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not often that I must judge someone twice, but it happens. Your friend William Bonney was no longer a mere lover of violence. He had discovered a cause. Your cause, Allen Carpenter. And for that he would kill.”
    “So you scooped him up. Were you afraid I might cause a rebellion in Hell?”
    “Afraid? No. It would hardly be the first time, you know. There was once war in Heaven itself. No, Allen, I took your friend because he was not ready to complete his journey.”
    “And I was?”
    “You were not under my jurisdiction.”
    “Who decides that?”
    Minos ignored my question. “Your friend had earned his release from Phlegethon. He is now in a place appropriate to his present state.”
    “Where?”
    “You will learn when it is time for you to learn. I presume you intend to continue this folly.” Minos’s tail reached out suggestively. “I can place you anywhere you like.”
    “No. Thank you. We need to see all the circles.”
    “You have taken up a vast burden, Allen Carpenter. Do you know its extent?”
    “No. But I have to try.”
    “Try then. Once more, go. Thou art sent.”
    He’d said that the last time I set out down the marble steps into the bowl of Hell. But last time he’d been laughing.

Chapter 7
    Second Circle
    The Winds
----
     
    I came upon a place mute of all light,
Which bellows as the sea does in a tempest;
If by opposing winds ‘tis combated.
The infernal hurricane that never rests
Hurtles the spirits onward in its rapine
Whirling them round, and smiting, it molests them.
    “T he winds began almost as soon as we’d left the palace. First they were strong. Then it looked like a Kansas tornado that had picked up debris. Only it wasn’t debris. The winds were carrying people.”
    “Cleopatra,” Sylvia said.
    “Cleopatra?”
    “Did you see her? Dante put her there in the winds. And Dido, too!” Her voice got formal as she recited.
    The other is Dido; faithless to the ashes
Of Sicheus, she killed herself for love.
The next whom the eternal tempest lashes
Is sense–drugged Cleopatra.
    “Allen, they were suicides! Why were they in the Winds, when I’m down here rooted like a tree?”
    “You said it yourself. She killed herself for love.”
    “And I didn’t? No, I guess I didn’t. More like hate. Or spite.”
    “Anyway, we didn’t see any Cleopatra. I kept looking for Corbett, but I didn’t find him.”
    “Corbett? Oh. The pilot of your glider.”
    “Yeah, that’s him. We lost him down by the Flatterers. He just wouldn’t go any further down.”
    “Why, Allen?”
    “Disgusted. And maybe he was sure the punishments were too much for the crimes. Sins. I didn’t really blame him. If I hadn’t promised Benito I’d go with him to the end, I’d probably have tried to get back uphill. Better to chase banners than what I was seeing. But if Corbett made it back to the Winds, I didn’t see him.”
    “Allen, if the Winds have all the philanderers since the beginning of time, how in the world would you expect to see any one of them?”
    “Well, I saw Elena Robinson.”
    “Um?”
    “I knew her. Dante saw mostly Italians,” I said. “Benito and I saw mostly Americans. I’ve seen a lot of people I knew, far too many for coincidence.”
    “You think someone is directing your travels? Arranging who you meet?”
    “I think it’s possible.”
    “That may explain something.”
    “Explain what?”
    “Allen, think about it. Who do you expect to see in Hell?”
    I was puzzled for a moment, but it came to me. “The great sinners? The famous ones?”
    “Dante certainly did,” Sylvia said. “But you don’t.”
    “Well, I saw some famous people!”
    “Among the Virtuous Pagans, but even there nowhere as many as Dante met.”
    “So someone is guiding my travels.”
    “Mmm–hmm. I think it’s likely,” Sylvia said. “After all, you’ve been chosen. You’re my Sign.”
    “Lot of good that does you.”
    “You’re here. I can talk to you. It’s better than being a dumb