“Oh. Look at those little rats. Look at them. How wretched.” Dregen kicked one in the leg, sneering harshly, laughing with his stomach to make the sound louder, letting it echoe around the room and in the minds of the people who bore witness. Then the hollow shriek as Dregen found himself submerged in the fleshy sea of the Crissons, buffeted from every angle, drowning in the current of agony and pain he had thrust all his other victims into previously with a sadistic feeling of accomplishment. He could hear Jonen uttering the same cries of shock and terror, hear the rushed grunts of air, snarls, huffing, a whirlwind of sound that seemed to crash together all in one huge conglomeration of exploding noise.

Then, as he slipped under into blackness, the droning screech of the cat-like alarm that Jonen had managed to pull down in his descent.