Chapter 36

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If the teens slept in a little longer than they were usually allowed, who would tell? Well, four of them slept in. Milora and Nagan, meanwhile, woke up with the sun. Not really seeing the point in going back to sleep, Nagan carefully crept over to Milora's bed, sitting at the foot of it while they talked for an hour, waiting for the others to wake up. At least this allowed them to snicker at how the rest of the squad slept.

Az had woken up when Nagan got out of the bed, but he only groaned something under his breath—something along the lines of, "You and your stupid wakefulness..."—before turning to face the wall. Deciding it was still too bright, he tossed Nagan's now unoccupied pillow over his head and promptly went back to sleep.

Gath and Aitor proved to be the most ridiculous, but neither of them seemed to mind. Or if they did, they weren't aware of it. Aitor's pillow had been unceremoniously shoved off the bed, and he used his arm as a pillow instead. Somehow, at the same time, his body curled into a fetal position with his feet most undoubtedly pressed up against Gath's legs. They didn't know how Gath didn't wake up to that, but maybe he was used to it. He did have many other siblings, after all. Gath slept relatively normally, flat on his back, until they realized he had somehow wedged his leg between the wall and the bed. His arm flung out across the unknowing Aitor.

At first, they honestly thought Carth was awake. He slept on his back like Gath, but instead of his arm flung off to the side, he had it covering his eyes. It was almost as if he was blocking out the light. One leg was bent and propped into the air, and it was this that made them think he was awake. He was not, they realized after trying to talk to him. It turned out, his leg was simply resting against the slope of the ceiling.

They were both surprised when Carth gave a sleepy reply after Milora wondered if they should wake everyone up.

"Carth? How long have you been awake?" Milora asked.

"Um..." Nagan saw Carth's throat bobble as he swallowed thickly. "Maybe a few minutes? I feel like I woke up a while ago, but then I dozed off again."

"You must've," Nagan said. "We tried talking to you, but you didn't respond."

"Oh, great. The thief's awake."

Nagan made a sound of indignation. "I gave it back!"

"Not before I noticed it was gone."

Carth moved his arm that was over his eyes, sending a small glare at Nagan. He then swung his legs over the side of the bed, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees. He looked...tired, Nagan noted, as he watched Carth rub the sleep from his eyes with a heavy sigh.

"...Did you sleep alright, Carth?" Nagan found himself asking, surprised at the amount of concern in his voice. "Do you feel sick?"

"No, I'm not sick," Carth replied snappishly, but both Nagan and Milora knew that was a normal response. "I'm just..."

The early birds waited for Carth to continue, but he never did. Instead, he stood, grimacing when his hip joint cracked, and began waking up Gath and Aitor. Nagan moved to do the same, taking the responsibility of waking Az. He was less nice about it, however, simply ripping the pillow covering his best friend's head away. It didn't take long for Az to slowly turn, giving Nagan a murderous glare. Just a regular ol' Tuesday for them.

"Get up," he said. "We've got work to do."

"

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