Dots of green played on the walls. It reminded Piri of sunlight through the leaves of trees in the wind. She realised she was staring mindlessly, that she was awake and had survived her second night since Adzra let her out of the pearl. The walls, floor, and ceiling were curved—there were no flat surfaces, corners, or symmetry. At first she’d thought it a cave, but when she scraped at the floor and walls she found they were made of wood. It was all smooth and hard with large bumps and grooves. When she rapped it with her knuckles it gave a loud echo. One depression held water. Piri cupped her hands and drank.

The dappled light came from irregular openings high up where the walls became the ceiling. They were far too high to climb to; she’d tried in desperation even though it was obviously impossible, and had some brown marks on her hips, now turning to bruises, to show for it.

The only break in the smooth wood was plugged with a frothy, sticky mass. It started to shake and then tear up and disappear piece by piece. This time she was prepared for the horror that followed, snapping black mandibles that tore the door apart, and thin legs that shoved the parts into a toothy mouth as the creature consumed the doorway. She was prepared, but still she pressed herself against the farthest wall, watching with dread.

She knew what would follow. This one had pincers two feet long, and a broad head to power them. It directed black beady eyes at her. It had six slender jointed legs, and a huge white abdomen. That was the worst part, the skin was glossy and transparent, and whatever was inside was gooey and pulsated.

Piri looked away. It came closer. She pushed herself harder against the wall, but had to look back at it. She knew what it was going to do.

It stood on its four back legs, shoved the serrated tips of its two front legs into its mouth, and drew out a sticky white object. Strings of gluey spit trailed. It held the object out before her, and placed it near her legs. Piri tried not to look at it, but failed. It was about the size of her foot, white and translucent, and inside she could make out the form and structure of a half-formed larva.

The white ant looked at her, waiting.

Piri knew what it expected her to do; it wanted her to eat. It was feeding her an insect egg. Perhaps it was fresh from the termite queen.

It smelled like sugar and urine.

Piri edged away, then doubled over and retched out the water she’d just drank. After all this time, she had nothing else left inside to vomit. She crumpled to the ground and put her head in her hands.

The white ant kept waiting. Last time it had waited at least an hour, then put the egg back into its mouth and left. This time after about five minutes it left the egg and backed away through the door, which the worker ant then regurgitated and rebuilt.

Piri was so hungry she looked sideways at the egg.

She drank more water to fill her stomach and relieve the cramps.

She sat and stared at the shifting light. It was an unattainable freedom; even if she could climb to the windows, even if she could fit through, she had no idea where she was. She might only achieve a fall to her death.

After days of nothing but boredom and hunger, she was wishing for the very thing that scared her the most.

She wished Adzra would return.

At least that would mean change, even if it was for the worse. Right now, she couldn’t imagine what worse could possibly be. Although Adzra was her enemy, she totally relied on her.

The day wore on. The patterns on the walls moved higher as the sun sank lower, and eventually became a pale violet and then a paler grey and then disappeared. Soon it was so black she couldn’t see her own hands, and it scarcely mattered if her eyes were open or closed. She lay on the hard floor and willed herself to sleep.

At some stage she was aware of light, and sat up in fright. It was a little flame, inside a lantern on the floor. Behind it, sitting cross-legged in the flickering yellow, was Adzra in her foxy puka body, still wearing the earthy coloured dress. Behind her strange plants grew, with large heart shaped leaves, and behind them the shifting shadows of the leaves and puka loomed, distorted on the curved walls.

Now Adzra was finally here, Piri wished she’d go away.

‘Not so keen on bugs, now, are you?’ Adzra said.

Piri tried to bring her collection of bugs back to mind. She could remember each one, but the details were vague now. The white ants had replaced them, and Piri shied away from imagining them.

‘Not so much,’ she admitted.

‘The thing is,’ Adzra said, ‘I’m at a bit of an impasse, and I need your help.’ She threw up one clawed hand. ‘Before you reject me—before you think I won’t ever betray my friend, remember there is your own livelihood to consider. At the moment the termites think you are a baby queen ant. This is a nursery cell and they want to fatten you up to start a new colony, but just as easily I can tell them you are an invader, and the soldiers will cut you up into manageable chunks and feed you to their queen. It’s oh-so-easy.’

Piri looked under her eyebrows at the demon. In her current state it did almost seem easy—a few quick slices from the pincers, and all her worries would be over. The idea took deeper hold, and a picture of the pincers snapping toward her formed in her imagination. When it came to it, she knew she would fail, she would beg Adzra to save her.

Perhaps Doncia was stronger than even Adzra knew. If Doncia knew Piri’s plight, surely she would say Piri should save herself, that she could handle the demon. Doncia had always been strong, and she did seem to have some powers she had never really explained. Piri was glad she did not know very much; there was little to reveal.

Who could stand up to this creature that could get into your head and totally manipulate your body? Could Doncia be safe from that?

It was just one tiny secret—that was all she knew.

‘If,’ Piri said. ‘If I tell you something you can use, will you set me free?’

Adzra smiled a pointy smile. All her foxy features directed Piri to her opening mouth, which said, ‘Well, we will take it one step at a time my dear. You cannot really bargain with me, but I’ll give you one promise—I’ll take you from this termite nest, and I’ll feed you something better than ant larva. You didn’t actually eat any did you?’

Piri shook her head.

‘Good. Then it’s as simple as telling me something that helps me understand how Doncia is able to fend me off, what ward or unusual ability she possesses. You are very close to Doncia. I know you know something.’

‘If I tell you, what will you do to her?’ Piri said.

‘I’ll give her an opportunity to help me,’ Adzra said, ‘just like I’m giving you.’

‘That tells me nothing,’ Piri said. ‘What is your purpose; why are you interested in Clee Castle?’

‘Oh Piri,’ said the demon, shaking her head, ‘you’ll need to help me even more if you want to learn that. Let’s just say I have an interest in what happens in the castle, and Doncia concerns me because I have a feeling she is more than she appears to be, and I can’t have that.’

Piri got up from the pallet and walked a few steps toward the demon. She felt strange standing tall while Adzra sat, so she sat down cross-legged also, but out of reach. The demon’s stolen puka eyes, brown and warm in the lantern light, followed her all the way.

Piri wondered what to do. Tears flowed freely down her cheeks, and she could feel them hanging from her chin ready to drip. She was going to betray her dearest friend so the demon did not let the white ants feed her to their queen. But she knew already the depth of Adzra’s ruthlessness. If she told Adzra something she valued, Adzra might just discard her anyway. She had to promise the demon something more, something to ensure the demon would still need her.

‘I want to accept your offer,’ Piri said. ‘I want to help you more and learn what you can teach me. Like how to think inside other people’s heads.’

Do you know what you are saying? Adzra asked in Piri’s head. Do you have it in you to do this, to invade people’s minds, to snap the threads of their will?

Adzra took control of Piri’s body, and made her wriggle closer. Piri’s first instinct was to fight, to reject Adzra’s command, but she calmed herself and let it happen. Her hand was reaching out, and Adzra grabbed it and wrenched her so close she could feel the demon’s stinky breath on her nose. Somehow it wasn’t so bad.

She realised what Adzra had done, trapping her here with the termites. She had placed her close to something which frightened her much more than Adzra herself. Adzra was a reasonable alternative to giant termites, and would never try to feed her larvae.

Adzra relinquished control. Piri stayed close, left her hand gripped in the powerful puka paw. She looked into the brown puka eyes.

‘Yes,’ Piri said. She was ready, but tears were streaming down her face again.

‘Then tell me something.’

Piri justified her actions by thinking the only way to find out what the demon was up to, why it had invaded Clee Castle and why it was concerned with Doncia, was to temporarily obey her. She would bide her time, learn what she could, and when she could, she would thwart the demon’s plans. She would save Doncia, somehow, and save Clee. She could not do that chopped up and eaten by the white-ant queen.

Adzra waited, watching her closely. Did the demon know what she was thinking, did she know Piri planned to betray her in the end, as she was betraying Doncia?

The demon was smiling a little, if that toothy snarl was a smile.

Of course she realised Piri planned duplicity. She was a demon, betrayal was her nature. It didn’t matter, Adzra would win in the end. There was nothing Piri could do.

But she had to try. She cried freely as she spoke. She cried for Doncia—for herself.

‘Doncia has a pocketwatch, just a fob watch, but it is somehow special, or Doncia is, because she can do magical things with it.’

Adzra nodded, listening, her eyes encouraging.

‘She squeezes it tight and somehow feels things that are out of sight, like a boy in the next classroom, or a fish approaching underwater.’

The demon blinked.

‘And,’ Piri continued, ‘When she is frightened or upset, like if someone mentions her father, she always holds it for comfort.’

‘That,’ Adzra said, her big eyes gleaming, ‘is exactly what I needed to know.’

Piri held her breath. Now Adzra would decide her fate.

It didn’t matter. I’ve betrayed my best friend; I am damned. That I care what happens to me only makes me hate myself more.

‘Good girl. Now, give me your other hand,’ Adzra said.

Her arm weighed like lead, but she forced it up and opened her hand. Adzra snatched it and drew her into an embrace.

‘Let’s go home, child,’ said Adzra.