They were sitting cross-legged in a small circle, trying to decide what to do next. The heart-stopping terror of the fall was slowly unfreezing in Alice’s chest, giving way to a bubbling anger.

“No reason to panic?” she said. “Soranna could have died.”

“We’ll have to take better care of her,” Garret said, glancing at where Soranna lay stretched out on the floor. “I don’t know what she’s doing here, to be honest. She’s too young for a job like this.”

“This was supposed to be simple,” Alice said.

“Dex is right,” Isaac said. “That was a deliberate ambush.”

The others all turned to him, startled. Alice didn’t think he’d said more than three words on the whole journey thus far. Now he shifted uncomfortably in the depths of his tattered trench coat. “That was just the first tower. If the wards have disappeared, are we going to run into something like that on every bridge?”

“I can handle it,” Garret insisted. “We wouldn’t have been in any danger there if we’d stayed in a proper group.”

Ellen, uncharacteristically quiet, had been sitting with her chin in her hands while her halo flickered gently overhead. She suddenly got to her feet, glancing down at the still-unconscious Soranna and then over to Garret.

“Come with me for a minute,” she said to him. “We need to talk.”

Dex sighed and leaned back on her elbows as the two older apprentices circled the mound of books on the floor until they were out of sight.

“What are they doing?” Alice said.

“Deciding,” Dex said. “Brother Garret and Sister Ellen will confer and do as they think best.”

“That doesn’t seem fair. Don’t the rest of us get a choice?”

“Only whether to follow or return home,” Dex said. “Unless you wish to strike out on your own.”

Alice looked over at Isaac for support, but he was gone, slouching off in the other direction with his coat flapping behind him. What is wrong with him, anyway? Alice took a deep breath, fighting her exasperation. She shuffled over to Soranna to make sure she was still breathing comfortably, then looked up at Dex.

“I don’t think I’ve thanked you,” Alice said. “For grabbing the root when I went over.”

Dex smiled ruefully. “I am not certain my small weight contributed much to the rescue. But when I saw what you were doing, I could not simply stand idle.”

“It’s more than Garret did,” Alice said. “He was going to let Soranna fall!”

“Do not be too hard on Brother Garret,” Dex said. “I imagine he had a great deal on his mind at the time. And not every master gives his apprentices the education that yours has.”

Alice sat up a little straighter. “I’m not sure what you mean.”