no one had ever given her permission to be useless before . carved onto the outside of the box was the symbol of a serpent swallowing its own tail . not just for the tattoo , either . sorry , he said in a low voice as he felt his face growing red , could you repeat the question ? maybe she might be open-minded ? `` well , you 're still my little sister , and i still love you . '' there were probably physical letters somewhere , but if they existed they were not in the house . 