Valkyrie pulled a chair from beneath the table, wiped the seat and sat. “I read somewhere,” she said, “that you can protect your true name. Isn’t that right? There’s a way to seal it so it can’t be used against you? Why didn’t you do that?”

Myron licked his lips. “It was too late,” he said stiffly. “That only works if you seal the name before it’s used.”

“I see,” she nodded. “But you didn’t even know what it was, did you? And Mr Bliss did. And you annoyed him. I can’t possibly imagine how, seeing as you’re just so nice and polite, and such fun to be around.”

Myron put his beer can on the cluttered tabletop and glared. “You want to know if I’ve heard anything? I heard about you. Both of you. Sensitives are talking and they’re saying that some freak called Darquesse is going to kill you. I for one can’t wait. Skulduggery, we’ve never really liked each other, and girl, I have certainly not taken a shine to you, either. If you ask me, the sooner this freak gets to you, the better.”

“We heard about those visions,” Skulduggery said calmly. “But I wouldn’t sound too pleased about it, if I were you. Darquesse kills us, yes, but she kills everyone else while she’s at it. You may have missed that bit.”

Myron rubbed the bristles on his jaw and didn’t respond.

“We want to know where Scarab is hiding,” said Valkyrie.

“I don’t know where. No one knows where. That bunch of psychos he has with him don’t let things slip to friends, because they don’t have any friends. Nobody knows where they are.”

“We know that they’re in a castle somewhere,” Valkyrie said.

“Well, why didn’t you say that at the start?” Myron snapped. “I didn’t pay this any attention when I heard it, but there’s been a lot of activity around Serpine’s old place recently.”

“Serpine’s castle has been sealed off,” Skulduggery said.

“Well, they must have found a way to unseal it then.”

Skulduggery stood and put on his hat. He took a roll of cash from his coat pocket and left it on top of an upturned fried chicken bucket on the table. “Thanks for your help,” he said.

“My pleasure,” grunted Myron.

Skulduggery tipped his hat and walked out. Valkyrie got up to follow him.

“Interesting people you hang around with,” Myron said, and she looked back at him. “Couple of bad habits you’re picking up too. Got a pretty smart mouth on you, don’t you?”

“I suppose I do.”

“Word of warning though. There might not be many people out there who trust me, but there are even fewer who trust your friend. Just something to think about.”