“Where do you think you’re going?” he ranted. “We have our orders! You think they don’t apply to you? You think just because our enemies are massing at the gates, we should abandon our posts? Is that what you think?”

“Uh,” Skulduggery said, “the stream of death carries us where it may.”

“That may be true,” Oblivious said curtly, “but we are still bound by the oaths we swore. Or have you forgotten them?”

Skulduggery shook his head beneath his hood. “My duty is to death, but death’s duty is to itself. As of life, as of death, as of the stream between…”

Oblivious frowned. “What?”

“In the stream of life, we are but paddlers.”

“I’m not sure I… who are you? Let me see your face.”

Skulduggery looked round, made sure no one else was coming. “The sparrow flies south for winter,” he said, and punched Oblivious right on the chin. He looked up at Valkyrie as he dragged the unconscious Necromancer into the nearest room. “See? It’s a perfect code.”

“We’re paddling in the stream of life?”

Skulduggery came back out, shutting the door behind him. “I’m not very good at being pretentious. It’s one of my few flaws. But there’s no denying – that code worked.”

“And you slipped it into the conversation seamlessly.”

They carried on, managing to avoid the panicking Necromancers. Finally, Skulduggery took Valkyrie’s arm, pulled her into a dark corner, and nodded ahead.

“If I’m right,” he said, “the door mechanism is in there. If the door isn’t unlocked in the correct way, an alarm will sound, the door won’t open, and everyone will come running. So you’re going to have to stay here. If I were you, I’d find somewhere to hide. This may take a while.”

She raised an eyebrow at him.

“You realise,” he said, “that you’re wearing a hood and I can’t see your face, so if you’re glaring at me, or scowling, or raising an eyebrow, I have no way of knowing. You realise that, right?”

“Why,” said Valkyrie, “do I have to stay here?”

“Because what I’m going to do is extremely dangerous.”

“So is everything you drag me into.”

“Your point being?”

“What is up with everyone? Fletcher wants to protect me, Caelan wants to protect me, now you. For God’s sake, I can handle what’s thrown at me, all right? I don’t need to be kept safe all the bloody time.”

“I see,” Skulduggery said. “Well, you make a very good point and I can’t argue with your logic. Except I’m not trying to protect you. If I try to open the door and I fail, then I’m going to need someone else to do it once they’ve killed me. You see?”

“Oh,” said Valkyrie. “Oh right.”