╔════☩══♛══☩════╗

TEN

╚════☩══✦══☩════╝

𝐇𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐎𝐒 𝐒𝐀𝐓 𝐁𝐘 𝐊𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐒 𝐀𝐆𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐒𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐋𝐋 as Lia, Bryn, and Adonis slept. It was late, but they weren't entirely sure how late, no one had a watch or could truly understand the hours the arena ran on. It was still their fifth day in the arena. One cannon had gone off while the others slept and not one stirred as it boomed and echoed.

They watched the faces of the tributes light up the sky through the rain. There were three tributes. Freesia, Calyx, and Forrest.

12, 18, and 16 years old.

Forrest was District 11, which meant Tansy was still out there somewhere. As well as District 12's Atticus. There were still so many of them left and too many were Careers.

"You think this is a good idea?" asked Helios. Keres gave him a look and he continued with, "The underground?"

She played with some of the rubble by her leg and nodded. "I don't want to be stuck here, out in the open. Yes, it'll trap us underground but if we're the only ones who know..."

He shrugged, picking up a rock and tossing it across the room. It barely made a sound over the rain. "I'm sorry I didn't go after you sooner."

"Helios–"

"It should've been you and me," he said, "right from the start." She began to shake her head but he cut her off again. "I had no idea if every cannon going off was for you or someone else. I didn't know if you had gotten out of the bloodbath, or if Titus knew exactly where you were and just wasn't telling me the truth."

"You really thought I could've died by now?"

"Keres, my god, you know that's not what I meant."

She smiled, softly. "I would've come running for you, even if I'd had my limbs cut off or worse."

"Or worse?"

She elbowed him in the ribs. "I wouldn't have allowed myself to die until I was with you."

He rested his head back. "Keep saying things like that and the sponsors might send me more gifts."

"More gifts?" she asked. "What the hell have you gotten so far?"

"Food, water, juices," he said, rattling off his list, "burn cream because Titus burned Vita's wrist, a soothing salve for scrapes and deeper cuts, and, um..." He was counting on his fingers. "Oh! And a really nice knife but I'd left it all at camp."

She only really focused on one thing he'd said and murmured, "Titus burned Vita?"

Helios nodded. "Did it on the second night, after he'd killed your friend...Niko." Keres hated how it took him a moment to remember his name. "Everyone was laughing, really proud of themselves for how they'd nearly cornered you all, and Vita, she just reached for his bag and he had her by the neck and was shoving her arm towards the fire." He shuddered. "She was screaming and he didn't stop until her skin was blistering."

"They're both from 1, shouldn't he be–"

"He wants to win," said Helios, "and it doesn't matter if you're his best friend or his sibling. He'll kill anyone to get to the top."

Keres mulled it over, which wasn't much to think about because she knew Titus was like this from the start. She moved to her next question. "Who sent you the gifts?"

Helios smiled. "Random sponsors in the Capitol but mostly Evander and Dante." He threw another rock. "Too bad it's all for the Careers to use now. The juice was so good, Ker. It tasted like strawberries and blueberries. It was almost like the stuff Rayla would make every summer."

Keres could remember the sweet juices the older woman would make like it was yesterday. It was both the siblings guilty pleasures. They could down jugs in minutes after a long day in the fields. It was like sweet nectar. Sweet, perfectly ripe, and ice cold. She wasn't sure how Rayla made it so cold but it was always perfectly crisp.

She threw a rock next, trying to hit the spot on the wall she noticed her brother trying to aim for. She ignored his huff when she hit it perfectly. "Evander sent me soup."

"Aw," he said softly, "it looks like you aren't hated after all."

"Shut it."

He laughed.

She shifted in her spot and threw another rock, purposefully missing. Her and Helios needed to be serious, no more beating around the bush. They were together, that meant they needed to get back to business. Keres was here for a reason. "If Titus finds us before we get to the underground, you take Lia and you run, okay? I need you to protect her if I get–"

"You're not getting killed," he said gruffly, a scowl on his lips. "We're making it to the end, remember?"

"Only one survives–"

"Yeah, you."

"No," she said sharper. "We're not talking about that. We're talking about Lia and how you have to keep her alive. She...she doesn't deserve to die here," and she added softly, under her breath, "at least not painfully. If we both don't make it, then we have to make sure she gets to the end of all this."

Helios frowned, throwing a rock. "Why? Why her?"

"Because she was nice."

"And that's it?"

Keres let her gaze travel to Lia's sleeping form. She had a feeling she knew what Helios was going to say before he said it and she prepared herself for the punch to her gut. She knew what Lia represented and who she was.

"She reminds you of Elma."

Keres shrugged. It hurt to acknowledge. Elma had always been so special to her and now...

"I'll do it," said Helios, "but if you're not alive, then I'm telling you now that there'll be a good chance I won't be either. Live together, die together, you know this."

Did she, though?

"Save as many of the innocents as we can," muttered Helios, "before you go after Titus."

"We," she corrected him. "Before we go after him."

He shook his head and laughed softly, like he knew some joke that she didn't. The whole Capitol was probably laughing now at her brother's seemingly delusional comment. How could Keres kill anyone? Let alone Titus, King of the Arena?

She hoped the betting was frenzied, that they were changing their bets and switching their Victors. Keres knew she would never be on their list by the time it all came down to the last two standing. That's when betting got hungry.

She knew that she didn't have many bets, if any at all, and it warmed her heart knowing so many people would be losing money over her. Yes, the betting funded the games essentially but she liked knowing the Capitol would be wrong in who they favored. Yes, she hoped to drain their money but that wasn't her end goal, like she'd implied before. She wanted inside the Victor's Village, she wanted inside the pretty home of only one...

She shifted onto her side and finally let Helios take the rest of the night watch. She dreamt of nothing but the cold darkness that waited for them underneath the buildings.

════☩══♛══☩════

𝐊𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐒 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐁𝐀𝐆 𝐏𝐀𝐂𝐊𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐁𝐄𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐄 and she sat and watched as everyone collected their gear and figured out which bag to put it in. Adonis, Bryn, and Helios came with next to nothing but were all murmuring and helping Lia stuff her belongings inside her backpack. It seemed, somewhere between Keres falling asleep and waking this morning, the four had become more than just allies. Lia was even smiling.

Keres had seen her smile before, right? Yeah, of course she had...

"Come on," said Helios with a chuckle, "we gotta get a move on."

Adonis nodded, stretching. "We've stayed here long enough. We'll use the darkness as a shield, but there's no telling who can be out there watching us."

"Should we have gone at sunrise?" muttered Lia, glancing towards Keres as if the girl could help her. "Going out into the dark..."

"Better than being spotted a mile away," said Adonis. "We're not exactly the most stealthy group." His eyes wandered to Keres too and she'd forgotten about her horrendous stunt with the Gamemakers during evaluations. She guessed it made a lasting impression.

Once everyone had their bags, mainly just Lia and Keres, Adonis told them the game plan.

"Bryn and I will take the lead," he said, position rocks on the floor as if they were them, "with Helios taking up the rear. Keres and Lia, you'll be here." He moved two little rocks between their three. The three of them were in the shape of a triangle with Keres and Lia stationed in the middle. "It'll keep you two safe."

"Keres doesn't need–"

She stopped Lia from finishing her sentence with a firm nod. "Got it. We'll stay in the center." Lia gave her a look, brows furrowed into a glare as her lips parted to snap something back but Keres shook her head. That would be a conversation for another time.

"Come on," said Adonis, standing. "There's not a lot of night left, we gotta get there before the sun's up."

As the group began heading for the stairs, Lia grabbed Keres's wrist and whispered, harshly, "Why the hell are they acting like you're a baby that needs to be swaddled?"

Keres sighed. So it looked like they'd be having this conversation now. "Remember how you thought the same not too long ago?"

Lia's face eased back. "Then you threw that knife at the tree."

"If I want things to go my way, they can't know," she said. Not until the Capitol had all its money planted in Titus's pot.

"But if we're attacked? Then what?"

"Then I'll have no choice."

Lia shuddered. "I don't think I'm ready to see you in action."

Keres had the urge to brush a hand across Lia's face, to move the hair out of the way. She followed her urge and nearly shuddered too at the touch of her skin. Warm. Smooth. "I wish you didn't have to see any of this."

Lia squeezed Keres's wrist, which surprised her because she hadn't realized she didn't let go. "Thank god you're there to protect me. I don't think Helios will be much help."

Her brother was singing softly down the stairs. Keres motioned with her head and Lia nodded, following her down the stairs where everyone was waiting. Adonis waved them over and they got in formation as they crept out of the building.

The night air was chilly and nipped Keres's cheeks instantly. She should've been used to this feeling by now, since they'd been there now six days, but it still shocked her. She'd felt colder winters and early springs than this, but it still made my skin feel swollen with cold.

She kept herself planted to Lia's right so she could have her ax free in her outside hand. So far, she felt safe. She couldn't hear anything unusual and she didn't have the feeling like someone was watching them. It made her wonder how bad it was all going to go the closer they got within the city. She should've explored the area more deeply but with Lia having been sick and the death of Niko, it didn't seem right to leave her friend behind for so long.

Besides, it was better to be in a group than alone. She could admit that, even with how stubborn she could be.

"Come inside or you're going to freeze to death!"

She wouldn't budge. She had a point to make.

"Fine! You won't get a slice of the cherry pie I made earlier..."

This got her attention. "You said you gave it all to the Peacekeepers!"

"I might've saved a slice."

Keres found her smile. "Elma Ridge..."

"Come on, you can tell me how much you love me once you're inside and eating, okay?"

Keres kept her eyes forward, scanning each building they passed. They all seemed to look the same. Open windows or broken glass, doors on hanging hinges, bricks falling apart through open holes in walls or complete foundation. You were either protected or left hanging in the open, and she couldn't decide which was worse. Being protected meant you couldn't see your outside surroundings, but being left in the open meant too many people could see you.

Nothing was ideal here.

Perhaps only the underground held a good purpose. It was secure and only had one opening, as far as they knew.

The city was destroyed but there was still life trying to push its way past the cement and rocks. Vines and weeds spinning up sides of buildings, trees pushing roots through the path they walked across, stones unearthed and overturned. It created the perfect spots to trip on if they weren't careful.

She turned her eyes away from her personal hell and stared at the backs of Adonis and Bryn's heads. They were lovers, Keres was certain. He protected her, kept her close. His hand on the small of her back had been the key but the way he looked at her proved it more. Keres knew that kind of love, little touches, lingering glances, and the deep and unnerving desire to protect until nothing and no one was left to harm them.

She'd felt love before, she'd known it so softly that she knew there would never be anything softer. This love was her first, her most gentle. First loves were like that. They're what introduce you into the world or such romance. All roses and soft pink things. Yet, like most kind and tender things, the world took them and ruined them.

The world ruined her love. It snatched that love and suddenly nothing was pink, soft, or gentle anymore. It was red and bloody, black and blue from bruises, and so ragged around the edges that skin would catch and bleed when caught.

But none of that mattered now, only the arena and what came after was important.

Keres wondered why it was so quiet and why the rain had finally stopped. If the arena was a clock, the rain would hit in the morning and then again at nightfall. The Gamemakers wanted them shivering, wet, and confused by their surroundings with the constant rain. Maybe they wanted muddy fights. For runners to go slipping through the mud, for the kills to be just a little easier.

They weren't far from the building. The closer they got, the taller it seemed.

It truly looked like a beacon, calling tributes home.

"We need to scout the area," said Adonis, stopping them just around the corner from the building. "If we can make sure no one is around, we can slip in undetected."

"You mean, make sure no one's been following us," muttered Helios as Lia shuddered. "Should we go in groups?"

Adonis nodded. "Me and Bryn. You, Lia, and–"

"It'll be easier if I go alone," interrupted Keres. "If you four split into duos and scout the building while I secure the outside, it'll be quicker." She glanced up towards the sky and frowned. "The place has to be nine floors up."

"You just don't want to walk up nine flights of stairs," muttered Helios, "but you're right. One group starts at the top and the other the bottom, we can work our way to each other."

"Okay, that sounds like a great plan, but," Adonis turned to Keres, "you shouldn't be alone."

Lia and Helios spoke at the same time. "She can handle herself–"

"I'm good at hiding," said Keres.

"If I can recall correctly, we knew you were in the bushes eavesdropping," said Bryn and Keres ignored the obvious. "So, I'm not sure going alone is such a good idea. You can scout the building with Helios and Lia–"

"There are more places inside the building for people to be hiding," said Keres. "You need four people, not three inside scouting. Yes, going alone isn't the best option, but it'd be better to have four strong fighters looking inside than having two outside. Lia can attest to this, but I'm fast on my feet. If I spot trouble and need to get away, I'll go back to our old hideout."

Lia's hand found Keres's shoulder. "Trust her on this."

Adonis sighed, rubbing his brows. "You yell if there's trouble and one of us will come running. You got that?"

She saulted him as a promise. She felt much more at ease once they all entered the building, with both Helios and Lia glancing back at her as she stood alone in the darkness. She knew she needed to go around the building and branch out in the neighboring houses in hopes that whoever might've been tracking them would want to pick her off first as the easy kill.

It's why she was so determined to be alone. She would always be the first one to get picked off. She was the weakest, she was Helios's link to his own humanity and to his control, and she wasn't anyone the Capitol cared about.

She started in the small buildings. They seemed to be old shops, dresses hanging up on racks with fabrics made of cheap lace and silk. The Capitol wouldn't dare spend true money on tributes like them. They weren't special. Only the Victor held promise and purpose. When she found no one in the shop, she carried on to the next and the next.

It was only once she hit the third shop did it feel like she wasn't alone. There were eyes, somewhere, and she couldn't tell if it was from the cameras she detected so easily or from something else. She waited to hear the mimic's normal call, to be distracted by some phantom voice, but there was no slobbery breathing or moaning.

The only thing she could hear was her own breath as she exited the structure and carried on to the one across.

The eyes followed her. Something was living and breathing, something she could not detect so easily on her own. If she had been with a group, she could hone in one that strange feeling without seeming distracted but she was alone. Alone and trapped with someone following her.

She'd been hunted before. The coyotes, the wolves, the predators in 10. She knew that when a wolf stalked you, it was best not to turn your back. You want to seem like the predator, like the biggest thing in the room, but this was different. This was a monster with a knife.

Keres kept her back to the wall of the building she was about to enter and scanned her eyes over the area. There was a good chance she could catch whoever was following her, but this wasn't an animal whose eyes would reflect in the light or rustle against leaves or branches. This was intelligence that mirrored her own.

She almost had to wonder, did the Careers worship her in a way that made them devotees to her god? They wanted her, hunted her, were so cursed by her very nature that they needed her blood on their hands. Was that not religion? Poetry? Something else entirely?

Keres smiled and stilled. If they wanted her, they could come and get her.

"Help!"

Keres's head whipped to the side.

"Help me! Please! Pl–ease!"

The boy cried wolf echoed in her ears but the voice wasn't old, not like her own. It was young. It was a voice she recognized from training. Keres wasted no time turning and following the sound. It was close by and sounded as if they were stuck in a building by the muffled hints.

Perhaps this was a trap, that whoever had been hunting her decided to use a little girl as bait, but Keres couldn't stand the idea of another young life wasted. Maybe that's why she ran so out of her mind and why she allowed the enemy to get the upper hand.

Keres's biggest weakness was others. Not necessarily others as a whole, but what the youth meant to her. She pictured the young faces of the tributes, Freesia, Alder, Zinnia...which only brought her back to Holly and Elma. Good god, Elma, with the blood running down her face and seeping through her clothes. Her fingers as trophies, her body a puppet to be used...

They were all puppets here, weren't they?

Keres felt pain slide across her cheek. Not deep but just enough where she felt blood as she slammed herself back against the wall as if to shield herself. Her ax dropped to the ground somewhere by her feet. Stupid, stupid, stupid!

Tansy's crying was loud and open, her mouth pulled back in both fear and pain. She was a siren call to anyone nearby. Keres wasn't familiar with bows and arrows because what had pierced her skin had been the sharp tip of a metal arrow. It was lodged in the wall beside her head, which meant her attacker wasn't nearly as skilled as some of the tributes she'd seen use such weapons. If she'd been good, Keres would've been dead already.

"Good, wasn't it?" laughed Isolde from behind her. She'd been stalking her towards this building where Tansy lay trapped. "I'm not as good at tracking as Reiner but I told him it'd be easy to draw you out. You two practiced skills together, right? She said she knew you..."

Tansy moaned, red crusted in the corners of her lips.

"Reiner should be back soon," she said with a giggle as Keres watched her creep into the room. Isolde was much taller than what she seemed to be in the training center. She was at least five inches taller than Keres. Nearly six feet in height, Isolde seemed powerful where she stood in the doorway. If this had been another life, perhaps another Games, Isolde could've been a Victor all on her own. "He's been tracking that poor boy from 12 after we got rid of this girl's district partner. Such a shame...he'd been stronger than most here."

If this had been a different reality, Keres might've found her beautiful. She was softer than Vita, but she was lean and her biceps contracted and flexed under her long sleeve. She looked so different in contrast to her district partner. Reiner with his golden skin and light hair, Isolde with her jet black hair and paler skin, they were polar opposites in looks. They were nearly mirrors to Titus and Vita. The same format, the same character, just slightly altered. Is this what men and women were supposed to be in the arena? No longer beautiful by curves and soft skin, but by how well they can pack muscle and wield a blade.

Was that not also Keres?

"He'll be so proud I got two for one," muttered Isolde as she worked to notch another arrow. "He wanted you, you know, we all did, but I got you. I did. Oh, Reiner is going to love this..."

"What the hell are you two?" asked Keres and this distracted Isolde enough for her to pause and glance up with a frown.

"Huh?"

"You and Reiner, what the hell are you guys? In love? Cousins? What's with the weird fascination with each other?" This was, perhaps, the most Keres had ever spoken with this Career. Before, she'd been weak and feeble minded, so small and tiny, so pathetic and easily manipulated, now she was curious and who was she to let her curiosity die with this tribute? "Don't you want to, I don't know, kill us together?"

"He's too far," said Isolde, shaking off her confusion. "Why does it matter what we are? He's my partner and he trusts me with these kills. Now," she got her arrow notched, "stay still for me, will you? I'd like to make this perfect..."

Keres pushed off the wall as Isolde loosened her fingers. The arrow clipped Keres's shoulder, nicking her jacket and nothing more, as the girl charged the Career. Isolde swung with her quiver and it smacked Keres across the face. Keres was able to wrap a hand around the quiver and yank it forward after the impact, tugging Isolde into her so she could drive her knee upward. Isolde made a gasping sound and dropped to her knees as Keres raised her foot.

Driving it down into the Career girl's head was easy. Almost like slamming a spike into the ground. Isolde's face collided with the floor and Keres saw blood erupt and drip through the dust and dirt on the floorboards.

The blood was always something Keres watched when forced to go into the slaughter houses. After a while, it wasn't being forced, so much as it was a job. But when she first began going inside, the easiest thing to look at was the blood on the floor or in the sinks. Blood so red it almost looked black. Blood spreading across floors or over metal basins, blood always moving and always alive. Blood seeping from stripped meat and skin.

This blood was no different. Droplets from the tip of a noise. Blood from...

Keres nearly forgot this was a skilled Career.

Isolde grabbed Keres's ankles and took her to the ground. The impact of the floor on her shoulder was tough, but nothing she hadn't felt before. Isolde tried to maneuver herself over Keres, desperately reaching for her throat, but Keres had her legs up to brace her feet against Isolde's chest and stomach to keep her at arm's length.

"Stop fighting!" snarled Isolde, her fingers swiping at Keres, just inches from her skin. "You're supposed to be easy!"

Keres was able to toss Isolde to the ground with her feet and when the girl tried to get back up, Keres sent her elbow into her chest as she got to her feet.

"You're supposed to be our prize! Stop fucking fighting, you brat!"

Keres gasped. "I'm you're what?"

Isolde, resting on her feet as if ready to pounce, snarled, "We present you to Titus and we get to live longer. You're–" She wiped blood from her nose. "–the biggest prize to be offered."

"And not the others?" Surely they'd be bigger prizes than her. Who was she, if not a mouse?

"Who? Like your brother?" she laughed, condescending. "He'll be fun to kill, but the Capitol likes him. Why kill the golden boy when he can be played with by the king?"

"So, you're what?" said Keres. "Bringing our bodies to Titus as an offering of peace? Of good will?"

A sacrificial offering. A tribute for an ounce of life.

"You're going to let him do this to you?" she whispered. "You're going to let Titus dictate who lives and dies? And when they do?" Keres shook her head, bending down to pick up her ax. Surely this wasn't how it was going to be? Titus was in charge of who lives and dies, or when they can finally be killed. Was this all for show? For better entertainment?

Keres almost wondered if he had a list of kills and the order they needed to go in. Was this a plot from the Capitol?

"It's sad," muttered Keres.

Isolde stood, slowly. "What is?"

"If you hadn't killed Forrest or hurt Tansy, I would've considered letting you live."

Isolde made a strange face, perhaps one of disbelief, as Keres threw the ax. It lodged itself against Isolde's chest and the girl let out a startled noise and then a slow gurgle before dropping to her knees. The collision of the blade against her sternum wasn't enough to kill her. Keres wanted the girl on her knees before her.

"Please..." whispered Isolde. "I'm not...I'm not..."

Keres approached her slowly, wondering how long it would be until she succumbed to the wound. She knew once she removed the ax, she would bleed freely and profusely.

"I'm–I'm sorry," she hiccuped. "I didn't want to hurt them...I didn't want to..."

"But you did," said Keres and Tansy cried softly. She would be near death soon and her suffering needed to end. "Anything for Titus and glory, right? You've made that apparent."

"Reiner...he is..."

"...isn't here. He won't save you."

Not even god could save you now. Godling girl, Victor stealer, you're the face of a new kind of worship.

"Close your eyes," said Keres, "It'll be easier for you."

Isolde blinked a few times, her lashes wet as tears streamed down her cheek. When her eyes finally shut and stilled, save for the fast moving of her eyes tracking invisible images, Keres braced her foot against her shoulder.

"You were really pretty," whispered Keres, leaning forward to take hold of the ax's handle and to brush Isolde's hair from her face. "I just wanted you to know that."

She really was beautiful, with her head tilted back and the rapid and strangled breathing rattling around her chest. It was sad that her beauty couldn't save her, but nothing could save you here.

Keres pulled the ax free and Isoldge gasped and blood spurted from her lips and down her chin as she rocked to the side and toppled over completely. The blood came quickly as she twitched. Keres considered letting her suffer longer but this wasn't who she really wanted to kill, even if she did kill an innocent such as Forrest.

Keres wanted Titus. She wanted Vita. Two soulless killers.

Or were they children, like you?

She used one of her own knives to slide through Isolde's temple. She made sure it was quick, even if it did hurt only for a few moments. Only when the girl stopped twitching and blood coated the toes of Keres's boots was when the cannon sounded. She turned to Tansy and wondered if removing the arrows through her palms and thighs would be wise but the one in her middle was what sealed her fate.

The younger girl, only fourteen, whimpered when Keres inspected the wound. She'd made no noises save for her crying when Isolde had attacked Keres, but now she spoke in a soft whisper.

"Please."

Keres brushed a tear from her cheek.

"Don't let him...don't let him find me."

Keres nodded. She reached for her knife, still streaked with Isolde's blood, and wasted no time giving the girl a quick death. When the cannon sounded, Keres wiped the blood off on her pants and left the scene, knowing Renier would be close after the first cannon went off. The second would surely send him running.

She headed for the tallest building, the city's center, and crashed her way inside. Her heart hurt, not in a painful way but in the sense that she ached from having to kill. She knew this was what life had to be like here, but it still hurt.

Tansy was still a child. Isobel was...

Keres couldn't allow herself to think of all that. Not when she needed to find the others and get inside the tunnels. She was afraid to yell out, to draw any more attention to herself or them, but she wasn't sure how far Reiner would be and that meant Titus and Vita.

The Careers were down to three and Keres knew her group wouldn't be able to go against Titus with two others fighting for him.

She was just about to shout up into the building for her allies when she heard feet on the stairs. They were rushing down, skipping steps, stomping like madmen and she waited for them in the small corridor hallway away from the lobby where she barricaded the doors shut with old chairs and plywood lying against the walls. In front of her was an old elevator shaft, the doors missing and inside seemed to be a long way down into the darkness of a basement waiting for them below.

Her brother was the first to charge out of the stairwell and she pushed herself up away from the wall and he collided against her. His hug was strangling but she sagged into him because there was nothing better than a hug from a sibling.

"We heard the cannons," he said, pulling away to inspect the side of her face and she slapped his hands away. "Who hurt you? Did you kill them? Did they follow you here?"

"Isolde," said Keres as Adonis slowed to a surprised stop beside Helios. "She was out there without Reiner–"

"How did you get away?" said Adonis. "Is she still tracking you here?"

"Obviously she's dead," said Lia with a snap. "We all heard the cannon."

"We heard two," murmured Bryn. "Who else was with you?"

Keres scratched the blood drying against her cheek. "Isolde had Tansy trapped, near dead, as bait for me. I was able to stop her but Tansy was..." She shook her head. Too far gone. "Isolde said Reiner was nearby so we gotta get moving to the tunnels, he could've followed me here, I don't know–"

Adonis, still with a suspicious look across his face, asked, "How far away did Isolde lure you?"

"Not far."

"Then we better move."

"Was the building even clear?"

"For the most part, yes," said Helios, "but we didn't make it to the top."

"We don't have time to sit around and find out either," said Lia, pushing forward to give Keres's shoulder a squeeze as if to remind her that she was thankful she was here and alive. "We can talk more about this when we're safe."

Not far from them, where Isolde and Tansy's bodies lay in wait for the hovercraft to take them away, Reinner discovers the gruesome scene. His screams of anguish could be heard all the way back to the remaining Career pack, Titus sitting on his throne of supplies and Vita sharpening a knife just outside of his reach.

"How do we get to the tunnels?" asked Keres. "Is there a basement or?"

Adonis motioned to the hoistway. "Follow me."

"Down the creepy elevator shaft?" muttered Lia with her lip curling up in disgust. "So you can, what? Push us down one by one until you and Bryn are the last ones standing? No way."

"If I wanted you dead, you'd be dead," said Adonis rolling his eyes. It was funny, Keres thought, he'd seemed much more of a diva now in the arena than he did in training. From down the hall and in the lobby, there was the faint noise of people, perhaps coming from Reiner running past or Atticus, Cyrus or Felix running for their lives. "We can sit here and see who the hell is circling this building or we can get down the shaft, your choice."

"I'm all for the shaft," said Helios, raising his hand.

"Just start moving," muttered Lia as Adonis reached inside and showed them where the thin ladder waited.

"It's all an illusion," explained Adonis as he entered and began to climb down as Bryn and Helios followed. Keres and Lia peered down and watched them go. "It appears to be deep, like we'd fall to our deaths if this broke but it's all a ploy. The Gamemakers down have cameras past this point, they're all blind spots."

"Why would they make something like this?" asked Lia.

"There's always blind spots here," said Adonis as they watched him open up a small panel in the wall near the bottom which wasn't as far down as it had seemed moments before. It looked as if Adonis, Helios, and Bryn were all floating heads deep below. Adonis ushered in Bryn and Helios first before looking back up and saying, "There's always someone on the inside."

The ladder was cold under Keres's hands and she moved slowly, taking up the rear as they descended into darkness. It was more sturdy than it had seemed before, which made her exhale with relief. They didn't need it breaking under all of their weight going down or in an escape attempt if needed. Below her, Lia entered the small passage and Keres was surprised to find herself on the bottom, maybe ten feet down from where they'd entered through.

Keres held her hands out blindly, walking into pitch darkness as Adonis worked to put the panel back in place. She heard the metal click and scratch as it was secured and then a flip was switched. She held her arms over her eyes and blinked through the brightness.

To her right and to her left was a long tunnel stretching who knows how far. It made her slightly relax knowing there wasn't a series of multiple directions leading to god knows where and that they had only two access points to watch.

"How the hell did you know about this?" asked Helios, crouching down flighty because of how short the ceiling was here. It had to have been below six feet tall because Adonis was also bent down to avoid hitting his head. Cement walls and cement floors surrounded them, a gray landscape that felt colder here than it did outside.

"Our mentor," explained Adonis. "Enobaria. She was the Victor of the 62nd Games. She didn't tell us directly but passed on a note from someone within the Gamemakers."

"You mean the woman who sharpened her teeth into fangs?" gasped Helios.

Adonis nodded with a grimace. "She doesn't know directly what was in the note because District 2 is so closely connected to the Capitol, unlike 12 and even 10."

"Because of the Peacekeepers?" asked Lia.

Adonis nodded. Keres knew this. Peacekeepers trained and were recruited in 2. It was also home to the weapons that are manufactured for them. It was a hub for the Peacekeepers and Capitol, one of the very centers that trained people to put down others.

"What about Brutus?" asked Keres and Adonis seemed surprised she knew his name. He was another mentor for District 2 tributes, a bloodthirsty Victor like Enobaria. "Did he know about the note?"

Adonis shook his head but it was Bryn who spoke. "He's a great mentor but he's not trustworthy. A lot of the past Victors are in the Capitol's pocket, except for a few."

Keres frowned. What did they know that they didn't?

Bryn rubbed her hands together. "That's why it's so important we're down here, talking to you." Her eyes were only on Keres. "What we're going to discuss and ask you to do...it's not safe and you can't trust many people with this information."

"What the hell are you talking about?" said Helios with a deep frown. It seemed his pack mates hadn't told him anything about why they were here and why they'd volunteered.

"There's a rebellion growing," whispered Bryn, even though there were no cameras or recordings of any kind taking place in the tunnels. "We believe it'll finally come to light in the next two to three years but it's been growing for some time now. The people in charge, one of them who gave us this note about the tunnels, they want President Snow and the Capitol reduced to ash."

Keres frowned and Lia took a sharp intake of breath.

"We all know what happened after the first rebellion," said Keres, shaking her head. "The Dark Days Snow preaches about on those damn videos before every reaping. The districts tried to fight back and look where that got us? The Hunger Games were born and no one was free or could ever be free."

"The Capitol suppressed the districts," said Lia, "because they want us weak. If they thought we could rebel again, there would be consequences greater than just the Hunger Games. If the Capitol catches a whiff of this...it's over for the little districts, you get that right? 2 and 5, we'd be safe but 10?" Lia gave Keres a long look. "No one would be safe."

"We aren't safe now," whispered Keres. "If the Hunger Games continue, if we allow the Capitol to have power over us, more of us die."

"The rebellion needs a face or at least, someone on the inside amongst the Victors," said Bryn.

Helios frowned. "Why can't it be one of you?"

"No one would follow a Victor from 2. We wouldn't have the side of the little districts. It's rich versus poor, and while it'd be nice to see the ends of this..." said Adonis, "...it's not realistic for us. We would never win the hearts of 12 or 11."

"But 10 would?"

Adonis nodded.

"This is what you were talking about," said Keres, "when I was spying on you. Someone who is charismatic, likeable, sympathetic. You want...my brother to be the face of this coming rebellion?"

This time, both Adonis and Bryn shook their heads.

"No, we think it should be you."

AUTHOR'S NOTE━━heyyy long time no see ahhh 

we're kinda getting into the real plot here, i'm going to try to not make it seem basic or boring fr i promise!!! i will probably go back and edit this chapter inn the future bc i didn't like the interaction between isolde and keres but i couldn't keep putting off publishing bc i didnt like it LOL

there's 11 tributes left !! who do we think is going to die next? who's going to make it to the top 5?

i'll hopefully have another update out in the next two weeks I PROMISE AHHH <333 but pls pls vote and comment, it gives me sm motivation to write and i love reading your theories!!