Revenge. She’d followed the snarling, red-eyed beast of her anger, all the way through the lava tunnels and the fortress of the ice giants to the Palace of Glass. She’d done what she intended to do, punished Geryon for everything he’d done to her and her father, but somehow it had all gone wrong. Now Isaac wants me to let him out? She couldn’t bear the idea. But without him, it’s all going to fall apart. All the creatures he protects, Ending and Ashes, not to mention me. She’d been ready to accept danger to herself—after all, going to the Palace of Glass had been dangerous enough as it was. But she hadn’t realized how much else depended on Geryon.

But it doesn’t depend on him, not really. They pay him tribute so they won’t have to pay it to someone else or get wiped out in a battle, like my father was. Geryon’s just . . . sitting on top of the pile. They all are.

Like Ashes had said, everyone bowed to someone.

Everyone . . .

She opened her eyes again.

“I’m not letting him out,” she said. “And I’m not going to surrender.”

“What, then?” Isaac said. “Don’t tell me you want to fight the apprentices. You’d never win, and anyway, it isn’t their fault.”

“I’m not going to fight them,” Alice said, thinking of Flicker. “I’m going to talk to them.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

ASSAULT

ALICE DIDN’T HAVE time to do more than explain the outline of her plan before Ending arrived through a gap in the shelves that hadn’t been there a moment before. The great cat was breathing hard.

“My brothers and sisters are closing in.”

“The other labyrinthine are coming here?” Alice said.

“They don’t need to leave their own libraries,” Ending said. “The Readers have ordered them to extend their power to bind me, to block me off from my own labyrinth, so the apprentices can enter undisturbed.” She let out a long growl. “I do not understand. They cannot know for certain that Geryon is imprisoned, and yet they seemed to be in a panic. I will fight for as long as I can, but against all the labyrinthine at once I am outmatched. I will not be able to help you when the apprentices arrive.”

“What about me?” Alice said. “The Dragon granted me some of its power—do you think that they know I can touch the labyrinth?”

“I doubt it,” Ending said.

“Unless one of the other apprentices told their master about you,” Isaac said.

Alice tested and found that she could still grip the fabric of the labyrinth easily. “So far, so good.”

“That will be your only advantage,” Ending said. “Use it carefully. If they find out, the other labyrinthine will bind you too. I am sorry, Alice.” Ending’s tail lashed. “I did not expect this.”