Elowen returned to her room, still blushing slightly. After taking a call from Moore, who urged her to keep up with her deadlines, she managed to set aside the recent awkward incident with Dylan and refocused on her work. She worked nonstop until 1 a.m., finally completing her illustrations and sending them off to Moore.

Three days later, Moore replied with great news: her submission had successfully passed the preliminary round, and now she could prepare for the next stage of ...