The professor's chalk squeaked against the blackboard. The sound should have been grating enough to hold Melisa's attention, but her mind had drifted far from the classroom.
[They found three more nim hideouts, which makes what, seven total now?] She sighed. [Wonder if Vira's still doing alright.]
Melisa's eyes glazed over as she stared at the intricate chalk lines without really seeing them.
A month had passed since the Koros incident, and she still couldn't get her brain to focus on "normal student life" for more than ten minutes at a time.
Every morning the papers had some new update about Queen Aria's "ongoing operation" against nim insurgents. Every day, Melisa scanned the list of names, both relieved and somehow disappointed not to see Vira's among them. Not because she wanted to see that she'd been arrested, but because part of her wanted confirmation that she was alive and well.
