"You had to..." Ghastly couldn't help it; he laughed outright. It made sense that Skulduggery would view things like eating and sleeping and breathing as mildly distracting luxuries by now, but the mental image he conjured up of an Archangel attempting to teach him how to swallow was one he would treasure for years to come. Even Tanith managed a genuine smile. Laughing was probably the worst reaction to learning about Skulduggery's fate on the other side of that yellow portal; suddenly becoming human again wouldn't have been a walk in the park. But even that realization was somehow amusing.

Skulduggery and Valkyrie both glanced back at them, Valkyrie looking unsure about whether to be worried or not. Skulduggery's head tilted to the side. "Is this something I should be aware of?"

"No," Ghastly assured him, still unable to stop smiling. For the first time, he noticed the rosary wrapped around Skulduggery's skeletal hand, adding credence to the whole priest image, and his smile broadened. "You're better at making rosaries than I would have given you credit for."

Skulduggery was silent for a minute, and then his skull turned back towards Gabriel. "What have you been telling them?"