It was a wolf, in mid-leap. Alice tried to sidestep, but she was moving too quickly, and the beast fastened its jaws on her arm. Its teeth ripped a great ragged hole in her sleeve, but her Swarm-hardened skin proved too tough for them. Even so, the momentum of the creature pulled her to the ground, and girl and wolf went down together in a rolling heap of fur and flailing limbs.

Alice ended up on the bottom, on her back. The wolf released her arm and went for her face, jaws wide. Alice could smell its hot, stinking breath, like rancid meat. She jammed her hand under its muzzle, pushing it up and away, and gathered her legs underneath her. She planted both her bare feet in its belly, fur soft between her toes, and shoved with all of Spike’s strength. The wolf was launched into the air so hard it rebounded off the ceiling and landed in a whimpering heap.

Alice scrambled to her feet and ran. The next turn led to a corridor with a half-dozen wolves blocking the way, and Alice headed back the way she’d come. She ran down another corridor, and reached the next doorway just in time to see a pair of wolves saunter into the hallway behind her. They weren’t running anymore, just padding after her, jaws open and tongues lolling, as though mocking her earlier gesture of defiance.

They’re playing with me. The realization woke a deep, smoldering rage. Torment is playing with me. He’s got me going around in circles. She’d forgotten, in her haste to get away, that the labyrinth included the interior of the keep. He wants me to keep running until I drop. The Dragon had been right about its brother’s animal nature.

Okay. Alice tried to calm her mind. I’ve got his attention. I need to keep it. Now what?

He’s not the only one who can play tricks with the labyrinth . . .

“I’m really sorry about this,” Alice muttered out of the corner of her mouth.

The swarmer dipped its beak, regarding her with beady black eyes, almost as if it understood. Alice hefted it carefully, testing its weight, then leaned around the corner. There were three wolves waiting there with their backs to her. They’d expected her to come from the other direction, but a little twist to the labyrinth had put her behind them instead.

She stepped out, quiet in her bare feet, and hefted the swarmer. I wish I’d paid a little bit more attention when the boys played baseball in the street.