The walk home was by far one of the strangest times in Erskine's life - even taking into account the past few hours. Because now he could think again. Now, all of the relevant questions were running on loop through his head, as well as some completely irrelevant ones. The taxi, for example. How did it exist? He wished he'd had the presence of mind to get the licence plate number, although he suspected it wouldn't have gotten him anywhere. And would he want to know, anyway? Probably not. This was one of those times where knowing the truth would ruin the magic.

Well, one thing was for sure. Erskine pretty much had a guaranteed ride home, no matter where he was. The thought made him grin.

It took over three hours to get home, after which Erskine was mentally and physically exhausted. He fell into bed without ritual or fanfare, slept a blissfully dreamless sleep, and didn't wake up again until it was almost lunchtime the next day. The very first thing he did, when he looked at the clock, was fumble for his mobile and call Skulduggery.

"I don't know where you are," he said the instant he heard the click of his call being answered, "and I don't know what you're doing, but chances are, Gabe's with you. If the pair of you could meet me at the Sanctuary, please, that would be great. Bring Rafe. And possibly Merlin."

"Erskine?" Skulduggery's surprised tone of voice deepened a moment later. "Did you just wake up?"

"Absolutely not. I've been working hard all morning. Will you come to the Sanctuary, please?"

"We're a little busy at the moment."

"Skulduggery, unless you are fighting the Devil himself, it can wait."

"Erskine, unless you want Gabe to strain himself further, it's going to take us at least an hour just to get back to my Bentley."

"At least an hour?" Erskine asked incredulously. "Where are - hang on. What's that noise?"

"What noise?"

"That one, there. In the background. What is that?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Are those seagulls?"

"No."

"Are you guys down at the beach again?"

"No."

Erskine hesitated. Did he want to know? No, probably not. He just mentally added a couple of hours to their arrival time, and nodded to himself. "Just... get there as soon as you can."

"What if I don't want to?"

"Don't want to?" Erskine spluttered, sure he'd heard wrong.

"Exactly. It would take far too long, and I doubt anyone there's going to be happy to see me. I'm mildly surprised you're even calling me."

"Why wouldn't I - " Erskine cut himself off with a low curse. Right. Because the very last thing he said to Skulduggery before taking off yesterday was that he could finally see the Vile resemblance. Damn it.

He opened his mouth to apologise, but then cut himself off again before the first word even reached his vocal cords. No. He wasn't sorry. He'd meant every word then, and he stood by them even now. He wasn't going to apologise for the truth. He would, however, apologise for the phrasing of it, once they weren't busy trying to figure out how to stop the Devil. "Don't make me pull rank on you, Skulduggery."

"Rank? You're going to order me back to the Sanctuary?"

"If I have to." Erskine rolled off the bed and stumbled over to his wardrobe. "Look, it concerns Lucifer. I may have a clue about exactly when he'll show up, but I can't for the life of me figure out what it is, and I'm hoping the four of you might be able to help."

There was a brief pause on the other end of the line, but if it was followed by anything other than the positive, Erskine would have been seriously questioning his friend's mental health. Fortunately, it was, and less than half an hour after Erskine hung up, he was back in the Sanctuary foyer, striding purposefully towards the Grand Mage's office.

There was a new sign on the door. It read 'Beware of Eels.'

Erskine stifled a laugh as he pushed the door open with a flourish. "Good morning! Yes, I know, I'm late, but I have been working. Sort of. I have news!"