She hurled another fireball at Six. Drawing on the last of her strength, Six dug her fingertips into the scales of the creature’s back and dragged herself up to its shoulder. Her burned arm screaming in agony, she grabbed for the end of her knife, still embedded in the beast’s eye, and jerked it to the side.

The monster whirled, turning to face Eleni as it sought to wrench the knife free. Six pulled back on the hilt, treating it like a steering mechanism and using the pain it inflicted to make the beast go where she wanted it to. She gave it another pull and the creature turned again, then started moving quickly back to the arena.

Eleni gave chase, following Six as her monster reentered the arena and headed towards the stage. Six still didn’t know what she was going to do, but she felt better not being trapped in the tunnel. Here there was more space, more options.

Eleni was attempting to hit Six with fireballs, but she succeeded only in striking the monster, annoying it and causing it to run more quickly. Several of her throws struck the debris scattered over the floor, starting small fires that immediately began to spread. This seemed to confuse and frighten the creatures, who darted away from the flames.

When her beast neared the stage, Six jumped. She landed on her feet, rolling to get out of the way as the creature, now enraged from the pain and its fear of the fire, turned its head and tried to bite her with a mouth full of sharp teeth. Six wished she’d been able to pull the knife from its eye, as she now had no weapon at all.

Then she spied something on the floor. It was one of the staffs that had been part of the costumes for the show. About six feet long, it was made of metal and had been intended for use during one of the acts in which six acrobats performed stunts using the poles to launch themselves into the air. Six picked it up.

Her injured shoulder burned, but she fought the pain as she crouched, gauging the distance between Eleni and herself. The Mog was urging her monster forward, screaming at it in her language. Fireballs shot from her hand as quickly as she could form them. Six swatted them away with the staff, shattering them into bursts of sparks.

She swayed on her feet, suddenly too exhausted to move. As if sensing her weakness, the parasite in her head seemed to grow stronger. She felt her thoughts begin to break apart, and she had trouble concentrating on what she needed to do. It felt like the best idea in the world to just give up, to set down the staff and let Eleni run her over.

Then she pictured Sam’s face. She wasn’t going to give up a chance to see him again. Not for a Mog. Not for anyone. And she was damn sure going to take Eleni out first.