Told you guys I'd update faster. Don't want to be *too* mean with those cliffhangers, ehehe.

I don't think I've mentioned this yet, but the awesome Axe Smelling God has made a blog for this story! The link is on my profile, alongside the links of some new collages from the wonderful A M4D T4E P4RTY, so check those out too!

Now, um, I think all I should say is good luck with this chapter. It was a hell of a one to write, to put it mildly.

Riri Kramer, 15, District 6

This alliance is going to collapse.

I see it in the glares Caragh gives me and in the betrayed looks Adia shoots Tully's way. The girl from 8 may have started off as one of our co-leaders, but everyone can agree her authority disappeared when she gave herself over completely to her district partner. With Tully so focused on Magnus, Volt became the one in charge, and now that he's gone, chaos will reign.

Because I have no doubt it was his cannon that sounded earlier tonight. Every calculation I've run in my head, taking into account height, weight, muscle mass, probable weapons, and so on, they've all ended in Volt's defeat. There's just no way a relatively ordinary boy with minimal combat training could ever win against an experienced killer.

Not that there isn't a small, quiet part of me hoping for Volt's victory. If he managed to kill Riley, that's one of the most threatening players in this game out of the way. Not to mention the fact that his presence would stabilise our shaky alliance. I'd figured such a large team would crack eventually, but it's happening too soon, and not in my favour. At this rate, I have no doubt Caragh will throw me out before long—that is, if she and the others don't follow a more violent course of action first. Volt's return would not only keep them in check, it'd make them so happy they'd completely forget their grudges against me.

But, of course, that's all hypothetical nonsense. I learned a long time ago that feelings such as hope and faith have no place in a hard world like Panem. If you rely on belief to pull through hardships, you die; that's why so many of the old religions perished when our country was formed.

Not all were completely extinguished, however. District 4 in particular is known for its pockets of piety. My mother and father were pretty into it, and I was too—as much as a ten-year-old could be, at the time.

That was before I joined up with the rebels. Before I saw my fellow operatives put their trust in faith and die for it.

I rub the back of my left hand, seeking the comfort of my District 4 tattoo despite it being too dark to see. One day. One day, you will go back to that hopeful, smiling girl. One day you will have faith again.

I just have to get home first. The old Riri will come back to me then.

For now, it's time to put aside hope and faith and frivolities, and do something. Sitting around helps nothing.

Yet I'm unsure what else there is to do. It's been at least an hour, if not longer since the cannon went off, but my allies have remained in their same positions on the ground. To me, the amount of time that has passed clearly indicates Volt won't be returning to us, though I know Caragh won't settle for proof that's anything less than a corpse in front of her. But where exactly am I supposed to get that?

. . . Oh.

Riri, you fool. You've been looking for a sign in the wrong room this whole time.

Even if Riley didn't get the chance to torture Volt, odds are he was still the one to land the finishing blow, and we've seen clear evidence he likes to boast of his victories. I've never seen anyone with a more disturbing dramatic flair. His scavenger hunt to Magnus sounded horrific enough, but then he just had to go and display Katerina like a trophy on the doorstep of the adjacent house.

A doorstep now empty, thanks to the effort of our allies.

A doorstep just waiting to be filled again.

I rise from my corner and head towards the garden, barely drawing any curious looks as I go. Even Arc has refrained from trailing on my heels like a lost puppy, too lost in his own world of guilt and horror.

I refuse to acknowledge the fact that a small part of me might miss the attention. I am a trained rebel operative, and I work alone; I don't need to be the subject of a lovesick boy's dreams.

Shaking my head to clear it of such silly thoughts, I leave the atrium behind and step out into the garden. Only to stop short as my eyes lock on the sight before me, a most unfamiliar feeling assaulting my mind and ceasing all thought process. Shock.

Where once Katerina hung, now an equally recognisable corpse dangles in front of the house across the street. I'd already mentally prepared myself for proof of Volt's defeat, and now, as dead brown eyes stare, unseeing, into mine, I have it.

Volt Tron, the District 7 male tribute, a District 5 native and the leader of the rebel alliance, is dead.

That's not the shocking part.

What's wrong is I can tell it's Volt from his very clear features: the eyes, the messy black hair, the pale skin. But we're still a while away from dawn yet; I shouldn't be able to see anything through the darkness.

Yet I can, because someone has gone through the trouble of making sure Volt's corpse is lit. Two Roman lamps almost identical to our own have been stuffed into his body, one in his mouth, the other secure in a bloody cavity dug out of his stomach. The lit ends of both lamps stick out of his flesh, each bearing a small flame that casts a dull, flickering glow over the rest of his pallid skin and the message we are meant to see.

One word. Five bloody characters, carved into his corpse in so many places, barely a hint of unmarked flesh remains.

Reese, in enormous capitals across Volt's chest. Reese, cut deeply into his forehead. Reese, looping all the way up his arm. Reese, Reese, Reese.

It's everywhere.

The sight is so unexpectedly gruesome, it steals the breath from my lungs, and yet, in my head, it joins my other memories like the last piece of a nigh unsolvable puzzle.

Riley is a monster, not the Capitol's attack dog. He chooses his targets based on his own petty feuds. I knew his district partner was at the top of his list—it was evident as soon as he chased her out of the bathhouse—so when our alliance members brought back Magnus that night he'd been tortured, I didn't understand. If Magnus had been killed, and quickly, it would have made sense; he had gotten in Riley's way, and Riley took him out because of it. But what had been done to Magnus instead was a twisted form of art for the sadistic psychopath—why would he waste so much time on someone he viewed as inconsequential? The same thing occurred with Katerina. Why was he bothering toying with the weaker members of our alliance when he could barge in, grab Reese, and have at his top prize instead? Had he inexplicably switched targets?

No. She's been his goal all along.

He's just a damn sight more intelligent and patient than I gave him credit for.

He wants to hurt her, not just physically, but emotionally as well. And what better way to do that then to allow her the time to make friends, only to force said friends to turn on her and quite literally damn her to hell?

Still, one thing doesn't add up. Why wait so long to reveal his true goal?

. . . Unless the message was also present with Magnus and Katerina, and someone in the alliance hid them from the rest of us.

I exhale slowly as the epiphany hits me. Of course—I'd though Caragh and Reese had been acting odd of late. The jumpiness, the stuttering, the shifty looks they'd give each other—the exact behaviour of someone with a big secret to hide, and I was too stupid to realise it. What would my instructors say if they could see me now?

It doesn't matter what they'd say. What matters is, what to do now?

Caragh was clearly keeping Riley's true intentions a secret to protect Reese; no doubt she figured Tully would give her up in a heartbeat, which, to be fair, is a reasonable prediction. It's a path even I'd consider, though I know it would only postpone the inevitable. As soon as Riley finished with his district partner, he come right back for the rest of us.

So should I keep this hidden? I could destroy Volt's body before anyone noticed I'd gone.

Or . . . I could tell the others. Tully and Arc would likely turn against Reese while Caragh and Adia would fight to hold the alliance together, and meanwhile, I'd slip back under the radar. No time for grudges against me when there are more immediate problems to deal with.

Are you sure you want to do that? It could tear this alliance apart. You're really going to do that to your friends?

I shake my head. Allies, not friends, I remind myself. While in this arena, I can't afford the luxury of friendship.

So I open my mouth, throwing as much shock into my tone as I can muster when I call out, "Oh my. You . . . You guys better come see this."

Arc Malvina, 14, District 4

I've never seen Riri scared or mad or feeling any kind of emotion, really. So when I hear the surprise in her voice, the subtle undertones of fear and disgust accompanying it, I leap to my feet immediately.

Only to nearly sink back to the ground as my heart quails in fear at the thought of what could make Riri anxious. For a second there, I almost forgot I was Arc Malvina, resident scaredy-cat and furthest thing possible from a hero. Not exactly the kind of guy who goes rushing to people's aid.

Yet as first Tully, then Bolt move towards the garden, I find my feet stumbling to follow. The District 3 boy is my age—younger by a few months, even—yet he's done more for our alliance in the span of one cheerful song than I have in four days. I don't need to be the most useful teammate here, but I can't be the most useless.

So I trudge after Tully and Bolt, with Caragh on my heels as we go out to see what has Riri so shaken. My mind is already thinking up guesses, each more gruesome than the last, and it makes my stomach turn. But h-hey, reality can never match imagination in horror, r-right?

Wrong.

So, so wrong.

Tully gasps. Caragh chokes back what I think is a sob. I step back, taking her hand in mine, and though I'd love to say it was for her support, it's more to keep me from collapsing than anything else.

Volt. Oh god, he . . . I mean, I'd guessed when I heard the cannon, but still, I didn't want to believe . . .

Tears spring to my eyes, but I can't seem to look anywhere else. I can't even think of the meaning behind the corpse's injuries; I'm still too wrapped up in the corpse itself.

But Tully manages to overcome the shock. She finds it in herself to look past Volt and instead focus on, "Reese."

As soon as she murmurs the name, Tully turns around to look for said girl. I do as well, grateful for any reason to look away from the horror on the doorstep across the street. Volt, he . . .

More tears blur my vision, yet still I can clearly see the empty space in front of me. Reese didn't come with us, or she's already left the garden—understandable, considering the gruesome display out here.

My stomach lurches sickeningly. Maybe it's best I head inside as well.

Before I can even move on my own, Caragh is already dragging me back into the house. I don't think she even realises we're still holding hands; her head is down, face pale, lips trembling under the pressure of building sobs. Oh god, how must she be feeling? Awful, crushed, completely and utterly shattered—just like how I felt with S-Selene.

I gently withdraw my hand from Caragh's, knowing the thing she wants most right now is probably some alone time. But just as my fingers leave hers, a hand comes down on her shoulder, spinning her around.

"Caragh." Tully's voice wavers with sorrow, but there's an intense determination underlying it that almost scares me. "What did that mean out there? Why 'Reese'?"

"That's what you focus on?" Caragh asks, incredulous and just a little hysterical. Still, something's not quite right with her high-pitched voice. "That's what you want to talk about? After seeing Volt . . . no, no, we're not doing this."

"Caragh, what does it—?"

"Let me go, Tully."

"Caragh—"

"No! No, 'cause I just lost my fucking district partner, all right?!"

We all stare, shocked. I never thought I'd hear Caragh—meek, quiet Caragh—swear, let alone drop an f-bomb.

She looks nothing like the girl I thought I knew now with her eyes narrowed hatefully and her hair frizzing out around her head like a storm cloud. Her expression is so angry I stumble back a step, nervous even as Caragh takes a deep breath to calm herself.

"I'm sorry," she says curtly, jerking out of Tully's grasp. "But we're not doing this now."

She turns on her heel and storms away. Tully doesn't chase after her, and Caragh's almost made it into the nearest bedroom when Tully murmurs, "That's who he wanted all along. And you knew."

Caragh freezes in the doorway. I'm too nervous to ask the older girls what they're talking about and glance to Bolt instead for clarification, but he just shrugs.

Through the shadows of the house, Magnus's form is just visible on a mattress by the atrium pool. He winces as he raises his head, glancing from Caragh to Tully. "Who wants who? W-What?" He takes in the tear tracks on all our cheeks and immediately his face goes pale, almost glowing in the darkness. "In the g-garden, was it really . . . was it V-V-Volt?"

"And a message," Tully says, never taking her eyes off Caragh's back. This lack of attention she pays her district partner is so uncharacteristic, I'm immediately on edge. "One word, repeated over and over and over. Reese."

Magnus shivers. "W-Why—"

"Ask Caragh."

"You really think I know anything about this?" the 7 girl snaps, turning back to face Tully.

Both girls are the same height, yet Tully seems to tower over Caragh as she steps forwards. The intensity she held before has transformed into something darker—a cold, seething rage just barely kept in check.

"I remember," she begins, too quiet. I almost wish she was yelling. "I remember when we first found Magnus. You thought I didn't notice because I was crying, but I saw. I saw you and Reese take that note and hide it away. I just didn't think it mattered until now." She steps right up to the older girl, their noses almost touching as Tully whispers, "What was on that note, Caragh?"

"Meaningless death threats," Bolt says quickly, leaping between the two. "She found one on Katerina too. It's just Riley trying to scare us, and—"

"Did you read the note?"

"H-Huh?"

"Did you read it?" Tully demands, turning on him. He seems to shrink into himself, nervous without anyone at his side. Where is Adia anyway? "Did you see the words with your own two eyes?"

"Well . . . not exactly, no, but—"

"She's lying," Tully interrupts, her glare returning to Caragh. "She and Reese have been lying to us this whole time."

I expect Caragh to get angry, to argue, to deny Tully's words. Instead, she breaks eye contact with a sigh, looking to her feet and muttering, "Not without good reason."

"Good reason? Good reason?! Our friends died because of you two. Katerina, Volt—"

"That's not true!" Caragh spits, mad once more. "It wasn't . . . How could it be our faults?"

"You knew what Riley wanted! If we'd just given him—"

"Given him what? Reese? You seem to be forgetting that what he wants is a living, breathing, teenage girl to torture. And you'd give her up? How hypocritical can you be?"

"I'm not—how dare you turn this on me!"

"Whatever happened to 'all for one and one for all'?"

"Whatever happened to 'the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few'? That was the whole reason we left Katerina to die. And Volt."

Caragh clenches her fists and turns away, but Tully won't let her leave. Her hands lash out, one latching onto Caragh's shoulder and whirling her around while the other grasps the front of her tunic, keeping her in place.

Caragh's fingers wrap around Tully's wrist, eyes glaring daggers as she tries to loosen the younger girl's grip. "Tully, let me—"

"Two people have died, Caragh. Almost three. And all for what? Some girl we don't even know well?"

"So that makes her life less valuable?"

"I'm not saying that!" Tully snaps. There are tears in her eyes—angry tears, and desperate ones too. "But she's one girl, one girl we've all been hurt for. Is it worth it?"

"There's a big difference between not helping someone close to death and forcefully sending someone to the slaughter. Just like there's a line between being a coward and a murderer." Caragh looks Tully dead in the eyes, her gaze stone cold. "Do you really want to cross that line?"

Tully flinches. Then her face hardens. "You crossed that line when you let Riley torture our allies to keep Reese safe. I'm only putting an end to this."

"Whoa, whoa, w-we need to talk about this," Bolt says as Tully shoves Caragh aside. "Tully, you're just stressed, you're not thinking straight, you're—"

"Right." Every turns to look at Riri, who shrugs. "She is right. And she is our leader. Whatever her decisions, I'll respect them."

"Because respecting authority is the only reason you're condoning this," Caragh snaps.

Riri shrugs. "Maybe not. But I'm also not the only one agreeing with Tully."

I wonder who else she's referring to, until her eyes fall on me. My heartrate increases as everyone else's follow suit.

"Arc." Bolt steps forward, hands out, still trying to smile even when our alliance is inches away from snapping. "Come on, you don't agree with this. R-Right?"

I want to say yes. In my head, I sound so courageous, denying Riri's words and adamantly stating we must protect each other at all costs.

But all that comes out of my mouth is a scared whimper. "I-I don't want to d-die."

If Riley doesn't get Reese, he'll keep picking us off one by one. And I can't . . . going through th-that, I can't. I've got a little sister all alone that I need to get back to, and besides, I don't want to lose my own life to save someone else's. It's selfish and cowardly and it's making me cry knowing how weak I am, but there it is.

"See?" Riri turns back to face Caragh's betrayed expression and says, "We all just want to protect ourselves. Self-preservation is human nature."

"Volt gave his life to try and save us!" Caragh all but screams. "How could you turn your back on him and go against everything he stood for?"

"Volt failed. It was a nice gesture, but 'nice' doesn't get you far in life. Why do you think only the good die young?"

"Don't you dare use a cheap cliché to rationalise betrayal and murder."

Riri shrugs. "I don't have to rationalise it. It's not my decision."

Her eyes flit to Tully, already over by the pool, next to Magnus.

"You were in here this whole time," she says, crouching by his side. "Where did Reese go?"

"Tully, you can't honestly be considering—"

"I'm trying to save everyone. I'm trying to save you."

"I don't need saving! Tully, please, not like this."

"And if Riley comes for you again?"

The change in Magnus's expression is instantaneous. I don't if it's the memories that shatter him, or the insensitivity from his once tender district partner.

"Sh-She and Adia . . ." Magnus covers his head with his hands and lets out a pitiful, guilty sob, but continues, "They w-went outside."

With those words, everything goes to hell.

In the dark atrium, I can see Tully's form rise. Another figure her height, Caragh, reaches out and stops Tully with a hand on her shoulder. I hear the beginnings of protests, pleas to reconsider, but they're cut off sharply as Tully whirls around and punches Caragh in the face.

Chaos erupts in the atrium, made only worse by the fact that we can all barely see each other. Everything is a flurry of shadows and sounds as Caragh recovers from the hit and grabs Tully around the waist while the younger girl shouts and claws at the confining arms. Both of them are crying, and I don't think it's from a physical pain, but that doesn't stop Tully from elbowing Caragh in the stomach, or Caragh from digging her fingers into Tully's neck.

I'm frozen to the spot, unable to move, but Riri and Bolt rush past me to join the fight. The 6 girl is like lightning, weaving expertly beneath the flailing limbs and jabbing all the right pressure points to force Caragh to release Tully from the half-headlock she'd formed. With a cry of pain, the older girl turns on Riri, fists raised, and I realise while Caragh was only trying to restrain Tully, she has no qualms about hurting Riri.

I should jump in there, do something. But all I can do is watch, horrified, as my once friendly allies lash out at each other. Caragh continuously throws kicks and punches, never hitting Riri, but keeping the shorter girl out of range so she can't attack. Meanwhile, Tully approaches from Caragh's back, only to be held back by a desperate Bolt pleading with everyone to stop fighting.

I don't realise how dangerously near Riri and Caragh are getting until they're practically on top of me. My focus is still on Tully and Bolt, and the last thing I see clearly is her shoving him away before an agonising force slams into my cheek, sending me straight to the ground.

The mixture of sights and sounds becomes even more confusing. I hear several thunks like meat hitting stone, presumably all coming from me, but also what I think is a crack and a splash, not to mention Caragh's gasp.

"Oh my god, Arc, I'm so—"

She's cut off as Riri, who had ducked behind me, takes advantage of her momentary distraction to gain the upper hand in the fight. Tully joins in, and I think Magnus has crawled over too, though I can't tell which side he's fighting on as he grabs blindly for anyone he can reach. I can hardly make anyone out either, my vision's so foggy and the shadowy shapes of the girls are so similar, but I should . . . help? My brain's still too fuzzy to form a proper thought, yet I reach up anyways, trying to grab someone's punching arm and stop them so I can at least feel like I'm doing something.

We all tussle on the ground in one confusing ball of thrashing limbs. Everyone's whacking everyone no matter whose 'side' they're on; our world has been reduced to a seething mess of shadows and nothing but the sounds of yelling, slapping, and some crying thrown in.

Then there is the sound of a cannon.

Then there is silence.

"What the hell?"

The door to the atrium bursts open, and in runs a too short to be anyone else.

"I knew it!" Adia shouts angrily, staring at the mess of people on the floor. "I knew you'd all start fighting as soon as you saw the message. Letting people run off isn't enough, right? We have to start giving our allies to Riley. Well, I sent Reese off! That's right, she's gone, and she's never coming back here so you idiots can't hurt her. Now please tell me you didn't kill each other over this!"

"O-Of course not." It's Caragh, scrambling to her feet and trying to hide her sheepishness behind a false front of authority. "We're all . . . we're fine. R-Right?"

She's scared of the answer. We all lost control, and while I want to believe no one seriously intended to hurt each other, it's all too possible someone could have gone too far. One bad hit can permanently screw up someone's brain, I've heard, but that, that's nuts, right? That could never happen to us. The cannon had to be for someone else in the arena.

To prove Caragh's point, our alliance slowly gets to its feet before Adia. We all manage to stand.

All but one.

Reese Durnham, 18, District 10

Leaving the rebel base behind is slow going, mostly due to my constant checking and rechecking over my shoulder; this going off on their own was the downfall of my dead allies, after all. But Adia was right—this way, it's safer. Tully would likely give me up, and while I don't blame her for it, I can't allow it to happen. I refuse to be someone's punching bag again.

Riley never makes an appearance as I creep from house to house, gradually making my way down the street. It's not until I turn the corner onto the next road that I finally let out the breath I didn't know I'd been holding.

It's better this way. Indirectly or not, I was the reason Magnus was tortured and Katerina and Volt were both murdered. The guilt has been eating me up, and while it wasn't enough to make me give myself up—I hate myself, but, it pains me to say, I'm more scared of Riley—I can still help by leaving. My psycho district partner will have no further reason to harm the rebels, and as long as I can stay one step ahead of him, I'll be fine too. I've already proven I can outrun him.

Maybe I can dare to dream of a happy ending to all of this.

I'm halfway down the new street when I hear the cannon. My heart leaps in my throat, and I whirl around, as though expecting to see Riley smirking before me, one of his blades already plunged into my back.

There's nothing. Of course cannon isn't for me—I doubt you live long enough to hear your own. Taking a deep breath, I force my racing heart to calm as I start to move once more.

Still, the echo of the cannon plays over and over in my head, an itch I can't scratch. It wasn't me, sure, but someone died just now, and so soon after Volt, too. People are beginning to drop worryingly fast.

Maybe Volt injured Riley in their fight, and he just died from his wounds. I try to ignore the savage pleasure such a thought gives me, telling myself it's just the relief from not being hunted anymore. Not that I should jump to conclusions, but still, it's entirely possible. Volt was strong, and a fighter; if anyone could have injured Riley, it'd be him

Or it might have been another tribute who died. It's easy to forget there are more kids in this place than just myself, the rebels, and Riley. Perhaps the cannon was for one of the vague faces I remember, the muted voices and half-forgotten names that I can only slightly associate with the others in this place.

It's a sadder thought than Riley's death, to be sure, but either way, I feel bad for . . . well, not feeling bad. I'm not happy about the deaths, of course, but at the same time, I don't feel the crushing guilt and shame like I did when Volt and Katerina's cannons fired. Whoever died, their death is not on me.

The first hint of sun is peeking over the horizon as I slip out of one house and into the next day. It's a new day, and it really feels like it, too. The night was long a dark, but dawn has come, bringing with it a sense of freedom I'd never thought I'd experience here. The rebels started out as my saviours, but I now realise how selfish it was of me to hide in their ranks. Now, with this new day, they're safe from me.

I will never be the cause of another death again.

Tullia "Tully" O'Doyle, 17, District 8

We were all fools. Selfish, cowardly fools too wrapped up in our own problems to pay attention to our supposed friends. So when Caragh asked if we were all fine, we nodded.

As if we cared about anyone's state but our own.

Even Adia, self-righteous, angry Adia, shares the blame. After all, she abandoned everyone too. Supposedly it was to help Reese, but I think, deep down, she knows it was only to make herself feel better and put her moral qualms to rest. Now she could continue on believing she was the bigger person, above the rest of us fighting in the dirt.

But she still left. She left him.

I stand after Caragh, then Riri moves, then Arc, then even Magnus to prove we're all fine. For a moment, everyone's confused, assuming the cannon must have been for someone else. Maybe Riley, if we're lucky.

Of course, it's Adia who notices what's off. "Where's—"

She cuts herself off with such a violent, pained gasp, I could have sworn she'd been punched in the gut. But then my eyes follow hers, and I realise what truly happened is much, much worse.

Night is ending, the shadows are trickling out of the atrium, the first rays of sun are shining through our open ceiling and onto the pool below. Their light is dull, yet they still reflect brilliantly off of the droplets of water that coat the body floating face down in the basin.

No one says anything. No one even does anything. All we do is stare, blinking furiously and praying each time we open our eyes, the sight will have disappeared.

Of course, again, it's Adia who moves first. I don't even see her take a step, but all of a sudden she's leapt into the pool, hauling the body out onto the floor. Her expression betrays nothing, but her hands are shaking so furiously, she can't get a grip on anything.

"Help me!" she screams, a sound of pure agony that chills me to my core.

It's enough to shock Caragh into action, though, and the older girl rushes to Adia's side, kneeling by the edge of the pool to help haul the body out. The marble lip beneath her feet, I notice in a sort of detached horror, is red with blood.

The girls heave the body out of the water, and Adia frantically turns it over, though no one needs to see his face to know who it is.

Where is his smile? That's the only thought I can make out in my screwed up head. I think my brain has been shocked past the point of sanity. It's not Bolt Andrews without a smile.

Adia screams again—his name, I think, but it's unintelligible through all the pain. Her hands fly between his chest and the bloody gash on his forehead, unsure which to handle first. I think she's trying to do CPR.

"Caragh, help him!" she cries to the girl with the fingers on Bolt's neck. The girl looking more and more distressed as each second passes and nothing moves beneath her touch.

"Adia—"

"Fix him! Fix him now!"

"Adia—"

"He needs CPR! And, and bandages, right away. You have to get those, and then he'll be fine, he will." Her attention falls back on the soaking boy as her hands go to his shoulders, shaking him desperately. "Come on, Bolt! Bolt, wake up. BOLT!"

Caragh sweeps Adia up in her arms just as the girl's voice cracks. The dam breaks then, and tears pour in rivers down Adia's cheeks as she buries her face in Caragh's tunic and sobs. Anguished, despairing sobs that are so heart-wrenching, Caragh too starts crying, then Magnus, then Arc.

But I, I can't. I feel numb, horrifically so, like my body is trying to shut down to prevent itself from complete collapse. My mind is doing the same thing, going dumb to keep me from realising the heinous truth before me.

The fight. Trying to get to Caragh while she's distracted with Riri. Bolt holds me back. I shove him away.

I don't look, but I hear. A crack. A splash.

I ignore it. I'm too wrapped up in the fight to even think about what it means.

A crack as his forehead smashed against the pool lip, so similar to those nauseating sounds we heard on the first day from Soren and Vesper.

A splash as his body hit the surface of the water, face completely submerged in the pool, nose and mouth unable to breathe.

One push was all it took. One push, and he fell into the water, cracked his head on the marble, went unconscious, and drowned.

Can death really happen so quickly, so simply, so accidentally?

The answer must be yes. Because one push, and now he's gone.

One push from me.

The sun rises and the birds sing, though they're drowned out by Adia's heartbroken sobs and my own screaming thoughts as the truth of the matter hits me.

I killed Bolt Andrews.

Dead: Volt (from before), Bolt

Yeah. Ouch. RIP the Rhyming Bros, they were the greatest. Man, you have no idea how tough this chapter was to write. Still, hope you all enjoyed (not exactly the perfect word to use, but ah well). See you next time!