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NINE

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𝐊𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐒 𝐂𝐎𝐎𝐊𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐐𝐔𝐈𝐑𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓, hidden behind buildings further out into the city. She charred them until the meat was greasy and tough. She didn't want to risk food poisoning, not when Lia needed something warm to soothe her sickness. Her skin was warmer than the day before and she would need broth or true medicine.

They could only sit and pray that their mentors were able to get them sponsors. That, somehow, they were as desirable as the other tributes in the eyes of the Capitol.

It was what made her reach out to the other girl so softly. It was what made her wrap her arm around her and hold her close, so the warmth from her own body could somehow transfer to the other girl's burning skin.

Lia was nearly still, save for the jolts of chills that would rack through her body every so often. If she were any smaller, Keres would worry about ribs and bones snapping from how violent she would shake. Like a little bug, wrapped tight in a blanket or cocoon, something scraping and scratching through her insides.

"We need medicine," whispered Keres, brushing Lia's hair back from her sweaty face. "Or...soup, something to burn the fever out of you." Keres thought of old herbs Arlo and Rayla would grind for her when she was young, coughing from late nights in the snow and the fields.

Somewhere, far outside the arena and within the Capitol, Evander was working his magic.

"I have to leave again," she said, glancing towards the hole in the ceiling and back towards their open window. "There are plants I can pick by the lake that can help you."

"We can't split up again–"

"I'll be quick–"

"No!"

"Lia, come on, please..." Keres would leave with or without her acceptance. She was only going to wait for her to fall asleep, but Lia was pouting and Keres knew what little left of her fight would simmer out of her if she were to leave again. Why was she being so kind to this girl? Why was she allowing her to play with her mind, to change her from one thought to the next?

She reminds you of what you lost. You can't lose it again.

But Keres was not a sitting dog. She couldn't sit and wait for the girl to get better on her own, to magically break through her fever induced only by cold and sorrow; from a broken heart. This was not man made, but done so through the heart.

"Look," whispered Lia, "I know I'm s-ick, okay? I know I'm weak and...and I–I can't keep up with you if we were to leave, but Keres..." She was shivering again. "J-just a little longer. One more day here and I'll be safe to leave. We–we can find a better place to hide, one w-ith less cracks and open walls."

Keres had, of course, thought of that but how lucky could they really get? Lia obviously didn't have many sponsors waiting for her in the Capitol. If she did, they would've gotten something by now, right? Surely, there was someone who wanted to keep them alive.

Wasn't there just one person who cared enough to see their faces end up on the other side? Keres wondered how much the mentors were truly involved. How often did none at all go out and seek help and sit back with fingers crossed or with nothing crossed at all?

The cannon went off outside, booming across the sky like thunder and Keres flinched while Lia jumped. It sent a cold shiver down her spine, like the sickness was spreading. She was holding her breath, waiting for something or someone to identify who was dead but they wouldn't get that until night fell and they still had at least ten to twelve hours left before then.

"Do you think...?"

Keres shook her head. She couldn't allow herself to think things like that.

Lia sat up a little taller, as if the cannon had given her a sudden boost of adrenaline. "You can't leave now, we–we don't know where it came from. Just one more day, okay, Keres? Just one more day."

She was afraid she'd be telling herself that until the final blade went through her skin and the last body finally lost its breath. Would it be her?

Walking back to Lia, Keres sat down beside her. She didn't like to sit and wait, we knew this, but there was no fighting the cannon and its truth. Someone was dead. Most likely, it was the Careers against some low level, taking their chance and striking.

Was this how it was always going to be in here? The quick gong of the cannon going off, another body falling, both of these two girls sitting and hoping someone would die quick enough so they could go home? Keres felt useless because was it wrong when Niko died that it was her first spark of something?

It made you think, whether or not you had always been a killer or the games just made you into one. But Keres had felt blood on her hands before, like she'd said so many times before. She knew what it felt like when it was warm and fresh on her palms and face, beading down her cheeks in the heat of summer.

But the cold...the rain...the cannon so far away but so close, like it was ringing in her ears from behind her. The buzzing of hornets and bees and wasps, that's what the cannon felt like in her ears and on her skin. The beating of wings, the roar of wolves trying so hard to call her home.

She could not continue to sit in her lament and when the soft ping and chime of something hopeful, she felt nearly herself again. Outside the window was the sway and descent of what she'd been hoping for from sponsors and betting and everything terrible the games were made up of.

When she caught the little parachute gift with the end of her ax and pulled it inside, she knew instantly who it was for. She cracked on the canteen it'd flown down in and unscrewed the cap of the warm soup. Lia let her have the first long drag of the broth before Keres forced her to have what was left. As the girl drank and finally soothed what must've been raging inside her, Keres lifted the little note out of the gift and hid her smile.

Way to keep fooling them all ~ Evander

Keres tucked the note inside her backpack as she turned away, finally allowing herself to smile. She had no idea how much was going to change with just one sponsor gift and the sound of a cannon going off.

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They heard screaming not long before sunset and they could only tell it was nearing sunset by the way the gray clouds almost looked gray and yellow, like old bruises. Scattered across the sky were the bruises, spotted and blotchy, the sun so desperate to come crawling out but those golden rays would disrupt the chaos. The darkness. The cool gray people could hide behind.

Screaming, but no cannon, drumming through the city like a living heartbeat.

Lia handed Keres her ax as the girl stood, creeping towards the window. She could only see the trees from that viewpoint so she had to pull herself up into the third floor to look through the crumbling walls. She waited, and like clockwork, the screams began again. They were wet this time, no doubt choking on tears or blood.

It didn't take long for Keres to finally spot the little girl dragging herself across the grass and into the ruined city. Clawing at the stone and bricks on the ground, leaving a trail of wet darkness behind her that was reflected ever so often by the moon appearing behind the moving clouds. The little girl wasn't alone though and it wasn't entirely her screaming Keres and Lia had been listening to.

Titus, big and strong, knocked Helios aside as Bryn screamed something unintelligible. Keres was too far to understand the commotion or comprehend why suddenly Bryn and Helios were turning against Titus, but the way he held his sword and the blood dripping down his face told Keres it was going to get much worse from here.

He threw Helios to the side for a second time when the boy tried to rush him as Adonis held back Bryn from doing the same as she howled. It only took Titus one mighty swing of his sword to cut the legs off little Freesia. The loud crack of bone breaking and her screaming mixed into the air, a warning call and the break of something coming to fruition.

Titus didn't care who he killed as long as he killed them.

Helios took Freesia into his lap as Titus whirled on Adonis and Bryn, shouting things Keres still couldn't make out. Her ears were ringing. The sounds of bones snapping and breaking never left a good taste in her mouth, even when it was from the cattle. The cannon sounded overhead and Keres drew her attention to her brother who held a little knife in his hands and a dead girl in his arms.

She tore off through the building when they began to run. She didn't explain to Lia where she was heading as she nearly tumbled down the stairs. She couldn't waste anymore time if she was going to catch up to her brother. It was three against four, but if she got there, it would be four. She was certain together they could take Titus, Vita, Isolde, and Reiner, but her brother had now just killed two people because of Titus. How much more could he take?

She didn't bother weaving between buildings or trying to conceal herself. She had her ax in one hand and wasn't going to stop until she had her brother's hand in the other. If Adonis and Bryn were part of the deal with finding her brother, then so be it. Keres wasn't afraid of alliances any more.

So lost in her thoughts, she didn't notice she'd run right into the path of her targets. All three of them stopped, raising their weapons towards her as she did the same to them. When Helios noticed it was her through the dying light of the sun behind the buildings and the creeping darkness of the night, they couldn't wait and share pleasantries.

"This way," Keres barked.

She couldn't lead them back to Lia in case Titus and crew were hot on their trails. Instead, she took them through the paths between the buildings. She should've explored more she realized as she noticed how some of the buildings were far more destroyed than she'd first believed. They had to climb quickly over rubble to continue through.

They kept running and it was only when they hit the third building did she realize Titus wasn't following them. No one had been. Keres pulled them into the next building, nearly toppling into the hole that was the broken floorboards. They had to sidestep the trap someone must've fallen into before. The wood was splintered, like it had crumbled just perfectly in the doorway.

A Gamemakers surprise? Or truly just weathered boards?

Keres did a quick sweep of the room. It was only one floor and there were four rooms besides the one they were all huddled in now. None had doors, just open doorways where doors might've been with broken hinges clinging to the walls. No furniture because why give them anything at all? Why give a tribute a nice place to sit? A bed to sleep in?

When she was done, she finally got a good look at the two Careers and her brother, standing together like a sad pack of dogs. Bryn with her blonde hair pulled away from her face in a wild braid, thick and unruly down her back. Adonis with what seemed to be dried blood clinging to the ends of his bangs in clumps. Even Helios, blood streaked down his cheeks and a grim expression on his face, looked ragged.

But when her brother met her gaze, his hardened and very weary look softened. "Keres," he said, gently, holding a hand out to her.

She ignored his hand and clung to him instead, wrapping her arms tightly around him in an embrace she had been waiting for. He smelled like dirt and she wanted to laugh but instead buried her face in his neck. It wasn't a miracle that they were both warm and still breathing. It wasn't a twist of fate that the Lykaois siblings were here and well (physically).

They had plotted and planned and prepared. Hands calloused and muscled hardened. Even from lowly 10, they were made for the Games. If the Capitol didn't believe it before, they would now as they saw the siblings cling to one another in the presence of two enemies turned allies.

"Tell me," said Keres, pulling back. "Tell me about them."

Helios frowned. "The Careers?"

She nodded back, ignoring the way Adonis and Bryn were suspiciously silent. "Titus, Vita, what are they like?"

"Are you looking for weaknesses?"

She nodded again.

Helios looked towards Adonis and back at her, rubbing the back of his neck. "This doesn't seem like the right time to talk about this, Kere, I mean...we just found each other."

"And he could be out there right now," she said, "waiting for us to make one mistake. To slip up once."

"Just breathe," he insisted, taking her by the shoulders. "We don't have to do the interrogation now, okay? It's fine to wait a little, finally catch our breath, and just be happy we found each other."

How did Keres tell him she couldn't wait? That nothing about this was alright?

"We can't stay here," is what she settled on saying after pressing her lips together tightly and ignoring how badly she wanted to keep forcing questions down his throat. "It doesn't matter if they aren't following us, we can't stay."

"Who put you in charge?" said Adonis, speaking up for the first time. She'd heard him speak before but seeing him now, addressing her fully, it made her stomach queasy. "We have a little more experience here than you do, sweetheart. And right now? We want to sit down, kick our shoes off, and stay a while."

Would it be too soon if she wrapped her hands around his throat?

"I know the city better than you do," she spat back. "While you've been running around the forest and eating all the food in the Cornucopia, I've been scouting the surrounding area." She didn't mention the fact that she needed to get back to Lia or that there were mutations running around ready to tear the weakest of them apart.

"I don't remember her being this talkative," said Adonis, jerking his thumb towards her. "You didn't tell us your sister had such an attitude."

"We need to leave," she said. "You can stay here for all you want, but we're leaving." She made her way towards the door and noticed how her brother didn't move with her. She wanted to curl her hands into fists, her fingers caught in his hair to rip it all out, but she controlled herself. Her anger was misguided. "Helios, come on."

"I'm not going without them," he said. "We're a package deal, Kere."

"And what am I, then?" she snapped, patting her chest to emphasize how she was his flesh and blood. These Careers were strangers with a hidden agenda. "Am I not worth more to you than them?"

"Of course you mean more," hissed Helios with a shake of his head, "but they're my friends. I'm not leaving if they aren't."

"We aren't safe."

"Tell us what you're so scared of, huh?" said Adonis. Bryn stood by his side, strangely quiet. "Why are you so eager to get us out of here?"

Keres wanted to bite into his neck and watch blood spray. God, how she would've loved to have bathed in the red. "What do you think is stalking us out there? It's not Titus or other tributes. Have you not been hearing the screams?"

Bryn finally spoke. "The Cornucopia is pretty secluded. It acts as a sound barrier if you're stationed inside. We haven't..." She glanced towards the door and Keres could see her sudden discomfort. Bryn believed her.

"They mimic the dead," said Keres. "After Niko was killed...we heard it, using his screams."

"What do they look like?" asked Bryn.

"Like monsters. Kind of like big hairless dogs." But it wasn't dog-like at all.

Bryn scratched her head and Adonis touched the small of her back, gently. "She's right," said Bryn, "and we can't stay here. It's not safe being on the ground level, especially with nothing between us and those–those–whatever they are."

"Is the other tribute you were with still alive?" asked Adonis.

Keres nodded. "That's why we need to leave. She's alone–"

"Then she'll be one less tribute to worry about," interrupted Adonis. "She can fend for herself–"

"No, you don't get it!" Keres couldn't contain her anger much longer, feeling the shrillness of her voice begin to creep out her throat. Did they not get that they weren't in charge anymore? They weren't ever in charge, not with Titus and not with her. "The dogs, they go after the weakest links and they'll continue to pick us off one by one until only the strongest survives. We can't stay here and we can't leave her on her own."

She flexed her arm, not wanting to squeeze her ax until her knuckles went white. She didn't want to give her brother another ultimatum because he made it clear he wouldn't leave without these two nutjobs, but she couldn't leave him after finally reuniting. She just had to get them back to Lia.

"We're stronger together," Keres urged. "We can form a group, us four and Lia. Titus won't be able to take us all on at once, none of them will." She was as close to begging as she would get and she hoped Helios could tell. "We can't leave her on her own."

Adonis pursed his lips, pressing them tightly together before looking at Bryn. It seemed her opinion was all that truly mattered to him. When the blonde girl met his eyes and nodded, seeming to urge him with her eyes, he looked back towards Keres. "Do you have food?"

Keres nodded. "Some nuts and leftover squirrel."

"And it's safe? Where Lia is?"

"As safe as it can be here, but there's a roof and we're off the ground level."

He glanced at Bryn one last time before nodding. "Then lead the way."

Keres didn't waste anymore time and neither did Helios, who had been waiting for his friends to finally give him the go-ahead to get the hell out of there. They made sure no one was outside waiting for them in the growing darkness before slipping out one by one. She had a good sense of where they were but they needed to back track to the perimeter to find where Lia was stationed. It just so happened that it was in the opposite direction of where Titus had been earlier.

She wanted to push Bryn and Adonis in the lead because they had the best fighting skills but they didn't know a thing about tracking. Keres could tell by the way they looked blindly at the ground and the buildings that they had no idea how to find their way through the ruined city to go after a target. So, Keres took the lead with her brother and made sure she was standing on his right where her ax sat happily in her fist.

Every step the group took, Bryn and Adonis's feet crunched against the gravel whereas Helios and Keres walked with more soft precision. They needed to keep their footfalls quiet but the Career tributes couldn't seem to grasp the concept.

It's what Keres blames for the incident to follow.

Like everything in the arena, things happened swiftly and escalated before the blink of an eye. One second they were walking, the next there was a flash of lightning followed directly by a clap of thunder while Helios was taken to the ground.

A fumble of limbs, a spot of red hair, and Keres couldn't tell where her brother began and where Calyx ended. She'd shot out of one of the buildings they were passing. Right out the door and into Helios like he was just a wall in her way, a wall she needed to barrel herself through.

Keres was moving forward, ready to act but Calyx was screaming and Helios was holding her back by the shoulders.

"Get off him!" snarled Adonis, trying to grab for her.

"They're coming!" screamed the red head, digging her nails into Helios's wrists. She was bucking, like a wild beast. There was something obviously wrong with her from how pale her lips were to the stains across her shirt and pants. It looked like mud but Keres would always be able to detect dried blood. "They're coming–they're coming–"

Beyond the next round of thunder and the descent of rain, Keres could hear screams.

The dogs, the mimics–whatever they were–they were coming.

"I won't be the weakest, no–no–" rambled Calyx as she thrashed. Adonis had the girl by the shoulders, trying to shake her off but she had her knees digging into Helios's side. "They're coming–I can't be–"

Bryn took the girl by the head before Keres could properly act. Bryn's hand pushed against Calyx's mouth as she slid her knife into flesh. The blade went smoothly through Calyx's temple and the girl fell limp, Adonis and Keres catching her. Adonis let her go the second Helios was freed but Keres couldn't seem to do the same, even as her blood soaked her hands.

This girl, this District 9 girl, was supposed to make it to the top ten. In Lia's predicted outcome, she was supposed to make it further. Now, her lifeblood spilled into Keres's hand, the tenth tribute dead. Only thirteen lives left before there was a sole survivor. Who would be in Lia's top ten now? Niko was gone, now Calyx...

Even Tull was a contender and look at all of them now, dead before the last ten standing.

Why does this bother you so much?

Because you're a spot to fill instead?

Calyx was scared of being the weakest and it made Keres wonder what made this girl vulnerable enough for the dogs to track her scent? The cannon had gone off somewhere between Keres's rambling thoughts and when she'd laid Calyx against the gravel, pulling up the girls shirt to inspect the hidden damage.

Keres had a steady hand so when she saw what had caused the mimics to chase Calyx, she didn't rear back or fumble. She should've known, even from the glassy look in her dead eyes, she was unbelievably pale and clammy.

"Internal bleeding," said Keres, running delicate fingers over Calyx's extended stomach. Covered in deep bruises, purple and nearly black, the girl had clearly been hit or fallen from a great height. There was dried blood crusted in the corners of her mouth, proving another sign of her aliment.

She'd vomited blood recently.

"How the hell did she take me down looking like that?" said Helios, rubbing his head as Adonis swiped dust from her brother's shirt. They were...taking care of him, cleaning him up...

"Adrenalin," offered Keres with a shrug. She stood, not before brushing red strands from Calyx's face. "We have to keep moving, anyone could've heard us."

Not far, somewhere deeper into the city, Isolde and Reiner tracked Forrest and Tansy, the two District 11 tributes.

Bryn was cleaning the blood off her knife against her pants as Adonis wrapped an arm around her waist to pull her towards them. He gave Keres a strange look, as if shocked she could tell from bruising that Calyx was near death anyway. She hadn't stepped in to help her brother, so sure that Calyx would explain more about the mimics.

They had sensed Calyx was wounded, far weaker than anyone in the area and begun to hunt her down. The Gamemakers wanted an early end to the games.

Or they were trying to help the Capitol make more money off of their betting.

It made sense, the more and more she saw the mimics. Calyx was so sure to be in the top ten in both Lia and Niko's minds, so why kill her? Betting made the most sense. If people had more money on a different set of tributes, then it made perfect sense for Gamemakers to seek out the deaths of others so make sure everyone else made it to the end.

Lia had gotten sick, she wasn't as strong as the other tributes in the arena so why not kill her off? Betting on her must've died down once Niko was killed and she became feverish. Was it all about the money, anyway? Keres was positive the mimics would come for her next, perhaps waiting until her reunion with her brother before taking her down. What was better than a tearjerker amongst two siblings reuniting amongst the fight?

Keres knew it was all about the money, she'd wanted to take millions from the Capitol through the gamers. It just so happened that she had other ways to take from the Capitol, not just through their wallets and coin pouches. It would always be at the heart of what mattered most to them.

Their golden prizes.

They reached Keres and Lia's hideout before the rain became bad. Rushing up the stairs and to the second floor, Keres was nearly knocked out by Lia swinging a broken panel of wood at her face. It seemed the other girl had finally gotten some of her strength and color back as she yelped and dropped the wood to avoid slamming it into Keres.

"Goddammit!" cried Lia, pressing a hand to her chest as she breathed heavily. "I thought someone was coming up here to kill me!" Her facial expression softened and she pulled Keres in tightly for a hug, murmuring, "I heard another cannon go off and I thought..."

"I'm okay," whispered Keres before correcting herself and saying, "We're okay."

Lia pulled back, emotion spilling from her eyes but it didn't take long for her to notice they weren't alone. "You found him but you brought them with you?"

"Hi," said Bryn with a little wave. "You must be Lia, I'm–"

"I know who you are."

Lia was more blunt that Keres and she couldn't help but like her more for it.

"And I don't care about pleasantries," continued Lia. "Why are you here? Why did you bring them here?"

"They're..." Keres regarded the two Careers. "...friends...?"

"They're with me," said Helios. "you can trust them."

Lia looked to Keres who shrugged and said, "Yeah, they're okay."

Still looking at Keres, Lia scrunched up her nose and said, "There's dried blood on you. Why?"

"Calyx, from 9," said Adonis, looking around the room not with distaste but with a strange curiosity in his eyes. "She jumped us on our way here."

Keres hooked her ax through her belt so she could have her hands free. "That reminds me," she glanced between the Careers, "are you ready to tell us what happened with Titus?"

"He threw a bitch-fit, that's what happened," said Adonis with a cruel sneer. "We were getting ready to leave the group when the girl from 12 dropped from a tree."

"Freesia," corrected Keres. "Her name was Freesia and she was twelve."

Adonis's scowl fell from his face within seconds and he nodded, solemn. "Freesia took off running but she'd been stung by–by tracker jackers in the tree. She was disoriented and trying to find her district partner who'd gone to scout but..."

"Titus had her before she could get very far," finished Bryn, "but not before leaving her mark on him." The blonde smiled. "Left scratches down his face."

"We tried to stop him," said Helios, shuddering at the thought. Freesia had been on the ground, trying to crawl away, Keres could still see it. Hell, she could still hear it. "If I could've just reached her in time, we could've made a run for it but..."

Adonis shook his head. "Titus was quicker."

"Why were you planning on leaving the group?" asked Lia. Keres had failed to mention Bryn and Adonis's strange conversation she'd overheard the other day. Their talk of champions and rebellions. It wasn't safe here to bring it up, not when Keres didn't know where the cameras were.

"We..." Bryn mulled her words over. "...we don't share in Titus's beliefs."

"And those are?"

"To kill everyone without a second thought," said Adonis. "To be the last one standing even if it means killing children."

"But you killed Tull," said Lia, shaking her head. "She was a kid–"

"She was eighteen."

"It doesn't matter!" cried Lia. "How can we say eighteen year olds are adults when they've barely lived? When we've barely had experiences outside of our districts? Tull was still a kid, we all are–"

"Better to kill an eighteen year old than a twelve year old."

Helios held his hands up. "Okay, we're going to get nowhere if we keep debating who's better to kill. We had...we had to do it. It was either we killed them ourselves and lived or we allowed Titus to slaughter them and then kill us after."

"We tried to give them an easier death," said Adonis. "Titus would've cut them in half, he would've crushed their skulls against a tree. We gave them a simpler death, a kinder one."

Bryn winced. "Freesia...she just wasn't as lucky."

The rain outside shifted with the strong wind, blowing into the room. Keres shielded the side of her face with her hand. The group grabbed their belongings and shuffled out of the way of the open window. Lightning lit up the sky and Keres got a glimpse of how abandoned the city truly seemed.

Vacant buildings. No flashlights, no movement besides the trees and leaves blowing with the wind. It was almost as if they were completely alone here. The fallen tributes would light up the sky soon and Keres was disappointed she couldn't sit in their window and watch, not with the storm still raging.

"How do we stop him?" asked Lia, wiping rain from her rosy cheeks. So much fight had returned to her that Keres almost ran a hand over her back in supportive joy. "What are Titus's weaknesses?"

Adonis frowned. "He doesn't have any."

"The guy's a tank," said Helios. "I don't want to sound like Caesar but...the man is chiseled out of stone and is as strong as an ox or bear, or whatever the saying is. Titus is massive."

"And deadly with his sword," said Bryn. "He could kill you with his bare hands but he prefers the weapon."

Lia nodded, following along. "So, we get the sword away from him."

"Yeah, over his dead body," scoffed Helios, "which isn't happening because the dude won't die."

Keres wondered when the perfect time to inject would be but it was good watching Lia's curiosity and determination come roaring back. It was endearing, watching her take charge of the questioning and now being the bearer of Adonis's glare.

"What about the others? Vita, Isolde, and Reiner? Their weaknesses?"

"Vita's a sociopath," muttered Helios. "So, I'm not sure what's gonna stop her."

"Isolde and Reiner are each other's weaknesses," said Bryn. "They won't go anywhere without the other. They kill together, sleep in the same...well, you get the picture. They're inseparable."

Lia's brows furrowed. "And if we separate them?"

"Good luck," said Adonis with a laugh. "If they could, I think they'd stitch themselves together."

Keres shifted in her spot against the wall. "Were they like this before the Reaping?"

Adonis shrugged. "Maybe? They weren't volunteers."

Keres remembered their Reaping, the way they stood so close together. She was sure it wasn't just a bout of fate that brought them both here for the games.

"But you were."

Adonis and Bryn nodded, and Keres watched as Adonis took Bryn's small hand in his. So open, their love. They weren't afraid to show the cameras. He spoke first. "We're here for a reason, which I'm sure you already know about." He narrowed his eyes and smirked. "Little eavesdropper."

Keres nearly gasped. "You knew?"

"We didn't know it was you," said Bryn, "but we knew someone was there, watching us. Your face all but confirmed it." She leaned into Adonis as the wind blew so hard it felt like the building was shaking.

They would need to find a new hideout, this one was far too exposed. Would there be any caves here? Surely since there was the forest, there would be something in the foundation good for hiding. Or maybe an underground system beneath the buildings...

"Are you even listening?" said Helios with a laugh, nudging his sister. Keres met his gaze, brows furrowed. "Stop running through the millions of plans you have and focus on the now. Titus will be hunting not just us three but you too."

Bryn grimaced. "He's been hunting you since the start."

Keres frowned. "Me?"

"You've been used as leverage against Helios," explained Adonis. "The threat of killing you has kept us in line."

A slow smile worked its way to Kere's face as she murmured, "Aw, so you do care about me."

"That's not what I'm sayin' here–"

"You're worried about me, about Titus coming to kill me," she egged on. "Looks like there is a heart inside that big chest of yours. You want to protect me."

Bryn smiled as Adonis scowled. "We're only doing it because of Helios."

"Can we go back to why you're here?" said Lia, looking between both the Careers with an annoyed glare. "You volunteered for a reason. Why?"

Bryn's eyes widened, glancing around as she said in a low voice, "It's not safe." She pointed to her ears and Lia slowly nodded, understanding.

There were eyes and ears everywhere. The Capitol was watching.

"We need some more...privacy," said Adonis. "There are a few unmonitored places in the area."

Keres's eyeslit up. So she was on to something earlier before Helios interrupted her train of thought. "There's an underground system, isn't there?"

He seemed shocked that she could've figured it out so quickly. He nodded. "One of the buildings, near the center of the city, has a hatch you can enter. No one else knows about it, not ever Titus–"

"But how do you know about it?" asked Lia, suspicious.

"Since we're from a rich district," he scratched the back of his neck and it was the first time Adonis Wilder had ever looked sheepish, "our mentors know a thing or two.We got a sponsor gift from her." He dug for it in his back pocket and it dawned on Keres that they had nothing with them. No bags, no food, only their weapons. "Here."

Keres took the note and read it quickly. He was right, just a sentence with an instruction. Center of city, get underground.

"You trust it?" she asked.

Both Bryn and Adonis nodded. How much could they truly trust their mentors? They were Victors after all. But Keres liked Evander and Dante. They didn't seem to like the Capitol as much as other Victors and it made her wonder what was going on behind the scenes. What was President Snow truly up to?

"We'll go there," said Keres with a firm nod. "It can keep us hidden until most of the fighting dies down."

Helios frowned. "Fighting?"

"Once Titus kills the rest."

Lia's hand when to Keres's wrist, a gentle reminder that there were still good people here. Something warm fluttered in her stomach and Keres let her hand shift until their fingers were interlocked.

Keres squeezed her hand. "Once the rain lets up, we'll leave for the center."

"Are you sure which building it is?" asked Helios.

"It'll be the only one with a secret door, so..." Adonis shrugged. "I mean, look at the note yourself. It's the center, I'm sure there's going to be one building that's different from the rest. We've all seen it."

Lia nodded, eager. "Keres, you pointed it out to us on our first day. It's the tallest building here, it overlooks the entire arena."

She was right, of course. It was the first building Keres could truly see from her spot on the podium. Even through the trees it was visible. It was the obvious choice for the Careers to go to, as well as other tributes thinking it'll be a good advantage point.

"It's going to be dangerous," said Keres and both the Careers nodded. "We don't know who's already taken up the space."

"We don't have much of a choice," said Adonis. "There's things we need to talk about, there are things..." He glanced at Bryn and Keres's cheeks flushed. "...that we'd like to do, before it all comes down to it in the end."

Bryn nodded. "If there's a chance we can get away from the rest of the Careers and the–the mimics or whatever the fuck, then it's a chance we'll have to take."

"And if the underground is filled with more of those monsters?" asked Helios. "Then what?"

Lia squeezed Keres's hand tightly.

"Then we run like hell."

AUTHOR'S NOTE━━okkk squad up!!! here they are all together <33 

hope you guys enjoyed this update ahhh it's been a while oopsie. let me know predictions so far!! 

pls pls vote/comment and you'll get a keres kiss