“Why would you come for me?” Soranna drew her knees in, tight against her chest, and wrapped her arms around them. “You helped me before too. I don’t understand what you want from me.”

“I don’t want anything,” Alice said. “If I hadn’t come, you could have died.”

“I am a servant of your master’s enemy,” Soranna said. She rested her chin on her knees. “Therefore I am your enemy. My death should make you happy.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Even if Geryon and your master aren’t . . . friendly, that doesn’t mean I would be happy to see you hurt.” Alice shook her head. “I don’t want anyone to get hurt.”

“I don’t understand you.”

“Aren’t you glad we got away?”

“My master sent me here,” Soranna said. “If I die, it is because that is his will.”

Alice stretched out her aching legs and rubbed her shoulder with one hand, still feeling echoes of Spike’s pain. Her elbow bumped against her pocket, and she remembered what she’d put in there. She extracted two almost-apples, took a big bite out of one, and held the other out to Soranna. The girl’s face clouded with suspicion, and Alice rolled her eyes.

“Come on,” she said. “I’d hardly come to rescue you only to poison you afterward.”

Soranna unfolded herself a little and took the apple. She bit into it, cautiously, and licked up the rich juice.

“It’s good,” she said softly.

“There’s a few more, if you’re hungry.”

Soranna ate the fruit with small, careful bites, and wiped her mouth on the back of her hand when she was done. She let herself slump back against the books, legs sliding out, and let out a long, shuddering breath. Alice saw tears sparkling at the corners of her eyes.

“I thought . . .” Soranna said, and swallowed hard. “That thing chased me all the way up the tower. With those hands grabbing for me. And when I got to the roof, I was sure it was the end. It was my master’s will that I die here, and I should have been happy to fulfill it.”

“You were screaming,” Alice said. “That’s how I found you.”

“I couldn’t help it,” Soranna said. “I was scared. I shouldn’t have been, but I was. I didn’t want to die.”

“I have to say that seems normal to me.”

“You don’t understand.”

“No,” Alice said. “I don’t. But that’s okay. We’re going to be okay.”

Soranna raised her head and looked sidelong at Alice. “I’m not even supposed to be talking to you.”

“To me?”

“To any of the other apprentices. My master told me I would be polluted by impure ideas. He said he might be forced to destroy me if I was contaminated.”