Except on this occasion. It certainly hadn't slipped Anton's notice that Skulduggery had communicated in text during their first conversation, and it hadn't slipped past him that the skeleton had taken some time in coming to the Hotel. Ordinarily that wouldn't be an unusual thing, but their circumstance was one of war; the Hotel ought to have been one of the first places Skulduggery went if he was truly interested in opposing Malicant.

Yet it wasn't. Anton wanted to know why. He appeared out of the crowd before Skulduggery could actually walk through the door, leading with the bland statement of, "You're avoiding me."