Even though Kim had rarely played video games, she knew what this was: a boss. A bigger creature at the end of a level that she would have to defeat. The Ex-Boyfriend Who Was A Professional Gamer had taught her that, mostly by calling her a boss-level monster, which she hadn't taken as a compliment.

  "Begone!" she said. "Just go away!"

  The boss mutt mindslayer did something very eerie. It smiled, its odd jaws creaking as it did so, the giant thick mindwhip swinging behind its head like a boa constrictor.

  Kim hummed. It happened naturally, and it was not out of fear. Something about the humming made her calmer, her muscles steadier. Don't sing aloud, she told herself. But hadn't Damon said she was a diva in this world and wasn't a diva a singer? Maybe the humming made her that bit stronger. Her sword vibrated as if it were picking up the humming, and it became more a part of her body, her way in the world.

  Kim did the only thing she could think of; she charged directly at the boss mutt mindslayer.

  "Kim be nimble!" she whispered. It was a mantra she used whenever she was in karate. She ducked under the boss mutt mindslayer's mindwhip and, in a move that came to her at the last moment, grabbed the thick stalk as it was coming back and the momentum threw her past the boss and beyond the second line of mindslayers.

  She kept her speed up and dodged the rock-like limbs and the whipping mindwhips. Any stalk she couldn't avoid, she sliced, which led to more screaming and, at one point, when she managed to cut off a mindslayer's head, an image of her getting an 89 on a physics test hit her.

  "Thanks for bringing that up!" she shouted.

  But she returned to humming, and it made her go faster; she was certain of it. It wasn't until that exact moment she realized she was humming the theme to Mission Impossible. Maybe that was a little too symbolic. She charged towards what she assumed was the far wall of the room without a single enemy in her way. She kept her eyes open for a ladder. Or a ledge.

  What would he do? She wondered. He, of course, was that stupid wizard with the perfect beard. Blayre enjoyed the taunting. But there was usually a very slim chance of escaping his traps. Otherwise, what was the point of the game?

  She hit the wall. Literally. It rose suddenly, like a black iceberg, and she tried to stop but slipped on some odd ochre and got her hand out in time to prevent herself from cracking open her head. The rock was as smooth as glass.

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  "Perfect!" she said. She shot a glance backward. The mutt mindslayers were racing towards her, their strange legs and arms making them look like they were performing a frenzied dance. And rumbling along in the lead was the boss mindslayer.

  Kim ran beside the wall, one hand pressing against it, hoping to find a stone that pushed in or a ledge she could leap onto.

  Then she saw a glimmer of hope. Blayre had allowed a rope to dangle from the darkness above. The biggest problem was that it was ten feet up the wall. She gave a valiant jump and scramble, but couldn't get near enough to grab it. Instead, she tumbled down, smacking her knee.

  So this was the sicko wizard's joke! A rope she couldn't reach. Blayre probably had a magic eyeball watching her right now. She would give him the finger, but why allow him the satisfaction of seeing her anger? Plus, he might not even know what that gesture meant.

  A mind whip whistled past her ear and stuck to the wall. She immediately dodged, and another hit right where she'd been. At least five of the mutt mindslayers were ahead of their boss—these had longer legs than the others. And longer whip stalks.

  Which gave her an idea.

  For the second time, she charged towards them, and when one of the ponytail-whip thingies whipped through the air, she sliced it, and grabbed the wriggling, squirming vine-like stalk. At the far end of it was a sucker, puckering open and closed, still trying to stick to her.

  She dodged another blow from one of the mutt mindslayers, did an about-face and ran towards the rope, sheathing her sword at the same time. The wriggling eye stalk was not the easiest thing to aim, and when she threw it towards the wall, it wriggled off to one side and fell to the floor. She tried a second time, and it whizzed past the rope.

  The third time, she was, as Uncle Gord would say, good enough to be lucky.

  It missed the rope but stuck to the wall, about three feet below. Almost a bingo! Kim pulled once to be sure it was a solid hold. Then she scrambled up, arm over arm. The wall was too smooth to find any grip with her feet, so it was mostly her arm muscles doing the work. Her dojo had ropes leading to the ceiling that the students were forced to climb every day. She thanked Sensei Allen for the consistently torturous exercise. And she kept humming Mission Impossible, which helped.

  After climbing several feet, her arms were burning, and at any moment the eye stalk could break or let go. She glanced over to see the boss mutt mindslayer only a few feet away.

  "More sugar!" it growled.

  It whipped its mindwhip outward, and she pulled up to avoid the blow, and the smaller mindwhip she was holding snapped. Rock shattered where the boss's mindwhip hit, but its sucker still stuck.

  Kim fell. She felt a momentary panic, then kicked out a foot and stepped onto the boss's mindwhip and gave one last jump towards the rope.

  She grabbed it with both hands and dangled there. All of that running, swinging and fighting, not to mention the fear she'd been feeling, had drained every reserve from her body.

  "Sugar!" the boss and all its smaller underlings sang. "Pour some sugar on us! It's urgent!"

  The sugar song got closer and closer.

  Which is when the rope rose, pulling her towards the ceiling.