"A unicorn," Anton murmured, glancing down at the figurine. "Be careful, Ravel. I'm being courted." It was a vestige of ordinary deadpan humour, but just a tad more terse that it should rightly have been. Shudder was still not happy with these two idiots, but he didn't stop Skulduggery from putting together his leg.

"You're done," he said to Erskine, squeezing his uninjured shoulder and rising. "Drink some more water. Skulduggery, do you require a bone-healer?"