Inevitable | PJO

Piper

POV: Piper McLean

I have three allies.

Me and Jason had already agreed to, so when he signalled his hand towards the blue mountain in what I judged to be the west, we both ran for it, only pausing to grab a few supplies near us. I got a white sleeping bag, a box of fruit and a very small, fairly useless-looking knife.

Jason had just scooped up what ever was closest, grabbed my hand, and ran with me, leaping over heaps of ice and snow, until the cornucopia was a distant gleam below us.

We weren't too far away from the bloodbath when we slowed down, but we walked as fast as we could up out of sight, stopping only when we found a large snowdrift under a steep bit. Jason - being the gentleman be is - helped me sit down behind the large pile of snow, our frozen backs to the golden horn. Even the air seemed to have ice in it, only melting as I breathed it in. My ally showed me his pickings - a small water-skin with no warm cover - a few trickles of ice lurked in the bottom - and an extremely strange looking hat, navy blue with ear flaps and fur inside.

We laughed quietly at the hat. It's strange how we can still find Capitol fashion funny when we're both slowly freezing in an arena full of murderous tributes. Jason slowly peels back my hood, exposing my face to the sharp, cold wind. I shiver. But he gently places the blue hat over my head, re-adjusting my mask when it slips. I hate these masks. All you have to identify the tributes by is body, hair and eyes. And that could be a fatal mistake. Still, I grin at my companion and pull the monstrosity further over my head, replacing the hood over the top.

We pack our various pickings into the numerous pockets in our coats and jumpers, the side ones in Jason's trousers almost fitting everything we have. But we agree to share, in case one of us gets lost or loses something.

Or dies.

The sleeping bag gets bundled as small as it will go, and we take it in turns lugging it up the mountain. Up and up and up we go, the scenery never changing. Tiny figures fight by a golden smudge, and dark red stains the snow where we started.

"Piper?" Jason asks, his voice hushed.

"Yeah?"

"Do you think the ice around here is safe to drink?

I considered it.

"Well it is ice. Maybe."

"It could have been Game-Maker poisoned if it isn't naturally."

"The whole arena would have to be poisoned then. I doubt it."

"I hope you're right."

Jason filled his water skin with some surrounding snow from the ground. It's all still freshly white, so it's probably ok. He gives it a nervous glance before drinking down some of the snow. He shudders.

"It's really cold, probably altered to make it like that. But I think it's alright."

He passes me the skin and I take a gulp.

It's not just cold, it's terrible. It seems to freeze everything it passes, all the way down my insides. My companion squeezes my hand.

"It's really bad isn't it."

"Well." I square my shoulders. "It's bad, but we need to drink!" And I march up the mountainside, gesturing for Jason to follow me.

____

We stop only when we're half way down the other side of the mountain, eating a strange, round, orange fruit each as we go. To our joy, the back of the mountain was full to the brim of little ice caves, some apparently part of a huge system, as Jason showed by walking inside one and coming out of another, and some only big enough for one person. The sun's going down now, but at least it isn't getting any colder. I scout around on our level for a sensible place. We don't want to risk going into the cave system and getting lost, or discovered by the Careers. But neither do we want to be visible from the outside.