“Okay.” Alice looked at the giant, who was scrabbling mindlessly at the floor in an effort to right himself. “Let’s get going.”

Alice led the way through the curtained doorway, where they found a long corridor of polished stone. They passed a few doorways leading to other corridors, all dark and silent, before Alice caught the scent of growing things and heard the burble of water from up ahead.

She ducked into the next doorway and found herself in a garden. It was a small room, with black, glassy walls, full of stone planters housing shrubs, flowers, and a central tree so tall its crown scraped the ceiling.

Alice leaned out and beckoned the others. “In here.”

A small fountain in one corner fed a wide, shallow pool. Dex helped Soranna to a seat on the side of one of the planters and started examining her leg. She emptied her canteen over the scratches, then underhanded it across the room to Alice, who snatched it out of the air.

“Think the water’s good to drink?” Alice said to Isaac.

“Who knows?”

“Well, if I turn into a frog, you’ll know to be careful.” She frowned, looking around the room. There was only one doorway. “Speaking of which, let’s not get trapped in here.”

“I’ll keep an eye out.” Isaac headed back to the doorway, while Alice went over to the fountain.

She cupped her hands and lifted a mouthful of the water, sipping cautiously. It tasted faintly of stone and dust, but seemed safe enough. She waited a few moments for any magical transformations to make themselves felt, and when nothing happened she went ahead and dipped the canteen, watching the bubbles glug up from inside.

Alice nearly dropped it when a familiar nasty, wet chuckle sounded in her ear. She looked over her shoulder, expecting to find the huge black wolf looming over her, but there was nothing there. When she looked back to the water, though, she could see two blue lights shimmering on the rippling surface, like the reflections of a pair of ice-blue eyes.

“I promised my sister I would look after you,” Torment said, his voice a whispery growl. “But I must say you’re making it very difficult to keep my word.”

“Sorry to be difficult,” Alice snarled back. “It’s a strange way of looking after someone, trying to crush them.”

“If you had accepted my invitation to begin with, or even abandoned the labyrinth when you had the chance, you would have been in no danger. I can’t be blamed if you insist on wandering into the line of fire.” The wolf let out a long-suffering sigh. “However, as you are intent on being unreasonable, I have decided to offer you a bargain. Consider it my capitulation, if you like.”

“A bargain?”

“Not so loud, if you please. This is for you to decide.”