Valkyrie's gaze had gone distant, in that way it did when she made a connection she didn't think was possible. Normally, she was over it fairly quickly, especially if there were questions to ask. Skulduggery had a feeling she wouldn't be over it so quickly now, and he couldn't exactly blame her.

At the moment, however, it wouldn't help anything. A red light had started flashing on the monitor.

"Valkyrie," he said with a few quick steps toward the bed. "Valkyrie," he repeated with more force when she didn't so much as move. "I know you don't want anything to do with me, but there's a very good chance someone's on their way. I need you to focus. You don't have time to get him out, which is okay, because Kenspeckle isn't in his lab just now anyway."

That snapped Valkyrie out of it. "Why not? What happened?"

"He's fine. Don't worry. But he won't be available to help for a bit, and Solomon will be perfectly fine here. We, on the other hand, will have many more awkward questions to answer if we're still here in two minutes."

He set his glasses in place, pulled the hat down low, and pulled the scarf up over his jaw. "Solomon, I'm sorry. We'll be back. Is there anything you want us to bring you? Apart from a new suit, of course."