But Alice began to realize that she could feel something else through the fabric. She could sense vibrations, as if a mouse were walking across a tightly stretched cloth. She directed a swarmer toward these vibrations, and finally caught sight of a pair of human figures, two bridges down. It was only a momentary glimpse, but it was enough for her to send all the swarmers rushing in that direction.

That was when she became aware of another presence in the fabric, sliding around her with a grace and power she couldn’t hope to match. Torment. It was as though the black wolf were sitting beside her, hot breath tickling her ear.

He wrapped his mental grip around hers and started pulling the fold firmly out of her control, like he was prying her fingers apart. One of the swarmers suddenly lost its connection, and the true weight of its distance from her descended on it like a toppling pallet of bricks. It was torn instantly from reality, sending a stab of pain like a silver needle through Alice’s heart.

She grit her teeth and urged the others to run faster. Torment was catching up, undoing her folds one by one, and each time a swarmer vanished, the pain increased. Sweat popped out in beads on Alice’s face, soaking her hair and running down her cheeks.

Almost there. There were only three swarmers left. Torment pounced on one almost playfully, but the other two were running along the same bridge in opposite directions, racing to reach the two humans Alice could see clearly now in the middle.

Every breath was an effort, but Alice’s heart rose as she recognized Isaac and Dex. They were fighting a pair of creatures that were like bats or moths, with four wide, feathery wings, antennae, and a long, curling proboscis. Isaac sent long streamers of ice condensing around its wings, sending it tumbling helplessly past the bridge. Dex had a more difficult time with the other, trying and failing to skewer it with her swords as its flexible tongue lashed out and got a grip on her throat. Before it could tighten, however, Isaac came up from behind, one hand glowing with a power Alice had never seen him use. When he touched the moth-thing’s wings, they took flame, and the creature fluttered away wildly before combusting entirely in a brilliant fireball.

Torment ripped the second-to-last swarmer out of Alice’s grip. She gave a grunt as though she’d been punched, and tears worked their way through closed eyelids. The last of the swarmers hurried up behind Isaac and Dex, only to find a silvery blade descending toward it. Alice dodged, desperately, and managed to slip aside as Dex’s weapon clanged off the stone. Isaac, following the movement, caught sight of the swarmer and shouted, “Stop!”

“Brother Isaac?” Dex cocked her head. “What is the matter?”