Nod grabbed M.K.’s hand, yanking her out of the path of the deadly arrow. They tumbled into a pit. The starling passed, not seeing where they went.

“What was that thing?” exclaimed M.K.

“You’ve never seen a Boggan?” asked Nod. “Someone had a happy childhood. Come on, let’s regroup.”

“You mean up there? With those things?” said M.K. “They almost killed us.”

Nod spotted something behind her. “Don’t turn around. Walk toward me slowly.”

Instead, M.K. whirled around quickly and saw a dark shape with beady eyes. At first, she was frightened, and then it came into the light.

There stood an adorable field mouse, grooming its face with its paws.

“Aww!” said M.K. “Hi, mousie. Look at its wittle hands, and its wittle whiskers.”

The mouse bared its super-sharp teeth and let out a roar. M.K. suddenly understood that what might be cute when you’re human-sized can be deadly when you’re two inches tall!

M.K. screamed, and the mouse charged. M.K. and Nod ran to the side of the pit. Nod leaped up to another level, as if he were a cricket. “Jump!” he instructed.

“I can’t jump that high!” said M.K. But when she turned and saw the mouse barreling at her, she screamed again, and leaped. She was amazed at how high she could jump. “Did you see what I just did?!”

As the mouse charged again, M.K. jumped with confidence—only to hit her head on a root sticking out. She fell hard and now was out cold.

“Great,” Nod said with a sigh. So he ran up the wall and backflipped, landing on the mouse’s tail.

The mouse started running, going after M.K., but Nod held it back by the tail.

That is, until the mouse whipped its tail, body slamming Nod. The mouse snarled, then crouched, ready for the kill.

Just then, Ronin dropped in. Using his sword, he sliced off one tiny millimeter of the mouse’s whisker. The creature yipped and scurried off.

“They have very sensitive whiskers,” Ronin said with a shrug.

“You know, I had this,” Nod said.

“Sorry. From my angle, it looked like it had you,” Ronin pointed out. He walked over to M.K. and woke her up. “Are you all right?”

M.K. still felt woozy. “Dad? I had the most messed-up dream. There were talking slugs and tiny soldiers and—” She spotted Ronin, Mub, and Grub. “Aw, mannnn,” she said, disappointed.

“Let’s move,” ordered Ronin. He whistled, and his bird flew to his side. “New seating arrangement,” he said to M.K. “You’re with me.”

M.K. thanked him. She thought Ronin seemed more in control than Nod, at least when it came to keeping yourself alive.

“You’re with the slugs,” Ronin told Nod.

“Disgusting,” Nod said with a sneer.

As Ronin and M.K. walked off, Mub got right up into Nod’s face.

“Do you and I have a problem?” Mub said.

Nod was confused. “Uh, I don’t think so.”

“What was that over there? A little chitchat? That’s real cute,” said Mub. “You trying to jump in?”

“What are we talking about??” asked Nod.

Mub rippled his gelatinous bulk. “There’s a code. Amongst men. It goes something like this: I saw her first.”

Nod’s eyebrows furrowed. “You’re a slug.”

“So?” Mub replied defensively. “You think she’d want you? Look at yourself.” He leaned in. “Oh, that’s right, you can’t—because your eyeballs are stuck all the way inside your head!”

Mub and Grub snickered.

“What’s wrong, flat face?” teased Mub. “Are you going to cry? Do you want me to call your flat-faced mommy?”

“You know, you’re not insulting me,” Nod told him. “You’re just grossing me out.”

Mub stretched his eyestalks right into Nod’s face. “You’ve been warned.” Then he poked Nod in the eye.

“Ow!”