“If you separate my bones from each other, my consciousness could dissipate.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll leave most of you intact. The torso and the head, probably. Maybe I’ll remove the jawbone. It might stop you talking.”

“I wouldn’t like to bet on it.”

“Once you are incapacitated, I will then take apart your young apprentice.”

“I’m not his apprentice,” Valkyrie muttered.

“She’s my combat accessory,” Skulduggery nodded. “But you won’t get a chance to do any of that, I’m afraid. We’re going to get free in the next few minutes and then you’re really going to wish you had a few guards here for protection.”

“I see,” Dragonclaw said. “And do you mind telling me how you plan to get free?”

“I’m picking the lock on these shackles as we speak.”

“Those locks can’t be picked.”

“So says the prevailing wisdom.”

“And you know better, I suppose?”

“That is the usual state of things.”

“And what are you picking the lock with, may I ask? A toothpick? A hairpin?”

“The top of your pen, actually.”

Dragonclaw laughed. “I don’t have a pen.”

“Not any more, that’s true. But you had one in the pocket of your robes, don’t you remember?”

Dragonclaw’s laugh faded. He searched his robes. “You’re lying. I didn’t have a pen.”

“The metal clip on the lid is the perfect size,” Skulduggery continued, clearly enjoying the look on Dragonclaw’s face. Behind his back, his arms were moving ever so slightly. “I should be out of these in forty seconds or so, and then I’m going to hurt you.”

“You’re lying,” Dragonclaw said. “Even if I did have a pen in my pocket, you couldn’t have taken it from me.”

“But that’s not strictly true, is it? When you pushed me against this wall, you got a little too close.”

“You couldn’t have taken it. There’s no way—”

“Could you stop talking for a moment? This is a tricky bit.”

Skulduggery’s head tilted. Valkyrie heard a faint tapping of metal against metal.

Dragonclaw grabbed a knife and strode over to Valkyrie. “Stop that,” he ordered. “Stop it right now or she dies.”

“You’re not going to kill her,” Skulduggery said. “If you kill her, in thirty seconds I will kill you. You don’t want to die, not when you’re this close to the Passage.”

Dragonclaw pressed the blade to Valkyrie’s throat. It was cold against her skin. “Stop. Stop it.”

“Twenty seconds, Dragonclaw. And what a ridiculous name that is. Almost as ridiculous as your beard.”