The Altered.

Chapter LII.

Miles managed to get an unexpected amount of sleep that night. After he and Aaron had stayed up and conversed for the entirety of both of their shifts combined, Aaron had woken up Lia for her shift and the boys had had the opportunity to get to sleep. Much to Miles' surprise, he had actually been able to fall asleep, and that was a good thing.

When he woke up, everybody else was only just beginning to stir as well. Scratching his head as he pushed himself into a sitting position, Miles yawned and then stretched, already feeling the excitement and nerves about what today would contain.

Percy was gently rubbing his unresponsive arm. "What time will we be leaving today?" he sounded groggy, also having just woken up.

"We should go early," Eira said, her sentence concluding with a yelp as she rolled over and slipped right over the edge of the lounge and onto the carpet.

Lia was also waking up slowly. Aaron was currently the only one who hadn't woken, and by the sound of his soft snoring, he wouldn't be getting up unless told to. Miles slid off the chair he'd fallen asleep in and shuffled over to Aaron, who was fast asleep in the chair he'd been sitting in at the beginning of the night.

Miles flicked Aaron's nose, and that woke the boy up with a start. "Wakey wakey," said Miles, then turned away again to trudge towards the food.

"Let's say we'll leave in an hour," Lia said sleepily, heaving herself into a standing position and then extending a hand to help Eira up. "That'll give us time to eat and pack a bag. We'll probably want to get changed, too."

"Have we actually decided where we're going?" Miles asked as he seated himself by where they'd stacked the small amount of food they had left. Footsteps sounded behind him then Aaron sat down too, followed by Lia.

"No," said Lia, "but that's why we've set aside an hour before we're leaving."

Eira plopped down beside her brother and rested her head on his shoulder, letting out a long sigh. Percy was the last to sit, managing to find a place to seat himself between Lia and Miles. Miles shuffled a little closer to Aaron in order to provide more room for Percy.

Aaron was the first to start searching for something to eat. "We've run out of apricots!" he remarked, visibly legitimately distressed by this discovery.

"We have canned carrots," Miles said, "if you want those."

Aaron gave Miles a repulsed look. "Don't we have anything else?"

Miles looked at the little food they had remaining. "Canned... tuna?"

"I don't eat meat," said Aaron.

Miles hadn't known this until now, but it didn't shock him. He'd never actually seen Aaron eat any meat. Actually, the only thing he'd ever seen Aaron eat were the dried apricots that there were no longer any more of. "Can't vegetarians eat fish?"

"No," said Aaron, reluctantly picking up the canned carrots. "Are these safe to eat on their own?"

"They're literally just carrots."

As Aaron begrudgingly opted to open the can of carrots, Miles tried to find something that wasn't canned fish to eat. That was pretty much all they had left, though, if he wanted something substantial. His other options consisted of a single melted chocolate bar or a packet of sunflower seeds that he thought Eira would probably enjoy more than he would, since she and Lia had devoured the other packets of seeds and nuts. "Can I share the carrots?"

Aaron set the can down between them. "If you find the forks. I'm not putting my hands in that."

Miles rolled his eyes and was about to grab two plastic forks before Lia handed them to him with a smirk. He took them gratefully and passed one to Aaron, who stabbed a carrot with it at once. He lifted it to his eye level to properly inspect it.