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A woman with charm is a very dangerous thing.
"Did you see the look on their faces?" Clio cackled. "They looked like they were going to poop their pants."
Cassia sat on the ground with the other three Careers in a small circle around the fire they had lit back at the valley. The two dead tributes had long been picked up by the metal claws of the hovercraft. All four of them had watched as they stood back at their camp, the hovercraft pick up one and then the second limp body, barely visible in the dark, their limbs dangling against the stars. Cassia grinned back at Clio, drinking from her canister of water she had iodized hours ago.
Griffin scanned the edge of the woods, laying his sword on the ground next to him in the short grass. "We need to make a watch schedule."
Cassia wasn't going to bed any time soon. "I'll stay up."
Griffin looked at her from across the fire, his black hair twisting over his forehead, so unlike how it was during the interviews. She could already see the roots of stubble lightly growing along the lower half of his face. "Okay," He nodded. "I'll take the second shift in a few hours."
"I'll go after you," Ezra said between eating the crackers that were in his backpack. "I've got to get my beauty sleep."
Griffin snorted, "Typical One behavior."
Ezra scoffed, "You're just jealous of my ethereal beauty."
Cassia felt out of place. Joking, smiling, and killing. She was sure the Capitol loved it, seeing them all bonding together. She was surprised they hadn't gotten any sponsored gifts yet. Not that she was expecting herself to get any, her training score still made her blood grow hot every time she thought about it.
"My watch doesn't count until everyone is asleep," She reminded them coolly, smirking at the two boys.
Clio snorted, "Yeah, and I wanna get as much sleep as possible if I'm going to be watching the sun rise."
With the fire slowly burning, the three Careers fell asleep, not knowing that Cassia was wishing them all dead.
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The arena at night was incredibly silent. The wind was soft and the insects murmured to one another, and there was the odd nightly scuttle of a squirrel or a bird, but there was no sign of human life. All of the tributes were trying to stay alive their first night in the giant arena, to not hear the sound of anymore canons shake the ground. It felt peaceful, but Cassia's heart still thumped as if she was still running through the woods after that tribute, knife in hand. Her knees still ached from the impact of her land, from the gruesome discovery of the tribute from Ten.
She leaned her back against a rock a few feet away from the sleeping group, the same knife that had killed the tribute from Five in her hand. She estimated it had been an hour now that she had been on watch, and the day was beginning to get at her as she muffled her yawn.
