Ah, playing bait. Not her favorite role, but one she’d learned to play well.

“Good plan.” She reversed her grip on one of her batons so it laid flat along her forearm and took a breath. She had her own plan to follow for the distraction, though every fiber of her being screamed that it was a stupid idea. “Let’s go.”

The snake reared up to strike again but Rose moved before it could. She brought her arm up as if to block and instead shoved her forearm into the snake’s open mouth. As she’d hoped, her baton folded the fangs back against the roof of the snake’s mouth, though it didn’t save her from the rest of its teeth. She hissed in pain but wrapped her other arm around its head, basically hugging its jaws shut on her arm.

“Let’s not dawdle, kid.” She could already feel it trying to shake her off.