‘What do you mean, used to be kept there?’

‘It was destroyed, along with some other priceless treasures, in a fire there back in 1871. The royal family kept it quiet for fear of embarrassment. But I do know of a copy.’

‘A copy of Priam’s Crown?’ Nobody said.

‘Yes. A statue, to be more precise,’ Iolanthe said. She gave Bertie that look again. ‘The one at Tenedos Island.’

Bertie went pale. ‘I know the one. Yes, that could work.’

‘Er, hello?’ Nobody said. ‘Can you two please stop speaking in code?’

Iolanthe turned to face him. ‘Sorry. We all know the story of the Trojan War: how a prince from Troy named Paris ran off to Troy with Helen, the beautiful young wife of the Greek king Menelaus. So the Greeks, led by Agamemnon—’

‘—Menelaus’s brother—’ Bertie added.

‘—sailed an armada of a thousand ships to Troy and attacked the city to get Helen back.’

‘Sure, I know the story,’ Nobody said. ‘I also saw the movie with Brad Pitt in it. The Greeks were brutish thugs, while the Trojans were all elegant and refined. Troy’s walls were too strong and the war bogged down into a ten-year siege. The Greeks only won by using the most famous trick in history: the Trojan Horse, a big wooden horse, filled with Greek soldiers, that they left outside the gates of Troy and which the Trojans foolishly brought inside.’

‘Right,’ Iolanthe said. ‘That’s the traditional story, largely taken from Homer’s two books, The Iliad and The Odyssey. It’s also wrong. Priam wasn’t a king. He was a banker, the royal banker to the four kingdoms, their Master of Coin.

‘And that war wasn’t about some woman. It was a full-scale raid by some upstart Greek princes trying to steal the treasures held inside the most secure vault of the four legendary kingdoms, the vault of the royal banker at Troy.’

‘That’s where we have to go now,’ Bertie added. ‘For it seems that’s where we will find the location of the Blue Bell: inscribed on the Crown of Priam, and in that vault is a giant statue of Priam wearing his crown.’

‘Okay, hold on. You’re saying we have to find the lost city of Troy?’ Nobody said incredulously. ‘I thought some strange dude already did that in the 1800s. Schlinkman, or something.’

‘Heinrich Schliemann, yes,’ Iolanthe said. ‘But he was a better self-promoter than he was an archaeologist. He found something, but not the real Troy.’

‘All right,’ Nobody said. ‘Let’s cut to the chase. To find the bell, we need to find this Crown of Priam. To find the crown, we need to find Troy, and I’m guessing you know where Troy really is.’

‘I do,’ Iolanthe said.

‘Then let’s—’

The sounds of shouts and splashing footfalls cut Nobody off.

‘Someone’s here.’ He dashed to the door—

—to see shadows advancing quickly down the tunnel.