Geryon nodded. ‘You have the potential to be a great Reader, Alice. Perhaps the greatest of the age, with the right training. Unfortunately, this puts you in danger. Ever since you were a little girl, I have been doing my best to protect you.’

‘Why?’ Alice said. ‘Are you really my uncle?’

‘It would be more accurate to say that I am your great-great-great-grandfather, although it’s possible I have left out a generation somewhere. At times the records are a bit muddled. Nevertheless, I make a point of looking after my family. I am a sentimental man, in my fashion.’

‘But . . .’ She wanted to say ‘That’s impossible,’ but realized how foolish it would sound. Instead she took a sip from the cocoa. ‘Was my father a Reader? Did he know about any of this?’

‘He was not a Reader himself, that is for certain. The gift runs in families, but only fitfully, and it will often skip several generations. As for how much he knew, I’m not certain. What I do know is that my efforts to keep you secret eventually failed, and one of my . . . colleagues, another Reader . . . learned of your potential. I believe this person contacted your father.’

‘I saw something like that.’ Alice swallowed hard. ‘Why would he go off and leave me behind after that?’

‘Again, I can only speculate. Maybe your father thought he could draw attention away from you by leaving, and he may have succeeded. My guess is that this other Reader took your father from the Gideon and sank it to cover himself. When I heard what had happened, I realized I had to bring you here at once.’

‘Then he could still be alive,’ Alice blurted. ‘My father. If someone took him . . .’

Geryon closed his eyes. He looked weary, and somehow ancient beyond the years that showed on his face. ‘I don’t pretend to know for certain. But I do know the nature of my fellow Readers, and they are not the sort of people who would keep a tool around when it had lost its value. We are, I’m afraid to say, a rather callous fraternity.’

‘All right.’ She squirrelled the idea away for later examination. ‘Why bring me here and not tell me any of this? You must have known I would find out eventually!’

‘I thought you might,’ Geryon said. ‘Although you have not had as gentle an introduction as I had hoped for.’

Alice bristled. ‘You might have warned me.’