An Ning drove the snake closer to the mouth of the whirlpool, so close in fact that they could practically see into the ma.s.sive eye of the vortex. It was so huge and yawning and so cold that it frightened the snake, who redoubled its struggles to escape.

"Stop! Amazon!" the red head screamed, its voice barely audible under the heavy rush of the churning water. "Give us another chance!"

But An Ning was beyond pity. The snake had touched her bottom line when it had attacked her family. It had also reached the forbidden line of acceptability when it attacked Pirate City. She didn't want to know who summoned it from its thousand years sleep. All she wanted to do was get rid of it, bind it inside the most lethal vortex that Hippolyta's belt could make so that even its master from the Underworld realm will never be able to free it.

Based on what the memory of the belt told her, the Nagas were the most vicious snake demi-G.o.ds all realms could ever meet and the many worlds within the the portal that Hippolyta's time machine accidentally opened would never ever be safe again if serpents of this kind were allowed to roam even one foot square of its land.

An Ning didn't know why it was here in the first place. The Nagas guarded the door of the Underworld and were so loyally fierce to its master it dare not stray away from him. And yet, somebody dared to sneak it inside the portal and forcibly waking it from its thousand years of sleep and for what? She didn't want to know and she dare not ask the snake either because it was known for its trickery and will never tell her anything resembling the truth either. Best to get rid of it now then figure out the rest later.

An Ning drew the snake closer to the mouth of the vortex. Although the waters was churning and heaving like crazy, she was relatively safe within its lip, the tape holding steady as it controlled the serpent's movements. The serpent was struggling and screaming profanities at An Ning, all the while writhing and squirming to free itself.

Without warning, An Ning jumped into the vortex just as the tape restraining the snake loosened its hold and coiled itself protectively around An Ning, who was falling fathoms deep inside the mouth of the vortex. An Ning held out her hands as the strips, as if controlled by an unforeseen force, tightened around her then yanked her out, flying fast the falling snake which screamed and tried to stop An Ning's progress by biting her viciously on the leg.

The strips, however, were faster. It muzzled the snake's mouth then just as quickly released it by playfully flicking the head several times, infuriating it even more. An Ning watched impa.s.sively as the snake free-fall into the abyss, still squirming and screaming, still shouting obscenities as two pairs of snake eyes glared furiously at An Ning as she dangled above them.

The golden belt holding the middle body of the serpent suddenly slackened its grip, finally allowing the creature to retain its original ma.s.sive form. Free from its binds, the serpent straightened its giant body to form like an arrow about to be released from its bow. With a gigantic push of its lower body, the snake sprung forward fast as lightning as it attempted to follow An Ning out of the hole. The mouth of the creature opened in a sneer as if antic.i.p.ating the feel of An Ning's fragile body being crushed like a stick between its ma.s.sive jaw.

The ma.s.sive head peeked out of the swirling vortex with its mouth open just a few inches from An Ning's feet as she swayed above it. But at the last minute, the creature hit a barrier. Hippolyta's golden belt which had returned to bind itself around An Ning's slim waist immediately sent out a series of lights that fanned out as gleaming bars which covered the entire mouth of the vortex. The head of the serpent banged against the bars, singeing the red head which sent it screaming down below.

The snake again and again attempted to scale the vortex but only to meet the same stubborn hindrance of the gleaming bars. This went on for several minutes, the bars holding steady, the snake growing more and more furious and violent the more it was prevented from doing what it wanted to do, which was to crush the woman watching it without expression from above the churning waters of the vortex.

Suddenly, all sounds around the whirlpool stopped. The silence was so profound and so unexpected that the snake was forced to stopped its cursing in total astonishment. Then its ma.s.sive body coiled together until the two heads were almost pressing against each other, watching as An Ning leaned down to say something.

"What did you say?" the blue head asked, hissing and showing its long blue tongue.

"It's useless to struggle. This vortex will be your jail until your scales fall off and your kind becomes as ordinary as chickens. And then people will hunt you and eat you as ordinary chickens."

"You dare curse us?" the red head screeched. "Our master will come for us!"

"In this realm where I alone owned the rights to all the portals? Dream on, snake head," An Ning scoffed.

"You b.i.t.c.h!" the red head screamed furiously. "Die, you cursed harlot! Die!"

"Sorry, red. But I'm an immortal, remember?" laughed An Ning. "I'll live long enough to hunt you as a chicken. What do you think of that?"

"And we say, don't be too sure of yourself, Amazon," the blue head mocked. "We were sent here to right a wrong and you have prevented us from doing that. Then whatever happens, all of it will be on you. Don't say we didn't warn you."

An Ning was silent, looking at the mocking yet somewhat ominous eyes of the blue head below her. But there was no time as the silence was again broken by the sound of waves was.h.i.+ng over the vortex. In minutes, the waves crashed against the yawning mouth, covering and flattening the whirlpool until all that was left of it were little gusts of foam, the waters again settling down on its gentle, placid pace.

The last image An Ning had of the two-headed snake was of the ma.s.sive scaly body drowning in the whirl of water as the serpent was pulled down the abyss of its unbreakable cage. The large squirming body fought hard to escape but the waves covered it inside out, totally imprisoning it in its depths. After a while, the waves flattened out, smoothing everything on its path, even the presence of a snake demi-G.o.d who belonged in h.e.l.l.

When An Ning went back to the Whimsy, the twins and Nian Zhen welcomed her back frantically. Nian Zhen was reluctant to let her go. His arms tightened around her waist, and there was a panicked, scared look on his pale face that worried An Ning. Even the twins seemed to sense their father's mood because they never left An Ning's side either, clinging to her and Nian Zhen as if something was about to happen and only their parents' presence can ward off this impending doom or whatever it was waiting to happen.

"Are you sure you're okay?" An Ning whispered to Nian Zhen. "You don't look too good."

"Darling, you jumped off a whirlpool and nearly caused me to have a heart attack," Nian Zhen whispered back. "I know you have to do what you have to do but it still doesn't mean that I won't worry. I'm selfish, darling. I want you all to myself, you see. I love you, Ning Ning. Please remember that," he said, kissing her cheek.

An Ning blushed when she lifted her eyes and met Tsai Po's inquisitive glance.

They were were all gathered inside the mess hall with Tsai Po leading his men to double the effort in looking for his missing niece. Tsai Po didn't seemed to want to leave the Whimsy after he was told that the Fancy was nearly destroyed by the waves caused by the snake. The news didn't seem to faze him somehow, which says a lot really about his concern for his niece.

"Any news yet?" An Ning asked.

"Nothing," he said, the frustration evident on his tired face. "My men already combed the entire island and they found nothing."

"Maybe they took her off the island?" Kari said then immediately regretted her comments when Tsai Po's face blanched in fear.

"n.o.body took her off the island," An Ning said calmly.

"How do you know that?" asked Hank.

"Because I already sent out these suckers to search out every boat in a 50 mile radius," An Ning said, as she held out her left hand and showed them the copy ring where strips of gauze suddenly shoot out and wrapped themselves around An Ning's body.

"How...how did you do that?" Kari asked, fascinated. "I've never seen like it before."

"Trade secrets," An Ning smiled.

"You sent this...this...thing out and they didn't find anything?" Tsai Po asked.

"Not even a shadow. Which means she's still here on the island."

"But my men already looked everywhere and they found nothing!" Tsai Po said, becoming agitated with frustration.

"Then tell them to look again," An Ning said.

"What about caves and things like that? Or underground tunnels?" Nian Zhen suggested.

"There's only a cave on the other side of the island," Tsai Po said, face brightening. "Maybe you're right and they didn't look hard enough. I'll tell them to look again," he said, then left.

It was late in the afternoon and Castor was in Pollux cabin, trying to make sense of what happened.

"What do you think will happen now?" Castor asked, looking out the porthole.

"Terri seems to be doing okay. I guess we'll be living pretty soon."

"Gu Sheng would be green with envy not to see that giant snake. He'll be insisting we take him with us from here on."

Pollux laughed.

"He'll do that," she agreed. "I'm surprised mom was able to stop him going with us this time though."

"I think mom told him she wanted to spend some alone with Dad and us. She especially didn't want him to be jealous of Dad so...," Castor shrugged.

"I think it's the other way around. Dad is jealous of him," Pollux pointed out.

"Anyway, I have a feeling we will be going back to Yuqui soon."

Pollux stared at him, shocked.

"Based on what exactly?" she asked.

"Just a feeling I have. I think that snake was sent here by someone as a warning. Mom still doesn't know who it was but I have an idea that Dad may know."

There was silence as the two siblings stared at each other.

"That snake had something to do with Dad?" Pollux articulated slowly, as if even she was not sure of what she was saying.

"I think so."

"But you think he won't tell Mom who it was?"

"I have a feeling those two have a very complicated history than what they initially told us. I've asked grandma and she told me about soul transmigration."

"Of course we both know the physical body is not really our Dad but the soul is. Grandma already explained all of that," Pollux said.

"But she also told me something strange. About souls eating other souls to survive."

Pollux looked at her brother with a perplexed frown.

"Where are you going with this?"

"I don't know, Lux. I honestly don't know. But the presence of that snake... It attacked Dad. It didn't attack anyone else but it attacked Dad," Castor reiterated. "Why?"

Pollux frowned.

"We have to ask Mom."

"No," Castor shook his head. "Don't do that."

"Why?"

"Because I know she'll freak out if you do. Parents have this way of thinking their kids are too dumb to notice things. I think Mom is counting on that."

"Why?" Pollux again asked, bewildered.

"Because then she'll have to ask Dad and he'll just clam up and refuse to tell her," he explained. "I want more than anything to ask Dad what's going on but he's not ready to tell us just yet."

"How do you know that?"

"Because I can actually feel his distress about it," Castor stopped and looked at his sister. "That is why you are going to ask Mom if she could take us back to Yuqui. Tell her you're excited to see it, especially the school. I think going back there will be a big load off her shoulder."

"Are you telling me we're not done with this yet, Cas, whatever it is?"

"It's just the beginning, dear sister," Castor said, a grim smile pulling on his lip. "Just the beginning."

When they separated, Cas went to his cabin which was located a little way off the lower deck. Cas especially chose it because it gave him plenty of privacy for him to practice some magic stuff his granddad Liu Cheung taught him to do. Nothing heavy actually just minor stuff that the old man said could save his life.

Seeing his mother fight as valiantly as she did this morning had convinced Cas to learn magic. An Ning had been alone out there this morning. There was no one to help, not even someone to watch her back. Although the three of them along with his dad had been willing to fight to the death to save each other, there was no need because An Aning had done it all. Saved and protected them. While she had been alone and no one to protect her.

Watching his mother, Castor had alternated between admiration and fear. But fear overrode everything as he watched his mother fight a monster. He realized that the world they now found themselves in was not the world he and his sister had grown up in. It was the time of pirates, whirlpools, and giant snakes and arming themselves with a simple gun was not going to make a difference. Fight fire with fire. Fight magic with magic. Fight brutality with strength and determination. Those were the way of living in this dimension.

His cabin was in darkness when he opened the door. Castor frowned. He was sure he had left the lights on and the blinds on the portholes open. His hand automatically reached for the switch. There was a loud gasp and Castor was left staring at the small figure on his bed. It was a girl. About twelve or thirteen years old. The girl was wearing a pair of grey black pajamas, her long hair bound on top of her head in a pony tail. The girl's eyes, which were disconcertingly light in color, gazed at Castor with surprise.

"You must be that girl they're looking for," Cas said. "Smilla, right? How did you get here? And what the h.e.l.l are you doing in my cabin?"