POV: Calypso
I knew I shouldn't love the arena, but I did.
There was a low circle in the middle where the horn was, then a perfect ring of eight mountains around it, then miles and miles of flat ice, then a gleaming deep sapphire sea. The ice shone and sparkled in the early-morning sun. We should be getting some sort of warmth now, but the sun didn't seem to give out heat. The catacombs, caves and tunnels glistened and glittered. It was beautiful, but someone with large, shiny weapons could be very close to us here. We wouldn't know.
Me and Leo hadn't known yesterday. We had wanted to get out of the Careers's way, but Leo and I had walked so slowly. We hadn't even considered where to sleep until it was almost pitch-black. We had headed over to a large cave in the mountainside, only to be met in the entrance with three grinning faces illuminated in Leo's firelight. Two boys and a girl. Three weapons had gleamed. I screamed and Leo pulled me away, we ran, but they had been effortlessly catching up, only lagging behind to savour their kill. But Leo dragged us into a cave with a very thin entrance and they lost us. We hadn't seen Jason and Piper inside until it was much too late to hide anywhere else. But they let us stay with them for last night. Piper had even shared her warm sleeping bag with me.
When I'd woken up so early this morning, I'd decided to repay them with breakfast. Leo had discovered that the ice and snow didn't melt in fire, so lighting one in the cave was ok.
I fished Leo's box of matches out of his pocket and struck one. The same one we had been using yesterday - you never know how long the Games will take. A few rags off one of my thinner jumpers caught fire, and the snow around it stopped the fire spreading. Perfect.
I dug around in my supplies. The water would be nicer slightly heated, so I slowly placed the skin in the flames. It didn't burn, but the tips of my fingers might when I was getting it back out. A few precious slices of uncooked meat were in my coat pocket, so I held them over the flames. It might be the only good breakfast we would get. There didn't look much along the lines of animals or plants here. The workshops I'd so meticulously taken at training suddenly seemed pretty useless.
The other boy, Jason, stirred slightly as I shuffled around the fire. I placed a slightly warm hand on his forehead to keep him asleep. He turned over and settled down, shivering in his coat on the hard ground. I'd had to take mine back off Leo when I got up. The cold was terrible.
When the meat looked cooked through, I arranged it into four small portions on the floor and gingerly covered my hand with my coat to get the water skin out of the pitiful fire. I tried it immediately when I found that it wasn't actually as warm as I thought it might be. The water was still cold, but nowhere near as bad as straight from the ground.
It was a bit pointless now to wait for them to wake up, so I took Jason's tiny knife from next to his face and waited in the entrance of the cave, feeling thankful that the coats are white. No-one appeared at all. It wasn't likely that they would, seen as there were 7 other mountains to choose from, not to mention that the Careers didn't openly hunt people in daylight. At a guess, the three from last night would be napping whilst the other - 2? - kept watch.
Leo woke up first.
"Hello sunshine!" He whispered brightly. "Is that breakfast you've so lovingly prepared for us all?"
"Yes it is!" I walked over and slapped his hands away from the meat. "Wait until Jason and Piper wake up first - they deserve it!"
"You're so bossy, Sunshine!" Leo yawned and stretched out. "Nice fire you got going there." He poked at it, despite my telling him he'd burn his fingers. "You burn your knickers in that?" He grinned, looking at the burnt strips of my jumper.
"No I did not! And be careful or yours will be on the next fire!"
"You two argue like an old married couple!" Piper sat up suddenly, bleary eyed. "And you've only known each other about a week!"
I huffed. Leo had accidentally set me on fire at the workshop in training. He hadn't stopped apologising, then dragged me off at the start of the Games. Awesome friendship there.
The fire guy in question just stretched his smile out even wider.
"Let's wake Jason." Piper decides. "We need to work something out. We can't just stay here and talk."
After a few prods and pokes, Jason's eyes shoot open and we pull on the correct coats and sit around the fire.
"We could all stay together." Piper ventures. "I mean, we're doing better as a four already."
Leo munches on his chicken.
"Yeah Beauty Queen, but it makes us a huge great target, doesn't it? The Careers spot us again, and BAM!"
"Don't shout, Leo!" Three of us whisper in sync.
"Yeah yeah. Working on it."
We argue quietly for a while. Me and Piper are all for staying together, but the boys think it would be a disadvantage. ("No offence, bro!")
Finally, I decide that a compromise is in order. We agree to split into me and Leo, and Jason and Piper again, but if we see each other in the arena, we'll help each other, share supplies and provide shelter. Jason even says the unspeakable - that if one of us dies, their partner will immediately find - and be taken in by - the other pair. We make Leo's 'District 3 Bro Promise' - where he makes us waffle off a lot of stuff about never giving up on each other. We don't mind though.
By midday, I say that me and Leo really must go if we want to find somewhere to shelter. Piper hugs me so tight I almost start crying. I've only properly known her for a few hours and yet I've never had a friend like her. Jason and Leo hit each other on the back, and we all walk to the cave edge.
Piper gasps, and before I can ask if she's ok, I see that she's seen.
Huge, massive white bears patrol the flat plains around the back of the mountains. They walk so uniformly and pace along in a line around the edge, circling the arena. Mutts. They must have been around the other side yesterday.
Leo makes to step outside.
Huge mistake.
The eyes of every single bear fix onto us, blue orbs unnaturally large and pale. They break their line and pound up the mountain towards us, gargantuan paws pounding whilst the land beneath us shakes. Ice splinters into my eyes.
Jason grabs me and Piper, pushing us back through into the back of the cave. Leo follows behind. Maybe, just maybe, they won't be able to get in.
We've barely got inside when the mouth of the cave explodes into piles of snow. The walls shudder and break. We don't have time to run. Leo and Jason stand in front of us, bodies bundled in coats, but that's nothing against those horrible bears. Their heads appear, snapping and snarling through the snowstorm they've started up.
This is it.
Leo takes my hand. Jason does the same to Piper.
I'm still holding the tiny knife from earlier, so I brandish it at the bears. I swear they're smiling greedily at us. One of them looks right at me, at the small flash of silver in my hand. And he swallows it. Both my knife and my hand.
The pain is excruciating, my wrist is on fire with needles and sledgehammers going at it, whilst my head's gone so dizzy I can't phantom proper facts. I stumble against Leo and almost pass out.
In my delirious dream, a bear's claw slices through Leo. Instead of blood from the wound, a huge bronze dragon bursts forth.
I'm coming back to you Calypso. I swear it on the River Styx.
I don't know where the words come from. I've never even heard of a River Styx before. I just know that the words are important. Leo said them.
I look through the now-blue snow, falling although it fell ages ago. A bear lunges, but it's alright. I'm dreaming. It won't hit me.
Someone screams my name. A girl. Zoe? No. I haven't seen Zoe for too long. She disappeared years ago.
Piper.
I see her throw herself in front of the bear, but it's ok. I'm 10 years old, sitting there home and listening to my older sister talk. I don't know any girl called Piper.
Now someone else is shouting at me, a boy this time.
Leo! I think giddily. Leo! I'm coming!
And with that, I collapse.