“The succubus. She did it. When I rounded the corner, I heard her tell the Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse they were nothing, and they vanished.â€?

“She was a god. What she said became…â€? Blake stopped.

“It became true.â€?

“The elemental forces of war, famine, pestilence and death,â€? Blake said, “she banished them from this plane.â€?

“She accidentally created Paradise on Earth.â€?

Blake looked at the newspapers again. “That’s the pre-Babel language, isn’t it?â€?

“Yeah. My vocabulary’s totally… messed up, now,â€? Simon laughed a tired laugh. “Guess I wasted a lot of time learning all those dead languages.â€?

“I have a feeling they’ll come in handy again, kid.â€?

“What are you talking about? We won. It’s over. No more death, no more plague. All the fights over food and religion and misunderstanding – it’s all done.â€?

“For five years.â€?

“What?â€? Simon didn’t think it was possible for anyone to misunderstand anyone else ever again, but maybe he was wrong: he had no clue what Blake was talking about.