She fished out her phone buzzing in her pocket. “Oh crap, I completely forgot,” she said aloud at the screen.
“It’s about time,” she said, answering the phone. “Did you find the door?”
“I didn’t get that far!” Britt screamed into the phone. “I have an emergency. The house is on fire! It’s pouring rain everywhere else on this bloody street except over this house! What the hell is going on? I didn’t have anyone else to call. I don’t know what to do. There are a bunch of snakes in there and one talked to me the other day and anyone else would think I’m crazy except you. I’m freaking out, what do I do?”
Suki stared at the parchment. “You have to free the snakes,” she said calmly.
“Excuse me?” Britt asked.
“They can’t die in that fire. They need to be freed.”
“I’m just supposed to let them loose? In the streets of Valhalla?”
“No,” Suki said. “You’re going to have to kill them.”
Britt went silent for a moment. “Kill them to free them?”
“Yes.”
“I’m to go into a burning building and kill a handful of snakes? That is the most insane thing I’ve ever heard.”
“You are a granddaughter of the Great Mother of Air. You are not standing there in front of that house in this moment by coincidence,” Suki said. “You have to do this.”
“How do you suggest I kill these snakes?” Britt asked.
Suki saw the scene unfold in her head as she studied the parchment. A new talent had apparently emerged. “Beatrice would have a dagger somewhere in the house. It will look ceremonial, with a crystal tip. The only type of blade that will work for something like this.”
“Now I’m supposed to hunt around for a blade as this house burns?” Britt snorted. “No.”
“Look, you’re eventually going to do this, so you might as well agree now,” Suki said. “Take a leaf from Beatrice’s tree to cover your mouth. It will help.”
Britt shook her head and stared at the house. Events had gone incredibly sour, and she almost wished Al would return home. But he was not the answer. Suki was right: she had this magical lineage coursing through her veins, and for some strange, divine reason, she was being called to do this right now.
“Okay,” she said into the receiver. She dropped her phone on the front lawn, moving as if in a daze, and followed Suki’s orders.
She grabbed a leaf from the great maple, said a small prayer for help, and ran into the house.
She ran down the smoky hall into the living room. She opened a few windows, hoping to get some of the smoke out. It wouldn’t be long before the fire department came.
Nothing in the sparse rooms gave her a clue to the whereabouts of any dagger. All of Beatrice’s stuff had been cleared out. “Where would I find a knife?” she asked aloud as she ran into the kitchen. Her heart lurched; large flames engulfed the stove.
She looked quickly for a fire extinguisher but was doubtful it would help. The flames were spreading up the walls; the fire was quickly spiraling out of control.
She ran back down the hall to the front door. A fire extinguisher sat next to the umbrella stand. She dropped the leaf, grabbed the extinguisher, and ran back to the kitchen. Reading the directions on the fly, she pulled the lever and sprayed foam across the room. The pressure was more powerful than she’d anticipated and it shot her backward. She regained her footing and continued to spray until the fire was out. She was shocked at her own capabilities.
She looked out the window; no one was around. The charred kitchen was now all covered in white foam. She grabbed a wet towel and opened drawers with melted handles, looking for the dagger. Coming up empty, she glanced on the counter. A butcher block of knives sat in the corner. One handle was different from all the rest, made of ornately carved white bone.
She pulled it out of the block of wood. It was a tiny paring knife with a quartz crystal tip. She laughed out loud at the small size of the blade.
She ran down the steps to the basement, carrying the fire extinguisher and the knife. She was glad to see there were no fires on this level of the house. She ran into the red room and, after her eyes adjusted, searched for a way to get into the glass enclosure.
“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” she said aloud. She picked up the fire extinguisher and smashed the wall. Glass shattered and she turned her head away from the flying shards. The snakes quickly scattered about the room; all but one—the great white serpent, the largest of them all.
Britt slammed the door shut to keep them in and switched on the fluorescent light. She needed to see, they didn’t.
She locked eyes with the great snake. “I never feared snakes,” she said. “I was around a lot of them as a child. I really don’t want to hurt you.” She looked around the room, and all of the others had coiled themselves in corners, watching curiously. The white serpent undulated as Britt started to back away. There is no reason to kill this creature, she thought. Suki must have been mistaken.
She lowered the knife and the white snake lunged and sank its fangs into her forearm. Britt yowled and, in a reflex action of self-defense, sank the blade into its neck. She let go and fell backward against the wall. She searched quickly for her phone and remembered dropping it somewhere outside. She barely took a step before she started to feel woozy. The venom was traveling through her veins, turning her skin hot enough to make her break a sweat. She leaned her head back on the wall and held her arm with her other hand. A sense of hyperawareness came over her eyes, and she thought she might be starting to hallucinate.
She watched the mouth of the snake move and instead of a hiss, she heard it speak. “Like the Kundalini, the serpent is the life force of Mother Earth. She has awakened. We that traverse the ground felt this coming long before humans sensed it. It is now time for us to leave and take our rightful place among the stars with the other creatures out of time. I offer you the forbidden fruit that will set your passions free. After all, you have done that for me.”
The snake’s body fell like a costume had been unzipped. A fine pink mist remained in the air, a combination of blood and water vapor. The mist became denser as seconds clicked away.
Britt sank to the floor, sure she was hallucinating, as she watched a woman materialize out of the mist. She seemed out of a storybook. Her black hair was cut bluntly, and a crown of gold and red jewels adorned her head. Britt couldn’t make out if she was wearing clothes. A shimmer of gold mist clung to her body, hiding it.
The goddess-like creature moved very slowly. “Thank you, dear one. You did a great deed. I have been in that encasing for a very long time.” She lifted her arms in a flowing manner, stretching her body. “It feels so good to be free.” She looked at Britt’s arm. “I am sorry for that. It won’t kill you.”
“I killed the snake,” Britt said in shock. The whole scene hadn’t quite registered in her brain. She looked down at the lifeless body of the snake. Its appearance seemed almost rubberlike.
“Yes, I couldn’t be freed any other way. I am Neith, high priestess of the primordial waters of the First Age.” She looked at the other snakes. They had all come forward out of their corners with curiosity.