My knees shaky, I straightened and looked down at the coiled chain. I was afraid to touch it, but I tentatively reached out a finger. I kept reaching until my finger grazed one of the links. It felt warm to the touch, even though the metal should have been cold. I gripped the same link between two of my fingers and lifted it up. The chain uncoiled as I drew it upward. It was long. In the light of the Noc, it seemed to pulsate, glow even, as though it had a heart, which of course it could not. I looked more closely and saw that there were letters imprinted on some of the links. Together they
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