"Ah." Solomon threw a mischievous smile in her direction, one that made him look much younger and left a hint of a gleam in his sightless eyes. "I never said how long the first round would last, though, did I?"

"What have I begun?" Dexter asked rhetorically. "Should we leave the two of you alone, or would we run the risk of the Sanctuary shattering under the force of your combined egos?"

"I'll leave that up to your imagination, Vex," was Solomon's only answer as he took out his phone and rang Corrival, leaving it on speakerphone. "The first squad of angels are finished," he said without preamble. "We're headed to the maze now. The Reveller has decided he's bored and wants to come with; we'll be taking a couple of the cars. And John Doe."

There was a brief pause, and then Corrival asked in the amused tone of someone who knew he was walking into some kind of joke, "Who is John Doe?"

"That," Solomon said with a grin, "is for you to find out."

"I'm starting to wonder if you're not more trouble than you're worth, Wreath. Make it up to me by bringing back a gift. Like maybe the newspaper I didn't get a chance to read this morning."

"If Ravel doesn't crash us, I'll see what I can do." He disconnected the call, stowed the phone and courteously held his arm out toward China. "Shall we go?"

"Yessir, yes'm!" The banner snapped with amusement. "And I do. Ghastly and I visited it yesterday, on a dog-hunt. Mirror-mazes are a lot more fun when you're drunk."