“I don’t know.” Alice felt something new bubbling up inside her, a hot, bright rage that cut through the guilt and grief. “He lied to me. He’s been lying to me all along. He and Esau killed my father. They didn’t even mean to, it was just . . . just an accident!” She looked up at him, new fire in her eyes. “And your master, Anaxomander, sent your brother here to die, didn’t he? He traded him like a pet. We can’t let them get away with it.”

“Get away with it?” Isaac looked taken aback. “They’re old Readers, our masters. What can we possibly do?”

“I’ll think of something. I’ll find something.” She looked at him speculatively. “Will you help me?”

“I . . . if I can.” Isaac shook his head. “Be careful, Alice. I don’t want you to end up like . . . like Jacob.”

“I won’t. I promise.” Alice took a long breath and looked around the empty platform. “We should go back.”

“Next time I see you,” Isaac said, “it’ll probably be another mission, like this one.”

“Maybe.”

“What if we end up on opposite sides?” Isaac shifted uncomfortably. “I don’t think I could hurt you, Alice. Whatever my master told me to do. If he sent us to fight, I’d . . .”

“We’d work something out.” Alice forced a smile. “We always do.”

Isaac gave a weak smile and nodded. He flipped the portal-book open and looked back over his shoulder.

“I’m glad you were here,” he said.

Then, before she could reply, he looked down at the book and vanished. There was a flicker and a snap as the book slammed itself shut, and Alice was alone.

She waited a few moments, looking back at the constellation of lights that was Esau’s fortress. Going back meant facing Geryon, and she wasn’t sure she was ready for that. She took the black thread that led to the Dragon in her mental grip, and sighed. I wish . . .

But she was filthy, hungry, and so, so tired. She turned back to the portal-book, flipped it open, and Read herself through into the cavern. Then, summoning the devilfish for a little light, she found her way back to the boulder marked Geryon, and the little volume that sat on top of it. She took a deep breath, opened it, and read:

“Welcome back, Alice,” Geryon said. “We were starting to worry . . .”

“Welcome back, Alice,” Geryon said. “We were starting to worry that something had gone wrong.”

She was standing in front of Geryon’s desk, in his study, staring down at the portal-book. Geryon reached out and picked it up carefully, and put it back into its metal cube of a chest.

“How long has it been?” Alice said. Her voice felt scratchy.

“The better part of three days. I trust you successfully completed your assignment?”