You shake the rest of the drowsy dizziness away. That lamia did something to mess with your head, and now she’s threatening Bagheera. You climb out of her coils and try to work out a way to help him. She’s distracted right now, but those coils are thick and strong—as soon as she notices you’re up she could grab you. You need a way to get rid of her before that.
You look at her coils. They are thick—and big—and heavy. All those coils falling at once would be as heavy as tying her tail around a big rock. You could yank her right out of the tree if you shove them off the branch.
But that’s also a problem; the coils are so heavy you can barely move them. This calls for some physics. You position yourself under the coils and apply some leverage with your legs. With a big push you send the coils hurtling off the branch.
At that moment the lamia seems to be threatening Bagheera. “You have just sealed your doom.”
With a yelp she zips away from him, her tail pulling her around the tree. You watch her slide and spin and whirl around the branches, scrabbling for a grip all along the way. At the last moment she grabs a lower branch. She looks at you while hanging on for dear life as if asking why. She’s not trying to appeal to you, is she? She hypnotized you! She threatened Bagheera! It doesn’t matter. She’s barely hanging on with those coils weighing her down. Any moment now she’ll fall to the ground below.
She pulls herself up slightly. You move back, surprised at her tenacity, and you look down. Her coils are all in a pile on the jungle floor. The weight isn’t pulling her down anymore—she can pull herself up.
You look back at her. She’s smiling and—her eyes are—swirling with—the beautiful—
Oh, fig! You thought it was gonna be easy at this point? You’re not out of the jungle yet! I mean technically you didn’t want to leave the jungle in the first place but you know what I mean. Now that you know what she can do will you escape her gaze, or are you falling back into the tunnels of her hypnotic eyes?
-18a Look away and hurry to Bagheera.
-18b Keep looking because reasons???
Duth Olec's Cuckoo Cosmos 