Kital’s voice sounded far away too, but it helped to shake the silence loose. Her nose pressed through her coils to snuffle at her friend. Her tongue flicked, then again, and again. She tried to focus on Kital’s smell, tried to pull herself back into the world.<br/><br/>Gradually, the hair on her back started to flatten, but she remained in her coils. She heard the human approach and his soft apology. Maybe he didn’t mean for it to happen. Maybe he did. But he had let them out again. She shuddered at the thought that they could stay in the tome indefinitely.<br/><br/><i><span class="fixed-color" style="color:rgb(65, 168, 95)">“I don’t like the tome,” </span></i>she whimpered softly,<i><span class="fixed-color" style="color:rgb(65, 168, 95)">“I hope there aren’t any more surprises.”</span></i>