#Chapter 196: The Mural

Iris The brush glides across the wall, leaving a streak of blue in its wake. The mural I’m painting for the upcoming gala is almost complete—a riot of shapes and colors, the central form being a young girl with her arms outstretched, facing the glittering ocean in the midst of a pink and orange sunset. Biting my lip, I take a step back to inspect the seashell I’ve just painted on the sand below. But I shake my head, frowning. It feels a little tacky, like the kind of thing you’d see in a beachy gift shop rather than on the wall of an art gallery. “You know, when you said you wanted to paint something for the gala, I thought you meant a nice little piece to auction off,” Alice says with a chuckle as she saunters up behind me with two cups of coffee in hand. “Not a twenty-foot mural that takes up the entire west wall of my gallery.” I glance over at her just as I’m about to paint over the seashell, then set my brush down and take the coffee with a grateful smile.