[Kitsumi]

It hadn’t been apparent just how frightened Clyde was until he began shaking. “Whoa...are you okay? Maybe you should stay here. The bus hasn’t left yet...maybe you can still get back on it?” Artemis grabbed Blinky’s hand to stop her. “Hey, don’t you see how nervous he is? He doesn’t have to do this. And if you do want to do this,” now she was talking to Clyde. “We’ll take it slow. Okay?”

[Jedi]

Feeling herself abruptly stop, Blinky gasped. She looked back to see that Artemis had grabbed a hold of her arm. When she finally noticed her brother's anxiety, she came to him. “It's okay, Clyde,” she said, her voice the calmest it had been since they'd met Artemis. “You don't have to go in the woods.” Clyde didn't feel any better, knowing he's be away from his sister. Realizing how he was feeling, she added “Don't worry. I don't have to go in either.”

[Kitsumi]

Artemis sighed, wondering what the three of them were going to do. "I wouldn't want to go exploring alone," she said honestly. "Especially not when you guys are the ones who paid for all of this. I would feel like I was taking advantage of you and your money. So...should we all just go back?" She secretly hoped that Clyde would pluck up some courage. She wasn't sure what was wrong with the Wockee. His emotions had so far only ranged from depressed to frightened.

[Jedi]

Clyde knew it was what the two of them wanted, so despite his fears, he decided to go in with them. "Just please don't leave me behind. I don't want to be alone in there." Blinky laced her arm through his, insisting "I wouldn't dream of it."

Into the mist, they walked, unsure of just what was lurking within the woods. The think fog wrapped around their feet as if it were snakes constricting their prey. "If it's okay for me to ask, do you know what it is we're looking for?" His knees were shaking, but he was able to keep up all the same. "Yeah," agreed Blinky. "You said people were vanishing in here, right? I wonder what it is we're looking for."

[Kitsumi]

Artemis was happy that the two decided to come in after all. "We won't leave you behind," she assured the frightened male. "I promise, we'll stay right by you the whole time."

They entered the forest. It was just as Artemis had hoped - spooky and mysterious. "This is perfect," she murmured under her breath. "I'll bet there's a ton of adventure waiting for us, in here!" Turning to the two Wockees, she seemed confused. "Looking for? I just wanted to come and look around. If we find anything, that would be really cool! But I don't know what exactly to look for."

[Jedi]

"Maybe something is looking for us," Clyde said in a hushed tone. His voice trembled as he spoke, a side effect of the fear building up in his head. He continued to walk along, but his sister had started skipping again, humming a tune to herself. "Shhhh," he warned his ecstatic sister. "You'll likely wake something we don't want to wake up." Just then, he felt something on his left front paw. "Too late," he whispered, his voice more trembling than before. He was stopped in his tracks as he looked down to his leg, which had donned a companion he hadn't hoped for. It was a medium to small sized snake, who's striped pattern went black yellow black red, repeating that pattern all the way to the tip. "It's gonna kill me," his voice now a little whiny. "Relax brother," said Blinky, who then grabbed it by the tail-tip. "It's just a coral snake. Remember that rhyme I use to say? Red on black, a friend of Jack. Black on yellow'll kill a fellow?" She tossed the animal to the side, then went back to skipping.

[Kitsumi]

"How would anything already know we're in here?" Artemis asked. "I'm sure we're perfectly safe. Don't worry, Clyde." However, when he mentioned that it was too late, she followed his gaze to see the snake. "Aww, it's just a little king snake!" She laughed at Blinky. "You've got it wrong - see, the black is on the yellow. It's when the red touches the yellow that it's venomous. And a coral snake is poisonous. Luckily, this is just a king snake."

The sound of twigs snapping nearby suddenly caused her to turn. Peering into the forest, all she could see was foliage. "Uhh, maybe we should keep moving," she said. She wasn't scared, but she was worried about Clyde. She didn't want him to be frightened.

[Jedi]

His pace quickened, Clyde was all too eager to keep moving. His sister was still skipping too fast for either of them to catch up. Clyde was keeping close to Artemis, who had now become his best bet of survival. Another sound of snapping twigs threw him into hysterical fear. "You'll let me know if you see anything, right?" he asked in a shaky voice. He didn't want to know the answer, but couldn't keep from asking her.

Blinky had been skipping with her eyes closed. She realized the err in this when she'd looked around and couldn't find them. "Clyde?" No answer. "Artee?" Again no answer. Now she was the one frightened. She walked around a large rotting tree trunk to find them again. "Sorry guys. I got a little lost."