Skulduggery shrugged. "What about it? It's true that being unable to come back would probably put a crimp in our plans, but it's a portal. What's more, it's a portal on top of the very Palace occupied by our enemy for months. We'd be remiss not to explore it." He turned around and paused, then shook his head. "No, you're right. We should explore the portal before we take this passage. Unfortunately, until we find someone capable of reading the symbols around the portal, we'll have to settle for my order of events."

Wreath might recognise them, come to think of it. He'd been doing research into the three different planes, and what portals led where. Skulduggery made a mental note to ask the necromancer about them later, provided he and Anton survived whatever awaited them down below.

"You don't have to join me if you don't want to," the skeleton detective added belatedly, moving back into the corridor. "But if you want to find him and make him pay for what he might have done to you, that's your best chance. At the risk of drawing your attention back to your completely unbiased and practical desire to kill me, what makes you think you were the one used to kill Evandau?"