HEART OF GOLD | CORIOLANUS SNOW

𝘾𝙃𝘼𝙋𝙏𝙀𝙍 22

Sheets of rain lashed down against the windows, smearing the details of the city beyond until it was unregonizable. Inside the soundproofed cabin, Lilith felt like they could be cruising underwater rather than down the streets. Perhaps this was what it felt like to be in one of those submarines they taught about in school: sealed in as if in a sort of time capsule, everything else having fallen away, safe, with nothing to worry about but the world within the carriage... And Lilith wouldn't have minded it one bit—if only Athena were with them. Her world could never be complete without her best friends.

The remainder of the night passed in a similar blur. The girls had showered and curled up in bed to a picture; as to which one, however, Lilith couldn't say. In view of the weather, Cook had fixed up something hearty for supper. It could have been her famous lamb stew with dried plums, or even Lilith's favourite lobster bisque, and she wouldn't have remembered. What did make an impression was that it had been steaming when delivered to her room, and it was the first real thing she had managed to get down all day. She even thought she'd finished an entire roll. Lilith guessed Olympia's coaxing had worked, that she could have been hungry after all, or the comfort of her room had stimulated her appetite—or all of the above.

At some point she must have drifted off, because she awakened gasping. Jolted upright, Lilith became surrounded by the soft pink glow that bathed her room. Fairy lights that hung from her blush-coloured walls twinkled in her tears, and she realized how badly she was shaking as she attempted to brush them away.

"You all right, Lil?"

Startled, Lilith jumped and cried out a little. Then the groggy voice registered, and recalling she wasn't supposed to be alone, she whipped around and scooped Olympia into her arms, hugging the ginger so tightly she began to cough.

"You're okay," sobbed Lilith, "you're okay..."

"I'm...choking...actually," said Olympia with difficulty.

Lilith quickly released her. "Sorry, sorry..."

Breathing hard, Olympia asked, "Bad dream?"

"Terrible," answered Lilith, though refrained from repeating the details that played back vividly in her head:

It had been dark and stormy, exactly like tonight. Unable to see, Lilith had no idea where she was, and she didn't like it—she didn't like being in the dark, literally. A gigantic bolt of lightning revealed the landscape of the Capitol Arena, as rickety as ever, but it was her perspective that had frightened her the most.

Having never physically visited the landmark, Lilith knew it only by what she had seen on television. Even so, there was no mistaking that she wasn't a spectator in the stands but situated on the dust-covered field—the very one upon which tributes would be assembled at the start of every Games.

Lightning strobed in rapid succession, as if synced up with the ominous tolling of the gong, which reverberated not just in her ears but throughout all the muscles in her body. With every flash Lilith glimpsed a little more of the awful environment, and a cold dread swept over her: Armed to the teeth and sporting malicious expressions were not district teens forced by lottery and an extreme treaty to be there—they were her fellow Gamestudiers.

Brandishing knives and shouting taunts, they were a regular mob, and leading them, urged on by a sword-bearing Jason, was none other than Athena. Her face was dogged. She wielded a spear. As her blonde mane billowed majestically in the wind, she seemed to be one with the goddess of war after whom she had been named.

Alongside Lilith, Olympia, Archie, and Regulus had adopted protective stances, but they were weaponless, and with each flicker of the sky, she witnessed them drop dead one by one. She never saw who did it, but all the same, Regulus received an axe to his neck, and Archie, who'd thrown himself in front of Lilith, had a trident driven into his back. Failing to support his weight, Lilith slid to the turf with him. He mouthed something inaudible and she stared pleadingly into his wistful black eyes, only to watch the life ebb out of them. Still with her wits about her, Olympia yanked the lethal fishing instrument from his flesh and aimed it toward their aggressors as she hollered back to Lilith.