☞︎ℍ𝕦𝕟𝕘𝕖𝕣 𝔾𝕒𝕞𝕖𝕤 ~ 𝔸𝕞𝕖𝕥𝕙𝕪𝕤𝕥'𝕤 𝕤𝕥𝕠𝕣𝕪 ☜︎

~Escape~

I'm dedicating this chapter to all the invisible readers I have out there <3 (assuming I do have them and it isn't the people who vote re-reading--) anyways, I love you all and tysm for reading!

Also: get ready for a MAJOR plot twist sometimes soon (not in this chapter even more major) :3

The next few days are the same as the last. 

I wake up, wander around my room a bit, and chat with Myles. 

We talk about so many things--wondering, hopefuls, random topics. Everything. There's nothing else to do except stare at the wall and sleep, which doesn't sound very fun. 

We get food delivered from a small slot in the bottom of the door, though I don't ever see anyone delivering it, so I assume they do it while I'm sleeping. 

And so on the fifth night I'm trapped here, I stand by the door, ready. 

I explain my plan to Myles, through the wall. And he agrees with me- though he also thinks its insane and risky, which it is. I could be moved back to the cell. Which I don't want, but I also think I need to do this. 

When the food is delivered, someone with skin as pale as clouds on a spring day slipping their hand through the door, I grab their wrist. 

They gasp sharply, and pull on their hand like they have a chance to get out. I growl at them, for effect. 

"Let me go!" The voice is more like a squeak than a shout, and I almost laugh. 

"I'll let you go if you let me out," I say, and they're silent for a moment, like they're actually considering it. I wonder who this is--they couldn't be an avox, they can speak. So they must be some other kind of capitol servant. 

"Fine," they whisper, and my eyes widen. I'm surprised. I didn't think that would work--not that easily, at least. "I'll open the door. Don't tell anyone who freed you."

I nod, then realizing they can't see me, say, "Sure. And don't try anything, either. I've been in the Hunger Games, I'm not afraid to hurt you." I try to make my voice sound scary, but I don't think it's working. I can hear a quiet snicker from Myles' room, which is quickly covered up by a cough. 

There's a sound like someone typing on a keypad and then the door opens, silent as snow. I let go of the person's hand, stepping out into the stark-white hallway before they can close the door. 

Below me a small woman, maybe 5'0, is sitting on the floor, rubbing her wrist. She has pale skin and darker hair, with eyes to match. 

The woman quickly stands up and squares her shoulders, trying to look confident. I smirk. 

She's probably older than me, and I'm at least a few inches taller than her. Ha-ha. 

I smile at her, but she doesn't return it. Instead she raises her arm, punching me in the face. 

"Ow!" I yell, staggering back as my eyes start to water. It really doesn't hurt that much--it probably hurt more for her--but that was rude. 

I glare at her, and she takes a step backing, actually looking afraid. Myles pounds on his door. "You okay out there?" he asks nervously. 

"Yeah, I'm fine," I say. "This woman just punched me, though." I frown, and Myles hesitates. The woman looks from me to his door, as if wondering if he could break through. 

"Sorry, sorry, sorry! I can't let you out, though! You're prisoners! President Snow would kill me!" Her voice is still squeaky, maybe even more so. 

I wipe my eyes, but they're still watering. My nose is bleeding too, making quite a mess. I rip off a corner of my pant leg, using it to dry my face. 

"Fine," I agree, and Myles yells out. I ignore him. "Fine, we won't attack you. But we're not going to stay in here, sorry. I'm going to free my friend, and we're going to run away, and there's nothing you can do to stop us." 

I take a step towards the woman, and she nods, glancing down the hallway. "Alright, alright. I'll unlock your friend and you'll escape. But don't do anything else, and don't you dare tell Snow." She looks up at me, glaring into my eyes. I nod. 

The woman unlocks Myles' cell, and then scurries off in the other direction, her footsteps pattering lightly against the floor. She turns the corner, and I take a step in the other direction, ready to get going. 

Myles steps out of his cell. "Thanks for saving me," he says, smiling. I quickly smile back, but then start jogging down the hallway, in the opposite direction of the woman. 

At the end of the hallway there's a door. It's a metal thing, polished as if it was cleaned yesterday. It swings open silently, and I admire the perfectly balanced panel before stepping through, into a stairwell. 

I assume that the stairwell leads upstairs, like the one from before. But I'm also worried, because if it's like the one from before then there's a large possibility that there'll be hostiles at the top. 

I hesitate at the first step, biting the inside of my cheek. Then I turn towards Myles, who comes to a stop right next to me. 

"Do you think there'll be more guards up there?" I ask, and he glances up the stairwell quickly, his brow furrowing. 

"No... but I guess there could be. But if we don't go here, where else is there?" 

I nod. There's nowhere else to go; we'll have to go up the stairs or stay down here, and I know which one of those I would choose. 

Trick question; it's the second one. Sometimes I feel like I don't deserve to escape. 

I hang back a step as Myles starts up the stairs, and he looks back down at me. "You coming?"

I close my eyes for a second, then nod. I'm fine. Nothing's wrong. I'll escape... for Myles. 

We walk up the stairs, slowly enough not to make any sound. I spook at every shadow, and by the time we reach the top I'm terrified, enough to make me want to run back down. But I don't. Because that would be stupid. 

Instead I square my shoulders, raise my head, and try to look brave and confident. By the look Myles gives me, I think it's working. 

I take a deep breath, pushing open the door.  

No one's there. I release the breath, and I can hear Myles doing the same beside me. 

No guards, no one to stop us. It's empty. 

There's a small sound over on the right side of the large, plain room the door opened too, and I spin, my hand floating to where my axe should be before I remember it's not there. 

And then a girl's head pops up, red hair in two messy braids that hang on either side of her head. Her eyebrows are raised, and she looks smug. 

Autumn stands up to her full height, twirling a razor-sharp knife in her hand. She smirks.

"Oh good, you didn't die. Somehow I'm not surprised, though. I knew you could do it, Amethyst. Myles, not so much."