The Coven Games

Prologue

On my twenty-third day at Central Louisiana State Hospital, I finally broke.

My hands moved numbly over the pane of glass, my glassy eyes following the race of raindrops as they quickly sped down the pane.

-‘The Fire ensues, yet The Life shall thrive’-

‘Stop,” I thought, gritting my teeth, my dull nails scraping against the clear glass. I didn’t even acknowledge my roommate, Jennifer, as she slithered into the room, her light little body hardly making a sound as her feet hit the linoleum floor.

“Grace,” she said, and I glanced over my shoulder. She was only seventy pounds, but almost as tall as I was. Her big, alarming blue eyes met mine, and I swallowed the bile that pushed up the back of my throat.

-‘ The Six shall face Death- The One shall succeed’-

“Stop,” I mumbled, a panic crawling into my stomach and my hands fluttering into my lap. Once there, my hands tore at the nails, even though they were already bloody and torn down to the quick.

“What,” she asked, and I looked back over my shoulder to see her coming closer. I flinched as her soft, cool hand met my forearm.

“N-No, not you. I-I… I’m just tired,” I offered weakly, brushing my dark bangs out of my eyes and blinking as a gold dagger glinted at her side. I jumped from my spot by the window, suddenly aware of the knife in her hand. “What are you doing?!”

“Time for distribution,” she said softly, her fine, blonde brows knitting and her shaking hand reaching for the holster. I almost hissed at her, my back pressing against the window and terror eating at my resolves.

Was she a player in the Games? How did she know of my powers? I had been careful not to use them, minus the little bouquet of flowers my mother had visited with, and all I had done was lengthen their life with a little bit of blood.

“Don’t touch me,” I screeched, my hands swiping at her face, my dull nails digging into her cheek. Although there was little my nails had done, her shocked expression said I had a few seconds to escape. Stronger and taller, I shoved at her weak, malnourished body, her little bloated tummy hard against my palms. She fell backwards, into the railing of her twin sized bed, and I took the opportunity to sprint out of the room, my hospital gown fluttering behind me.

-‘The Bow and Beak shall provide a feast’-

-‘The Water and The Fire shall spark a flame’-

-‘Death will touch Life’-

My bare, padded feet propelled me into a medicine cart, and the nurse pushing it wore an expression of shock.

“S-She’s trying to kill me,” I cried, running into the woman’s chest and clinging to her scrubs. “She has a knife! She’s a part of the Games!”

It was a blur when the team of nurses came in, flocking my room, where Jennifer lay crumpled in her bed, shaking and clutching her bleeding head. She had hit it, on the metal bar of the bed, when I shoved her. Only, when the nurse brought me back into the room, Jennifer was holding her little plastic cup in hand, no sign of a dagger or anything that could harm me. Her anti-anxieties meds were scattered and crushed on the tiled flooring of the room.

The blood drained from my face when I realized what this meant.

The nightmares were starting again; the voices and the delusions.

The Games were starting again.

And soon.