“Be my guest. Perhaps start with the history section – that’s my favourite – then mechanics, art and design; oh, the joys you have ahead of you! Now, you may borrow as many as you can carry out of the library, aside from those with the Guild stamp on the spine; those must stay within these walls. It helps protect the secrets.” He winked.

“Thank you, Phineas,” said Craftsman Primrose, and he led them deeper into the great room. “This is the history section, where you’ll find anything from ancient times right up until the mechanical revolution. It’s so important to have an understanding of where we are in time and place. There’s a fantastic shelf dedicated to the history of pre-personifate ghost theories and studies – absolutely fascinating stuff.”

Prue made a note to have a good look in that section.

“Over here is a section on art and design, where you will find both practical and aesthetic guides. This section here is mathematics – one for you, I hear, Agapantha – and personifate mechanics is above; the whole section there is devoted to the various aspects of synthetic muscle and internal mechanisms. Indeed, there are one-hundred and ninety-one books on internal mechanisms alone, I believe.”

“One-hundred and ninety-two,” said Phineas, flying along the rolling ladder above them and popping a book into a vacant slot. “And opposite is our fiction section, somewhere to truly lose yourself, or find yourself, in fact. It’s rather bursting at the seams. I’ve had to ask Master Woolstenbury’s permission to extend into the old storeroom next door, but it won’t be ready for a while. If there’s anything you can’t see on the shelf, then I may have it tucked in a box somewhere – just ask.” And with that he scooted his foot along the floor and flew back the other way, holding the ladder with one paw and waving the other.

Craftsman Primrose clapped his hands together. “I think the best way to learn is to explore. Find your own interests and spend some time discovering. I have some research to do myself, so just ask me or Phineas if there’s anything you can’t find.”

They began browsing, and Prue went straight up the ladder to the mechanics section. A book titled Early Personifate Technology by Grenvil Ashby caught her eye. She had a quick flick through – it was utterly fascinating, seeing how simply constructed the very first ghost machines had been and to see how far they’d come in just eighteen years. But it wouldn’t help in her search for Francis. She needed to work out how to find him, and how to make sure that when she did, she could bring his memory back.