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"Welcome Finnick, son of Poseidon," Chiron smiled gravely, nodding at the handsome boy with a headful of copper curls. The other campers, myself included, gaped at the glowing trident positioned over his head, none of us having ever seen the symbol in-person before. It cast a green light over the pavilion that nearly overpowered the glow of the campfire.
"Wow, does this mean I'm like the Little Mermaid now?" Finnick asked, eyes wide and bright. He looked down at the plastic bottle of water he had caused to explode, resulting in his godly claiming, and then up at the symbol of Poseidon. "Cool!" He pawed at the air above him as if trying to give the trident a high-five.
Most people were caught off guard by his comment. Mr. D slowly turned to Chiron, both eyebrows raised shockingly close to his hairline. Cato laughed so hard that he fell off the log we were sitting on. Gale and I grabbed him under his arms and hauled him back up. He waved us off, still snickering.
"This kid is gonna get eaten alive," Gale muttered, staring apprehensively at Finnick, who was grinning innocently at the baffled people around him.
"Have a little more fait-" I began to protest but stopped as the new kid started singing "Part of Your World." Holy Hades. "Yeah, I take it back, he won't last a week."
"He's been here less than a day and he's already managed to make enemies." Gale nodded towards Cato's half-siblings, Brutus and Enobaria, who hated anything remotely fun or happy. They were glaring at Finnick as if he had just killed their pet hamster. Finnick continued to sing, incorporating some dance moves into the routine as he pranced around the fire pit, taking no notice of the scowling Ares campers.
"At least he's a better singer than Marvel," I said meekly, experiencing a strong wave of secondhand embarrassment.
"Eaten alive," Cato echoed Gale's words, shaking his head.
"Which is why we're gonna help him," Gale said, a slow smile spreading across his normally neutral face.
I studied the singing boy and then the rest of the campers. Glimmer and Cashmere, who had only just been eyeing up Finnick an hour ago in traditional Aphrodite cabin fashion, had crestfallen, slightly disappointed looks on their faces. Clove and Johanna were snickering next to Cressida, who was slowly turning red from holding in her laughter. Peeta and Annie were smiling politely and nodding along in a baffled sort of way. Thresh had an expression of disbelief on his face while Marvel looked like a kid on Christmas morning. Prim, the only other Apollo camper I shared both a mother and father with, was mouthing along to the song. "Yeah, he's gonna need all the help he can get."
"This is really nice of you guys to offer to show me around," Finnick said with a genuine, albeit confused, smile. Once his song had finally come to an end, the three of us cornered him around the campfire to introduce ourselves and force our help onto him. "But, uh, shouldn't my own cabin be doing that?" He looks over Cato and Gale's broad shoulders as if expecting to see a group of ten bronze-haired kids waiting for him.
Gale and Cato stayed silent as they shared an awkward glance before turning to me expectantly. I scowled at their puny emotional capacities and turned to address Finnick, quickly thinking up the kindest way to tell him that he was all alone. "It's time for a quick history lesson, New Kid. Poseidon is one of the three gods who make up the Big Three-"
"Is that a singing group?" Finnick asked with a snort. He met my eyes and fell silent.
"Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon are the most powerful gods, hence the name. Because of their power-"
"Why are the three most powerful gods men? Seems kinda sexist, don't you think?" Finnick tapped his chin thoughtfully.
"Okay good observation, but that's totally not the point. Anyway, the Big Three took a vow to stop having demigod children-"
"But why?"
"Oh my Zeus you ask a lot of questions." I massaged my temples, feeling my patience cracking even further as lightning crackled across the dark sky overhead. "Because of a prophecy, okay? A big, scary prophecy. And because of this prophecy, you technically aren't allowed to exist."
"Hurtful," Finnick whined, putting his hands over his heart as he tossed his head back to let out a fake sob towards the sky.
My eye twitched ever so slightly. Cato and Gale looked back and forth between me and Finnick, grinning either at my impatience or Finnick's unnecessary comments. Probably both, those assholes. "What I'm trying to say is that you don't have any half-siblings here at camp. None that we know of, at least I think there's still a couple of unclaimed demigods in the Hermes cabin, though, so who knows?"
Finnick's bottom lip jutted out. "Wait, so that means I'm all alone?"
"Yes," Cato said honestly before I could answer. He received elbow jabs to both sides from me and Gale. "But look on the bright side, that means you get a whole cabin to yourself," he wheezed.
"Oh." Finnick genuinely looked sad, his face falling in disappointment as he processed my words. "That's okay, I guess, I'm used to being alone." We gave him confused looks, prompting him to continue. "I was abandoned as a baby, shoved into the arms of an orphanage worker by my druggie mother. Hell, she could be dead by now for all I know. And until now, I didn't even know who my dad was, I guess I always assumed he was a druggie like my mom. I've been in the foster system for as long as I can remember."
"That's awful, man," Cato sniffed, looking as if he was actually blinking away tears. Softie. But Finnick's story was pretty sad.
My eyes softened slightly and I uncrossed my arms. "Well, you may not have any siblings, but you can count on us to help you adjust." I offered him a small smile.
Finnick's forlorn expression turned into a dazzling smile. "You really mean that? Aww, you guys!" He threw his arms around me, Cato, and Gale and pulled us into a tight hug, causing our heads to smash together painfully. "Best friends forever! Can I call you my cousins? Wait, Apollo and Ares are Poseidon's nephews, so that would actually make us…um? "
"Oh man, don't even get started on that," Gale groaned, shaking his head wildly. "Too complicated, don't even ask."
"So isn't this whole camp technically related to one another?" Finnick finally released us, allowing us to compose ourselves.
"Like Gale said, it's complicated," Cato shrugged, rubbing his head. "But basically, you're only really related to the people in your cabin, everyone else is fair game to date."
"Wonderful." Finnick flashed his white teeth at us. I wondered briefly if I should start wearing sunglasses around him, his smile was abnormally bright. "So do the other two big dudes have any illegal children? Or am I their only embarrassment?"
"Nah, dude, you're not that special. Messalla is a son of Hades and Zeus has one daughter here, Madge." Cato pointed out Madge, who was sitting next to Lavinia, and Messalla, who was talking with Cressida and Clove.
"Cool," Finnick said, squinting at Messalla in the distance. "Hey, is that a peacock following him?"
"Yep," I snickered, watching as Clove tried pushing the bird away with the toe of her shoe only to have it screech at her. "There's no Hades cabin here yet, so he stays in the Hera cabin, which is really supposed to be here for honorary purposes only. She was obviously pissed about that and sent one of her sacred animals to follow him around and peck him every so often."
"A peacock," Finnick repeated with a chuckle.
"Which brings us to our first rule of surviving Camp Half-Blood, don't piss off the gods. Especially the Big Three and Hera," Cato's voice dropped, "they can be extremely petty, especially Hera." The peacock that had been following Messalla suddenly twitched and turned its beady gaze towards Cato. Cressida, Messalla, Clove, Gale, and I watched open-mouthed as the peacock broke out into a jagged sprint. Cato gulped, turned around, and ran at full speed away from the fire pit, the peacock following not far behind.
"Cato has just given a perfect example of what not to do," I said over the sound of Clove and Gale laughing their heads off. Clove was actually doubled-over, wheezing as she clutched at her stomach.
Finnick hadn't seemed to have heard me, he was too busy squinting in the direction of cabins. "Is my cabin the shiny gold one?" He asked hopefully, bouncing on the balls of his feet as he peered over my shoulder.
Gale tried not to smirk. "No, that's ours. Yours is the short, green one. See? It's right next to the two big ones."
"Bummer." Finnick was practically drooling as he gazed at the polished roof of my cabin. I made a mental note of that, Finnick gets distracted by shiny things. Must be ADHD.
Gale and I took him by the arms and steered him towards the neat rows of cabins. "Come on, we'll show you to your cabin." As we began to walk, Cato breezed past us, the peacock hot on his heels.
The next morning I got in line with my cabinmates and trudged out of our cabin, yawning as I let my eyes adjust to the blinding sun.
Prim, the ever-sunny morning person, smiled up at the sky and waved. "Good morning, Dad!" Maybe it was a trick of the light but the sun flashed briefly, almost as though it was winking at us. The rest of us chuckled and Gale ruffled Prim's hair.
There was a nice distribution of "classic" Apollo traits in our cabin which Dad must be proud of. Gale and I were exceptional at archery, never ever missing a single target. Cinna, our head counselor, excelled at drawing and Venia had a certain talent with a paintbrush. Cressida enjoyed more unconventional artistic expression including filmography, theater, and photography. Leevy loved to sing and her voice was as clear as a flute, I happily obliged every time she asked me to be her duet partner. And our darling little Prim, only twelve years old, was a blossoming healer who had probably patched up every camper at least twice in the past year.
I was smiling at my siblings when Gale shook me out of my stupor, tossing his head in the direction of the Poseidon cabin. We called out goodbyes to Cinna, whom we had previously informed about our arrangements with Finnick, and started walking.
"Glad we're missing cabin inspections," Gale smirked as we breezed past the Ares cabin. "I heard Madge is in charge of them this week, you know how nitpicky she can be."
"Guess we should've warned Finnick about that," I muttered back, nodding in the direction of the Poseidon cabin, from which Madge and Finnick had just emerged. Madge was waving her clipboard wildly, which was never a good sign. We shared a look and quickened our pace.
"What do you mean I got a one out of five?" Finnick was saying defensively as we approached them. "What does that even mean?"
"It means you've been here one night and have already managed to trash your living space." Madge glared at him. "I mean, honestly! It's like a tornado went off in there! And don't get me started on the dust."
"But I don't even own that much stuff," Finnick protested. "I've only just unpacked!"
"This is a good lesson, then. I'm sure next time you'll do much better."
"Come on, the two of us are too pretty to be fighting over something this small," Finnick tried in a soothing voice, which only seemed to infuriate Madge more.
"Cut him some slack, Madge," Gale intervened, stepping forward. "You know better than any of us what it's like adapting to an empty cabin, Finn just needs some time to adjust. Don't make it harder for him by giving him a low inspection score, that only leads to dish duty."
Madge looked back and forth between Finnick and Gale, both of whom were putting on their best winning smiles. She then looked at me but I only shrugged helplessly, causing her to groan. "Fine! You get a two, no higher. Consider this a warning." She tossed her blonde hair over her shoulder and made a clean exit, giving me her usual small smile as she passed.
"That should get you out of cleaning duty," Gale sighed as the three of us watched Madge march across the lawn towards the Demeter cabin. "Hermes cabin almost always gets a one, that should prevent you from ranking last."
"We should've warned you sooner," I said in an apologetic tone, turning back to Finnick. "Which I guess brings us to rule number two, keep your cabin clean or you'll pay the price. Messiest cabins always get kitchen duty or some other cleaning project, it would be a shame if you had to, seeing as you're the only Poseidon cabin member."
"Is everyone this anal about tidiness?" Finnick grumbled, running his fingers through his hair.
"Nah, man, you just happened to get the best and worst person for the job," Gale said, watching as Madge walked across the lawn a second time and entered the Ares cabin next door. He suddenly snickered, his smile turning mischievous. "I didn't see Cato with the other Ares campers, I'll bet my bow he's overslept and his asshole siblings didn't wake him up." Sure enough, we heard Madge yelling a moment later. The door of Cabin 5 flew open and Cato was shoved outside, bleary-eyed and wearing only boxers. He looked around, confused, before his gaze landed on us. He waved at us before looking down at what he was wearing. A look of horror crossed over his face.
"Nice outfit, Beef for Brains," Haymitch called from all the way down the row of cabins, leaning lazily against the Dionysus cabin's porch. He fist-bumped a snickering Chaff.
"Oh man, that is priceless," I snorted, very much wishing I had Cressida's camera with me.
"She's pretty," Finnick said for probably the fifth time that morning as we trudged past the open structure that was the Arts and Crafts hut. We were in the middle of his tour of the camp, which had commenced immediately after breakfast. He was currently looking at Cressida, admiring the way the sun caught in her wavy blonde hair.
"Yeah? She's our sister, don't even think about it," Gale grumbled, shooting Finnick a suspicious look.
"Plus you've said that about every girl we've passed," I added skeptically, my patience for Finnick weakening every time he ran off to flirt with someone new.
"There's a lot of pretty ladies around these parts," Finnick shrugged innocently.
"You've got plenty of time to think about girls, for now you need to focus on getting acquainted with the camp," Gale said pointedly, probably hoping to divert Finnick's attention away from our sister.
"I guess you're right," Finnick grumbled, rolling his eyes. He stopped to stretch, still staring at the hut. "Man, this camp is big! I feel like we've been walking all day."
"But it's only ten," I muttered, staring up at the sun.
"Ten is early," Finnick complained.
"You can say that again," Cato, who had never been a morning person, grumbled.
"We should've brought Prim along with us," Gale said under his breath to me. "Maybe she could've turned them into morning people, even just for a day."
"If anyone could do it, it would be Prim," I whispered back.
"Hey, no secret Apollo conversations! That's basically bullying," Cato cut us off with his stupid whiny voice.
"How the hell is it bullying?" Gale raised an eyebrow.
"You're outwardly excluding your friends," Cato said matter-of-factly.
"Well I think-wait, where the hell did he go?" I looked around wildly, for Finnick had completely disappeared.
Cato suddenly chuckled. "Are we sure this kid isn't an Aphrodite spawn?" I followed his line of vision to see Finnick sauntering into the Arts and Crafts hut. He reached Cressida's table and leaned against it flirtatiously, prompting her to put down her paintbrush. Gale let out an elongated groan and raced after him, Cato and I following not far behind.
"-turns out I'm a Poseidon kid, cool, huh?" Finnick was saying as we reached the pair. "That means I'm awesome at swimming, of course." Cressida leaned around him to make eye contact with me. She jerked her head towards Finnick with a bemused smile, as if asking, can you believe him? I rolled my eyes in response and shrugged.
"Time to go." Gale pulled Finnick away by the collar mid-sentence. Finnick managed to choke out a goodbye as he was dragged out of the hut.
"Bye Cressie," I called over my shoulder, trying not to laugh too hard.
Throughout his tour, Finnick proved to be a wanderer, slipping out of our sight at any given moment because he got distracted by something. It was almost like babysitting a happy-go-lucky puppy. Every silly thing he did had caused Gale and Cato to be in a constant state of laughter. He also managed to flirt with three other girls, including Clove, who sucker-punched him in the stomach and flounced away with a flick of her ponytail. Cato's grin, which had been plastered across his face all morning, had grown even wider, if possible, at that exchange.
I found myself growing weary from chasing Finnick around, but my appreciation for him was, unfortunately, growing alongside it. Despite his less appealing qualities, he was wickedly funny and pleasant to be around for the most part.
I had to admit, I was jealous of Finnick's ability to make friends. When Prim and I first came to camp, it had taken me what felt like ages to adapt. It took days for me to even talk to the other campers. I'd like to credit his older age for his magnificent social skills (I was, after all, only thirteen when I came to camp), but I think Finnick just naturally drew people in, unlike myself. He made fast friends with Marvel, who introduced himself by stealing Finnick's wallet; Haymitch, who offered to sell him weed at a discount; and Blight, who laughed so hard at his stories that he choked on his apple at lunchtime. He practically knew everybody by the time we were done with the tour.
"So what now?" Finnick asked jovially, on an extrovert's high as we left the forge. We came to a natural stop at the outskirts of the strawberry fields.
I picked up Gale's wrist and peered down at his watch. "Hmm, we've got a little bit of time before your appointment at the Armory. What would you like to do?"
"How about introducing him to your favorite friend?" A snarky voice called out from behind us.
"Well, I don't know about favorite," Gale muttered as we all turned towards the source of the voice.
"You're just saying that," Johanna sniffed, falling into her usual stance that included a jutted hip and crossed arms. "Everyone knows you've been in love with me for years now. Or so Gloss theorized before I threatened to punch his stupid pretty face." Gale sputtered out a string of protests as the rest of us snickered. Johanna had a knack for making people uncomfortable in record timing. Cato pulled her into a headlock which she bravely fought against until she was released after kicking him in the shin, causing his grip to immediately loosen.
"Jo, this is Finnick," I introduced as Johanna straightened out her clothes. "He's the new kid, son of Poseidon. Finnick, Johanna."
"Don't even think about it, Fish Face," Johanna held up her palm before Finnick could let out a flirtatious comment, which I had no doubt he was planning on doing. "Say one stupid thing and I'll shove my ax down your throat."
Finnick's mouth snapped shut, though he grinned. "I can see the family resemblance," he said, his eyes darting back and forth between Cato and Johanna. I chuckled at his statement, for Cato was a big, beefy mountain of a person whereas Johanna was as petite as a wood nymph. They did, however, have matching sneers that curled across their mouths and similar competitive sparkles in their eyes.
"Little bro has nothing on me," Johanna scoffed, straightening up to her full height of 5'4. "He may have the size but he's useless when it comes to anything involving strategy, smarts, agility, discreetness-"
"Okay, that's enough of that," Cato groaned, cutting Johanna off mid-list.
"Charmed to meet you," Finnick took Johanna's hand and shook it, looking down at her admiringly. "Are you the one I've heard so much about who vandalized the pegasus stables? I'm in awe of your work."
Johanna smirked. "I like you, new kid, you've got good taste." She released his hand and turned to address me. "Cress told me and Clove that she managed to get a photo of Cato this morning, expect to receive a printed copy soon."
My face lit up in a grin as Cato groaned again, ducking his head in embarrassment. "Thank the Gods! I was devastated when I thought that no one had captured that precious moment on film."
"How much do you want to bet Clove is going to hang her copy over her bed?" Johanna whispered to me, out of earshot of Cato.
"If you ask me, she's going to put it in a frame," I whispered back. "I wouldn't be surprised if she was in the Arts and Crafts hut now, making one out of popsicle sticks."
"Popsicle sticks?" Johanna scoffed. "Please! More like she'll have Thresh or Darius weld one out of solid gold."
"You guys," Cato grumbled, assuming that we were still making fun of him rather than Clove. "Come on."
"Your fault for oversleeping," Gale, who was known to often side with Cato, said in a last-minute act of betrayal.
"Well at least Finnick didn't-ahh, there he goes again." Cato facepalmed and all of our eyes simultaneously fell on Finnick, who was practically prancing over to where the Demeter campers were picking strawberries on top of the hill. It was obvious that he was making a beeline towards the cabin's head counselor, Annie.
"Does the camp store carry any dog leashes?" Gale asked, genuinely serious, as we chased after the rogue loverboy, bidding Johanna a hasty goodbye.
"I don't know, but they should," I grumbled, deciding that I had never done so much babysitting on any of the previous tours I had given.
"At least he didn't choose the worst place to run off to," Gale said as we waded through thick bushes ladened with berries. He snatched several off one of the short plants and twisted the tops off before popping them into his mouth.
"Hey, Katniss!" I suddenly found myself face-to-face with a smiling Peeta Mellark, son of Demeter and probably the last genuinely nice person left on the planet. Gale and Cato continued to move towards Finnick, leaving me alone with Peeta.
"Peeta, hey!" I smiled back tentatively, putting up a hand to shield my eyes. "It seems like I can always find you out here."
"Oh yeah, I practically live in the strawberry patch," he jested, his eyes dancing with playfulness.
"There are worse places to live," I jabbed back, eyeing the freckles spattered across the bridge of his nose.
"And what do you happen to be doing here at my humble abode?" He set down his crate of strawberries. "Not that I don't appreciate the visit."
"Oh you know, just babysitting the new kid," I tossed my head in the direction of Finnick, who was busy chatting up a blushing Annie. Apparently Cato and Gale had given up on wrangling Finnick, for they were both laying splayed out in the field, allowing a giggling Rue to drop berries into their open mouths. "It's like he's only just discovered the joys of female companionship," I muttered as we watched Finnick and Annie talk.
Peeta's eyebrows shot up. "Should I be worried?" He asked, looking at Annie nervously.
I hesitated slightly, should he be worried? I couldn't really speak to Finnick's fidelity except for the fact that I had seen him flirting with several other girls. I could understand Peeta's worry, Annie was sweet but also a little unstable at times. She probably didn't need someone like Finnick shaking up her life anytime soon.
It seemed as though Peeta had taken my silence as a bad sign because he moved to go intervene in the pair's conversation. I quickly reached out a hand to stop him. "Nah, he's harmless. But I'll give him a firm talking to, don't worry." I couldn't help but notice that the whole "protective big brother" act looked great on Peeta. On Gale, it was just plain annoying and patronizing.
He smiled. "Thanks, I appreciate it. It's always best to avoid broken hearts when we can, right? Hey listen," his voice suddenly dropped into a sly whisper. "I'm on kitchen duty this week and they're making strawberry shortcake on Saturday."
I perked up immediately. "I'm listening." Strawberry shortcake was my favorite dessert, I briefly wondered if Peeta knew that.
"There's an extra serving with your name on it if you're interested." My mouth fell open and as I stared into his eyes, I briefly wondered if he would say yes if I asked him to marry me on the spot. "I'm assuming that's a yes?"
"Yes, a thousand times yes!" I burst out, blushing slightly at the implication of those words, especially after what I had just been thinking about. "You're the best, thank you!"
It was his turn to blush. "Aw shucks, it's nothing," he said in a silly Southern accent.
Before I could make a retort about his failed attempt at an Alabaman accent, Gale breezed past us, herding Finnick down the hill. "Time to go, Kat, we're late for Finn's appointment at the Armory."
"Guess that's my cue to leave," I said with a sigh, suddenly irritated at the fact that Finnick couldn't find his way to the Armory on his own.
"Thanks for dropping by." Peeta gave me a lopsided smile as he reached down towards his basket. "For you, as a parting gift." He dropped a particularly large strawberry into my open palm proudly.
"It looks like a heart!" I couldn't help but point out as I stared down at the berry. Cato snickered at my comment as he walked past, prompting me to push him into a particularly thick strawberry bush. Served him right, asshole. Ignoring his groans, I smiled up at Peeta and bid him goodbye, taking extra care to step on Cato as I followed behind Finnick and Gale towards the Armory.
"That pretty girl mentioned something called The Games, what was she talking about?" Finnick asked once I caught up and moved in between them.
"Annie," I corrected him.
"Annie," he echoed, smiling slightly.
"The Games are a Friday tradition for us," Gale said, guiding Finnick away from a yellow flower that he had stopped to stare at.
"Originally it was Capture the Flag that we played, but over the years we've altered it to make it more epic," I told him. Cato came up panting behind us and fell in step beside us. He shot me a glare and rubbed the spot on his back where my foot had been. I smiled back innocently.
"Cool." Finnick's eyes were alight with excitement. "Tell me more."
"Every week, two campers are selected from each cabin to compete against the other cabins. They're given a bandana to tuck into their pocket and sent out into the woods to "survive" for as long as they can."
"Essentially, it's Capture the Flag, only you're trying to capture other people's flags. Once yours gets taken, you're out," Gale added. "Last one to still have theirs wins."
"Cool," Finnick repeated, then frowned. "But aren't there only so many campers from each cabin? Like what about the Big Three? They only have one kid each, that's not very fair."
"The campers who didn't get picked to represent their own cabin have the chance to represent the other cabins who don't have enough members, like the Big Three and Artemis cabins," I explained. "So for example, if Gale and Cressida were randomly chosen for my cabin, I could be entered in the drawing for the less populated cabins."
"I actually represented your cabin last week, Fish Face," Gale said with a smirk. "Made it to the final five and everything."
"He would've gotten further too if I hadn't taken his flag," Cato bragged. "But The Games are a good time, we get to use our weapons and everything."
"Since I'm the only person in my cabin, does that mean I have to participate every week?" Finnick asked in a slightly whiny voice. "Sounds like a lot of work to me."
"Oh trust me, you're gonna want to be competing every week," Cato assured him. "People vie for a spot on the roster every week, it's a coveted role."
"If you say so," Finnick said skeptically. The rest of us exchanged smirks, knowing very well that his attitude would soon change.
We finally made it to the Armory where Thresh outfitted Finnick with a trident that nearly took Cato's eye out the moment it was placed in Finnick's hand.
"Stop twirling that," Cato snapped, dodging a second time as the trident came dangerously near his face as we left the Armory.
"Oh man, this thing is cool," Finnick gushed, staring at the trident as though it were made of pure gold instead of faded bronze. "Careful, maybe I'll use it on you during The Games," he said with a wink, waving it around.
"You don't even know how to use that thing," Gale protested, dodging away from the flailing weapon.
"I'm a quick learner," Finnick sent us a cheeky smirk. I winced slightly as we passed a couple of Hermes girls but to my surprise, he paid them no attention. Cato, Gale, and I exchanged surprised glances at Finnick's sudden character development. From what we had observed through the day, flirting was a natural instinct of his, so this sudden change certainly didn't go unnoticed. Come to think of it, he'd been grinning like an idiot ever since we'd dragged him out of the strawberry patch.
"What the hell?" Cato hissed under his breath.
"Can we go to the Arena and train?" Finnick asked eagerly, ignoring our baffled expressions.
"Um, sure," I said uncertainly, still in slight shock.
"Great, I want to test this baby out before The Games." And with a twirl of his trident, Finnick trudged ahead of the rest of us, completely ignoring a second gaggle of leering girls. They looked disappointed when he failed to acknowledge them.
"What the hell?" Gale repeated Cato's words.
"This is a bad idea," I muttered as Gale and I left our cabin at a little past eleven that night. Finnick had insisted that he wanted to get in as much training as he could before tomorrow night, so we devised a plan to sneak down to the Arena while everyone was sleeping. Or, more accurately, Cato and Finnick had made a stupid plan and dragged me and Gale into it.
Gale shrugged, causing his quiver of arrows to jostle around on his back. "Finnick needs all the training he can get, you saw him with that trident today. Consider it us doing him a favor."
"Yeah? Well, he'd better return the favor when the dryads catch us out after curfew," I grumbled, remembering oh-too-vividly the last time I was caught out past curfew. I smelled like Pegasus manure for days after that little excursion.
"Oh ye have little faith, Kitty Kat," Finnick sang as he danced out of his cabin, kicking the door shut noisily.
"Keep it down!" I hissed, ignoring his stupid nickname and looking around wildly for any signs that someone had heard him. My gaze lingered particularly long on the big Zeus cabin. Though we were good friends, Madge's entire skeleton was made up of tattletale bones, she simply could not lie about things. The cabin windows stayed dark, though. "Cato better hurry up before someone sees us." I glared at the bloodred Ares cabin, impatiently tapping my foot.
"Wait, just a second!" Finnick hissed before trotting across the lawn towards the Demeter cabin. We watched as he picked up a small stone and chucked it at one of the windows. Moments later, Peeta emerged, putting his knife in the sheath at his hip.
"Meet my new friend Peeta!" Finnick announced happily, pulling him into an affectionate headlock and dragging him back to Gale and I as we simultaneously shushed him. "We met down at the beach earlier."
"Nice to meet you," Peeta tried to joke, but his voice was strained as he attempted to free himself from Finnick's grip.
"Finn, we know him," Gale rolled his eyes. "You're the new kid here, not us. Remember?"
"I hope you don't mind if I tag along, Finnick invited me earlier," Peeta said somewhat sheepishly.
"Not at all," I said immediately and Peeta smiled.
"No offense but you're one of the last people I'd expect to be okay with sneaking out after dark," Gale addressed Peeta honestly.
Peeta shrugged good-naturedly. "Yeah, honestly I get why. But I've only just recovered from a wrist wound and I need to get back in shape if I'm going to be allowed on a quest anytime soon."
Finnick perked up suddenly. "When can I go on a quest?" He demanded to know, looking back and forth between the three of us.
"When you learn how to use a trident," Gale quipped. Finnick stuck out his tongue.
Cato finally stumbled out of the Ares cabin, rubbing at his sleepy eyes. After chastising him for taking too long, we were off. I kept looking at the cabins, expecting a light to go at any moment. And finally one did.
"Evening, losers. Tell me, what are you doing out past curfew?" A voice practically dripping with honey purred, causing us to halt in our tracks. Cato and I exchanged knowing glances and we slowly turned around to find Dionysus's only daughter hanging out of her cabin window.
"You're up late," Finnick commented innocently as he stared up at Clove. Gale and Peeta looked like deer caught in the headlights. Cato, meanwhile, was grinning.
"I swear if you tell your dad," I said to Clove in a warning voice.
"You'll strangle me with your bow, yada yada. I know the drill." Clove plucked a grape off a vine growing near her window and popped it into her mouth. "My lips are sealed."
"Good," I said with a smirk. Clove and I had found the perfect balance between friendship and rivalry in our three years of knowing each other. It kept us on our toes and made things interesting when the days got long.
"So you won't tell him?" Finnick asked somewhat anxiously, dancing from foot to foot.
Clove rolled her eyes. "I know you're new and all, Fish Face, but you should know that Madge is the town crier, not me. So no, I won't."
Peeta and Finnick simultaneously sighed in relief. Cato unnecessarily stepped forward and shot her a winning smile. "Thanks, Clo. I really appreciate it."
Clove's face turned a deep shade of red and the vines surrounding her cabin shot up twice in size. I didn't even try to hide my snicker. "You never answered my question, what are you doing?" She asked once she had finally recovered, the color leaving her face as quickly as it came. She tossed a grape at me and it bounced off my forehead.
"We're heading down to the Arena to get Finnick ready for The Games tomorrow. Hopefully we can whip him into shape," Gale said as he poked Finnick in the stomach.
"Puhleeze," Finnick scoffed. "Have you seen me? I'm ripped." He flexed his arms for good measure. "Want me to take my shirt off? Bare skin only adds to the effect."
"Gods no!" The five of us shouted, shielding our eyes.
"Hurtful."
"So the Arena, huh? Take me with you," Clove begged. "Haymitch and Chaff snore like a pair of elephants, they're driving me crazy. I wish they'd just go back to college already."
"What do you say, boys?" I asked my friends. "Are you up for another rule-breaking companion?"
"Sure," Gale shrugged.
"The more the merrier," Finnick shot finger guns.
"We'd love it if you came," Cato smiled and Clove ducked away from her window before we could see her blush.
"I hate it when you fluster up my friends," I complained to Cato, punching him in the arm.
"Not my fault," Cato objected as he attempted to hide a pleased grin.
Clove slipped out of her cabin's front door a couple of minutes later, several knives strapped to her body. "Let's go," she said brightly, bouncing on the balls of her feet as she led the way down to the Arena. Trust Clove to be eager for a training session at midnight. Peeta jogged to catch up with her and they immediately began discussing knife tactics. Cato, apparently not wanting to be left out of their meaningless conversation, trotted after them.
I trudged behind them with Finnick and Gale, tuning out the conversations around me. Camp really was beautiful at night, it was a shame that they made curfew so early. The chill night breeze against my skin felt like a dream. I was disappointed when our short walk came to an end, I wasn't exactly in a training mood at that moment.
One by one, we slipped in between the stone columns and entered the large Arena. My laziness dissolved the moment my eyes landed on the archery targets and my fingers itched for a bow and arrow. I stared enviously at Gale's own bow and quiver, silently wishing I had brought mine along as well. But then I reminded myself that we were here for Finnick's sake and not our own. Still, Gale's bow looked awfully tempting.
Peeta and Clove continued with their knife debate as they moved towards the targets. Meanwhile, Cato, Gale, and I formed a semicircle around Finnick. "Trident fighting is all about defense. The three prongs might seem like a good weapon to harm your opponent but its real value lies in its ability to block swords, spears, and javelins…" Cato then launched into a long rant about the military history of trident-usage, his face aglow with joy as he spoke.
"Is anyone else slightly disturbed by his enthusiasm about war and weapons?" Finnick mumbled under his breath. At that point, Cato had begun to pace as he continued to lecture, paying no mind to the rest of us.
"I hate to say it but you'll get used to it after a while," Gale shrugged.
"I'm still not used to it," I muttered, and Finnick tried horribly not to smile. Cato turned his attention back to him and asked him brightly if he had any questions. Finnick, who had very obviously not been paying attention like the rest of us, gulped and shook his head.
"Good. Now try to block me."
"Block you? But you don't even have a-whoa!" Finnick yelped as Cato ripped the gold pendant from his neck and it turned into a long sword. Before the blade could slice Finnick in half, he raised his trident and trapped the sword between the prongs. Gale and I nodded in approval, Finnick had good reflexes.
"Good," Cato said again, clearly satisfied. Finnick looked at him as though he had turned into a hydra. "Now do it again."
They repeated the move a couple of times until I gave Finnick my approval, allowing the pair to move on to new techniques. Gale meandered over to the targets that Clove and Peeta had stationed themselves in front of. I tried not to let my jealous gaze linger on the three of them as I moved to the sidelines, in search of something for Finnick to practice on.
I found a rusty shield leaning against one of the stone walls. It had certainly seen better days, but it would do. I picked it up and walked back to the training session, where Finick was being shown the proper way to block and stab.
I strapped the shield onto my forearm and caught Finnick's attention by waving my arm. "Give it a go, then." He obliged, lunging at me with his trident held aloft. He was quick, but the sound of metal-on-metal indicated that I had blocked his attack. He went in for another stab and once again, I cut him off.
We proceeded in this fashion for a while longer, Cato intervening every so often with his sword, until we were red in the face and sweating. Finnick gasped for a water break and Cato reluctantly allowed it. "Fine, but not for too long," he warned as Finnick rushed off in the direction of the drinking fountain.
I moved over to the target range, ducking as a knife flew over my head, hitting a target right in the center. "Nice, real classy." I raised an eyebrow at Clove.
"Slip of the hand," she shrugged, grinning wickedly.
"How's Finnick holding up?" Peeta greeted me with a smile, lowering his knife.
"Surprisingly well, considering Cato's stupid lectures are nearly boring him to sleep," I said, staring pointedly at Gale's bow and quiver until he finally relinquished them to me. But just as soon they had been placed in my hand, the bow was snatched from my grasp, hooked on the end of Finnick's trident. "Trident beats all!" Finnick said triumphantly, plucking the bow off the end of the weapon.
"Give it here!" I growled, taking a swipe at him.
"Finnick! You're wasting precious time here!" Cato called out impatiently. Finnick shrugged and placed the bow back into my impatient hands before dutifully trotting over to Cato and Gale.
I sighed in relief before notching an arrow, hesitating only for a second before letting it fly. It hit the center of the target with a beautiful thwack.
"I wish I could do that," Peeta said somewhat enviously.
"Really?" I asked in surprise, lowering the bow and turning to look at him.
Peeta nodded rapidly as Clove snickered and sashayed off to go bother Gale. "Of course, it seems super cool."
"Well you're already good with knives and your aim is great," I mused. "You're practically halfway there. Here, try this out." I drew out an arrow as I set down the quiver on the ground. I handed the bow and arrow to Peeta.
"Okay," he said uncertainly, staring down at the two objects as though they were foreign. Which they kind of were to him, I wasn't sure if I had ever seen him with a bow and arrow before.
"Are you left-handed or right-handed?"
"Right," he said, holding the bow up in his right hand.
I shook my head and motioned for him to switch hands. "Since you're right-handed, you'll hold the bow in your left hand and shoot the arrow with your right."
Peeta's eyes lit up in understanding and nodded enthusiastically. "Okay, yeah! That makes sense." He switched hands and notched the arrow, his arms shaking slightly. "How does this look?"
I chuckled and opened my mouth to tell him, before stopping myself. According to Cinna and Prim, I was sometimes "too honest" and needed to "try being nicer." I moved closer to him and gently placed my hands on his shoulder and elbow. "Here, let me show you."
Peeta began to stutter out a reply, his neck flushing a deep red.
"Aww!" A voice coming from behind us suddenly cried. Peeta and I jumped apart and turned just in time to see the drinking fountain explode, sending the basin flying towards the squealing Finnick. Apparently his reflexes escaped him at that moment, for he allowed it to smash into his head, causing him to topple over with a moan.
"Holy Zeus!" I cursed as Peeta and I shared a worried glance before hurrying over to where the rest of the group had already crowded around Finnick.
"Finnick!" Gale groaned, paying no attention to the moaning boy as he stared open-mouthed at the now-destroyed drinking fountain. "How in Hades are we going to explain this to Chiron and Mr. D?"
"Why the hell did you go and blow up the drinking fountain?" Clove scolded.
"Must've gotten excited," Finnick slurred, looking around dazedly at the rest of us. "You're all so pretty." He smiled stupidly up at me and Peeta.
"Oh Gods, do you think he's concussed?" Cato asked in what I imagined was supposed to be a whisper but was actually more of a strained yell.
Peeta gently pushed the hair off of Finnick's forehead and we all gasped as we looked at the welt the metal left behind on his skin.
"Ouch," Clove winced, recoiling slightly.
"That looks bad," I gasped.
"Apollo campers, now's your time to shine," Cato said as he shoved me and Gale forward. "Work that healing magic of yours."
Gale and I stared dumbly down at Finnick's injury. "Maybe some ice would help?" Gale suggested tentatively.
"Oh Gods, you two are useless," Clove rolled her eyes. "Of all the Apollo campers to get stuck with, of course it's you two. Healing abilities my ass."
Gale turned to look at me. "Alright, which one of our siblings are we gonna have to wake up?"
We knew nothing about this kind of stuff, but luckily some of our siblings were more equipped with medical knowledge. "Venia would murder us alive if we woke her up at this hour. Cress doesn't know a bandage from a bandaid, so she's useless. I think we need Prim," I said decidedly.
"Okay, you and Peeta go get Prim. Gale, go steal some ice. Water will have to do if the kitchen's locked. Clove and I will stay with Finnick." Cato rattled off our assignments. I tried not to snicker at the pleased look on Clove's face. Our group split up to complete our tasks.
"It would suck if Finnick was concussed, he's barely been here two days," Peeta commented as we walked towards the collection of cabins.
"It would suck if we got caught," I muttered then blushed as he gave me an amused glance. "I mean, yeah, it would also be bad if he was hurt."
"Nice save," Peeta snickered.
"I'm not nice," I said slightly defensively. "It's not really my style."
"What do you mean? You're plenty nice," Peeta immediately protested, his eyebrows furrowing.
"I'm really not. See? You're nice just for saying that."
"You're nice," Peeta repeated in an assured voice. "You offered to show Finnick around camp when you didn't have to. You broke into the Arena to help him prepare for The Games. You trained with him instead of doing your own personal training like Clove and I did."
"But none of those instances were my ideas," I objected. "Most of those were Gale's ideas." My eyes suddenly went wide. "Oh Gods, Gale is nice and I'm not. How embarrassing."
As we came to a stop outside of my cabin, Peeta took my hand and looked into my eyes. "Katniss Everdeen, you're a nice person and that's that." His eyes were a really pretty shade of blue. I stuttered out a string of incomprehensible words before practically racing up the stairs and diving into my cabin before he could see my blush.
I caught my breath in the doorway, looking around to make sure no one had heard me come in. The cabin luckily stayed silent. As quietly as I could, I tiptoed over to the bunk that Prim and I shared. I shimmied up the ladder and poked her shoulder until she groaned and opened her eyes. I put a finger to my lips and she blinked at me sleepily. For all her triumphs as a morning person, Prim could hardly stay up past 8 PM. Which was why I felt so guilty when I practically airlifted her out of her bed and dragged her down the porch steps to where Peeta was waiting outside.
"Katniss!" Prim complained, looking incredibly disoriented. "It's late!"
"Prim, we need your medical expertise," I said hurriedly, fixing one of her messy braids.
"Did you trip over Venia's easel and stub your toe again?" Prim asked through a yawn. "Because I told you, that doesn't require actual medical attention, you just need to watch where you're going."
"Nevermind that," I said hastily, ignoring the gleeful expression on Peeta's face. "Finnick took a nasty bump to the head down at the Arena."
"A head injury?" Prim was suddenly all ears. Fickle little girl. "Is it bleeding?"
"No, but we thought we should come to the best healer at camp to get her professional opinion," Peeta said, smiling down at Prim. "Not to mention you'll get not one but two piggyback rides out of it."
Prim flushed with pride and nodded eagerly, all her previous sleepiness gone. "Let me go get my kit!" She rushed back into the cabin and emerged a moment later in her fluffy pink bathrobe, lugging her large first aid kit behind her. She handed it to me and eagerly climbed onto Peeta's back, giggling as he took off at a gallop. I followed behind the pair, somewhat in awe of Peeta's kindness. The bulky medical kit bounced against my leg as I hurried to catch up with the pair, who had already made it into the Arena.
I set down the box next to Prim, who immediately reached for it and produced a small flashlight. She shined it into Finnick's eyes, who let out a noise of protest at the bright light. "Finnick, can you tell me where you are and what happened?"
"I blew up the Arena's drinking fountain with my awesome water powers but it backfired and scarred my beautiful face," Finnick responded obediently.
"He's fine," I grumbled. Apparently not even a head injury could stop Finnick's inflated ego from showing.
Prim was testing Finnick's reflexes and balance when Gale arrived, carrying a sloshing tub of water. "I couldn't get into the kitchens to grab some ice so I got some water from the bathroom instead."
Prim looked down at the tub of water thoughtfully. "I read somewhere that water has healing properties for children of Poseidon." And without a second thought, she snatched the container from Gale and dumped it over Finnick's head.
"Prim!" Gale gasped as Peeta and Cato's eyes went wide. "What in Hades?"
"Prim's my new favorite Apollo camper," Clove said decidedly, snickering at the spluttering Finnick.
"Aw Clove, I didn't know that you used to think of me as your favorite," I said, batting my eyes in her direction.
"As if!" She sniffed.
"I think it's working," Peeta said suddenly. I studied Finnick and sure enough, the prominent welt on his forehead had already decreased a bit in size.
"Here." Prim rummaged around in her kit and pulled out a small square of ambrosia. "Eat this, you should feel better."
Finnick thanked her and took it from her, popping it in his mouth. His face broke out in a grin as he chewed. "Peanut butter and jelly sandwich! Yummy!"
"Your favorite food is like a five-year-old's," Clove scoffed at the same time Cato squealed, "I love peanut butter and jelly!"
"I don't think you have a concussion, the bump will probably turn into a bruise overnight. "You'll still need to check in with me tomorrow just in case," Prim said importantly.
"Much appreciated, little healer," Finnick said, taking Prim's small hand in his own and giving it a firm shake. She giggled and ducked her head.
"Well now that Finnick isn't dying, I'm going to take Little Duck here back to bed," I said, patting Prim on the shoulder.
"I'll come too," Peeta said immediately, much to my confusion. "I did after all promise the lady a piggyback roundtrip." Prim grinned, shoving the first aid box into my hands as she rushed over to Peeta.
Finnick grabbed my arm as I passed him. "Have fun with your escort," he said slyly, shooting me a poorly-aimed wink.
"I'm still not fully convinced you aren't concussed," I said bluntly, shaking him off.
"You need to be nice to the injured, Kit Kat," Finnick called out as I moved away from him.
I made my way over to Gale, Cato, and Clove, who were standing over the remains of the drinking fountain. "What are we going to tell Chiron?"
"I don't know, but there's no way I'm getting punished for this," Gale said stubbornly, shouldering his bow.
"Leave it to me," Cato said. "I'll tell people Marvel did it. You know he'd gladly take credit for this, even though he didn't do it."
Clove looked up at him in surprise. "That's actually pretty genius, Cato." He puffed out his chest in pride, causing me to gag.
"I'm going to tuck Prim in, will you make sure Finnick gets back to his cabin?" I asked Gale. "I don't want him causing any more trouble tonight."
"Sure thing." Gale waved goodbye as I exited the Arena.
Peeta was setting Prim down onto the porch steps when I finally caught up to them. "You were a superstar out there," he said, giving her a high-five.
"You're so nice," Prim giggled. "I can see why you're Rue's favorite sibling." She took the first aid box out of my arms and said goodbye to Peeta before silently making her way into the cabin.
"See?" I said, coming up behind Peeta. "Even Prim knows you're nice."
"Just because I'm nice doesn't mean you aren't," he said stubbornly.
"Sure, sure," I laughed, unconvinced. "If you say so. Thanks for being nice to Prim, I'm sure you'll be asked for many piggyback rides after tonight."
"It's nothing I can't handle," Peeta smiled, shoving his hands into his pockets. "At this point, Rue thinks of me more as a horse than a brother."
We both chuckled before falling silent. "Well, goodnight," I said timidly, turning to go.
"I'd love it if you showed me how to use a bow again," Peeta blurted out before I could open the cabin door.
I hesitated slightly before nodding and smiling softly. "Yeah, of course. I'd be happy to."
Peeta grinned at my response and bid me goodnight. I watched him go, a spring in his step as he walked in a diagonal line across the pitch towards his own cabin.
For some inexplicable reason, I went to bed smiling that night.
Finnick's checkup with Prim the next day yielded the declaration that he was not, in fact, concussed. I still didn't believe it though, he had been casting me sly, knowing glances all day.
The rumor that Cato spread about Marvel busting up the Arena's drinking fountain worked beautifully. By that evening, even Marvel himself was claiming responsibility for the act, grinning proudly as people congratulated him on his "feat," just as Cato had said he would.
"Wow, Marvel! How ever did you pull it off?" Finnick cried to him later that night at the campfire. I elbowed him and shot him a warning look.
But Marvel simply ate up the praise. "A master of stealth never reveals his secrets," he boasted.
"You've got to be kidding me," I muttered, rolling my eyes.
Gale came to collect me and Finnick as Mr. D rose, indicating that the drawings for The Games were about to start. Six campers came forward, each of them carrying a pair of jars filled with white slips of paper. The Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, and Artemis jars were set to one side while the remaining jars formed a long line.
"Alright, Kiddies, here's what you've been waiting for all week," Mr. D said boredly, swishing his can of Diet Coke around in his hand. "Long ago we used to play Capture the Flag, blah blah, now our Friday event is simply called The Games. As you all know, two campers will be selected from each of the cabins. Those who do not get their name drawn will be entered in the drawing for the incomplete cabins of Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, and Artemis. Any questions?" Mr. D ignored Finnick's hand. "Wonderful," he drawled, picking up the Demeter jar and extracting two slips of paper. "Tonight the Demeter cabin will be represented by…Rue and Blight!"
The drawings continued, with Johanna and Brutus being selected from the Ares cabin and Beetee and Lavinia from Athena. I scowled when my name wasn't drawn but gave a thumbs up to Gale and Prim who were chosen. Thresh and one of the Leeg sisters were chosen to represent Hephaestus, Gloss and Glimmer for Aphrodite, Castor and Foxface for Hermes, Chaff and Clove for Dionysus.
"Wonderful." Mr. D patted Clove and Chaff on the backs as they moved forward to stand with the other chosen campers. He then poured the jars filled with names into a larger container, swishing the paper scraps around with his hand. "Time for round two."
From the Zeus jar, he called out Madge's name. Then turning to the big container, he fished around for another slip. "Marvel!"
Marvel received a large round of cheers, probably because people were still apparently in awe of the prank he didn't actually pull with the drinking fountain. As he strutted forward smugly, Cato and I made eye contact and rolled our eyes.
"For the Hades cabin-" Mr. D was suddenly interrupted by Hera's peacock screeching unpleasantly. "Fine, the Hera cabin will obviously be represented by Messalla." Messalla scowled down at the peacock as he moved towards the front. "And the second Hera tribute will be…Katniss."
I jumped up from my seat, grinning. Seemed as though my fortune had taken a turn for the better. I fistbumped Messalla as I took my place beside him.
Finnick threw his arms up in the air victoriously when his name was called for the Poseidon cabin. He was met with a small spatter of applause. Enobaria filled the second Poseidon camper slot. She ignored the enthusiastic high-five Finnick tried to give her.
Lastly came the drawing for the Artemis cabin. Homes from the Hermes cabin was chosen along with my younger sister Leevy. "Well that's that," Mr. D sighed before chugging the rest of his can. He let out a loud belch. "Players, get your weapons and meet Chiron at the edge of the forest in five minutes."
"Allies until the Final Eight?" Messalla whispered in my ear as we followed the rest of the chosen tributes away from the bonfire.
"Yeah, but don't think I'll go easy on you when the alliance ends just because you're dating my older sister," I warned him teasingly.
"Wouldn't dream of it," Messalla smirked, tapping his onyx ring which turned into a shield.
"Hey guys, isn't this exciting?" Finnick exclaimed, sneaking in between us and throwing his arms around our shoulders. He looked around and then his voice dropped to a whisper. "Um, is it bad that my fellow Poseidon representative already wants to kill me?"
I looked over my shoulder at Enobaria, who was glowering at us. "Ugh, Finnick, what did you do? Now you don't have an alliance!"
"Make me a part of yours?" He begged. "Just this once? Please? It's my first time, after all."
I looked over him towards Messalla, who shrugged and nodded. Maybe Peeta was right, maybe I was a nice person deep down. "Fine, but as I was telling Messalla, alliance ends once we're down to eight people."
"Fine by me," Finnick grinned. "You'd better watch out for me and my trident then."
"Assuming you'll make it that far," I quipped, causing Messalla to laugh and Finnick to sneer at me.
The twenty-four campers followed Chiron into the woods, finally coming to a stop in the round clearing we always started The Games at. "Players, you know the rules," Chiron said with a small smile as he handed out flags and whistles around the circle. "Tuck your flag into your pocket and protect it, you're out the moment it leaves your possession. Blow your whistle every time you eliminate someone from the game. Weapons are permitted, but no maiming and absolutely no killing." He looked pointedly at Brutus and Enobaria, who smirked evilly.
"At the sound of my horn, The Games will begin. Are you ready?" I fingered the black scarf poking out of my pocket and nodded. One by one, I made eye contact with Johanna, Gale, Clove, then Madge. I shot a wink in Prim's direction and gave a reassuring nod to Finnick. "Then without further ado, let The Games commence!" Chiron blew into his horn and chaos ensued.
Most of us scattered in multiple directions while some of the more zealous campers (*cough* Ares *cough*) immediately began targeting people, not even giving them a chance to run. As I ran, I looked over my shoulder just in time to see Brutus tackle Castor to the ground, holding up the Hermes camper's orange flag triumphantly
As I ran deeper into the forest, I could see Messalla disappear into a thick brush to my right. To my left, Chaff was a decent ways behind me but still too close for comfort. In an effort to lose him, I picked up my pace and veered slightly to the right until he was no longer visible in my peripheral vision. I had already counted five whistles since The Games began and I briefly wondered who else had gotten out besides Castor.
I reached behind myself to steady my quiver, which was bumping uncomfortably against my back. I heard a whistle in the distance and slowed my pace until I was moving at a slow jog. I looked around for a good climbing tree and found a tall oak that would have to do. I hastily scampered up it and situated myself on a thick branch, waiting for some action to come my way.
After a little while, a sudden rustling noise coming from my left made my ears perk up. I craned my neck and saw Lavinia stumble into the clearing, Blight hot on her tail. I silently lowered myself onto a lower branch and observed from my vantage point as she jammed the butt of her spear into his stomach, completely winding him. As he doubled over and wheezed, Lavinia turned around and sprinted into the brush.
Seeing my chance, I dropped to the ground right behind Blight. By the time he finally managed to turn around, I had already grabbed his flag.
"Damn you," he cursed as I cheekily blew my whistle, waving the grass green flag around in the air.
"And to think I learned that tree climbing tactic from you," I teased, stuffing his flag into my back pocket.
"You've learned well, pupil. Too bad it was at my expense this time," Blight let out a long sigh. "Guess I should get out of the forest now."
"Don't run into any monsters on the way back."
"I'll get you next time," he promised with a shake of his fist. "You'd better hurry up and catch Lavinia, though, she's getting further away as we speak."
He was right. I bid him goodbye and followed Lavinia's pathway out of the clearing. Having lived in upstate New York for a good portion of my life, I had learned to navigate my way through a forest and track the paths of the creatures in it. Lavinia left almost no trail, much to my disappointment, she was a sneaky one. But a dusty smudge against a rock looked awfully similar to a footprint so maybe I was moving in the right direction. I heard a whistle split the air behind me and quickened my pace, hoping to find Lavinia soon and make myself scarce before someone else tried eliminating me.
And sure enough, I found her nearby, leaning against a tree. She reached for her spear when she saw me but I was quicker, firing an arrow with a sudden burst of speed. The arrow pierced through her shirt, trapping her against the trunk of the tree. I moved to stand in front of her as she squirmed in an attempt to free herself.
You're the worst, she complained as I smugly took her gray Athena flag from her pocket. You owe me a new shirt.
And that's why the bow beats the spear, I signed back and she silently laughed.
The rustling sound of leaves caused us both to suddenly jump. Go, she signed. I didn't need to be told twice, I bolted away from the tree and threw myself back into the thick brush of the forest. I didn't stop, but I stumbled in surprise when I heard two consecutive whistles pierce the air. They didn't come from the direction I had come from, much to my relief. I finally slowed down and ducked behind a boulder to catch my breath.
A maniacal cackle followed by a familiar angry shriek in the distance indicated that Marvel had just taken Johanna's flag, removing her from the game. He blew his whistle moments later. I moved away from them, chuckling as I heard Johanna ranting angrily at Marvel.
I moved through the woods, putting a good amount of distance between me and Marvel. I stopped briefly to wipe my brow, wishing desperately for a glass of water.
"Kat! Hey, Kat!" A voice whispered in my left ear. I whipped out an arrow and spun around, bow at the ready, to find Finnick staring back at me. He smiled and gave a jaunty little wave.
"Finnick!" I hissed, lowering my bow and wondering briefly if I summoned Finnick by my wish for water. "You'd better thank Poseidon that I didn't shoot you."
"Thanks Dad," Finnick responded automatically before smiling at me cheekily. "So how's it going, ally?"
"Now is not the time for chit chat," I reminded him with a roll of my eyes. "We're in the middle of an elimination game, remember? It was nice to see you and all that but we need to go our separate ways now."
"But we're allies," Finnick whined. "We gotta stick together! Plus it's your duty as my ally to have a nice little chat with me if I want one."
"An alliance means we leave each other alone, not pair up all buddy-buddy," I said impatiently, glaring at his pleading face until I finally cracked. I quickly looked around at our surroundings to make sure there was no one in sight and then stuck the arrow back into my quiver with a sigh. "Fine. What's up?"
"So I was talking with Glimmer and Gloss and-"
"Finnick!" I groaned. "You're supposed to eliminate the enemy, not fraternize with them! God, how are you still even in the game?"
"Oh, I got them out," he said matter-of-factly, holding up two silky pink flags. "We just decided to have a nice little talk after I got them out."
"Oh," I said in surprise, staring at the flags and realizing that the two whistles I had heard must've been the Aphrodite campers being eliminated. I then frowned. "Wait, did you not listen to any of the advice I gave you? What was Rule Number Seven?"
"Don't engage with the Aphrodite kids unless you want your ear blabbed off with pointless gossip and shitty love advice," Finnick recited perfectly. "But I think pointless gossip is funny, I couldn't help myself. So anyway, I was talking with them and they totally think that you and Peeta should get together."
My eyebrows shot up at the same time my mouth fell open. "I'm sorry, what?"
"Before the drinking fountain went kablooey last night, I was watching you two interact and I saw so much sexual tension." Well that explained his suggestive comments the previous night. I opened my mouth but no words came out, so Finnick continued. "So I asked Glimmer and Gloss what the deal was with you two and they told me you two have been dancing around each other for years."
"You asked them?" I growled, clenching my fists as my face became hot.
"Well they are the resident love experts," Finnick said with a shrug. He took note of my furious expression and rolled his eyes. "Oh come on, it's for your own good, Katty. It's not healthy for you and Peeta to hide these feelings from each other, you need to let them out."
"What feelings?" I groaned, throwing my hands up in the air. "You're delusional, you and those stupid blonde twats."
"Come on, it's clear as day you two like each other," Finnick pressed. "I know about these things, trust me."
"This is so stupid, just drop it!" I briefly wondered if breaking our alliance and taking Finnick's flag would satisfy my desire to rip his head off.
"You totally like him. Oh and I was talking to Annie earlier and she said that Peeta's been in love with you for years-"
"Stop!" I shouted, putting my hands over my ears. This was so not happening, had I taken a wrong turn in the woods and stepped into another universe? "Just stop!"
Finnick smiled smugly. "This is exactly how Glimmer said you'd respond to the truth."
"Oh yeah? And what else did Glimmer say?" I gritted my teeth.
"That your perception of her and her siblings as shallow just because they enjoy traditionally feminine things is damaging and further perpetuates antifeminist thinking that plagues our nation's population," Finnick said matter-of-factly.
I gaped at him. "Um, okay, noted."
"But in other love-related new, I have something exciting to share-"
"I don't want to hear anything love-related!" I snapped.
The corners of Finnick's mouth turned downwards. "But it's about-"
"I don't want to hear it, Finnick!" I shouted, stomping my foot angrily.
"You guys are really loud, you know," a voice from behind us said amusedly. We spun around to find Marvel staring back at us, a spear clutched in his hand.
"M Dawg!" Finnick said cheerfully, his gaze flitting nervously in my direction. "How's it hanging?"
"It'll be great once I eliminate you two," Marvel smirked. Finnick and I looked at each other and immediately threw ourselves onto Marvel, tackling him to the ground. The three of us scuffled on the forest floor, grabbing and punching at whatever we could reach. I jabbed my elbow into Finnick's side, Marvel yanked my hair, Finnick punched us both in the face.
"Got you!" Finnick and Marvel suddenly shouted in unison. The fighting ceased as both of them held up the flags they had managed to grab. The one clamped in Marvel's hand was the greenish-blue color of the Poseidon cabin while Finnick's was jet black, looking as though it had been woven out of darkness itself-
"Finnick you are such an idiot," I growled as Finnick stared open-mouthed at the Hades flag he had accidentally taken from me.
"Victory!" Marvel pumped his fist in the air before blowing his whistle. Finnick guiltily followed suit, avoiding my deadly gaze. "Too bad, Kat, better luck next time," I growled at him and picked myself up off the ground, angrily brushing the dirt from my clothes. Without a second thought, I stomped away.
"Wait for me," Finnick shouted and I could hear him struggling to get up. "Let's walk back to camp together!"
"No! Alliance my ass, you suck. I'm walking alone."
"We'll talk later, then," Finnick called out hopefully.
"No, we won't," I shouted over my shoulder, kicking a tree which led to me getting a nasty scolding from a furious dryad.
The next day was thankfully Saturday, which was the only day of the week we had off from our usual training and camp duties. It had taken what felt like years of pestering for Mr. D to finally allow this arrangement, and Saturdays soon became one of the best parts of the week. I chose to spend that Saturday sleeping in, waving off my siblings as they filed off to the mess hall for breakfast. I stayed in bed, alternating between dozing off and staring at the wall. My siblings came and went throughout the late morning and early afternoon but steered clear of me for the most part. Gale and Cato came to visit on their way to the volleyball courts and I indulged them for a few minutes before they took my moodiness as a sign that I wanted to be left alone. I was known to be quite unpleasant when I was in one of my moods so it was smart that they didn't linger for too long
What had to have been my fifth nap of the day was suddenly interrupted by another round of friends sweeping into the cabin, calling out cheerful greetings.
"Good morning, Sunshine," Clove chirped, coming over to my bedside and poking my exposed foot. "It's three in the afternoon, by the way." I aimed a kick at her but she danced away before my foot could make contact.
"I don't want to talk to you," I grumbled, squinting up at her.
"So I guess you heard about how I won last night?" Clove asked, trying and failing to hide her smirk. "Yeah, it was pretty epic."
"Stop talking," I moaned, covering my face with my pillow. Maybe I would have won The Games last night, had Finnick not ruined my chances along with my entire night
"If it makes you feel any better, I gave Marvel a black eye at breakfast today," Johanna supplied, leaning against my bunk bed.
"Somehow that does make me feel better," I admitted, lowering the pillow.
"Look alive, Kat," Cressida cooed, coming over to where I lay wrapped up in my covers. She dropped a pile of papers onto my quilt. "It's time for an art project."
"I hate art," I complained, moving the stack to the floor and wishing desperately for them to all leave. That was, until Madge presented me with a sandwich, Cressida passed me a muffin, and Clove brought forth a bunch of grapes. I decided that they were welcome after that. "So what's this project, then?" I asked, enthusiastically snacking on my first meal of the day.
"Oh you'll like it," Johanna promised with a smirk. "Cress told us you've been a grumpy lump of a person ever since last night so we devised a plan to cheer you up."
"It'll take a lot to cheer me up right now," I grumbled, wondering if anyone would notice if I snuck over to the Poseidon cabin later that night and murdered its only resident.
"I think this'll do the trick," Cressida grinned, pulling out a photo from her pocket and handing it to me. I squinted down at it and burst into laughter as a half-naked, derpy Cato stared up at me from the photo.
"Oh my god," I wheezed, feeling tears stinging my eyes. "This is too much, I can't handle it."
"Can you handle this?" Johanna produced a thick stack of the photos from her messenger bag.
"I like where this is going," I said, eyeing the photos. "What's the plan?"
"To turn these into posters and plaster them up all around camp," Johanna said nonchalantly.
"Which is a bad idea," Madge chimed in, voicing her obvious disapproval. She took in the rest of our deadpan faces and cleared her throat. "But anything to make you feel better, Katniss."
"Oh I'm feeling better already, Madge," I said slyly. "This is brilliant, pass me a glue stick."
As my friends settled down in the cabin and we got to work on our project, I filled them in on the events of the previous night. "So not only did he eliminate me, but he also had the nerve to go talk to the Aphrodite kids about my love life!" I ranted, waving my glue stick around angrily as I shoved part of the muffin into my mouth. Scraps of paper floated down from Prim's bunk where Johanna was stationed and landed in my hair.
"But you don't have a love life," Clove pointed out as she cut out one of the photos.
"Clove!" Madge, who had outwardly refused to take part in our arts and crafts project, scolded. I stopped shaking the paper scraps out of my hair and squinted at her, she looked suspiciously comfortable nestled in Gale's bed on the other side of the room.
"No, she's got a point," Cressida chimed in as she passed Clove some more photos.
"Cress!"
"No, that's exactly right!" I pointed at Clove and Cressida and nodded my head wildly. "That's exactly it! I don't have a love life, that's just how it is."
"You're talking like you want it to be that way," Johanna commented as her upside-down face suddenly appeared in front of me.
"That's right," I said, flicking her forehead. "I like my life as it is."
"Boring!" Johanna and Cressida shouted in unison. I flicked Johanna a second time.
"Would it really have been that awful if you had actually listened to what Finnick had to say?" Madge asked me. "Peeta is such a sweetie, he's cute too."
"We don't like each other," I insisted, carefully printing the words I sleep with a stuffed sword in a speech bubble coming from Cato's mouth. "Finnick didn't know what he was talking about. Besides, that's not the point. The point is that he invaded my privacy by going to the Aphrodite kids behind my back."
"You know, Finnick has a point, though. You and Peeta were flirting it up last night in the Arena," Clove mused, tapping her chin with her index finger.
"That's a lie!" I cried, my cheeks turning red as Cressida and Johanna let out dramatic oohs.
"What were they doing?" Madge asked Clove eagerly, leaning forward in anticipation.
"They got nice and cozy when Katniss showed him how to use a bow and arrow," Clove sneered, dodging the glue stick I chucked in her direction.
"Don't tell me she came up behind him and put her arms around him to show him how to do it," Cressida said with a wicked grin.
"That's exactly what she did!" Clove crowed happily.
"That's so cute," Madge gushed, hugging Gale's pillow to her chest. Like seriously, had she been in Gale's bed prior to this? Was there something she and Gale weren't telling me?
"Let me guess, he wanted a follow-up lesson?" Johanna took my blushing silence as a yes and cackled. "Oh, this is too good!"
"You're all traitors," I growled, but was completely ignored.
"But that's not all!" Clove announced, catching the others' attention. "She and Peeta got some nice alone time when they went back to the Apollo cabin together to get Prim."
"What happened on that little trip, Kat?" Cressida wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.
"Nothing except for him calling me a nice person," I vowed, wishing desperately for the conversation to come to an end.
"But you're not nice," Johanna said automatically.
"I know, right? But listen, none of that was flirting! That's just Peeta being Peeta." The girls shared knowing looks, causing me to groan. "Ugh, what?"
"Listen, Peeta's a nice person, there's no denying that. But it's different with you, he goes out of his way to be nice to you," Madge said, speaking slowly as though she were addressing a child rather than an angry sixteen-year-old.
"That's not true," I protested, though her comment made me hesitate. I thought about all the compliments he had paid me over the past couple of years, the nice little things he would do for me, how he always greeted me with a smile. How he always had to blush at least one time during every conversation. "Oh."
"Ding ding, she's just figured it out," Clove cheered, sharing a knowing smile with the rest of the girls.
"All it took was a flashy son of Poseidon to show her the truth," Johanna sighed. "Could've saved a shit ton of time had Finnick come to camp like two years ago." She hesitated. "Then again, if I had known Finnick for two years, I probably would've murdered him by now."
"Finnick's a funny one," Cressida chuckled, shaking her head. "A flirty one, too. I hear he's got his eye on Annie, of all people."
"Well I heard he asked her out right before The Games," Madge jumped in, not to be out-gossiped by anybody.
I snapped out of my stupor as a wave of guilt suddenly hit me. That must've been what Finnick had wanted to tell me the previous night in the forest. He tried telling me about how he asked Annie out and I yelled at him. Peeta was wrong about me, I wasn't a nice person. I realized with a weary sigh that I was going to have to be the bigger person and apologize to him. Joy.
The conversation finally shifted away from my Finnick and my love life (which apparently did exist?) and onto some other topic that I paid no attention to. After a while, the girls left to go train, leaving me once again to my own devices. Their noisy exit led to my siblings' return to the cabin, tentatively creeping in and sighing in relief when they noticed my relatively neutral expression.
"You were acting like a gorgon this morning, glad you're feeling better," were the words that Gale greeted me with as he strutted in.
"Yeah? Well you were acting like a minotaur, only that's nothing new," I snapped back. He merely shot me a lazy smirk before hopping into his bed
I continued to brood around the cabin into the evening. I rejected my siblings' invitation to walk to dinner with them but carefully instructed Gale to bring me back a plate of food. I still hadn't made up my mind about what I wanted to say to Finnick and as for Peeta…I wasn't sure what I would do if I saw him.
I was lazily flipping through one of Prim's romance novels that she probably shouldn't have been reading at her age when my attention was suddenly caught by a tapping noise coming from my window. I turned over to find the source of the noise but saw nothing. As I suspiciously leaned closer to inspect, Peeta's head suddenly appeared in my window. I shrieked and lurched back, banging my head on the wooden bed frame. I rubbed at the sore spot, moaning in pain.
"Oh Gods, I am so sorry!" Peeta cried, setting down whatever he had been holding. He leaned through the window, reaching for me before stopping himself. He withdrew his hand, blushing. "Are you all right?"
"Never better," I grumbled moodily, taking extra care not to make eye contact with him. "Any particular reason you're hanging out at my window?"
Peeta smiled sheepishly and nodded. "I come bearing gifts." To prove it, he held up a plate ladened with food and a fork, passing it through the window into my awaiting hands. "Gale assembled it but I said I'd deliver it so he could go to the campfire."
"Nice of you," I muttered through a blush, staring intently down at the generous pile of roast beef on the plate.
"Plus I came to fulfill a promise I made to you." A second plate was passed through the window and I realized with a start that it was piled high with strawberry shortcake.
"Thank you," I said, my tense mood evaporating slightly. I was touched that he had remembered.
"I was surprised to hear that you came in twelfth place at The Games last night," Peeta commented, leaning against my windowsill as I tucked into my meal. He quickly backtracked when he saw my raised eyebrows. "Not that that's a bad thing, of course! I just mean that you usually make it to the Final Three."
"I've got the spawn of Poseidon to thank for that," I said through a spiteful mouthful of potatoes before reminding myself that I was supposed to be forgiving Finnick.
"Ah, that explains things, Finnick said something about needing to apologize to you. He came with me, he's over there now. I think he thought some food might get you to forgive him," Peeta said, tossing his thumb over his shoulder. I squinted and was able to make out Finnick lingering nearby at the Ares cabin.
"Of course he did," I muttered, glaring at the nervously pacing Finnick.
"Well enjoy your meal. And for the record, I was rooting for you to win last night," Peeta ducked his head and made a quick exit before I could even think about blushing. I watched as Peeta patted Finnick on the back, prompting him to approach my window tentatively with a guilty look on his face.
"Sent Peeta over here first to soften me up a bit, did you?" I asked crisply, twirling my fork like I'd seen Clove do with her knives all too often.
Finnick perked up slightly. "Did it work?"
Yes, it had worked. "I'm not going to answer that."
"Your silence speaks for itself," Finnick snarked before his face dropped back into the guilty expression. "Sorry, guess I shouldn't tease you for the thing I was coming to apologize about."
"You shouldn't," I agreed with a nod.
"I crossed the line last night, I'm sorry for prying and getting involved with your love life. It's none of my business and I should've stayed out of it," Finnick said sincerely and I stared at him surprisedly, for his words were exactly what I had wanted to hear. My expression must've scared him, for he suddenly blanched. "Forgive me!" He wailed, shoving a handful of matted daisies at me.
"Shouldn't you be giving these to Annie?" I asked, holding the wilted bouquet away from me at arms-length.
Finnick's eyes lit up, his anxiety melting away completely. "Ah! So you've heard. Yes, the rumors are true, I have indeed asked out the most beautiful girl at Camp Half-Blood. And don't worry, I've already gotten the "don't hurt her feelings or I'll murder you" talk from Peeta. I honestly didn't think he had it in him but he managed to terrify me. Maybe you're rubbing off on him."
"Maybe I am," I whispered to myself, not quite sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. "I suppose that was what you had wanted to tell me in the woods before I yelled at you?" My voice was full of guilt.
"It was," Finnick said hesitantly. "Granted, your yelling was justified."
"I guess, I still feel bad though. I shouldn't have been so dismissive, I'm sorry."
"Apology accepted!" Finnick lunged through the window and pulled me into an uncomfortable hug. "I hope you accept mine too, I truly am sorry. You're one of my favorite new friends and I would never do anything to hurt you."
I was strangely touched by his words as I gasped out my affirmative reply, patting his back clumsily.
"I'm glad I came to camp and met you and your friends," Finnick said with a genuine smile before bidding me a perky goodnight and sauntering away to join up with Peeta who was sitting in the grass waiting for him. I couldn't help but also feel glad that Finnick had come to camp, even though he could be ridiculously annoying sometimes. I leaned on the windowsill and watched as Finnick offered Peeta a hand, pulling him up into a standing position. As Finnick threw his arm around Peeta and guided him away from my cabin, Peeta looked over his shoulder at me. His cheeks turned a pretty shade of pink and he smiled shyly, giving me a small wave.
As I waved back, I couldn't help but wonder if maybe Finnick and the Aphrodite campers were onto something.