The Mystery of the Ophidians

Chapter 9

Rachel sat on the bed in her hotel room thinking about how she could get into Alfonzo's room and look at the e-mail. She needed to read that e-mail. But how? Room cleaning services only on Tuesday which was yesterday. She couldn't wait for one week to read that e-mail. As she was lost in thought she heard a knock at her door. She took in a deep breath and opened it. To her surprise, it was Mr. William from the animal control. He gave her a wide smile. "I have some more news for you. Would you mind coming to the animal control building to see it? Betty told me you're trying to find who did this. I think this discovery will help you in your mission." he said. Rachel's mind raced with the possibilities. What could it be? She nodded quickly and grabbed a sweater. 

10 minutes later-

Rachel could still smell that familiar scent she smelled the first time she was in the building. It smelled like animals and hospital. She quickly followed William Jones to the snake habitat. "It's okay. The snakes are in their cages." He said noticing that Rachel was shivering. "Here they are. Though venomous, jumping vipers are extremely friendly. Unless it's an emergency, the snakes won't bite. Look." He said. He walked over to the cages. The snakes were inside it. They seemed happy. "They're nice to anyone, not only me. Take a look." he said. A visitor was walking by them when he stopped them. "Would you mind taking a look at these friendly snakes?" he asked. The visitor seemed thrilled and walked over to the snake cage. They slithered around making contented noises. "Thank you." Mr. William said. The visitor smiled and left. 

But as soon as Rachel walked over to the cage, the snakes started hissing and throwing themselves against the cages trying to bite Rachel. They opened their mouth wide and fixed their eyes on her. Their wide yellow eyes narrowed into slits as they hissed throwing themselves towards her. Rachel backed away from the cage terrified. A few animal control men rushed over. Mr William spoke with them and returned to Rachel. "Those snakes, they were angered by your presence somehow." He said. "But why?" Rachel asked. "Well, I'm not sure but I have a guess." he said slowly. Rachel looked at him. "I think they might have been trained. But as I said before I'm not sure." he said. Rachel nodded.  "It's really likely that they were trained." she said.

back at the hotel-

Rachel walked into the hotel. Betty was waiting for her. Her eyes lit up. "Rachel! Look, I have something for you!" she said excitedly. Rachel walked over. "I did a lot of research on Jumping Vipers and listen to this." Betty shuffled through her sheets until she found the one she was looking for. She showed it to Rachel. It was a printout with pictures of the snake. A few sentences were highlighted. Betty read them out loud. "Jumping Vipers are extremely calm and friendly. They do not attack unless threatened. They are extremely tamable. They can be taught tricks. These snakes are not to be messed with when they're angry. To tame a viper, it must trust you." Rachel processed the information. then she told Betty about the visit to the animal control center. "The snakes must have been trained to kill you!" Betty said. Rachel nodded. "It looks like that." 

 "Wait!" Betty exclaimed suddenly. "To tame or charm a snake it's hypnotized by music played on a pungi or bansuri. Give me your phone." After tinkering for a while with it, she handed it back to Rachel. "I downloaded the snake charming music onto your phone. Check it out. If you ever encounter a snake, you can hypnotize it!" Betty said. Beautiful and traditional music flowed out from the phone. It was mesmerizing.

A/N- I really do my research on snakes, Blue Hill, the location, jumping vipers, and all the stuff in this story because I want it to be accurate. 

This is a picture of  a pungi-

A pungi, is a real instrument. It's used by snake charmers. The bansuri is also a real instrument. It looks like an old wooden flute. Here's a picture-

Bansuris are made of bamboo and they're a not-so-common musical instrument.

Link to wikipedia's page about Pungis-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pungi 

Link to wikipedia's page about Bansuris-   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bansuri

So far, I've been writing an author's note for every chapter. The mystery of the Ophidians is #11! To think that this book has made it to the top 20 is just amazing! My research really pays off! Thank you guys! Huge hugs and lots of thanks.

~ nerdybookworm2004