━━･❪ 🌸 ❫ ･━━

Daphne froze, her water bottle cap halfway screwed. She knew that voice behind her. That deep growl dipping with bloodlust and the promise of violence, the heavy footsteps accompanied by the sound of a large weapon being slung over a shoulder.

Daphne was almost afraid to turn around. Almost.

She whirled, a knife instantly flying. There was a metallic clang as her blade collided with not flesh, but a mace.

Cosmo broke out in a grin, an evil glint in his eyes as he lowered his weapon. He kicked aside Daphne's discarded knife, sending it skittering into some nearby bushes.

Another knife was in Daphne's hand, but she knew that he would just deflect it again if she threw it. There was no way she would win in hand-to-hand combat. His mace would club her to shreds the moment she stepped closer.

His mace. Images of that very mace ripping into the District Nine girls flashed through Daphne's mind. A chill crept up her spine, a cold drop of sweat making its way down her temple. She hastily pushed aside the memory.

Cosmo was massive, but he had rather short legs in proportion to his body. He also seemed to be alone, Glory and the other Careers nowhere in sight. He didn't have any projectile weapons either. Daphne's heart was thundering, but she tightened her grip on her water bottle and knife and worked a smirk onto her face.

"Catch me if you can, brute."

With that, Daphne shoved the knife back into her belt, turned heel and sprinted like hell. She was nowhere near the fastest runner, peaking at just average, and she prayed Cosmo wasn't either. Adrenaline sang through her veins, adding extra speed to her legs. She tore down the street, then cut to the right and clambered over a wire fence into a backyard after throwing her water bottle over first. She was across the backyard and up and over the next fence as Cosmo hacked down the first one with his mace.

Daphne silently thanked all the times she would play insane games of tag with Aedon, or Lysa and Tobe. Then she wished for a pocket of some sort, since running with a water bottle in hand was not quite practical, but it was too essential to abandon.

She heard Cosmo's lumbering footsteps behind her, thankfully not gaining but also not stopping. Daphne began to recognize her surroundings as she cut across a fourth backyard, lungs burning and throat constricting painfully. This was the street she and Azalea had been last night. Where she'd picked up a pebble she'd found on the ground.

Where a house with a hedge on the side of its porch stood.

Daphne knew it was a gamble. But this whole Game was one big gamble. Might as well put on a show.

She slowed her pace the slightest bit, only to allow Cosmo the illusion of gaining. As Daphne dashed past the rigged porch, she launched a knife towards the front steps where the invisible tripwires crisscrossed.

The knife sank into the old wood with ease, and the tripwires flitted into view as they snapped free. And right as Cosmo was lumbering past the stairs, there was a clicking sound from the hedge.

Cosmo's roar of pain was deafening.

Daphne skidded to a halt and turned to find the brute collapsed on the ground, his mace skittering out of his hands. He clutched at his right leg, where a long crossbow bolt was embedded into his flesh. The bolt was covered with some sort of fine, white powder.

Cosmo yanked the bolt out of his leg with a guttural scream, then crawled for his mace. He couldn't seem to stand up, and the skin around his wound was rapidly turning into a rotted shade of black.

The door to the house flung open, and a second powder-covered bolt shot forward. It sank deep into the flesh at the back of Cosmo's neck with an eruption of blood, its gorey tip sticking out of his throat. Cosmo dropped like a stone, his body instantly growing limp. His hand was still outstretched towards his mace. Daphne could only stand and stare, mouth agape, as a cannon shot split the air.

"I knew you'd show up in some dramatic fashion sooner or later," Rye emerged from the shadows inside the house, a long crossbow clutched in his hands. He glanced at the knife sticking out of the front porch steps, then the snapped wires.

Daphne almost laughed, but her lungs struggled to take in air after her frantic sprint. What came out was a soundless gasp.

Light footsteps pattered down the path, and Daphne glanced up to find a blur of bushy brown hair tearing towards her. Azalea, golden eyes frantic, froze in her tracks as she beheld Cosmo's broken body on the ground, his flesh turning black and rotted before their eyes. Daphne almost gagged. Whatever powder had coated those bolts was a deadly one.

Azalea looked from Rye, to Daphne, to Cosmo, then back to Daphne. "I slept in for five minutes!"

Daphne offered a half-hearted shrug, her heart rate beginning to slow down back to normal. Azalea then let out a gasp, bending down and scooping up the bolt that Cosmo had pulled out of his leg, regardless that it was still wet with blood. "Is this poison?"

"Put that down, right now!" Rye suddenly exploded, frantically dashing towards Azalea and knocking the bolt from her hands. "You don't have any open wounds, do you?"

A chill crept down Daphne's spine. "Azalea, your nail marks. On your palms. They were bleeding this morning."

Rye spat a curse under his breath as Azalea paled as white as a sheet. She looked down at her hands, who were now trembling. The white powder had gathered and sank into her cuts like magnets drawn to metal.

"It hurts, oh damn, it hurts." She whimpered, her face twisting into a grimace. "It hurts!"

"I have an antidote, but we have to hurry." Rye told Daphne, his dark eyes shadowed. "Take her inside, but don't touch her hands."

With that, Rye turned and rushed into the house. Azalea buckled to her knees, hands shaking violently as tears glimmered in her eyes. Daphne swooped behind her and hooked her arms under Azalea's armpits, catching her before she could pitch forward.

"Can you stand?" Daphne asked, attempting to haul Azalea to her feet. Azalea only flopped against Daphne, choking out a weak groan. Daphne frowned, resorting to half-dragging her friend towards the porch steps. Azalea went limp as soon as they reached the front door, and it was Daphne's turn to curse.

Daphne shook Azalea several times, perhaps more violently than necessary. Azalea's head simply lolled to the side, passed out cold. Daphne removed the backpack from Azalea's shoulders, then grimaced as she realized that the skin around Azalea's cuts was darkening fast.

"Don't you dare die on me, you insufferable-"

There was a sound of rapid footsteps bolting down the stairs, and Rye was by Daphne's side in an instant. He had a small, red pill in his hand, which Daphne guessed was the antidote. He gently pried Azalea's mouth open, needing to probe the pill down her throat as she wasn't conscious to swallow it herself.

Daphne held her breath, staring at Azalea as Rye sat back and eased her mouth closed. Azalea didn't stir. Not even a flutter of eyelids to suggest that the pill was at work. Daphne held a finger underneath Azalea's nose, needing assurance that her friend wasn't dead. Her exhales were startlingly faint.

"It's working, but she might be out for a while." Rye said, his voice strangely rough. He dragged a hand through his spiky black hair, and Daphne tried not to think how Aedon used to do the same when he was stressed.

Rye took Daphne's water bottle, which was miraculously still in Daphne's hand even after the frantic chase, and poured water over Azalea's hands. Daphne watched the fine white powder wash onto the wooden panels of the porch beneath her feet.

Daphne and Rye worked together to carry Azalea up the stairs and safely into one of the upstairs rooms after all the poison had been washed from her hands. Standing there, looking down on Azalea lying limp on the ground, Daphne couldn't help but think she looked dead.

"Is the discoloration going to go away?" Daphne asked, staring at the dark splotches on Azalea's palms where the poison had taken hold.

"It's not just discoloration," Rye pursed his lips. "It's the skin rotting. I'm not sure if it can heal, we may have to end up cutting off the damaged parts so that healthy skin can regrow."

A shudder went down Daphne's spine. She zipped open Azalea's backpack, when she'd slung over her own shoulder, and pulled out the plaid blanket. She laid it over Azalea's unconscious form.

"You're bleeding," Rye said, his eyes trained on Daphne's arm. Daphne glanced down to find splotches of red peeking through her bandage. She muttered a curse, peeling it back. All that action had torn through the delicate beginnings of healing.

"Don't worry about me," She said, turning to him. "You saved Azalea's life. And my own sorry ass from being ripped apart."

To Daphne's surprise, Rye chuckled. "Well, you didn't quite give me a choice, did you? August was right; there's never a dull moment with you."

"Okay, well, you're the one who got your hands on crossbows and poison." Daphne rummaged through Azalea's backpack, tossing Rye an apple. He caught it, examining it with gratitude.

"I got the poison and the antidote pill from a sponsor." Rye explained, biting into the apple with a small spray of juice. "The two crossbows I took off a dead tribute I stumbled across. Probably a Career. Used one for the trap outside and kept one on me for protection."

Daphne grinned despite everything. "Thank you."

Rye's gaze seemed to soften. "Well, we've got to look after each other in the arena, don't we? For the time being."

Daphne's smile faltered. For the time being.

Before at least one of us has to die.

The unspoken words hung like a cloud in the room, and Daphne turned back to Azalea. Her chest was rising and falling, shallow but steady.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to ruin the mood," Rye said hastily. "I'm glad to see you, Daphne. It's been pretty lonely by myself, if I were to be honest. You're free to stay as long as you'd like, only if you promise not to slit my throat in my sleep or eat all the strawberries in the backyard."

Daphne perked. "There's strawberries in your backyard?"

Rye blanched. "Oh dear, I've said too much."

Daphne huffed a chuckle, adjusting her belt of knives. "I suppose that's why you've rigged the front steps? To keep people away from your strawberries?"

"Hey, I take strawberries very seriously."

"Valid, but when I'm on the night watch shift, no promises you won't be missing a few in the morning."

Rye laughed, and despite what Azalea had said the previous night, Daphne felt her heart warm. Rye may not be Aedon, but that didn't mean Daphne could not trust him. Nothing about him gave Daphne any reason to doubt him, and he had saved Azalea from the poison. He could've shot Daphne with his crossbow, but instead ended Cosmo. Perhaps it was because he saw Cosmo as a bigger threat if the Career were to survive than Daphne.

Or perhaps, Daphne had really found another ally in the Game.

***

Theron lingered outside the convenience store. Day Four in the arena had passed without much excitement, after his high from killing the tribute last night. Now, the moon was high in the sky once again, and he was waiting.

He'd snuck out while on his night watch shift. Caelum had been sound asleep, occasionally shifting and muttering unconsciously. Theron had been out waiting for almost an hour.

Another thirty minutes passed, and Theron huffed in frustration.

"Where are you?" He grumbled through gritted teeth. Caelum would be waking up soon to take over the shift.

Theron shook his head, kicked at a pebble and headed back to the shelter.

━━･❪ 🌸 ❫ ･━━