The bunk was just one of the containers on the bottom with bunk beds on the walls.

There were seven of us and four rows of bunk beds on either side, which meant that we could each have our own without having to share.

“At least we don’t have to worry about privacy...” Gesai’s voice dripped with sarcasm.

Rix jumped up on the top of the first bed on the right and it looked like she went right to sleep. I honestly doubted that was the case and wondered how much exploring she was going to do while the rest of us actually slept.

“I guess I’m taking this one.” Gesai slapped the post of the bed across from the bed Rix had claimed. "And of course…”

I turned and saw that Jord was already on the bottom of the one at the very back right and had covered himself with a blanket.

Justia climbed on top of the bed next to Rix and settled in. Oz pointed at the one one across from it. "Ren, we’ll take this one.”

The blonde cast a nervous glance at Gesai. Even if the older redhead had been nice for the past few hours, it seemed like not everyone was ready to fully trust her.

“Ren, why don’t you take the one under Justia?” I moved to the one beside the one Oz had picked and sat on the lower bed. "I can sleep here.”

Ren looked at Oz for confirmation and that blackhaired woman nodded. The blonde quickly sat on the bed under our Healer.

I tried to lay down, but the conversation from earlier still had me on edge. I wasn’t sure how long it was, but it felt like hours, when Rix got up and slipped out of the container. Honestly, if I hadn’t been looking for it, I probably wouldn’t have even noticed.

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I started thinking about how we would proceed if we did find a way out. The first thing we would need to do was get the cuffs off of our crystal bands. Once we did that, we’d be able to send a message to Trent to let him know that we were free.

Thinking of a message got me to thinking about Ether. It’d been a week since she’d watch me offer myself to Sipher in exchange for Rix. I’d be able to send her a message tomorrow and I started to wonder what I would say. There was so much I wanted to say, like how much I hated having to leave, but that it was the only way I could think of to save her. I wondered how she was doing and hoped that Sipher wasn’t intercepting the messages to our crystal bands, because I really wanted to hear back from her.

I started trying to think of ways that I could word things so that she would understand what I meant, but Sipher would think it was innocent. Though I couldn’t imagine Sipher finding anything cryptic to be innocent. I’d have to play on his ego, which meant a healthy dose of resignation about how trapped we were.

At some point while trying to think about how to craft a code, I fell asleep.

I woke up to Justia shaking me. “Atlas!”

I rubbed my eyes as I sat up. It looked like we were the only two in the bunker, which surprised me because I would have thought that Jord would have stayed until the very last minute.

“Where is everyone?” I yawned as I stood up.

“They’ve already eaten and headed out to the training area.” She handed me a ration bar.

I stretched. "Why didn’t anyone wake me up?”

“Rix said you were up really late last night and that we should let you sleep as late as possible.” Justia headed for the door. "We thought about letting you skip today, but I didn’t think you’d appreciate that.”

“Thanks.” I tore into the ration bar. It’d been over two weeks since I’d eaten one and they were just as bland as I remembered. "When we get these things deactivated." I tapped on the cuff. "Are you going to send Aelin a message?”

Justia looked scared. I felt a little bad about putting her on the spot, but it was just the two of us, so I thought it'd be okay.

“I don’t want Sipher to see it.” The brunette finally admitted as we neared building four.

“It’s okay.” I put my hand on her shoulder. "I’ll make a group message.” It was the best way I could think of to add the most variables so that Sipher would dismiss it. I knew Ether would have liked a private message, but I also knew she was logical enough to understand.

“Thanks.” Justia smiled for a brief moment before walking through the open door.