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Chapter One: Naomi

Nao The only thing that could help her noas a miracle

Her rent was due in less than a week, and this ain at the shitty retail job she’d been forced to accept just to stay afloat

Long ago, at college, she’d drea for her Back then, her head had been filled with i and days studying and tutoring Back then it had felt as if she’d never run out of energy or inspiration

But that was then Now she was broke, andthe nights, her worry of how to pay her rent kept her awake Now she hadn’t painted in nearly a year

At first, that hat had hurt the most of all But these days all she felt was numb

She’d been young and stupid back then, thinking that her dreah to find a job she loved Instead, she’d ended up working retail with aat her boobs instead of her face, and with hours that continually got cut Every sparethe children of the rich in art, who’d much rather play with their iPhones than pay attention to Naomi

It’s over, she thought as she stared tiredly at her phone It won’t ring, whichBut I’ve known all along it wouldn’t sell Nothing I’ve tried to sell has

In a last act of desperation, she’d begged a favor froallery He’d added the last painting she’d held on to to his current exhibition—only because he liked her, as he’d told her several ti would sell, because people were so over unicorns and princesses and sparkly fairies

Nao She’d been so tired it hadn’t even hurt to hear his opinion of her art

It was art, she thought dimly, a small spark of rebellion still left in her heart And it wasn’t a unicorn Her painting showed a dragon, astorm clouds

It wasn’t the sort of subject she usually painted She liked landscapes: the play of light on stone, the green of leaves changing with the seasons, the secrets of light and wind and ti artwork of nature

Where had the dragon come from? Naomi couldn’t say even now But she’d painted it in one final, desperate outburst of creativity, before the endless rut of work, work, work killed the final spark in her heart

Suddenly, her phone’s screen lit up She stared at it, her heart speeding up, barely daring to believe it

Even if it’s just a few hundred I’ll be able to ed quietly as she answered the call

“Naomi! Girl, are you in for a surprise!” the voice of her friend Jeff cah the phone

In the background, she could still hear the soft allery’s opening event