"Fine." Les nods at her. "Ghosts, yes. Demons, yes. The kind that possess you and make you do evil awful things. Devils, no. Dragons, yes." He puts a bit of cake into his mouth. It really is the best cake ever. "But not. Really. I mean dragons don't just exist all the time. Or the hydra. They exist because someone puts them here. Conjures them with a spell."

He uses his fork to move around the icing on the cake, thinking. He still didn't know who could've managed that spell with the hydra. It was powerful magic. "And I promise I can be bribed with other things," he says, winking.