Midnight.
Patrick Black awoke suddenly from his sleep.
He hadn't had a nightmare, and he hadn't heard any sounds, but there was a strange summons in his dream that woke him. For a wizard, especially one from an ancient family, being startled awake always required caution. He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, rolled out of bed, and scanned the room with his eyes.
This was an independent dorm at Alpha Fortress, and besides him, there were no other roommates.
The doors and windows on the independent balcony were tightly closed, and the copper mirror hanging from the ceiling and the curtains on the four-poster bed were silent, with no reaction to external magical intrusion.
On the wall, the portrait frame of the Black family ancestor was empty, evidence that the old fellow had gone off to chat with acquaintances in other frames around the school. This left Patrick slightly disappointed because he had intended to ask the old fellow if he had noticed anything unusual.
