‘Great,’ Elliot groaned, peering from the balcony edge into the blazing river of fire that raged between him and the final Chaos Stone. Even from the relative safety of Thanatos’s cliffside office in Tartarus, he could feel the wall of heat blasting off the flaming river metres below. He could just make out a blue glow shining through the flames on the riverbed. It was a huge sapphire: the Fire Stone. It was right there. Elliot reached a hand over the balustrade towards it. Perhaps the river itself wasn’t that hot . . .

‘Ouch!’ he cried as a flame leapt up from the inferno and bit the tip of his index finger. Elliot whipped it to his mouth and sucked his scorched skin. So this was it. He was going to be toasted like a marshmallow in this immortal river of fire if he even attempted to retrieve the Fire Stone. This totally sucked.

A wave of grief swelled unbidden from his heart. These waves kept on catching him out and Elliot was struggling to keep them under control. He forced it back down, deep into his soul, where it had many others for company. He had to build a dam against these moments every time his mum came to mind – they were distracting. And they hurt. It had been just two days since Josie had . . . He couldn’t even think it, let alone say it. But it didn’t matter. All he had to do was this one thing, and he’d get her back. Once Thanatos had all four Chaos Stones, Elliot could have Josie back again. There was no point in crying. His mum wasn’t really gone.

Inspiration suddenly struck. Elliot rummaged in his pocket and drew out his father’s gold watch. He swallowed the hatred that swilled in his stomach at the very thought of his da— David Hooper, that useless excuse for a parent, who had handed Home Farm over to Patricia Horse’s-Bum. He had cost Elliot his home. And those crucial moments had cost him the chance to say goodbye to his . . .

Elliot shut his eyes to push away the pain that bruised his soul every time he thought about Josie. He added another layer to the dam.

It isn’t goodbye, he silently told himself. This is why you have to do this. This is the only way. This is how you get her back.

He opened the lid of the pocket watch and winced, his sleep-deprived eyes dazzled by the gems inside: the diamond Earth Stone, the emerald Air Stone and the ruby Water Stone. He held the watch above his head.

‘RAIN!’ he commanded, feeling the addictive surge of power that the Chaos Stones always gave him.