Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
★★★
FOR A MOMENT, TIME SEEMS to slow. Clove drops to the grass without a sand, hands flying to the gaping red gash in her side, and Marvel turns to face me. The tip of his spear is stained red.
"Well," he says, but his voice cracks, so he tries again. "Well. We meet again."
I'm frozen, eyes darting from Clove on the ground to Marvel with his spear. Everything is screaming inside my head, alarms blaring, shouting at me to run, to help my ally, to do something. But I remain silent.
Marvel laughs, but the sound is hollow, broken. "You know, Two," he says conversationally, looking down at Clove. "You could come with me now. Rejoin the Careers. Kill Three. Cato won't even know you allied with District Three. He still thinks you're lost somewhere out here."
Clove glares up at him. With alarm, I see that blood is starting to seep out between her fingers. How deep did Marvel cut her? "And how would we explain this cut, assface?"
Marvel grins cruelly and jerks his chin at me. "Maybe Three here has a violent side."
Clove scowls and shakily stands up, eyes steely with determination. "The Careers are over," she snarls, pointing one bloodstained finger at the taller boy. "My alliance," she takes a deep, shaky breath, pressing her other hand tighter to the cut. "Is to her."
Marvel's smirk is replaced by a look of anger. "You killed Four, then."
She glowers at him, looking neither proud nor ashamed. "Maybe I did."
"Marvel," I say, barely audible, but he hears and turns to face me, looking surprised. I clear my throat, feeling the ringing in my ears subsiding. "Don't."
Marvel shakes his head mockingly. "Look here, Three. I can't let any of you go." He spins in a slow circle, holding out his arms. "They want a show. Don't they?" He looks back at me, grinning without any real happiness. "That's what we're all here for. Just to put on a show."
He's right, I think hollowly. While we fight and claw and bleed in this arena, the people in the Capitol are watching us, children killing each other, as entertainment. "Marvel, please. You don't have to do this."
"And what if I do?" Marvel looks over at Clove, who seems a little unsteady, then turns back to me. "You'll kill me? Like you killed Glimmer?"
That hits me like a slap to the face. "You don't..."
"What? I don't get it? I don't understand?" Marvel's face twists in distaste. "You're not some innocent pretty girl. You're a killer, same as us."
I stand there helplessly as he slowly starts to advance, spear gripped tightly in his hands. Clove, behind me, shoots me a wide-eyed, urgent look. Her eyes flick to the ground to my side, and I look instinctively. The silver blade glints in the sunlight.
