The 1st Quarter Quell

Chapter 17 - Grow Wings And Fly

"Ruby you didn't have to shoot us down!" Mason shouts at the beautiful, tall girl that stands before us, her eyes furious as Mason scolds her. Apparently she was taken by surprise too, I guess she thought her good looks would be enough to tempt Mason. I begin biting my nails at the confrontation - I could be killed any minute if Mason changes his mind about helping me. I can just picture Dixie screaming at me, Odile's prep team screeching at my nail-biting.

"We've been after this one the entire time!" Ruby shouts back, 'this one' obviously being me as I cower behind Mason whilst he deals with an internal problem, "Why don't we just kill her now? Save the need for a fight! You can do it yourself, just like you wanted!" 

"Because she is not our threat!" Mason argues, raising his arms slightly to block me from Ruby. 

I'm too shocked to be processing this, too confused to think straight. Mason is saving my life. He isn't trying to trick me, manipulate or control me, he's turning against the wishes of his allies to defend me, a girl he's been rivals with for a good five years.

Something tells me that the Mason who'd saved me in the mines was the same Mason that stood before me, not this arrogant monster I'd fabricated out of his need to survive. 

"Three? Don't worry about her! One of the other's will pick her off, both of District Eight no doubt about it." 

"She's running around booby-trapping the entire Arena!" I pipe up, stepping out from behind Mason's protection to be met fully with the demeaning glare of Ruby and her dark eyes.

She doesn't just look beautiful, she looks viciously beautiful, a dangerous, yet beautiful creature, prepared to charm and betray anything that stands before her. I don't trust her one bit, but I guess for now I'm going to have to. I'd gotten a taste the hard way of what placing your faith in the wrong people can do to you.

"Exactly, we need to go now," Mason starts as he grabs onto Ruby's shoulders, looking deep into her eyes to get her to see from our view. Something flashes inside of me, a very negative feeling towards Ruby, but I see best to ignore it, "She's coming after us, and Althea knows where the next one is going to go off."

Ruby looks between Mason and I, obviously distrusting our intentions. It's the only option she has, to follow and believe us. Either that or die a fiery, painful death. 

"Fine," she says with gritted teeth, giving me a glare as she holds her crossbow up as a warning, "If she double-crosses us-"

"Yeah, yeah we get it," Mason waves his hand at her dismissively before running outside. Ruby immediately follows, but not before giving me a meaningful glare that sends a cold shiver down my spine. Ruby was simply terrifying.

~ 

By the time we make it to the building, the other Careers are waiting outside, and as soon as they see me, their expressions change. I don't like the looks they're giving me, especially Triton, but all their looks combined- it's enough to make me bite my nails out of apprehension once more.

"What the hell is she doing here?" Triton spits as he holds his deadly-looking sickle up at me, his dark eyes haunting and scary. I immediately find myself backing away behind Mason and flushing red as the Careers look at me like I'm a meal.

Calypso's big blue eyes look set to kill as she grips onto a net-caster of sorts, her daggers and knives in easy gripping distance, and Ruby joins the semi-circle they'd formed around us, locking her crossbow for preparation. 

"She knows how we can deal with Three." Mason says, (always the voice of reason), in a calm voice, and again, he raises his arm as if to protect me from their glares and murderous thoughts. Again, with the shocking protective instincts, but it could very well still be part of his act. He could just turn around and impale me in the chest with his tomahawk axe.