The refraction projected a map onto the workshop wall, pinpointing a location in the old forest where Arthur had harvested his finest oak. There, buried beneath the roots of a twin-trunked tree, Clara found not gold, but the blueprints for her father’s greatest unbuilt design and a letter:
Frustrated, she sat at his heavy oak workbench. She noticed a small, rectangular indentation in the surface—exactly one inch wide and two inches long. It wasn't a piece of wood she was looking for; it was a space. See: 1Г—2
Arthur Thorne was a man of meticulous order, a master carpenter who spoke more through wood than words. When he passed away, he left his daughter, Clara, nothing but a single, weathered notebook. On the final page, circled in heavy ink, were three words: The refraction projected a map onto the workshop