Fletcher left them to their argument. When he was hungry, he teleported off to grab something nice to eat. When he needed a warmer jacket, he teleported away to get it. When he needed to use the bathroom, he teleported to an annoying celebrity’s house, and didn’t bother flushing. But he spent most of his time not thinking about Stephanie.

When the sun came up all Fletcher wanted to do was sleep. He sat with his back against a tree and dozed until his phone rang.

“We’ve found it,” Skulduggery said.

Fletcher stood. It was a cold day and the seat of his jeans was damp. He looked around, saw nothing but trees and rocks and sky.

“Turn south,” said Skulduggery. Fletcher turned. “That’s east. OK, that’s north. There you go. See us?”

In the distance, Fletcher saw a burst of fire. He put away his phone and teleported over to Skulduggery’s side. Wreath was standing at a doorway cut into a rock wall. Skulduggery still had his phone in his hand, and when he moved closer to the doorway, the screen blanked.

Skulduggery examined it. “A dead zone,” he murmured. “Fletcher, stay close. We won’t be able to use these.”

Fletcher nodded.

The steps were black marble. Wreath led the way down, and Fletcher stayed beside Skulduggery. It was cold, and getting colder. Dark, and getting darker. Flames sputtered in the iron brackets that were hammered into the walls. The space was tight, and the ceiling sloped with them. Nobody spoke. Their feet echoed.

They kept going down. Once more, the cold got colder. Once more, the dark got darker.

And then the ceiling came to a sudden end and their surroundings opened to a vast city of concrete with a rock sky and a thousand glowing orbs of light. Fletcher stopped, frozen in an unexpected moment of awe. The buildings, featureless save for the narrow rectangular windows, formed a maze of right angles. The streets were narrow – made for people, not carriages. To set foot in this city was to be lost – Fletcher somehow knew this.

“We can go no further,” said Wreath. “The living cannot cross into the Necropolis. Only the dead may go.”

“Don’t suppose you’ve got a map handy?” Skulduggery asked.

Wreath smiled. “Sadly, I do not. We’ll be watching, though. There’s a balcony in the rock wall that gives us a panoramic view of the place. We can shout out directions from there, if you’d like.”

“Wonderful. So what can I expect?”