There were times, when properly motivated, when Leni was capable of running as swiftly as Lynn, most often when rushing from one end of the mall to another to take advantage of a sale just before closing. Today, however, the thought of Lana in danger was enough to pump her system with adrenaline, and within minutes she was already bursting through the front door of her house, taking great big strides as she ran up the stairs to the bathroom at Lisa's command. Once there, she set her sisters down, motioning for Lana to take a seat on the toilet while Lisa stood in the corner, ready to supervise.

"Alright, so what now?" Leni asked.

"Get the mouth wash."

"Lisa, your breath is fine. We need to focus on helping Lana right now."

"It's not for me, its for the snake. Mouth wash will make it release."

Leni still didn't quite understand, but figured that asking more questions would just waste time. Besides, as far as she was concerned, she had no real reason to doubt a girl who spent her spare time researching string theory. With a nod, Leni set to work digging through the cluttered medicine cabinet, pulling aside half empty tubes of toothpaste and jars of ointments in her search. As she did, she heard the sound of fourteen feet stomping through the hallway outside the bathroom. Sparing only a glance over her shoulder before returning her attention to the cabinet, Leni saw the rest of her family, minus her parents, crowded around the door, most of them looking confused or irritated. No doubt Leni's mad dash to the bathroom had interrupted whatever they had been doing.

"What is going on in here?" Lori demanded, but at the sight of the snake instantly her demeanor changed to one of worry, just as it did for the rest of her siblings. A collective gasp echoed through the room as they watched blood leak out of Lana's hand onto the black and white linoleum floor, and all at once Lana found herself surrounded on all sides by her sisters and brother. It was a tight squeeze, all ten of them in one tiny space, but they were too preoccupied fawning over Lana, making a huge fuss over her condition, to notice how cramped it was. They were all speaking at once in voices soft and compassionate, almost infantile in the way they doted on her. Someone was gently stroking her hair, others were tenderly rubbing her shoulders and back in soothing gestures, and Lola, usually so bratty, had wrapped her arms around her twin's neck in a hug.

"Oh, you poor thing," Lori said, all annoyance in her voice having melted into a motherly tone. She knelt in front of Lana, taking her free hand and holding it between both of hers'. "How badly does it hurt?"

"Only a little now," Lana answered, and it was the truth. Once the initial shock wore off, she discovered that the bite itself wasn't actually that painful, akin to a sharp pinch. More uncomfortable than anything else.

"I guess you could say this is a really scaly situation, eh? Get it?" Nine voices groaning at once filled the air at Luan's pun.

"Do you need me to suck any poison out?" Lucy asked. "We could pretend I'm a vampire turning you into one of my undead minions."

"There is no poison, Lucy," Lisa said in a tired voice, and it suddenly hit Lana how of all her siblings, Lisa was the only one not even attempting to make a show of her concern. All of the others were practically smothering her with their attempts at consoling her, making a big show of their emotional support through this frightening experience, and Lisa only stood in the corner, eyes half drooped and arms crossed as though she found the proceedings exceedingly boring.

Doesn't she care about me? Lana wondered. Lisa always made a point of telling everyone how little she cared for human emotions. Did that extend to love, even for her family?

Lana could only consider such questions for a moment before Leni triumphantly shouted "Got it!" and rushed back to her side, nearly-empty bottle of mouth wash in her hands.

"What's that stuff for?" Lincoln asked.

"Lisa said it will make the snake let go," she said, though she didn't sound too convinced. Turning back to her youngest sister, she asked, "what next?"

"Simply pour a little bit over its mouth. A drop should do it."

"This isn't going to poison the snake, is it?" Lana asked, a hint of alarm slipping into her voice. Most of the others awww'd at the question. There the snake was, digging its teeth into her hand, and Lana was still more concerned for its safety than her own. From Lola to Lori they all thought her a big-hearted animal lover.

Lisa, of course, was less sentimental. "It'll live," she bluntly stated.

"Yeah Lana, don't worry," Leni happily said as she poured the small amount of liquid in the bottle into the cap, "this will just make his breath nice and fresh for his next date." Just as she was about to pour a few drops onto the snakes head, Lori reached out and halted her sister's hand.

"Wait! if we're gonna do this, shouldn't we do it over a bucket or something so it doesn't go slithering on the floor and bite someone else?"

"I'm on it," Luna said. She grabbed the small tin garbage can under the sink, removing the trash filled bag and tossing it aside. She went back and held it under Lana's hand, and with everything in order Leni finally splashed a few green mint-smelling droplets near the snake's mouth.

The effect was instantaneous. Immediately the snake unclenched its jaws and let out a pained hiss as it slid off of Lana's arm into the basket below. There it coiled upon itself, flicking its tongue inside and out of its mouth as though nothing had happened.

"Woah, I guess they should start calling this stuff hiss-terine! Hahaha, get it?" This was one of those rare times when many of the others chuckled at one of Luan's jokes, albeit more as a sigh of relief than because they actually found it funny. Lana, however, was too busy staring down into the garbage can to laugh. She observed the snake, trying to check for signs of injury, and as far as she could tell it seemed absolutely fine. The sight of it there, wrapped around its own body, called to Lana's mind an old black and white film she once saw on TV with her parents. A scene stuck with her of a stop motion cobra rising and swaying its way out of a wicker basket at the sound of a charmer's flute, and for a second she was tempted to ask Luna if she would be willing to give such a thing a try. She quickly thought better of it, however.

"Where did this happen?" Luna asked.

"Down by the creek at the park," Lana said. Hanging her head slightly in shame, she added, "Leni tried to get me to leave it alone, but I wouldn't listen."

"It's okay Lana," Leni said, "It's all over now."

Garbage can held an arm's length in front of her body, Luna made her way to the door, only pausing a moment when she heard Lana ask, "where are you going?"

"Down along the creek. I'm gonna release this thing back into the wild where it belongs."

"Alright," Lori said, "just be careful. We don't want it biting you too."

"And don't hurt it," Lana added.

Luna flashed her little sister an easy smile. "I won't. I promise." With that, she left the room. The others watched her go before Lori brought their attention back to the matter at hand. Namely, Lana's hand.

"Alright guys, let's finish getting Lana all patched up." Inspecting where the snake had bitten her sister, Lori saw twin puncture marks where bright red blood flowed freely. "God, that's a lot of blood," she whispered, sounding almost frightened. "Lynn, do you still have those bandages in your room from when you took up boxing?"

"Yeah."

"Go get them please." As soon as the order was finished, Lynn ran out the room as fast as her feet could carry her. "As for you," Lori said, turning back to Lana, "we need to wash your hands."

"Awww, do I have to?" Lana whined.

"Yes Lana, I'm afraid so. Come on, I'll help you up." Too short to reach the sink without assistance, Lana resigned herself to having Lori wrap her arms around her midsection and hoist her up. Once she was high enough, Lana turned on the faucet and squirted a hearty supply of liquid soap into her palm. She tried working up a lather, but as soon as she began rubbing her hands together she felt a fresh pain in the injury. Of course, as she was cleaning out an open wound, she expected it to hurt somewhat, but this was of a different caliber entirely. Almost as though there was something still inside her hand, under the skin. Before she could clean herself, she darted her hands away from the water and winced.

"Lana," Lori said firmly, "I know you don't like washing your hands but this is important."

"But it hurts!"

"I'm sure it does, but if it gets infected it's going to hurt a lot more."

"No, I mean it feels like there's something still in there. It kinda feels like a splinter."

"Let me see." Lori set Lana down and inspected the laceration again, keeping an eye out for anything strange. Sure enough, in one of the marks she could make out a thin, almost translucent sliver of something stuck in the flesh, though it was hard to see as it was obscured by all the blood.

"It's probably one of the serpent's teeth," Lisa said. "Lana tried to pull the snake loose at first, which likely dislodged one of its fangs." Though she knew her sister was just stating the facts, Lana couldn't help but feel as though Lisa was blaming her, as if she were saying this whole mess was her fault. In a sense, Lana supposed it was, and that revelation brought a fresh wind of shame to blow over her. At least until she felt Lola holding her hand.

"Hold still," she said, and Lana could see that she was holding a pair of tweezers in her fingers, click-clacking them together in a way that reminded Lana of the crayfish and its claws at the stream.

"Where did those come from?"

"I went to go get these as soon as you said you felt something like a splinter. Usually I keep them in my room for when I need to shape my eyebrows for pageants, but they should work well for this too."

She gingerly brought down the tweezers on the wound, trying and failing a few times to grip onto the tooth as Lana winced slightly at each attempt. Her eyebrows furrowed and her tongue stuck out of her mouth at an askew angle as she focused on the task before her, blood flowing freely onto her gloves. Not that she seemed to notice.

"Lola, you're getting blood all over your pageant clothes," Lana said, and for an absurd moment she had a fear that her twin would yell and throw a tantrum at the thought of her clothes being ruined.

Instead, Lola didn't even glance up from what she was doing. "I don't care about that, silly," she said, "now shush, I'm trying to concentrate."

Finally she got a firm hold of the tooth and plucked it free, and like a cork being taken out of the neck of a wine bottle upside down, the removal of the fang seemed to unleash a fresh geyser of blood. Acting quickly, Lori once again lifted Lana up to wash her hands, which she was able to now do with only mild discomfort. She cleaned herself for several minutes, watching blood and dirt intermingle with the water and soap as it all swirled down the drain in a mini whirlpool, the spiral calling to mind the image of the snake wrapped around itself at the bottom of the trash bin.

When she finished the blood was only a slow trickle, much like the creek itself where the injury was born. When Lori set her down, Lynn was already waiting for her with a roll of bandages in her clasp. Wasting no time, she unspooled a length of the gauze and set to work wrapping it around Lana's hand.

"You know," Lynn said, smiling slyly, "sometimes Lucy's bats like to bite me."

"Really?"

"Yeah. And every time they do, it still hurts, but by now I'm kind of used to it. But the first time, hoo boy. I was crying my eyes out like a baby. And I was way older than you were when that happened." She finished applying the bandage, leaving Lana's hand wrapped in a layer of white nearly a centimeter thick. "Point being, you handled this really well, Lana. You're the toughest girl I know. Way tougher than me." For the first time since the snake first sunk its teeth into her, Lana managed a weak smile that Lynn returned. "Feel any better?"

"A little…" Lana said. In truth, physically she felt almost completely fine. What was still wounded was her pride. She had this picture of herself in her mind as the reptile whisperer, as a friend to all that slithered. But when it came time for her to actually handle a snake, she made a huge mess of things. It was as though the snake not only punctured her flesh, but also her self-image.

Fortunately, before she could dwell on her deflated ego for too long, she felt her hand being lifted up. That's when Lynn, usually such a stranger to displays of kindness, pressed a quick kiss onto the bandage. "How about now?" she asked.

"Yeah, that feels even better now," Lana said, smiling ever wider.

One by one all the rest of her siblings lined up to to kiss her hand, and with every brush of lips against her injury Lana felt her spirits being raised higher and higher. Were she Lincoln's age, she'd perhaps have felt more than a little embarrassed at what was happening. But in a moment of clarity, she thought to herself that she should be thankful to still be so young where she could accept kisses from her loved ones without having to feel ashamed. Finally, after Lori delivered her peck, Lana cast an expectant eye towards Lisa, who had watched the display with no change of expression. She continued to stand still, not even acknowledging the look of anticipation on her sister's face.

A moment of awkward silence followed, which was only broken when Lincoln asked, "Lisa, aren't you going to give Lana a kiss too?"

"That would have no medical benefit," Lisa said. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some data from my expedition to the creek earlier that I'd like to analyze." Without another word or even a glance over her shoulder, Lisa walked out of the bathroom, and though Lana could still feel the love radiating from her other sisters and brother, Lisa's coldness couldn't help but make the snake bite sting anew, if only slightly.

That night, after the house had settled back into its familiar rhythms following the day's events, Lana once again knocked on Lisa's door and entered, a sheepish look on her face. She wore a fresh bandage, almost immaculately white other than two tiny pin-pricks of blood that had seeped through. Lana stood in the doorway, waiting for Lisa to turn her attention away from her notes. Evidently she had been sitting at her desk the last few hours, copying her various observations from one notebook to another, complete with diagrams and drawings too complicated for Lana to understand.

Finally, Lisa looked up from her papers and looked Lana in the eye. "I heard our parental units took you to the hospital, is that correct?"

"Yeah," Lana answered. Moments after the ordeal in the bathroom, Rita and Lynn Sr pulled into the driveway. When they entered the house Lana ran to tell them all about what happened, excited to recount the events that not even an hour prior seemed so frightening. Rather than appearing entertained by the story, they both seemed horrified, quickly rushing Lana into Vanzilla for a trip to the emergency room.

"And?"

Lana shrugged. "Nothin'. They said I should be fine and to come back if I notice any changes. They also said to keep it clean, which I guess means no playing in the mud for a while." She kicked at the ground, disappointed but resigned to her fate.

"Well, I suppose it's always better to be safe than sorry," was all Lisa said in reply. She returned to her work, not noticing that Lana was walking closer until she was right beside her, looking over her shoulder. "Can I help you with something?"

"How'd you get to know so much about snakes?" Lana asked.

"Herpetology is a science, just like any other. I don't pretend to be an expert, but I do find the study of reptiles rather fascinating."

Lana stood a moment, processing the words, and an awkward tension filled the room. Just as Lisa was preparing to ask her sister politely, yet firmly, to leave, Lana spoke again, this time in a halting, quiet manner. "Do you think…maybe…you can teach me a few things? About snakes? Today showed me I don't really know a whole lot about them, and if I'm going to keep them as pets one day I should learn as much as I can, shouldn't I?"

Lisa could hardly believe her ears. What she knew about psychology dictated that a traumatic experience at such a young age would instill a fear of snakes for the rest of Lana's life, and yet even after everything that had happened earlier that day, her older sister still had her fixation. The whole prospect seemed quite illogical from where she was standing. "Seriously? You still want to care for snakes? After today?"

"Well, yeah," Lana said, as if the question were ridiculous.

"But why?"

For a while Lana just stood there, struggling to find a way to put her feelings into words. She wanted to convey to Lisa how beautiful she found the creatures, with their shimmering scales that seemed to almost glimmer magically in the light. Their slender frames, so elegant and majestic, for truly they were, in their way, perfectly formed beings. Most of all though, she wanted Lisa to understand just how much life she saw looking into the eyes of the snake that bit her. How even after it had dug its teeth into her, one look into those eyes was all she needed to know that it was an innocent animal, having acted only out of self defense or some misdirected attempt to feed, not with any malice. But these emotions were all too complicated for her young mouth to speak, so instead she only shrugged again and said, "They're cool. And I'm not gonna let one bite keep me from learning about something I like."

That was apparently a good enough answer for Lisa. "You know," she said, "sometimes, when I'm doing an experiment, I fail many, many times. So many times, that I often think it'll be easier to just give up. But I keep at it, because I know that each failure holds a lesson and helps me learn more, and in the end I know that the results will be worth it." A blank look from her sister followed her words, and Lisa realized it would probably be better just to spell out her point. "All this to say; yes, Lana, I'll teach you about snakes."

Lana beamed in delight at the prospect and jumped at Lisa with a hug, squeezing tightly for a moment before pulling away. Afterwards, she prepared to pull up one of the spare chairs in the room to sit next to her at the desk, but paused when she felt Lisa's hand grip her shoulder.

"But first, I wanted to apologize," she said, voice wavering slightly.

"What for?"

"For not kissing your hand earlier."

"It's okay," Lana said. In truth she had half forgotten Lisa's cold gesture earlier that day, but to be reminded of it brought a tiny ache to her heart. Still though, an apology at this point seemed kind of unnecessary as far as she was concerned. "I mean, you're the one who actually knew how to get the snake off of me in the first place. I guess giving me a kiss wouldn't actually do anything."

To her surprise, Lisa was shaking her head. "No, I've had time to think it over, and I realized something. Even if it would've had no true medicinal qualities, one should never underestimate the psychosomatic effects of a kiss from a loved one in times of pain."

"What's psycho-schematics mean?"

"Never mind. Now, give me your hand."

Lana did as she was told and presented her hand to her sister, who quickly pressed a kiss onto the bandage. And though the pain had faded away hours ago, at the feel of the contact of Lisa's lips Lana felt even better than before. The pair of them smiled at each other a few seconds, and for one brief moment Lana could practically feel the wave of love emanating from her little sister. Then Lisa cleared her throat slightly and returned to her usual demeanor. "Now then, if you're ready, let's begin."

They spoke all through the night of scales and forked tongues and unhinging jaws. Of venoms and rattles and transparent brilles over eyes. For months they met together for lessons, Lisa proving a fantastic teacher, to Lana's surprise. She half expected her sister to be condescending, to treat these sessions as being far beneath her intellectual level, but instead Lisa seemed to light up during their time together, as though there were no greater joy in her life than imparting knowledge to others.

In addition to what Lisa was teaching her, Lana spent much of her free time reading books and watching videos about snakes. Many a night was spent under the covers of her bed with a flashlight illuminating the glossy pages of nature magazines, her face filled with wonder as she read of boas and pythons and cobras and all sorts of serpents. It wasn't long before it was Lana teaching Lisa all the wonderful things she knew of reptiles. It was a rare thing to know more than Lisa on a subject, and Lana took great pride in her newfound wisdom.

The day finally came, long after the bite marks on her hand had faded into scars, when Lana went with her parents and Lisa to the local pet store at the mall to pick out a reptile of her very own, a docile little corn snake she gently took into her hands. It was the first of many more to come. And as she held it, feeling its smooth scales as its muscles seemed to relax and it became comfortable in her grip, she spared a glance back to her parents and sister. All three of them were smiling with pride, though Lisa's was subtle, almost imperceptible, and it occurred to Lana that in some ways her little sister was rather like a snake herself, though of course she didn't think of it as an insult. To an untrained eye, Lisa could come across as cold, much like how many dismissed snakes as emotionless beasts without feeling.

But Lana knew better.

AN: Thank you for reading.