He turned on the radio but there was only static, so he rooted through the collection of CDs, but they were all by people he’d never heard of: Isao Tomita, Kodo and Kitaro. He adjusted the seat back and forth, up and down, checked the glove compartment, found a tin of mints that were two years past the expiration but ate them anyway, fiddled with the air conditioner, adjusted the electric side mirrors and then, finally, reached for the rearview mirror…

His eyes were bloodred.

Reflected in the mirror, they hung in the air over the crystal skull, unblinking, unmoving, without a trace of pupil.

The wave of horror that struck Sophie was palpable. She was looking at her brother’s face, but these were the eyes of…

“Mars Ultor,” Prometheus said firmly. “The boy is in thrall to the Sleeping God.”

“Mars Awakened Josh,” Nicholas whispered, aghast.

“And so he controls him,” the Elder said.

“But where is he taking him?” the Alchemyst said.

“They’ve just turned onto Lombard Street,” Niten announced. “He’s going to Telegraph Hill.”

“Dee’s company, Enoch Enterprises has offices just below Coit Tower,” Perenelle said quickly, then added, as if she was thinking out loud, “but Dee is trapped in England. There is no way he could have gotten here…”

“Are you sure?” Prometheus asked. “This is Dee we’re talking about now.”

Nicholas nodded. “Even if he booked a flight this morning, he’d still be in the air. He’s not in the city.”

“What about a leygate?” Aoife asked.

“There are only a few that could bring him here. And he hasn’t got the power to charge up the Stonehenge gate. Also, using his power would betray his location to his Dark Elder masters. And I’m not sure he’d want to do that.”

“He’s turned up Telegraph Hill,” Niten said. “That’s a dead end.”

In his dream state, Josh really had no idea where he was.

He’d driven through San Francisco, turning left and right, only vaguely aware of the street names-Van Ness Avenue, Bay Street, Columbus and Lombard. Some were almost familiar, but when he finally turned the car onto Telegraph Hill, he suddenly realized where he was: close to Coit Tower. Although the tower was within walking distance of Aunt Agnes’s house, he and Sophie had never managed to find the time to visit it. To his left, he could see the Bay Bridge, while on his right he saw expensive-looking houses and apartments. He drove on, and as the road rose, he could see the city, which was beginning to appear out of the fog.

The view was stunning, but he was completely bored with this dream. He wanted it to end so he could wake up. He was half tempted to drive the car off the road just to see what would happen.

Sophie wouldn’t like that.