Lina watched aghast as the book continued writing what she said, until it abruptly stopped before her last two words appeared.
She stared at the lines, waiting. But nothing else happened.
"You were touching the page!" Amy exclaimed, more excitedly than was prudent. Lina gave her a look.
"It mussst only record when you're touching it," Sam said. "Sssorry. I ssshould have exsssplained thingsss better before. It'sss hard to talk in long sssentencesss with thisss voice."
"Oo-ee..." Lina tried to start a sentence and failed right out of the gate. She set her jaw and snorted. "Me am starting oo-oo realize that."
"Hey, you said 'that,'" Amy noticed, pointing to the book. "But that's one of the words."
Lina turned back to the book with a faint sign of hope on her face, which quickly fell when she read the lines over again. "Look closer."
"Oh... 'That's.' Sorry. It's really specific, then."
"But why is the book doing this?" she asked.
"You said that sentence perfectly!" Amy said with an unwittingly patronizing tone.
"Amy! Focus!"
"Meowr. Sorry."
Sam slithered carefully around to the shelf. "Pleassse exssscussse me..." He took the book and shut it, showing the girls the cover. "'Sssecrets for Sssafekeeping' could mean thisss isss a literal sssafe for wordsss."
Amy nodded slowly. "You could tell your biggest, most important secrets to the book..."
"...and me wouldn't be able... say ever again," Lina finished, still struggling to talk around the words she couldn't say without an ook escaping her throat. "But can me ever say words again? And why isn't the book doing the same thing with you?"
Sam continued flipping through the book, looking for anything more. "I guesss it... imprinted on you when you firssst ssspoke into it."
Lina flinched. "And now me stuck talking like Tarzan."
Amy side-hugged her furry friend. "It'll be okay. Nothing here seems like it's meant to hurt us on purpose. I'm sure there's a way to pull those words out of the book." She give an expectant, demanding look at Sam, who hurriedly skimmed through the rest of the journal.
"Here! Inssstructionsss!" he showed them a block of printed text on the inside cover. "'Firssst, ssspeak your sssecret to a blank page...'"
Lina's hand shot up dismissively. "We figured that part out. Skip."
"Uh, r-right. Umm... 'To releassse the wordsss ssstored within a page, tear it out and burn it completely in fire.'"
"Great!" Lina threw her elongated arms in the air as she scoffed. Then her gaze turned upward toward a nearby wall. "Hey, those are real oil lamps, aren't they?"
"Mmmeow-aybe we should ask for help," Lina suggested. "And pay for the journal, since it's yours now."
Lina grumbled and strode over to Sam. She snatched the book out of his pebbly hands and started walking toward the front of the shop. Her friends reluctantly followed. "Oo-ook-kay, come on," she grunted. "Let's get what else we need and get out of here. Ask the manager for more enchanted collars and some... some... hair soap."