¹ THRONE ─ the hunger games

[ 016 ] no time to die

THAT NIGHT IKO DREAMT OF BLOOD. On her hands, in her mouth, sticking her clothes to her body so tenaciously peeling them off stripped off a layer of skin. It rose to her chin like a rising tide, a wave of carmine froth so thick she was choking on it. So much of it she thought she might've cut herself open somehow in the middle of the night, tossed and turned herself to ribbons, or worse, wet herself, that she feared to open her eyes in the case that either or both might be true.

When the morning light leaked into her room, she'd been lying awake for a good hour, staring at the ceiling trying to suppress the nerves crawling under her skin. No, not nerves. Something far more dangerous.

It was Janus who came to get her. She didn't see either of the mentors or Alex. Iko supposed Rhea would be tending to him first, the same way Janus had her changed out of her pajamas into a plain shift, before guiding her to the roof where a black hovercraft waited. She supposed her arena-appropriate attire would be provided later on. Shielding her eyes from the dust kicked up in the wind billowing in her face, the ends of her shift tugged violently by invisible hands in the air currents, Iko planted one hand and a foot on the lower rungs of the ladder they'd extended to let her up. Before she could begin climbing, a current in the ladder froze her in place. No matter how much she resisted, her muscles wouldn't cooperate. Slowly, they lifted her into the hovercraft. Iko almost scowled at the woman waiting at the mouth of the entrance, who'd smiled at her in greeting.

"Sorry," the woman said, shrugging, "just protocol. Can't take our chances before the big day, right?"

Iko didn't answer. Even if she wanted to, she couldn't. Something silver and sharp glinted in the woman's hand.

"This is your tracker, Iko," the woman said, holding the large syringe out for Iko to see. "If you're still, it won't hurt as much. It won't take too long, don't worry."

Telling her all this was redundant since the ladder hadn't released Iko from its paralysing hold, and she couldn't fight back even if she wanted to. Still, when the woman sunk the needle into the flesh of her forearm, Iko felt the pinch of the tracking device sliding into place. They'd be able to monitor her every move now. As soon as that was done, Iko felt the current die as the ladder released her. Janus was lifted into the hovercraft shortly after the woman vanished elsewhere while Iko turned to inspect the inside of the hovercraft. On cue, a hollow-eyed Avox with red hair directed them to a room where a generous breakfast spread had been laid out on the table in the centre.

It hit her then, even though the night before, she'd spent the last few seconds of consciousness in a fitful state of anticipation, that today was the beginning of her story. Everything she had trained and bled for had amounted to this. As she ate, scarfing down as much food as she could hold, she wondered what the arena would look like. Forests or snow? Mountains or ocean? There were a million possibilities that the Gamemakers could create and each that she conjured in her mind stoked the flames of excitement curling in her gut a little more.

Janus didn't speak as he waited for her to finish. He seemed to understand her need for silence. As prepared as she was, she needed to focus. Her mind was clear. Sharp. Saying goodbye to Alex last night had been the last step she needed to take to carve herself into the right headspace. Even the view rushing by outside the window as the hovercraft flew over the city, over trees and the sprawling wilderness, couldn't attract her attention. This time, feelings wouldn't be a distraction because she'd cut herself off from them. A mental severing. This time, there was no room for error because every little mistake could result in lethal consequence and Iko Moriyama did not make mistakes. This time, she would be the right kind of monster. The kind that the academy had made in its founders' image. Its founders were victors of the earlier Hunger Games. Though they were dead now, their legacy continued to thrive. Iko would be testament to that.