Uncharted Waters [1]

Chapter 25

It was nighttime. Mira was right outside the Cornucopia, but there was nothing and no one around her. Just the beautiful scenery of the fake arena and the big metal Cornucopia with nothing in it.

Are the games done?

"Far from it." Mira quickly whips her head to see Suave sitting on a crate, grinning without looking at her. Then, their eyes met and the grin fell from Suave's face. "It was your fault you know." Mira was taken aback at the sudden accusation.

"W-what?"

Suave stands up and slowly walks towards her. "I was so infatuated by you that I would rather die than see you get hurt." He reaches out to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. But Mira was still confused about what was happening at the moment.

"What do you mean?" She asks again, her mind still fuzzy from everything that has happened. She waited for his reply, but there weren't any. Then Suave opens his mouth and whispers, "Wake up and find out."

Mira wakes from the dream and faces the light streaming down underneath the trees.

"Great, fish bait is awake. Lucky her to be alive and well."

"Don't start Grace."

"Oh shush Destan, you're not the one with a dead district partner." Grace spats, looking at the just-woken Mira before grabbing her sword and stomping away from the group.

Mira sits up, noticing a slight bump on her arm and leg. "Sponsors were kind enough to send you some ointment for the stings." Destan voices out, as if reading the question inside her head. "You were out for a day. How are you feeling?" He asks again.

"Thirsty," Mira answers and Destan smiles at her, lending her a canteen filled with water.

"As expected."

Mira felt like she hadn't drunk water in forever and finished the whole canteen, blushing when she returned it to Destan empty. "It's ok; you have nothing to worry about regarding the supplies. We got it all back, thanks to the sponsors. It will last us for a week." Mira smiles weakly at Destan, who is providing her with all this information after she is out like a light. Then she notices Slate propped up on a tree, carving on a piece of wood with his knife.

"Where's Suave? Stone? What happened Destan?" Her mind was all fuzzy and she didn't know why. She thought that dream of hers was weird, and then realization dawned on her.

"Are they dead?" She asks weakly.

"Stone? We couldn't find her. Though we found Suave with an axe on his head, you would have been up in that sky too if we hadn't arrived too soon. We found you almost naked on the ground and we took care of the tributes from seven." Destan hands her her missing anklet, and Mira can't even bear to smile at what she just heard. She only managed a weak thank you.

Stone is missing.

Suave is dead.

She almost got raped.

"We found it on Ash's wrist."

All the things that happened were all too new to her. It was so overwhelming that it brought tears to her eyes as she started to sob. Destan pulled her in closer to him and she cried in his chest. "I'm so tired of this Destan."

"Hey, it's ok. Everything will pull through." He whispers in her ear as he lets the crying girl in her arms let out her emotions.

That afternoon, the four of them were checking out the traps by the lake when they heard someone coming out of the forest. Twyla, the girl from District 8, splashes down on the lake with an arrow on her shoulder. She didn't notice the Careers at first, but as she looked up to see the careers, her face quickly morphed into panic, and she scrambled to escape.