Valkyrie had never really given any thought to religion, not even after meeting Skulduggery. A talking skeleton, fine. She could handle that. She'd even taken the existence of the Faceless Ones in stride, which turned out to be a very good thing. Magic was... well, magic, but it also made sense. At its most basic fundamental level, it was easy enough to understand. It wasn't like anyone could just flick a wand and make toads come raining down from the sky.

At least, Valkyrie hoped so. Was it possible for an Adept to be able to make that happen?

But religion, and angels, and God... the only reason Valkyrie was taking any of it seriously was because Ghastly seemed to. Suddenly, the world of magic was a much bigger and scarier place, and it wasn't just magic anymore, it was... well. Whatever you wanted to call it. Holy, maybe.

Valkyrie felt a sudden urge to sit down, and so she did. She was not going to faint again. Not in front of an Archangel.

"Yeah," she answered numbly, noting how Gabriel was using the same shortened name for Skulduggery that Ghastly occasionally did. Skul. For some reason, it caused a pang of jealousy. "He's like that. He wouldn't give me straight answers for months."

Gabriel looked so... normal. Sick, and exhausted, and moving gingerly, and his voice before he drank the holy water had been the voice of someone without a proper drink for days, but still. Normal. He even seemed more... genuine than normal people, somehow. More real. His face never seemed to stop having some sort of expression on it.

And yet, Valkyrie still couldn't shake the feeling that she had seen him somewhere before. She just couldn't remember exactly where. It was a feeling that had plagued her since first laying eyes on him, but she was trying to pay it particular attention now. She hadn't even known about Archangels before this, so how was that possible?

"Kenspeckle's..." Valkyrie hesitated, wondering how much the crotchety old professor would want her to say. He was certainly paranoid enough to want any description of himself given to a supernatural creature as censored as possible. "He's a science-magic expert, the best there is. And he doesn't work for the Sanctuary."

"He might be able to help speed up the healing process," Skulduggery added. "Have you up and about tomorrow, rather than in a few days."

"I'm sorry," said Fletcher loudly from his seat behind Gabriel. "Are we actually all agreed on this? Are we all acting like these guys aren't completely off their rockers? 'Cause I don't know about any of you, but I'm still not convinced that you're anything but a hobo." He directed this last part at Gabriel, jabbing an accusing finger in his direction.

Valkyrie didn't normally feel the need to explain Fletcher to strangers, but... well, an angel didn't exactly count as a stranger, did it? "Just ignore him. That's what we all do."

Ghastly cleared his throat before Fletcher could deliver an angry retort. "But if Professor Grouse can't help, we're going to need a place to stay for a few days. You know as well as I do, Skulduggery, that the old safe houses aren't quite so safe anymore, especially if we're trying to hide from the Sanctuary."

Safe houses? Valkyrie wondered, curious in spite of herself. Were they going to have to leave Ireland?

"No," Skulduggery agreed with Ghastly, "but they'll work for a short while." The detective looked at Gabriel. "How long do you think you'll need?"