Skulduggery returned Gabe's look with one of his own, minus the grin. And the look, come to think of it. But the intent for both things was quite definitely there, and audible in his voice. "But I did drop it. Quite early on, in fact."

Fletcher appeared next to Valkyrie just as she was putting her phone away, startling her. She snapped something at him, something Skulduggery couldn't quite catch, but he could guess. The end of their conversation only became audible as they stepped closer, but it didn't take someone of Skulduggery's genius to predict that Valkyrie had been getting unreasonably upset over the imagined slight and Fletcher had been trying to defend himself.

"I'm a Teleporter, Val," he tried again, looking nonplussed. "It's what I do."

"Yeah, well..." Valkyrie blew out a frustrated breath. "Warn me next time."

"How? I told you on the phone I was coming right over. What do you want me to do, send up a flare?"

"Yes. A flare would have been nice. Or just kind of Teleport out of sight and then announce that you're here. Something like that."

Fletcher opened his mouth to retort, but stopped when he saw Wreath sitting at the bus stop behind Skulduggery, paler than usual and slick with sweat. He frowned. "Oh, no. What did Skul - what did you guys do to him?"

"Us? Nothing." Skulduggery's tone was perhaps a little too innocent, but for once, he was telling the truth. "He brought it all on himself. Let's go."

"We're just going to leave him there?" Fletcher asked uncertainly.

"He'll be fine."

Fletcher looked to Valkyrie for backup, assuming she would also be leaping to her teacher's defense. But Valkyrie didn't say or do anything, and so Fletcher shrugged and held out his hands. "Okay. Valkyrie's house, right?"

"Go to the pier," said Valkyrie. "The last thing I need is for my parents to see you all appearing in the living room."