After Dessa's statement, I am speechless. That's the only thing she can think of? I feel my resolve harden. There has to be another way. There always is. I turn to the Midgardian Serpent. "What if you were to carry us up to the surface?"

He laughs, making a weird hissing rasp. "You really think I can carry you? I'm a snake. I don't have arms or legs. If so, you must be a bigger idiot than I thought."

I choose to ignore his barb. "If you'd let me finish, you'd hear the rest." I tell him. "What if you were to carry us in your mouth?"

He stares at me for a minute or two, dumbstruck for words. Then he finally speaks. "You're serious, aren't you?"

I throw my hands up in the air, exasperated. "Of course I'm serious! What else can we do?" I look over at Dessa, who is listening intently to our conversation. "I really don't think Describing a bunch of pillows is going to work."

She nods, accepting it. "But do you really think this will work?" That's a good question. I turn to the Midgardian Serpent, the question written on my face.

He sighs, shaking his head. "I don't know how you think of it Midgardian... but yes, I could do that." He makes a face of disgust. "However, you're all going to taste horrible."

I roll my eyes. "Just try not to swallow us, okay?"

He smirks. "No promises." He sinks down in the pool of water until his head is level with the floor of the cavern. He grimaces, then opens his mouth.

I wince at seeing the rows of sharp fangs. He better not skewer us. Together, Dessa and I manage to carry Loki into the serpent's mouth. I Describe a ton of pillows to set Loki on. And although we're stepping on his tongue, the Midgardian Serpent remains completely still. Dessa and I both get situated on more pillows. I smile to myself. I'm a pro at these pillows.

Grossed out by what I'm about to do, I cautiously put my hand on his tongue. It's really slimy, and weirdly enough, I can feel his heartbeat through it. "Alright we're ready!" I call out. His tongue squirms underneath us, and I let go. I grab Dessa's hand with one hand and Loki's arm with the other. It seems odd. Here I am, transporting Loki somewhere and I'm holding onto his arm. Usually it's the other way around.

Slowly, the Midgardian Serpent closes his mouth, the sharp fangs creating a barrier between us and the outside world. Now I can't see anything. Then, with a jolt of his head, we are thrown upwards, becoming airborne for a few seconds, then landing awkwardly on his squishy tongue. I try my best to keep my grip on Dessa's hand and Loki's arm.

"What is he doing!?" Dessa exclaims.

"He has to rear up before he dives!" I yell back, thinking to all the movies I've seen of giant water monsters. Usually they dive into the water headfirst, don't they?

"Dives!?" Dessa squeaks out, sounding terrified.

Then, with a mighty roar, the Midgardian Serpent dives down into the water, throwing us all up against the roof of his mouth.

I don't know how long the dive is, but it feels like forever. My stomach is pushed up into my chest, my hands have turned white from gripping so tightly, and Dessa's scream is an unending echo, ringing in my ears.

Eventually, we hit the water, and water shoots through some of his fangs, soaking us. I cough out some that had gotten into my mouth. Yuck. That tasted disgusting. I shake my head, getting some of my soaked hair off my face.

The serpent shoots through the water, leaving us in the murky darkness of his mouth. Luckily, the trip takes a while so Dessa has time to stop hyperventilating.

"We... we must have gone through the entire ocean." Dessa finally manages, after releasing a giant breath. Her voice is shaky, and strained from screaming for so long.

I smile wryly. What a feat that must have been to open it up then. I squeeze Loki's arm tightly for a second, then release him. I peel the rest of my plastered hair off of my face. Unknowingly, I Describe a hair tie and tie my hair back. It's only when I'm done do I realize what happened. "Dessa!" I grin, feeling giddy. "I did it!"

"Did what?" She asks curiously.

"I Described something new besides pillows!" I am so happy right now. I don't even care that we're sitting in the mouth of a giant serpent. If I can do this, then it's really possible. I could Describe anything. And even better, I bet I can learn to control it.

I'm too caught up with thinking about the possibilities, that I don't even realize what is happening before it happens. All of a sudden, the serpent starts streaking upwards, throwing us to the back of his mouth. The pillows bombard us. I attempt to grab hold of Loki again, but a pillow hits my hand just as I think I'm close, knocking my hand away.

This all happens in the blink of an eye, because in the next second, light is blinding me as the Midgardian Serpent opens his mouth. I close my eyes against the light. The light hurts; I feel like a vampire emerging from a crypt.

"Ohhh..." I hear Dessa moan.

I open my eyes and squint over at her. "You okay?" I ask. She looks a little green.

She quickly shakes her head no and haphazardly moves to the edge of the mouth, tripping in her rush. Then she vomits over the edge.

I wince and have to look away. Gross. I look down at Loki. He still looks so peaceful. A little wet, maybe, but peaceful nonetheless. That's when I realize it. We did it. I look up and out at the landscape. The sky is there, and the ocean is far below us. I grin. We did it! I knew there had to be another way!

Suddenly, the surface beneath me shifts downward, and once again I find myself falling towards the water. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" I shout, more angry than scared. Pillows follow my descent, flying beside me.

The serpent coughs, and more pillows come flying out of his mouth. Honestly, I'm amazed. I didn't realize how many pillows I had Described. "Oh relax, would you?" He says. "There's another rock."

Another... rock? I look down. Sure enough, there's another floating rock covered in pillows, coming up a bit too quick for comfort. I quickly Describe more pillows onto it. Then I hit it. Oof. The pillows definitely cushioned the fall, but that was certainly not enough. Wincing, I push myself up and get to my feet, albeit a bit unsteadily on the pillows. I look around, and my heart clenches. Where did Dessa and Loki go?!

The Midgardian Serpent lowers his head down to my level, smirking. I turn and glare at him. If he just suddenly dropped them in the ocean... He opens his mouth, disrupting my trail of thought. Wrapped in his tongue were both Dessa and Loki. I breathe out a sigh of relief. "Oh thank god." Dessa looks petrified as usual, clinging tightly to the serpent's tongue and Loki looks undisturbed. The serpent unwraps them and I go in and help Dessa grab Loki.

"Man, I forgot how heavy he was." I joke, trying to get color back into Dessa's cheeks. They seem to have gone permanently pale. Luckily, it works and she laughs, making her look no longer like she's about to throw up.

"Well at least he knows how to hold on when the mouth we're in gets tipped forward." She responds, smiling.

"Hey I had no idea that was even happening!" I insist, feigning offense. "If you knew you could have let me know!"

The Midgardian Serpent, apparently sick of our banter, heaves a great sigh, clogging our senses with his terrible breath. It smells like rotten eggs, fish, and something tangy that I'm not sure I want to know the reason behind.

"Bleh!" Dessa exclaims, covering her nose with her other arm. "Let's get out of here!"

"I agree!" Together we drag Loki out onto the rock and dump him unceremoniously onto the pillows piled there.

Almost immediately, the Midgardian Serpent snaps his mouth shut and backs away from the rock. He shakes his head, his tongue lolling out. "That..." Suddenly, he dives down, takes a gulp of the seawater, then comes straight back up. "Was the most..." He continues, then dives down again, doing the same thing he did before. "Disgusting thing..." He does it again. "I have ever done in my entire life!" He finishes. He glowers down at me. "That was a terrible idea."

I roll my eyes. "It worked, didn't it?" I look out at Asgard, which is only a little while away. "We're almost there."

He follows my gaze, then laughs cruelly. "Yeah no way. I am not taking you any further."

I turn back to him, my gaze steely. "Excuse me?"

He meets my gaze, equally as stubborn. "I said I'm not taking you any further." He repeats, his voice full of contempt. "I just got the taste of you out of my mouth."

"I thought you liked the taste of Midgardians?" Dessa pipes up, sounding curious.

He makes a face. "It's an acquired taste." Then he grins. "But I do enjoy killing them. They're such idiots."

I clear my throat. "Hello, Midgardian down here." I wave up at him.

He gives me a skeptical look. "Some more than others, that's for sure."

"Hey!" I call out, insulted.

Dessa rolls her eyes. "Alright that's enough. I get it you two hate each other."

The Midgardian Serpent and I meet each others' gaze, considering. Did we hate each other? "Well... it's more like a mutual disliking." I say.

"Yes hate is a very strong word, you know." The Midgardian Serpent chimes in, nodding. "You shouldn't be so harsh."

Dessa sighs in exasperation, looking down. I take this chance and giving a knowing smirk to the Midgardian Serpent. It seems we have begun to understand each other.

Dessa looks up. "Well then, if you're not going to take us there, how will we get there?"

I look around, surveying what we have. Pillows. A stubborn snake. A knocked-out Loki. And there, in the distance, a glint of gold off of the bifrost. I smile knowingly. Heimdall can see most everything.

"I have an idea."