"This isn't going to work for long," Gloss said, restlessly pacing along the edge of the water. His eyes were roaming the green line of jungle hungrily.
Brutus straightened and nodded in agreement. "We should move out. Start hunting while it's still night."
I shook my head, annoyed at them for being so thick. "We don't know what's out there. This is an Arena, remember," I snarled contemptuously. "It's not going to be an innocent little trek through the jungle. We should watch for a while, let others make the mistakes first."
I was a different person to my first Arena but I wanted to rush headlong into danger now no more than I had then. We would only survive if we were smart and careful. Skill and brawn could not be overestimated and relied upon, the most common and fatal mistake of the Careers. I was surprised that Gloss and Brutus had fallen into that trap so early. Years out of the game must have made them slack mentally.
To my surprise it was Cashmere that agreed with me. She nodded, calling her brother back from the edge of the water. As she turned to inspect a box our eyes connected briefly and I saw a flash of understanding there. So darling Cashmere was as sharp as the day she walked out of her Arena. I should have guessed as much.
The light was fading and reluctantly they had to agree with us. I offered to take first watch, too wound up to sleep, and Gloss joined me. The golden siblings from One trusted us as little was we trusted them.
Cashmere curled up close to her brother, her head brushing against his knee. It sickened me so I turned away, fixing my gaze out on the rustling jungle instead. I tried to prepare myself for what the Gamemakers could have hidden in its depths. I was sure that whatever it was, it would be infinitely worse than anything I could imagine.
I didn't have to wait long. The others had only been asleep a few hours when a loud gonging sound interrupted the still night. Gloss and I both jumped to our feet, weapons in hand, and tensed ready for battle. The sound reverberated through the entire Arena. I looked at him but he shrugged his uncertainty. I counted the gong beats as they kept going.
Twelve.
"What could it mean?" I asked him quietly, though it seemed pointless after the sound had rippled through the entire Arena. Cashmere and Brutus were stirring, grumbling and frowning about the noise. Gloss crouched down to speak quietly to his sister and I scowled, turning to Brutus.
"Twelve gongs. Any ideas?"
He stared out at the jungle for a long moment and then shook his head, frowning. He liked not knowing as much as I did.
I was just about to ask Cashmere when a great crack shattered the peace of the Arena. We all dropped to the ground instinctively but nothing flew at us and the ground stayed solid. Brilliant white light was flashing in the sky as I lifted my head gingerly from the sand.
"What the hell?" I spat grumpily, looking around.
"Here!" Brutus' voice came from the other side of the Cornucopia. He must have regained his wits a lot faster than Gloss, Cashmere and I. The three of us raced around to join him, weapons in hand, but skidded to a halt in the sand when we saw what he had.
A lightning storm was raging in a narrow section of the jungle. As we watched one enormous bolt zigzagged down from the sky and hit an old tree. An explosion of sparks and white light burst into the sky and we shielded our eyes. It was spectacularly beautiful and deadly. I found it difficult to tear my gaze away from the brilliant white light that kept sparking down from the skies , hitting trees and ground, but going no further than the edge of the jungle.
"Look," Brutus called above the sound of the lightning. I followed his pointing finger but wasn't sure what I was meant to be looking at. There was nothing in the part of the jungle he was pointing, not lightning, nothing.
I was too proud to question him, so I was thankful when Gloss spoke up, scratching his head. "I don't see anything."
Cashmere shook her head too, frowning.
"The lightning stops," Brutus explained with surprising patience. "Look, almost a straight line down the jungle between where the lightning hits and where it doesn't. The same on the other side. This lightning storm, it's contained within that section of the jungle. And I'm guessing so is whoever is in there with it."
The idea pleased him, he smiled evilly in the eerie white light. I was busy processing his words, running my eyes over the jungle and deciding that he was probably right. How could we use it to our advantage?
While the others began to chatter amongst themselves, their voices rising and falling as discussions turned into arguments, I watched the lightning. After several strikes I gauged a sense of how big the area struck by lightning was. It seemed to be a wedge of the jungle rather than an even shape. I began to pace along the sand, around the Cornucopia, carrying a mental image of the space I'd mapped out. I began to count; one, two, three, four…
I walked in a complete circle and by the time I came back to the group they'd stopped arguing and were watching me. "Twelve," I murmured to myself and then turned to them.
"There are twelve sections of this Arena," I said louder. It hadn't been exact, but it was close enough to estimate that there were roughly twelve spaces of the same size as that being affect by the lighting. "The same number as bells we just heard," I said, looking at Gloss. He nodded in agreement, his forehead creased in thought.
"You think something happens in each section?" Cashmere asked, glancing between us.
Brutus cut off any reply, staring at the trees. "No need to think," he said darkly and I followed his gaze. I hadn't noticed the cease of the lightning. The sky was dark once more, darker than seemed possible over the next section of jungle. We all waited, holding our breath, wondering what we were going to witness.
At first it was gradual, a gentle rushing noise that began to swell. There was nothing menacing about it. The noise reminded me of hot summer days at home when the evening sky, as dark as a bruise, would suddenly give in to the heat and open a flood gate of heavy, warm drops of rain. The rain began to pour heavier, pattering down on the big jungle leaves.
"Rain?" Cashmere asked quizzically, taking a step forward as if to see better, though we were still some distance away.
"Won't be that simple," Brutus muttered and we all knew it. Fresh water was one of the most precious elements of any Arena. The Gamemakers would never give it this easily.
"It might be a trap," Gloss mused aloud. "Lure everyone into one section with the promise of water and drive us all together? It might be for us, so we can give them a show."
It was a tempting thought, and the logic was sound, but it still didn't feel right. The rain sounded so much like those hot summer evenings, but it was slightly different. It was…heavier. The drumming it made on the jungle sounded too heavy for normal rain. In the darkness it was hard to see much, except the darkness of the sky over that sector and the haze one usually saw with rain.
Overhead a canon fired but none of us jump at the sound.
"It could also be for us in that it's to kill us," Brutus pointed out bluntly. "What do you think, Reyes?" he turned to me asking. It made me realize that, despite all his teasing and patronizing of me, in here he did not see the difference in our ages or experience. He saw us as equals. That pleased me.
I frowned, buying myself time with thought as they all looked at me. Eventually I shook my head. "We need to know more before we go rushing in anywhere. We need daylight to know."
Dawn came early in the Arena. We were all awake when the sky began to lighten, though Cashmere and I rose and stretched, pretending that we had had a good rest. It was obvious that Gloss and Brutus knew we hadn't, because they didn't bother telling us what we had missed while we were supposedly asleep. When the rain had finally ceased its rhythmic but disturbing pattering, there had been silence for a long time. The silence was far worse than anything else. It reminded me that although I might feel like I was in nature, this was still the Capitol. No real nature would ever be this still. There would be rustling leaves, cracking limbs, the cries of animals in the night.
Another canon had fired during that silence, the only sound to split the marginally cooler night air. Nearby I'd felt Cashmere twitch in her non-sleep at the sound but no one said anything.
My heart had nearly stopped in my chest when the silence was suddenly broken by an infernal howling and screeching. It was far enough away that I was able to stop myself leaping to my feet, but it was deeply unpleasant to listen to. They had to be mutts of some kind, howling and crying like tortured babies in the night. It was the noise of nightmares and I had to force myself to stop from covering my ears. I'd opened my eyes briefly and looked up to see Gloss and Brutus sitting as still and solemn as stone, staring blankly ahead of them, jaws tense as they tried to ignore the horrific noise as well.
Once risen we all sat around in a tight circle, not looking at each other but over each other's shoulders. In this way we could talk but keep some kind of lookout in all directions. I sat opposite Brutus, trusting only him to tell me if something was behind me. We had no food and no fresh water, none of that had been at the Cornucopia.
It was a bad situation for Careers to be in. It was common knowledge that they usually relied on stealing and gifts to gain food and water. I knew Gloss and Cashmere wouldn't be very good at scouting the jungle for sources of sustenance. District 1 had nothing much but meadow fields so unless we could live of pretty, pretty flowers they weren't going to be much use.
"We have to go into the jungle for food and water," I said, eying the trees behind Brutus. The jungle suddenly looked a lot darker and more menacing. "That's the way they wanted it. So we don't have a choice."
"Is fearsome Enobaria Reyes actually going to do what the Capitol wants her to?" Gloss teased half heartedly. I gnashed my teeth at him with an equal lack of malice. The truth was I was actually scared. He was right, we were going to have to play by the Capitol's rules, and there was no guarantee in these Games that they'd favour the Careers. This was going to be as hard for us as it was for everyone else.
"We should go into that section of the jungle over there," I said, pointing between Brutus and Gloss. They all followed where I pointed with their eyes.
"Why there?" Cashmere asked haughtily.
"Because as far as I can tell, there's nothing happening there. It's the section of the jungle that should be having an event, and yet there is nothing visible or audible. I've been watching it."
"Doesn't mean we won't find something once we're in there," Gloss replied. I inclined my head in agreement but shrugged.
"Everything's a risk."
"Wouldn't we be better moving a section several ahead or behind the currently active one?" Cashmere said. "That way we know we'd have a few hours to find food and water and get out before whatever is there starts happening?"
She had a point but I was begrudging to admit it, though my silence did anyway.
"Any idea where the other tributes are?" I asked Brutus, ignoring Cashmere. He shook his head.
"No sight nor sound of Fire Girl and friends." He knew that she was who I really wanted to find, and that Finnick who was with her was one of the ones who actually concerned me. Not many others would be a threat except perhaps Johanna. At the thought of her slinking through the jungle I glanced over my shoulder. I definitely didn't like that idea. If we could find and kill her, I'd feel better, if she wasn't already dead.