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Will’s face, trying to fathom his meaning.
    â€˜He’s out. Out. I’ve seen him. The serpent’s eye. We . . . we removed it.’ Uncle Will’s eyes were now staring with a shocking intensity and they suddenly seemed to fasten on Alec, as if recognition had just set in. He reached up and grabbed his nephew’s wrist with a strength that made the boy wince. ‘Go home!’ he bellowed, his voice rising in power. ‘You shouldn’t have come, Alec. You shouldn’t have come!’
    â€˜William, you’re hurting the boy!’ Ethan was trying to prise Uncle Will’s fingers free of Alec’s wrist, but despite his apparent frailty, he seemed to have discovered an incredible energy and wasnow talking non-stop, virtually shouting the words into Alec’s face.
    â€˜He seized the dragon, that serpent of old, the Devil or Apophis, and chained him up for a thousand years! He threw him into an abyss, shutting and sealing it over him, so that he might seduce the nations no more till the thousand years were over! After that he must be let loose for a short while!’
    â€˜Uncle, please, stop, you’re hurting me!’ Alec struggled to pull away from his uncle, but he hung on tenaciously and even the brawny American couldn’t seem to break his grip.
    â€˜He’s out, Alec, don’t you see? He’s out, and now everything changes – nothing is ever the same again. Tom knows, Tom was there, Tom knows better than anyone what he’s capable of. I’ve seen him, Alec! I’ve seen what he can do . . .’ Then, all at once, Uncle Will’s voice trailed away and he seemed to lose all his strength. He let go of Alec and flopped back into the bath chair, his mouth hanging open. The vacant look came back into his eyes and Alec saw that they were filling with tears. ‘Out,’ he whispered. ‘He’s out. I’ve seen him.’
    He went back to his silent study of the floor.
    Alec and Ethan stood for a moment in silence, staring down at the old, old man in the chair. The sudden transformation had startled them. Alec felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.
    â€˜Are you all right?’ Ethan asked him at last.
    Alec nodded. He rubbed his wrist, where already a ring of dark bruises was appearing. ‘I’m fine,’ he said. ‘I’m not sure what happened there. He seemed to realize it was me at the end.’
    â€˜I don’t know what got into him – he’s never been like this before. What was that stuff he was saying – about a dragon or something?’
    â€˜I think it’s from the Bible,’ Alec told him. ‘Except he said . . .’
    â€˜What?’
    â€˜He said Apophis. The Egyptian serpent god of the underworld. I’m not much of a Bible reader but I’m pretty sure Apophis doesn’t figure anywhere. And there was something about . . . a serpent’s eye?’
    Ethan frowned. ‘I’m real sorry, kid. I had no idea he’d get all riled up like that. Guess I shouldn’t have brought you here.’
    â€˜No, that’s all right. I’m glad I saw him. Really.’ Alec felt badly shaken by what had happened. It was hard to believe that the wretched, wastedcreature in the bath chair was the same man he had spent so many happy hours with. ‘What can have happened to him, Mr Wade?’
    Ethan shook his head. ‘I wish I knew,’ he said.
    He turned and crouched beside Uncle Will again. ‘We’ll be on our way now,’ he said quietly. ‘Maybe we’ll come and see you again soon, huh?’
    Uncle Will said nothing. He was still gazing at the floor and his hands had begun to shake once more. Alec felt so sorry for him – and so totally powerless to do anything to help. He had retreated back to the world he had been lost in when they first entered the room.
    Ethan shrugged in defeat. He