As they passed another tent, Austin spotted Caesar still glaring at him, leaning on a red tent. The anger in his eyes was loud. Austin subconsciously shifted his pace after passing the guy.
"Yeah, I don't see myself getting along with that guy. He's an ass for no reason at all," Austin said with a sigh, as they headed for his tent. "Hey, what exactly did this 'Scarleteye' do to make you and everyone here hate people who bear the Owl crest, anyways? No one's told me anything aside from she betrayed you guys. No one's told me how yet?"
"She turned out being a spy for the Savagers," Reya said with a distasteful scrunched expression. She stared[glared, really] into space, frowning as if remembering what happened. "If I'd been more attentive and hesitant of her, I probably would've been able to prevent her from succeeding and saved lives… If only I'd been more suspicious and paid attention… If only I'd—."
Her voice fell, her head sunk. Austin felt bad for Reya. he wasn't sure if he'd ever had to deal with loss like this raven headed girl, but something like muscle memory, but with emotional turmoil did feel familiar to Austin, as if they knew each other in a past life. It had Austin wondering once again if he'd ever lost someone before.
This thought path sent a series of ringing sounds to go off in his head, a migraine following suit. This had Austin stop thinking about it. He had the sudden urge to comfort Reya with a hug, though he liked his limbs as they are, so he didn't. Instead, he said "Don't blame yourself for something you had no control over. From what I've bee told about Scarleteye, anyone could have fallen victim to her manipulations. The fact that you fell for it doesn't mean you're stupid or that it's your fault whatever happened; it just means you're human."
Reya fixed Ausin with an unreadable expression before speaking. "You may share a similar intuition ability as Scarleteye," she finally smiled, as they finally reached the front of Austin's tent. "But she lacked the ability to give a decent pep talk, meanwhile you, it seems, do not. Thank you."
Austin felt his face heat up at the compliment for some reason, and had to look elsewhere in a desperate attempt to keep Reya from noticing his blush. "What is this Trials thing? What do I have to do tomorrow?"
"No, I can't tell. It's a surprise every newbie undergoes in relation to their chosen duties," Reya shook her head. "You'll need rest for the trials tomorrow, so goodnight."
As she walked off, Austin watched her disappear before going inside his tent. Subconsciously, he went inside his backpack and pulled out the letter he'd stuffed into it yesterday before the ambush. It still said there was a week before everyone in the Labyrinth died horrible deaths.
He was tempted to run to Reya and show her the letter. After all, Stryker even said that he wasn't the only one to ever receive a letter from whoever put them in this place. But Austin was pretty sure such a warning of death wasn't the kind of letter Stryker was referring to.
Also, something else stopped him. Reya, the meadowers — everyone here has already suffered because of someone who had the same crest as head when he first woke up, and she betrayed them. How'd Reya and everyone else react to the letter warning of their deaths if they didn't escape this place? Not ideal, Austin would guess.
He gazed at his folded jacket as he took off the one Stryker had given him to blend in. 'Why does the crest have to represent so much pain?' he found himself thinking, as he shuffled inside his bedroll. He couldn't get comfortable. Then, he rolled it up and decided to sleep on the hard stone ground, the familiarity of hard ground as a bed lulling him to sleep. He was out in seconds, his last thought was 'Maybe, I'll change that one day.'