Lina recognized the costume aisle she had looked through shortly before stumbling upon the ring she stole. It was a large wooden cabinet full of beautiful jewelry. She recalled how the tin soldier standing next to the box had yelled at her for picking up the ring and putting it on. That's what freaked her out and caused her to flee the store without paying for it.
She grumbled to herself. "Why couldn't that old man have noticed before I left?" she thought. "He would have made me pay for it and everything would have been fine." This was, of course, assuming she was being punished for stealing and not simply the victim of a ring that arbitrarily turned people into rats.
She felt she was getting very close to the right aisle, and stopped to remember whether to go left or right out of the costumes section. While she thought, her ears picked up a shuffling noise coming from behind her. She turned her small head to see another rat slightly larger than her picking at some crumbs on the floor. The rat spotted Lina and dashed forward.
Frightened, Lina scampered away as fast as she could. She accidentally dropped the ring out of her mouth as she had turned, not realizing it until she was almost halfway down another aisle. She turned back, seeing the other rat sniffing it in curiosity. "Don't touch that!" she squeaked. The other rat either couldn't understand her or didn't care. He took it in his mouth and scurried away.