“Of course I do. You were attacked. You’re in danger. You’re hanging around with people who can do magic. You’ve had what we call in the business a shock. Usually, when people get a shock they want to retreat to a safe place so that they can process what they’ve seen. Most people would want to go home right now. But not you. You haven’t mentioned home, haven’t mentioned your family, haven’t tried to run off or call the cops. You are coping well, Ryan. That’s all I said. That’s all I meant. I have no idea what our ages have to do with anything or what you’re talking about when you say I have no interest.”

“Oh,” he said.

“And the only time you have actually acted like a child,” she said, “is right now. I don’t like petulance, Ryan. I don’t respond well to it.”

“Right.”

“When it comes to this kind of stuff, I’m the only one who is allowed to sulk. Skulduggery understands that. Do you?”

“Yes,” he said, nodding quickly. “I’m sorry.”

“You better be.”

“I really am.”

“I gave you a compliment and you jumped down my throat.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “And what was all that about having no interest? Having no interest in what?”

“Uh, nothing.”

“Don’t make me hit you, Ryan.”

He winced. “I don’t know, I was just… I thought you saw me as a, you know, as a kid and… I was just saying, that while, obviously, you’d never, like, go out with someone like me, that’s still no reason to talk down to me. Which you weren’t doing, and I apologise again for thinking you were.”

“But what does me going out or not going out with someone like you have to do with anything?”

Ryan tried a smile. “I really don’t know any more. It made sense when I said it.”

She shook her head, looked about to say something else, then stopped. “Oh,” she said. She was looking at him now like Andrea from school had looked at him when he’d asked her to the movies. She was looking at him with a kind of gentle pity.

“It’s OK,” he said. “You don’t have to worry about it.”

“Ryan, we only just met.”

He nodded. “Absolutely.”

“It’s not that I never would,” Valkyrie said, “but I generally go for guys… older than me, you know?”

Ryan tried a laugh. “Like vampires.”

Her tone turned sharp. “We don’t joke about vampires, Ryan.”

“Right. Sorry.”

“I think you’re nice,” Valkyrie said, softening again. “But let’s concentrate on being friends for the time being, all right?”

“Sure. Yep. Don’t worry.”

The workshop door opened and Skulduggery emerged. “Ryan,” he said, “stop leaning against my car.”

“Sorry,” Ryan mumbled, straightening up.