Ashes

Seventeen: Of Happy Days

A/N: Aesthetic for Hayden Hunter.

I wake up earlier than Echo the next morning, stepping out of the ridiculously comfortable bed that I find in my room upstairs.

Half of me is tempted to pull the blankets back up over my head and pretend there isn't a life outside, and though I soon fall asleep, my sister isn't content with my slumber.

It must be at least an hour later when I feel the sheets ripped off of my bed and cold air seep into my skin.

"I have an idea," Echo informs me, and I let out a groan akin to one of despair as my sleep-filled eyes force themselves to open.

"Oh, good," I mutter, and I feel the bed dip slightly as she takes a seat by the foot of it.

"No no, you'll like this one. I promise," she tells me, and I'm inclined to believe her. My sister is typically a more stoic creature who smiles even less than I do, so her sunny mood is a change that seems borderline uncharacteristic.

"Alright, alright. Go ahead," I chuckle, and she nods quickly.

"You, Andi, and I are going to go explore Canaan's city area. I'm tired of being surrounded by boys," she jokes, and I raise a skeptical eyebrow.

"What about Callie?"

"Oh. I'm assuming Titus didn't tell you? Johann's leaving this afternoon to go back to Argos, and Callie and Felix are going with him to say goodbye,"

"Really?" I ask, surprised that Felix would agree to go with them. I mean, Callista and Johann have been around each other a lot since we've gotten to Canaan, but Callie and Felix have been avoiding each other since the incident on the ship.

"Yeah, and we've barely gotten to see Andi since she's been back. Besides. You need to get out more," she says with a slight smile, and she receives a pillow to the face in return.

Despite this, I don't think it's the worst idea ever. Granted, I grew up around Callie and Felix, but Echo's right. We need some sort of sense of normalcy in our lives.

"I like it. Just let me shower first," I tell her, and she agrees with a tiny grin.

Twenty minutes later, the three of us manage to pile into the train without really knowing what we're doing. Without Eva there to guide us, we're sort of running blindly. Echo wanted to wait to figure out what was going on, but Andi, being the goof that she is, decided it'd be more fun if we kind of just rolled with whatever punches were thrown our way.

That's where we find ourselves almost a half our later: still sitting on the train because we've gotten off at seven wrong stops so far.

"Honestly, you'd think they'd mark the stops or something! All I see are these weird squiggly line patterns on the wall we exit on. I have no idea where we are," Andi huffs, sounding annoyed but not the least bit concerned.

I glance over momentarily just in time to see Echo groan and bury her head into her hands.

The train slows to a halt, and Echo and I don't even bother getting out this time. Andi, on the other hand...

Our blonde friend shoots to her feet and jogs outside, and I make sure to place a hand over the door so we don't accidentally lose her.

I hear a male voice protesting from outside the train, and seconds later, Andi drags a very confused Hayden into the car.

"I don't... why are you... dragging me? You're... what?!" he stutters, and Andi promptly sits him down. He's wearing training clothes again, meaning he was either coming from training or heading towards it.