Alex’s blood had curdled to sludge. Her orders made no sense. In his mind, a clear picture was growing, of what it would be like to be left alone down in this hole. How time would crawl past in days and nights and deepening hunger, until . . . He cut that line off.

“Find yourself in a situation, deal with it,” he whispered. He pulled the scissors free. His fingers shook. He tugged out a strand of hair at his temple, cut it off, then stuffed the scissors into his back pocket.

Examining the flier, he saw the panel. Opening it with his clammy hands revealed a shallow compartment, a humdrum metal clip inside. Tiny tubes led strangely off from it, like fine blue threads, disappearing inside the robot. He tucked the hair beneath, hesitated. He looked at his hair lying there. Then he clicked the panel shut.

What now?

Screwing his eyes tight, he focused, straining to cast aside disbelief. He concentrated so completely on the flier that he stopped breathing. Finally, with a choking gasp, he had to give up.

“Oh dear,” Zia called, without interest. “That was none too promising. There are things I could give you to help. Secrets and things. I’ve helped other little cotton brains. Did you see von Sudenfeld with his new toys? But, in your case, y’see, if you can’t do anything on your own, there’s no point. Tell you what, though, you can have another go, best of three. Fair’s fair. I’ll even give you extra motivation.”

As she disappeared, Alex slumped against the wall and slid to the ground, letting the flier drop. He stared numbly at the bricks beyond his feet and thought about his mum, wondering what had happened to him, about his grandfather, captured up there.

He wondered where this well was, what the landscape around it was like. Lonely, he assumed. Forgotten. His heart thudded high in his chest. He had thought he knew what fear was, but now he understood. This now, this was fear.

And beneath it all, another feeling it took him a moment to recognize: the absence of the old toy robot. He had carried it with him constantly for months. Now that he was without it, he felt its lack like a thinning of the blood.

“No, oh, don’t!”

Alex shot to his feet as his grandfather’s anguished cry came echoing down.

“Stay down there, Alex! I’ll save you, just— No! You fiend!” A painful groan.