Stone paused. He looked at Amelia. He looked at the mattress.
"Get her a pillow," he told Arthur. "A good one."
We spent the next two hours turning the bunker into something habitable.
It was a strange, frantic sort of nesting. We were all running on adrenaline and caffeine, desperate to create a space that didn't feel like a tomb.
Ivy was the MVP. She raided the upstairs storage rooms and came back with arms full of Christmas lights.
"Lighting is everything," she announced, stringing them from the exposed pipes. "Fluorescent lights make everyone look like they have the flu. Fairy lights make everyone looking like they're in a rom-com."
She plugged them in. The harsh gray concrete was instantly bathed in a soft, warm, twinkling glow.
"Better," Rhett admitted. He was currently trying to push three heavy shelving units together to form a wall. "Help me with this, Kai."
Together, the wolf and the elemental cleared a space in the center of the room. They laid down gym mats, then layers of blankets we had scavenged from the dorms, then a mountain of pillows.
"It's a nest," Rhett said, looking at it with deep satisfaction. Wolf shifters loved nests. It was a primal thing.
"It's a pillow fort," I corrected, diving into the middle of it. "And it's amazing."
I sank into the softness. It smelled like laundry detergent and Rhett's woodsmoke scent and Kai's green, growing smell. It smelled like home.
"Snack inventory!" Kai announced, dumping his backpack onto a designated crate.
The haul was impressive:
Three family-sized bags of Spicy Nacho Chips.
A jar of pickles (why?).
A block of sharp cheddar cheese the size of a brick.
Five pounds of gummy worms.
A box of Earl Grey tea (stolen from the faculty lounge).
"We have carbs, we have electrolytes, we have sugar," Kai assessed. "We can survive down here for weeks."
