“Me.” The Dragon. But not echoing around her own skull. It was real sound, out in the real world.

“That’s not possible,” Torment said. “You can’t be here.”

“Nevertheless,” said the Dragon.

“You swore you would not oppose us.”

“I know,” said the Dragon. It sounded resigned. “Nevertheless.”

“You’re helping her?” Torment seemed nearly hysterical. “You have kept your oath for two thousand years, and now you throw it away for this girl?”

“Yes,” the Dragon rumbled. “You would not understand.”

“But she is our sister’s plaything! Have you changed your convictions after so many centuries in limbo?”

“I have changed nothing.”

“Then you ought to kill her and be done with it,” Torment snarled. “What good can she be to you?”

“As I said,” the Dragon repeated, “you would not understand.”

Feeling was starting to return to Alice, making her aware that she still had a body after all. Every muscle ached, and her breath came in short gasps. Her heart was beating so hard she thought it might explode. But the bright, silver pain, the feeling of the thread tearing her to pieces, was gone.

She opened her eyes. Vague blurs in front of her started to resolve.

“Alice,” the Dragon said. “Can you hear me?”

Alice found that she was still lying on her back, but the weight of Torment’s paw was gone. She forced herself to breathe deep, tasting the ancient dust.

“I can hear you,” she said. It came out as a croak. “What happened?”

“You called for me,” the Dragon said. “And I came.”

Alice sat up. The movement made the world whirl around her for a few moments, and she thought she might pass out. She focused on deep breaths, eyes closed, and bit by bit she settled down. When she opened her eyes again, she could see clearly, and she had to stifle a gasp.

As big as Torment was, he was tiny beside the Dragon. The huge six-legged creature nearly filled the room, curled protectively around Alice in a wall of flat white scales the size of dinner plates. Torment was sprawled in front of her, on his back as Alice had been, with one of the Dragon’s feet on his stomach and its claw pressed against his throat. The Dragon’s diamond-shaped head, itself almost bigger than Torment, hovered menacingly over the black wolf. A row of three hemispherical, insectoid eyes regarded Alice, and the tip of the Dragon’s tail twitched gently on the flagstones beside her.

“You told me to stop,” Alice said. “I thought . . .”

“We will speak of it later,” the Dragon said. “First, I believe you wanted to ask my brother a question.”

Alice climbed shakily to her feet. Her legs wobbled, threatening to give way beneath her, and she staggered sideways into something firm and warm that bore her weight. She looked down to find herself propped on the end of the Dragon’s tail.