Hopeless wanted to talk. That, in itself, wasn't a bad sign. In fact, given the last century, it was a very good sign. It piqued Skulduggery's curiosity just enough to deliberately overlook that Hopeless was asking to talk silently, subtly, as if hiding from the others.

Which was what Hopeless no doubt intended.

Skulduggery slipped into the next room a minute or so after Hopeless did, closed the door quietly behind him (it had just been attached earlier that day, in fact -- another odd coincidence), and turned. "Yes?"