The look in Gigabyte’s eye as his head swept around told Finn that just such a strike was coming.
Finn turned—trapped—with the snake quickly closing around him. He shut his eyes and regained his focus. His arms lost their tingling.
A girl screamed.
* * *
To Finn’s six friends, Gigabyte’s head strike appeared to happen with the speed of a fighter jet. The massive head seemed to be feather light as it flew like a spear at Finn’s body.
Amanda screamed.
The head pierced Finn’s projection and drove right through the boy, once again making no contact. Once again, confusing the predator.
The snake lifted his head up into the sky, already twisting and turning its flashing tongue in search of the scent that connected to the piercing scream he had just heard.
Philby tugged hard on Amanda’s arm and got her running. The planting was thick; it would not be easy going for such a large snake. He could take nothing like a straight line to reach them, but was forced instead to stitch his way through the dense undergrowth. Perhaps this explained the serpent’s attraction to Finn, who was out in the open and looked like easy prey. If anything, the very size of the snake was an impediment. He was powerful and strong, yes, but his weight and mass slowed him and prevented him from traveling well in dense terrain.
Gigabyte launched himself in the direction of Amanda’s scream, cutting a rut into the soft lawn, throwing mud and grass to either side.
* * *
Finn, who lost his brief state of all-clear the moment he heard Amanda scream, was struck in the back by the snake’s departing tail and knocked six feet up in the air before sprawling onto the ground. Like a pendulum, the snake’s tail swept back toward him, this time aimed for his head. Finn reached out to block the blow, but for reasons unknown to him, ended up clutching to the tail and holding on for dear life. This softened the blow and prevented another, but left Finn rushing along the grass at nearly thirty miles an hour, swished from side to side, and wondering how long he could hold on.
Gigabyte sensed the parasite holding on to him. The snake didn’t give free rides. He turned his head just far enough to get a glimpse of the glowing boy clinging to his tail—but at the exact wrong moment.
The snake’s head collided with a light blue steel-rail fence. It bent and popped through the railing’s two center pipes which, as the snake turned, put him into a headlock, with his jaws stuck like a key in a lock.
Finn let go and took off running. The snake turned farther to catch sight of him, but in doing so further turned the key in the lock, preventing his own escape. He struggled briefly, writhing with the effort.
Finn ran, and ran hard.
Gigabyte, not able to pull free, went still. The snake dislocated his lower jaw, thrust his upper jaw forward and, as the mechanism came apart, pulled his head from the fence. He looked to the right, licking the air—the scent there was fading; to the left there was only a blur of light running away—no scent at all.
Finn heard a ferocious hiss charge the air from somewhere behind him. Farther and farther behind him, as it turned out.
He would soon try to describe that sound to others.
“Like it was…cursing,” he would say.
Upon reaching the rendezvous, Finn demanded that Philby return the borrowed pants and shirt, something even Willa believed beyond the call of duty, given the somewhat desperate nature of their current situation. But Philby did not object and took off, returning a minute later in only his underwear, having left the clothes outside the door of the store. Again he was subjected to a volley of cackles and derisive snorting.
“Don’t look now,” he said, out of breath, “but we’ve got visitors.”
Finn peered around the edge of the building and out toward the fountain.
“Did they see you?” he asked, over his shoulder.
“No, I don’t think so.”
“Who?” Charlene asked.
Philby answered, “It’s the Vikings and the caveman and his boy.”
“They’re looking for us,” Finn said in a whisper as he joined the others. “Must be.” He glanced around for a place to hide the fob, somewhere they could find it when they next crossed over. The gardens and grounds were out—Cast Members worked on the landscaping every day of the week. The stainless-steel water fountain had no hiding places; Finn couldn’t just leave the fob out in the open.
“We’d better think of somewhere fast,” Charlene said, who had nominated herself as scout and was keeping one eye on the fountain. “They’re getting closer.”
“How can this be so difficult?” Finn asked.
But it was. Unlike the teepees in the Magic Kingdom, there was no obvious out-of-the-way spot in which to conceal the fob.