"You're always busy." Ghastly leaned down on the endtable, both to speak a little closer to the microphone and to help keep his balance. "You've never taken time off. When is your birthday?"
He paused, frowning, as the noise of an engine rose over the brief silence on the line - a very, very familiar engine. A sudden panic wrapped itself around Ghastly, as inexplicable as it was surprising. He shook his head and impatiently tried to clear it. "Is Skulduggery with you?"
And if he was, why? What had Skulduggery and the others done after Ghastly and Tanith left? Killed Crux, left the body behind, gone on to keep investigating the Desolation Engine like nothing had changed? With Anton? Not that Anton was in any way not capable, but the man did have a hotel to run.
And he certainly didn't know about Lord Vile.
A thought struck Ghastly. Anton was in the Bentley. The tailor would recognise the sound of that engine anywhere - Skulduggery had shown it off more than enough times. But they left the Bentley back at the safe house, which meant Fletcher was still with them, which meant... Ghastly honestly hadn't expected anyone other than Gabe to stick around. Valkyrie would have left; he'd assumed Fletcher would stay with her. That Skulduggery and Gabriel would be on their own.
If they were driving the three hours back into Dublin, though, Anton wouldn't have claimed he was busy using the tone that he did - the tone that suggested urgency. So what was going on? Did... did Fletcher Teleport the whole Bentley? Was Skulduggery really so rattled that he'd began trusting the teenager's amateur ability with that Bentley?
Words climbed their way out of Ghastly's mouth before he could think about them, and yet he didn't particularly want to take them back. "Tell him I'm sorry about the jaw."
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He paused, frowning, as the noise of an engine rose over the brief silence on the line - a very, very familiar engine. A sudden panic wrapped itself around Ghastly, as inexplicable as it was surprising. He shook his head and impatiently tried to clear it. "Is Skulduggery with you?"
And if he was, why? What had Skulduggery and the others done after Ghastly and Tanith left? Killed Crux, left the body behind, gone on to keep investigating the Desolation Engine like nothing had changed? With Anton? Not that Anton was in any way not capable, but the man did have a hotel to run.
And he certainly didn't know about Lord Vile.
A thought struck Ghastly. Anton was in the Bentley. The tailor would recognise the sound of that engine anywhere - Skulduggery had shown it off more than enough times. But they left the Bentley back at the safe house, which meant Fletcher was still with them, which meant... Ghastly honestly hadn't expected anyone other than Gabe to stick around. Valkyrie would have left; he'd assumed Fletcher would stay with her. That Skulduggery and Gabriel would be on their own.
If they were driving the three hours back into Dublin, though, Anton wouldn't have claimed he was busy using the tone that he did - the tone that suggested urgency. So what was going on? Did... did Fletcher Teleport the whole Bentley? Was Skulduggery really so rattled that he'd began trusting the teenager's amateur ability with that Bentley?
Words climbed their way out of Ghastly's mouth before he could think about them, and yet he didn't particularly want to take them back. "Tell him I'm sorry about the jaw."