Iolanthe shrugged. ‘The inscription on Priam’s crown said the Blue Bell was inside the obelisk. I suppose we knock it over, even if history would frown on us for doing so.’

‘That thing must weigh two hundred tons,’ Nobody said. ‘Okay, I got this.’

He edged the chopper toward the peak of the obelisk and, slowly and gradually, pressed forward on the throttle, causing the chopper’s landing struts to push against the upper section of the stone spire . . .

. . . and the obelisk tilted . . .

. . . and fell.

It toppled like a tree before slamming down against the paved viewing area around its podium with a colossal whump! It was so heavy, it cracked the pavement as it struck it.

Nobody then landed the chopper beside the now horizontal obelisk and Iolanthe raced over to it, to discover that the heavy landing had also cracked the obelisk in a couple of weak spots.

Near its base, a crevice had appeared and Iolanthe grabbed a wrench from the chopper and used it to smash away at the crevice’s edges, to reveal a hollow section inside the obelisk . . .

. . . where she found something wrapped in ancient bandages.

Something spherical.

The size of a basketball.

As Nobody watched, Iolanthe unwrapped the bandaging, revealing a stunningly beautiful thing.

A sphere made of brilliant blue metal.

The metal was perfectly crafted, with not a blemish or imperfection on it. It shone with a dull sheen that was clearly beyond the knowledge of humankind.

And it bore a small round hole in its base.

It was a bell, an ancient bell.

The Blue Bell.

Nobody grinned. ‘We’re back in this game—’

The roar of helicopters bursting out from behind some nearby skyscrapers cut him off.

Two military attack choppers.

A speaker on one of them squawked and Chloe Carnarvon’s voice bellowed from it.

‘Iolanthe! My, you are resilient. I see you’ve found the Blue Bell. But now there is nowhere else for you to run! I’ll take that bell from you, thank you very much!’

Nobody and Iolanthe ran for their chopper, with Iolanthe clutching the Blue Bell in her arms.

Airspace over the Atlantic Ocean

28 December, 1800 hours (local time)

[29 December, 0200 hours in the Labyrinth]

While Nobody and Iolanthe had been zooming toward New York, Pooh Bear and Stretch’s team had also been heading toward America, in a new plane they had acquired when they’d finally reached Marseille: an Air France 737.

They, however, were heading for Washington, D.C., to the main royal rendezvous point.

It was early evening and most of the lights in the plane were off.

With Pooh and Stretch were Dr Tracy Smith—expert on the Siren bells and the ear specialist who had devised the serum that reversed the sleep they caused—and Sister Lynda Fadel from the Order of Serene Maidens, the modern name for the Vestal sisterhood.