Written in the Stars *EDITING*

Chapter 30: Parseltongue

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It was times like these that Mia wished she hadn't written a specific fear down. When Mia had pulled "Snakes" out of the mason jar, she had thought about lying about what was written. So she had hesitantly started to say poetry but Nathan had noticed the way she hesitated and avoided eye contact. With one look, she told him the truth. She had no idea how she could get over this fear. Snakes were creepy, slithering creatures. It made her shiver just thinking about it. Nathan had reassured her and told her he would be by her side the entire time they accomplished this fear. At first, Mia had thought they would go to a random field and find a snake for her to look at until she wasn't scared.

Instead, Nathan had driven her to the Wildlife Organization two hours away. It was a large building where people could pay to enter and interact with and learn about all kinds of animals. Mia paid both their entrance fees and immediately realized the fee was worth it when the first animal they came across were adorable baby goats. "They're so tiny," she awed. She continued to fawn over the animal when it bleated at her.

"Come on," Nathan grabbed her hand. "We have to go to the snake room." Mia contemplated the probability of convincing Nathan to let her spend hours with the goats and forget her snake fear. Knowing it was highly unlikely, she sighed and let him drag her to where her fear would be. When they entered the room, Mia noticed it was filled with four families. The parents were sitting in the back while the kids were in the front, near the employee. Turning to look at him, Mia formed her mouth into a line. Most of these kids looked at least six years younger than her. "The website said this was for all ages," he shrugged.

Rolling her eyes, Mia stood next to one of the kids as the male employee started to talk. Thankfully, Nathan stayed next to her. "Today, you are going to meet some beautiful creatures. Some people are scared of the mighty snake, but let me tell you, she is a wonderful thing. Each of you is going to hold one and my assistant here is going to walk around and show you the proper way to hold them. Grab the snake, gently, around mid-body, lift it up, and then support it with both hands."

The assistant walked over to the first kid in the line and handed her a tiny snake from a glass cage. She corrected the little girl's hands before moving to the next person, a little boy wearing overalls and a trucker hat. "Is it too late to leave?" Mia pleaded in a whisper.

Nathan had been frowning at the snake cages, a little rattled by them. "We're already here, we might as well stay."

"These here are the western hognose snake. They are a species of nonvenomous snake in the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to North America. Endemic means it is only found in one location on our mother Earth, kids."

The assistant had finally reached Mia and was holding a snake in her hands, ready to give it to her. Mia gulped and held her hands out. It was a tiny but long animal, with brown spots and a black tongue. Bella, the assistant, fixed Mia's hands and moved to give Nathan a snake. "I'm good," he tried to say.

Mia glared at him. "If I'm doing it, you have to as well Caldwell." He closed his eyes and took a breath in thought.

"Fine." He held his hands out. Mia turned back to the snake in her hands. It had started to crawl up her left arm in an S motion. Mia held her breath as it crawled, scared that it would bite her. When it continued to move up her arm and stick out its little tongue, she realized it wasn't as scary as she first thought.

"You are just adorable," she cooed as she observed the snake. The fear had quickly evaporated and in its place was only joy as she watched the animal stick out its tongue every few seconds. "I'm going to call you Nagini." Mia started to fawn over the snake and hiss at it in "parseltongue" every few seconds. Nathan paid her no mind, trying not to drop his snake. It had slithered considerably far up his arm and Nathan was hurriedly asking Bella to take the snake. With a laugh, the assistant did so before going to help one of the kids.