Free Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy

murdered?"
    There was a slight hesitation. "Ah. You worked that out, then?"
    101
    Stephanie turned down a narrow lane between two buildings, moving away from the prying eyes of Haggard's gossipmongers. Skulduggery hesitated a moment, then caught up to her, walking fast.
    "I had a very good reason for not telling you."
    "I don't care." Now that no one could see her, she dropped the smile. "Gordon was murdered, Skulduggery. How could you not have told me?"
    "This is a dangerous business. It's a dangerous world that I'm part of."
    She stopped suddenly. Skulduggery kept walking, realized she wasn't beside him anymore, and turned on his heel. She crossed her arms. "If you don't think I can handle it--"
    "No, you've certainly proven yourself capable." She heard the tone of his voice change slightly. "I knew from the moment I met you that you're just the type of person who would never walk away from danger, simply out of stubbornness. I wanted to keep you out of it as much as I could. You've got to understand--Gordon was my friend; I thought I owed it to him to try to keep his favorite niece out of harm's way."
    "Well, I'm in harm's way, so it's not your decision anymore."
    102
    "No, apparently it isn't."
    "So you won't keep anything from me again?"
    He put his hand to his chest. "Cross my heart and hope to die."
    "Okay."
    He nodded and led the way back to the Bentley.
    "Though you don't actually have a heart," she said.
    "I know."
    "And technically, you've already died."
    "I know that too."
    "Just so we're clear."
    "What's he like?" Stephanie asked as they drove.
    "What's who like?"
    "This guy we're going to see. What's his name?"
    "Ghastly Bespoke."
    She looked at Skulduggery to make sure he wasn't joking, then realized there was no way she could tell. "Why would anyone call themselves Ghastly?"
    "All manner of names suit all manner of people. Ghastly is my tailor, and also happens to be one of my closest friends. He first taught me how to box."
    "So what's he like?"
    103
    "Decent. Honorable. Honest. But more fun than I'm making him sound, I swear. Also, he's not magic's biggest fan. ..."
    "He doesn't like magic? How could he not like magic?"
    "He just doesn't find it interesting. He prefers the world he reads about in books and sees on TV, the world with cops and robbers and dramas and sports. If he had to choose, I expect he'd choose to live in the world without magic. That way, he could have gone to school and gotten a job and been . . . normal. Of course, he's never been given the choice. I suppose, for him, there could never really be a choice. Not really."
    "Why not?"
    Skulduggery hesitated for only a moment, as if he was choosing how best to say it, then told her that Ghastly was born ugly.
    "Not just unattractive," he said. "Not merely unappealing, but really, honestly ugly. His mother was jinxed when she was pregnant with him, and now his face is ridged with scars. They tried everything to fix it--spells, potions, charms, glamors, various and sundry creams, but nothing worked."
    104
    He explained that as a child, Ghastly had always told his friends that he got his love of boxing from his father, and his love of sewing from his mother. The truth was, his father was the one who was constantly making alterations to hemlines and such, and his mother was a bare-knuckle boxing champ, who boasted twenty-two consecutive wins. Skulduggery had seen her fight once. She had a right hook that could take a head clean off. And according to legend, it had once, too.
    Regardless, Ghastly was brought up in these two separate disciplines and, figuring he was ugly enough already, decided to try a career as a tailor rather then a boxer.
    "And I for one am glad he did," Skulduggery said. "He makes extraordinary suits."
    "So we're going to see him because you need a new suit?"
    "Not quite. You see, his family has amassed a unique collection of artwork, paintings, and literature about the Ancients, from all over the world. Included are a couple