Mina Novella's Arc

Chapter 1 of 1

Mina stood in the Book Palace with a paintbrush in one hand and a vision that wouldn't stay still. The space was hers — all hers — and she was going to make it the kind of place people came back to, not because they needed a book, but because something about it felt right. But when she stepped outside to check the weather, a massive crystal unicorn statue blocked her doorway. Rainbow colors danced across its surface, catching the light like a disco ball. A woman in a pressed blazer stood beside it, holding an ornate scroll tied with a red wax seal. "I'm Julia Hansen," the woman said. "And according to this ownership document, the Book Palace belongs to me." Mina's chest went tight. The scroll looked ancient and official, covered in decorative writing she couldn't quite read from where she stood. Her own lease paperwork sat in a drawer inside, plain and boring and suddenly feeling very thin. "That's impossible," Mina said, but her voice came out smaller than she wanted. Julia smiled and gestured at the unicorn statue like it had already claimed the sidewalk. "I've been planning my magical bookshop for years. The lease was signed by Lucy Gordon herself." She tapped the wax seal with one manicured finger. Mina looked at her coffee machine through the window — the only thing she'd finished, the only proof she'd started — and felt the Book Palace slipping away before she'd even made it real.