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"Way cool Am I in there?"

"Nan, you knohat thisher "I solved one of the tales It’s officially begun"

"Great! No many more until you’re done?"

"Um, I don’t actually know"

"Mina?" Nan asked "What if there is no end?"

Chapter 12

The next day Mina went through theattention in class, but herin her head "What if there is no end?" She kept checking the Grimoire to make sure the story was still there It wasn’t until advanced art that Mina felt another trickle of dread So

Looking up Mina was surprised to see a set of fa at her from across the room It was the same boy who saved her in the alley, here in their classrooestured for the boy to take up an empty seat

"Class this is Jared, he’s one of our newest students Please irls and boys in her class whispering a themselves It so happened that one of the only empty seats was next to her desk, so she tried to co all eyes were pointed their way

"What are you doing here?" she hissed when no was looking

"Free country Isn’t it?" Jared said

Mina fu her? Lucky for her, advanced art class was less lecture and h her thoughts

When Mr Anored Jared, stood up and walked across the room to sit by one of the potter’s wheels Mina loved how a pile of clay could beuseful and pretty She tore off a hunk of wet clay and dropped it onto the center of the wheel, reaching down to turn the power on Getting her hands wet, she felt the pull of the clay and centered it on the wheel, so it could begin to take shape

"What are youa seat at the next empty potter’s wheel He too, picked up a lu it

"Are you here to harass me?" she asked

"No I’m here to lance, and was actually surprised at how deftly his hands ht, she ignored hinore me forever," he said His hands moved as if they were in tune with the clay

"Watch me," Mina answered between clenched teeth

"It wasn’t an i to carry on a civil conversation with you"

"There’s nothing civil about you, and I would prefer to not carry this conversation any further" Mina grunted in protest as she took her eyes off the wheel to confront Jared Her mound of clay became unbalanced and flopped over to the side

"That’s too bad," he replied "You should never let distractions get in the way of your goals It always leads to ?" Mina asked "Here" She stopped the wheel and hit the lopsided clump with her fist "It’s an ashtray" She scooped the piece up, threw it back into the clay bucket and walked out of the classroo at the nearest bathroom to wash the red clay from her hands and nails