This soul, this person, this Skulduggery Pleasant was strong. Even with his and Gabe's presences linked as they were, boundaries blurring in Gabe's pain and need for an anchor--possibly even because of that--Raphael could feel that clearly. More than Skulduggery might have wanted him to, in fact.

Raphael absorbed that inexperienced beam of pure existence and turned it over to gain a sense of the most important things in it, storing away the nuances for later.

But he felt relieved. Relieved, curious, an odd sort of protective. 'A friend', Gabriel had said. He'd been understating.

'Continue', Rafe broadcast to Skulduggery, assurance and approval, and a glimpse of the way the hard core of Skulduggery's strength was tethering Gabe to some manner of angelic consciousness. That was followed by a directive to pray to him when whoever he had sent got close enough that he and Merlin had to be ready. The very last thing he let Skulduggery feel was deep gratitude.

Then, pouring assurance into Gabe's being to help solidify him further in the interim, Raphael withdrew entirely to his own body, and awoke shaken and with Merlin demanding what was happening from next door.