Alice, blushing, wondered exactly how much Helga could know about it. She’d yet to work up the courage to ask if there were male ice giants and, if so, what role they played. Fortunately, she was saved from further discussion on the subject by a faint scrape of claws on stone. Alice looked around and found Ending’s yellow eyes gleaming from the shadows of the nearest library aisle.

“Ah,” Helga said, her own eyes narrowing. “You had better go.”

Alice nodded and got to her feet. Ending’s tail whipped back and forth, slashing the air like a metronome.

“Alice,” she rumbled. “Will you walk with me?”

Alice fell into step beside the huge cat. “Is everything all right?” she said. “With your siblings, I mean.”

“For now,” Ending said. “The other labyrinthine have retreated, and we can expect a breathing space. The old Readers cannot be certain what happened, but fear of the Ouroborean will keep them away for a time.”

“How long do we have?”

“I cannot say with certainty. Weeks, perhaps a month. Even if they dare not use the portals, they can send creatures to spy on us across the physical world.”

A month. Compared to the frantic pace of the last twenty-four hours, it seemed like an eternity, but also like no time at all. How much can we possibly accomplish in a month?

Into the silence that followed, Ending said, “I am sorry.”

“For what?”

“I told you to find The Infinite Prison. I knew using it on Geryon would free whatever was inside, but I assumed it would be something I could easily deal with. I never expected the Ouroborean. Its very presence tore up the labyrinth and blinded me to what had happened. I was . . . too confident.” She paused. “I asked Ashes to tell you to run.”

“He did,” Alice said. “Did you really expect me to?”

“No,” the big cat said. “I expected you to die.”

Another pointed silence.

“I’m sorry to have disappointed you,” Alice said.

Ending turned her head toward Alice and gave her a toothy smile. “I should have known better. You have a habit of doing the impossible.” The labyrinthine stopped just ahead of another intersection. “What will you do now?”

“I thought about that, a little,” Alice said.

“And?”

Alice laid out her plan, trying hard not to stammer. When she was finished, Ending blinked slowly, and then gave a deep, rumbling chuckle.

“You don’t think it will work?” Alice said.

“I’m not in a position to say,” Ending said. “I believe you are the one I have been looking for all these years.”

“Someone you can work with,” Alice said. “A partner, instead of a master.”

“A rare thing. A Reader who does not think like a Reader,” Ending said. “Who turns against abusing her power. Why?”

“Because it’s wrong. It’s cruel.”

“Rare indeed,” Ending murmured.