I almost expect some regret from Ash. But no. That would be too much to ask for. He lets us walk away without our packs with no remorse. I know it wasn’t him, it was the others but still. He was on their team.

“It’s fine. We’re richer by them. We could buy 1,000 sleeping bags,” Valerie says, as we walk back into the forest. Outside for sure, but inside? I’m not seeing any Blacks stores. Besides, it’s not the sleeping bags I’m angry we lost; it’s the chance to become allies or even join the Black Mambas. They could use someone like me and I could use them.

I’m starting to regret picking the money. Having Kiyoshi here could maybe make the group dynamic better. I remember what he said at the boba store. Third wheel? Always caught in middle of argument. I had thought he was referring to Valerie but it seems more fitting for me now. He had said it will be better if we are all friends. I scoff in my head. It will be better if everyone stops cutting down trees and if world hunger is solved and if all the fucking polar bears get their icebergs. Or sheets. Or floes. Whatever. Well, Kiyoshi can’t be here because I said no and instead, he’s playing the role of some villager somewhere on this island. Wait.

“Guys, when the host said Kiyoshi would be at a village. Villages have shops and shops have supplies. We have money,” I say. The other two nod. We’ve lost our map but the island is long and thin so if we just walk the length of it, we’ll be sure to run into the village. We head along the stretch of the island, heading back towards the cobra statue. Let’s just hope that the Black Mambas have moved on. I step into the clearing expecting to be stabbed in the back with a stick again and tense myself. But nothing. They’re not gone though. Same as before, Ash is by the statue with the redhead and the plait girl but the hoodie guy is somewhere else. I feel a prickling feeling run down my spine like an ice cube. Where is he? I motion for Sheena and Valerie to stay where they are and I head towards Ash and the others on my own.

“Seriously Sheena. Last time we all went in, we got attacked,” I say. It’s quite blatantly obvious that she wants to come with me. They hover like the camera drones in the trees. They can see, but not hear me. Ash looks up at me and points me out to the others. They raise their heads like the stone cobra above them.

“What do you want?” asks the redhead, her poison-green eyes glinting at me under mascara black lashes. The other girl stays quiet. It’s maybe even more threatening.

“I want to become allies,” I say. I know I haven’t run it by my team but it’s the right choice.

The girl scoffs. “Why, because we stole your stuff? Seems a little early to give up all faith in your team.” She turns to her friend. “Veda, can you fetch Kata? Tell him we have a problem that needs to be dealt with.” Is she planning to get Kata to hit me with a stick again?

“No need. I can handle her myself,” says Veda. Close up, I realize that her woven into her tight braid are metal spikes. Holy shit. She lifts the hair-whip and presses the tip of one of the spikes gently, a droplet of red blood glints against the silver point before seeping into her black hair. My heart beats faster in my ribs like an animal scrambling to escape a cage. I’m ready to run. She’s ready to strike.

“Is it worth washing your hair for?” asks a voice. It’s not Veda or Ash or the crimson haired girl. I look to where the voice is coming from. The head of the snake. How is it talking? Then I realize it’s coming from someone standing on top. Kata. I can see his black silhouette with the cross behind him looking like the bone structure of wings no longer there. Veda rolls her eyes as if to say ‘what do you know about washing hair, greasy?’. Thinking about it now, he must’ve had wings to get himself all the way up there. Maybe he stole some redbull. I watch as he half runs- half slides down the body of the snake like someone in an anime before striding over to me.

“Name?” he asks.

“Vicki,” I say before swallowing. He stays some distance away from me but still closer than the others.

“Oh,” he pauses a second. “You are the girl Ash mentioned in his interview.” He turns to Ash who shrugs vaguely.

“We knew each other as kids. They were asking about my childhood,” he says. Kata nods.

“But no one else’s childhood crush suddenly appeared on the show, did they Rita?” Kata says and Rita’s cheeks are just as dyed red as her hair. Wait- childhood crush?

Ash shrugs again. “She’s always wanted to be an actress. It’s not that weird.” It’s obvious he wants the conversation to be over. There’s something he doesn’t want me to hear.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

Kata makes a ‘hmph’ noise. “Why are you here? Why aren’t you scared?” Why am I not scared? I scoff. Of a boy with some wooden sticks and a girl with questionable hair accessories? No. It’s a TV show. They can threaten me as much as they like but they can’t hurt me.

“I’m not scared. In fact, I’m impressed,” I say. Kata’s eyebrow quirks. Whether it’s ‘I’m listening’ or ‘seriously?’ I can’t tell but I continue anyway. “Let’s not beat around the bush, my team sucks and yours doesn’t. I want in on the win.” Valerie and Sheena are going to want to know what I’m saying with them, I realize. Hopefully, it won’t matter. I don’t want to appear desperate or begging so I cross my fingers mentally.

“We don’t want or need you here, Kingsnake. Go back to where you came from,” spits Rita, motioning for me to go back to Sheena and Valerie.

“No,” says Kata. “I think you have things to offer us. You’re good at talking but all I’ve seen so far is that you can betray your team.” He’s right. I bet he always is. “You need to impress me. If you can do that, then you're welcome in the den. There’ll be a challenge soon enough.”

“Fine. I can win it no problem,” I say. I’m greeted with a laugh, a cold gust of wind on a hot day.

“No Victoria. You’re going to lose it.” I put out my hand to shake with the devil but he just turns and heads back towards the snake and his team. I do the same except I’m the snake. I’m ok though. We’re all snakes, whether that be a Kingsnake or a Black Mamba.

Valerie waves me over as I come.

“What happened?” she asks.

“She didn’t get our stuff is what happened,” Sheena says. “It’s not too late, we could go in there and beat them up. They have sticks but we have vines and tell me, could you make a noose out of a stick? No.”

“Sheena, I’m not going to hang them,” I say. I’m going to join them. “I tried to do it diplomatically but they didn’t want to. It’s fine. We can just continue trying to find the village.” I can feel the Black Mamba’s eyes on me like the shadow of the snake statue looming over me. I lead them in the direction we were going and we continue the walk. What did he mean, challenge? I don’t remember anything mentioning any tasks but then again, the website, leaflet and letter didn’t specify much. What kind of tasks would there be and how would we find out? Ash said that we had our auditions late. It seems plausible that they could’ve missed things out.

“Ah!” Sheena screams. I look over to see her balancing on one foot as if she’s forgotten how to act when you’re scared so she’s doing what a cartoon character might do. My eyes snap to what she’s staring in. What little color in her face has been sucked away, her blue eyes wide. Under where her foot should be, something moves. I squint to see what it is. Holy shit. It scuttles along the forest floor, its hairy body moving from tree root to tree root. It has as many eyes as legs. I suppose you could say the same about Sheena though. “Get it away from me!” she screams. I want to laugh. Sheena is never fazed except this fluffy spider is making her terrified. If you look at it one way, it’s kind of cute.

“You’ll be fine. Keep walking,” I say, doing just that.

“Tarantulas are harmless. It has less venom than a bee sting so even if it bites you, as Vicki said, you’ll be fine. It won’t bite you unprovoked. In fact, it may have never seen a human before because this island is pretty remote. It’s just as scared as you,” Valerie says, calmly, following me.

“If it’s just as scared as me, then it’ll bite me!” Sheena says but she slowly puts her foot down anyway, as far from the tarantula as possible though. The spider scuttles away from us, obviously unimpressed with its first human encounter.

“See? He wasn’t so scary,” says Valerie.

Sheena shudders. “Don’t give it a gender Val. Next thing you know, it’ll be living with Lucy in your bedroom.”

Nothing much happens for a while. More trees, more vines, more dirt. We don’t see the Silver Boas. I know we’re close when I can smell it. Baking bread, smoking chimneys- village smells. When we step through the trees, I see a fairytale. People are bustling around the town, shopping at the market stalls, all dressed mostly in beige. Kiyoshi must be here somewhere, I think. And so will our supplies.

“Let’s split up,” I say. “Me and Valerie will look for the supplies and you can find Kiyoshi.” Sheena shrugs. I want some time with Valerie. It’ll be like when we normally go shopping, except I’m not seeing any boba stores around here.

“You’re wearing your bracelet!” Valerie says, pointing at it. Well obviously.

“Yeah,” I say. “Shame you can’t wear your ‘pov: ur a taurus’ shirt.” She laughs a little.

“I can try and find something here,” she says, perusing the display or wooden carvings on one store. “Or maybe not.” We find a shop selling a rope after a butchers, bakers and jewelry makers which Valerie somehow didn’t stop in. We walk inside and see the woman at the counter weaving some rope together. That’s a thing?

“Hi,” I say, walking up to her with the rope in my hands before passing it to her.

“That fine specimen will be $5,000 please,” she says in an accent I can’t quite place. Wait what? Five thousand dollars for a rope? I shake my head in disgust. What kind of shop is this? “Too expensive, honey? I think you’ll find that it is worth this much. This rope could be worth your life. See, my other customers don’t mind the price, do they, Jack?” She looks over to Jack who’s inspecting something made of wood. He turns at his name. I look into his black, black eyes. It’s not his name.