[When Skulduggery walks into the shop, he's wearing a thick scarf wrapped around the bottom half of his head, a pair of large dark sunglasses, and a very fuzzy wig poking out beneath a hat pulled low over his brow. It draws more than a few strange looks, but the important thing is that not one inch of his face is visible. He'd get much worse than a few strange looks if anyone realised why he's thin as a rake.

The store's a little bigger than it looks from the outside. When Skulduggery finds Kratos and the sales assistant, there's a small pile of books on top of a display near them, and there's that particular air of determined frustration around the woman while Kratos examines what looks like a dictionary.]

Kratos, there you are. Having a bit of trouble?

[The sales assistant looks relieved.]

You speak English?

Yes, I do. Sorry to leave him here on his own. I had an emergency. [Skulduggery looks over at the dictionary.] That's not going to be very much help, I'm afraid.

[The assistant sighs.] I know. I've been trying to figure out what language he speaks so I can get him something useful.

That's not going to work. I don't think he speaks any language we know.

What?

It's a long story. [Skulduggery thinks for a moment.] You'll have to pretend he's a child. An exceptionally intelligent child, but a child nonetheless. Do you have any picture books for learning the alphabet?

Uh --

And a thesaurus, come to think of it. He might find that useful.

[The woman frowns at him. In lieu of being able to give her a reassuring smile, Skulduggery simply bows his head.] Please.