Page 83 of Raelia

“As in,here?” Skyla gestured around them. “But we’re floating. What if I sleepwalk? I’ll end up in the river!”

They all stared at her, until Tom asked what they were all wondering. “Do you sleepwalk often?”

Skyla tilted her head in puzzlement. “Should I?”

Alex had to stifle a laugh at the baffled look on Skyla’s face.

“Well, no, hopefully you shouldn’t,” Tom said, looking around for help from the others.

“Then of course I don’t,” Skyla said. “Honestly, the questions you people ask!”

“But, you’re the one who said—” Tom began, but Alex interrupted his frustrated words.

“I think you’ll be fine, Skyla. We won’t let you fall into the river, whether you sleepwalk or not.”

“But I don’t sleepwalk,” Skyla said with genuine confusion.

Jordan wasn’t the only one who tried to turn his amusement into a half-convincing cough.

“I’m tired,” Pipsqueak broke in, changing the course of the conversation.

“Pip’s right,” Declan said. “I know it’s early, but we’ve all had an insane day. We should get some shut-eye, especially if tomorrow is anything like today.”

Alex agreed wholeheartedly. The events of the day had successfully spiked her adrenaline enough to keep her exhaustion at bay, but her week of limited sleep was crashing dow

The raft was large enough that they could all comfortably lie down even with its heavily inflated sides. Alex pulled her sleeping bag from her backpack and snuggled inside it, and she had only a few moments of consciousness left to say goodnight before she drifted off to sleep.

“Alex, wake up.”

Something was nudging her but she wasn’t ready to pull herself from her blissful slumber.

“Alex?”

“Maybe if I blow my morning breath in her face she’ll wake up?”

“Didn’t you see how exhausted she was last night, Blink? Just give her a moment.”

“No sweat, bro. Just a suggestion.”

Alex wanted to roll over to stop the annoying voices buzzing in her ears so she could go back to sleep. But they continued talking and her consciousness came slamming back when she remembered where she was. Her eyes snapped open and she sat up with a gasp—which turned into a painful moan when she smacked heads with Jordan.

“Oww!” he cried, flinching backwards and holding a hand to his forehead.

“What are youdoing?” Alex asked, massaging her throbbing skull.

“Trying to wake the dead, apparently,” he said. “I have no idea how you slept so well. The rest of us hardly managed a wink.”

Looking around, Alex could see that her classmates didn’t exactly look well rested. But she felt better than she had in a while, that was for sure.

“Why’d you wake me?” she asked, unzipping her sleeping bag and stretching her limbs.

“The river’s ending,” he said, pointing to stagnant body of water not too far ahead. “I thought you might want something to eat before we have to tackle whatever’s next.”

That was thoughtful of him, so she decided not to be annoyed that he’d woken her from the best sleep she’d had all week.

“Thanks, Jordan.”

He smiled and handed over her backpack. She wasn’t hungry, but she knew she’d need her strength for whatever Hunter had in store for them, so she guzzled down an energy bar and a handful of dehydrated fruit, along with a good portion of water. The bottles they’d been given seemed to have some kind of automatic refill as none of them had run out of water. That was convenient, at least in Alex’s opinion.

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