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Mina

A Photographic Novella

in Twenty Episodes

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Text and Makeup by Jennifer Broome

Photography by Allie Mullin

©2012. All Rights Reserved

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The Next Morning

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Mina fully expected to be killed by the oddling pair of Hatter and Tatter, so she was pleasantly surprised when she awoke the next morning. There was a soft bed beneath her, fresh air blowing in from an open window, and a tray laden with breakfast tea at her left elbow. Mina took her toast and tea with a heaping spoon of compunction. When she could take it no longer, she quietly opened the door to the bedroom. Finding no one in the main room of the cottage, she made her way outside. Hatter and Tatter were sitting expectantly. ‚Well, yer not an early riser, I can say for sure,‛ remarked Hatter with a familiar jab of her parasol. ‚We was beginnin' to fink ye’d never come out.‛

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Mina found herself grinning sheepishly and not a little inanely. Tatter snorted derisively.

‚Right, then, out with it. What do ye want to do now? Do yer got any more of a plan than yer did last night when we found yer?‛

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‚Not really, no. I’m still unclear about…well, about everything.‛

‚Hrmmph.‛ Tatter darted a look at Hatter. ‚Told ye she wouldn’t ‘ave a clue.‛ Mina became angry. ‚Well, I may not have a clue, but then again I’m not sure who anyone is,

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am I? I mean, The Professor gets murdered by—by words, of all things, and then you two show up looking like—well, like something out of a fairy tale! I don’t even know what you are, do I?‛ she stamped her foot in frustration.

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Silence swelled in the space between them. Hatter looked meaningfully at Tatter, who glared back. They seemed to be engaged in a silent argument. Hatter apparently won, for she nodded her head sagely as Tatter glared at Mina. Tatter said softly, ‚We’s Philomorphs, that’s what.‛ ‚Philomorphs?‛ replied Mina. ‚What’s a Philomorph?‛

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Tatter looked at Mina strangely. ‚Yer never 'eard of us, isit? Yet yer still wear mar-ga-rites?‛ She pronounced every syllable distinctly and carefully, rolling the letters on her tongue. Mina looked down at the beads she was twisting in her hands. ‚These were my mother’s,‛ she said indistinctly as she pocketed them.

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‚Oh. I just fought yer 'adn’t 'ad a chance to change yet. Or yer kin still control it.‛ ‚Change?‛ Tatter sat up and the skin visible through the lace flushed. ‚Do yer fink we choose to look like this, isit? 'Course we don’t! It’s just sumfink that 'appens to us, init? We change…we change.‛ The last words left her mouth as a whisper. Then, she squared her shoulders, looked Mina in the eye, and began to explain.

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What is a Philomorph, and how did Tatter become one?

Was Mina’s mother similarly afflicted?

How much do Hatter and Tatter know about the Professor’s demise?

For the answers to these questions and more, be sure to check out the next episode, ‚Tatter’s Tale,‛ tomorrow. It goes live at 10 a.m. EST on literaturecouture.com/mina. While you’re there, browse the character makeup tutorials, read cast bios, and more.