"Wh-what?" Fatima said, just waking up. "You guys saved me? Even though I tried to kill Dream?"

"Yeah," Dream said nonchalantly.

"But--why?"

"It was the right thing to do," Dream shrugged.

Fatima looked almost embarrassed as she sat up. "I'm sorry," she said, rubbing the back of her neck.

"You should be," Savannah muttered.

"Is that how people do things?" Fatima stammered nervously. "Save people even when they tried to harm you?"

"It's what kind people do, I guess," Dream shrugged.

Fatima looked kind of sad. "Well, okay. I'm really sorry, Dream. I really shouldn't have done that. And by the way, you might not want to go into your cabin."

"Why?" Savannah demanded. "Is this what Mr. LaFontaine was talking about, our lives are in danger?"

"Well..." Fatima hesitated.

"Spit it out," Zac said. "You've already done us enough harm."

"Dream," Fatima said hurriedly, "That phone call wasn't from Mr. LaFontaine. I had my dad record a bunch of times where Mr. LaFontaine was talking, and I pieced that phone call together. I'm sorry."

"What?" Dream said. "I was wondering why it was an unknown number when I clearly had his contact saved on my phone."

"Yeah," Fatima looked guilty.

"So what's in our cabin?" Axel asked suspiciously.

"Snakes. Well, I don't know how many there are, but there's at least one."

Chloe squealed. "WHAT?!"

"How do we get rid of them?" Sawyer demanded.

"Well, um, you can't. You need to kill them."

"Why can't we just capture them?" Dream asked.

"They are very, very poisonous and deadly."

"And who did this?" Zac said, narrowing his eyes. "You?"

"I'm sorry, I was just...mad. I always knew what my mom was like but I didn't want to accept it, you know? I made a mistake. I really shouldn't have," Fatima looked so upset it was hard to not feel bad for her.

"Well," Dream said, "Is there a way to get rid of these snakes...without killing them? Since I think that is illegal."

Fatima bit her lip. "As much as I would like to say that it's possible to get rid of the snakes without killing them, there really isn't. And as much as I would like to say it's legal to kill the snakes...it's not. You'll just have to do it conspicuously."

"Do you have anything poisonous that might kill the snakes?" Sawyer suggested.

Fatima thought for a moment. "Wait! There's this one thing that knocks the snakes unconscious for a short period of time. But it's in my brother's room. Let's go back up to the cabins and I'll go grab it."

"A better question," Savannah interjected, "How? We have no means of transportation, and it's much too cold to walk back to the cabins. And, the cabins are too far away."

"I guess I'll try to call Francesca," Fatima said, reaching into one of her pockets to pull out her phone. "Okay um," she fumbled for a moment, "It's not turning on. Shoot, it must have gotten water damaged when I fell in the lake."

"My phone is waterproof," Dream said, "If you remember Francesca's number."

"Okay, I'll dial it," Fatima said, dialing Francesca's number into Dream's phone.

"Is she picking up?" Dream asked.

Fatima groaned. "There's no service up here. I guess we're too far from the cabins, we'll just have to...wait?"

"Better not be long," Zac grunted.

"Yeah, I'm about to freeze to death here," Axel complained.

"I guess the only way to not die is...huddle together?" Dream said. It was getting really cold.

"I'm sure Francesca will notice I'm gone and come looking for us," Fatima said, although she didn't sound too assuring.

"Yeah," Savannah said. "I...really...hope...so," she said, before falling asleep. Dream frowned. Beside Savannah, Chloe and Sawyer were already asleep, and Zac looked like he was about to fall asleep too.

"What," Axel said, "Is...going...on?" He quickly fell asleep too. Dream sighed, feeling just as lightheaded, before everything turned black. 

---

A/N

Three near-deaths (or maybe this last one may result in an actual death... O_O) in a row! Am I or am I not on a roll??

JK please don't hate on me lol...

Does anyone want another story about the creation/development of this book? Let me know in the comments XD, and if enough of you say yes, I just might give you guys another one in the next update. Or, if you guys find those annoying...also let me know lol.

Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!! A lot is coming in the future...we're roughly 60-65% in! And honestly a little scared of some of what's to come XD...

You know a person is really, really weird when they get scared of something they wrote themselves lol.

Anyways, I'm kind of rambling at this point just to avoid doing homework so yeah, I guess I'll stop here XD Thanks for reading, and please vote, comment, and share! Love you all!

Next update: Monday :)

💙, Stella Rose