‘Its sister? Another dragon?’ Isaac scratched his head. ‘I’ve never even heard of another dragon.’

‘That’s what I was trying to tell it.’

‘We are going to have to try to . . . convince it, though. If we want to get out.’ Isaac shook his head. ‘What about magic? What did you call those little bird-things?’

‘I’m not sure I should tell you,’ Alice said, still a little grumpy. ‘You were trying to kill me a minute ago.’

‘I wasn’t – I wouldn’t have killed you,’ Isaac said. ‘And anyway, I think we can agree to a truce, as long as we’re stuck in here with the Dragon.’

Alice sighed. ‘I told you, they’re called the Swarm.’ She felt as though she ought to stand up for them. ‘And they’ve saved my life more than once. Yours too, when we fell—’

‘When you pulled me over the side?’

‘When you froze like a gawking idiot, and I saved you from being eaten by a dragon,’ Alice finished. ‘Yes.’

‘Do they do anything else? Besides protect you and . . . what, bite things?’

‘Not really.’ Alice held out her hand and pulled a swarmer into being. It sat placidly on her palm, staring at Isaac, and gave a little quirk.

‘They’re sort of cute,’ Isaac said. ‘When they aren’t trying to eat me.’

‘I don’t think they eat anything, to tell the truth. They drink blood, though.’ Alice turned her hand over and let the swarmer vanish before it hit the ground. ‘Anyway, I’m not sure they’ll be much good against the Dragon. It’s too big. Maybe if they could get to its eyes . . .’

‘It’s a thought. Have you got anything else?’

Alice shook her head, then paused. There was another thread, a wooden one, at the back of her mind. When she touched it, it still felt jittery, but she was able to get a grip on it. Trying to pull it outside herself, to summon the creature, met strong resistance, but she was able to loop it around herself a few times fairly easily.

She opened her eyes to find Isaac looking at her intently.

‘There’s . . . something else,’ she said. ‘I’ve never used it before, so I’m not quite certain, but I think it’s a tree-sprite.’

‘How can you not be certain? Either you went into a prison-book or you didn’t.’

‘I did,’ Alice said, ‘but I don’t remember coming out again. It nearly killed me, but I think Geryon came in and stopped it.’

‘Oh.’ Isaac was quiet for a moment. ‘Can you summon it?’

‘I don’t think so. It feels like something’s wrong with it. I have an idea, though.’