Skulduggery wasn't as certain as Klaus seemed to be. There was every chance the crystal was sentient, yes, and it wouldn't even be the strangest sentient object Skulduggery had come across. But he was more interested in the Xunutane as a source of power. He didn't think it could contact Tu Vishan, not the way Zatanna's spell had - and he wasn't convinced Zatanna's spell had managed it, either. The visions they'd all received as a result of the venture were too fragmented, more like dreams than conscious communication. But you didn't need to telepathically contact a creature in order to wake it up. You just needed to make a loud enough noise.

"They might," Skulduggery mused. "With conditions, I'd imagine. We probably wouldn't be allowed to move the Xunutane. They'll probably only let us try once. And you're right; if something goes wrong, we leave the entire city to the mercies of the arctic temperatures outside. We'll need to be careful."

All of which, for the most part, went without saying. Skulduggery nodded to the notes Klaus held. "Have you seen the Xunutane yet?"