"Come on!" Liam yelled at the serpent. The darn thing had easily managed to drive him up a tree, leaving his satchel on the ground with everything in it. Though it was smaller than he had imagined snakes to be, it was also smarter than he expected. Too smart. He sat perched on a branch, using a clawed hand to swipe at the monster. It snapped at his finger, it's huge fangs nearly grabbing a hold of him before he pulled away again. The parrot that had followed him squawked at the snake from a nearby tree. It didn't seem to notice. "Go away!" he said. The snake hissed. He hissed back.

His supplies lay behind the vermin, too far away for him to reach without being bitten. Instead, he jumped onto another tree, closer to his bag and farther from the snake.

Swiftly, Liam grabbed the bag, but the reptile yanked the strap down with its jaws. Apparently, snakes were stronger than he thought too. He was playing tug of war with it - and he was losing miserably. Stupid noodle arms.

Fine then. If the snake wanted his supplies, it could have them. The satchel itself was well worn anyway, so even if he would be losing everything else, he could probably go without food for long enough. There was no way Liam was going to continue wasting his time on a greedy snake. If he had to leave his stuff behind, so be it.

He let go of the bag, leaving it for the snake. It seemed to focus on the supplies instead of him, so he climbed down the tree and began walking away.

That is, until what felt like dozens of needles stabbed his arm. "Ow!" he shrieked, tugging his arm in front of him, only to find the slimy reptile's fangs stuck in it. It seemed to smile at him as if it was telling him, 'gotcha, ya idiot.'

In fact, it probably was trying to tell him that. Now that he had a good look at the thing, it seemed way more aware than it should be. As if it was a human in a snake's body. Or a shifter.

"You dirty traitor!" said Liam, hitting its head repeatedly in an attempt to get it to let go. "I bet you're human form is an asshole!" His insults didn't seem to affect the serpent shifter, who was still holding on somehow.

Frantically, he shook his arm, bringing more pain as its teeth cut through more skin. Through his hollering, he managed to hear footsteps approaching the area. The bird above squawked again when something else came out of the bushes.

Nicole stopped and stared at Liam and the snake shifter for a moment, before giving him the most unimpressed expression he'd ever seen. "A boa constrictor? Really?"

"Shut up and help me!" Liam screamed.

"I thought you didn't want my help. You did ditch me, remember?"

"I didn't know this was going to happen!" Nicole chuckled defiantly while he repeatedly hit the shifter's head. "It doesn't seem to want to let go anytime soon!"

Nicole rolled her eyes before pulling a bottle of clear liquid out of her own bag. With the bottle in hand, she approached Liam and the snake and doused the boa's head with it. The monster quickly let go moments after and made no attempt to strike again, slithering away instead.

"We can't just let it go!" Liam said. He picked up his satchel. "It could be working for someone or something!"

"That's ridiculous," Nicole replied, glaring at him. Clearly, she was mad at him. "Snakes don't tend to follow orders. If it isn't bothering us anymore, we shouldn't bother it."

"But it's obviously a shifter! Didn't you see how intelligent it was?"

"Looked like a regular boa constrictor to me. And snakes are pretty smart when they want to be. Now, where's that 'thank you beautiful maiden which I now owe my utmost loyalty.'"

She was sassy, alright. Liam opened his mouth to protest but stopped himself. "Thanks," he mumbled, staring at the tiny red wounds on his arm. The bite didn't actually sting and he wasn't lightheaded, so the snake must have been nonvenomous. Well, might as well deal with the wound later in that case. He started walking away from the area.

"That's all?" asked Nicole, catching up to him and walking alongside him, arms crossed. "How about an apology for leaving me behind? What about an explanation? You haven't even told me about why you need this magical necklace." She waved her hands around while mentioning the medallion.

She was actually bringing that up. Of course, she was. As if it wasn't obvious that he had a good reason. "Okay, I'm sorry," he said, staring down at his feet, "I was just - I really don't want to talk about why I need it, but that medallion-"

"Is important. Yeah. You said that earlier."

"Extremely important." Liam continued. Maybe if he didn't acknowledge the fact that she interrupted him, she wouldn't do it again. Or she probably would. "So important that I might not be the only one that wants it. And if somebody else wants it, that person may or may not be dangerous and, personally, I'd rather not let an innocent girl get hurt because of my stupidity." Obviously, his endeavor to do so had proven fruitless.

Nicole continued to glare at him, but she seemed to lighten up a bit. "Who else would want the medallion then?" she asked.

Why couldn't she just drop it already? Liam let out an irritated huff before answering. "Bad people."

Nicole raised her eyebrow. "Like?"

"Can we not talk about this anymore?" said Liam. His hands were balled into fists. If he said anything else about the issue at hand, he'd probably only become even more upset than before. Even thinking about it felt like a million talons were scratching him, over and over again. Why couldn't she let him forget about it? "You can come with me or whatever, just stop talking about this."

But Nicole refused yet again. "No way! I want to know."

The argument continued for a little while. Every second it continued, Liam became more frustrated, as if the talons were not only scratching him but tearing him apart. For some reason, she just couldn't drop the question. "Who would attack us? Who would want the stupid necklace? Who?"

"How about an entire army for you?" Liam finally snapped. He immediately regretted saying anything. Now, for maybe the second or third time since he'd met her, Nicole was speechless. She just stared. Did she still expect him to say more? He couldn't tell by her expression. "Or spies, or assassins, or whatever other crap would be involved in a war," he added. "Is that enough for you?"

For once, he actually wanted Nicole to respond. The lingering silence felt like the last nail in the coffin. This was real. This was war. Or, it would be if he couldn't find the medallion.

"A war," Nicole finally spoke up. "That's why . . ."

"Yeah," Liam said. He had to face reality, especially when it was staring him right in the face. The entire forest seemed to become a little gloomier. "Do you remember when Gloria mentioned that first war between good and evil?" Nicole nodded. "Well, it never really ended. It only got . . . postponed, I guess. Now, the current spirit guardians of evil intend to finish what their ancestors had started. As of now, the only way to stop this from happening again is with the medallion." Neither of them knew what to say for a moment.

"I'm sorry," Nicole apologized. "I didn't know this was so intense." Another wave of silence, then more. "How are you planning on finding the medallion?" Thank goodness. Something else to think about.

"I don't know." He looked forward. It was true - he didn't know. "I just . . . feel like this is the right way."

"Okay." Nicole sighed. All of her anger from before had seemingly vanished, leaving only the helpful girl he'd met by the waterfall. "Then, you follow your instincts, and I'll follow you." She paused before continuing. "And, I'll try not to be a nuisance. I promise."