Dead in the Water | An Odesta Fanfic

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Annie's bedroom was starting to become a museum of sorts, every corner filled with carefully organized piles of things that belonged to Kai. She had checked and double-checked the boxes in the hallway and taken out everything of his until it was all stored away in her room. Most of it might have looked worthless to anyone else – countless collections of shells and rocks from the beach, fishnet knotted into bracelets and necklaces, and t-shirts and sweaters that he was quickly outgrowing. Annie had it all organized by item and by color until she could hardly even see the floor of her room. She spent most of her nights there, never sleeping but staring at the trinkets, hoping they would spark some new memory of Kai.

Annie rubbed at her arm as she stared across her room. A few days before, she had noticed the bump beneath her skin, just under the surface. She didn't even need to guess what it was – she remembered the pinch of the needle inserted into her arm well enough. A tracker from the games. They had never taken it out and now it sat like an alien creature beneath her own skin, sending information about her every move back to Snow and his gamemakers. Annie rubbed at her arm until the skin was red and raw, clawing at it as if she might be able to dig it out. But she tore at it until she was bleeding and never made any progress.

It didn't matter much right now. Snow knew she was back in her house – where else would she be? Besides, he had his cameras and shadowy spies luring outside the windows to keep an eye on her here. But the tracker had to come out before she headed back to the Capitol to find Kai.

There was a movement in the doorway and Annie jumped. It was only Eric, peering carefully around the edge of the door and staring at the piles in her room.

"Is that Kai's stuff?" he whispered. He took another step into the room to look closer. "It is Kai's!" He pointed to one of the stacks of clothes. "He told me I could have that sweater when he grew out of it."

"Yeah, it's his." said Annie. She watched Eric as he stepped around the piles of trinkets. He'd hardly spoken a word to her since she came home. He'd hardly even come out of his own bedroom since she'd returned.

"Why do you get to keep all of his stuff?" Eric asked. "I miss him too."

Annie didn't like how close his feet were coming to knocking over the piles and mixing up the colors. "This isn't because I miss him. These are clues – I'm trying to find where they're keeping him."

But Eric crossed his arms and frowned – that famous Cresta stubbornness. "He was my brother too, Annie! I want something to remember him with too!" He bent down and grabbed a handful of carefully arranged shells off of the ground.

Annie leapt to her feet, reaching for the shells in his hand and backing Eric up against the wall. "Don't say was, Eric! He's still our brother! He's still alive!"

She grabbed wildly at his hands to take the shells from him as Eric struggled to get away. "Annie –" he said. "Annie, let go of me!"

Annie felt a strange sort of deja-vu as she stared down at him. He looked like Kai. Not just with his curly hair and blue eyes, but in the look on his face. The fear. Kai, staring up at her in fear. Blood dripping from her hands. And panic – panic, dread, terror – building up in her chest and throbbing through her heart.

There was almost a memory there, but it faded from reach the more she tried to recall it. Why had Kai been so scared? Whose blood was on her hands?

And Eric.

Why was Eric scared of her?

She was his big sister. She had always protected him, just like she had always protected Kai. But now he was staring up at her, eyes full of fear, hardly a glimmer of recognition in them. He had never looked at her like that before.