"Are you sure this will work?"
Yelena knelt beside Celestina and asked it with an anxious expression, while Celestina herself looked rather less than certain.
"I am not, but we can only try."
Lumine, meanwhile, had been relegated to a spot beside the sleeping Jasmine, instructed to give them space. He sat with his knees drawn up to his chest and his back against the wall, his face a portrait of quiet worry while impatience churned relentlessly beneath it. Every second squandered here was another second for the creature to draw closer.
"Are you ready?"
Celestina asked, her voice a shade softer. Yelena hesitated for a beat before nodding and drawing herself more upright so she could place her hand over Celestina's chained wrist.
"Ready," Yelena said, pressing her nerves down and steadying herself.
