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★★★
I STARE, STUNNED, AS GLIMMER and Dana run by. Glimmer's face is covered in angry red welts, her pretty features twisted in anger. The girl from Four, looking spotless as usual, slows enough to take a good look at me and Marvel.
"What's—" she begins, but Glimmer cuts her off with a shriek of impatience as she disappears into the undergrowth after Rue, and Dana sighs in annoyance. "Just kill her quick and get it over with," she shouts at Marvel, then continues running after Glimmer.
The sounds of their footsteps fade away, and Marvel turns, the blade of his knife glinting in the sunlight. When did he pick it up?
He gives me a smile dripping with contempt, and my body finally catches up with my brain as I claw myself up to my feet and run. I vaguely register that I'm going in the same direction as Rue, Glimmer and Dana hot on her heels. Where's Thresh?
My lungs feel like they're about to give out. I have been running from a Career, who's in much better physical shape than I am, for what seems like an entire day, but was really probably just a few hours. It's getting dark. What time is it?
I hear shouts from up ahead. Glimmer. I burst into another clearing, where Glimmer and Dana are stalking around a tree, Rue high up in the branches.
Glimmer laughs, rushed and ragged. "Come on down and we'll make it fast," she says, voice higher than normal. There's a manic glint dancing in her eyes.
Marvel makes his entrance, crashing through the forest and into the clearing, and Dana turns arounds. A brief flash of annoyance crosses her face. "She's still alive," she states drily, raising an arm to point at me.
"Well spotted." Marvel straightens and attempts to smooth out his hair. None of them are in a rush; why would they? Rue and I have played right into their hands. At least my cut has stopped bleeding, but I still feel light-headed, and there's a dull ache in my arm.
Dana snorts and hefts her sword. It's not as big as Cato's, but it's deadly sharp. I swallow visibly, my eyes darting from Career to Career. How do we get out of this?
"There's no use wasting that pretty head of yours," says Glimmer in a sing-song as if reading my mind, grinning at me. "Why don't you just be a good little girl and come with us?"
Dana looks at her in alarm. "What?"
Glimmer shrugs, looking irritated. "Don't you remember what Clove said?"
Dana rolls her eyes, sheathing her sword and leaning against the tree. I eye the bow and arrow in Glimmer's hands, then try to spot Rue concealed in the leaves up high.
"It's always Clove this and Clove that," continues Dana, and I tune back in to the conversation. Marvel is looking at me instead, seeming to enjoy watching me squirm. Dana gives the tree a light kick. "Killing's always some kind of complicated ritual with you weirdos from One and Two."
