Love (Book 2 of the Demigods series)

10

"No!"

"I've already made my choice Petra. I'm going to die to get one of you out!" I argued. Ava looked close to tears. I scooted over and wrapped my arms protectively around her.

"Well, if we're on the subject, guess none of you will live now!" shouted a mystery tribute. We all leaped to our feet, weapons brandished.

"Show yourself!" Ava demanded. Three figures stepped out of the shadows.

"District 4, and 2. Pleasure it is Damian and company." Petra snarled. Damian had to be her District partner.

"What a turn of events! Two Career packs!" the female from 4 giggled. I vaguely recalled her name to be Ellie, and her partner was her twin Elliot.

"Would you please shut up?" Jesse groaned. I saw Elliot snarl, then lunge at Jesse. She nimbly dodged, her hands moving to grab his hair. Ellie launched herself at Ava, but she was faster. With a small cry, Ava drove a spear through Ellie's chest. She pulled out the spear and stared at her first kill. The cannon fired as Damian began to wrestle with Petra, Lukas moving to assist. Ava blinked and ran towards Elliot to help Jesse, who stood a few feet away from him. Not surprisingly, Jesse could hold her ground. With a shrill scream of a battle cry, I watched a knife fly through the air. Jesse's eyes closed as two cannons fired.

"Three more kills..." Ava said quietly. Petra was up to seven kills (doesn't shock me), Jesse with four, and Ava had one.

"Let's go." I said. Jesse was trembling, but she nodded. If you knew her as well as me and Ava do, you could see her quiver. But since the audience doesn't, they probably saw a Victor being created.

"Three other contenders, and then we gotta start killing each other." Lukas said. Ava nodded as her hand slipped in mine as we sat by the fire. Jesse and Petra were talking quietly by the pond. They were the most likely to be Victors in my eyes. Lukas stood up from the fire saying how he was going hunting. I saw Jesse perk up and make her way towards the pond, Petra calling after her. The ice had to be extremely thin, but Jesse slid across with ease. She picked up a small silver thingy and quickly moved to join us.

"Which District?" Ava asked as Jesse sat across the fire.

"District..." Jesse began, fumbling over the parachute, looking for a number.

"Twelve."

"So it's for you and Gill. You guys are lucky, you must have a lot of sponsers." Petra said, polishing one of her swords. Lukas joined us as we waited for Jesse to open the parachute.

"We'll see." Jesse laughed as she twisted the lid off. A slip of paper was on top.

"It's for you Gill, and your dart wounds." Jesse said. She handed me the parachute, and I read the note.

"Apply generously, then hang on to this, and the hope of life. ~H K P" it read. The hope of life? Wonder what that meant. I popped the lid off of the container. Within was a cream colored substance.

"Ava, do you mind?" I asked. She smiled, taking the container from me. She rolled down the sleeve of my arm guard thingy, and carefully applied the paste. It gave a cooling sensation that was quite pleasant. I didn't admit it aloud, but they were painful wounds. Either Katniss, Peeta or Haymitch could see I was in pain, and sent it, or some other thing. Ava applied the paste to my leg, then instructed me to "not get shot with any more darts".

"Relax, I won't." I laughed, placing the healing paste into a backpack. Petra and Jesse volunteered for first watch, and I got settled to sleep. Music began to play, and I watched as the faces of the deceased tributes showed up in the sky. The smirk of Damian, the snarls of Elliot and Ellie. I did the math on my hands, and it dawned on me we were the last tributes left in the Arena. I shuddered as I curled up with a pack under my head, closing my eyes to try and sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Are you sure this is the best course of action?" Rain asked, speaking with Peeta.

"Of course. We can use one of the hovercrafts from 13, and get our tributes and your friends out." Peeta said.

"Thank god." Jesse said, his hands folded together and under his chin. You could tell by the way he watched the screen showing the Arena he was worried for his friends. But most importantly his fiancé.

"How soon can we get that hovercraft to the Arena?" Zia asked.

"The hovercraft is on its way there. But we will need someone to take out the force field Cipher has installed in the Arena from the inside." Haymitch responded. Zia looked up at the screen.

"Gill can." she said.

"How?" Rain asked Zia.

"Simple. His trident, combined with his Alf Sedir, should be enough magic energy to take out the field." Venus answered.

"That's great. How do we get him to do it?" Katniss asked.

"Well, he is watching this in a dream. YO! DESTROY THE FIELD!" Rain shouted.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I sat bolt upright. I fumbled around for my trident, and ran away from the others.

"Gill, what are you doing?!" Jesse shouted behind me. I didn't listen to her, running till I found an open area.

"Get the others up. I'm breaking the force field." I answered. Jesse hesitated, but she nodded, rushing to wake the others. I knew the field to be electric, so my magic explosion won't be enough. Luckily, a parachute floated past, the number 12 glowing on the parachute. Jesse moved to the parachute, twisting the top. She pulled out a copper cord, and by the way she looked at it and me, she knew what was going on. Jesse tossed me the wire, and gestured for them to join us. I quietly hummed a little song I knew, one that Jesse taught me in a happier time.

"

In my heart,

t

here's something s

trong.

That will keep me

m

oving on!

In my hopes,

p

roof that my

h

appy days

w

ill never be gone!"

I tied the wire to the trident, ready to throw. Jesse threw up a force field as I threw the trident as high and as far as I could.

Booom!