Skulduggery's head tilted at the Scarecrow's reply. This man was either whoever had played the role of the Scarecrow and delusional - as well as decades out of his time - or stark raving mad. Or placed there by Landel as another altered perception of Skulduggery's. But given his uncanny similarities to the character on screen, and the sheer extent of Landel's apparent powers, Skulduggery had to admit none of those options really made any sense.

He'd seen the film when it first came out, back in a time when color movies were just beginning to be the next big thing. He'd never felt a particular affinity for the storyline, but you couldn't live in this day and age without having seen The Wizard of Oz at least once.

"From Oz?" he asked after what seemed like an age of just looking blankly at the Scarecrow. His tone took on a slightly musical upbeat. "If I only had a brain? Following the yellow brick road?"

And it suddenly hit him where he'd heard the name 'Jack Skellington' before. Valkyrie had mentioned it. Apparently, Skellington was a talking skeleton from Halloween who thought that Christmas was the best thing ever, and yet Valkyrie seemed to think he was like Skulduggery. She'd talked about it a couple of times, usually around Christmas or right in the middle of a crisis, but Skulduggery had never given it too much thought. Until now.

Fictional characters. Sora said he knew one, the Scarecrow currently standing in front of him was another.