Words became senseless shrills and screams, arms windmilling as control of its feet was taken from the Nightcap. It clawed at its face, clawed at the thin ice creeping, trying to rip it away faster than it was growing, but for every small chunk ripped free, more came, and seemed to never stop.

Fear was not a foreign concept, but it was rawest then, completely undeniable and overpowering. What countermeasures could it possibly think of? The girl was reeling, useless, and hardly the world-traveled Darkov she needed to be to give the Nightcap all the knowledge it could possibly get to think its way through the situation.