Penelope's POV:

The sounds of the crowd gets louder the closer I get to the arena. I hear hasty footsteps behind me and turn to see Athena. She doesn’t speak, rather she gestures to the bottle of water. I retreat to the closest room and drink half the water. I didn’t realize how thirsty I was till the entire bottle was gone.

“Good luck, Thorne.” Athena says softly as she takes the bottle from me and helps adjust my mask into place, locking it firmly at the back of my head.

“Thanks,” I say quietly and leave.

I get into the ring.

It’s the same as I always remember. The...