"Ah, of course." Merlin nodded. "He asked me about that earlier. It's entirely possible to ward one's soul, and his doing so will make things easier for him to manage. I just wasn't certain how capable of it he'd be until he'd had more time to adjust."

Dexter glared at Ghastly during the conversation behind him, not for any reason but because he could and, let's face it, he'd be the one best able to take the glare. He wouldn't take it seriously but might actually respond to it. (Not that he did, but there was the potential for it!)

"Aw, school ain't that bad," Raphael was saying, and Dexter heard a slap like he'd just clapped a hand to Valkryie's back. "I'll even go with ya, what d'you say?"

"That would defeat the point of her going at all," Gabe objected. "You'll distract her!"

"Not if I'm outside the whole time it won't!"

"Have you been listening to yourself recently?"

"'Course not. What'd I miss?"

Dexter's glare dissolved into an odd mix of relief and disconcert. Ghastly had met Him? Ghastly? Because he'd needed the help? What kind of help would Ghastly need that Skulduggery couldn't give and would make God step in?

... What kind of situation would make God tell Dexter to return home and Dex actually do it?

Oh, yes. Praying. Wonderful idea. Excellent idea. Superb.

Stop the train, I want to get off. By the way, you're not helping.

Dexter stuck his tongue out at Ghastly and dropped the pencil, swivelling the seat to face the arguing Archangels. He pouted, widened his eyes pleadingly, and clasped his hands before his chest.

'Oh amazing and delightful paragons of virtue and graciousness Gabriel and Raphael, please may I beg of you a boon, just a tiny one, just an itty-bitty one that really, really wouldn't take much of your time, because I'd kind of like my voice back.'

As one the Archangels cut off short and turned to look at him with identical amused expressions.

'That's really kind of creepy, by the way. You're not time-travelling angels, are you? You're not reality-chomping angels that can time-warp you in a blink?'

"Well, we could, if y'really wanted us to be," Rafe drawled.

"But we choose not to," Gabe ended, grinning.

'Well, that's good to know.'

There was a beat of silence. Both the angels looked at him expectantly. Dexter looked expectantly back.

'Ah, about that boon?'

Gabe's eyes widened innocently. "Yes? You were going to ask for one, weren't you?"

"Yep. Can't do anything without you askin' for it." Rafe nodded.

This was ridiculous. This was--of course. Of course Skulduggery Pleasant would discover angels and they would be just like him. Of course he would discover God and God would be completely and utterly one of them. Abruptly Dexter bent in on his chair, laughing in silent convulsions to such a degree that the chair scooted backward into Ghastly.

All of a sudden, everything in the whole of the universe made perfect sense.

"I think we broke him," he heard Rafe saying, and couldn't even stop laughing long enough to answer.

"Maybe you should try and fix him, then?" Gabe suggested.

"Oh, I can do that." There was a definite wicked tone in his voice, a tone which reminded Dexter so much of Larrikin that his laughter died and his head snapped up so he could defend himself against whatever Larrikin was about to do next. He did not expect to have a gorgeous African woman plop herself on his lap with a friendly smile in a fashion that was actually entirely platonic, given there was six inches of space still between them and she wasn't even wearing anything revealing. Except for the fact that she was gorgeous and Dexter really couldn't handle that.

He squeaked, wide-eyed, and Rafe grinned back at his brother over his shoulder, shaking back his--her?--long plaited hair. "See? Told ya I could fix him."

"Help." The word came out strangled and very, very quiet, and with a laugh Raphael got up again, spinning in a way that made his coat billow.

"This free-will thing's kinda fun."

"Really?" Merlin said dryly. "I hadn't noticed you thought so."