It was strange for Skulduggery, walking into the Hotel and not immediately bracing himself. A feeling he'd have to get used to, if recent events were any indication.

The lobby was empty. In any other hotel, that would have been a sign of the early hour of the morning. In this Hotel, it was another reminder that Anton wasn't at his full strength, and Ravel was running things in his absence. Not that Ravel wasn't doing well; he was actually doing significantly well for a man who mere months ago was scrubbing toilets for the first time in his life. But he wasn't Anton.

Skulduggery paused for a moment just inside the threshold; then he took off his hat and made his way through the Hotel to the garage in the back.