Why Vex had recruited Wilhelm Scream, however, very much remained a mystery, even to himself. He watched as the young man sat on his own, nervously sipping from a bottle of flavoured water, spilling some on to his shirt and looking dismayed. Tall and lanky and pale with black hair that sat on his head like a dead crow, Wilhelm was not an immediately impressive person. But, unlike some other people who were not immediately impressive when you first met them, Wilhelm didn’t get any more impressive the more you got to know him. In fact, if it were possible, he got a little less impressive as time wore on. Which was actually impressive in itself.

Still, he had his uses. Aside from having a passing knowledge of the language of magic, Wilhelm still had a lot of contacts within the German Sanctuary, of which he used to be a junior Administrator before he was sacked for not being very good at it. So far he had successfully steered them clear of the authorities. Vex’s little group may have been made up of sorcerers from around the world, but this was an entirely unofficial mission they were embarking upon.

Gracious O’Callahan looked back from the cockpit. Not the tallest gentleman Vex had ever known, Gracious made up for his lack of height with cool hair and a relentlessly sunny outlook on things.

“Where’s this eejit got to?” he asked. “If we don’t take off soon, someone will realise we’ve stolen their jet.”

Aurora broke off her conversation with Frightening, and frowned. “This is stolen? We’re in a stolen jet?”

“Not stolen,” said Donegan Bane from the co-pilot’s seat.

“Almost stolen,” Gracious corrected.

“Semi-stolen,” said Donegan.

“Quasi-stolen,” said Gracious.

Aurora’s frown did not turn upside down. “So is it stolen or not?”

Donegan and Gracious hesitated.

“Yes,” they both said together.

Aurora sagged. “Why is it,” she asked, “that every time I’m around you two we end up stealing something big?”

“We always return it,” Donegan said, a little defensively. “Maybe not always in one piece, or necessarily to the right person, but return it we do, and so it is not stealing, it is merely borrowing.”

Gracious looked at him. “It’s a little bit stealing.”

“Anyone who leaves a private jet just lying around deserves to have it stolen.”

“It wasn’t lying around,” said Gracious. “It was locked up tight. It took us an hour to dismantle the security system and get inside.”

Donegan looked at him. “You’re not helping.”