Arc 1: The Arrival
Page 2
The Smell That Changes Everything
She walked the block slowly, reading every sign. Hardware store. Laundromat. A place that sold only candles. And then — Marco's Bakery, with a hand-painted sign and a smell that stopped her completely. She pressed her face to the window like a child. Inside: warm amber light, shelves of bread, a large man in an apron moving with the unhurried confidence of someone who had been doing this for decades. She went inside.