But David Hooper was more right than Patricia could have known. Because at that very moment, just outside Home Farm, someone was watching her every move. Someone was plotting just how Patricia might get hers. And that someone couldn’t wait to see Patricia Horse’s-Bum come crashing down, if it was the last thing they did.

13. Reunited

13. Reunited

Virgo looked at the mortal boy sleeping fitfully in Hermes’s sidecar. Having reclaimed his trusty motorbike from a car park on the immortal low-way – how he was going to pay all those parking fines was a matter for another day – Hermes had driven unusually steadily through the night and was now winding up a cloudy path back to Olympus.

‘He’ll be OK,’ the Messenger God whispered, winking at her. ‘He’s with us now.’

Virgo wished she could share Hermes’s optimism. Thanatos had the Chaos Stone. Elliot had lost Josie-Mum to the Afterlife for ever. The Daemon army was free. And she hadn’t visited the lavatory for several hours. In her considered, brilliant analysis of the situation, everything was somewhat sub-optimal. In fact, it was borderline pants.

The motorbike revved up the long stretch of road. For the first time since she left Elysium, Virgo felt a curious sense of dread. She had faced dangerous situations, of course. Using the bathroom after Elliot had proven life-threatening on several occasions. But this was different. She had always had unshakeable faith in the Gods’ ability to protect her. Now Thanatos had the Chaos Stone, everything had changed. By the Gods’ own admission, they never would have defeated Thanatos two thousand years ago, when they were mighty warriors, had it not been for Hypnos’s treachery – he had stolen the Chaos Stones from his brother and handed them over to Zeus. Now Thanatos had them back, what were their chances?

Elliot twitched in his sleep next to her. Without understanding why, she found herself putting her hand on his head and stroking his hair. This seemed to soothe him, so she continued.

‘Nice one,’ said Hermes, with a smile Virgo didn’t fully understand but was too preoccupied to analyse.

She reluctantly allowed herself to think the thought that she had been suppressing since her incarceration in Tartarus:

What if Thanatos wins?

The Gods would be punished for sure – imprisoned . . . or worse. And what about her? She was mortal now. She could . . .

Virgo had never seriously contemplated dying before. After all, she’d never needed to. As an immortal, there was never going to be a point at which she just . . . stopped being. Whilst she had her kardia, she’d been able to take it for granted that she was going to stay alive. But what now?