In an attempt to quiet the tumult in her mind, she lay on her bed, closed her eyes, and summoned a single swarmer. Reaching in to see through its eyes was easier now; she surveyed her room from this new perspective: her trunks in the corner, the pair of stuffed rabbits on the windowsill, the haphazard stack of books she’d borrowed from the library on the nightstand. At her command the swarmer jumped off the bed, bounced, righted itself, and peeked out the half-open door and into the hallway.

I wonder how far it can go? Geryon hadn’t said anything about it. Alice sent the swarmer out towards the servants’ stair, its claws tik tik tiking on the floorboards. From its low vantage point, all the doors looked like enormous, looming portals, and the gas lamps were distant glows far overhead. When she got to the stairs, Alice stared through the creature’s eyes at slab-like steps descending, apparently endless, into a deep abyss.

She hesitated a moment, then determined to give it a try. It was liberating, being in someone else’s body; no matter what happened to the swarmer, she had the snug certainty that she could always let it vanish and find herself lying in her own bed. In her mind’s eye, she could see Ashes’ disapproving glare, but she banished him with a thought. I’m a Reader. This is what being a Reader is.

The swarmer tried the first step, and Alice realized immediately that descending was going to be tricky. The step was nearly as tall as the little creature’s whole body, and its short, bird-like legs didn’t come close to reaching the first step. The best Alice could manage was to make it balance on the edge, then hop down, but the swarmer’s natural instinct was to tuck its legs in and bounce rather than to land on its feet, and she felt it roll dangerously close to the edge of the next step before it popped back up again.

Maybe this isn’t such a good idea, she thought, eyeing the mountain of steps. Still, she wasn’t the sort of girl who gave up easily. Another hop took her down one more step, and another, until she thought she was getting the hang of it. She was just getting into a nice rhythm when the swarmer’s claw slipped on a smooth spot in the wood, sending it tumbling. Alice was too surprised to right it in time, and the little thing curled itself into a ball and hit the next step hard enough that the bounce took it down two more and sent it bounding back into the air.