The creatures, or whatever they were, stood almost three meters tall—if scale meant anything here—their deformed heads brushing the ceiling. They were roughly humanoid in shape, but were not flesh and blood. Instead, they seemed to be pure darkness, coalesced into physical form. They were regions of nothingness, of nonexistence, precisely bounded but with no surface, no texture, no features. They had no visible eyes, yet Sly could sense that they were aware of her, studying her, scrutinizing her, evaluating her as an opponent or as prey.