“Oh,” said Mrs Duval, looking down and noticing Edwin for the first time. Mr Duval said nothing and glanced at Mrs Duval. “Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” said Mrs Duval, sounding merry on the surface, but Prue could hear the venom within her words. “Cora, perhaps you could invite Agapantha to visit while her parents are away.”

Agapantha looked down to her feet.

“Remember to pass on our good wishes to your parents, Miss Young. Come along, Cora,” said Mrs Duval, breezing away, closely followed by the others.

Mr Duval muttered something about falling standards as he walked away.

“Come along, Cora,” Prue mimicked. As she watched them move along the street, she observed Mrs Duval snap her fingers at a small hedgehog personifate who had been standing imperceptibly at the side of the street beside Fortesque’s Fanciful Footwear. Mrs Duval pointed to Cora’s boots and the hedgehog hurried in with a cloth to clean and shine them.

“She didn’t even talk to him, so I doubt there was so much as a please,” Prue said, shaking her head. “Come on, let’s go inside and get some fudge.”

*

Later that day, Agapantha and Edwin were drafted in to help Lavender with dinner preparation, so Prue seized the opportunity to take the pneumerator to the factorium, as she wanted to make notes on the page numbers she’d marked down in the library previously. Also, another letter had arrived earlier in the day and she wanted an opportunity to read it alone. To her relief, when Lavender passed it to her, it was addressed to “Apprentice Haywood”. She read it on the pneumerator. They were still cross with her, but it was less red hot than the previous letter and they’d included more general talk about the farm this time. Perhaps they were coming around to the idea of her being a Guild apprentice. But it was still written in her dad’s hand, not her mum’s.

There were still a few craftsmen, personifates and the odd apprentice to be seen as she headed for the library, but the factorium was much quieter at the weekend. She knocked on the door.

“Hellooooo!” said the cheery voice of Phineas. She pushed the door open and stepped inside.

The librarian was sitting among piles of books at the far end of the room with his great furry back legs crossed. He looked up. “Ah, Apprentice Haywood wasn’t it?”

“I hope you don’t mind me coming here at the weekend. I wanted to get ahead with some studies.”

“Not at all, I greatly admire your dedication. Do excuse the state of disarray; I decided to reorganize the section on ancient history. Are you looking for anything in particular?”

Prue’s skin prickled with expectation. It was the first time she’d been able to really research by herself. “I’d like to find out more about the harnessing process and the wildspark.”