Paddy was just wondering if they should perhaps go check on Sean and Dexter - some of those shouts were just a little bit worrying - when Solomon spoke again. He blinked, suddenly thrust back into familiar waters, but trapped in an unfamiliar boat being pulled this way and that in a violent storm.

"In real life," he said, "none of us are going to go knocking on the gates of Hell. At least, I hope we're not." Sorcerers didn't believe in God or the Devil, as far as Paddy knew - and why should they? Powerful as they were, they'd never seen any evidence - so it was highly unlikely anyone was going to start mounting a mission to go and try fighting Lucifer. At the same time, however, there was something about the way Solomon asked the question. Out of the blue, like he'd been meaning to ask for a while and only just remembered. Or like he was asking, as a nation's leader, for outside advice.

"It depends," Paddy added carefully, "on whether you mean resisting his influence and subsequent damnation, or fighting against him. What did your father tell you?"