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Sam sat in the corner of a room, staring at the wall Ellie and her mother were looking at. To him, it was a blank canvas, but the reptilians could obviously see something given how concentrated they were while looking at it. The two reptilians both turned their heads towards Sam at the same time.
“No way,” Ellie said and blinked. “Not my derpy Sam, right?”
“The great seer is never wrong,” Ellie’s mother said with a frown.
Sam raised his head and met Ellie’s gaze, freezing upon seeing her slit pupils. Had the great seer said something about him? Were Ellie and her mother watching or listening to the great seer at this very moment? It was a shame he was missing some context because of his human perception; if he could see and hear what the reptilians could, he‘d have more to do than stare at the floor while they preoccupied themselves. As for why he wasn’t in his cage, Ellie wanted him to hang out with her more even if that meant he was going to be sitting in the corner drowning in boredom while she entertained herself by watching the wall.
“Maybe it’s another pet named Sam,” Ellie said, turning her head back towards the wall.
“Maybe,” Ellie’s mother said and shrugged, redirecting her attention to the wall as well. “But there aren’t that many pets named Sam who’re unrestrained.”
“Why does it matter if Sam is unrestrained?” Ellie asked with a pout. “Any pet can become unrestrained with enough training.”
“I’m just saying,” Ellie’s mother said and frowned. “It’s hard to believe any one human can decide the fate of reptilian society, but if they can, then they’re definitely unrestrained.”
Sam’s brow furrowed. Deciding the fate of reptilian society? Had the great seer made a prophecy about him stealing the GMC? He really wished he could see or hear or experience whatever it was Ellie and her mother were listening to, but he couldn’t, so he did the next best thing: he stared at Ellie with a confused expression.
As expected, once Ellie noticed him, she couldn’t help but answer his unasked question. “We’re tuning in to the great seer’s prophecy,” the small reptilian said. “She said a human named Sam is going to decide the fate of Et Serpentium.”
Sam blinked. Ellie’s explanation was no different from what he had inferred. “Do you think the great seer is referring to me, sundak?”
“No!” Ellie said and shook her head. “If it’s you, you’ll be taken away from me!” The reptilian’s eyes narrowed. “From now on, your name is … Peter.”
“That won’t work,” Ellie’s mother said. “His name is already registered as Sam to the HKC. It’s too late to change it; there are probably people looking through the records at this very moment.”
Ellie frowned. “Then what do we do?”
“There’ll be people looking to gather all the humans named Sam after hearing this prophecy,” Ellie’s mother said. “I think we’ll have to give him up, and when the fuss is over, they’ll return him to us.”
“No!” Ellie glared at her mother. “We can’t give up Sam. They’ll kill him to prevent the prophecy from coming true!”
Sam frowned. Hadn’t Ellie’s mother said the great seer was never wrong? If the prophecy was coming true no matter what, wasn’t rounding up all the humans named Sam a futile effort? Unless the prophecies were only true if nothing stopped them from coming true? Either way, Sam knew what he needed to do. He took in a deep breath and closed his eyes, focusing on the space between his eyebrows. His vision swirled, and a lush field made of candy appeared. If Ellie and her mother couldn’t keep Sam safe anymore, then he needed Raindu to return to his side.
The ferret’s head popped out of a candy rose bush. Raindu grabbed a red flower petal and placed it into its mouth. “Hello, Sam,” the ferret said, its unnatural voice echoing through the field despite the ferret’s closed mouth. “You made contact at the perfect time. I found the GMC.”
Sam blinked and took in a deep breath. No wonder why the great seer had made the prophecy now of all times. “Can you steal it?” Sam asked and took a seat on a log made of candy.
“Yes,” the ferret said. “Should I?”
“What about security?” Sam asked, his brow furrowing. “Will you be in danger if you try to take it?”
“Not a problem,” Raindu said.
One ferret—albeit one capable of ignoring matter—was capable of stealing the GMC on its own? Sam scratched his head. “Before we discuss stealing the GMC, by any chance, have you caused other reptilians to disappear?” Sam asked, thinking back on the warning Ellie’s mother had given to Ellie about recent reptilian disappearances.
“Some,” Raindu said and picked up a whole flower. It held it near its mouth and took small nibbles out of it. “They spotted me; I had to remove the evidence.”
“I see,” Sam said, nodding his head. It was confirmed then; Raindu was the serial kidnapper—how the reptilians labeled the cause of the disappearances because they were still hopeful and refusing to call the cause a serial killer. “Do you need any help stealing the GMC?”
“No,” Raindu said. “They’re not capable of stopping me.”
Sam pursed his lips. Communicating with Raindu through words slightly unsettled him. He was too used to the ferret gesturing and thinking thoughts directly into his mind instead of speaking through toneless vibrations. The former was cute; the latter was unnerving. “The great seer made a prophecy,” Sam said. “A human named Sam is going to decide the fate of Et Serpentium.”
“Sounds about right,” Raindu said and picked another flower after finishing the first one. “I’m close to the GMC now. Should I take it?”
Sam frowned. All he had to do was give the word, and Raindu would complete the mission Monarch had assigned him. He’d return to human society a hero—more importantly, a rich hero. However, what would happen to the reptilians if they lost the GMC? The graylings would rebel, and with their ability to control time and space, even the physically mighty reptilians would suffer while fighting them. What if something happened to Ellie during the rebellion? She had spoiled the heck out of him, shown him so much love and care that he was treating her more like family than his actual family—who, for the record, abandoned him at his lowest point in life.
“Sam?”
The field of candy vanished, and Sam was greeted by Ellie’s green eyes staring straight at him. His breath caught in his chest as chills ran down his spine, and he diverted his gaze towards the floor. “Yes, sundak?” he asked.
“Some bad people might be coming for you,” Ellie said and placed her hand on Sam’s head, “but it’s going to be okay. I won’t let them do anything to hurt you; I promise. You have to listen to me carefully and follow all my orders, okay?”
Sam blinked and looked up into Ellie’s eyes. “Yes, sundak.”
Ellie grinned and turned towards her mom. “I have an idea,” she said. “I’ll be right back.” The small reptilian turned towards Sam. “Stay in your room and hide under your bed. No matter what happens, you can’t come out until I tell you to, okay?”
“Yes, sundak,” Sam said.
“Good!” Ellie said and clicked her bracelet before passing Sam a treat. Ellie waved at her mom before running out of the residence. “I’ll be back soon!”
Sam watched Ellie leave before turning to look at the ground in front of Ellie’s mother. “You heard her,” Ellie’s mother said. “Go to your room and hide under the bed. Who knows what kind of plan Ellie’s working on.”
Sam nodded. “Yes, sundak,” he said and stood up. He made his way through the residence and returned to his room, the wall already open to let him in. Once inside, he followed Ellie’s instructions, hiding underneath the bed. Then, he closed his eyes and focused on the spot in between his eyebrows to contact Raindu, visualizing a field of candy.
Raindu was lying in the middle of the field, staring up at the sky while chewing on a stalk of caramelized grass. When Sam appeared, the ferret sat up and waved at Sam. “Hello, Sam. Have you decided?”
Sam took in a deep breath. “If you steal the GMC, what happens?”
Raindu blinked. “I don’t know.”
Sam scratched his head. If the graylings rebelled the instant Raindu stole the GMC, that’d be a problem. Ellie had just left the residence, and if chaos bloomed in Et Serpentium, she might get hurt. “Wait a bit,” Sam said. “There really isn’t anything stopping you from taking the GMC?”
“There are things, but they can’t stop me,” Raindu said.
Sam nodded. Should he consult with Wendy? He still wasn’t sure what was going on with her and Monarch even after meeting her during that interview. “What do you think we should do?” Sam asked, looking at the ferret. “What if Wendy is lying to us about the rewards?”
Raindu tilted its furry head. “Why would she lie?”
“She sold us off to an unknown reptilian instead of Tamara,” Sam said. “She’s already broken her word once. Who says she won’t do it again?”
Raindu blinked. “What about the warehouse full of candy?”
Sam looked around the field. There was enough candy to give everyone in a starving village diabetes. “Is this”—Sam gestured around the field—“not enough?”
“This isn’t real,” Raindu said. “Try some.”
Sam bent down and picked up a blade of grass. He placed it into his mouth and raised an eyebrow. He could sense the presence of the grass, but he couldn’t feel, taste, or smell it. “Why are you eating it then?” he asked the ferret.
“Why not?” Raindu asked in return.
Sam had no response to the ferret’s question. A sigh escaped from Sam’s mouth as he walked over to Raindu and lay down beside it. “I’m not sure I want to steal the GMC anymore,” he said after thinking about his words for a bit. “Life as a pet isn’t bad, and there’s no guarantee we’ll actually be rich if we accomplish the mission.”
Raindu turned to look at Sam. “I’ll make this easy for you then,” the ferret said and disappeared from view.
Sam sat up and looked around. “Raindu?” he asked. His eyes widened, and he climbed to his feet. If the ferret was no longer in the candy field, then it was active in Et Serpentium. Raindu had said it was going to make the decision easy for Sam, so what else could it mean other than it was going to steal the GMC? It wouldn’t be the first time Raindu did things without consulting Sam while leaving a huge mess for someone else to clean up.
Sam closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. When he opened his eyes again, the field of candy had disappeared, replaced by the underside of Sam’s bed. His brow furrowed, and he closed his eyes, attempting to contact Raindu once more, but the field of candy refused to appear. A thumping sound caught Sam’s attention, and his body froze as he followed Ellie’s orders. She had told him to stay under the bed, and no matter what happened, he shouldn’t come out. For all he knew, the sounds were created by reptilians searching for and kidnapping pets named Sam.
The room fell silent, but Sam continued to hold his breath, keeping his body still. Cold sweat soaked his palms and the soles of his feet. Being a pet might’ve been easy, but it also meant entrusting his well-being to someone else. He was following Ellie’s orders instead of taking measures to protect himself if a group of reptilians did decide to capture him; then again, if a group of reptilians were set on dealing with him, Sam didn’t like his odds no matter how much time he was given to prepare—unless, of course, Raindu decided to reappear by his side. Reptilians were larger, stronger, faster, and from what Sam understood, jiggled full of various techniques suited for any occasion.
After several tense moments, the sound of footsteps entered Sam’s ears. They approached the bed, and a pair of scaled, yellow feet with knife-like claws for toenails came into Sam’s view. Then, an upside-down reptilian forehead and a green pair of eyes appeared, staring directly at Sam. Thankfully, it was just Ellie’s mother. “There’s a problem,” the reptilian said. “Stay here.”
“Yes, sundak,” Sam said. He frowned as Ellie’s mother left the room, closing the door behind herself and locking Sam inside. Sam exhaled and closed his eyes, trying to visualize the field of candy. Unfortunately, Raindu must’ve been busy because the field wasn’t appearing. Had the ferret already stolen the GMC? Was the problem Ellie’s mother had mentioned the rebelling graylings? There was a grayling helping out at Ellie’s residence, and the thump could’ve been Ellie’s mother defending herself against it.
Sam closed his eyes and exhaled before focusing on the space between his eyebrows once more. This time, when he visualized the field of candy, it appeared, and Raindu crawled out of a dense patch of grass before waving at Sam. “Hello, Sam,” the ferret said and plucked a nearby flower.
“What did you do?” Sam asked.
Raindu put the flower into its mouth and chewed. “I took the GMC,” the ferret said. “Would you like to see it?”
Sam’s brow furrowed. As expected, Raindu had made a decision on its own. Didn’t the great seer’s prophecy say it was up to Sam to decide Et Serpentium’s fate? For some reason, it didn’t feel like he had a choice in the matter.
Raindu didn’t care about Sam’s lack of response. The ferret held up its paw, and a large, colorless sphere that was almost translucent appeared in the air above its limb. The sphere was larger than Sam was tall, and it seemed to absorb the light within the surroundings, causing the candy field to dim. Sam stared at the orb as if he were in a trance. His hand stretched towards the GMC, but before he could touch it, the crystal sphere winked out of existence.
“You can’t touch it,” Raindu said. “It’s not real.”
Sam blinked twice before shuddering. He took in a deep breath and exhaled. “Okay,” he said. “Can you come back to my side? Ellie went off somewhere, and there are reptilians hunting for me because of a prophecy. If they find me when you’re not here, I don’t think I’ll make it out alive.”
“I’ll be by your side soon,” Raindu said and vanished from the candy field.
Sam’s vision swirled, and the underside of his bed greeted him once more. He wasn’t sure how far Raindu was, but he hoped the ferret could arrive sooner rather than later. Hopefully, the GMC wasn’t located in a remote area days away; Raindu had been gone for a long period of time, and Sam wasn’t sure if that was because it had to travel an enormous distance or if it had been distracted while searching.
Time passed. Sam didn’t know how long he waited, but eventually, there came a sound from the wall as it slid open. Sam held his breath as he craned his neck, spying on the feet of the entity that had opened the door. There were two feet with three long, gray toes per foot. Sam’s eyes widened. Why was there a grayling here? The creature took slow steps, pausing every so often as if it were inspecting the contents of Sam’s room. As the grayling made its way closer to the bed, Sam’s heart pounded harder and faster in his chest. Although he had killed a grayling once on reflex, he wasn’t sure he could repeat the feat since he was trapped underneath the bed with limited space to move his body. It would be difficult to throw a strong enough punch to defeat the grayling in a single hit.
The grayling’s feet stopped by the side of the bed, the tips of its long toes extending underneath. Sam could only hold his breath for so long; he inhaled through his nose as silently as he could, and he almost gagged. The grayling’s toes smelled unpleasant like a mixture of chemicals used to preserve food long past their expiration date. The grayling stopped moving, and three long fingertips wrapped around the underside of the bed. The shadow underneath the grayling moved, and its head came into view, staring at Sam with its shiny, black eyes. Sam stared back, neither individual moving.
“Greetings, human,” the grayling said after a moment of silence. Its voice was garbled, but Sam could still understand it thanks to its vibe. “Would you like my assistance?”
Sam swallowed. “No,” he said after composing himself. “That’s alright, thank you.”
“Do you not wish to be free?” the grayling asked. “Are the reptilians not cruel to you? They treat graylings as slaves and humans like livestock.”
Sam blinked at the grayling. Was it trying to form an alliance with him against the reptilians? Now that the grayling had regained its freedom thanks to Raindu stealing the GMC, it looked like it wanted to cause as much trouble to the reptilians as possible. Sam wondered if all graylings had the same, vengeful personality because when Raindu had freed the grayling operator on the train, the first thing it did was derail the transportation vehicle.
“Well, human?” the grayling asked. “Are you coming with me?”
“Yeah,” Sam said. He had a feeling the grayling would turn hostile if he answered incorrectly. “I’ll go with you.” Sam crawled out from underneath the bed, and the grayling straightened its back, standing up straight. Sam held out his left hand towards the grayling. “Shake on it?”
The grayling grabbed Sam’s hand, and he proceeded to punch it in the face with his right hand, his fist going straight through the grayling’s left eye and into its head. Sam pulled his arm back and shook the fluids off his fist, unphased by the gore thanks to everything he had experienced over the last two months. “Sorry, buddy,” Sam said. He wasn’t going anywhere, not until Raindu returned to his side.