When they were sure that none of the busy doctors and medical personnel were looking, Scapegrace and Thrasher clambered on to a gurney and lay flat. Clarabelle immediately threw a white sheet over them. They lay very still as she wheeled them along.

This was the risky part. They were out in the open. If someone noticed Clarabelle acting strangely, it’d all be over. What would happen to them then? Would China Sorrows order their ‘disappearance’? Would all three of them mysteriously vanish? How deep did this secret go? How far did this conspiracy spread?

As she wheeled them, Clarabelle hummed that song from Frozen. Thrasher started humming along with her and Scapegrace glared at him. Funny – now that he had a purpose once more, he found his capacity for becoming irritated with Thrasher was growing. He hadn’t had the energy to tell him to shut up in weeks. He felt all that about to change.

Clarabelle stopped humming. So, thankfully, did Thrasher. Then it was the gurney that stopped.

“Clarabelle,” said a woman’s voice.

“Hello, Doctor Synecdoche,” said Clarabelle.

Scapegrace held his breath. They were going to be discovered. Oh dear God, they were going to be discovered.

“What do you have there?” Synecdoche asked.

“Body parts,” said Clarabelle.

“I’m sorry?”

“Body parts. Parts of a body. All gross and icky. I put the sheet over them because they’re far too disgusting to look at.”

Synecdoche was silent for a moment. “Where are you taking them?”

“Through there.”

“I see. And where did you get them?”

Scapegrace looked at Thrasher out of the corner of his eye. Thrasher was sweating. He felt it, too. This was it. This was the end.

“Skulduggery Pleasant told me to put them somewhere safe,” Clarabelle said. “He told me they’re part of a very important case he’s working on. These are the remains of Lewis Holmes.”

Clarabelle said that name like it was supposed to mean something.

“Who?” Synecdoche asked.

“Lewis Holmes. You haven’t heard of him?”

“I’m afraid not.”

“Lewis Holmes died horribly while saving the world,” said Clarabelle. “He went up against an evil Warlock and the Warlock tricked him, drugged him and dismembered him. That means he cut off his limbs.”

“I know what dismembered means, Clarabelle.”

“The evil Warlock left him for dead,” Clarabelle continued, “but Lewis survived. According to Skulduggery, Lewis attached and tied four tourniquets, using only his teeth, and then he rose athletically to his buttocks and tracked down the Warlock with his keen sense of smell. Cornered, with no way out, the Warlock dived for his weapon, intending to use it to destroy the world. But Lewis bravely rolled into his path.”

“Is any of this true?”

“Skulduggery said they fought for eight days and eight nights. The Warlock’s blade separated Lewis from several body parts, including his favourite ear, but Lewis gave as good as he got.”

“Clarabelle, I’m really quite busy.”