She tried to wipe them off, but when they wouldn't come away, she realized they were actually extraordinarily tiny little ticks. (mommyish.com)
About not knowing where you are in the book, there is a little line across the bottom of the page and it has little tick marks on it if the author put them there that represent chapter breaks. (thekindlechronicles.com)
A little cardamom goes a long way though — those little green pods are like little ticking bombs of flavour. (golubkakitchen.com)