“And I keep it on me at all times.”

“I guessed you would.”

“And yet you still plan to take a Remnant with you when you leave.”

“I have to be honest here – yeah, I do. It’s a nice subtle little plan. You’ll like it. Without goin’ into specifics, when the time comes, I’m fully expectin’ to either be given the key or to take it from your cold, dead hand and just let myself in.”

“I see,” Shudder murmured. “You should know that’s very unlikely.”

“It’s unlikely now. When the time comes, it’ll be pretty likely, believe me.” He glanced at his watch. “An’ the time’s approachin’…”

Valkyrie detected movement outside the window. She went to it and looked out. “There are people out there,” she said.

Skulduggery and Shudder joined her. People were approaching from all directions – dozens of them. Valkyrie saw dried blood on their clothes. They got closer and she realised how pale they were, how dishevelled. Some of them stumbled as they walked. Their faces were expressionless.

“Zombies,” Skulduggery said. “Zombies at the door. This is your version of subtle, is it?”

Sanguine stood up from the table and grinned.

“The dead can’t pass through,” Shudder said. “They can stay out there until they rot and this hotel will move on at midnight. I fail to see how any of this would make me open the door to the Remnants.”

“Well,” said Sanguine, “that’s because you don’t have all the facts. You got your security mojo workin’, keepin’ out undesirables like the walkin’ dead, and all that’s great. But see, the problem with security symbols is that there’s always a way round them. And that whole magical alphabet thing has always been a bit of a hobby for my daddy. He’s no expert, but he knows which symbol cancels out what symbol, y’know? All those zombies out there? They’re all got this symbol carved into their smelly, rottin’ skin.” He handed a crumpled piece of paper to Shudder. “What d’you think? Think it’ll do the job?”

Shudder examined the paper and his eyes narrowed. He didn’t respond.

“You know it’s enough for those pesky critters to come stormin’ in here, don’t you?” Sanguine continued. “So here’s my offer, Anton. You open that door for me, you let me get what I came here to get and I’ll call off the zombie horde.”

Shudder looked at him then out of the window. He shook his head. “No.”

Sanguine sighed. “That’s the wrong move, buddy. It’ll be a bloodbath once they get started.”

“We can hold them off,” Shudder said. “What do you think, Skulduggery?”

“Should be fun,” Skulduggery responded. “Valkyrie here has never held off a horde of zombies before. It’ll be good experience for her.”

“Oh, joy,” she muttered.