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Chapter 7

I'm still shaking when I land back into our haven. I just killed two people, my first kills. I barely even thought about the first one, all I needed to do was sit back and let the panther take over. I guess I could even argue that it wasn't me that killer Lue, it was the ferocious beast that shares my conscious. The other girl, god, I didn't even know her name; there was no blaming it on animal instinct. That was purely me. It was my human brain that picked up the axe and dropped it on her neck, no question about it. Either way, I was a killer.

Thirteen left. Twelve more to kill. Including my team, the anti-careers.

I land on the edge of the haven and try to look happy and refreshed. I bump into Brianne walking out of the bamboo sticks, struggling with a large grey rock in her arms. I quickly lean forward and take half of the weight of the rock between us.

"I heard the cannons, did you run into anyone?" Brianne is straight to the point.

"I ran into the metal chick and another girl who could control animals." I replied.

"Control animals? She didn't, you know…"

"No, of course not. I mean, I felt something, but I'm only part animal. I could handle it. Anyway, I killed them both. I'll tell you all about it at din-"

'Don't,' she interrupted, "It's Orenon's birthday. People die all the time in the hunger games. We're just going to ignore that for the night and pretend we're on a picnic."

I shift on my feet, the weight of the rock heavy in my arms.

"So, what's with this overly large rock?" I asked.

"It's a surprise." Winked Brianne. She lifted the rock and carried it by herself to the camp, plonking it unceremoniously on the ground. Orenon is perched on a rock beside Wess, his black wings spread lazily out on the dirt. Wess has a small array of cooking utensils he has scavenged, and is cooking two large fish in a pot of bubbling water. Two pills are floating in the water; the water-boiling pills that were Orenon's gifts.

Orenon is joking around with Wess, like an older brother, shoving and laughing around the fire.

"watch it, guys, you don't want to destroy the birthday dinner." I said, strolling up behind Brianne.

"It's almost done," said Wess, poking the fish with a stick, "It's pretty hard to tell though. Orenon, pass the plates please"

Orenon reaches behind him to a stack of bamboo segments. They're about a foot long each, and are cut in half, creating a half-cylinder bowl. I notice a pile of failed attempts at making the bowls to the side, along with a blackened-silver sword.

"Nice sword." I said.

"I left it behind when I came up before, I didn't want to scare you guys." Replied Wess "It's a bit too big for my body, I think it was made for someone a little older than thirteen, so the only action it's seen before is killing fish and bamboo poles. Orenon's pretty good at it, after a couple of practise runs."

"Where'd you find something like that?" Brianne asked, "I doubt you would've thought to pick up such a badly matched weapon at the cornucopia."

"They're all around the place, you just need to look. That kid with the shockwaves at the start threw everything around the arena when he died. I found this one at the bottom of one of the ponds."

"Really? We haven't seen anything around." Brianne said.

"You just have to look in all the right places." Said Wess. He looked around and up at the top of the bamboos. "There, on top of that bamboo pole, it's where I found these' He held up a roll of spoons and handed them around.

Wess and Orenon cut the fish in half and placed them neatly in the bowls. Wess plonked some rubbery green material on the side. Brianne eyed it nervously.

"It's seaweed, I've eaten it before. Try it, you might like it." Wess said, noticing Brianne's cautious gaze.

For the first few minutes, we ate in silence, enjoying the juicy fish and salty seaweed. We finished off the bowls messily, leaving no remains behind. It was by far the best we've eaten during the whole games; I'd even say it was better than the ricemeal we got in the stolen sponser.

"So, cake?" Wess asked greedily, his eyes glittering with happiness.

"let's leave it a bit, stretch out the whole night." Orenon patted his new adopted brother on the back and stretched his legs out in content.

"I know, present time!" Brianne eagerly lifted the heavy rock onto her lap and strummed on the top. "This one's from me. Hold out your hands."

Orenon held out his hands and Brianne lifted the rock on top. He braced his arms for the imminent weight, but the rock seemed slightly lighter than what he had imagined. A cool wave washed through his hands, and the rock fell through his fingers, just like Brianne's power. Brianne used her power to let the rock fall through Orenon's hands and sink into the dirt, leaving behind her cleverly concealed gift in Orenon's outstretched palms. Left behind was a cluster of silver sponser pots.

"Open one."

He lifted the lid and stared at the gooey green substance.

"I tried to make a brush, but it wouldn't work, so you'll just have to make do with these. You could probably use your fingers, but I used some of the nature around here, so I don't know if it is poisonous or not. Don't' eat it."

Wess opened another one, revealing a pink gooey substance. Another one was Orange, and Yellow, and some had two colours, some had three.

"Oh, I get it! You made paint!" Wess exclaimed.

"I know how much you love painting, you mentioned it last night, and how you painted the walls of your house with different colours, and the peacekeepers made you paint it all back."

Orenon's eyes are watering. I guess the older two of the group connected much more than I thought. I didn't even know that Orenon was a painter. I don't even know if he has a job like I do, or what Wess does either; I know he comes from the lumber district, but he definitely doesn't have enough muscles to show much work out in the fields.

I pull my present from my pocket, the silver chain taken from the district 8 girl. Hanging from the chain are two black feathers and a two dark brown feathers, two of Orenon's, and two of mine. Orenon looks like he doesn't know what to say, so I step in to break the silence.

"I saw that you got a pendant from your district, so I thought maybe you could wear it on this chain."

Orenon takes his pendant from his pocket and slips it on the chain between the feathers. The wooden wings tangle with the feathers in a mix of black and browns. Orenon slips the chain over his head and looks up to me with a wide smile.

"Thanks, Rit, this means a lot to me"

"Chocolate cake time?" Wess interrupts

"yeah Fish, Chocolate cake time" Orenon ruffles Wess's hair before the younger kid bounds off to fetch the cake.

The rest of the night would probably be the most fun anybody has ever had, and will have, in the hunger games arena. We had cake, games; Orenon made the most beautiful painting of the sunset as it fell down the side of the arena.

It was an amazing night, completely forgetting where we were and what we were meant to do, until two cannons shot off into the night.

Brianne and I exchanged a quick worried glance, but pretended not to notice. Orenon followed our lead, continuing on his finger painting of Wess, but Wess dropped the happy mood.

"I wonder who that was. It sounded brutal; both of those canons were pretty close together. That means there are seven left, plus us."

Wess tried to climb up the bamboo wall to get a higher view.

"I wonder if they're close, we wouldn't want any other tributes arriving here, wouldn't we?"

"I hate this place." Orenon grumbled, his voice taking a menacing turn.

"They expect us to kill each other, just to prove a point that the capitol are in charge. They treat us as toys, as playthings in their stupid game!"

Orenon's paint splattered fingers swipe at his painting, destroying his artwork, knocking it into the dirt. The national anthem plays and the sky lights up.

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! I shouldn't be here, Shut up!"

Orenon angrily throws his sword at the sky, it comes crashing down near Wess, sticking into the dirt. Brianne hurries over to Wess and holds on to him protectively.

Orenon hasn't finished with his rampage. Spreading black wings, Orenon takes off, leaving a cloud of dust behind.

"Rit!" Brianne screams at me over the blaring sound of the anthem "Protect him!"

I take off from the ground, my human fingers stretching out into brown feathers, my long legs shrinking to sharp talons as they leave the dirt. I try desperately to catch up to Orenon, but he swivels around, a dark silhouette against the blue capitol seal in the sky.

"Don't stop me." He says, anger lacing his voice

He kicks out his black boots and hits me square on my belly. I drop about one hundred metres, unable to catch up to the dark angel.

The sky is beginning to show the faces of the dead tributes from today. I recognise the girl from 8, who tried to use her powers to control me, and the girl from 9, with the metallic arms. Orenon flies closer to the screen, showing no signs of slowing down. The girl from 7 flashes on the screen as Orenon collides, blue electric shocks enveloping his black body as the force field electrocutes him. The girl from 12 appears on screen as Orenon begins to fall, limp and unmoving.

I fly up to catch him, but I am too weak and small to slow his descent. I fly underneath him and try to push him upwards when the screen shows Orenon's face.

Orenon is dead.

I let Orenon fall down as I float above him.

I watch his body be taken by the hovercrafts, a sorrowful funeral for a fallen angel.

Slowly, I fly back to Brianne and Wess. As I land, three gold pots float down to the campsite. I'm about to say something to the others when a boy my age jumps into the clearing, making a jump higher than the bamboo poles.

It's the boy from 4, a career. With a snide grin, he motions to the ground and with his mind lifts a chunk of dirt to hurl at Brianne. I see Brianne step through the dirt, and draw her two knives.

The bamboo behind Brianne heats up with a green tinge, and a blast of energy clears a neat hole in the foliage. The girl from 2 steps through, followed by the boy from 1.

The careers have arrived.

"Boys, Run!" Brianne screams at me.

I see Wess jump into the pond, disappearing under the surface with barely a ripple. Brianne turns and runs through the dirt-moving boy and disappears into the bamboo behind her. The dirt-boy reaches for his chest, and I realise that Brianne left a knife stuck in him as she escaped. I turn to fly away, but I am bombarded with rays of green energy, singing my feathers.

I will not escape from upwards.

I turn and dive downwards, aiming for the pond. At the last moment, I change to the sleek-grey skin of a dolphin, my wings shrinking down to rubbery flippers, my back rising up to a dorsal fin. I enter the water cleanly, diving deep down out of reach from the careers.

It's dark underwater, I can barely see, so I click my beak and a rough sketch is returned to my brain of my surroundings. This must be echolocation. A small shape makes its way towards me, covering the distance in surprising speed. I ready myself for battle, and out of the gloom shadows appears Wess, holding a finger to his lips.

"Are you okay?" Wess's voice seems to be tailored for underwater. "Let me show you what I discovered from living underwater, this might change the entire game, give us the upper hand."

I follow him into the darkness, my eyes on his shadowy, webbed feet.