THE LAST GAMES: PROJECT PANDORA

CHAPTER XIII: B A T T L E T R A I N I N G

Leo charges into Chris like a battering ram, elbow and side first. And I'm sure just the impact alone could be heard for miles. The full force hits Chris unexpectedly and he's sent skidding; scraping through the dirt into the stump of a thick tree with a thump.

I look at Leo for a moment. I don't want to do this, but last I checked, I was a girl. And this game is boys versus girls so . . . so I must help my team. Which is the exact opposite of what Leo just did. "Sorry Leo," I say. Confusion floods his face in the split second before I send all the the force I can muster and throw him into the same tree Chris lays unconscious by. Now they both lay on top of each other. I shove this all out of my mind and limp over to the guy who backflipped over Sophie. Lilly and Eva are already standing over him. He sends out a muffled groan and rolls over onto his back. Blood spills from his nose and into the soil. It's Magnae.

"Wow, I've never see Mag like this." Lilly comments.

Eva kneels down and rests her hand on Magnae. Fear swallows his eyes. He knows what comes next. Electricity passes through her hands and into Mag. He starts violently convulsing on the ground.

"Well, three down, five to go." I explain.

"Have you seen Libica? She's disappeared." Asks Eva.

"Don't really care. Could you fix my leg?" I ask. Eva nods and puts her hands on the sore part of my thigh, where Chris kicked it. For a second I'm scared she's going to do whatever she did to Magnae. My leg starts to burn. The burning grows, reaches a peak, and then subsides, and the pain is gone. I take a long, deep breath. "Ok, let's go get that flag."

We run through the trees, as fast and quiet as the wind. We run together this time. Only Lilly, Eva and I. Eventually Lilly comes to an abrupt stop. I'm not sure why until I look through the foliage and into a clearing. This is where the boys have set up. There are just four of them and a grass-fashioned flag. Rith stands alert in front of it, along with Cvmaea and Sam, while Jacob just sits casually on a large rock at the edge of the clearing. They are positioned on the opposite side of the clearing to us. That leaves only Ethan who is yet to be found. My mind wonders. And that's when I remember Sophie. We left her there with an unconscious Chris and Leo, and a convulsing Magnae. And a probably invisible Ethan. I'm an idiot. Then I start thinking about the other five girls. Ethan could be Invisibly beating them senseless. I play ways that could fold out in my head until suddenly an idea comes to me.

"So, anyone have a plan or what?" Eva whispers angrily.

I look at her, then Lilly. "Ok, this is what I got." I explain my amazing plan, that I'm not sure is going to work, as quickly and quietly as I can. "Got it?" I ask. I look to both of them as they nod in anticipation. "Ok, here I go." I imagine a huge python I've only seen once before. I concentrate on the image in my mind. My body drops to the ground. My limbs disappear into my body. My skin turns a sleek mud-brown with a pattern of black. And soon I'm a full five meters of python. Only then do I realise my predicament when I see my clothes strewn and ripped on the floor. I did not think that would happen. One more thing to add to the list of stupid things I've done today. Eva and Lilly, who both stand above me, don't seem to notice. For some reason, they don't seem surprised at all that I'm now a giant snake. I'll worry about it later, I guess. I look to Lilly, who has a focused look in her eyes. Soon I hear the shrill of insects. She's done her job.

I start towards Jacob, still in snake form, out of our little hiding. He's my first target, mostly because he's chilling out and taking training as a joke. I need to devote part of my focus to keep me from changing back to my original human self. And that would be embarrassing, for two reasons. As I slither towards him and into the clearing, the sound of insets grows more intense. And word of advice, snakes are really slow. But that doesn't mean the boys notice me though . . . until I'm about three feet away from them.