She shook her head, and responded. "No, I've been buried in exam prep this whole week. What's going on?"
Xaiden glanced at Jax who shrugged, then returned his gaze to Eliana's large black rimmed glasses. He didn't understand why she wore them when the imprint gave everyone far better than perfect sight. Was it a style thing? he wondered. "Well, we found a cabin out there that's in pretty decent shape," Xaiden explained. "Most of the structure is intact and stable, and best of all, there's a bunker too."
"Anything interesting this time?" Eliana asked curiously.
"Very much so, we're about to embark on an epic adventure," Xaiden responded dramatically. "Well, a more epic adventure since I suppose we're already on one at this point." He swept his hand across the illegal grounds they were standing in for emphasis. "This bunker is so rich with mystery and adventure, I was thinking, maybe we could move our base there?"
"I dunno," Eliana replied doubtfully. "I really like our spot now. It's close to the fence, gets good light, and we've got a lot of stuff here too."
"Wait till you see this place though," Jax interjected quickly, carefully studying Xaiden's face despite addressing Eliana. "Who knows, you may really like it!"
"Well, Eliana's right, this spot is pretty great. Maybe we can just have two bases and use both as needed." Xaiden said placatingly. He'd had some time to cool off and to think about what Jax had said. Maybe he was being a little too hard on Eliana, and it wasn't worth fighting over trivial things when there was a mystery to solve just a short hike away. More than just reading it in a book, living out his favorite genre was exhilarating to Xaiden.
Eliana nodded slowly, still thinking it over deeply. "Tell me more about what you found in the bunker." It was technically a question, but somehow everything Eliana said sounded commanding. Jax stiffened again and started to speak, but Xaiden answered smoothly.
"A book code, maps with portals that don't exist, and proof that we're not the first citizens of Zenith to enter these lands while they were forbidden."
Eliana's mouth hung open as she processed everything Xaiden had said. "You're not pulling a prank on me, right?" She glanced at Jax who gave her a reassuring nod.
"It's real, Eli," Jax confirmed.
"How come you didn't tell me right away?" Eliana asked, looking pointedly at Jax who hung his head. "Or at any point this whole week?"
"Well, we probably shouldn't talk about it outside of here, this is pretty big and it's going to cover ground out there too. We'll really need to be careful." Xaiden jumped in. "Sorry we didn't tell you sooner, we didn't expect it to rain us out till now."
Eliana sighed, "It's fine, I'm sure you weren't excluding me on purpose, I did choose to stay back that time too."
Ewen hiccuped nervously and Xaiden shot him a look he immediately understood. He quickly and quietly busied himself transferring items from his school pack to his go-bag as Xaiden met Eliana's gaze again and responded, "Jax said you'd be a big help on this one," He continued blithely, "looking forward to seeing your skills at work once again."
"Uhh huh." Eliana responded dryly, studying him intently as if to work out his motives or to find an angle. "Well, let's get going then. Not too often we get a whole day out here." She finally said, glancing up towards the sun with a hand raised to block the light from directly hitting her eyes.
"You took the words right out of my mouth," Xaiden smiled without it reaching his eyes, stoically concealing his frustration at her assuming control of the group once again. This began the delicate truce between the two strongly opinionated members of the group as they made their way to the decrepit cabin and its intriguing mysteries.