Ludegopuffs.. were really, really frightening, actually. Alice stared at the furry little creature at her station with wide eyes, completely freaked out at the thought of it entering her mind. They.. were really scary, actually, with their Legilimens-like powers and those CREEPY BIG EYES that seemed to be BORING into her head and her SOUL, her SOUL-

Taking a couple of steps back in quick succession, she kept her eyes saucer-wide and glued on the thing.

Okay. Ready. She was.

But she hadn't found a distraction. Looking around quickly, the first person she spotted was Lex, and Lex made her think of ice cream which made her think of how she and Lex and Mo all had ice cream together that summer, and that was how she'd met Mo and started calling him Cactus and how Vivi would always boss him around and he'd stopped letting people boss him around since then, good for him, but Vivi had gotten him red ice cream it was really, really bright and red and that reminded her of the red square but wait wait wait she wasn't supposed to be thinking of the red square because there was a REALLY CREEPY furry animal with TERRIFYING EYES that seemed to be BORING into her head and her SOUL, her SOUL, and knowing that she was thinking of the RED SQUARE-

Oops.

Furry thing was clawing and charging for that red card through the cage, and Alice took a couple more steps back, waiting for it to stop, because that thing was NUTS. And her mind was also vulnerable which was really scary to think about and and and and she wanted it OUT OF HER HEAD already Merlin.

Next card? Already? She needed a NEW distraction, and looking around again, she spotted West first, and he actually had a really nice face, did he know, it was like all symmetrical and stuff, and symmetrical faces were more visually appealing, and Alice thought his head was very visually appealing, the angle of his cheekbones and his hair and his eyebrows and his eyes which were really nice and this super startling color of blue, just like the blue triangle except like ten times prettier, but still like the blue triangle-

.. this was so hard.

The thing was clawing AGAIN, and Alice didn't think she could take anymore steps back without making the station seem like it wasn't hers, so she waited for the next shape and tried not to rip her hair out in frustration and FEAR because that thing was REALLY REALLY weird. Really. It was and.. had she called a shape? No distractions this time, she was trying to use that method Nigel or West or whoever had suggested and think about a blank piece of parchment, eyes squeezed shut in concentration. But the sheet in her head wasn't blank, it was TAINTED with a BIG GREEN CIRCLE and it was there and it couldn't be erased because it was ink and and and and-

Never mind. When she opened her eyes, the stupid scary creature was headbutting at the cage for a stupid green circle and this whole lesson was rubbish and she really needed ice cream.