‘My son Piotrek talked to your son. Elliot is a good boy. A kind boy,’ Mr Kowalski continued. ‘I see that now. Well – Mrs Kowalski made me see that. When I told her what I’d done to an innocent child, there was no stew for me that night, let me tell you.’

Dave smiled. Mrs Kowalski sounded just like Josie. She’d never shied away from telling him he’d been an idiot either. True love doesn’t ignore the cracks. It tries to fix them.

The thought of his beloved wife brought the familiar tears back to his tired eyes.

‘I’m sorry,’ he gasped. ‘I don’t want to be rude, but I’m just heading out to find—’

‘Your son,’ said Mr Kowalski again. ‘I thought you would be. No father can rest with his child not in his bed. Piotrek once ran away from home and spent the night camping in the woods after we fought. Scared the life out of him – nearly killed me. That was the longest night of my life. And you’ve had – how many now?’

‘Four,’ said Dave, the tears spilling from his eyes. ‘He’s been missing for four nights.’

‘I see,’ said Mr Kowalski, pulling a torch out of his pocket. ‘Then let’s not make it five. My family have gone around the village – we have a search party ready. One group is taking the fields, another the woods and river, a third the next village. We thought that if we were prepared to search, others would join.’

‘Y-you don’t have to help me . . .’ Dave stuttered.

‘Yes. Yes, I really do,’ said Mr Kowalski, holding out his hand.

Dave raised his own shaking palm. It was grasped firmly with both hands by the jeweller.

‘And besides,’ said Mr Kowalski, ushering Dave out and smiling at him and a teary Reg. ‘You have no idea how much stew I will miss if I don’t . . .’

15. Tartarus

15. Tartarus

Thanatos contentedly surveyed the ranks of his army. As far as the eye could see, row upon row of Elementals and Daemons stood, awaiting his orders. He wrapped his long, bony fingers around the Chaos Stone. With the might of his army and the power of the elements at his command, victory today was now surely certain.

‘Your troops are waiting,’ Nyx whispered in his right ear. ‘And so is your world.’

‘Your troops are waiting,’ mimicked a sulking Hypnos to his left. ‘And so you is your world, bum-head . . .’

Thanatos allowed a small smile to spread across his thin lips. It was time.

‘Army of justice!’ he pronounced from his balcony, overlooking the plains of Tartarus as the Phlegathon raged below. ‘Are you ready?’

A mighty roar came from the ground below.

‘Our time has come,’ Thanatos declared. ‘For too long, we have been treated like vermin. We’ve been treated like we don’t matter. We’ve been treated like we don’t belong.’