❝𝐃𝐑𝐀𝐏𝐄𝐓𝐎𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐈𝐀❞ ━ TREECH

26. last steps

“So according to what Clemmie said, the proposal Coriolanus wrote ended up in the snake tank,” she explains. “I don’t know how but it was in there. And when Coriolanus reached in to get a part of it out, nothing happened. But when she did, they immediately attacked her. She thinks it was planned but didn’t have any proof to back it up.”

“Yeah, that woman’s a nutcase as far as I’m concerned,” Cas says dismissively. “But a very, very smart one. And apparently more sadistic than I thought.”

But, admittedly, he believes anyone that aspires a career in gamemaking has to have sadistic tendencies. He doesn’t know how to feel about the fact that his mother might put him in the same category as Dr. Gaul. Cas couldn’t care less about his father’s opinion — he has been speaking to him as little as possible after they talked in the hospital — and Max is still too young to fully grasp what’s going on.

And June knows he’s only doing this for her. Not that she agrees, she still thinks it’s incredibly dangerous, but he assumes he’ll be okay. He has been keeping a distance from the snake tank though and only approached it when his mother did. That doesn’t mean he finds them any less unsettling though but in his eyes, there are other unsettling things in Dr. Gaul’s laboratory that takes his mind off them from time to time.

June rolls her eyes but knows he’s right. What Dr. Gaul has done and continues to do is horrifying. “Apparently she told them the snakes won’t react if they associate your smell with something pleasant,” she continues, “or at the bare minimum, they might not attack if they’re familiar with your scent. You mentioned they don’t attack Dr. Gaul which we already assumed might be because she feeds them. I think it’s both of those things together.”

“That does go hand in hand with what mom told me, too. Apparently the snakes know her scent as well since she feeds them whenever Dr. Gaul is absent during their feeding time,” he says. “Which means that if we want to make sure the snakes don’t attack Treech, we need to manipulate the snakes somehow.”

She hums, “Yeah, but how? It’s not like we can get him near the snakes now.”

“Well, I thought you could spray him in mom’s perfume. You know, that really expensive one that smells like diabetes,” Cas suggests.

June snorts. She gives it a thought, chewing on her lower lip, but eventually shakes her head. “I worry they might not release the snakes immediately. My best guess would be they send them in when things get boring for the audience,” she says. “So even if I put the perfume on him, it might have already worn off by then. Or if their sense of smell is so good, the mix of his scent and the perfume’s might make them attack anyway.”

But she doesn’t immediately rule it out. She just doesn’t think it’s the best option.

“Then you could ask him to give you something of his. I was thinking about the thing around his neck,” Cas says. “I could sneak it into the tank somehow.”

She sighs, “But if they release the snakes and the tank is empty, they’ll find the neckerchief anyway. Then they’ll come for you immediately. I’m his mentor but you’re also my brother, they’d figure out we’ve been working together.”

That’s the last thing she wants because then they’d all be in trouble. Her, Cas and Treech, too. Even if Treech were to lie and claim he never knew anything about it, they wouldn’t believe him. They’d kill him anyway because in their eyes, he’s worth nothing. And then she and Cas might be killed, too, or turned into Avoxes.