The Colosseum

The Catacombs

"As if," Ajax denies a bit too defensively. "I'll prove it."

"How?" I challenge, eager for him to say...

"I'll show you them, and I'll go in and prove it."

Lips curling into a crooked smile, I nod. "Deal."

"Meet me at the arch under the king in twenty minutes. Try not to do what you do best and run away, this time," he sneers, picking up his tray and dumping it in the trash. As he crosses the café to leave, he excitedly beams at me, shiny teeth almost blinding me to the fact that I've made a huge sacrifice. I just agreed to go down to a gravesite with a guy who just admitted to wanting to frame my innards. And for what? A chance to see some skulls?

No, my instincts tell me. There's something else down there...and if there isn't now...

Ten enters the cafeteria, sulking as he snatches an apple, breathes on it, and wipes it off. Noticing me, he frowns and starts to walk my way. Not in the mood to deal with Ten when I've just managed to temporarily forget our outbreak in the sandpit, I scurry away, dumping out my trash and stalking through the tunnels.

If there's nothing in the catacombs now...then I know that somehow, there will be later...

I spend the next 20 minutes ducking behind the corners of underground halls whenever I think I hear Ten approaching – then remember if he is coming my way, I surely won't hear him. Instead, I shadow box in the corridors, pretending like I know what I'm doing. Because I definitely don't. If there's anything everybody seems to have right about me, it's that I do have a tendency to run away rather than fight or endure something. But is that a bad thing? I think the people who would prefer to kill others rather than flee are the psychos.

Slowly, I make my way towards the rendezvous point, where Ajax coolly leans against the wall, sun slanting on his tan skin. Peacefully, he leans his head against the smooth surface, his eyes closed. Sensing my presence, his body tenses as his eyes flutter open. "Wow, you showed," he purrs. "I didn't think you would, and I wanted to go to the catacombs with someone, so I went ahead and invited an extra body."

Not liking where this is going, Josephine emerges from behind Ajax, coming out from the shadow like a silhouette. "Hope you mind," she snaps, celery green eyes sizing me up. "You look in annoyingly good condition. How'd you heal so fast?"

My head still hurts, along with my palms, but everything else is pretty much painless. Leon even had the doctors go over the burn mark and mace slashes from the first fight, slathering my injuries in anti-scarring cream. The people don't like ugly competitors, so Leon made sure I had a fair shot in the ring. Or was it Ezra? It doesn't really matter, I suppose. I'm just glad everything has healed up without a mark – except for my arm. There's still a shiny line going right down the middle of the light skin, but I can only see it if I'm looking for it.

"Magic," I dully reply to Josephine, aggravating her already. To Ajax, I jerk my chin up. "We going? Or are you just going to keep stalling?"

Coldly, he grins. "Follow me, orphan."

Snickering at the insult, Josephine watches me for a reaction. Giving her none, I obey Ajax and follow in his footsteps. Pointedly, Josephine stomps her foot down right in front of me, flipping her hair as she turns away from me, whipping me in the eyes with her blonde curls. With that annoying over-sway of her hips, she makes sure to create extra distance between Ajax and I, as if I'd want to get close to him. He's all yours, I mentally assure.

The two talk in hushed tones, Josephine shooting me down with laser eyes every five seconds. I can't help but feel like I'm walking right into a trap, but something deep down is telling me that the catacombs hold a sort of secret that I need to get in on. As we walk on, Ajax and Josephine take twists and turns in this underground labyrinth that I'm unfamiliar with, but memorize for future use.