Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Hermione shifted uncomfortably beneath Suer’s resentful stare.

She raised her head and looked around.

“Where are Mr. and Mrs. Ellison?” she asked.

Suer glared at her once more before turning to search the crowd.

“Over there.”

Not far away, Mr. Ellison and Suli were chatting with a family. Judging by Mr. Ellison’s restrained smile–yes, there was no doubt about it–the man was trying to ingratiate himself with him.

He was enormous. At first glance, he looked like a pig in clothes trying to hold a conversation. The day was very hot, and the burly man kept wiping his brow.

The slightly smaller pig beside him appeared to be his son. The boy wore an impatient expression as he tugged hard at the man.

They did not speak for long. Mr. Ellison said a few words with a smile, and the large man cheerfully shook his hand before squeezing through the crowd and disappearing.

“Sorry about that. Have you finished looking?” Mr. Ellison asked.

“All done!” Angel clambered at his trouser leg with both hands and feet. “I’m hungry, Daddy.”

“All right, then. We…” Mr. Ellison bent down with a smile and lifted Angel into his arms. He looked around. “There’s a restaurant over there. Let’s go and find something to eat.”

Suer had no objections, and Hermione was hardly in a position to object either.

Mrs. Ellison stood to one side smiling all the while, every inch the devoted wife and mother.

After lunch, sharp-eyed Angel spotted an ice-cream stall. Unable to resist temptation, she pestered Suer until he bought her one.

Helpless against her persistence, Suer went over and returned with a double scoop of strawberry and melon ice cream for Angel.

For himself, he bought two cheaper lemon ice lollies. One of them was for Hermione.

“Thank you.” Hermione accepted it with studied composure and murmured her thanks.

“Where should we go next?”

“There!”

Angel claimed the right to choose before anyone else. Suer followed her pointing finger and saw the reptile house.

Hermione saw it too, and distaste spread across her face.

She did not want to go, but Suer tugged her along with a wicked grin.

He knew Hermione, like most girls, had little fondness for slimy, wriggling reptiles.

But then, she had annoyed him just a tiny bit earlier.

Perhaps because the restaurant was so pleasantly cool, and perhaps because it was still lunchtime and the zoo had grown less crowded, the Ellisons chose to wait inside rather than join them.

It gave the couple a rare chance to enjoy some time alone.

Suer and Hermione each held one of Angel’s hands. The little girl deliberately lifted her feet off the ground so they would swing her between them, giggling all the while.

The reptile house was cool without being damp. Its only illumination came from light tubes hidden inside the glass displays.

On such a hot day, it was one of the most comfortable places in the zoo, so there were still plenty of visitors inside.

Suer carefully kept watch over both girls as they followed the signs from enclosure to enclosure.

Before they reached the largest display in the centre, a wave of screams erupted up ahead.

He could just make out someone shouting, “Snake! The snake got out!”

Then chaos broke loose.

Countless people surged backward, crushing toward the exit.

Panic was contagious. Even those who had no idea what was happening began running with the first frightened group.

Suer made his decision at once. He pulled both girls into his arms and forced his way toward the front-left corner. If a stampede began in such an enclosed space, someone was bound to get hurt.

He remembered this place from an earlier trip to the zoo with Angel. There was a corner to the left of the banded krait enclosure where the crowd could not crush them against anything.

Hermione’s eyes were full of panic as she huddled against Suer, holding tightly to Angel in turn.

The three of them darted left and right through the packed crowd, seizing every gap. By the time Suer got them into the corner, the shoe on his right foot had vanished and his bare arm was covered in dark bruises.

But at least they were safe.

Suer panted heavily, sweat beading thickly across his forehead.

“Are you all right?” Hermione looked up at him as she finally let out a breath.

“I’m fine. We’ll stay here and wait for the keepers,” Suer said softly.

Both girls nodded.

“Bwother, wipe sweat.” Angel considerately grabbed the hem of her clothes and dabbed at Suer’s face.

The emergency had come without warning, but the zoo staff reacted quickly. They began moving the packed crowd out of the building in an orderly fashion.

“Bwother, big snake.”

Still tucked into the corner, Angel suddenly pointed to an open patch of floor not far from the thinning crowd.

Suer looked over. A massive python slithered across the floor, tongue flicking. A terrified reptile keeper followed beside it, clutching a forked snake pole.

Before long, several uniformed staff entered through the doors and began directing people out of the building.

“Whew.”

Suer did not fully relax until he had led both girls outside. In a fleeting glimpse just before leaving, he had seen a scrawny boy with a bowl haircut near the great snake. He had no idea whether the boy had made it out safely.

“What happened in there?”

Mr. and Mrs. Ellison hurried anxiously toward them.

The moment Angel saw her parents, she burst into tears. The healthy force of her wailing actually made the Ellisons relax. If she could cry that loudly, she clearly had not suffered any serious injury.

Suli swept Angel into her arms and soothed her while Mr. Ellison turned to Suer.

“Hiss…”

Suer sucked in a sharp breath. Mr. Ellison’s large hand had landed directly on his bruised arm, and only then did the stabbing pain fully register.

“You’re hurt!” Hermione cried. Her eyes instantly reddened.

“What happened?” Mr. Ellison asked heavily, anger written across his face.

“It’s nothing, Dad. I bumped into something inside.” Suer grinned.

Mr. Ellison glared at him, then turned to Hermione, who looked ready to cry.

With a catch in her throat, Hermione recounted the whole incident without omitting the smallest detail. Suer had to admire her memory. She even specified exactly which enclosure they had been standing beside at the time.

When Mr. Ellison heard how Suer had protected both girls by himself and brought them into the corner, he raised a hand and patted Suer lightly on the shoulder.

“Good lad,” he said.

After such a fright, the Ellisons were naturally in no mood to continue their visit. Suer repeatedly insisted that he was fine, but to be safe, they drove to the nearest clinic.

“Children have delicate skin and a dense network of capillaries, so pressure can bruise them very easily,” the doctor explained. “It looks alarming, but there’s nothing seriously wrong.”

The Ellisons finally breathed easier.

Mr. Ellison’s mood improved on the drive home. He repeatedly brought up what Suer had done and showered him with praise. Brave lad, fine young man, responsible–the phrases came up again and again.

Mrs. Ellison and Angel both kissed Suer several times.

“Suer really is our family’s angel!” Mrs. Ellison declared, returning yet again to her favourite refrain.

Hermione still looked upset and shaken, so Suer laughed and patted her bushy head.

“See? I got hurt protecting you.”

At the sight of the frightening expanse of dark bruises, Hermione’s eyes filled with tears again.

“I probably won’t be able to put any strength into this arm for a while, so it’s only reasonable that I get a little compensation,” Suer said with perfect confidence.

“What do you want?”

“I want…” A wicked smile spread across Suer’s face as he gave Hermione’s delicate features a meaningful look.

Hermione saw his expression, inexplicably glanced up at Mrs. Ellison, then lowered her head.

“I want you to do my homework for the next few days.”

Hermione froze.

Then her entire face turned scarlet.

“In. Your. Dreams.”

She forced out each word through clenched teeth and turned away in a huff.

A moment later, she apparently decided that was not enough.

Smack!

She spun around and struck Suer hard.

“Ow…”

A howl rang through the car.

Hermione’s voice rose even louder than his scream.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”