Chapter 3

The old woman's expression shifted. She turned and walked deeper into the woods, gesturing for me to follow.

She led me to a secluded wooden cabin. The porch was covered in dried mountain herbs and hanging snake skins. The air thick with a pungent, musky odor.

Pushing past the heavy screen door, I saw an elderly man sitting in a rocking chair. He looked to be in his late sixties, his skin leathery and his eyes deep-set, but those eyes gleamed like a feral cat's.

"Who sent you?"

"No one. I saw a thread online. It said you can command snakes."

The old man scoffed, taking a sip from his mug of black coffee. "And how do you know I'm not just a scammer?"

I stared back at him. "Because on my way up here, I noticed all the chickens in the yard were locked up tight, and not a single dog in this hollow is barking. The dogs are silent because they’re terrified of whatever you keep in here."

His hand paused mid-air. He leaned back against his chair. "You’ve got a dark shadow over you, girl. Someone put a curse on you?"

I didn't want to explain the whole reincarnation thing. I only had one question: "Is there a way to force a human soul out of a snake’s body once it's been sealed inside?"

The old man froze, his coffee mug hovering.

He stared at me for ten long seconds before slamming the mug onto the wooden table. "Binding a human soul to a reptile is forbidden black magic. Where did you encounter such a thing?"

"I lived through it."

"Lived through it?" His voice pitched higher. "You encountered a soul-bound snake? Was the soul from a living person or the dead?"

"A dead man."

The old man went silent for a long time.

He stood up, paced around the room, and pulled a polished black bone flute from the wall, handing it to me. "The one you met—was it a small snake or a big one?"

"Small. Black with red bands. About fifteen inches."

The old man snorted. "That’s the lowest tier of soul-binding. Trapping a weak, dead soul inside a common garden snake. High on malice, low on actual power."

A sharp light flickered in his cloudy eyes.

"Since you made it all the way out here, it means you want to fight back. The law of the wild is simple—fight poison with poison. Fight small with big."

He reached under his table and dragged out a heavy wooden crate. The moment he slid the lid open, a wave of cold, musky air hit my face.

Inside, coiled on a bed of dry straw, was a baby python, its scales a brilliant, glowing gold. It was only about as thick as my index finger.

It lifted its head and looked at me, its golden, vertical pupils sending a chill down my spine.

Slowly, trembling, I reached my hand into the crate.

The baby python flicked its tongue, then gently crawled onto my wrist. Its cold scales slid against my skin—a sensation identical to the night Kai crawled onto my legs in my past life.

But this time, I didn't flinch. I let it wrap around my wrist like a heavy, golden bracelet.

The old man chuckled. "The little guy likes you. He's small now, but in three months he'll be six feet. In six months, he'll top ten feet. That little black snake won't even dare lift its head in front of him."

"What does he eat?"

The old man grinned, revealing a row of crooked teeth. "He eats snakes. Specifically, other snakes."

When I left the Appalachian hollows, my suitcase contained a specialized, heated reptile case.

Inside was the baby python. I named him Sunny.

The old man had also given me the black bone flute.

"Don't play this in front of regular folks. Snake charming isn't exactly holy work. But sometimes, you have to use darker magic to clean up a dark mess."

I asked him one last question. "Can the soul inside that little snake be expelled?"

The old man thought for a moment. "Once a dead soul is bound to a beast for too long, they merge. If you want to drive it out, you have to make it feel a terror worse than death itself. Snakes don't just fear predators—they fear absolute domination."

"What does that mean?"

"It means you have to make that little snake understand that he isn't the apex predator anymore. You are."

On my flight back, I leaned against the window and closed my eyes.

The memories of my past life flashed behind my eyelids—Chloe holding the black snake, her high-pitched, mocking laughter echoing in my ears.

"Kai, babe, did that bitch taste good?"

And Kai's raspy, disgusting laugh from inside the snake.

And then, the faces of my old dormmates.

"Sera, can you just act normal for once?"

"A snake? Okay, show us some proof then."

This time, I didn't need proof.

Because I was bringing the solution.