He shakes his head. “Nah, it’s cool. He was supposed to die a long time ago. He’s building highways in the Fields of Asphodel now.” There’s a grin here, because to a sceptic, that has to sound just as crazy as everything else.

The smiles fades though, because that niggling familiarity is really getting to Percy. He looks at the other guy intently, like maybe staring at him will help. It takes him a couple of seconds, but—

“Hold on. Mr Charles?”