Nina leaned against a nearby wall, arms folded and eyes distant. It had been nearly half an hour since Julie signaled her to wait, and her patience was wearing thin.
She shifted her weight, glanced down at Fenrir, and yawned.
Her thoughts drifted somewhere between what she'd eat for dinner and whether she should just give up and head home.
She almost did. Her foot lifted, ready to turn away, when her Patron's voice called out firmly in her head.
[Nina.]
She blinked, startled.
"What?"
She mumbled aloud, still half in a daze.
[You were about to walk into the barrier.]
Nina blinked again and realized that she had unconsciously taken a few steps forward, closer to the sealed academy's entrance.
A shimmer of energy glowed faintly around the area, marking where the dungeon's influence had grown thick.
She looked around and saw other students from the acting academy drifting in the same direction, eyes glassy, expressions blank. Like sleepwalkers pulled toward a dream.
