Our Love Could Be Lethal

Act III: Deadly Announcements

Song for this chapter is "Exile," by Taylor Swift and featuring Bon Iver.

Octavia's POV

"...I can't do this anymore, Brutus! Can't you see that we did this to him!" I scream at the top of my lungs. We're standing in the meeting room of the academy, surrounded by the other Victors, but I can't contain my fury. My gestures swing widely around the room as I yell.  "And we're going to do the same thing to every kid out there. Shame on you, and shame on me for it."

I see a few people start to grow uncomfortable, but my rant is far from reaching its peak. "You know what? We all deserve to be dead. We all should have lost these stupid games and come home in a body bag like we deserved. We—"

"—Octavia," interjects Enobaria. "I think you need to take a minute."

She reaches out for me but I pull away. "Don't touch me!"

The sentiment clearly hurts Enobaria, but Lyme, being a senior trainer, is the next to jump in. "Octavia, I think it's best you go to your locker and collect your things."

I roll my eyes and give a small chuckle. Lyme hasn't liked me for a while now so I bet she got a lot of satisfaction from saying that. I give a small bow like the ones we're taught to do after our evaluation sessions in the Games. "Thank you for your consideration."

I storm off to my locker to clear it out, weaving through the halls without a second thought and open my locker.

Clink.

I look to see what I've dropped in my rage to see that it is certainly not an item of mine, but a singular arrow. I reach down to pick it up and out of the corner of my vision, I catch several pairs of eyes staring at me through the glass. Several of them wear smirks on their faces or snicker as I look up at them.

Blind, unadulterated loathing and red hot venom start to pump through my veins as I lose control of myself and my body goes into autopilot. I walk out of the locker hallway and to where the students are standing. "Who did this?"

None of them speak up.

My eyes fall on Grecius, an 18-year-old who competed against Cato for the spot this year. He keeps his eyes down, but the shit-eating grin gives it away, along with several of his friends chuckling under their breath.

I give a small fake chuckle and give my head a nod as I glance to the floor. "Funny," I say flatly.

The arrow finds itself lodged into Grecius' knee, having been flung from my hand. I hear him scream and I seem to float towards him. "Anyone else?"

No one steps forward.

I lean down and my hand takes out the arrow and points it under his chin as he falls towards the ground. "You wouldn't last one day in the arena," says my voice in a cold, dark tone. "But that won't matter because your knee won't heal by the time you graduate."

A small smile creeps across my face. "Oh, and if you want any more lessons on how these things work," I wiggle the arrow in front of his face. "Just let me know. There's plenty of where that came from."

I can see the genuine fear in his eyes and I feel the satisfaction wash over me. My breath is erratic and ragged as I realize my time is well up as I see Lyme and Enobaria in the doorway. "Octavia!" barks Lyme. "What are you doing?"

I roll my eyes. "I'm teaching a lesson," I say, pointing to Grecius. "The most realistic one they'll probably ever get."

"You're done here," says Lyme in a dangerous voice.