Cage me like an animal • F Odair¹ •

IX

"Are you willing to bet your life on it?"

•∘♛∘•

After the death recap, they decided to call it a night. Now that there were three of them, the logical approach was to sleep in shifts. Athena volunteered to take the first shift before either of them could. She wasn't about to forget the reluctance on their faces when they agreed to an alliance with her, or the obvious distrust they still had toward her. She couldn't put it past them to kill her in her sleep. They looked wary, but let her keep watch. Rowan, in a fit of chivalry, insisted that Cara, as the youngest, slept on the mostly intact sofa. Despite her protests that she was fine sleeping on the floor, Cara finally gave in a stretched out on the raggedy sofa. It seemed she realized it was the most luxury she would get in the arena.

Athena settled in a spot by the window, drawing the curtains strategically so she could look out of the window without being seen by anyone outside. She kept her eyes glued to the window, but her ears were strained to pick up noise from all around her - the movements from enemies outside and her new allies behind her. She kept her spear and shield held tightly in her hand, ready to spring up at any moment.

"Hey, Maris," said Rowan. Both he and Cara were making a point of not calling her by her first name. She supposed they thought it would help her understand that they were destined to become enemies, be it in a matter of weeks or days. Cara was already fast asleep on the sofa, or at least appearing to be, her breathing deep and even. "Don't stay on watch all night. The last thing we need is for you to be off your guard tomorrow because you're tired. Wake me up in a few hours and I'll take over."

"I will," Athena said.

No, I won't, Athena thought, and indeed she didn't, staying dutifully at the window until the sun began to rise and no danger had come for them, nothing eventful happening except the canon sounding once a little before dawn.

Blowing out a breath, Athena rose slowly, figuring it was best to wake Cara and Rowan up now. She shook them each awake carefully, slowly, lest they think her a threat and attack her. She doubted they needed much of an excuse to do it as it was. They bolted upright, alert as soon as they were awake, but they didn't try to attack her. They relaxed once they seemed to remember where they were, but only just. Rowan looked out the window, squinting at the bright light of the rising sun that was bleeding into the room and frowned.

"You were supposed to wake me up!" he looked over at Athena, irritated.

"You said you didn't want me to be off my guard," Athena said shortly, meaning to stop the argument before it could start. "I'm not off my guard. No damage done, right?"

Rowan still didn't look very happy, but he let it go. Cara pressed on.

"Did anything happen while we were sleeping?"

"The canon went off once, but other than that, no," Athena shook her head.

"One less person in our way," Cara said, trying to look unconcerned. "But we'll be next if we don't find some food soon."

"You haven't found food yet?" Athena asked, raising her eyebrows, suddenly very aware of the food she was storing in her bag.

"No," Rowan replied. "Why?"

Athena took out the box of oats and the box of assorted rations she kept in her bag, tossing them both onto the rickety table that sat between them. She ignored the nagging voice in her mind, pointing out she could make the food last for so much longer if she didn't have to worry about feeding two others. Still, when she noted the hungry faces on Rowan's and Cara's faces as she looked at the food, she felt the need to speak up.