If there was one thing the Dead Men were good at, it was keeping secrets. Each of them could lie on cue, easily and without thinking, as second nature to them as breathing. So despite Ghastly's sudden guilt for not handling Vex himself and perhaps avoiding a punctured lung, his continuing concern over Skulduggery's state of mind, and his nervous anticipation of what creating a soul-leash entailed, Ghastly didn't even blink when Corrival addressed them. It was true, in a way. Vile had taken Skulduggery from them. He never would again.

"I thought you'd gotten over freezing at the sight of him," Ghastly continued the lie, chiding Skulduggery as he put both his hands on the skeleton's shoulders and steered him down the hall. "'Well-adjusted skeleton' and all that."

Skulduggery managed to shrug against Ghastly's hands. "It was five years longer than it should have been."

"On that, we can agree." Ghastly waited for Gabe to fall in step beside them before speaking again. "What do you need for this? Is there anything we can do?"