*So, who wants a great big game of mind battles?* asked Isaac gleefully.
*Carla? This is all your fault,* said Rachel. *You created a monster.*
*Well, you know, I try,* Carla giggled. *I’m all for a game. Who wants to play?*
*I will!* Taylor grinned.
*Yeah, I will too,* Nate said. *I guess we’re all playing. Teams? Or each man for himself?*
*Or each woman for herself,* Rachel added.
*Teams,* Isaac and Taylor said together.
*Yeah, teams will be fun. What teams?* asked Carla.
*Boys against girls?* Taylor suggested slyly.
*I’m happy with that,* Nate said.
*Well, yeah, there’s only two girls!* Rachel pointed out.
*But you’ve got Carla on your side. The undefeated champion.*
Carla sent an evil laugh. And so it was agreed boys against girls. Rachel opened the game in a zoo. The guys were standing on the footpath in full view of the cages.
*Okay, I’ll bite,* said Taylor. *Where are they?*
*Hiding, of course,* Nate grinned.
*That much is obvious, but where?*
*Doesn’t matter. While we’re standing here yakking, they’re probably releasing the lions and about to make them chase us,* Isaac said.
*Please don’t give them ideas,* Taylor said.
*Giving them ideas is the least of our worries,* Nate remarked. *C’mon, let’s split up. I’ll go this way.*
Isaac and Taylor agreed and they all went in different directions. Taylor hadn’t walked far before he got to the reptile house.
Then he felt it. Something wrapping around his ankles. He tripped, twisting as he fell. And that when he saw the size of the snake, coiling around him.
Taylor first reaction was panic. He screamed and tried to push the snake off. Then he heard laughter.
*You scream like a girl,* Carla taunted. *Oh and you don’t have long to get out of this one Tay. Times a-wasting.*
It was then that Taylor realised that the snake wasn’t actually real, and this was a mind battle. Wow, Carla sure creates a convincing scene! Taylor knew he only had a few moments before this snake would ‘kill’ him, so he had to think fast.
“Oh crikey!” said the voice of Steve the crocodile hunter.
In a few moments, Steve had wrested the snake off Taylor. He got up and smirked at Carla, who was still laughing at him.
*Jo would be proud,* she teased. *But I don’t think your imaginary friend is going to help you any further.*
An army of snakes appeared behind her.
*Well, you know what this mean, don’t you?* Taylor said, making a giant spray can appear in his hand. *Snake repellant.*
He sprayed the snakes, and they promptly curled up and died. Carla gave him a bored look.
*CFCs are not good for the environment.*
And on that comment Carla left, leaving Taylor in a room full of dead snakes, puzzling over what she meant by that.
He was soon to find out.