‘An Achaean, a Trojan and a Carthaginian,’ said Chryses. She knew it. She had been right about that. They were meant to be together like this. ‘Now I cannot see what happens next. I cannot enter the temple, and I do not know what is in there. You must go in and see what Apollo has prepared for you.’

He gestured to them, as if shooing away birds.

Elissa took to the stone steps, leading the way to the shadowy entrance above.

This was what she had been looking forward to. The sense of Apollo himself was filling her, his light, his brightness, his purity. She paused in the portico. It was dark inside. But impelled, she went on, and the others followed.

Inside the temple a huge expanse of gleaming white marble floor spread out in front of them.

Right at the far end, Elissa was delighted to see a statue of Apollo looming above them, holding his lyre. The paints were bold and bright, his hair shining, the lyre too.

‘It must be there,’ she shouted, excitement brimming in her voice. ‘Let’s go!’

She set off towards it. Tisamenos caught up with her, and then Silvius was overtaking them both. Laughing, they turned it into a race, and Elissa put on a spurt of speed.

But when she looked up, the statue was still as far away as it had been when she’d started.

Puzzled, Elissa stopped.

Tisamenos had paused too, and was staring at the statue in befuddlement. Silvius was pacing back and forth, nonplussed. Elissa started again, slower this time; after ten steps she stopped and looked back.

Still she had made no progress. Each time she ran, she would only end up in the same place, just near the portico.

Annoyed, Elissa peered outside where she could see the sky and the priests.

‘What’s happening?’ Tisamenos asked.

‘I don’t know. It’s some kind of magic.’

Tentatively she tried to step outside. There was a barrier there, something she could not see. She pushed harder, and some invisible force knocked her back.

They were stuck.

‘Don’t panic,’ said Elissa. ‘Think carefully. We’re in the Temple of Apollo. He wants us to be here.’

‘But there will be safeguards around the Bow, to stop the wrong people,’ cut in Tisamenos. ‘Like the Fury guarding the Shaft.’

‘The temple won’t let any of us approach the statue. We must be thinking about this in the wrong way.’ Silvius’s brow creased.

Elissa unslung the quiver. ‘I think I should open it.’ She glanced at Tisamenos, who nodded. Silvius thrummed his fingers uncertainly.

‘I think,’ said Tisamenos slowly, ‘that we should all do it.’

‘If something goes wrong, we all die,’ said Silvius.

‘I’m prepared to take that risk,’ answered Tisamenos.

‘Apollo will not let us die,’ said Elissa.