"elowen, if you say those three words again i swear i will put an axe through your skull."
"go to sleep, johanna."
╰┈➤ In which Elowen North of District Seven, dealing with fresh trauma from her Hunger Games, falls in love with Seven's other feisty...
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The second the District Seven chariot is out of view from the prying eyes of the Capitol audience, Capitol medics fuss over Jude's condition. The smaller audience of Capitol escorts, stylists and prep teams as well as mentors and tributes from the districts murmur to each other.
"Isn't that your tribute, Seven?" a voice asks. I turn around, and sharp-toothed Enobaria Golding is standing behind me. I take a small step back.
"Yeah, he is," I say, attempting to make my voice as hard as hers. "He was just in shock, that's all." My reasoning is extremely weak. I have no real reason to why Jude fainted in the middle of the Tribute Parade. I supposed it's because he's... Jude.
Enobaria sneers at me. "Honor and Alexis will kill him easily."
I grit my teeth. I don't like how Enobaria is talking about Jude.
Just then, Enobaria's mentor partner, a large man named Brutus Gunn, comes up to us. "Come on, Enobaria. You don't need to waste your time ridiculing little girls about their tributes."
Brutus pulls Enobaria away, and I grumble. Though I'm grateful that Brutus made Enobaria stop picking on Jude, I'm not happy about the degrading nickname he crafted for me.
"Jude'll be fine. They're putting him on bedrest for a bit," Johanna says, updating me. "Don't listen to District Two, by the way. They're not my favourites."
"They're not mine either," I mutter, replying to Johanna's comment about Two's Brutus and Enobaria.
Johanna sighs. "Aeneas wants us to be there when Jude wakes up. Find the redhead, and I'll meet you on the District Seven floor of the Tribute Center," she says, walking towards the elevator.
Just then, I remember Rowan. The first person I need to protect. Where is she?
I spot Rowan's red hair through the crowd. She's talking to the female tributes from Districts Four, Six, Nine and Eleven.
"Rowan," I call, and Rowan stops conversing with her fellow tributes.
"Sorry, Owen. I couldn't find you after the parade and got caught up with the other kids," she explains.
"Did you make some new allies, at least?" I say skeptically. "You know, in this arena, no one can be trusted. This isn't the place to make new friends."
My red-headed sister sighs, pushing her curls of hair back. "I know. But I figured it would be beneficial to know them somewhat, so I can determine my allies and my threats."
"Well?" I ask as we step into the elevator. "What did you think of those girls?"
Rowan pushes the button with the number 7 on it, and the elevator shoots up. "I like Ripleigh Demore, the girl from Four? She's smart in a way I've never seen before."
Maybe not her, Rowan, I think. I have a bad feeling about that girl.
Rowan definitely knows more about Ripleigh than I do, so I don't tell her my initial thoughts about Ripleigh.
