Children of the Serpent

“This is just great!” I mutter as I try to pick the lock of my newest cell. How do I always get myself into these situations? It seems every time I turn around I find myself trapped. Nervously, I run my fingers through my hair and wrap it into a ponytail; a sad attempt to calm myself.

                A quick glance around the cell confirms my suspicions, a small window behind me on the wall; barred, but the bars are easily bent. Too small for the average prisoner, but then again there’s nothing average about me.

                My name is Lux, and for as long as I can remember my eyes have turned people to stone and my fiery red hair has distorted into snakes when I get angry. For most of my life I have cursed these powers, but now I am beginning to understand them. I am special, so I must act special, I do not deserve a normal life, nor do I need one to be happy.

                Now my powers are fading, as each day goes by I can feel myself grow weaker, my hair is losing its intensity, the people I glare at only turn partway into stone. I must leave them, tortured; half-human, half stone. Someone or something is messing with my power. I am going to put a stop to it.

                When I stand in front of the window, I find it is just out of my reach. I hop, just a little and can grip on to the bars. A squeal resounds as I pull on the bars and watch them tumble to the ground beneath me. I wriggle my small body through the window and crawl forward. I flick my head up and around, part of my hair falling in my face. As soon as I feel it is safe I hop up and start to run forward, my feet pounding soundlessly on the soft ground. A few more steps and I come to a wall. I flatten myself against it and sneak a peek around the corner, I can see my escape route, around the edge, up to the gate and up and over.  I slink around the edge, inching closer to the gate. Just as I turn around the edge, my body smashes into what feels like a wall; I fall to the ground, my flaming red hair freeing itself from its tie and pooling around my head. The “wall” falls on top of me and emits a groan. My eyes flash open and I look straight into the eyes of a boy who can’t be any older than I am.

“You....” His eyes flick between my hair and my eyes, as if he were searching for something, trying to find some mark, some defining feature somewhere on me. I swiftly push him off of me and hop to my feet, brushing myself off as I go. Just as I turn to run toward the gate, he grips my wrist and whips me against the wall. I let out a surprisingly loud groan as my head smacks against the cold concrete.

“Shh.” The mystery boy whispers to me and glares at me with flickering green eyes, eyes that reminded me of the scales on the snakes that pop up on my own head. I gasp and cover my mouth with my hand. A guard walks by, whistling a tune I don’t recognize and I stop breathing momentaril y. But somehow, he doesn’t notice us, and the boy crouches low, as if to pounce on something and sneaks around the edge of the wall. He silently makes his way toward the gate. His lean body quickly scales the wrought iron, and he jumps gracefully down to the ground. His hair flops into his eyes, its a beautiful red colour, one I instantly recognize as the colour of my own. The boy sighs and motions for me to climb over the fence as well. I climb up and hop off as quickly as I can, and just for a moment, I lose my footing, but the boy is quick to grasp my arm and steady me. He runs off into the woods, and I am helpless but to follow. He sits down in a heap, a few feet in. After a moment, I decide to sit beside him.

“Do you...do you know what you are?” He manages to get out, between deep gasps of air.

“Do you know what I am?” I ask, quizzically.

“Παιδί του φιδιού’ he whispers, in a language I cannot understand. “ Child of the Snake” His eyes flash, and his hair twitches on his head, instantly growing long and curved. I hear the faint hissing of snakes around us, and his hair turned to snakes, exactly like the snakes that form on my head when I get angry. My eyes widen, as he gazes at me, a look of pain on his face.  He closes his eyes, and slowly reverts back to his human form. I begin to tell him my story, of the day that I was betrayed by my one and only “friend” Mostler. The day I chose to completely turn my back on humanity and live only for myself. His eyes widened, and narrowed as I replayed the entire day for him. Told him of my life, of all the hardships I had endured. His eyes sparkled as he told me of the great kingdom he came from. Of the long white marble tables families sat at to dine. Of the beautiful ballrooms that were packed with people on weekends and special occasions. How the giant gowns of the women flowed and swayed when they walked, and danced. How white and bright the moon looked on a warm summer evening. He soon stopped and looked at me, I stayed transfixed, staring into his bright eyes; picturing for myself the fantastical world he had built in my imagination.