“Dex,” Alice said. “Got it.” She paused. “You’ve done this kind of thing before?”

“Indeed. My master, the Most Favored, has sent me to venture out with my brothers and sisters whenever the stars favor it. Though never, I must admit, to punish one of our own.” Her smile faded slightly, then brightened again. “This is your first outing of this sort?”

“More or less,” Alice said. She didn’t think her trek through the library with Isaac really counted.

“Then I am glad I was the first to greet you!” Dex shook her head. “Some of our brothers and sisters worry more than is good for them. First meetings can sometimes be rather tense affairs.”

“It’s called a healthy paranoia,” a deep voice growled just behind Alice. “And frankly, you could stand to develop a little more of it.”

Chapter Six: The Gang’s All Here

CHAPTER SIX

THE GANG’S ALL HERE

INSTINCTIVELY, ALICE YANKED at the Swarm thread, pulling it inside her to make her skin tough and rubbery. She dove forward, rolled across the rocky floor, and came up in a crouch a few yards away.

Where she’d been standing, there was . . . a shadow. A patch of shadow, solid and three-dimensional, boiling in the direct glow of the devilfish. Scraps of darkness flapped like ribbons of black silk in a gale, coming loose and dissolving into nothing, replenished by a constant upwelling of shadow from below. From this strange thing came the sound of—

Laughter?

“I’m sorry,” said the voice, apparently from nowhere. “I know I shouldn’t do that. It’s just so cute watching new kids jump.”

The shadow dissolved, breaking apart into a storm of flying scraps that fizzled into black sparks, like a photo-negative of a spitting fire. In its place was a tall, pale young man in a black silk cloak, smiling broadly but, Alice thought, with more than a bit of malice in his eyes. He had a long face and light brown hair, which he wore slicked back in a careful part. She guessed he was sixteen or seventeen.

Alice straightened up, slowly, and let the Swarm thread slip away. She glared at him, wishing she didn’t have to look quite so far up to do so. There was something about his grin that she wanted to hit with something heavy. She took a business-like tone.

“You really shouldn’t,” she said. “I could easily have hurt you.”

“Next time I’ll be sure to announce myself,” he said, still grinning, and took the edge of his cloak in hand to make a pretentious bow. “Garret Arcane, at your service. You have my apologies, Miss . . .”

“Creighton,” Alice said. “Alice Creighton.”

“And Dex,” Garret said. “You’re looking well, considering.”