Ashes bristled, his hair standing on end, but a low growl from Ending silenced his protest before it began. He stalked away haughtily, tail lashing in his wake.

“It is best that he not be involved. For his sake, if something goes wrong.” Her golden eyes followed Ashes for a moment, then returned to Alice. “The second option is to attempt to complete the plan. To trap Geryon with The Infinite Prison. But if his suspicions are already raised, I can see only one way to do it, and if you fail, then you will bear the full force of his wrath.”

“I’ll do it,” Alice said immediately. “I’m not going to hang you out to dry, not now.”

“Somehow I thought as much,” Ending said. Her huge eyes were hard to read. “Come with me, then.”

“Geryon doesn’t know yet that you’ve returned,” Ending said as they walked. “We’ll have a little time to prepare, at least.”

They reached the nook where Alice had practiced her Writing.

“Sit down here.” Ending indicated the familiar wingback chair. “You’re going to transfer the trap spell from The Infinite Prison into this volume.” Ending nodded at a slim book bound in tatty red fabric on the small table.

“Geryon keeps a book in his study that contains his innermost wards and protections,” Ending continued. “He uses it when he requires the utmost security. If he suspects that you and I have betrayed him, he will certainly activate them when he speaks to you. It happens to be almost identical to the one I have here.

“You will have only one chance. You must swap the books, so Geryon opens the trap and Reads it before he realizes what has happened.”

Alice dug the The Infinite Prison out of her pack and looked at it with her inner eye. The spell inside was far more complicated than the simple wards she had created on parchment. She could see certain basic similarities, but the full depth of it was well beyond her understanding. Her heart sank for a moment as she traced the web of power that ran through the book.

“How can I transfer something this complicated?”

“Examine it closely. The trap, which binds the Reader, is only a small part. The majority is the prison that keeps him bound, and that can remain here.”

Alice looked more closely. Ending was right—most of the spell was an endless loop, turning back on itself over and over like a tangled ball of yarn. The trap hung from it, a vicious, jagged thing, connected by a few thin strands.

She found her attention drawn to the prison, though. It was hard to see what lay at the very center, but she felt like there was something moving there, and she felt a tingle in her mind. An odd buzz, like radio static, that almost seemed to shape itself into words. Into her name.

“Alice . . .”