"I'm not here for trouble, please I just want passage through your water."
" To what end,then?"
Her voice was like the rushing water, clear and exuding this resounding tranquility that echoed through Oliver's ears and met his heart beating rapidly, something he had never experienced before his entire life.
Looking at her lying leisurely by the bank, on a rock beside the only boat Oliver had met there, he grew nervous and shuddered as a strange sensation coursed through him at random, leaving him swallowing his saliva helplessly.
Her hair was as dark as his mother's but longer, and without the thought of his mission in mind, he longed to reach out and feel the hair, like he did each time his mother released her's from the bun.
As the breathtaking view of her serene countenance, lazily stretched over the rock, hexed him, Oliver moved an inch towards her but his legs were so heavy and anxiety had settled at the pit of his bowel but something urged him on, yet he couldn't move an inch further, even when the land appeared to be inviting.
Amused at his dilemma, she got excited and desperately called to him, leaning forward with her palms supporting her c"To
hin.
"I could let you through, if you come closer."
"I... I don't know if that's a good idea. I need to keep going."
"Why the rush?"
Her thin scarlet lips, quivered slightly as she spoke, while her thick lashes flapped, back and forth against her arched brows and forth, alluringly.
Her nose was thin, straight and pointed like a doll's, and looking down from her simple bra towards her bare waist, where green flowed towards the other side, a thought flashed through Oliver's mind.
"Mermaid?"
"Rough guess but no,"he heard from behind him.
"You again?"
"Yes, me again. That's all one gets for wanting to save your lazy ass.
"Never asked to be saved and doesn't seem to be at death's jar, or do I?"
"How would your blindness let you see... look down at the water,"Nina said and Tyler went some step forward to catch a glimpse the same time Oliver looked at the dull face of the water right beside the boat, and reflecting there was the body of a green snake that extended into the water, and almost at the same time, bubbles started rising from the river.
"You may want to step back a bit right now," Nina said and called out to the two young men still staring at the image in astonishment but something different flickered in Oliver's eyes as he locked in with the girl's who being exposed cringed a little, withdrawn, with a sullen look plastered against her once excited face.
"May I know your name... please?"
"Greene,"she replied, with her head lowered.
"Just like your skin,"Oliver said with a smile, and stepped towards her.
And arising from the way, suddenly, a dark slimmy body whipped him on the belly. Fallen back, he watched a tear escape the girl's eyes, and something strange happened.
"Do that one more time and I swear to you I won't leave you so much as a split second to call for Mommy," Nina yelled furiously, fuming with so much rage that for a moment, her skin changed colour.
All went quiet and even for a moment, the sound of the flowing river seemed to have died down in silent surrender at her rage and rebuke.
"And how do you plan to achieve that? Even the greatest sorcerer would dread Medusa enough not to touch her kin...but here you are,"he said and smirked.
"A mere excuse for a human adult..."
"And you Greene, you lusty piece of meat..."
"Garter careful."
"Come on, brother. Your sister may need a human circumcision to keep her bridled... come on Green, why didn't you tell him you are the second of the Green anacondas, and maybe you should have introduced the rest of our family since you are so chatty and uncultured.
Hello, strangers. I'm Garter, and that over there is Diamondback, the twin Nerodias are over there and we have a whole lot of others that would be pleased to meet you, if you make it alive,"he said grinning, satisfied at the attention he had gotten.
"You haven't stopped using his name have you? To the point they call you that now."
"What's she saying?"the crowd in the river kept muttering, and Nina drew close to the water she had long stayed off.
And catching the image, the one called Diamond gasped in disbelief.
"What are you saying?
Don't even think you can achieve much by bluffing... it won't take the smallest of us anything to divide in a second.
"For a small snake, you think too much of yourself...,"and at once, he launched at her taking the full form of the Rattlesnake, but unlike he anticipated, she caught him by the head, pressing down his head, and none of his brothers came to the rescue.
"Please,let him go... I'm sure he's not aware,"Diamond pleaded and without a second look at the creature in her hand, she tossed him back to the river.
Tyler watched in awe as many more rised from the water, approaching the shore, but Oliver was undisturbed, humming with his eyes trained on the young Greene that was yet to recover her confidence since she was exposed.
"Did he take this part?"she asked no one in particular, domineeringly.
"Yes, mother informed us earlier to clear the way when he comes...but she didn't mention anything about you or your friends... and I apologize for what Rattle did."
"Why do you apologize?"another said, incensed against her.
"Believe me, Brown, you don't want to get on my bad side."
"They know her,"Tyler said, awed.
"You will feel less of that if you looked inside the water,"Oliver said casually and as his eyes met the water, he froze.
"Now, look at your own reflection," he added, amused at the horror in Tyler's face