Alice kicked him in the stomach. It wasn’t a very good kick, since she was at an awkward angle, but it was unexpected enough that it connected, and the breath went out of Mah-Li with a woof. If she had been expecting it to get her out of the creature’s grip, however, Alice would have been disappointed, as Mah-Li’s fingers only tightened painfully on her shoulders.

Fortunately, this was not what Alice had been expecting, though she tried to jerk backwards as though it had been. At the same time, she tightened her grip on the Swarm thread, pulling it inwards – not towards the world, to call the swarmers into being, but inside herself.

Mah-Li gave an angry, hissing shriek. He pulled Alice towards him and closed his needle-filled jaw around her throat. Distantly, Alice heard Isaac shout her name. Mah-Li tried to bite down –

– and stopped. Alice could feel the pressure of his jaws. But the Swarm thread coiled inside her had changed Alice’s flesh to the same rubbery consistency as the swarmers themselves, and Mah-Li’s teeth could only dimple the surface of her skin, like a dog trying to bite down on a rubber ball. Alice twisted, and then came free with a sharp ping as several needle-teeth snapped. Mah-Li screeched in pain, clutching at his mouth and staggering backwards.

‘Isaac, now!’ Alice shouted.

She pulled the Swarm thread back the other way, towards the world, and swarmers materialized by the dozen all around her. There were too many to control carefully, but the swarmers had instincts of their own, and once she’d set them to work, they went at it with a will. They nipped and slashed at Mah-Li and Sah-To with their beaks. Little Vin-Si tried to make a grab for Alice herself, but one of the swarmers put itself underfoot, and he slipped and tumbled as though he’d stepped on a tennis ball.

Isaac was on his feet too, and shards of ice flashed through the air on a blast of freezing wind. Mah-Li groped towards him, spines stiff and arms flailing, and Alice attacked his shins with a dozen swarmers. Their beaks left long, shallow cuts that oozed dark red.

‘Out the door!’ Alice shouted, and saw Isaac nod. She started herding the three creatures with her swarmers, even as Isaac blinded them with ice and pushed them backwards. In a few moments the monsters were pushed towards the door, feet sliding on the ice-slicked floor. Isaac frowned, cheeks white with strain, and the indoor blizzard redoubled, the wind shrieking like a chorus of madmen.