A/N: For those who didn't know anaweir basically means "muggle."
Be careful.
Edith waited on her branch. Her stomach was already rumbling. She pressed a hand to it and glared at the Cornucopia. What was taking them so long?
"Wait a second," Seph said, frowning. "We can't just leave the supplies like this."
"Well, there's not enough of us to split up," Emma said archly.
"I know," Seph said, starting to circle around the Cornucopia. "That's why Hastings taught me this." He muttered the words under his breath as he walked. A shadowy web spread over the bounty.
"Impressive," Leesha purred when he circled back around, no sign of strain on his face.
Bingley looked around in confusion. "What is?"
"Anaweir," Leesha said, rolling her eyes at Seph like it was a private joke. "Watch." She picked up a rock and threw it at the web.
When it hit the web, it stuck fast. To the Anaweir, it would seem to be hovering in midair.
Bingley gaped at it. Emma affected to be unimpressed. "If you're done then . . . ?"
Seph gestured grandly and tried to ignore the lingering sick feeling in his stomach.
Edith couldn't quite see what they were doing through the screen of leaves, but she saw them leave. She counted to one hundred twice once they were gone, just to be sure.
While she was waiting, the hovership came. It picked up three bodies before skipping over a ways into the forest.
Edith stuck her tongue out at it and clambered out of the tree.
Marion shivered and stomped her feet, trying to get some warmth back in her legs. She couldn't stay here. It was too cold.
She heard an inhuman screech somewhere in the distance. She took off running for the spring wedge.
You'd better be there, Indy.
There was a rock hovering in midair. Edith threw another one.
It started hovering too.
She couldn't help a small smile. She threw another one.
A small squirrel with over large teeth and Puck's eyes curled into a hollow in the frozen tree. Moth's shrieks grew more distant.
The squirrel chuckled a laugh.
A line of rocks hung in the air. Edith reached for another.
Something in winter shrieked.
Edith ran for cover in the trees.
Indy examined his supplies. The knife would be handy, but his eyes kept being drawn to the net.
There were vines on some of the trees here. He could weave them together, make more traps while he waited for Marion.
Edith pressed herself into the hollow under the bush. Something smooshed against her. The leaves scraped against her head.
Leaves. And berries. Plump and bright red like the juice Gru had told her to drink.
She pulled a few off the branch and popped them into her mouth.
McGee was puffing like the Big Bad Wolf from the old story and they'd reached the stream, so Kate called a halt.
McGee collapsed gratefully to the ground. Kate settled more carefully and pulled off her pack. Time to inventory supplies.
The berries popped when she bit into them and filled her mouth with sticky sweetness. Edith pulled herself out of her hollow and began looking for more.
Jack had carried Ava piggyback ever since they got far enough from the Cornucopia to risk stopping for a moment.
"How much farther?" Ava asked.
Jack readjusted his grip on her legs. "As far as we can." The Careers would have to find other prey tonight.
Edith licked the stains from her mouth and sat back against a tree. Her tummy hurt a bit. Maybe she'd eaten too much.
Will had stumbled away. His hands were still shaking.
He couldn't look weak. He mustn't look weak.
Something rustled in the bushes.
Will spun. His staff cracked down. Something whined.
Will ran.
Edith curled into a ball and started rocking herself. She missed Margo. Margo always made her feel better when she was sick.
Ella found a tree she thought she could climb. She started up it.
Something wet ran across her lip. Edith swiped at it. She wasn't a baby anymore. She didn't cry.
Her eyes were a bit blurry, but she could still see her hand.
It came away red.
It was hot in the summer wedge, but Rhys didn't mind. He just conjured up a breeze.
Gru and Lucy stared at the screen in identical horror.
"I'll start calling sponsors," Dr. Nefario said.
Terence ghosted through trees made brittle from the lack of water. He kept his bow ready.
He'd need water soon. He might have better luck elsewhere.
Edith bit her lip. She knew she was crying now, but she couldn't help it.
Margo. She wanted Margo and Agnes.
Gilbert wiped the sweat from his face.
Anne had survived a desert arena. He could survive this.
It hurt, it hurt, hurt hurt hurthurthurt-
A cannon boomed.
Caspian jumped across the stream first. Susan followed a second afterward.
There was something odd about the air here. It coated her throat and tasted like blood and ashes.
It was appropriate, Susan thought.
She couldn't see the Unseelie magic uncurling with her and Caspian's every breath.
"Another one bites the dust," Vector said. Cookie crumbs sprayed from his mouth onto the screen.
Gru turned, his fists clenched.
The arena had been a string of islands in his year. He had successfully punched a mutated shark.
Vector was small fry compared to that.
(Please be careful.)