“I think you’re missing something important,” Michael said. “Garret told us the labyrinth here would be under control, but we still got separated from the others.” He looked up at Alice, who kept her face blank. “She’s got something up her sleeve that even Garret didn’t know about.”

“So, what?” Jen said. “Are you saying we can’t take her?”

“I’m saying it might be better to at least listen to what she has to say,” Michael said. “She’s right about the apprentices not having a choice. Would you fight me if Master Vin told you to?”

“He wouldn’t—” Jen bit her lip. “I mean—” She rounded on Michael. “Why are you on her side, anyway?”

“Because it’s logical,” Michael said.

“Hmph,” Jen said. “Logic.” She glared at Alice for a moment, then looked away. “I guess we could talk about it. But no tricks.”

“No tricks,” Alice agreed. “Come on. I’ll take you to the others.”

“Brother Michael, Sister Jennifer,” said Dex. “I’m glad to see you decided to join us.”

“Hmph,” Jen said again. She stalked across the clear space to Mr. Wurms’ table and flopped on the bench, raising an impressive cloud of dust. Ashes, who was sitting on the table, coughed.

“What’s the matter?” he said. “You look like something sour crawled into your mouth and died.”

“It’s none of your—” Jen began, then seemed to realize who she was speaking to. “You’re a cat.”

“A half-cat, actually,” Ashes said, delicately licking one paw. “But I’ll forgive you the mistake—hey!”

Jen had grabbed him in both arms and pulled him to her chest, rubbing her face in his fur. “You’re adorable! Look how cute you are!”

“Young lady,” Ashes said, squirming desperately, “if you do not release me at once you’re not going to get away with only a flesh wound.”

“Master Vin won’t let me have a cat,” she said, letting Ashes go. “What’s your name? I was going to name my cat Precious.”

“Ashes. And I’m not a cat, I’m a half-cat.”

Aggrieved, he walked in circles a few times, then sat down in front of Jen to indicate that he’d suffer being petted, but only on his own terms. He closed his eyes and sighed as she scratched him behind the ears. Alice turned away from the pair of them and went to the other end of the table, where Michael sat opposite Dex and Isaac.

“Brother Isaac is an old friend of Sister Alice’s,” Dex was saying. “He’s here to help us work things out.”

“Did your master send you to negotiate?” Michael said.

“That’s not important right now,” Isaac said. “What matters is that we can all fight each other, the way the masters want us to, or we can work something out like reasonable people.”