Mia M Dre's Arc

Chapter 11 of 13

They turned back along the shore one last time, the comb safe in Marina's shawl. Mia kept her eyes on the path home, but a flash of paper on a post stopped her cold. A public notice board stood near the water's edge. Pinned at its center was her shop's own inventory label, and beneath it, a careful sketch of her face. Mia's breath caught. The buyer had moved faster than she thought. Marina stepped past her and tore the paper down in one clean pull. She folded it small and slid it into her shawl beside the comb. "Now they know your face," Marina said. "So we move before they print another." Mia nodded once. The water was no longer a safe door home. It was a watched one. They cut toward the back path, but a locked gate blocked the way. Bright sale posters covered its bars, padlock fat at the center. Mia's stomach dropped. Marina touched her arm. "Not this road," she said. "We find another tonight. And tomorrow we hunt the buyer before he hunts you." Mia turned from the gate. The comb was home. Her face was not.