Tisiphone Fotis, 18

District 4, She/Her

June 8th, 97 ADD

9:18 AM

Boom.

Boom.

Boom.

Boom.

Boom.

Tisiphone exhaled, taking a moment to shake the tension loose from her shoulders. Five wasn't many, but they'd retained the Cornucopia and plenty of supplies. They were off to an okay start, all things considered.

Aveline returned to the Cornucopia first, and Tisiphone propped the door open to allow her back inside. The other girl met her eyes briefly. Tisiphone spared a glance at the enormous sword Aveline was holding- as expected, covered in blood. No wonder she looked so troubled.

Bastet was next, dragging more supplies from the outskirts to the pile inside the General Store. Like Tisiphone, Bastet had relaxed since the cannons went off.

Bastet gave them a look. "Last night."

Aveline blushed. "We should talk about it."

Bastet lowered their voice. "Look," she said. "I know Aveline didn't do it. I know I didn't do it."

Aveline blinked, and Tisiphone got the feeling Aveline was talking about something else. She looked at Tisiphone. "And you… you were the one who found them, right?"

Tisiphone nodded. "Rumi and Vince."

"So all three of us are clear," Bastet said. "And we need to keep an eye on the others."

"That makes sense," Aveline whispered.

"If we find out who it was, I say we kill them," Bastet stated.

Aveline's eyes widened. "What?"

"You really wanna trust someone who killed their ally before the Games even started?" Bastet asked. "I sure don't. And they broke the rules. Fucking stupid. Taking care of it will make us look better."

"Okay," Tisiphone agreed, despite the unease settling in her stomach. "But we need to be sure."

Before they could discuss it further, Vince walked in. They smiled at her, but she couldn't help but notice how tight their grip on their spear was. "How's it going in here?"

Bastet didn't miss a beat. "Fine," she answered. "I collected the supplies from the outskirts, so we're all set there."

"Good," Vince replied pleasantly.

Bastet and Vince held eye contact for another long moment, and Tisiphone suddenly couldn't shake the feeling that Vince knew what they'd been talking about.

The silence was soon interrupted by shouting from outside. Without hesitation, Tisiphone snatched a spear from the pile and walked outside, leveling the weapon in preparation. Bastet stayed close behind, and the Ones stayed right behind her.

But it wasn't an enemy tribute at all. It was Brizo and Mercury, standing over a dead body, and they both looked furious.

"You took it too far-" Mercury was shouting.

"It wasn't your fucking place-" Brizo replied, not listening.

"My place? Are you sure about that, buddy?"

"I'm not your buddy-"

"Hey!" Bastet shouted. "What the fuck's going on?"

Brizo glared at Mercury. Tisiphone tilted her head, watching him closely. She had never witnessed Brizo raising his voice before, let alone shout. She'd never seen him angry, either.

"He stole a kill from me," Brizo said, lifting his chin.

Next to her, Aveline sucked in a breath. "Oh, no."

"That's not-" Mercury started.

"Then what were you doing?" Brizo demanded.

"You were torturing that girl," Mercury said. "I mean- fuckin' look at her. You didn't need to be doing that."

"I had it under control."

"She was begging you to quit it!"

Aveline coughed, suddenly looking a little pale. "Guys…"

"Mercury," Tisiphone tried, "I know you weren't formally trained, but it's seen as a bit… disrespectful, to interfere with someone else's kill. Unless they need help, of course-"

"I didn't need help," Brizo insisted.

Bastet took a few steps forward, then crouched next to the body. They looked back at the others and grimaced.

"See," Mercury said. "I- I was putting her out of her misery. She was crying for her mama."

(Tisiphone looked from Brizo to Mercury, conflicted. She didn't like unnecessary violence- assuming Mercury was telling the truth. But she didn't want to side against Brizo.)

As it turned out, she didn't have to. "We'll make sure you get a kill soon, Brizo," Aveline offered. "We can go out hunting together this afternoon. And I already got one, so you can take the next one."

Brizo eyed Aveline, then gave her a short nod.

"Good!" Aveline said. "We should probably start getting out into the arena soon, right? It looks like there's a lot of ground to cover. Some of us can go out while others stay back?"

"That works," Bastet answered. "I'll stay back."

"I can stay back too," Tisiphone offered.

"You already guarded the Cornucopia earlier," Mercury pointed out. "I can hang back if you want."

Tisiphone waved a hand. "It's okay." She didn't have much interest in spending alone time with Vince or Mercury anytime soon, not after last night. Bastet felt safer.

"If you're sure," Vince said.

"I am."

"That does it, then!" Aveline said cheerily. "Me and Brizo, Mercury and Vince? Be back in a few hours and we'll check in then."

"Gotcha," Mercury replied. "See ya then."

Both pairs started to head out. Brizo caught Tisiphone's gaze as he left with Aveline, but she had a hard time reading his expression. She noticed Aveline give Bastet a longing look, though.

Once they were gone, Tisiphone and Bastet returned to the Cornucopia, shutting two of the doors and leaving the other two open for a clear view of their surroundings. Bastet started dumping items out of the backpacks into a pile while Tisiphone sat cross-legged on the floor, sorting through everything.

Bastet broke the silence. "So you found them last night? Rumi and Vince?"

Tisiphone exhaled. "Yes."

"Can I ask what happened?"

Tisiphone tossed another knife into the growing pile next to her knee. "I had just dragged Mercury away from that boy," she said, her voice quiet. Just in case. "And then I couldn't find anyone, so I went looking. And I saw the light was on in Vince's room, and the door wasn't shut, and… yeah."

Bastet grunted. "Yeah?"

"Rumi was dead on the floor," Tisiphone said. "Throat slit."

Bastet hummed. "Interesting."

"Lots of blood everywhere," she recounted. "Then Vince started saying something, but I left. I found Finnick. I got questioned for a while. I assume you did, too?"

Bastet nodded. "Yep."

She hesitated, watching Bastet dump another backpack out on the floor. "Where were you?"

"Hm?"

"I couldn't find anyone."

Bastet shrugged.

"I barely saw you all night."

"I was busy," they replied.

"...With what?"

"Nothing," they snapped. "God, Tiss, lay off."

Tisiphone ducked her head and reached for a packet of dried fruit, setting it in a pile next to her right knee.

"It was really nothing," they muttered. "Nothing at all."

(Somehow, Tisiphone had a hard time believing that.)

She decided to change the subject. "Um… congratulations, by the way. On your kill."

Bastet tilted their head in her direction, pleased. "Thanks."

Tisiphone simply nodded.

"I'm sure you'll get one soon."

(Tisiphone didn't want to think about that too much. It was what she'd signed up for, yes. It was how she would save her sisters, her brother, her lighthouse. But it was not something she was looking forward to.)

She shrugged and placed some crackers in a pile. "Maybe."

Bastet didn't try for any more conversation after that.

Tisiphone wasn't sure whether or not to be disappointed. She couldn't put words to it, but something had shifted. The optimism she had last night had faded. Maybe it had to do with Rumi's death last night, or Brizo and Mercury's fight today, or just the fact that they were in the arena now, but it was a little harder to keep her chin up.

Tisiphone Fotis was going to keep trying.

(It was the only way she knew.)

True McKellar, 17

District 8, She/Her

11:02 AM

She and Jem ran as long and hard as they could, fleeing the ghost town and making for the hills. Eventually, Jem started to slow, and True matched his pace as they came to a stop.

"Wow."

True took a second to catch her breath before responding. "Yeah. I know."

"Y'think we're good to stop for a minute?" he asked, using his sleeve to mop the sweat off his brow.

"Sure."

Jem eased the backpack off his shoulders with a grimace. Now that True was looking at him properly, she realized he looked paler than normal. "Shit, Jem, are you alright?"

He nodded, but he couldn't fully shake the grimace. "I'll be fine."

"Did Seven get you?"

"A little," he admitted, and he turned around. To True's horror, the back of his shirt had been sliced open in a diagonal line from his right shoulder down to the middle of his spine. He had definitely been bleeding during their entire run.

Jem craned his neck, trying to get a better look. "Does it look okay?"

True didn't want to freak him out, but she didn't want to lie to him, either. "It's… not great," she admitted. "Does it hurt?"

He exhaled. "Yeah."

True took a moment to scan their surroundings. They'd seen no signs of any other tributes. If they could get to a valley between the hills, they'd be concealed. She walked another twenty paces and nodded, happy with the vantage point. "Let's sit over here. Maybe we've got bandages in the bags?"

Jem reached to pick up his backpack again, but True smacked his hand away and hefted it onto her shoulder instead. Instead, Jem lowered himself to the ground with another grimace and removed his outer vest. Meanwhile, True started looking through the two backpacks they'd managed to take from the Cornucopia. Sure enough, there was some gauze and a roll of bandages nestled in a pocket, along with a small bottle of disinfectant spray.

She showed them to Jem. "Eh?"

"Just, like- around my back?" he asked.

"I'd think so. Can I see it?"

He nodded, and True crouched behind him, taking a closer look. The cut was cleaner than it had first looked- just one long slice. And for all the bleeding, it seemed pretty shallow, too. It seemed to True that most of the bleeding had already been done.

"This could be a lot worse," she observed. "We'll have to clean it up better when we find some water, but I can disinfect it and put some stuff on it for now."

"Okay."

"Could you take your shirt off?"

She could hear the smirk in his voice. "Ask a guy on a date first."

"Jem."

"Okay, okay, gimme a sec."

Jem started fumbling with the buttons on his shirt as True helped him peel the bloody parts off his back. She didn't bother warning him about the disinfectant. He recoiled as she sprayed his back three times in quick succession. "Hey!"

"All done with that," she announced.

"It stings," he complained.

"Better than letting it get infected," she told him.

He huffed, but didn't protest any more as she held a few strips of gauze to his back- prioritizing the spots that bled the most, not wanting to waste what precious supplies they had- and wound the roll of bandages twice around his chest. She ripped the end of the strip off the roll and tied it securely in place.

"That should do for now," she said, satisfied with her work.

Jem turned around to face her. "Thanks for comin' back for me, by the way."

She shrugged. "I wasn't gonna let a psycho kill you like that."

"Still." He smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. "You definitely saved my ass."

"You'd do the same for me."

"Yeah. I would." He sighed. "That was awful."

She cocked her head. "Have you ever been in a fight before?"

"Sure. Plenty," he answered. "None like that, though. And I've never been stabbed."

"You didn't get stabbed, you got cut."

He raised his eyebrows. "Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah. Seven's the one who got stabbed."

"What's the difference?"

"The knife came back out," she answered.

His trademark smirk returned. "I didn't know you knew all the words and stuff."

"I've been in a couple fights. Of course I know the words," she told him.

"What kind of fights?"

"Debt collectors don't play around, alright?" she replied.

"Damn."

She swatted at him. "Didn't you hear my interview?"

"'Course. There's just been a lotta stuff happening since then," Jem said.

"Yeah." She looked up at the hills, framed by wide blue sky. Eight's skies were crowded with gray buildings and lifeless smog and dull streetlights. True had never seen this much open sky in her life. She could appreciate how pretty the sky was here, if not much else. "God, I hope Jude's okay."

Jem's smirk faded. "Same."

"Did you count the cannons earlier?"

"Yeah. There were five of 'em."

Not as many as she'd thought there would be. "I know Wisdom and Tomo are out here somewhere. I saw them leave before we did."

He perked up. "Yeah?"

"Yeah. That's why I dragged you this way."

Jem gave her an affirming nod. "Smart."

"We can sit for a while, then keep looking," True said.

"We could go now."

"We just ran like hell and you're still bleeding," True reminded him. "We'll go later."

About an hour later, they roused themselves and continued hiking through the hills. True's alliance had originally planned to find each other after the bloodbath with birdcalls or whistles, but none of them knew any proper birdcalls, and whistling felt too conspicuous. Instead, they settled on signaling with light. Jem remembered the dagger he'd taken from Seven and wiped the blood on his pants, then angled it toward the sun. He tilted it back and forth, over and over again, and on they walked.

True wasn't sure how long they walked. It wasn't until the sun started sinking back down towards the horizon that she noticed Jem wasn't doing too good. She could see the tension in his jaw and shoulders, but he didn't complain once.

Before she could say anything to him about it, though, a shout carried across the hills. "Hello?"

True tensed, but Jem perked up.

"Who is that?" she hissed.

"A friend, I think," he replied. He held the knife higher and angled it again.

"Hello?" the voice called again.

Jem lowered the knife. "Tomo?"

Sure enough, Tomo's head popped up over the next hill. True's relief at seeing an ally was evident in his face as well. "Thank goodness," he said.

"Anyone with you?" Jem asked.

Tomo nodded. "Wisdom's right behind me."

"Any sign of the others?" Jem asked. "Jest, Chevre, Jude?"

He shook his head. "Not yet."

(God, True hoped Jude was okay.)

"You guys make it out alright?" True asked. She and Jem walked closer, not interested in broadcasting their conversation to any bloodthirsty tributes. She could see Wisdom now, who was standing a few paces behind Tomo and frowning.

"We're okay," Tomo answered.

"Had a chance to take out a tribute, but Tomo gave it up," Wisdom said.

Tomo turned towards the younger boy. "I wasn't going to let you kill my district partner."

True tilted her head, trying to remember who they were talking about. "The one with the pink hair? Isn't she pretty harmless anyway?"

"Unless glitter counts," Tomo said very seriously.

"Save the enthusiasm for the Careers," Jem told Wisdom, who scowled in response. "I'm glad you're both okay. Really."

"You too," Tomo said.

True gave Jem a look. "Well, we're okay now. Had a run-in with Seven."

"Oh, no."

Jem grimaced and waved a hand. "Just a scratch. Hopefully we won't be seeing much more of him anytime soon."

True nodded her agreement.

(Soon, she hoped, they'd be reunited with the rest of their alliance. Then she'd be one step closer to home, to Dad and Lyric, to putting this nightmare behind her.

For now, though, she was at least alive, unharmed, and with someone she could count as a friend.)

Chase Holloway, 15

District 5, She/Her

1:01 PM

tw: mention of gun violence

She and Fleur had holed up on the second floor of one of the two-story buildings- an inn- where Fleur barricaded herself inside one of the bedrooms and refused to come out.

"Fleur," Chase pleaded. "Come on." She would have yelled, but she was afraid of attracting unwanted attention from other tributes.

"No," Fleur answered, her voice muffled by the wood.

Chase sighed. "What's going on?"

There was a long pause. Chase examined the wood while she waited, running a finger along a groove in the door. She half expected to give herself a splinter; the wood was old and dry, jagged beneath her finger. She hadn't explored the inn properly yet, but the rest of it looked to be about the same so far. Old and dusty.

"I can't do it."

Chase took off her funny hat and leaned her head against the wall, letting her braids brush against peeling wallpaper. "Can't do what?"

They sniffled. "Anything."

"Well, that's not true," she replied. "You can do lots of things."

"I got a 3."

"You what?"

"In training. I couldn't do anything and I got a 3 and now Shazia is d- she's gone- and we don't know where Zinnia is and I shouldn't even be here and I want to go home," Fleur sobbed.

Chase grimaced, glad that Fleur couldn't see her. "Fleur," she said, trying to be gentle, "training scores don't mean anything. If anything, it made everyone go after the scarier ones. 'Cause they didn't see you as a threat."

"But they're right. I'm not."

"And there was nothing we could do about Shazia," Chase said, her throat getting tight. "But for all we know, she got away. We won't know until tonight."

Another muffled sob.

"But you and I are safe now, and that's not nothing," she continued.

"We aren't safe," Fleur cried.

"Well, as close as we can get," Chase said. "I know it's scary. It's kind of like this at home, too."

Fleur hiccuped. "All the time?"

Chase shrugged, then remembered Fleur couldn't see her. "Sort of," she answered. "I have to do a lot of hiding. Otherwise I'll get put back in an orphanage or sent to juvie or something. And sometimes… things get dangerous."

(She always tried to remember Tye by what he meant to her. He'd always been their leader, but he was also her friend. He was like a brother to her.

Sometimes, though, when she thought of Tye, all she could think of were bullet holes and heartbreak.)

(And then, for lack of better options, she'd done her best to take his place. Chase had filled the void that Tye's death had left for everyone else. But there had been no one to fill that void for her.

That emptiness still lingered, even now. Some days she wondered if it would ever go away.)

"I don't know how to do that," Fleur said. "I'm not- I don't know what I'm doing. I'm not ready for this."

"No one is," Chase told her.

"But I'm not a Career or a district kid."

"No one's ready to die, Fleur," Chase replied. "And most of the kids here are just as scared as you. Promise."

"Are you scared?"

(Shitless.)

"Trying not to be," she said. "Being a little scared is good, though, I think."

"How?"

"Keeps you going," Chase answered. "Makes you careful and stuff."

"But you're not careful at all," Fleur said. "You hit me with an egg."

Chase almost laughed at the memory. It felt so far away. She thought back to cleaning the egg out of Fleur's hair with Shazia and had to fight back the lump in her throat to speak again. "Well, you gotta take a risk here and there. And I got to meet you that way."

Fleur sniffled. "Yeah."

"Can I come in now?" Chase asked. "You don't have to come out. Just let me in."

There was another pause. Chase was just about ready to start studying the wooden door again when the knob clicked and it swung open. Fleur stood there, her eyes puffy and cheeks tear-streaked, and Chase realized this was the first time she'd seen the Six tribute without makeup. It made them look younger, somehow. More vulnerable.

Chase stepped inside and swiftly shut the door, locking it from the inside for safety. She turned back to Fleur, whose chin had already started to wobble again.

"Fleur," she said. "Are you-"

Before she could get another word out, Fleur threw their arms around her and started crying again. There was nothing Chase could do but try to catch her breath and hug Fleur back.

(She tried not to think about how much she'd already lost. She knew Shazia was gone, maybe Zinnia too. She knew if she made it back to Five she would be watched too closely to return to her gang. She knew she still had a lot left to lose, and that today had been only the beginning.)

She tried not to cry.)

(She did anyway.)

Valentina Gammon, 16

District 7, She/Her

4:37 PM

Valentina had escaped the bloodshed with a backpack and no injuries, but without an ally. That would have been nice, but Valentina had no interest in getting killed looking for Aescelin. Hell no. So she grabbed some stuff and fled the violence, picking a direction she hadn't seen anyone else heading for and sprinting that way.

"That way" had taken her out of the run-down town and down a dusty road. She'd considered veering off of it- she didn't want to take a path that others could follow- but maybe this led somewhere. And if her patience ran out before it did, she'd just go somewhere else.

The road eventually forked, and she went right, towards the mountains on the horizon. Valentina followed it until it brought her to a small entrance in the side of the hills. An unlit lantern hung on a hook beside the entrance, which had been dug into the dirt. Valentina peered inside and saw the dirt gave way to stone.

She took a careful step inside and found a room of sorts with a low dirt ceiling. Leaned up against one wall was a small collection of shovels and pickaxes. On the other side was a large metal cart. Upon further inspection, it had wheels along the bottom. Tina peered further into the room and noticed a track started at the end and disappeared into the dark.

Maybe that was what the cart was for.

"The hell is this, District Twelve?" Tina muttered to herself. She turned around and gave the entrance a long look. She didn't like the idea of crawling around in some kind of godforsaken mine, but this was where the road had led. To stay out there was to be exposed.

Valentina wasn't an idiot. She'd caught on to how many alliances were running around. Odds were that if she ran into someone, she'd be running into multiple someones. She didn't like those odds.

But she didn't like the look of this mine, either- and hopefully, that would make other tributes steer clear.

Valentina set her backpack on the ground and dug around, looking for supplies that could help her here. She had an empty water bottle, which she'd need to find a way to fill. A bit of food. One of those multitool knives. A sleeping bag. Matches.

As soon as she found the matches, Tina grinned and darted back outside. The unlit lantern was right where she'd left it. She lifted it off its hook, smearing flakes of rust across her fingers, and brought it back into the mine entrance. Valentina had a full book of matches- if she used them right, she figured she could get pretty far.

(She also had a hunch that she didn't need to get too far. Valentina was no Gamemaker, but she could try to think like one. If these mines really tunneled into the earth, like school had taught her the ones in District Twelve did, then they probably led somewhere. She doubted there was only one entrance to the mines in this whole arena. She wanted to find out where they could get her.)

Valentina struck a match against the mine cart and lit the lantern. Once the match was cool, she shoved it in her pocket. No need to leave a damn trail through the arena. Having a road that led right to her location was bad enough.

Some of the unease from the morning still lingered- she hoped nothing was crawling around these tunnels- but now that she had a direction, Tina felt much better. She had just stumbled on an advantage, she was sure of it. Now she just needed to figure out how to use it.

She hoisted the lantern up and walked down into the darkness of the tunnels.

Time to find out where they led.

Mendi Navar, 14

District 12, She/Her

7:29 PM

She didn't remember how she'd gotten there, but as dusk settled in, she found herself at a riverbank. She crouched next to it and cautiously stuck a finger into the water, too nervous to go any further just yet. Mendi couldn't remember the last time she'd been outside this long, and it made every part of the wilderness seem more hostile.

The water was cool against her fingertip. She watched as it started to clean the sticky brown stain off her hand, carrying the residue from her skin and further down the waterway.

(She didn't like thinking about what the stains were from. She could feel them seeping into her skin, under her nails, into her clothes. The sun had long dried them, and it felt as though they'd been glued to her. As if what she'd done was now as much a part of her as her eyes or her heart.)

Ever so slowly, she sank another finger into the water, then a third. She didn't see any of the Gamemakers' monsters coming to get her, so she let her entire hand be washed clean. Then the other, then her forearms. After a moment's hesitation, she cupped the river water in her hands and brought it to her face, her neck. She dribbled some of it in her hair until the water turned from rust-colored to clear.

She had just finished cleaning up- and the sun had just slipped beneath the horizon- when a voice reached her ears.

"Mendi…?"

Mendi scrambled back, her heart racing. She bared her teeth at the source of the sound, hoping to scare them away.

It took her a second to recognize him in the darkness. Patrek held his hands in the air, taking a step back. "I'm not going to attack you."

Mendi's chest heaved as she tried to catch her breath, and she stared at him, confused.

He broke eye contact, glancing down, and Mendi realized he had noticed the blood on her clothes. "What happened?" he asked.

Mendi had to take a moment to search for the words. "Um… earlier."

"You got in a fight?"

She nodded.

"Who with?"

Mendi eyed him. Something told her that she didn't want Patrek knowing what had happened that morning. After a moment, she shook her head.

"...Okay," Patrek responded. He frowned. "Did you see the others?"

She clenched her jaw and nodded.

"Both, or just one?"

"I…" Mendi trailed. "I saw Bryony…"

Patrek's eyes lit up. "You did?"

"She…" Mendi's face screwed up, and she struggled to get the words out of her mouth. "I wanted her to wake up… I couldn't wake her up. Lots of blood." She pointed to her clothes.

(She'd found Bryony lying in the dirt with her eyes closed. There was blood all over her chest, and Mendi had tentatively reached out to touch her. Why was she sleeping here? Mendi shook her, hard. Why wouldn't she wake up?

And then Tiernan came, and he… he…)

Her voice caught in her throat, and she couldn't say anything more.

Patrek's face fell. "She's gone?"

"I couldn't wake her up," Mendi repeated. "And then… I… now I'm here."

Patrek turned away from her for a long moment. All Mendi could hear was the water flowing in the river. She reached out again and let her finger trail in the water. The river moved just slowly enough that she could see the reflection of her hand on its surface.

"That's too bad," Patrek muttered.

The Capitol anthem sounded through the air. Mendi looked up, startled again, and saw a face in the sky. A small girl with District 3 under her face. Then a girl labeled District 9. Then a third, from District Ten.

And then Bryony.

Mendi stared up at Bryony's face in wonder.

(She wanted her to come back. She didn't want to acknowledge that Bryony could be gone forever.)

Then, all too soon, she vanished and was replaced with Tiernan. District 12.

Standing next to where she crouched by the riverbank, Patrek sucked in a breath. "No."

Tiernan's face disappeared, and the song faded, replaced by the water in the river once more.

"Shit," Patrek mumbled. "Both Bryony and Tiernan…"

Mendi closed her eyes. She didn't want to think about Tiernan.

(I knew it. I was right about you.)

She held her hands over her ears, squeezed her eyes shut even tighter.

(He was wrong he was wrong he was wrong.)

"What-" Patrek started. "Tiernan?"

Mendi lowered her hands from her ears, confused, and looked up at him. Patrek was staring behind her. She turned over her shoulder-

-and there he was.

He towered over her. His long blond hair was pulled back into two braids, and he wore a wide-brimmed hat on his head. His arms hung loosely at his sides.

His windpipe had been torn from his throat. Streaks of blood had been painted from his chin all the way down his torso. Claw marks, some light and some very deep, marred the sides of his throat, his face, ripped at his clothes.

And he was translucent.

Mendi's throat clenched. She wanted to scream. She wanted to throw herself at him.

"He's not real," Patrek realized. "He's- he's one of the ghosts. Like at the Cornucopia. Shit."

"Why is he here?" Mendi managed.

"I don't know." Patrek squinted at the ghost as Mendi dragged herself upward and took a few steps away from Tiernan. "Maybe… district partners? Maybe Bryony will show up, too?"

Mendi wasn't sure if she wanted that. "Maybe."

Patrek shrugged.

Mendi looked at Tiernan. Tiernan stared back at her, unseeing.

"That's… this is creepy," Patrek said. "Do you think it could do anything? To us, I mean?"

"I don't know," Mendi whispered.

Patrek gave her a look. "Maybe… we stick together tonight. Just in case."

Mendi gave him a slow nod in return. "Like a truce."

"Right," he agreed. "Truce."

They both stood in the quiet for a few moments, not sure of what else to say.

"Let's find a place to hide for the night?" Patrek eventually suggested. It struck Mendi that she had never heard him speak this much. There had always been someone else to fill the silence until now.

Mendi nodded. "Okay."

"Okay." Patrek gave the area a quick scan, then started walking downriver.

Mendi followed, trying to let the sound of the river fill her ears and wash the rest of her clean.

(Tiernan's ghost followed, too.)

kills:

aveline: 1
bastet: 1
mercury: 1
mendi: 1

alliances:

aveline, vince, bastet, mercury, tisiphone, brizo
wisdom, tomo, true, and jem
chase and fleur
patrek and mendi
valentina
aescelin

featured ghosts:

tiernan merle, d12, fool's gold (killed by mendi navar, d12)

shoutout to goldie for betaing again bc sometimes i am really out here not making sense

this will be the last chap of the year! happy holidays and happy new year! i will see you with more silly funtimes in 2024 :D

- rb