Finblewick instructed her to lift her arms and turn this way and that while he hurried up and down a ladder beside her. Agapantha appeared wearing a long, blue jacket that reached her knees and was sharply cut, neatly buttoned with silver, showing a glimpse of a crisp white shirt. A thin line of silver embroidery ran the length of the arm. Her brown shoes had been replaced by long, black boots with shiny buckles. Prue couldn’t believe she’d soon get to wear a uniform as nice as this.

Finblewick began collecting various items of clothing from the shelves and bundled them on to the counter for Prue. She ran her hand over the blue velvet of the Guild jacket placed before her – it was as soft as the feather-top grass on the farm.

“What are the other colours for?” she asked.

“Blue for apprentice, gold for craftsman, ruby for master.” Finblewick looked her up and down. “Not likely you’ll make it out of blue, though.”

Prue ignored his snipe and took herself to the changing room. She carefully folded up her farm clothes. Her new uniform smelt of the same pleasant book scent that permeated Deakins. There was no mirror in the changing room, so she had no idea how she looked, but had to admit that Finblewick had done a great job of getting the sizes precisely right. Before she left the room, she tied her hair back into a plait, then put her hand to the silver symbol on her lapel and closed her eyes. Her heart was thudding in her chest. She wondered how long it would take for her note to reach her parents. She ached for home, but she ached more for Francis.

When she whipped back the curtains, Agapantha’s eyes flicked in her direction and she smiled. Cora was busy spinning and looking at her own reflection in one of the glass cabinets, and Finblewick was still gathering equipment into three groups on the counter. Then he disappeared out the back, while strange whirring and grinding sounds came from the unseen room. Eventually, Finblewick returned and put leather toolbelts and rosewood cases on the counter. On the front of the cases in silver was etched Apprentice Haywood, Apprentice Young and Apprentice Duval. Prue ran her fingers over her name. It looked so fancy.

“Did you just engrave that?” Prue said. She was amazed at how skillful a personifate machine could be.

Finblewick nodded. “Well, it didn’t just etch itself! Your tools go into your cases. You’ll need a set of day clothes, judging by what some of you arrived in.” He stared unashamedly at Prue. “You are apprentices; your appearance needs to reflect the privileged role you now have.” Finblewick then went to the shelves for navy woollen jumpers and plain trousers.

They started sorting the tools into their cases.