The brilliant burst of light sent a shiver down her body, the soft thrumming of energy causing her ears and whiskers to twitch like mad.<i>Well, that was an experience.</i>She turned to look at her master inquisitively, but as soon as she caught sight of his face, everything faded away to a white nothingness.<br/><br/>It wasn’t warm or cold, wasn’t big or small. She was just suspended in a limbo where she wasn’t quite anything but she wasn’t nothing either. She didn’t understand. Did the contract backfire? Had the human tricked them? She didn’t have much time to think about it.<br/><br/>She was suddenly back at the outskirts of town, near the water but no longer in it. All of her hair stood on end, making her look a bit like a giant caterpillar in the grass. She lay there for awhile, eyes wide and unmoving. When she finally did move she coiled tightly on herself and ducked her head into her coils, trembling slightly.<br/><br/>She heard the human speaking, but he sounded far away. They had been<i>in</i>the book? He hadn’t mentioned that before. What else would come of this contract? This bond? All Kital had said was that the contract would make them stronger. Overwhelmed, the nguruvilu felt as though that silence had pierced into her brain. That absolute silence, that magic white nothingness that wasn’t quite nothing. She wasn’t having any thoughts in particular at all, her mind empty with shock.