It would be wise to be careful here. I yanked off a button from the top of my shirt and threw it forward. Immediately there was a whine and, from above the high walls of the maze, a sharp blade scythed downwards, slicing through the air and what would have been my soft flesh if I hadn’t erred on the side of caution.

Feeling like a character in a computer game, I prepared to run again. The difference between me and Lara Croft, though, was that I didn’t have an automatic save or infinite lives. Things were about to get hairy.

I watched the spot where the blade had come down, etching it into my memory, then burst forward. Three seconds before I got there, I threw myself into a roll, ducking under the great blade as it made another heavy swipe. I felt the air rush past my head. Damn, that was close. As soon as I was sure the danger had passed, I picked myself up and carried on running. I half-expected a giant boulder à la Indiana Jones to roll after me. Thankfully, that didn’t happen.

At the end of the corridor I was greeted by a smooth wall. My stomach lurched. Had I braved that damned scythe only to find myself at another dead end? Of all the shitty things to do… I cursed loudly. As I did, my breath clouded up the glass, revealing something underneath.

I paused, then breathed out some more. Indistinct words began to form on the glass; I breathed several times and read them quickly before they disappeared again.

Solitary life maketh me 24, my Clan maketh me 20. But add one more and beware for one extra maketh me unclean.

I smirked: this was easier than the last riddle. It helped, of course, that I’d broken similar codes in the past while breaking in to one or two homes owned by Sidhe who thought they were being clever by creating puzzles to remind themselves of their security passwords. I ran through the options in my head, checking and re-checking. The twenty-fourth letter in the alphabet was X. Put two Xs together and you got the old Roman numerals for twenty. Add one more and we were in Taylor territory with his girly magazines and dodgy porn websites – XXX.

I said it aloud but nothing happened. Pursing my lips, I breathed out to mist the glass again. I drew an X shape with the tip of my index finger, right across the entire riddle; there was a creak and the wall slid open, revealing the next section. Yahtzee.

I pelted round the corner. My palms were clammy and I could feel sweat beading my forehead. I was close now; I could feel it ‒ and when I saw what was right in front of me, I knew I’d been right. It was an open space with a small dais and smack-bang on top of it, in all its shining glory, was the red button.