A Game Called Revenge ✭ Cato Hadley

Fifteen - Off to the Races

"ᴛʜᴇʀᴇ ɪꜱ ɴᴏ ꜱᴜᴄʜ ᴛʜɪɴɢ ᴀꜱ ᴡᴇᴀᴋ ᴄᴏᴍᴘᴇᴛɪᴛɪᴏɴ; ɪᴛ ɢʀᴏᴡꜱ ᴀʟʟ ᴛʜᴇ ᴛɪᴍᴇ."

By mid-morning on July 11th, they lie there, Clio's head resting on Cato's chest as they try to rouse themselves awake and wait for their mentors and stylists to come separate them for their journey to the arena in separate hovercrafts. The silence is quickly broken as Festus knocks twice on the solid black door before pushing the door open and calling Juno from her place across the hall where she raps lightly at the door of Clio's room. Juno gasps at the state of her tribute; naked save for the thin bed sheet wrapped held up to her chest, long hair tangled in a knotty mess behind her and remnants of last night's makeup smeared on the white pillow and around her eyes.

"Clio!" Juno exclaims as the girl detaches herself from Cato and sits up, still clutching the bedsheet tightly. "Your neck."

Clio laughs to herself, she hadn't dared pull herself from bed yet this morning, not wanting to burst the dazed bubble the two of them had been content with since their eyes flutter open. Dragging herself from Cato's arms to look in a mirror was not at the top of her list of priority but from the exasperated tone of her stylist she assumes there must be a bruise or two covering the skin. Her hand absentmindedly rubs over the skin of her neck while Juno comes to stand at her side of the bed. "What? It's not like anything we do is a secret."

"I can't send you in there with a handprint around your neck Clio!" Juno tuts as she pulls one of Cato's shirts over Clio's head as a barrier before dragging her from the bed by her arm and forcing her to put on a fresh set of her training clothes for the last time while she can hear Festus ordering Cato do the same.

The second she's fully clothed and not a second later, Juno drags her to the launchpoint, refusing to give her the opportunity to speak to Cato again, and dismissing her questions about when she could say her goodbyes to Brutus; telling her that he has been instructed to direct the final moments of his attention to his mentee. Waiting for the hovercraft in the weather, which is surprisingly cold for July, Clio shivers and wraps her arms around herself as she tries to rub some warmth back into her skin. It's not easy with all the wind that the hovercraft turbines are kicking up and the way it moves painstakingly slowly up from the first to the second floor. She waits on the balcony. Juno is there too but it's as if she doesn't know what to say and so the two of them wait in silence for the hovercraft to move. She's distracted from her musing by Enobaria placing a hand on her shoulder and squeezing in briefly. Clio leans into it, savouring her last moments with her mentor. Her friend. One of her parental figures. For pretty soon, most of the people that touch her are going to be people who are wanting or trying to kill her in the most painful way possible and she'll need some positive memories to counterbalance that. "Remember what we talked about."

"I know." Clio sighs, trying not to let her irritation leak through into her words. This will likely be the last time she ever talks to Enobaria, given that she doubts she'll be allowed into the hovercraft with her, and she doesn't want to argue with her; even if she knows what she's doing. "Find Cato and the wonder siblings so that we can get the two frauds in the bloodbath. But the eleven makes me a target so watch my back."

"Exactly." Enobaria says but the usual smugness that lives in her voice whenever someone repeats her words back to her isn't present. She looks anxious, as she peers around the squared-off railings of the balcony to check when she should be expecting the vehicle. Checking how much time she has. Her fists are clenched tightly and Clio can see small droplets of blood on her palm when she uncurls them; an indication of how hard she must have dug her nails into her palms to break the skin's surface. "We can't act on your plan if you get yourself killed in the first five minutes."