Bad Habit's Arc

Chapter 7 of 10

Bad Habit held the snake shape and slid closer to King Slither. The plan had been simple. Get near, drop the disguise, burn him with one look. But the chamber was worse than he thought. Fifty snake soldiers packed the walls. Slither's tail swept the floor as he barked orders. If Bad Habit turned back to himself now, the whole crew would swarm him before his eyes could lock on their boss. He was stuck. A snake in a room of snakes, with no clear shot. Slither raised his head. His yellow eyes narrowed at the crowd. "Someone smells wrong in here," he hissed. He wore his black turtleneck like he ran a bank, not a gang. "Find the stranger." Bad Habit's snake heart hammered. Soldiers began sniffing the floor. In minutes they would reach him. He pressed against the cold stone and thought of his gremlins tucked in his shrunken coat. Not enough. Fifty against a handful. Then the floor cracked open near the wall. A small wooden house pushed up through the stone. It had crooked shutters, a grinning door, and eyes painted on the front that seemed to move. The door swung wide. Out stepped a toddler with locs that dragged the ground, gold teeth, and gold eyes that glowed. "Daddy," Koul Habits said, "you in a little bind." Bad Habit froze in his snake skin. His son. Here. Underground, in the deepest nest, somehow following him this whole time. Pride and fear hit him at once. Koul was a baby. Koul did not play about his father. Slither spun toward the child. "Kill it!" he screamed. The soldiers rushed Koul. The boy just tilted his head. In an instant the snakes closest to him stopped. Their bodies stiffened and dropped. Koul waved one small hand and a wall of soldiers flew back into the stone. He did not blink. He did not hurry. He walked toward his father, and the crew scattered from his path like water. "Go get him, Daddy," Koul said. "I got the rest." That was all Bad Habit needed. He let the snake shape fall away. His body stretched tall. Black clothes, red eyes, golden teeth returned. The soldiers turned toward him, but Koul was already tossing them like toys, his little house behind him spitting out mini gremlins that swarmed the fallen crew. King Slither tried to flee. Bad Habit locked eyes with him. Heat poured from his red gaze. Slither's turtleneck caught first. Then the snake boss shrieked, curled, and went still. The crew broke. Some ran. Most did not rise. Bad Habit stood over the dead boss, breathing hard, his son at his side. "You followed me," Bad Habit said. Koul grinned with gold teeth. "Always." Slither was gone. But Slither had lieutenants who had fled the chamber alive, and they knew now that a child fought beside Bad Habit. His enemy had become his family's enemy too. We gotta go get your sister Bad Habits say to Koul