The Hollow Game.

Chapter Fourteen

Cold wind whipped tree branches around him, cutting into bare skin and leaving a thin sheen of blood in their wake. Heart pounding loudly, he could practically taste its metallic beat as sweat coursed down his arms and collected in his palms. He cackled, jumping over a fallen log and skidding down a hill. Birds chirped somewhere above him and he paused just long enough to listen before darting to the left.

Crack!

He slowed, bloodshot eyes narrowing as more branches snapped and leaves crunched ahead of him. He crept closer, ducking low and hunching over slightly so as not to draw any attention to himself. “Are you sure this is the right way?” One voice demanded. “Nope,” replied another. “Not at all. But we’re going somewhere so shouldn’t that count as the ‘right’ way?”

A snort followed by yet another voice saying something too low and garbled for him to understand. The second voice laughed, loud and long, before several voices chimed in. He frowned, eyes narrowing slightly before he weaved around the trees, staying hidden until he was several trees behind the group. Mouth stretched into a wide grin, his gaze darted around until it landed on a tree with several low branches. The voices were farther away now, the sounds shifting together and only the louder voices making a dent in his conscious as he worked on shimming up the tree. Leaves rattled and dropped, feeling a frozen feathers as they brushed against his skin.

Once he deemed himself significantly high enough, he began the tedious process of crossing between branches. The wind wasn’t as strong but the bark was slippery and the leaves slapped against him frequently, making it harder to muffle his rapidly gaining pace on the group. Once he was a few branches away, he slowed down, weighing his options. He could stay above, tail then and see where that led or he could go down and great them. He bit his lip, a wicked gleam in his eyes. Neither, he decided, jumping to another, higher branch. Question: where’s the fun in that? A matching smirk worked its way across his face as he curved away from the group. Answer: there isn’t.

“There are more eyes than people.” Someone is following us. She looked over at Binks, a brow raised curiously. He stared back, mouth a grim line even as his brows furrowed together. She discreetly glanced back, mouthing who was with them. When she came up with everyone, she turned back to him in confusion.

His eyes darted up then settled forward again, as though it had never happened. Ace snorted, “Heh, some only have one instead of two!” I know, nothing so far so I don’t think we should worry.

“Eye patches are cool,” he informed her. “Like one of those sea warriors. Pirates correct?” Keep on eye out but don’t clue them in that we know? At her subtle nod he grinned, a brief s***h of teeth before his face settled once more into a neutral expression. Ace grinned, her eyes darting around, never stopping on anything for longer than a few seconds at a time. She lived Cario Vista and flowers were sparse, only the hardiest survived there. Seeing so many new ones was an exciting experience, especially since she didn’t usually venture into the other areas often enough to see them.

She strained her ears over the various conversations, listening to the trees as best as she could. She wondered if this was the second phase. Walk through a maze then try and lose the spy until the third phase. If it’s a spy, her thoughts whispered. And if so, what’s to say that all of you will make it to the end? Only one person can win.

She forcibly shook her head, ignoring the brief glance thrown her way and focused on the ground. No, we’ll all get out okay and I win-- I will! And then I’ll end the Games for good and nobody will ever have to play them again. I will! Doubts swirled traitorously around, whispering and hissing, never needing breath to talk or claws to latch onto her thoughts. Her steps faltered and someone bumped into her. Ace swore as she toppled face first onto the ground, mud and grass coating her. Crickets chirruped around them and birds called to one and other as they circled above. Nobody said anything, too busy gaping at the suddenness of it all. Ace shook her head, dislodging clumps of mud and blinked.

“Huh, grass I deserved that.”

Groans accompanied the wild cackled as the blue haired girl stood up and ran her hands down herself, wiping off as much of the mud as she could. Her laughter died down until only the occasional giggle escaped. Arms and legs streaked brown and her dress clinging stiffly to her, she grinned and declared loudly that they should keep moving. Kitty, the one who had knocked her down, apologised, eyes watering and her lower lip jutting out. Lottie huffed and said she had probably only did that to get another joke in.

“Huh,” Ace tilted her head to the side, eyeing the taller girl mischievously. “Good guess but alas-- that stroke of genius was purely accidental.”

“Accidental,” she mumbled, rolling her eyes. Milo elbowed her and Jackson, expression bored, smacked him upside the head. “Don’t hit a lady.”

Ace tuned the mock argument out, instead turning her attention towards the trees. “We’re not being followed anymore, are we?” She whispered. Binks shifted, blinked then grunted. “No, haven’t for the last several minutes.”

“A bird or another animal?” He shook his head emphatically. “Definitely human.” She frowned, wondering if there was more than one spy around. She shrugged, forcing out a bark of laughter. “Maybe they got bored,” she suggested lightly. “Don’t know why, though. We’re the most entertaining thing ever, in my opinion.” Binks stared at her for a moment before grunting, the scrutiny leaving as fast as it had came.

The walk this time silent. Not in the sense that there was no noise, but in the fact that those soft, barely heard footsteps were absent. On the plus side, her mind was also silent, the hissing doubts sleeping undisturbed in the back of her head. With that, she tried to think that maybe they had simply lost the spy but a heavy feeling in her chest made her uneasy. It was way too easy and the Games weren’t known for mercies, no matter how small. Not being followed, walking calming through a forest in daylight hours, all of them together and relatively unharmed made her shiver.

Nothing was so easy. She caught Binks’ eye and he nodded, sharing the same uneasy feeling.

I’ll keep my eyes peeled, she thought, plastering on a grin. Nobody else is dying. Not on my watch.