Elliot looked around. His mum was nowhere to be seen. Looming above him was Thanatos, still holding Virgo by her hair.

‘My patience is running thin, boy,’ rasped the Daemon. ‘Did you get it, or not?’

‘Are you OK?’ Hypnos asked the spluttering boy.

Elliot tried to get his ragged breath under control. He stared hard at the Daemon of Death. Then he opened his clenched fist. Nestling in his palm was the boundless blue of the mystical Fire Stone.

‘He did it!’ gasped Hypnos. ‘He really is the prophecy.’

‘Hand them over,’ said Thanatos. ‘All of them.’

‘Elliot, no!’ Virgo screamed, her face puce from pain.

‘Where is she?’ Elliot panted. ‘Where is my mum?’

‘She’s here,’ said Thanatos. ‘But you already know that. Give me the stones and I will give you her soul. I swear it on the Styx.’

‘Elliot – don’t do it!’ Virgo sobbed. ‘Please.’

‘What about her?’ said Elliot. ‘You have to set her free.’

‘She wasn’t part of our deal,’ Thanatos glowered, suspending Virgo over the flames.

‘She is now,’ said Elliot, holding the Fire Stone over the water. ‘Good luck getting this out again.’

Thanatos’s dark eyes narrowed, projecting a beam of pure hatred at Elliot.

‘So be it,’ he said, dropping Virgo to the ground. ‘Now give me the stones.’

Elliot took a deep breath and pulled his father’s watch out of his pocket, the watch that already contained the Earth, Air and Water Stones. The Chaos Stones that had nearly killed him umpteen times already. Zeus had warned him after he’d found the Earth Stone last year that they’d be a heavy burden to bear. Back then, Elliot had no idea how right the King of the Gods had been.

He held the Fire Stone up to the watch, and, just as the other stones had done, it immediately shrank to fill the remaining quadrant. But then something new happened. At once, all four stones began to glow. The beams of white, green, red and now blue light mingled, the combined lustre so blindingly bright Elliot had to shield his eyes. He felt the watch trembling under the strain. But, just at the point the watch seemed as if it might explode, the light was suddenly sucked back inside and extinguished. When Elliot looked down, there were no longer four separate gems. They had melded together into one giant gem, the colours of its four parts marbled through it.

Elliot looked at the breathtaking jewel. He’d done it. He’d reunited the Chaos Stones.

When four stones are one, they can have but one master.

He recalled the prophecy that had hinted he could control the universe. With the power of this elemental gem, he could have anything he wanted. Wealth. Power. The world. He could have anything he wanted. He could do anything he wanted. He could be anyone he wanted.

Except for the one person he truly wanted to be.