As Katrina exited her cabin after she woke up, she found Ted standing outside with two swords in his hands. As Ted silently held up one of them, Katrina nodded, understanding his motive.

"Hey, Ted and I are going to practice sword fighting again," Katrina yelled to the others. "We'll be back soon!"

When Celia nodded her approval, she and Ted started trekking through the woods. As soon as they were out of eyesight, Katrina reached for her neck and grasped the pendant.

She slowly dropped it onto the ground, making sure not to rustle any leaves. She caught Ted's eye and motioned for him to follow her.

The two quickly and silently walked away, Ted glancing back once every couple of seconds to where Katrina had hidden the pendant. When she decided that they were far enough away, she stopped.

"Unless you have some secret admirer in the Experiment that I'm unaware of," Ted started, "that pendant is new. Where did you get it?"

"It's a listening device," Katrina replied. She told him everything that had happened over the last two days. With each word, Ted's brows furrowed even more, unable to believe the predicament that Katrina had gotten herself into.

"What about the rest of us?" Ted asked. "Will we get hired, too?"

Katrina paused, unsure. "I don't know," she admitted. "I guess I can ask tonight."

Ted nodded. "Please do, but be careful."

"C'mon, we should head back." The two slowly went back to the others, Katrina picking up the pendant on her way back.

Throughout the day, Katrina found Ted trying to get the others alone, presumably to warn them of what Katrina had told him, but to no avail. Each time, Celia managed to drag Ted away, making Katrina fidget nervously as she fiddled with her pendant.

As night came, Katrina got ready to head back to the blackberry bushes. Ted gave her a small, worried glance before disappearing into his cabin.

Katrina glanced towards the bushes, where Celia had gone, claiming that she needed to have her "midnight stroll." With one last look at the camp, Katrina followed Celia's footsteps.

"Stop."

Katrina's head jerked up at the voice. She glanced around, wondering whether someone had followed her. However, when the voice spoke again, her heart nearly stopped.

"Bring Ted with you."

Katrina grabbed her pendant, nearly ripping it off her neck in shock. "Celia? Wait, why?"

Katrina could hear Celia sigh. "You really think that we didn't hear you talk to Ted this morning?"

Katrina slowly shook her head before she remembered that Celia couldn't see her. "What?"

"Invisible cameras do exist, you know," Celia explained. "One camera tracks one person using the tracking device. The cameras record everything that happens to the person— until their death, that is. Then, the cameras send the recordings back to the scientists and go back to the Lab. How else do you think the scientists would be able to gather data? Also, it was kind of obvious that you abandoned your pendant from the lack of sound for over five minutes."

Katrina's jaw dropped, mentally hitting herself for not thinking of the cameras and lack of sound. She thought quickly.

"What are you going to do to him?" Katrina demanded. Ted was like an older brother to her, and she couldn't lose him, not with all the chaos in her life right now.

Celia snorted. "This is like a cliché chapter in a book. The villain kidnaps the hero's BFF, the hero fails to save them, and then the hero demands to know what the villain will do to them."

Katrina stood there, silent. "Well, that wasn't what I was expecting."

"Yeah, we're not planning to murder him or anything," Celia replied. "We're going to hire him as an MD."

"MD?"

"Medical Deviant. He'll basically just heal anyone who gets injured on missions."

Katrina let out a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness."

"Oh, and to answer your question, the scientists will just let everyone in the Experiment die out before resetting the arena for another batch of Deviants," Celia said matter-of-factly.

"It usually doesn't take long for everyone to start killing each other. I'd give the people here a month or two before they all die. Anyways, go get Ted and let's go."

Katrina nodded. For a moment, she briefly considered just grabbing Ted and the others and teleporting out of the arena before she remembered the tracking chip and poison.

Katrina turned back, stumbling her way to the camp in the dimly lit forest. She walked to Ted's cabin and stepped inside quietly, making sure not to wake the others

"Ted."

Ted sat up, wide awake. Katrina quickly gave him a brief rundown of the day's developments. By the time she was done, Ted looked like she had just told him that cats could fly.

"I- what?" he spluttered. "They're hiring me as an MD?"

"Yep."

"So, I'm going to become part of the scientists?"

"Yep."

"And you're supposed to take me to Celia so that I can go meet the scientists and get registered?"

Katrina rolled her eyes at Ted's bewildered expression despite the seriousness of the situation. "Yep, so if you're ready, we might as well go now."

Ted shook his head in disbelief as he stood up. "Let's get going."

The two traipsed to where Celia was waiting for them in silence. When Celia caught sight of Katrina, she raised her eyebrows until Ted appeared behind of Katrina.

"That took you two a while," Celia observed. "I could've done it in a minute."

"I wouldn't be surprised if you were trained to explain stuff quickly as an RD," Katrina muttered.

Celia nodded, surprised. "Correct. I'm surprised you managed to guess that."

"So?" Katrina asked as Celia pulled out her pendant. "Where are we going?"

Celia turned to look at her. "I'm going to take Ted to the Lab and get him registered. You go to the AB and get to your next lesson."

Katrina nodded. She quickly pulled out her pendant and created a Shaft. With one last reassuring glance at Ted, she stepped into the light and teleported to the AB.

When Katrina found no one waiting for her, she shrugged before walking to her dorm room and quickly changing into the black jumpsuit.

"Hey, Katrina."

Katrina whirled around in surprise, finding Thea already fitted in her training clothes.

"Hey, Thea. Any idea where Hades is?"

Thea snickered. "Hades would kill you if he heard you calling him that."

Katrina rolled her eyes. "Okay, fine. Do you know where Mr. Hades is?"

"Don't know. I haven't seen him around anywhere. Maybe he's in the training room?"

Katrina nodded and the two set off for their new destination. They found a couple of people practicing fighting moves there, but no Hades.

Katrina skimmed the room with her eyes once more before turning to Thea. "Uh... Now what?"

Thea shrugged. "Call him?"

"Call-" Katrina asked before Thea interrupted her.

"With our pendants."

Katrina face palmed. "I completely forgot about that."

Katrina held up her pendant and concentrated. This was her first time attempting to call someone using her pendant.

The sound of quiet footsteps behind her sounded. Katrina whirled around, ducking as a sword slashed the air where her head was. Thea grunted next to her, the sword digging into her stomach. Blood streamed down her in small rivers as Thea hastily tried to bandage her deep wound.

Katrina looked up at their attackers. Her eyes widened as she recognized the Thief who she now knew was an RD. Hades stood next to him, holding the sword in question.

"Now," Hades growled. Suddenly, Katrina felt all the power and energy leaking out of her, like it did on the day she got captured. She groaned and fell to her knees as Hades advanced. Thea curled up into the fetal position, covering her face with her hair.

As Hades raised his sword, Katrina rolled over out of the way right before it struck. The tip caught her arm, ripping the fabric of her training suit and drawing blood. Katrina hissed as pain and anger flowed through her.

She forced herself up unsteadily on her feet, facing Hades. The memories of her sword-fighting lessons ran through her mind as Katrina studied Hades' posture and moves.

She risked a quick glance at Thea. The Thief's powers seemed to be affecting her more. Combined with the injury she had gained from Hades, Thea was in no fighting position.

Katrina quickly moved to Thea's side, eyeing the Thief uneasily. Not only did she not trust him, but if he was out of the equation, Katrina may actually stand a chance against Hades.

The Thief only grinned back, waving. "Long time no see! I admit I don't remember most of the runaway Deviants I captured, but you were particularly memorable. I think out of all the people I've met, you're the one who managed to stay on their feet for the longest."

Katrina grimaced as the Thief released another burst of his power. Hades was still advancing, but he wasn't even bothering with a fighting position now.

"You're cornered," Hades laughed. "You might as well just give up now."

Red, hot fury rose up in her. "Cornered animals are the most dangerous ones, did you know that? Don't count me out yet."

Hades scoffed, swinging his sword from side to side lazily. "They're also the weakest."

Thea moaned beside her, her hands clutching her wound. The amount of blood on the floor shocked Katrina; if Thea doesn't get medical attention soon, then things would turn ugly.

"I surrender," she stated simply. "Whatever game you're playing, I give up. You win."

Hades raised his eyebrow. "Do you really think an enemy would let you just quit? In a real battle, it's a fight to the death."

Katrina growled. "Can't you see how injured Thea is?"

"And do you think your opponent would let you quit just because you're injured?"

Katrina started to shake her head before stopping midmotion and sighing. "Fine. Let's stop with the chitchat and get on with this stupid thing."

Hades raised his eyebrows, surprised, before he realized that she was serious. He nodded approvingly.

"Rule number one," Hades started, watching her to make sure that she was listening, "is to always watch your opponent."

Katrina bobbed her head up and down, barely listening as she watched the Thief in her peripheral vision. The Thief was leaning against the wall casually, grinning at the scene in front of him. If only she could take him out...

"Listen!" Hades barked, causing Katrina to snap her head towards the sound of his voice. "Pay attention."

"Rule number 2," he continued, "is to always protect yourself."

Katrina tried her best to lower herself into a fighting position, her legs shaking from weakness and exhaustion.

"All parts of your body," Hades corrected. "I can easily slice you in half right now."

Katrina couldn't stop herself from protesting. "I don't have a weapon!"

Hades sighed, obviously disappointed. To her surprise, he tossed his sword to her. Katrina fumbled with it, caught off guard, barely managing to not cut herself on the blade.

"All parts of your body," Hades repeated. Without any further warning, he advanced, moving quickly and silently. Katrina found herself overwhelmed; Hades had the skill and grace that she lacked, especially with the Thief draining her power.

Two balls of flame burst from his fists in a sudden. Katrina gasped; it as quite an unnatural sight to see a person ignited, and yet, unharmed.

Katrina backed off, the heat of the fire increasing with each passing second. Within moments, she was sweating profusely.

Katrina watched as the fireball grew larger and larger until it enveloped his entire figure. Hades walked towards her as Katrina stumbled back, nearly tripping on Thea.

To her surprise, Thea groaned and spoke. "That's not fair," she murmured. "Why does Hades get his superpower and we don't?"

Katrina quickly caught onto Thea's argument. "Yeah, what are the chances that the Thief will be attacking us in real life?"

The expression on Hades face made him look like he wanted to murder them- literally.

"Life isn't fair," he growled. "Deal with it. But-" he added, much to Katrina's astonishment, "I'll make it fairer for you this time."

"What?" the Thief whined. "But that's no fun!"

Hades gave him a stern glare before the Thief backed down. "Fine."

Within moments, Katrina could feel her power returning. She stretched her fingers, happy that the normal, tingling sensation of her ever present ability was back. Behind her, Thea was starting to sit up, her energy restored along with her death power.

Katrina faced Hades once more, this time, with a small glint in her eyes. Hades had never experienced her illusions before, and hence, wouldn't be immune to them. She was going to have fun.

The two moved at the same time. Hades created a wall of fire around Katrina as she created her signature box around him. The two stared at each other, temporarily at a stalemate.

To Katrina's horror, the tightly knit ring of fire around her started closing in at a fast rate. The flames reached up towards the tall ceiling, licking the edges of her clothes.

Within a moment, Katrina started making the box smaller in size, too. Sweat dripped down her forehead as she concentrated. Too large, and Katrina could get burned alive. Too small, and Hades could manage to break through the illusion.

Soon, fire was the only thing in her vision. Katrina winced as embers fell onto her clothes, burning them before she hastily put them out.

"Thea!" Katrina called desperately. "Help!"

As the moments passed, so did Katrina's anxiety. She didn't know how far Hades was willing to go, but she wouldn't be surprised if he killed her just to teach Thea a lesson.

Suddenly, in a moment, the flames disappeared. Katrina blinked in surprise, finding Hades standing not far from her, having broken out of her illusion. Thea was crouching on the ground next to Hades, breathing hard. The sword, which Katrina had dropped earlier, laid abandoned at Thea's feet.

Hades looked approvingly at Thea. "Not bad, you did better than I expected.

"As for you," Hades continued, turning to face Katrina, "you need to improve. Thea did better than you did, even with an injury and-"

"Speaking of the injury," Katrina interrupted, talking over him, "how about let's go treat it?"

"Pathetic," Hades scoffed. "You need to get medical treatment for such a shallow wound?"

Katrina and Thea gaped at each other, each not knowing what to say. After a moment, Thea timidly broke the silence. "Um... Yes?"

If looks could kill, Thea would've been dead ten times over. Thea shrunk back from Hades glare, looking at the ground. "I mean, there's a lot of blood."

Hades sighed in exasperation. "Fine. Katrina, where's your babysitter?"

Katrina wanted to protest that she wasn't a baby but thought better of it. "I don't know. She took a friend of mine to the Lab to help him register for an MD. I don't know when she'll be back."

As if on cue, the door to the training room burst open. Celia and Ted walked in, the latter standing awkwardly at the door.

"The scientists in charge of Arena six and eight bought us some time," Celia announced, "so you can continue training Thea and Katrina for a couple of hours. Judging by the amount of sleeping gas they released, everyone else back at the arenas won't be awake until midday."

Katrina nearly groaned at the thought of having to spend more time with Hades. Before she could though, Ted rushed over to Thea.

"Weaklings," Hades grumbled as he watched Ted quickly heal her. "Back in my day, we used to just walk these kinds of injuries off."

Thea stood up with the help of Ted, completely healed. "What's next?" she asked, her voice laced with exhaustion.

"He starts butchering us again," Katrina muttered darkly. "What else?"

With a warning glare from Celia, Katrina snapped her jaw shut with a click.

"We're going to go over all the possibly fatal mistakes you two made," Hades growled. His eyes unfocused for a moment before sighing. "And," he added, "the scientists just ordered me to go easy on you two."

"Don't look so happy," Hades warned as Thea gave Katrina a bright smile. "Now you two have to suffer through a lesson."

Katrina suppressed the urge to grin. Whatever speech Hades had in store for them, it couldn't be as bad as before.

"When will we have to 'suffer' through this agonizing lesson?" Katrina wondered sarcastically.

"We start now."

...

I think this is the first time I ever ended a chapter without having Katrina fall asleep, get knocked out, or end on a cliffhanger. Welp, I dunno how I managed to write fourteen chapters doing that. 

Did you guys enjoy this ending?