The Winterswept Booksellers, a cozy little library at the center of Dewtown, was like a home to Akane Kai, who may have seemed like the reserved intern from the loud and bustling London, but was a world of vibrant colors inside.

She gazed into open space, wondering about the fascinating sights of bamboo forests, arctic planes, and Amazon jungles, her mind spindling like a carousel as a customer waited impatiently to purchase their books.

“Excuse me!” The woman gritted out between clenched teeth. She held a copy of a new, and seemingly popular, novel that she clearly bought for the sole purpose of trying to seem cool and mysterious.

Nearly every bratty, cruel girl with their shimmering hair extensions and pounds of makeup smeared across their faces bought that exact book, Akane thought annoyedly, scanning the book and taking the girl’s dollar bills.

“$18.67,” She states, pulling out a bag, the mysteries and dreams of travel still painting her mind.

“What? No.” The girl snapped. “I don’t have enough for that. That’s overpriced.”

“You want it, you have to pay for it.” Akane smiled sweetly with a lethal look burning through her eyes.

“Ugh!” The girl, well, Liberty, if you read the name that flashed across her visibly expensive silver necklace. “Get me your manager. This is so fucking annoying—” Her red-glossed lips pull back in a sneer.

Akane shrugged, waving Lukas, the manager, over. His mop of black curls bounced as he walked over, his usual greeting smile plastered across his lips. “May I help you, ma’am?”

Liberty rolls her eyes. “Your employee here is bumping up the price for my book for no reason.”

Akane raised a brow. “Don’t blame me because you’re broke.”

Her eyes hardened with rage. Next thing she knows, Liberty is storming out of the library, heels clicking rhythmically against the tile.

Akane still dreamt of towering castles, clouds of golden dreams, and midnight wonders.

“Well that was something,” Lukas mutters.