...author to save my life? It was about a girl who dimension-traveled with the help of a talking snake and its basket, there was a rat in there somewhere and it was all very interesting. If I recall correctly, they were in a creepy, sterile, lab-type place with nothing but wasteland outside...which may have been where the rat was from. I remember the cover art very clearly: the girl, blond, had the basket under one arm with the snake around her waist like a belt. The background was a yellowish color, and I'm sure the author's surname would alphabetically fall between the letters of N and Z. Please help me, this has been driving me mad for weeks!