‘Who knocked my water jug?’ shouted Aquarius. ‘I’ve got water running down my trousers.’

‘It had better not be coming from your trousers,’ mumbled Scorpio.

‘What’s going on?’ cried Virgo, teetering on top of her colleagues.

But her words were drowned by the hissing. She looked around – it wasn’t the Councillors who were moving, it was the wall.

‘Oh . . . bum,’ she muttered as the solid stone started to crumble in front of them. She felt the twelve Council members wobbling beneath her.

She looked over at Gorgy – Quentin – who had joined his mother in the rhythmic chanting. It was working. The walls were shaking . . .

‘LOOK OUT!’ she shouted, a nanosecond too late. Their stone prison suddenly collapsed all around them – and so too did the pile of Councillors that had been holding her up. They fell like a stack of playing cards, Virgo’s fall cushioned only by the body parts of her colleagues.

‘Well done, Quentin,’ said Rachel. ‘That’s just earned you an hour off your algebra practice.’

‘Plop!’ squealed Gorgy in delight.

‘Now, Quentin,’ said his mother sternly. ‘What have I told you about talking like a baby? You’re a big boy now. Let’s use our grown-up words.’

The young gorgon looked sheepishly at Virgo.

‘You make an excellent point, mother,’ he said grandly. ‘Although Dr Geary assures me in my advanced psychology tutorials that being in touch with my inner child is vital to healthy development.’

Virgo clambered up the pile of rubble to reach the two gorgons.

‘Thank you,’ she said sincerely. ‘I don’t know what we would have done without you.’

‘We would have held extensive seminars until we produced a dossier of potential outcomes,’ muttered Leo.

‘Exactly,’ sighed Virgo beneath her breath. ‘Right – we need to get back up to the Earth. I have to warn Elliot before it’s too late . . .’

‘It already is,’ said Quentin quietly. ‘I’m so sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings, Ms Virgo, but Elliot is already here. With Thanatos. He’s preparing to collect the final Chaos Stone, before handing them over to the Daemon.’

‘No!’ gasped Virgo in disbelief.

‘I’m afraid Quentin’s account is entirely correct,’ said Rachel. ‘He wants us all to fight. But not everyone’s prepared to. As Einstein said, “Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding.”’

‘Absolutely,’ said Virgo, with her most confidence-inspiring nod. ‘That Einstein was a brilliant man. I’ve watched all of his movies.’

Dr Shonley smiled but said nothing. Virgo’s impressive intellect had clearly dazzled her.

Virgo started bundling the Councillors towards the lift that had brought them from Elysium.

‘Right, you must locate the Gods and tell them what’s going on,’ she commanded. ‘I need to stop Elliot before he makes a terrible mistake. Another one.’

‘We understand,’ said Taurus as he squeezed into the lift. ‘We leave immediately.’