Stafford Corporations (Trinity Central Book #2)

Chapter 3

CASTELLE

Chapter 3

Not a single nightmare or frightening thought has kept we awake in the last two weeks; makes me feel a bit guilty if I'm honest. I really shouldn't complain about sleeping well, I need all the energy I can get for today's trek. Kent and I have been assigned to north perimeter 11, and so our morning briefing started an hour earlier than it normally does.

I yawn in boredom, and, beside me, Kent yawns in fatigue. The sun has yet to rise, but we're whiling away the hours of much needed sleep to wait for Eden who has yet to show up herself.

"You'd think she'd be more punctual," Kent mutters. He won't admit to such weaknesses, but I hear him wake up screaming in a cold sweat some nights from the room over, and it's evident from the bags under his eyes. He's more deprived than I normally am, but that should be considered from how torn up he must be about Silas and the sudden change in his life. It's just a shame that he finds Eden more unbearable than all of the misfortunes to have recently befallen him. "For always being on my case about everything, she's not that great herself."

"You really do hold grudges don't you?" I try to ignore his snide remarks and backhanded compliments; I'm not currently in the mentality to hear a lecture from him about the irony in my words. The two have a strange love-hate relationship to say the least. They hate each other and I love how amusing it is.

"Why do you hate her so much anyway?" I ask, half keeping the conversation alive for the sake of my own boredom.

"I'm not sure," he responds, staring at his hands, "Call it intuition, but I don't trust her. Something about her seems off."

"Or, she's normal and you're just crazy," I tease. Kent starts to reply with a stammered, ill-planned return when Cynthia cuts in.

"Enough with the bickering," she says, wiping away early grogginess from her eyes. Aster follows close behind, but it's not clear whether or not he's actually conscious. They're both a part of scouting team seven and have been assigned to searching north perimeter 10 today, though it seems they might not be in the best condition to search for anything but some extra hours of sleep.

Scouting team two are comprised of the children who arrived shortly before Cynthia and Aster. Aria and Fray seem to be dragging an unwilling Scarlett from the hallway, swatting at them as though they were nothing more but inconvenient flies. I would feel more worried with their assignment to this task, but sadly I'm more worried for any poor souls who might run into them.

"Excuse me if I get a bit peeved at that self proclaimed saint. I'm missing out on some valuable beauty sleep right now."

"Calm down, Turner, I'm here." Eden enters just as Kent's annoyance started to raise his voice. All playful I partially hope, not that there isn't enough drama in my life as is. "And about that beauty sleep, trust me, one hour won't do that much," she eyes him up and down with a smug smirk and I suppress a smile behind a closed fist.

His face turns slightly pink but I'm not sure whether that's from anger or embarrassment.

"Are you here to insult, Saint Eden, or are you going to brief us on what's going on?"

It seems like she's about to retort, but decides against it. I fear I may have rubbed off on Kent a bit, but hey he could have turned out worse.

She glares at Kent for a bit before deciding against provoking him any further. "This assignment is only in effect for this single day. For the remainder of today, you will each scout your newly assigned perimeter. Report back by five this evening or send a radio signal notifying us of your whereabouts. If you find anything, bring it back regardless of the situation." Eden glances at her hands, an unfamiliar air of anxiety shrouding her expression, but her stoic demeanor makes me almost dismiss the subtle cue. It's just the nagging feeling recently pitted in my stomach that forces me to overthink her slight movement. It's my logic that causes me to doubt my own intuition. Nothing happened, I think to myself, but if that's true, then why aren't they back yet?