Once upon a time, Fern was eight years old and was walking through the forest on a morning hunt when she noticed there were a lot of vines. Then she noticed one in particular that was further up the path that was different from all the others, and it looked like it had eyes.
“Oh,” said Fern. “It’s probably just my imagination.” But she couldn’t help shake the feeling she was being watched.
Fern continued hunting, but as soon as she got an inch from under the vine, the vine dropped down in a coiling snake position and hissed, “Hello, I’m Malika.”
“Umm,” stammered Fern. “Aren’t you going to eat me?”
“Why would I?” Malika hissed.
“Umm, because you’re a python? And pythons eat things like me?”
“Oh, no!” said Malika. “No, that’s just stories. We don’t actually eat you.”
“Oh,” said Fern. “Um, thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” hissed Malika cheerfully. “Do you want to come see my house?”
“Sure,” said Fern. “By the way, my name’s Fern.”
“Cool name,” hissed Malika. “Come, it’s this way…”
Fern gasped when she saw Malika’s house. It was in the ruins of a golden temple.
“This is your house?” gasped Fern.
“Yep,” Malika hissed. “Just watch out for the giant spiders!”
Fern gulped. “Giant spiders?”
“Yeah,” Malika hissed. “They live here too. And unfortunately the stories about them are actually true.”
“So…” said Fern. “Are you sure it’s safe to go in here? I mean, if the stories are true and there actually are giant spiders and the stories actually say that they paralyze you and eat you whole, then I don’t think it’s pretty safe to go in here.”
“Oh, don’t worry,” Malika hissed. “I’ll keep you safe. They are our enemies…”
“Oh,” said Fern. “That’s relieving. But how will you keep me safe? Won’t they just paralyze you?”
“Nope,” said Malika. “The paralyzing venom doesn’t work on me. Also if it did work on me, I’m too fast for them to catch.”
“Oh!” said Fern. “Um, is that one right now?” she pointed a shaky claw at the doorway of the temple.
There, perched right above the doorway, was a massive spider with huge fangs, eight red eyes, and silk spinning out of it.
“Yep, that’s one for sure,” hissed Malika. “Stand back, I’ll get it!”
She slowly circled around so that she was right behind the spider. Then she gracefully stretched up so she could reach onto a vine and pulled herself up – slowly, carefully and quietly. She slithered along the vine until she was right above the spider. Then suddenly, she dropped onto the spider, wrapped herself around, and squeezed!
The spider choked for a second and then fell down, dead.
“That was amazing Malika,” Fern cried. She raced over and hugged Malika super tight.
“Hah, thanks. Anyways, it’s time for you to meet my family. Come.”
She slithered into the doorway with Fern following close on her tail.
Inside the temple, it was even more magnificent than outside. She loved the way the pearls were set into the walls, like it was a sparkling city – full of pureness and beauty.
“Wow, it’s even more amazing here than outside.”
“Just wait till we get to the grand hall,” hissed Malika, delighted. “Here, it’s this way…”
Fern followed Malika through an archway into the most beautiful place she had ever seen. There were diamonds, rubies, and emeralds embedded into the walls with silver and gold and pearls, gemstones, and treasure. Lots of treasure. The ceiling was painted over with a thick layer of black paint with little white sparkling diamonds painted with silver on them, reflecting the light from the silver lanterns, sparkling like stars in the sky. The floor was a dark brown color with black gemstones in it, glittering like mica.
It was the most beautiful thing Fern had ever seen.
Fern stood there in awe for a minute, absorbing the beauty with her eyes. It was a very old temple, but still very beautiful. She could see the cracks in the walls, but they were painted over with the same golden paint that the temple was painted with, so you could only see them if you looked closely.
“This is probably the most beautiful place in the world,” Fern gasped to Malika. “How come no one’s ever seen it before? I mean there have been rumors about a lost golden temple of treasure, but I didn’t think those stories were actually true! No one’s ever seen it before!”
“Well,” hissed Malika, “sometimes they do discover it, and when they try to run off, the spiders eat them. Not our fault, though.”
“Oh,” said Fern. “That’s… creepy.”
“Stand back,” said Malika. “There’s another spider up ahead.”
Fern ducked behind a golden statue so that her fur blended in (since her fur was yellow). She couldn’t exactly see what Malika was doing, but she knew it was something violent.
“All right, Fern!” Malika called. “You can come out now!”
Fern came out and followed Malika to the next hall. But before they could get through the archway, they found their path blocked by another giant python.
“Malika,” she hissed. “Who have you brought home today?”
“Oh,” said Malika. “Hi, mom. This is my friend, Fern.”
“Nice to meet you,” Malika’s mom hissed to Fern. “Malika, you should have been here an hour ago, it’s lunchtime.”
“Oh,” said Malika. “Sorry. Come on Fern, join us for lunch.”
“Okay,” said Fern. She followed Malika’s mom into the room Malika’s mom had been guarding. Inside, there was a huge golden table set with golden dark wood chairs, and a green tablecloth.
“Come on, Fern,” said Malika. “We have a special guest chair for visitors. Here, you can sit next to me!”
She showed Fern to a fancy chair and seated herself next to Fern.
Just then, three more pythons came out from the shadows. Two seemed to be about the same size as Malika and one was probably Malika’s dad.
“That’s Greenla and Marco.” Malika pointed to the two other pythons. She pointed to the bigger one, “That’s my dad, Boris.” She pointed to her mom. “And that’s Hemma.”
“Oh,” said Fern.
“Hello,” hissed Greenla. “Are you joining us for lunch?”
“Yup,” purred Fern.
“Great!” hissed Greenla. “You’ll love the food here. I’ll bet you’ve never tried it before.”
“It must be delicious,” meowed Fern.
“I’ll go get the food,” hissed Boris.
He slithered out of the room and came back a few minutes later carrying a trayful of fruit and meat and whatever was edible.
“That looks delicious!” cried Fern.
Next, Marco got up and went to the kitchen and got some silver plates that looked like they had real flowers on them, even though it was actually paint.
Then Greenla got up and got the silverware and then Malika got up and got some teacups and a tea kettle. Then Hemma got up and got some napkins.
They all returned to their seats and started feeding their plates with food.
Fern did the same and tried each food, one by one, until she decided which she liked most. Then she ate more food, had some tea, and realized it was getting late and she should go back home.
“Um,” said Fern. “I better go back home. My mom is worried at all times and she must be anxious!”
“Malika and everyone, you can come visit my house anytime you want! My house is a wooden castle and it’s in the center of the rainforest. Bye!”
“Bye,” everyone waved to her.
“Here Fern,” Malika offered. “I can lead you outside the temple so you don’t get caught by any giant spiders.”
“Sure,” said Fern. “Thanks again, everyone!”
She and Malika went through the archway with Malika warning her when there was a giant spider up ahead.
They got out quicker than Fern expected, and Malika went out the archway first to make sure there was no spider up above the archway. There wasn’t, and Fern and Malika went through.
“Bye,” said Fern, hugging Malika. “Hope to see you soon!”
Fern waived goodbye as she walked away toward her house. She soon got home and told Mama Leopard everything that had happened.
“Oh, dear,” said Mama Leopard. “That must have been tiring. Here, have a cup of tea.”
“No thanks, mama. I think I’ve had enough tea already.”
“Well,” said Mama Leopard. “It’s time to go to the playdate you and Marsh planned. Bye, honey.”
She waved goodbye as Fern scampered into the trees.
Fern came back two hours later for dinner and they had dinner, and went to bed, and the next morning there was a knock on the door. Mama Leopard hurried over to see who it was.
“It’s Malika!” said Mama Leopard when she came back from the door. “She wants to have a playdate with you!”
The end.