“He’ll be expecting me. Explain to him that I won’t be coming, and don’t take no for an answer. Then combat will begin.”

“I have been trained in the martial arts,” Scapegrace said, bowing slightly. “Although that was when I had a stronger, fitter, more athletic body. But I’m sure I’ll be fine.”

“You’re going to have to be more than sure. We’re relying on you here, Vaurien, OK? The fate of the world may very well rest in your hands.”

“You can count on me.”

“And me,” Thrasher said brightly.

“Less so on him,” said Scapegrace.

“Stay in this room,” Skulduggery said. “I have a feeling, when we need you, things will move very fast.”

Thrasher nodded eagerly, but Scapegrace looked decidedly paler. Valkyrie wondered how that was possible.

Saracen approached. “We’re ready,” he said. “Or ready enough anyway. We can’t afford to wait around any longer.”

“OK then,” Skulduggery said. “Let’s go talk to Mr Ravel.”

Ravel was standing in the protective circle. Two Cleavers guarded the door. Skulduggery walked into the room first, then Saracen. Valkyrie came last.

“We’re going to need you to step out here,” Skulduggery said.

Ravel shook his head. “Skulduggery, you can’t ask me to do that.”

“Step out, or we’ll drag you out.”

“She’ll come for me. Please, if our friendship has ever meant anything to you—”

“Friendship?” Saracen interrupted. “You want to talk about friendship?”

“Saracen, I’m well aware of what I’ve done, but that’s no—”

“You murdered Ghastly,” Saracen said. “You had Anton beheaded. You plotted and planned behind our backs for God knows how long, and then you betrayed us all.”

“I was trying to do the right thing.”

“You killed them.”

“Sacrifices had to me made,” Ravel said. He spoke with the air of someone who’d had this conversation a thousand times before. Which was probably close to the truth. “I don’t expect you to understand, but I have seen what’s coming, OK? Sooner or later, our little magical community is going to be revealed to the world, and they’re going to come after us. And as powerful as we are, there are simply more of them than there are of us. They will hunt us down and kill us.”

“We’re meant to protect the mortals.”

A look of annoyance crossed Ravel’s face. “Says who? Really, Saracen, who says that? Who commands that? We make up our own minds. Just because we’ve decided in the past to protect them doesn’t mean we can’t decide now to rule them. It’s for their own good anyway. They can’t be trusted to run this world. Look what they’ve done to the environment alone in the last—”

“We’re not debating this,” said Saracen. “You can come up with all the excuses you want, but nothing changes what you’ve done.”