Finnick is true to his word. The moment dusk departed and daybreak waltzed in to take its place, he is gently shaking me awake, stroking my one again chaotic hair from my face, pulling my still half unconscious body towards him. "Annie. Its time." He murmurs, making it evident he had only recently returned to reality himself. I pretend I do not hear him call me at first, trying to fool myself in to thinking his voice is just a dream, that I am still wrapped safely in my slumber. But his tone grows firmer, and I begin to feel guilt stricken, so I don't persist any longer. Settling myself in the crook of his bent legs, resting my head on his shoulder, we sit and watch the sun wake in silence. Neither of us needn't say anything. We already know what one another will say, we are more than aware of the terrible thoughts of horror and panic that are tormenting us both. Why ruin the peace with such unpleasantness? With no words, we are able to pretend for a little longer.
We stay wrapped in each other and the reliving silence, until the sun has fully risen from its lethargy once and for all. Almost immediately after the colors in the sky begin to fade, Finnick jumps up from his seat. We had watched the performance, enjoyed the quietness and our peaceful solitude and now it was time to face the day. The day I would be lifted in to the arena. "You have to be at the take-off area for nine. We have a couple of hours, do you want to maybe do some training for a while?" Finnick suggests.
"With what? All I have is my piece of rope, and I am pretty confident I've mastered that skill by now."
"I certainly believe that!" He teases, ruffling my tufts of untamed hair. "How about self defense? Locks and how to break bones and stuff? They don't do much of that in training, but trust me, it could come in very helpful if somebody's trying to slice your neck open."
"Sure, why not?" I agree, hungry for all the help and advice I could obtain.
"Right. Okay. We'll start with an easy one. Come stand here." He indicates in front of him. "I'm going to start by showing you to get out of a hand lock. It's the most simple, and something I try and show all the tributes I get because practically anyone can manage it." He explains whilst beginning to grip my wrist. "I'm going to tighten it as much as I can, so it might hurt a bit, but I want to prepare you." I am cautioned, as the pressure Finnick is applying to my wrist ascends. I wince slightly, but bite manage to hold my tongue. "Now what?"
"You squat. As low as you can."
"What…"
"Sounds crazy, doesn't it? But if you bend low enough, its instinct for the attacker to release their grip. Look, you try." He encourages.
Feeling very much the fool, I sheepishly begin to stick out my rear and lower my body. The nearer my body got to the ground and the stronger I stance my rear end, the looser his grip becomes. Amazed at the simplicity of the technique, I beg him to show me more. "Okay, okay. One step at a time. That's probably the easiest move in the book. The other ones I demonstrate will be nowhere near as effortless."
Within the next hour and a half, Finnick acquaints me with four more basic self defence techniques. He is right about them being significantly harder, but I manage them all at least once. The most affective of the bunch seems to be the second method Finnick demonstrates on how to retrieve yourself from a wrist hold. It takes a little more effort and strength, but once enough of the latter has been injected almost immediately I feel my wrists free of imprisonment. The idea is, to bend your elbow inwards and push upwards to relieve yourself. I am also shown various ways to free myself from more secure holds. Finnick captures my hands from behind, and instructs me to try and hit his head with my elbows or stomp on his feet with my own feet. His grip loosens but not sufficiently enough, so I am told to pull his fingers down as hard as I can, forcing him to surrender. After this hold in particular I feel very guilty, Finnick had been as gentle as he possibly could throughout the demonstration, where as my role permitted me to do the opposite. However, he does not complain. Only congratulates on my knack of learning quickly and having an eye for detail.
We have ten minutes before half past eight, according to the clock hanging lopsided an neglected in the blue room. "Want to try the bear hug hold once more?" Finnick proposes, as it is the one I have the least confidence in my ability in. Well, that's what I told myself anyway. That the reason Finnick was so eager to try to bear hold once more was for my personal benefit, not at all his own. The technique required him, being the heavier out of the two of us, with his legs spread over his chest and his hands gripping my wrists. Anybody who had the misfortune to walk in us in such a position would be undoubtedly alarmed. However, I wasn't in a position to decline his help, and it wasn't like we were tourists in such intimacy involving one another. Not after last night, anyway. As mildly as I can get away with, I clamp one hand on his left wrist and other behind his right elbow, trapping his right arm to my chest. I can't help but fail in stifling an immature giggle, and I know Finnick is struggling to resist humouring himself. The time in which I did this technique earlier, I hadn't quite managed it, but Finnick promised I was close. This time, determined to succeed, I trap his foot and leg with mine, raise my hips and turn on my knees, victorious. I smirk, satisfied with my achievement. "Wow." Finnick mumbles from beneath me, our eyes once against entwined. I lean towards him, steadying my pace, teasing him. "Who's the more dominant of us now, eh?" I mock affectionately.
"Definitely you. No questioning it." He jokes back. I allow him to raise his head to caress my lips once more. After less than a minute of embracing though, Finnick pulls me away from him. "Don't do this to me. I won't ever let you leave." He murmurs in to me.
"Good." I reply, try to tempt him back. He fails to falter. "No. We need to get you ready now, we haven't much time." He explains, lifting me from the floor on which I am slumped and towards the direction of the bathroom. "Um…Finnick…I don't need you to help me bathe, you know."
"I know, but I want to, is that okay?"
"Sure." I respond, bewildered by his desire to care for me in such a personal way. I let him undress me once more, and lift my exposed skin, littered with faded freckles and the remains of the wounds I had inflicted, in to the mild H20, allowing myself to melt in to the heavenly water once more. "Why don't you come in? The tubs more than large enough for two." I offer.
"No, I know what you're trying to do…"
"Stop being so assuming, Finnick!" I wail, annoyed at his distrust. "You'll need to bathe to, if I am to have any chance in gaining sponsors, so why not save water?"
Timidly, he pulls of his pants and undergarments and slips in the time behind me. His legs tangled together with mine, the heat from his chest radiating my naked back. Once again, he has elated, but not to the extent as the night before. Satisfied, but not overwhelmed with excitement. It feels strange, causing such a typical body malfunction, in which I have only ever before associated with perverted and childish jokes before now. I do not mind though. I feel complimented by it, insistent to maintain it, even. Finnick massages shampoo in to my scalp and then in to his own, before stroking a sweet smelling gel on to my flesh. "I love you." I whisper, as if the words are the words are too fragile to be spoken with a projection any bolder. "I love you, too. Always." He punctures my neck with kisses as delicate as the wings of the dragonfly's, which float lazily in the high grass above the beach back home.
Noah is dressed and seated when Finnick and I enter the front lounge, our hands still tightly interweaved. The look he shoots at us is not sour, nor disappointed. In fact, it reeks of sympathy and admiration. "Hey." He starts, biting his lip to contain his anxiety.
"Hey. How're you holding up?" Finnick asks, leading me to share the seat beside our companion.
"I've been better. But I'm okay. I just want to get it over with, if I'm honest." Finnick does his best to demonstrate an understanding and knowing nod that should could come naturally to someone as involved in the games as he. I stare at the mahogany wood that blankets the dining table, unsure how to behave or what to say to either of them. Needless to say, my grip on Finnick only increases. "I'm not mad, you know." Noah announces, finally.
"You have every right to be." I hear my tone speak.
"Not really. Love is love. As long as it's not fake, that neither one of you are using each other." He directs at Finnick. "Then it's hardly your fault. It's just tricky."
"You've got that right." Finnick grunts.
Florrie doesn't bother to wake in time to bid us farewell. Very generously, in her eyes, anyway, she informed us of this last night, claiming to have 'disordered sleeping' that should only be disturbed in exceptional circumstances. Neither me or Noah are to bothered about the disadvantage of her presence. Dressed in a plain black plaid t-shirt and heavy faded combats, we make our way to the elevator that is to take us to the take off station. The location is right at the top of the building, just above the penthouse, where the tributes from district twelve will be pondering. It takes at least a little longer than five minutes to arrive there, yet nobody makes any attempt to strike up conversation. Not even Flosa. The tension seems as though it can be cut through with a knife.
As the hovercrafts begin to tower towards us, growing increasingly larger as the minutes tick past, I feel the pace of my heartbeat rapidly increasing. Even the murmurs of encouragement and firm hold of him cannot steady its erratic speed. "Annie, you're going to be okay. I promise you." He whispers to me, stroking my hand with his own. "When you get in there, run to the others as fast as you can. Get your hands on some decent weaponry and find a source of water. Do not, at any moment whatsoever, let your eyes slip away from one of the careers. Okay?" I move my head forwards in an awkward nodding motion. "Good. I'll see you in a few weeks, okay? "
"Then we can be together." I recite, more for my own benefit than for Finnicks.
"Yes. And then we'll be together, forever and always." He promises, planting a kiss on my temple one last time. "And then I'll be safe."
"And then you'll be safe. I promise."
The Capitol assistants instruct us to place our feet on a ladder, that locks them in to itself and rises us to the aircraft. I'm ushered to the seat opposite to Noah, on the side where all the other adolescent females are seated. The intimidating girl from three sits on my left, seeming completely unfazed and even a little bored with the whole scenario. On my right, a mousy girl from five is trying to battle her trembling, but is failing disastrously. I want to take her hand, to whisper her the words Finnick had whispered to me just moments before, to let her know that everything was going to be just fine. But I cannot. My arms are fastened in to firm metal, and even if they were to be freed, I cannot risk such an act of sentimentality, not after last night. An assistant makes her way to each tribute and painfully injects a rectangular mould in to each of our forearms. "Your tracker." She explains when the terrified male tribute from eight, questions her.
The journey to the arena takes at least another half an hour. One by one, we are escorted by a squad of peace keepers, off the aircraft and into the miserable daunting building, in which our stylists would dress us for what was likely to be the final time. The guards lead me into a room with four painted carelessly on the door, and up a flight of narrow stairs. When the stairs end, we are greeted by yet another door, which is transparent. Inside, I seek Tabiotha, wringing her hands in a distressed manor. "Hey." I say, and soon as we have been left in peace.
"Hello, darling. Would you care for some breakfast?"
"They've brought us breakfast?"
"A little, yes. They always do. Its portion controlled, though." She explains with a sad smile, indicating at two veiled dishes that lay on a small table on the other side of the room. Gathering my bearings, I nod at her and take one of the seats at the table. Unravelling the dish, I find a plate of eggs, fried bread and bacon. I shovel it down quickly, before I can change my mind about consuming it. "Aren't you eating?"
"No, I think I will pass. I have no desire for food right now."
"Why's that?" I question, oblivious to her pained expression and depressing manner.
Tabiotha releases a somber chuckle. "I'm sad to see you go, silly."
"Thank you." I reply, and I mean it, too.
"I've been meaning to tell you something for some time. I thought I'd save it for now. I thought it important you know, that you all know, really."
"Know what?"
"Not everybody in the Capitol agrees with the games. Some are as sickened as those in the districts."
"I doubt it." I mutter to myself.
Tabiotha looks stung by my opinion but continues. "I had been a stylist for the games for eleven years. At first, the reasons behind it was selfish. I wanted to be famous, to design the most outrageous and elaborate of gowns. I was young, in my early twenties."
"I thought you looked familiar, but I couldn't put my finger on it." The Capitol broadcasts repeats of many games, from the most recent to ones from almost a century ago, and the stylists are almost always shown.
"Right. So one year, I am working for your district and a girl who didn't look a day over twelve is reaped. Of course, being so vulnerable, so tiny, she was one of the first to go. The day after her death, I go to get a magazine and there she is, her eyes empty, her lips bloodless, plastered over every front cover of every newspaper, every magazine. And do you know what the headline was?" She asked me, rhetorically, but I answer with a shake of my head, never less. "Mediocre stylist responsible for the death of Ana Monroe."
"Tabiotha…oh my god…"
"I quit, right then, on the spot. Spent the next twenty odd years cocooned in depression and loneliness, consumed by guilt and self loathing."
"So why did you come back to it all?" I dare to ask.
"Because I discovered I wanted to do something to help you poor souls. And the only thing I've ever been good at is designing, so this year, I returned."
"That's wonderful." I breathe.
"Thank you." Tabiotha rises and rests her hand on my cheek, just as Mags had done the night before. "Come back, Annie. If you can."
"I will."
Tabiotha produces a delicate frosted silver ring from her pocket. Planted inside the centre, is a pearl, fresh from an oyster. "They wouldn't permit you to wear your necklace, so Mags brought this from back home. It was hers, given to her by her mother in her own games."
"If I don't make it back, make sure it is returned to her."
"Of course, darling." She vows, starting to dress me in an over sized navy raincoat. "This doesn't give us much of an indication, neither do the shoes, it could be anywhere, if I'm honest." She explains, regret written on her face.
"It's okay. I'll be okay." I promise meekly.
Then I melt in to my final embrace, for the weeks that were to follow, anyway.
The countdown for the closing of the tubes begins. I step inside. I have prepared myself to be overthrown once again with panic, but this time, there is no battle to win, the enemies surrendered already. I feel calm. As calm as the childlike waves on a mild and windless morning. I don't know why, and I don't know how, but I am not afraid. There's nothing more I can do now. Nothing I am able to change or contribute to my chances. All I've got is myself.
The tube lifts me on to a metal stand fitted in burnt yellow sand. The atmosphere that surrounds me is humid and uncomfortable. In the center of the sand is the cornucopia, reflecting the sunlight that is streaming through the dull clouds up above. I remember that I must not step off the stand until the sixty second count down is over, so I freeze my body to the spot, however let my eyes search frequently for Noah and the other careers. On my sights travels, I learn that we are surrounded by a uphill jungle that surrounds the whole area. The wide strip of ugly sand on which we are standing, which to my disappointment is not accompanied by even a hint of blissful ocean, and a narrow pathway to a high grassed swamp are the only escape from the bizarre Amazon.
Twenty seconds.
The cornucopia is stacked from top to bottom with various weapons and back packs spilling with snacks, water, bandages among many more vital items. Lengthily pieces of rope and electric wire decorate the sharp corners of the statue like holiday lights.
Ten seconds.
Tufts of Noah's fair hair comes in to focus in my left vision. He is just three tributes away. Shadow and I are sandwiching the red head from seven, I cannot yet place the others.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, let the 70th Hunger Games, begin!"
As soon as the elaborated tones of Claudius Templesmith comes to an end, the cannon that signifies the starting of the games fires. Before even making any decisions about what I should do, I find myself running in perfect symmetry with Shadow to the cornucopia. We are slightly in front of the other tributes, Noah, Shimmer and the girl from three following close behind. Shadow reaches for a pack of knifes balanced at the rear end and throws me a couple of large spears, not to dissimilar from those I used hunt fish with in the shallows back home. Shimmer is bounding over, quickly retrieving the only bow and arrow on the stack of weapons, and when Noah catches up with her to retrieve a very typical 'district four' trident. Looking onwards, I spy Meeti and Merlin wrestling the weaker tributes, bringing three of them to death between them within the first few minutes of the blood bath with their bare hands.
I am so bewildered by this that I am caught off guard. Before I can anticipate what happening, the girl from three has got me in the exact same lock I had practiced to free myself from this morning. Her damp hands are clutching mine from behind, my elbows won't reach her head. She must be leaning towards the cornucopia instead of me, it's the only way my method cannot be working as she is about the same height as me. Her feet are spread at too much of a distance to make any possible attempt at stomping on. She is just about to bring a knife to my throat as I'm unsuccessfully trying to do significant damage to her fingers, when her grip on me and a high pitched scream is released. Allowing myself a quick peak, I see that a knife of almost the exact same sharpness and length is dangling from her calf. Shadow. I recover fairly quickly but so does my attacker, limping in the direction of her obvious allies, the pair from six. Before she arrives though, the boy is throwing a spear in to the direction of Shadow in revenge. Neatly dodging the weapon, the spear lands in to the heart of Shimmer, who is battling the girl from seven. The fourth cannon is fired. Tributes from district one almost always make it to the final, and I can no imagine the surprise and the uproar of her people back home. I almost feel sorry for her, until I remember she is now officially deceased and will never witness their shame and disappointment.
I don't kill anybody in the blood bath. I know everybody else has a significant part in at least one tributes death, even Noah. As I stand on the corner of the cornucopia trying to look dangerous and unwise to be taken on, I see Meeti usher him over. He has beaten a young boy to such a pulp the only way I recognize him is from the large nine printed on his raincoat. However, he is refusing to die. Squeezing his eyes shut to block out his victim, he pierces his trident in to the boys chest over and over until he hears the fire of the seventh cannon. Shadow boasts about being responsible for the fate of the females from five and nine, who were the last on the scene, trying to discreetly pinch some of our bounty from the cornucopia. She also claims to of took out the boy from three by throwing a knife right in to the center of his back.. Meeti and Merlin count four tributes between them in whom that are responsible for their falling. The females from eight, ten and eleven and the boy from twelve. Shimmer is the only other death so far.
"So far so good, wouldn't you say?" Noah announces, starting to shift through the many backpacks of we've claimed. Meeti and Shadow share a silent conversation through an unsure glance, in which it is obvious I am the topic.
"Your little friend didn't do too well, almost got herself killed at one point." Meeti points out, his gaze not drifting from me for a second.
"Yeah, if it wasn't for me, she would have been long gone." Shadow backs up, sauntering over to me.
This is it, I think. I didn't perform well enough, I let my weak and incapable side show once more, and this time, I will pay with my life.
"I only killed one person…it isn't all about the killing you know. She'll be helpful with other stuff, I told you that." Noah debates.
"Maybe we should just kill her now, Meeti. I'm sure we'll manage without her knowledge on what berry's to pick." Shadow mocks, eyeing me up as if I was a particularly tasty meal.
"I don't know…what do you think Merlin?"
"Whatever." Merlin shrugs, unconcerned. "Do what you thinks best, Meeti."
Before any of them can open their mouths to make a final decision on my execution, Noah has Shadow by the throat up against the cornucopia. She is gasping, begging for breath and has is somewhat paler than the shade of winter snow her complexion usually takes. "Stop, stop that!" Meeti cries. "Then don't kill her, don't kill Annie, not yet." Noah replies, his grip loosening a little.
"Kill Shadow, I and Meeti could kill you both in an instant." Merlin fires back.
"And what, have just the two of you on the career pack? How exactly would that work? We've already lost Shimmer, there's not many of us left, just give her a chance, okay?" As the boys deliberate I finger the equipment in the backpacks. In my brief search, I do not come across any fishhooks. "There's no fishhooks in here." I blurt out, suddenly, a little embarrassed by the horror in my tone this revelation, as if the game makers had decided not to provide us with weaponry, not a moderately significant hunting devise. Even so, I proceed. "And not much food. Just snacks and stuff. The pond over there in the swamp looks as though it'd have more than enough good fish to eat however, spearing them will be tricky, we'll be better off luring them out with some bait."
"You think you can make one out of the little recourses we have?" Meeti questions.
"Yeah. All I need is some wood, rope and a knife. I make ones with even flimsier stuff back home all the time."
"It's true, she does." Noah chirps in.
"And those berries, in that bush over there, leading on to the swamp." I say pointing at a hedge dotted with vaguely familiar looking fruit in the distance. "They're safe to eat. You wouldn't of known that without me." I reveal, desperately searching for ways to enhance myself. I'm not even completely sure the berries aren't piousness, they look on the safe side according to my basic knowledge, but my mind is to muddled and overwhelmed to be certain. "They do look sort of familiar, Meeti. I remember from training." Shadow admits, to my great advantage.
"Try one, then. Prove you're not luring us in to a trap." Meeti demands.
I figure I have nothing to lose. If the berries are in fact riddling with poison, I am likely to die. But if I refuse to do as Meeti, the leader and most ruthless of the pack, says, I am just as likely to face certain death. So I give a casual shrug and make my way over to the hedge. I look backwards, seeing the fear and anticipation in Noah's eyes. I try to make my own expression one of reassurance for him but it's difficult. I am just as unsure about the berries as the rest of them.
Needless to say, the berries are in fact not piousness. In fact, they taste pretty good. I have passed my first test, won my first mental battle with the careers. Meeti and Merlin head for the swamp to check that my prediction about the fish is correct, as Noah and I pick berries and the long grass to weave in to baskets to hold the fruit and our various other snacks. Shadow is on guard. She stills look a little shaken up from her encounter with Noah, but is trying to disguise her fear with her moodiness. Arms crossed and scowl adjusted, she sits with her back to the rear end of the cornucopia, where all our supplies are stored, watching us intently.
Noah and I are still picking when the boys arrive back from the swamp. "Plenty of them in there. All look pretty small, but from my limited knowledge, perfectly edible." Merlin reports.
"Great, well, I'll start on the hook now, it should be finished in time for tomorrow morning."
Meeti gives me a nod of gratitude. "Great, well done, Annie." I notice a look of fierce annoyance and jealousy overcast my fellow females face. "Now, for the rest of the day, I say we hunt for some other meat, and the other tributes, if we're so lucky. Annie can stay back and weave and do all the domestic boring bits." He announces, giving me a playful wink. I force an amused grin.
"We all sticking together?" Noah queries.
"No. Merlin and I will go to the right of the jungle and you and Shadow to the left."
"Make sure your back before it gets to dark. You've got more of a chance of getting in to danger." I add, caution and responsibility in my nature.
Meeti releases an entertained chuckle. "Well aren't you our little domestic goddess already? Making sure we're back in time for dinner, weaving, whatever will be next?!" Shadow rolls her eyes at me, obviously put out by her district partners fondness towards me. I can't help but be secretly pleased by this.
When the rest of the group have floundered, I set to work. Weaving the grass, organizing the snacks and water the backpacks provide us with and making a start on sculpting to my fishhook. By the time the tropical sky starts to turn a pearly grey, indicating evening has risen from its slumber. My teammates are yet to return, and I can feel the currently dormant anxiety inside of me threatening to erupt. What if this was the plan all along? To leave me here on my own, bang in the middle of this place, leaving me to be the easiest target a tribute you could hope for? Could Noah not face killing me, but the pack had convinced him I must be ridden of, and this was some sort of twisted compromise? Just as breath is becoming harder to feed to my lungs, I see a two figures trudging through the swamp grass, one with hair as blonde as the summer sun and the other as dark as a graveyard raven. Three hang unfamiliar rodent type things hang from Shadow's pelt, and two exotic turkeys from Noah's. However, my fellow female career could not look further from satisfied.
"We must have been out there hours looking for them, and all we manage to kill are a couple of creepy looking birds and three underweight tree rat things." She groans as a way of greeting to me.
"Never mind. We have all of tomorrow to search some more, I think it's best if we all call it a night now. Have either of you seen the boys?" I mother, beginning to skin the game with a particularly sharp carving knife.
"How could we, brainless? We were hunting in the exact opposite direction?"
"Well, sorry, brainless, but hasn't it occurred to you that its almost nightfall and we've had no word from them?" I fire back, irritated by her patronizing tone, I cut out one of the rats eyes with such force it fly's in to the air and lands in line with my allies foot. "Woah, calm down, Anns, don't take it out on the rat." Noah mocks, in an attempt to thin the atmosphere.
"They'll be fine. None of the tributes will have the balls to take on either of those two on their own, let alone together. Did you even see their performance in the bloodbath today? Stop being such a worry guts already, Jesus." Shadow responds, starting to pluck the feathers from one of the birds. Noah is tossing berries and pieces of dry fruit supplied in the backpacks in to his mouth and lounging on a couple of grass mats I had stitched together whilst they were away. I have made five in total, varying drastically in sizes, even though we have sleeping bags, but I guess I felt it'd be a nice thing to do, bringing as much comfort in to our new home as possible. I have also weaved many baskets to hold the variety of snacks we have been provided with, and the berries I had picked. Two bowlfuls of the fresh fruit, a bowlful of the dried fruit, a bowlful of beef jerky and a bowlful of crackers. I have stored on the water bottles in to the now practically empty backpacks, and have set out the four sleeping bags we managed to savor on the ground. Now I have perfected it and can allow myself to admire my handiwork, I can't help but feel pleased with my efforts. I suspect my companions to feel this way to, I have readied myself for their compliments and gratitude, but to my irritation neither of them even mention the more that comfortable camp in which I'd spent my entire afternoon creating. Before I can get any more frustrated with either of them though, Meeti and Merlin decided to make reappearance at last. Their faces look full of fatigue and disappointment. "I heard no cannons, I guess that means you didn't find any of them, either?" Shadow asks them. Meeti shakes his head sadly, the way any normal person in any normal situation would nod if news of death had been delivered to their doorstep, not the other way around. "We caught some sort of tree rat though." Merlin adds, attempting to weave our bad luck with a little optimism.
"Is that it?" Shadow scoffs at him. "We caught three of them, all much bigger than that, too." She announces, indicating at the pathetically thin rodent hanging from Meeti's pelt, obviously comforted by the fact that her and Noah had beaten them in their quests to find food. Meeti gives a half hearted shrug. "We're both pretty heavy handed, hunting's harder when your built that way. Our footsteps are bound to be significantly more prominent."
"Noah did just fine." Shadow mutters quietly to herself. Either Meeti doesn't hear her defiant words or chose to ignore them, as he simply sits himself down on one of the mats and starts to help me prepare the rabbits. "Nice little camp you've set up for us here, Cresta. I'm impressed." Meeti purrs.
"Thanks." I respond. I'll have the fishhook finished by tonight and I can make more mats if required." I add, trying to keep his compliments rolling. He does seem to be the most dominant out of the five of us, the ones who makes the decisions, so the least I can do is act civilly towards him and do my best to convince him I'm a worthy asset. "Well, aren't you something." He mumbles in a tone that sounds both sincere and mocking, which I cannot quite work out. Is he angry at me? Jealous, even? No, that'd be ridiculous, how could someone as powerful and able bodied as Meeti be envious of me? Still, you never know.
I manage to get a fire started with some thin fallen branches, and Meeti decides that we are to eat no more than a rabbit and a half and a handful of snacks for the meal, as he, Merlin and Shadow are determined to spend the next day hunting humans, not animals. The tree rat meat is greasy but juicy and fattening, and the small piece I am given, accompanied with a handful of berries, just about does the job of filling me up enough to last till late morning. By the time we finish our evening meal, it has unmistakably fallen in to dusk. Noah and I are given the dishonor to share a sleeping bag, but neither us mind much, in fact, lying next to him, feeling the heat radiate off his body and the complicated dance of his heartbeat, brings me a significant amount more contentment than sleeping alone would provide. However, the idea of sleep still seems unimaginable.
Authors Note:
Hi guys!
So Annie's finally in the arena! Sorry this chapter has taken so long to upload, I had a rather stressful and upsetting week and therefore struggled to find the motivation or energy to write for long periods of time. My aim is to get at least another two chapters written for Tuesday though, and hopefully even more as the week goes on, as I am on a weeks break from school and being the anti-social sixteen year old I am, will have plenty of time to write about more of Annie's adventures:)
I am very grateful for the support I am receiving at the moment. However, any recommendations to friends or followers or whatever, would be highly appreciated, as writing is honestly a great therapy for me, and every time I see a new review, follow or favorite it really means a lot to me and gives me great motivation to continue:)
Hope you all enjoyed the chapter, and keep your eyes peeled for the next one, where Annie is forced to play a very significant part in one of the careers kills...