Any deficiencies in her technique, however, were more than compensated for by the prodigious strength of her throwing arm and the active assistance of the “ball.” She hurled the swarmer overarm in a fast arc, its beak aimed squarely at the wolves. The little creature twisted in midair to stay in position, and it slammed into the hindquarters of one beast hard enough to drive its beak several inches into the thing’s rump. The wolf yipped in pain, squirming frantically to get its jaws on the swarmer. Alice let the little thing vanish and ducked back around the corner as the other two wolves spun and came after her.

As they rounded the doorway with a screech of claws on stone, they were met by the massed ranks of the Swarm, lined up like tiny soldiers. Taloned feet made a tiktiktiktik sound on the stone as the little creatures charged, beaks slashing and stabbing. The wolves fought back for a moment, and one of them even got a swarmer in its mouth, but its teeth were unable to make an impression on the rubbery little thing. The wolf yelped as the swarmer poked its tongue, and scrambled after its companion, who was already beating a hasty retreat.

Alice sent the Swarm in pursuit, keeping a few steps behind. The two fleeing wolves stampeded the third one, who had been turning in circles searching for the vanished swarmer, and the three of them set off down the corridor chased by a tide of little black bodies. Alice, her mind half on the labyrinth-fabric, felt Torment react furiously. More wolves burst out of side corridors ahead of them, and others appeared from doorways behind her. Reunited with the rest of their pack, the three fleeing animals turned to attack. The swarmers bounced every which way, kicked and hurled from the wolves’ jaws, as though a bunch of overexcited dogs had been set loose on a room full of tennis balls.

Alice let the Swarm disappear. There was a doorway just ahead of her, and she reached out for the fabric, twisting a path between here and there that took her back onto familiar territory. She plunged through to find herself in the garden room, with its bushes, its flowing fountain, and its enormous central—

—tree. Alice grinned. She let go of Spike’s thread, which snapped back in quivering relief, and pulled the tree-sprite’s around and around herself, until she began to change.