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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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Mina Meets Hatter and

Tatter

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Mina didn’t stop running until she was well away from the school, deep in the surrounding forest.

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Although she was extraordinarily fast, something was keeping up with her. Mina heard the—thing—galumphing behind her, unsteady but determined.

The point came when her lungs burned and her body refused to carry her one more step.

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Realizing something very, very bad was about to happen to her, Mina decided she would rather die fighting than fleeing. Desperately, she flung her body around to face her pursuer. Then she burst out laughing.

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The giant beast, whose long shadow had haunted her escape, was in reality two people, one sitting atop the shoulders of another. The top half of the shape appeared to be a lace bundle, while the bottom part wore what Mina could only describe as a highly improbable hat.

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Both were dressed so oddly, and so bizarre were their faces, that Mina could not contain her amusement. These two beings could not possibly mean her harm. The thing—person—on top used her laced-bedecked parasol to point viciously at Mina. ‚Well,‛ she said snappishly, ‚yer don’t need to run like we’re demons or sumfink and then laugh in us faces.‛ She stood on her dignity, every pore radiating irritation. Mina worked valiantly to stifle the laughter that kept threatening to bubble from her mouth. With as straight a face as she could manage, she asked, ‚Then why were you following me?‛

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The lace-covered woman gave a grunt and rather stiffly clambered down the back of the one running. She put her hands on her hips and glared. ‚Well who else is gonna 'elp yer now that The Professor’s gone?‛

That stopped Mina’s smile. ‚You saw? How did you see? Are you responsible for that, that—THING that happened?‛

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The little woman scoffed. ‚'Course not. Do we look like we’re bleedin' Derklings? The Professor told us to come over. Said 'e might need some 'elp.‛ Her offended posture softened somewhat. ‚Fat lot o’ good we did.‛ ‚So if you didn’t do that thing, then why didn’t you stop it? And what’s a Derkling? And who are you two, anyway?‛

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‚First things first,‛ said the woman as she struggled back onto the back of her companion. ‚I’m Tatter, right, and this ‘ere‛—the woman opened her parasol and made a sweeping gesture towards her bearer, ‚’e’s ‘atter, with an haitch.‛

‚Tatter and Hatter? Well, nice to meet you, I’m sure.‛ Mina was nothing if not polite to her elders. ‚Sure nuffink. Yer right lucky we managed to keep up with yer. Where are yer goin’ anyways?‛ For the first time, Mina took stock of her surroundings. ‚Well, I’m going…I mean, I think I’ve decided…‛ she trailed off and looked at the forest floor.

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It’s just like I thought.‛ Tatter shook the parasol in Mina’s direction. ‚Yer don’t know what yer doin'. No bleedin’ wonder The Professor called us. Well, right, it’s too late tonight for yer to be decidin' about anyfink, init? Come with 'atter and me and we’ll fix yer up for the night.‛

‚Oh,‛ stammered Mina, ‚I don’t think…‛

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‚'Course yer not thinkin'! Yer can’t go back there (a jerk of the parasol towards the school) and yer don’t know what’s out there‛ (the parasol rounded to point at the forest beyond), ‚and yer not got the foggiest idea what to do, right? Now the way I see it, yer can either come with the two of us and get some sleep or yer can take yer chances with whatever’s to come. I

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don’t need to tell yer the one I’d pick, but then again, right, I’m not some kid as won’t listen when in-dee-viduals are tryin' to ‘elp 'er.‛ And so Mina, defeated by the implacable logic of the parasol, meekly followed Hatter and Tatter to a cottage on the outskirts of town.

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Be sure to check out the next episode, ‚The Next Morning,‛ 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.