And then Skulduggery came darting out, waving his arms, and the Hound took a single step towards him and Tane kept his head down, didn’t move an inch, and proved to be such an uninteresting target that the Hound quickly switched focus. It leaped for Skulduggery and Tane scrambled up and ran straight at Hayley. As he ran he saw Skulduggery sprint for a large Celtic cross, made from stone and standing as a proud testament to some dead guy’s life. Right before he ran straight into it, Skulduggery turned his body sideways and let his momentum carry him forwards. His shoulder collided with the cross and he spun and hit the ground, but the Hound hit it head-on.

Tane noticed something approaching from in front of him and realised it was Valkyrie, but she was standing still, and in fact it was he that was moving. He crashed into her and they tumbled back over the low wall and sprawled on to the road in a mass of flailing limbs and cursing. It was mostly Valkyrie cursing. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Skulduggery running for them, the Hound, having recovered, right behind him. Skulduggery dived out of the cemetery and the Hound leaped after him and then kind of faded into nothing, like the air had come and whipped it away. Skulduggery landed and rolled and was on his feet again, checked that the Hound was gone, and then looked down at Tane and Valkyrie.

“Having fun?”

Valkyrie hit Tane and got up.

“Is it over?” Hayley asked, looking around warily.

“It’s over,” said Skulduggery, straightening his tie. “Stroke of midnight, so it was in the nick of time, but when isn’t it for us?”

“Always in the nick of time,” Valkyrie mumbled. “Why can’t we ever solve a problem early?”

Skulduggery tilted his head at her. “Where’s the fun in that?”

Hayley peered at Tane. “You OK down there?”

“A dog tried to eat me,” Tane said, not getting up.

“If it’s any consolation,” Skulduggery told him, “it tried to eat me, too.”

“Yeah, that’s no consolation at all.”

“I need a shower,” Valkyrie said. “I’m covered in gore and zombie guck, and I don’t want to get on the plane reeking. It’s a long flight back to Ireland.”

“Was this your first trip to Australia?” Hayley asked her, suddenly all friendly now that the threat was averted. Bloody typical, that.

“No, but it was definitely my goriest. Are you sure your friend is OK?”

Hayley scowled down at Tane. “He’s not really my friend. He’s just an idiot that I know.”