Erskine turned specifically to raise an eyebrow at Dexter. "Are you suggesting I'm on the computer when my face is in said cups? I think I'm offended." And with a glance spared at Corrival, he added quietly, "Dexter's the one married to someone named Rover. I think he's the one you should take."

Too late, Erskine realised bringing Larrikin up so soon after Dexter gave up the disguise of Saracen Rue probably wasn't the best of ideas. But he couldn't exactly take it back, so he moved smoothly on without missing a beat. "Skulduggery said it took him and Gabe months to get here." Then again, it probably took Rafe and Merlin the same, and they'd only gotten here a week or so after Gabe did. They couldn't take any chances. "But," he conceded, "it's the Devil. Okay. Beltane. Ancient Gaelic festival held on the first of May. Exactly six months away from Samhain. Beltane and Samhain were the leading terminal dates of the civil year in medieval ages."

It made sense. Like Samhain, Beltane was supposed to be a festival celebrating a day when the Otherworld was particularly close at hand. But something didn't really sit quite right, and Erskine's brow creased. "Beltane's a celebration of rebirth. It's the beginning of the summer season. If that's what we're supposed to be watching out for, someone has a horrible sense of irony." He hesitated. "Or a really ironic sense of timing."