“An untied shoelace can be dangerous,' he said.'I could have tripped.'She stared at him. A moment dragged by.'I'm joking,' he said at last.She relaxed. 'Really?''Absolutely. I would never have tripped. I'm far too graceful.”

“Was it a test?” she asked. “I mean, I know I'm still new to this. I'm still the rookie. Did you hang back to test me, to see if I'd be able to handle it alone?”“Well, kind of,” he said. “Actually, no, nothing like that. My shoelace was untied. That's why I was late. That's why you were alone.”“I could have been killed because you were tying your SHOELACE?”“An untied shoelace an be dangerous,” he said. “I could have tripped.”She stared at him. A moment dragged by.“I'm joking,” he said at last.She relaxed. “Really?”“Absolutely. I would never have tripped. I'm far too graceful”

“We're not robbing him," Skulduggery said." But I'm afraid I have some bad news.""Is it Deacon?" Francine asked, her eyes wide."It is.""Is he sick?""It's a little worse than that."She gasped. "He's dying?""He was briefly dying," said Skulduggery. "Now he's dead.”

“She glared at him. “I'm not weird like that. I'm good weird. I'm cool weird.” “Yes,” he said doubtfully. “Yes, you are.”

“You're late,' he said.'I'm beautiful.''You're always beautiful.''I'm always late too.”

“He looked at her. 'In order to finish, I'll have to have defeated six Infected, Dusk, and Vengeous himself.'Yeah. So?'The Infected I can manage.'She frowned. 'And Vengeous? I mean, you can beat him, right?'Well,' he said, "I can certainly try. And trying is half the battle.'What's the other half?'He shrugged. 'Hitting him more times than he hits me.”

“So this," she said, "what's happening and what's going to happen, this isn't your fault. You can't control everything and not everything is your responsibility. At Croke Park you said something about how you don't want to drag me around after you so I can die beside you. I wanted to tell you then, but I didn't have the words and I didn't have the time. I'm here because I choose to be. You save my life. I save yours. That's how we work.""Until the end.""Until the end.”