I was at Hoofhaven walking in the woods between the house and the creek. I took a left onto a path heading up a hill that I had never been on, or even noticed before. I had barely begun to climb when I froze in my tracks: there, in the center of the trail no more than a foot away, was an enormous rattlesnake, coiled and ready to strike. I was too terrified to move: it was shaking its rattle, and I knew if it decided to strike, there was no way I could jump back far enough or fast enough to avoid being bitten. Then the snake slowly started to uncoil - but rather than flattening to the ground, it began to rise vertically, until it was standing on the very tip of its tail and was staring me right in the face, eye to eye.

It spoke to me then, in a rich, deep, woman's voice. She said, "If you walk directly into the flames, they will not burn you."