Valkyrie is forced to oppose the partner she has only just regained while trying to reach the part of him that Smoke has suppressed. Omen continues to pass information from inside Corrival Academy and is pulled beyond observation into direct danger. The conspiracy's interest in the healer Melior and Lethe's fierce concern for him reveal that the operation depends on an act of healing far beyond ordinary treatment.

Valkyrie's allies close in on the Anti-Sanctuary and break Smoke's control over Skulduggery, restoring him to himself. They uncover the group's central object: the preserved heart of Abyssinia, an exceptionally powerful sorcerer connected to Skulduggery's violent past. Melior has been coerced into using his healing discipline not merely to mend a wound but to reconstruct a body around the heart. Personal loyalties within the conspiracy begin to fracture under the pressure, but the heroes arrive without a reliable way to reverse a resurrection once it has begun.

Skulduggery is freed from Smoke's influence and rejoins Valkyrie, but stopping him has cost the allies the time they needed. Melior completes the coerced healing, and Abyssinia is restored to a living body. The remaining Anti-Sanctuary members escape with the leader for whom their campaign was designed, leaving China and the detectives facing an organized new enemy rather than a defeated cell. Valkyrie does not return to her former isolation in America. Still traumatized and far from recovered, she chooses to continue working with Skulduggery. Omen survives his first involvement in their world and has demonstrated that being overlooked does not make him useless. Sebastian Tao's separate effort to bring back Darquesse also continues in secret.

Valkyrie and her allies break Smoke's influence over Skulduggery and recover him, but they cannot stop the larger operation. The healer Melior is forced to use his ability on Abyssinia's preserved heart, rebuilding the body of the long-dead sorcerer. Abyssinia awakens and the surviving members of the Anti-Sanctuary withdraw with their restored leader, turning what first appeared to be a scattered conspiracy into a continuing threat. Valkyrie survives her return to the field and chooses not to retreat to her isolated life in America; she resumes working with Skulduggery while still carrying the trauma and guilt that brought her home in such a fragile state. Omen, having proved useful and brave despite his lack of status, remains part of their informal network. Elsewhere, Sebastian Tao continues the separate project of gathering people who want to bring Darquesse back.