‘I suspected as much. Magic, you’ll find, is nine parts dull to one part excitement, and the exciting bits usually hurt like the blazes.’ He scratched his cheek and smoothed his whiskers absently. ‘The same as anything else, I imagine.’

‘I just want to learn something, sir. If I’m to be your apprentice, shouldn’t I be studying?’

‘Learning magic is not like learning Latin or algebra. It’s more like learning to swim, or to ride a bicycle. No amount of study will substitute for even a little bit of doing. Which is why you’re here today.’

Alice did her best not to look excited, but her heart beat a little harder. ‘Yes, sir.’

‘As in many things, the first step is the hardest. There is a certain – feeling, a perspective, a view of the world, perhaps, that in time will become utterly second nature to you. But getting that first glimpse of it is tremendously difficult.’

He cleared his throat with a great harrumph. ‘For the same reason that it is difficult to explain in words, it is hard for me to prepare you for our work here. What you must keep in mind, above all else, is that nothing you experience while I’m working with you is real in the sense that you understand it. When we are done, you will find yourself sitting here in this room, without a mark on you. You have my word on that. Do you trust me?’

‘I trust you, sir.’

‘Good. Are you ready?’

Alice nodded. ‘I’m ready.’

‘Give me your hands.’

He extended his own hands, palms up, and took hold of Alice’s wrists. His fingers were thin, but his grip was iron-hard. Sitting so close, she could smell him, warm and cloying.

‘All right,’ Geryon said. ‘Now, if it helps, feel free to scream.’

Alice’s heart slammed in her chest. Anticipation, she thought, is always the worst part. The moment before the doctor puts the needle in your arm is much worse than actually feeling it go in.

Then Geryon did – something. Nothing she could see or hear, but she felt it nonetheless. Something invisible leaped across the space between them. It settled over her face like a mask, scrabbling at her skin like a living thing until it found the corners of her mouth and flooded inside her. She could feel it spreading out, like she’d inhaled a mouthful of hot gas, down into her lungs but also up, filtering through her sinuses and out through her skull until it found her eyes.