It was a crisp snap.
But for the night, the sound was too loud.
Rong Ling jumped in fright, and as her hand loosened, the plush cat almost fell into the tank. It awkwardly leaped to escape, its big tail drenched, no longer fluffy, and pitifully hanging like a thin stick behind it.
Pitiful and startling, it kept meowing non-stop on the side.
"Who's there?!"
Rong Ling's eyes widened as she stared at the crack in the glass.
She hadn't noticed it at first, but now she saw that the crack wasn't a simple fracture; it radiated from a central point, turning the whole glass into a spiderweb pattern. In the 'web's' very center was a small hole.
Suddenly, Rong Ling seemed to realize something and slowly, slowly, lowered her head.
A small white pebble had rolled to the floor not far from the fish tank.
It lay there quietly.
It was pure white, smooth all around, seemingly ordinary, just like the pebbles scattered across the lawn outside the little building.
