As if to prove Skulduggery's point for him, Gabriel responded just as stubbornly to both of the earlier comments, even launching into a story about the second one. Ghastly was giving the detective a look through the feathers after Gabe had finished.

"In my defense," Skulduggery tacked on to the story, "we were both human, and death in that reality doesn't follow any of the usual rules." He'd also been struggling with the recent knowledge of what Gabriel actually was, but Skulduggery liked to think that didn't have anything to do with the argument. No, that had been discussed in great detail later on. "Gabe cheated in the end. Have you ever seen how fast a lion can run?"

"No," said Ghastly after a moment. "I can't say I have."

If Skulduggery didn't know any better, he would think Kenspeckle was offering to protect them from a possible Sanctuary search. But he did know better, and in gratitude for the Professor's help, he didn't even joke about it this time. "I think that's a very good idea." He paused, trying to remember the many intersecting corridors of the lab - it had been a while since he'd last had the map in his head. "We'll have to take a back way out."

"Or," Fletcher spoke up, "you could, I dunno, take advantage of having the last Teleporter?"

Skulduggery would have blinked if he'd had eyelids. Well, wasn't that convenient. "Or we could do that," he nodded.

"Are you sure the Faceless Ones didn't mess with your memory a bit?" Valkyrie teased.

"They messed with a lot more than that. Luckily, I'm very resilient. Fletcher, can you teleport us all at one time?"

"Sure. Where to?"

If Guild was coming here, agents would be stationed at Ghastly's shop and Skulduggery's house as well. The only place that might still be unprotected was... "China's library. Anywhere inside should do. Gabe, the wings are a tad obvious. Can you handle the disguise for now?"