Renesmee
It was the day before the third challenge began, but I rose up from my cat-like sleep feeling energized and even happy. Waking up, of course, reminded me of my family, who couldn't sleep. I could, though I never felt tired. Sleeping just felt…nice. Climbing out of bed and looking in the mirror, I threw my hair back in a headband and slipped into some comfortable clothes. Again, that reminded me of my family, specifically Alice. She'd never approve of me wearing sweats or plainly throwing my hair back. Actually, she'd freak if I didn't even brush my hair. I sighed, missing her funny quirks and walked down to the cafeteria. I sat down with my canteen full of blood and began taking tiny sips from it. I was sure everyone found it weird that I didn't eat, but I couldn't have cared less. I was so absorbed in my drink and my thoughts that it took me five minutes to notice how silent everyone was. I looked up to see Nico, James, and Gale. Nico and James were looking around nervously while Gale was digging into his food.
"Hey, where's everyone else?" I asked. Obviously, this was the wrong question. Nico and James's faces fell.
"We don't know," Nico sighed.
"We haven't seen them all day," James agreed. Immediately my stomach turned and I felt sick. For a moment, my vision blurred and the noises around me turned to a steady hum, and my arms fell slack. Then everything cleared up again, everything except the sick terrible feeling inside of me.
"This isn't good," I whispered. "This isn't good at all."
As if on cue, Mr. Firdango entered the cafeteria, smiling. I had the thought of jumping up and tearing him to shreds, but I restrained myself. I pleaded that he'd just go to the lunch line for food or something normal, but of course, he came to our table and sat down.
"Good morning everyone," he said, still smiling brightly, as if it was a beautiful summer day and we were all going out on a peaceful picnic. I glared at him, refusing to answer.
"Where's Kate?" Nico asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
"And Penny," James added, glaring at Mr. Firdango.
Mr. Firdango crossed his hands together and placed them on the table in front of us.
"Well, if you really want to get straight to business…"
"Yes, we do," Gale snapped. Inwardly, I smiled at Gale's behavior. He was the only one who had the guts to yell at Mr. Firdango to his face. But at the same time, he was careful. It gave me an odd respect for him.
Mr. Firdango sighed, and looked up at us.
"For each of you, I have taken away someone you care about. In our next challenge, you will be placed in something slightly, but not literally, resembling a maze, and whoever gets out first wins. You will have your own maze, along with the person I have taken from you, who will be in the maze waiting for you. You may choose to help them out of the maze with you, but it will slow you down. If you don't help them, they are automatically out of the games and will be sent home without you seeing them again. Mr. Firdango paused and smiled.
"In other words, Nico you have to go after Kate, James, you have the same for Penny, Renesmee, you'll be after Jacob, and Gale's stuck with CJ." I didn't hear anything after he said Jacob. Oh God, he had my Jacob.
"How," I whispered. "How did you get him?" Mr. Firdango just smiled at me.
"Oh, but instead of him being voted off, because, of course, he's not even in the competition, you just have the fear of never seeing him again." My blood boiled, and I was about to jump up and tear the bastard to shreds, but I froze when I heard him whisper in a voice too low to be heard by the others.
"Touch me and you'll never see him again,"his voice whispered in my head, threatening me. Frowning, I stiffened in my chair, but I still wanted nothing more than to tear his head off.
"What did you do to them?" Nico hissed, shaking, his voice a mask of hatred. I could tell he too was trying not to jump at the old man.
"Oh and James, not only do you have Penny to go after, but your old friend Roxanne," Mr. Firdango added. The name meant nothing to me, but James's face turned white and he stood up, his hands clenching the table.
"No," he growled, "no, no, no. What did you do to her?" James picked up an apple from his food tray and threw it, and it hit Mr. Firdango right in the head. To my dismay, and James's obvious anger, Mr. Firdango was unfazed by it.
"See you all tomorrow," he said standing up and smiling, then turned and walked out the way he came.
"How did that not affect him?" Nico whispered.
"What?" I asked, frowning at him.
"The apple just hit him straight in the head. He should have been hurt by it. But he didn't even seem to realize it hit him," Nico explained.
"Maybe he was affected by it and he just didn't realize it," I shrugged. "It could have hit his memory circuit or whatever."
James just frowned, still looking at the apple, then he turned sharply and strode away. Nico raised shakingly and slowly walked away, as if in a daze. I looked across the table at Gale, who was looking at me pitifully, understandingly. Shaking myself, I raised and walked away to my room to deal with the information I just found out.