Chasing the tesseract

Chapter 11

A bright white light appears in the shelter of the trees as we all land in the arena. Each of us lands on our backs, grunting in pain as we fall from a height. Pulling myself up from the floor, I look around me, examining my surroundings. In the centre of an arena stands a cornocopia filled with weapons and food supplies. Around it is a large open space dotted with 24 platforms, each one stood on by 24 different people. 12 girls and 12 boys.

"Did it work?" groans Loki as he sits up, rubbing the back of his head as he looks around us. "Where are we?" he mumbles as he pulls himself to his feet. Beside him, the kid sits up, looking at his surroundings.

"I know where we are." he boasts giddily as his eyes widen. Pietro groans loudly as he pulls himself up from the floor and walks across to my side.

"Please do feel free to share your wisdom with us." mumbles Pietro as he stares at the kid expectantly. Wrapping his arm around my shoulders, he looks down at me. "Are you okay?" he mumbles and I nod in response.

"Have you ever seen the movie Hunger Games?" asks the kid as he looks around at the group. Tony who has now pulled himself to his feet stares at the kid, his face showing that he's not amused.

"Look kid, now is not the time for another pop-culture reference." he mumbles as he claps the kid on the back. Focusing on the individuals stood in the platforms, I pull on my powers. A flood of thoughts enter my head, each one the same.

"No the kids right." I argue without taking my eyes off the tributes in the arena. Each one has a slightly different thought but they're all similar. This is indeed the Hunger Games.

"And how exactly do you know that?" asks the synthezoid as he helps Wanda to her feet. "Can you read minds now or something?" he chuckles as he looks at me.

"Yeah I can." I state, turning to face the rest of the group. Thor and Loki are unphased by this which isn't a surprise because they already knew. The rest of them though, their eyes are wide with shock as they stare blankly at me.

"Now that's pretty awesome." adds the kid as he points at me, his eyes full of admiration. A huge smile is plastered on his face as he looks directly at me. I'll have to show him something special I can do later.

"Wait so you've been able to read my mind this entire time?" asks Stephen who is stood on the other side of me. His eyes are narrow as he looks at me, a hint of panic and embarrassment creeping on his face.

"Yeah I have." I say and watch the panic grow along with the size of his eyes. He's clearly trying to hide something if that's his reaction. "I tend to shut people's thoughts out though. They get kind of annoying after a few years so don't worry, whatever secrets your hiding are safe." I watch as the panic leaves his face and his shoulders drop. "For now."

"Can we focus please." interrupts Loki as he walks across and stands on the edge of the trees. Following him, I focus on one particular girl and begin reading her mind. Her dark brown hair is pulled back into a braid as she looks at her fellow tributes. Panic is evident in her mind as her thoughts jumble together and her heart pounds.

"Oh this is going to be fun." I chuckle as I shift my focus to another tribute. Loki's head whips around next to me as he stares at me, his face masked in panic.

"What is Abi?" asks Loki cautiously. He knows what I find fun and what I don't. He's probably the only one here who has the slightest idea of what I know. Stephen comes across and stands next to me, looking out at the arena. My focus is shifted as I turn to look at him. His blue-green eyes are fixed on the tributes and his dark brown hair falls into his eyes. The cape of levitation hangs around his muscular shoulders, swaying in the breeze. Feeling my gaze on him, Stephen turns to look at me, our eyes meeting. My breath catches as I get lost in his eyes. A cough comes from behind me and I turn to see Thor looking at me, his eyebrows raised and a smirk plastered on his face. Rolling my eyes, I turn back to the tributes, momentarily looking at Stephen as I do.

"When that timer hits zero," I point to the clock that is counting down above the cornocopia. "You all need to run as far from here as you can and hide, do you hear me?" I turn to face Stephen, our eyes locking again. He'll never survive in here. He's too pure to kill anyone, even if it is in self defence. I have to protect him at all costs. "Theres going to be a blood bath right here where they're all going to kill each other." Everyone's eyes widen as gasps echo behind me but I don't pay any attention to them. Stephen's eyes fill with panic and fear as he looks directly at me.

"And what about you Abi?" he mumbles as our eyes remain locked. "What are you going to do?" Breaking our eye contact at last, I smile at him, placing my hand on his shoulder. A spark flies through my body as my fingers collide with the fabric of his clothes.

"Don't worry about me." I assure him as I remove my hand again and start walking towards the edge of the forest. "People killing each other for fun is like Christmas for me." Rolling his eyes, Stephen watches me walk away as the clock hits zero. "I'm going to have some fun."