Submerged

Chapter 2

My visitors were not a huge surprise. My parents came first. Then Navyy, and then her parents. My father was completely panic-stricken, and my mother was screaming at me through her sobs. They both knew that Navyy, not I, had been selected to volunteer this year. In the end, they merely wrapped me into one, last hug before being escorted through the door by the Peacekeepers.

“I hate you!” Navyy screeched as she stormed into the room, “Why did you do that?”

Strands of her dark hair hung loose around her flushed face.

“I had to! I couldn’t let you two compete against each other!”

“I was supposed to volunteer,” she fumed, “This is going to cause a lot of trouble at the academy.”

“Navyy, you couldn’t go into the arena with Dylan. I wasn’t going to let that happen,” I stated.

“I appreciate the thought, but it doesn’t exactly help me,” she moaned, “Now, two of the people I care about most are going to be thrown into an arena to kill each other. If I was going in, at least Dylan would get out alive.”

I took a deep breath and sealed my fate by whispering, “He is going to get out alive. I’m going to make sure of it.”

“No,” Navyy muttered, staring at me like I was insane, “I can’t ask you to do that.”

“I have to. That’s why I volunteered,” I murmured. When I volunteered, I wasn’t going in place of the girl who had been called; I volunteered for Navyy.

Her hazel eyes met my gaze, and she whispered, “I can’t lose either of you. You’re my best friend.”

“That’s why I have to do this. You’re my best friend.”

“Fine,” she muttered, knowing that we would both use the same arguments again and again, before adding, “If you’re going to do this, take this.”

She reached behind her neck and unclasped her necklace before thrusting it into my hand. I looked down at the silver necklace in my palm. A circular charm with an anchor hung from a simple chain. It seemed old, but I had never seen Navyy wear it.

“My parents gave it to me this morning. I was going to wear it as my token,” she explained, “Now, it can be your token. It’ll be as if we’re both in the arena.”

As she spoke, I noticed that the charm was a locket, but when I opened the locket, there was nothing inside.

“I don’t know what to say. This is beautiful.”

Navyy scowled at me and said, “Stop being so sentimental before I cry.”

I smiled. I really would miss her.

After the Peacekeepers took her away, Mr. and Mrs. Finn walked through the door.

They didn’t say anything, and they had already cried away all of their tears, so we sat together in silence. Even though they said nothing, their presence was comforting.

Before she exited the room, Mrs. Finn turned and whispered, “Thank you.”

No one else came to see me after Navyy’s parents left. Despite my situation, I found myself growing bored. The room was small, but comfortable. The green couth that I sat on and a wooden chair were separated by a coffee table. The green curtains were held back from the window by two knotted ropes. Through the window, I could see the blue waves.

All I wanted was to jump into the sea and swim away from here until I couldn’t swim any longer. But I knew I couldn’t.

After what seemed like forever, the door clicked open, and Adelyn Ryne stepped in.

She burst into a child-like smile and squealed, “It’s time for the excitement to begin!”

We were accompanied by four Peacekeepers and our victors, Finnick Odair, who had won two years ago, and Mags Cohen, who won long before I was born.

As soon as we picked up Dylan, whose eyes were red from crying, we walked toward the train station. There would be cameras at the station, so I had to decide how I would strategize my appearance.

Dylan was so young and had been crying, so it would be easy to appear weak and then attack strongly. On the other hand, it would be nice to have some allies, but they might question Dylan’s importance. If we allied ourselves with others, we’d have to leave or kill them as soon as the numbers began to dwindle. Well, it was settled. We would make new friends and kill them. Fun.

I fortified myself. If this was going to was going to work, I needed to appear as strong as possible. What were my advantages? I was muscular. Well, I wasn’t abnormally brawny, but I was lean and fast. My hair was short, so it wouldn’t get in the way. My clothes weren’t extremely frilly, so that gave me a stronger look. Okay, that last one didn’t help me that much, but I would take what I could get.

Noticing that I was slouching, I straightened my spine and pushed my shoulders back. I slowed my gait slightly to a more confident stride. Mentally thanking myself for not crying earlier, I lifted my chin up.

I nudged Dylan. He looked at me, confused. I had almost forgotten that he was only twelve.

“Chin up,” I whispered, trying to sound comforting, “And stop crying.”

Dylan only looked at me. He looked as if he had already accepted his own death.

Finnick glanced back at us, “You should listen to her. This one’s smart. Usually, no one’s thinking about their image at this point.”

I forced myself not to blush. I was here to keep Dylan alive, not be completely girly.