Alice, after a moment’s hesitation, kept running. Horrible sounds came from behind her, the cracks of breaking chitin and the soft whoosh of slashing shadow blades, mixed with Garret’s taunts. She had almost caught up with Dex and Soranna when a sharp click-clack of armor-plated limbs warned her that something had gone wrong.

Two ant-things had gotten in front of them, bypassing Garret by climbing along the underside of the bridge. The two girls stumbled to a halt, and Dex ducked nimbly under a lashing tail, but Soranna wasn’t quite so agile. A pair of pincers closed around her waist, seizing her in an iron grip and lifting her completely off the ground. She gave a high, piercing wail.

“Soranna!” Alice shouted.

She ran toward the creature, but was blocked by another ant-thing. Alice grabbed its pincers, holding them apart with all the force of Spike’s strength. Ahead, another creature had cornered Dex, who was slashing at it with two swords that shimmered like silvery moonlight. The monster holding Soranna was retreating with its prize, back over the side of the bridge.

“Garret!” Alice shouted, hands trembling with the effort of keeping the ant-thing’s pincers apart. “Do something!”

“What?”

Garret turned, saw Soranna disappearing over the edge of the bridge, and moved fast, sending out a wave of shadow that cut the creature in half. The front part crashed to the stone, but the rear, already half over the edge of the bridge, wobbled drunkenly on collapsing legs. Then, tail still clutching Soranna, it toppled and started to fall.

Time seemed to slow down, the girl’s terrified scream telescoping into a thin whine. Alice didn’t waste her breath with shouting. She ducked from between the ant-thing’s mandibles, letting them snap closed where her head had been, and ran for the edge of the bridge. At the same time, she dug in her pocket and pulled out one of the three acorns. As Soranna went over the edge, Alice tossed the acorn to the ground, pulled on the tree-sprite’s thread with all the mental strength she could muster, and jumped.

Chapter Nine: Freefall

CHAPTER NINE

FREEFALL

THE ACORN SPROUTED as soon as her power touched it, like a wound-up jack-in-the-box released at last. White-green tendrils surged in all directions, growing with manic speed. One of them caught up with Alice as she jumped, wrapping around her ankle and growing along with her as she fell.

Below her, Soranna was struggling free of the pincers of the dead ant-thing. Alice pressed her arms in and made herself as narrow as possible, like a diver, until she was close enough to the girl to grab her arm. Alice pulled her away from the creature and into a tight embrace, then closed her eyes and sent her attention back up the slender thread of root.