Behind her, where the aisle had been, there was now a dead end. It was shrouded in shadow, and no matter how Alice moved her lantern, the light refused to penetrate. All she could see was a pair of eyes, yellow-silver and cat-slitted. Like Ashes’ eyes, but this pair was on a level with Alice’s own.

‘Hello,’ Alice managed.

‘I thought,’ said the voice, ‘that you and I should have a little chat.’

Alice swallowed and nodded. ‘You’re . . . Ashes’ mother, aren’t you? The one he called the guardian of the library.’

‘Yesssss,’ she hissed. ‘You may call me Ending.’

‘What do you want with me?’

‘Isn’t it obvious, child?’ Ending smiled. At least, Alice thought it was a smile. In the darkness, all she could see was the faint glint of the lantern on bone-white teeth, as long as knives. ‘I want to help you.’

There was a quivery feeling in the pit of Alice’s stomach that she’d never felt before, not even when she’d thought the Swarm was going to get her. She pulled herself together.

‘Help me?’ she said, proud that she kept any quiver out of her voice. ‘Help me how?’

‘You have chosen a dark path,’ Ending purred. ‘I would like you to walk it with your eyes open.’

‘You mean by becoming Geryon’s apprentice?’

‘Yesss. You do not yet know what he will do to you, child.’

‘But Geryon helped me. I might have died after I got out of the Swarm, if not for him.’

‘Yes,’ Ending said, ‘but he is a Reader. His magic is based on cruelty and death. It is his nature. He will hurt you, bend you, break you, and tell you it is for your own good. He will send you to do his bidding, and you will fight for him, bleed for him, kill for him. He will teach you just enough to be useful, but never so much that you might surpass him. And in the end, when your usefulness to him is done, he will cast you aside like a knife that breaks in his hand.’

There was a long silence. Alice’s mouth was dry.

‘However,’ Ending continued, ‘I think you and I can be allies, Alice Creighton. I am trying to find something that I lost, long ago. A book. It is hidden somewhere in the library.’

‘What does that have to do with me?’

‘I am not the only one seeking it. And one of the others is, I think, of great interest to you.’

Alice thought for a moment. Then she remembered what the fairy had said, when she’d eavesdropped on his meeting with Mr Black. ‘The book is here, I’m sure of it.’

‘The fairy!’ she blurted. ‘The yellow-and-black fairy. He’s looking for this same book?’