‘You must tell me, you know. How else am I to open negotiations with your master for your safe return? Assuming he wants you back, of course.’ Geryon bent slightly to look Isaac in the eye. ‘Come on, boy. Make it easy on yourself.’

Isaac looked away, twisting in Mr Black’s grasp.

Geryon chuckled. ‘As you like,’ the old Reader said. ‘Mr Black?’

Mr Black did something to Isaac’s arm, and Isaac screamed. Alice screamed too, or tried to, though it only came out as a muffled grunt. She pounded her fists on the grass and struggled to get back to her feet.

‘Well?’ Geryon said. ‘Are you going to make poor Alice watch such an unseemly affair?’

He gestured, and Mr Black let Isaac go. He stumbled forward a step, pale and shivering, one arm cradled in the other.

‘Anaxomander,’ he said, so low, it was almost inaudible. ‘My master is . . . Anaxomander.’

‘Oh dear,’ Geryon said. ‘My old friend, thieving from me in such a shameful fashion.’ He shook his head sadly. ‘What faithless times we live in. Mr Black, take this young man to the vault and see that he’s looked after.’ He turned to Alice. ‘As for you, my dear, you must be exhausted. I think you should get some sleep.’

Alice gave another muffled shout. She’d caught sight of two yellow gleams in the shadows behind Geryon: Ending’s feline eyes, glowing in the lamplight. She tried to point to them, but blackness slid down around her like a curtain. She felt her legs turn wobbly, and she toppled, but she was asleep before she hit the ground.

‘Alice. Alice, wake up.’

Alice opened her eyes, the morning light from her window chasing away mad fragments of dream. It was hard to breathe, like there was a weight on her chest, but this turned out to be because Ashes was sitting on her. He had his head held up, Sphinx-like, front paws idly kneading her blanket.

‘Ashes?’ she said blearily.

‘Your powers of perception are, as always, acute,’ the cat said. ‘How do you feel?’

‘Fuzzy,’ Alice said, though she found that her head was clearing rapidly. The events of last night came back to her in a rush, and she sucked in a deep breath. ‘Where’s Isaac?’

‘Under guard in Geryon’s vault, I would imagine. Mother sends her apologies.’

‘Her apologies?’ Alice sat up, forcing Ashes to spring to the floor, where he walked in a tight circle and began licking his paw in an offended manner. ‘They were waiting for us, and she was there! She must have led them right to us!’