"Yiassas!" cried the man. He caught Zac by the upper arms, then leaned in and kissed him on both cheeks before he could pull away. The man smelled of death and olives. "I am Argus Panoptes. You have been looking for me, yes?"

Zac stepped back. "You're Argus?" He jabbed a thumb in the direction of the seated giant. "Then who's that?"

Argus laughed, making his bare belly jiggle like half-set jelly. "This? This is just a statue."

"It doesn't look like a statue."

"It is woven from the skin of my enemies' children," Argus said. He smiled again, and in that moment Zac was reminded that he was dealing with a demon. There were too many teeth in that mouth, all crammed in together, jostling for space. "Feel it, yes? Touch it."

"No, thanks."

"Please. Please, I insist," Argus said. "Touch my giant leg. It bring you luck."

"Right, well, if it'll make you happy," Zac sighed. He touched the nearest leg. The skin was disturbingly smooth.

Argus beamed. "Is nice, yes?"

"Not really my cup of tea," Zac said. "What about the eyes? I'm guessing they didn't come from your enemies' children. Unless, you know, your enemies' children are huge."

"Ah, no, no. The eyes, they belong to me."

With a quick flick of his wrist, Argus removed his sunglasses, revealing two dark holes. Zac gazed into the empty sockets, then up at the beach-ball-sized eyeballs in the statue's face.

"Those must've been a tight fit," he said.

Argus laughed again. "Haha! Yes. They are not my actual eyes, of course. Would you care to sit?"

"No, I'm fine."

"Please, I insist. Please."

"I'd prefer to stand," said Zac.

Argus's shoulders slumped, then a wry grin crept across his face. He placed his hands on his stomach and folded two rolls of flab together, giving the impression of a mouth.

"Pwease, Zac," Argus said, moving the rolls so it looked as if they were talking. "Pwease sit down on our lovely couch."

To their credit, even Argus's nipples got in on the act. They looked imploringly at Zac.

"Yeah... OK," Zac said. He pointed at Argus's belly. "If you promise to stop that."

Argus laughed again, then he jigged over to a cream leather sofa that stood off to one side of the room. Zac noticed his shoes for the first time. They were bright red with gold trim, curled up at the toes like a genie in a pantomime.

The shoes danced on to a leopard-skin rug that was spread on the floor between the couch and a roaring coal fire. The demon jabbed at the coals with a poker while he waited for Zac to sit.

"I know why you have come to see me, Zac," he said once Zac had positioned himself on the couch. "I have been following you closely for some time."

Zac raised an eyebrow. "You have, have you?"

"Please, please, do not take it personally," said Argus, giving the coals a final stab. "I follow everyone closely."

He set the poker back on its hook, then turned to face his guest. Zac wished the demon would put the glasses back on, but they were nowhere to be seen, and so he forced himself to stare into the hollow sockets and did his best not to flinch.

Argus slapped his belly several times. It jiggled hypnotically. "You are seeking the Book of Everything and you have come to ask for my help, yes?"

Zac didn't reply.

"You believe I can provide you with a" how you say? a" information as to its exact whereabouts."

"They've built a tenth circle on to Hell. I've been told you might know what's down there."

"I bet you have," Argus exclaimed. He gave a twirl, and Zac saw there was another eye poking out from the demon's hairy back. "I am the all-seeing Argus, after all."

Zac leaned forward slowly, making the leather couch creak. "So what is down there?"

Argus tapped the side of his nose. "Aha! All in good time, yes? Right now, I see we are about to have company."

With a wink of his nipples, Argus turned and gestured towards the elevator doors, just as they opened with a ping.

HERE WAS A momentary commotion within the elevator, and then Herya was bundled out. The bouncer shoved her forward, then stepped out after her.

"Here she is, Mr Argus. Like you asked," he said. "Gimme a shout if she gets out of hand."

With a brief nod to his employer, the bouncer stepped back into the lift. Herya glared after him as the doors slid closed.

"Yeah," said Herya. "That's right. You'd better run, if you know what's good for you."

She stood up and dusted herself down, then looked over to Zac and Argus. When she saw the demon, her eyes widened just a fraction.

"All right?" Zac asked.

"Yes," Herya said defensively. "Of course."

"Herya of the Valkyries," Argus said. He spoke her name grandly, as if announcing her arrival at a formal dinner party. "Such a beautiful girl, you no think, Zac? That hair. The wings." He adjusted his fez and smiled more broadly than ever. "Beautiful girl."

"Oh, yeah, I forgot you two know each other," said Zac.

Argus laughed as he skipped over to the Valkyrie. "Ah, but if only I had such good fortune," he said, planting kisses on both of her cheeks. "Today is the first day I have had the pleasure."

Zac looked to Herya. "But I thought you said...?"

"No, I didn't," she replied quickly.

"But youa"?"

She gave him the same look Argus's nipples had given him just minutes before. "Leave it," she said, then she added, "please."

Zac gave an uncertain nod and leaned back into the couch. Argus took Herya by the elbow and steered her over to join him. "Please, sit. Little Angelo will be joining us..."

A squirming sack landed with a thud on the floor between them.

"...now."

An enormous man in a small loincloth thudded down on to the carpet from a large hatch in the ceiling. The man straightened up and groaned as his back went click.

"Ooh, that's better," he said. "I'm not as young as I used to be."

The man had one eye set in the centre of his forehead. It blinked slowly as it looked at Zac and Herya.

Zac stood up. "Who is this?" he demanded.

"Ah, do not worry, do not fret. This is my assistant, Steropes," said Argus. "Steropes is a Cyclops, yes? You see the irony? I have many eyes; Steropes has only one!"

Zac stared up Steropes. Aside from having just one eye, the Cyclops looked much like a man. A large, mean-looking man. With tattoos.

His hair was clipped short and a rough stubble covered his chin. He was stockily built, with a broad neck and bodybuilder arms. Although he wore no clothes aside from a worryingly small loincloth, his tattoos covered his skin like an all-over rash.

Despite his appearance, Steropes's voice was soft and quiet. "Afternoon," he said. He gave Zac a friendly nod, which the boy felt obliged to return.

"All right?" Zac asked.

"Yeah, not bad, not bad," replied the Cyclops. "Thanks for asking." As he spoke, he bent and tore open the sack, letting Angelo spill out on to the floor.

"Wha"?" Angelo spluttered, blinking frantically in the sudden light. He flailed around on his back for a moment, before scrambling to his feet. He screamed when he spotted Steropes a" a high-pitched girly screech that made the glass in the chandeliers quiver.

"Whoa, easy, easy," soothed the Cyclops. "Sorry about the whispering and the bundling you up in the bag an' all that. Boss's orders. Hope you weren't too traumatised by it all."

Angelo screamed again in response.

"Angelo, Angelo, relax," Zac said. He stepped closer to the boy, then tried to pull back as Angelo threw his arms round him. Try as he might, though, he couldn't break the bearhug.

"Oh, it was horrible," Angelo gasped. "Just horrible!" Zac could feel the boy's heart pounding inside his chest. He was uncomfortably warm to the touch, but he was still a few degrees away from being hot. "I thought I was never going to see you again," Angelo sobbed. "Can you imagine how horrible that would be?"

Zac hesitated. "Horrible. Yeah."

Angelo spotted the Valkyrie and yelped with delight. "Herya!" He detached himself from Zac and hurried over to her, his arms spread wide.

"Don't even think about it," she warned. Angelo faltered to a stop just a few steps away from her, but his smile didn't fade.

"You're alive. We're all alive!" He raised both hands triumphantly above his head. "Go, Superfriends!"

There was a moment of embarrassed silence. Angelo lowered his arms again.

"Nice, nice! Is very nice, yes? Happy reunion," said Argus. "Please, my apologies for the way you were all brought here. In my line of work I find direct approach is simplest. Besides, I have an image to maintain, yes?"

Zac looked at the belly, the curly shoes and the tiny fez. "I'm sure you do."

Angelo glanced nervously at Zac. "Is that... Is that him?"

"Argus the all-seeing," said Argus. He did another twirl. His flabby torso undulated like a lava lamp.

"Why do they call you that?" asked Angelo.

Herya answered for him. "Legend says he's got a hundred eyes."

Argus nodded. "Very good! It does say that, doesn't it? But legend, it is a fool. It knows nothing."

"You haven't got any eyes," said Angelo, who had no intention of looking at any part of Argus below the neck, thank you very much.

"Ah, not here, maybe," conceded the demon, tapping a manicured finger against his temple, "but everywhere else. Downstairs. Outside. All across Hades and all through the other Afterworlds."

"Nipples," blurted Herya. She was staring at them, apparently having just noticed them for the first time.

"Ah, yes!" Argus said. He puffed up his chest proudly. "You like?"

Herya faltered. "Not really."

Argus grabbed two rolls of flab and made the belly-face again. "Oh, that is not vewy nice," he said. Then he laughed, spun on the spot, and trotted over to an antique globe that stood just a little away from the fireplace. The lid flipped open and smoke billowed out from within.

Reaching inside the globe, Argus pulled out a foil-wrapped bundle. "Febab?" he offered. "My own creation. It is kebab meat and the Feta cheese, all wrapped together with chilli sauce." He gave his belly a rub. "Hot. Spicy. Very nice."

"I'm all right," said Zac. He glanced along the couch to the others. "I think... yeah, we're all OK for now, thanks."

Argus shrugged and dropped the foil bundle back into the concealed barbecue, before closing the lid. "Where was I?"

"You were telling us you see everything," Zac prompted. "All the Afterworlds."

"Aha! Not just the Afterworlds," Argus corrected. His empty eye sockets turned towards Zac. "Have you ever felt that tingle up your spine telling you *Hey! What is this? I am not alone!'? Have you ever had the feeling that someone was watching you? Like when you were in your bedroom, let us say, just before the Monk killed you?"

Zac thought back. The rooftop along the street. He thought he'd seen someone watching him just before he closed the curtains.

Argus saw the realisation spread across the boy's face. "Yes, yes. That was me. You see, no matter what legend says, I am not having a hundred eyes. No, no. I am having a hundred billion of them. Watching. Always watching everything and everyone."

Steropes leaned over him. "But not in a creepy way or that," he reassured.

"Oh no," said Argus. "Not in a creepy way." He slapped a drumbeat on his belly before speaking again. "This is how I knew you were coming. And I must say, your antics in Asgard made for most amusing viewing. And you," he said, fixing Angelo with an approving look, "you were the biggest treat of all."

"I was?"

"You are a" how you say? a" remarkable, do you know?"

Angelo grinned. "I am?"

"Enough small talk," interjected Zac, before the demon could give away what had happened in Asgard. "Can we get down to business?"

"Ah, yes, we must press on, I think," said Argus. "But first, drinks. I have taken the liberty of preparing your favourites."

Steropes recognised his cue. He scuttled over to a bar at the back of the room, then returned carrying a tray. Two glasses sat on it, both resting atop little paper doilies.