Starting from this chapter, I'll only mention the tributes whose creators I know, since I've already established which ones aren't mine.

For this chapter's POVs, Kale Stormes belongs to StonerShyla and Zephyr Creed belongs to Queztionz.

This chapter also is the first that won't have POVs chronologically by district. It'll be like this throughout the rest of the tributes' perspectives.

~Meghan

The Arena - Day II

Briony Swaish, 15, District 11

No matter how much I scrub, his blood won't seem to go away.

I picked another leaf from a low-hanging tree branch, shoving it in my mouth and chewing. I had chewed fifteen already, trying to get rid of the spots on my face, neck, jacket, everywhere. Even my hair.

In my dreams, I could feel Buck's hot blood and body matter splattering against me again, soil blasting up from the ground and covering me on my podium.

I shuddered.

My stomach pitched, threatening to make me sick. I took a deep breath and spit out the chewed leaf into my palm.

Sakura glances over at the green spit mush, wrinkling her nose. "What are you doing, Briony?"

"Trying to clean myself," I mutter, rubbing it over the bloody spots on my skin.

Sakura's dark eyes drift up to mine as we walk.

We've been on the move since sunrise. I slept in a tree last night while Sakura kept watch, saying she couldn't sleep tonight anyway, not until we were a safe distance from the other tributes. It has to be noon by now, judging by the bright light of the sun overhead, breaking through the leaf canopy. Birds sing and bees buzz by every now and then. It's peaceful. But we all know how much the Gamemakers love peaceful which, in the Capitol, is synonymous with boring. Horrible things always start to happen with things get boring.

I scrunch my shoulders up, readjusting the backpack straps. I'd filled it with as much food as I could at the Cornucopia, stuffing in a couple water bottles too. It won't last us a while, but it's something for now. As my mentor, Seeder had warned me about going into the blood bath, but my allies and I had made a deal, and I couldn't leave with nothing. I guess the other tributes thought the same thing, and look where it got some of them - their faces in the sky last night.

"Sakura," I say. She doesn't look over at me as we keep walking. "I'm sorry about your district partner."

She shrugs. The scythe swings in her hand as she pumps her arms. "We weren't that close. Still. I hadn't expected him to die so soon."

I'm quiet for a moment, scrubbing the leaf paste over my hands. "You both didn't want to be allies together?" We all knew how the sponsors were probably going to favor him, even if he did somehow get his low training score. I still couldn't imagine how someone had killed the giant boy.

"No," Sakura finally says, looking over at me. "I knew the Careers were going to make him their priority. It was only a matter of time until they hunted him down later. I didn't want to be connected with that kind of a threat, you know?"

I nod my head, not fully understanding but not bothering to ask more. I would think, regardless of what the Careers think, we're all on their hit list anyway. So what does it matter what order they have us in?

"Do you think they'll be hunting today?" I ask.

Sakura sighs. "Probably. They never can stay away from a fight for long."

I bite my lip. The knife in my jacket pocket that Sakura gave me seems even heavier now.

We keep walking in silence, and after thirty minutes the sound of running water meets my ears. My heart leaps. I hadn't used our drinking water to clean my hands, but a river was fair game. I can finally get his blood and the dirt off me.

My pace kicks up so that I'm a foot ahead of Sakura when we reach the crest of the gentle slope we had been climbing. At the top, a small creek maybe five feet wide bubbles, running with a gentle current. My face splits into a smile. It may not be a river, but the brackish water may as well be a paradise.

"Can we stop?" I ask, already starting to take off one of my backpack straps.

"We probably need to keep going," she says, glancing around the forest. "We should get to high ground, we already have water."

I fiddle with one of the backpack straps, staring at the glistening creek water. I can already imagine the cool feeling of the water on my hands and watching the blood wash away. "Just ten minutes?" My voice drops to a near whisper. "I need to get this blood off."

Sakura looks over at me, and for a second I think she's going to argue. But her eyes scan the side of my face that I'm sure still has the grime I haven't managed to scratch off yet. "Okay," she finally manages. "Just for ten minutes though."

I smile, pulling off my backpack and sitting down on the soft earth next to the creek. I reach into the water, sinking my hands underneath, my fingers brushing the rough rocks of the creek bed. The leaf paste comes off as I start scrubbing my hand, relishing in the feeling of being clean as the blood and soil start to seep away. I start cleaning underneath my fingernails when I glance back at Sakura.

"The water feels nice," I say simply. I muster up a smile I hope is reassuring.

She glances over her shoulder warily before finally coming to sit next to me. She dips a hand underneath the water, her fingernails still painted red from the interviews. Her other hand is still holding the steel scythe she got from the Cornucopia.

"How did you manage to get all those weapons?" I finally ask.

Sakura peers over me. A lock of black hair slips from behind her ear but she doesn't bother to fix it. "The other tributes didn't really pay attention to me," she says. "They were all too focused on the bigger tributes."

I nod, scooping up a handful of water and rinsing my face. "I just grabbed all the food on the fringes I could. There was better stuff in the middle."

"It's good you didn't risk it."

I press my fingers against my closed eyes hard enough to see stars. Rye had risked it. She had run into the middle of everything to get those bed rolls. I watched her and Sakura running to me, and I had seen the girl from 2 with her knives. It seemed like it all happened so slowly and too fast at the same time. I couldn't even warn them, all I could do was watch the silver knife glinting through the air. Rye didn't cry when she died. She just laid there coughing up blood.

For all the years I've watched the Games, I always imagined that if when I die it would be like in a novel. The kind of death that lets someone think about their whole life before they finally leave this world. I used to think it would be in District 11, surrounded by loved ones, probably some grandchildren. I still want that kind of death. I don't want to die like Rye.

"Do you think she was scared?" I ask. The words almost don't even sound like mine.

I know Sakura knows who I'm talking about. We haven't said the name of our dead ally yet, not even when we watched her face appear in the star-covered sky last night. "I don't think so," Sakura finally says. "She didn't look scared."

I open my eyes, letting the sunlight burn for a moment. Sakura is looking at me, calm with her hand still in the creek. "Something changed when Buck..." I take a deep breath. Not saying the words won't change anything. "When Buck blew up. I saw her face after the gong rang."

"They might've known each other back in Nine," Sakura says. "Getting close to people here always ends badly. Did you and your district partner know each other back in Eleven?"

I shake my head. "No, I think he's a year above me in school since he's sixteen. He works in the fields back home, he said, and I work in fruit gathering so we wouldn't be in the same work sector. I have seen around Zephyr before, though."

Sakura finally cracks a rare smile. "Zephyr?"

I laugh despite myself. "Yeah, he told me to call him that on the train." My smile slowly fades. "I'd seen him before getting whipped outside the Justice Building."

My ally's face clouds. "What happened?'

"He has quite the extensive criminal record," I say, laughing weakly even though it isn't funny. Criminal back home in 11 can mean anything from murder to stealing food because someone's starving to death. "Sometimes they just execute people instead of whippings."

"That happened not too long ago back in Ten," Sakura mumbles. "My neighbor's kid had stolen from a Peacekeeper. Some stupid dare, I guess... I can still the blood in his hair. He... he had blond hair, but the blood made it so red it was almost black and..." She trails off before clearing her throat. Sakura stands up, starting to pace around. "We should probably get moving. I can take the backpack for a while if you want." She reaches over, grabbing a strap of the backpack.

Crack.

We freeze.

My heart throws itself into a frenzy, beating so fast I almost wonder if Sakura can hear it.

"I thought there were voices," someone says.

My blood runs cold. For a moment, my head swirls dizzily and I'm going to faint right now, I'm going to faint and the Careers are going to find me. I'm going to die like Rye.

Sakura looks at me, her dark eyes wide with panic. Her pale face has gone an even whiter shade.

An unsaid command to hide passes through us and then she's climbing the leafy tree next to her, yanking my backpack on. The footsteps move closer, climbing the slope Sakura and I had just a few minutes ago. Suddenly I wish I had listened to her idea to keep walking. I've just killed us both.

"Are you sure you weren't just hearing things, Zircon?" a girl's voice - Jade, the girl from District 1 - says. "I don't hear anything."

It's too late to climb a tree. They'll no doubt see me while I'm halfway up. I suddenly turn to the creek, sliding myself down into the murky water as quietly as I can manage. I almost cry with relief as the creek bed angles down into three feet of water in the center. I take a deep breath just as I see the top of someone's head over the slope, and then I submerge my head underneath.

The world is quiet underneath the water, but I just make out the sounds of muffled conversation. I can make out snatches of words - "tribute" and "trail" - and the soft thumps of footsteps on the grassy forest floor.

Something slimy swims across my neck. I almost scream, clamping a hand over my mouth, forcing the panic down.

I don't know how long I've been holding my breath, but lungs are beginning to burn. We don't ever go swimming back home, but we used to have breath-holding competitions in class. I never won, but right now I'm sure this is longest I've ever held it. The fear of death does that, I guess.

My lungs strain. Silently, I beg anyone that will listen that the Careers have gone. I slowly push myself to stand up, my hair emerging slowly from the water and then my eyes and nose.

I blink the water from my eyes, taking a grateful breath of air through my nose.

The Careers have their backs to me, walking away. As I breathe, I pick out each one. There's the small girl from 2 with curly dark hair, the one who killed Rye. There's the muscular boy from 2, and then the girl from 4 close to him. The boy from 4, Jade from 1, and Mizell from 7 are there too. The boy from District 1 must be back guarding their camp.

I turn my eyes skyward, scanning the tree for Sakura. High up, tucked between forked branches, Sakura stares back at me.

She holds a finger up to her lips.

I blink, looking back at the Careers. As if I would move.

"I'm so hungry," the girl from 4 says loudly.

"We can stop for lunch soon," the boy from 2 responds happily.

I curl my hands into fists underneath the water. It's as if they're discussing the perfect place to picnic, not hunting down other tributes.

"I wanna' catch someone before sundown," the boy from 4 argues. "We haven't seen anything except those tracks back a ways. I mean, how far could they have gone since yesterday?"

Mizell shrugs, hefting his ax onto his shoulder. "I mean, they're all probably hiding somewhere. Terrified, probably."

"As least they're aren't stupid, then," Jade snorts.

My fear mingles with anger, settling into hatred. The Career Tributes saunter away, chattering loudly without any fear of a predator hunting them down. I hope something happens, something the Gamemakers have planned that makes them terrified. Without their numbers and their supplies, they wouldn't be half as arrogant.

I wait until I can't see them anymore and can't hear their voices, and then I wait some more before finally pulling myself out of the water. My clothes are soaked, heavy and cold.

I shiver, water running down my face, and lean down to unlace my boots, pouring the water out.

Sakura nimbly climbs down the tree, casting a look where the Careers have vanished. "We need to get moving."

I don't argue this time.

Kale Stormes, 16, District 8

I pull the black thread through the jacket material, keeping my stitches straight and careful.

"Too bad we don't have green thread," Twila says. She taps her foot in the air, lounging on a patch of moss nearby.

I smile at her. "I don't think the arena is known for being fashion-forward." I keep threading the needle through the rip in my jacket sleeve, tinged with my blood from the cut on my arm. The cut still hurt, but Twila's stitches had been holding it together. I didn't sleep on that side, fearing that I might get dirt in the cut and start an infection.

"We should try to find water tomorrow," I say. I finish sewing up my jacket sleeve, tying off the needle and putting it carefully back in the clear case. The backpack I grabbed at the Cornucopia thankfully has some good supplies aside from the sewing kit: a full bottle of water, a pack of dried beef, a bottle of iodine tablets, a length of rope, and bug bite salve. Still, one bottle of water isn't going to last us forever. We need to find a new source if we weren't going to die of thirst.

"There was the river back at the Cornucopia," Twila says, fiddling with some of the lime-green moss.

I shake my head. "The Careers will probably keep a watch over it, they know we'll be looking for water. We should try to find higher ground, look for where the river leads in the forest. That's what the instructor said."

Twila glances around the treetops as birds flit from branch to branch. "We'll have set up some snares soon. I don't think the dried beef is going to last us either."

Just the mention of food makes my stomach growl. The feast we had at the Training Center two nights ago seems like ages ago now. Thinking of the warm roast and sweet fruit makes my mouth water. Now all we have is dried beef that Twila and I shared a bit of two hours ago.

"Grab the rope," I say, nodding at our backpack. I pull my jacket back on. "We can start tying up a snare." I stand up from my seat next our stick shelter, glancing around the forest. I saw a squirrel earlier, so there's bound to be more. We'll have to be discreet when we're making a fire to cook it, but we'll worry about that when the time comes I guess.

Twila picks up the thin rope from the backpack, winding it around her wrist. She sees me glancing around and starts doing the same. "What are looking for?"

I smile quickly. "I'm looking for somewhere to put the snare. We should keep it near us, but not too close. The animals won't get too close to us, and we can check the snare during the day."

She nods, heading off in the opposite direction I do.

I scan the ground, looking for some animal tracks like the instructor told us. Apparently tributes have died from hunger before even with perfectly made snares. Without putting them in the right place, the snares won't catch any prey. It's odd, the little things that can make a difference in life or death in the arena. I sigh, raking a hand through my shaggy hair. My eyes catch on the friendship bracelet tied around my wrist.

Mayciee's face floats into my mind.

Is she watching me right now? Maybe sitting on her couch back in 8, sewing up someone's clothing while she watches me walk around the forest. The arena.

The day before the reaping, she and I were sparring like usual, just like we have for years. We were laughing, but I could feel the undercurrent beneath it, the tension about the reaping. We knew it was coming but we didn't say the words out loud. We'd sparred for years, just playing around, but I guess both of us always knew that if one of us got picked for the arena, at least we wouldn't be going in totally unprepared.

I still never thought my name would be the one drawn.

Small, rapid footsteps make me spin, grabbing the sword at my hip, hung through my belt.

Twila appears around a tree, her eyes wide. "Kale-" she starts.

"I get to kill her!" a girl hollers.

Someone whoops.

The sound of footsteps running.

My heart starts beating just as fast. "Climb," I hiss to Twila. My mind flies back to the backpack near our stick shelter. It's dark blue, maybe not the brightest color, but not dull by any means. I haven't camouflaged it yet. But if the Careers find it they'll take it.

When I breathe, it feels like my throat has closed up, my vision tunneling. All I can think of is the backpack. I can see Twila climbing the nearest tree, the rope still wrapped around her wrist, but my feet are already moving. I clench my teeth so hard I think they might break.

The sword seems useless now. It is useless when it comes to an entire pack of trained Career Tributes.

Just as I round the tree to our shelter, the boy from 4 appears fifteen feet away with a spear in his hand. A grin lights up his face.

"We've got two!" he crows.

The others aren't far behind, weapons drawn, blood in their faces from exhilaration and not terror, like I know mine must look.

I rip the backpack up from the ground just as the girl from 2 whips a throwing knife at me. I duck around the tree just in time, sprinting as fast as my legs can move. My jaw tightens as I run and it's almost like I can't even feel my legs as they run. For a moment, I feel like I'm one of the Gamemakers cameras. I'm watching myself run through the forest, kicking up soil, with six tributes chasing me. The Capitol must be cheering, placing bets.

Mayciee has probably dropped her sewing, screaming at me to run faster, to move, to duck-

I swing around another tree, a silver spear flashing past my head.

The Careers yell behind me, but their words practically melt together.

"Run, Eight, run!"

"We'll catch you!"

"And then we'll get the little kid!"

My eyes focus on tall bushes up ahead. I hurtle towards them without a second thought. I'm half a foot away when I see the thorns, but it's too late. I barely cover my face before I'm running through the brush. The thorns scratch my hands and ears like a hundred searing needles, but for once I'm almost grateful for the pain. It means I'm still alive for now.

But these six tributes - predators - will kill me if they catch me.

I don't want to die like this. I won't die like this.

My stomach slams into something, knocking the wind out of me.

I gasp for air, moving my hands to look. A tree branch sticks out among the thorny bushes. I grab it, jumping up and grabbing the next leafy branch above me. I don't dare look down as I keep pulling myself up. My left arm burns and blood is smeared across the back of my hands, but I bite my tongue and keep climbing. I lean against the tree trunk, the rough bark scraping my cheek as I stare out through the leafy branches.

Far below, just past the thorny bushes, the Careers stop. They pant, looking around for which direction I must've run off in.

I put a bloody hand over my mouth, trying to not breathe too loudly. My chest heaves, begging for air from sprinting, but I force myself to stay silent.

"Do you think he went into the bushes?" the girl from District 2 says, pointing a throwing knife at the thorns.

The girl from 1 - Jade, I think - takes one look and shakes her head. "No way, he'd get all cut up." She looks up.

I pull my head back, screwing my eyes shut as my heart slams against my ribs.

"You think he climbed?" the boy from 2's voice asks.

I open my eyes, tipping my head back to look up. Maybe I need to climb higher. I raise my hand to the next branch above me and my heart freezes.

Two eyes stare back down at me.

I nearly fall from the tree in shock. I tense, reaching down to grab the sword handle with one hand.

The boy from District 11 watches me, his dark eyes curious. He's ten feet above me, sitting casually on a thinner branch. For a moment, I think he's going to make a sound to get the Careers attention, but then, wouldn't that just give him a death sentence too? I can't remember his name, something long. He scored a ten in training, but even I have to question whether or not that can match six Careers at once.

11 reaches up above his head, grabbing a heavy seed hanging from a branch. He turns, throwing it far away. The seed cracks against another tree in the distance, a few twigs snapping.

"Did you hear that?" the girl from 2 says on the ground.

The Careers take off running, their footsteps stampeding away.

I swallow, my throat paper dry.

As the Careers vanish, the boy from District 11 looks down at me. "You're welcome," he says.

Camas Speare, 17, District 2

"I told you, he must've gone left." Jade sighs, shaking her head.

"Let it go, Jade," Shaiden says, "we'll get them tomorrow. Both of them. Wipe Eight clean off the board. They had a Victor last year, they don't need another one this time."

Jade shrugs. "If we can find them again that easily, you mean."

"Maybe we should split up tomorrow," I say. I glance over at Aqua who gives me a quick smile. "Cover more ground you know?"

Jade shakes her head as we keep walking. The evening sun has settled across the arena, coloring everything orange. Light shines between the trees in shafts, little bugs buzzing around within them. This whole place is so unlike District 2 it's ridiculous. Even the smell is different, less graphite and more soil.

Our day of hunting hadn't gone well. We didn't see anyone all morning and then when finally chased the pair from District 8, they managed to get away. Shaiden had been pissed about not being able to kill the girl from 8, but now she's just deadset on getting back to camp for food.

I smile at the thought of dinner. "Maybe we can go on a night hunt," I say. "We did have four pairs of nightvision glasses."

"True," Mizell pipes up. "I'll go if anyone else wants to."

"Tomorrow maybe," Jade says. "We need to make a plan. A strategy. I don't want anyone else getting away like that."

Aqua bites her lip, waving away a fly. "Well... I mean, at least neither of them have high training scores."

"I still want to stick this spear through Eight's heart," Isaac snaps, shooting his district partner a look as he swings his spear onto his shoulder.

Jade waves her hand. "Aqua has a point. If only we knew where the boy from Eleven is. Maybe across the river? And the girl from Three, what's her name? Payla or something? She got a nine."

"Wonder how," I say, shaking my head. "She didn't want to give up that information at the interviews."

"She's playing a game, then," Jade says bitterly. "I don't like it."

We walk in silence the rest of the way back to camp. Some bugs start buzzing loudly, something Mizell calls cicadas. I wipe the sweat from my forehead, humming to myself as we walk out of the forest. Zircon is visible across the short distance of the field, swinging a sword around in front of the Cornucopia. He waves when he sees us emerge from the trees.

"Didn't hear any cannons," he calls.

"Didn't catch anyone," Shaiden says once we're closer. She folds her arms. "We chased the pair from Eight, I guess they're allies, but they got away. We'll go back tomorrow and hunt some down."

Jade grabs an apple from one of the bags of food. "Isaac thought we could go night hunting. We have some nightvision glasses."

Zircon nods with a grin. "Yeah, I'd go. I didn't get to have any fun today."

I glance around our camp, still in the process of being sorted. Everything that the other tributes didn't take from the Cornucopia is ours now, so keeping a guard back here is necessary. No doubt some rat of a tribute will come back when they're starving in a few days. The golden horn glints in the setting sun, the blood stains from the blood bath invisible now in the soil.

It's funny thinking back to two days ago, back when we were all sitting on a stage under bright lights for an adoring audience. My prep team had made me into a picture of perfection for Panem and then I was next to Caesar Flickerman.

Shaiden pulls a knife from her belt, wiping the dirt off on her tawny pants. Was it really just the other night she was giggling on the stage in a puffy pink dress like some fairy princess in a bedtime story?

"What are you thinking about?" a voice asks.

I turn, finding Aqua peering up at me with a hesitant smile. "Just thinking about the pair from Eight," I say simply. I can still picture her in her silk dress the same shade of blue as her name. "Too bad we couldn't kill them today."

"Right," she says, glancing down at the spear still in her hand. "We'll get them tomorrow." She walks off, sitting down next to Mizell and Zircon to help make a fire.

We eat dinner together, laughing and trading stories from home. It's almost like sitting with classmates, gathered around a warm, crackling fire, watching the shadows grow longer as the sun finally sets. I almost feel bad that they'll have to die. But that's the price for victory.

As the sky grows dark purple, we start drifting apart and settling down for the night. Aqua lays down a sleeping bag a bit apart from the rest of the group, sighing tiredly and rubbing her eyes.

Without a second thought, I stand up and grab the light, green sleeping bag I'd used last night. She looks up as I walk over.

"Mind if I lay down?" I ask with a smile.

She shakes her head and I put my sleeping bag down on the grass a foot away from her, sitting down and starting to unlace my boots.

Aqua gives me a curious look. "You're taking off your shoes? What if someone attacks us?"

I grin. "That would be suicide. I'm not worried." I set my boots to the side and stretch my socked feet for a moment. I did running three times a week back in 2, but it still doesn't seem like enough preparation for how much walking we've done today. I open the sleeping bag, unzipping my jacket and setting it off beside me. I can see Aqua watching me surreptitiously, but I pretend I don't notice.

"Do you recognize any constellations?" I ask, getting in the sleeping bag and crossed my arms beneath my head like her.

Above us, the dark sky is punctured with a rainbow of stars. They seem more colorful here than at home, a little bit brighter too. Even the moon seems different, hanging above us with a silver glow.

"A few," Aqua says softly. She sighs. "Back home, we use the stars to navigate."

"Miss it?"

She's quiet before she nods. "Yeah. I do."

"Tell me about it."

"It's like..." She pauses again before taking a deep breath. "It's like being in the sky yourself. That probably sounds crazy but when you're out there on a boat in the middle of the night, the ocean and the sky seem to collide. You can't tell them apart. The stars reflect in the water, and then it's like you're sailing through the stars, through the sky like I could just open the sails and go right into the moon."

I glance over at her, realizing at some point during her rant she's turned towards me. She blushes even in the dark, looking flustered as she turns back to the stars.

"Sorry," she mumbles, "I'm rambling."

"It's okay, it's interesting," I lie. I couldn't care less about some fishmongers boat back in 4, but my answer makes her smile.

She shrugs, her eyes focused on the night sky again. "Isaac says I get off topic easily."

I raise my neck a bit, gazing over to where Isaac sits at the fire. He and Mizell laugh together, Mizell propping himself up off the ground while Isaac sits on a plastic crate. In his hands is the silver spear he likes to carry around. My eyes flick towards my sword stuck in the grass a few feet away. I wonder how fast I could get up and kill them both. Would Mizell manage to get his ax into my arm first?

The fire flickers, lighting up Mizell's face in orange. He glances over at me, and I lay back down.

"What's the deal with you and Trout?" I say. "I wouldn't exactly say you both seem like friends."

Aqua laughs unconvincingly. "Oh, you know, just banter."

I bite back a smile. She definitely isn't going to admit anything with the cameras watching. I bet admitting her and and Isaac hate each other wouldn't be good for their district's morale. But I'll get her to talk about it eventually.

"So... exes?" I ask, looking over at her with a smile I hope is a bit teasing.

She laughs again, making a disgusted sound in the back of threat. "Definitely not."

"Not your type?"

Aqua peeks over, her lips curving up in a smirk. "Are you asking for someone?"

I grin. "If I didn't know better, Aqua, I'd think you were flirting with me."

She laughs, finally turning to lay on her side, facing me. Half of her face is shrouded in shadows, the rest tinted by pale moonlight. It reminds me of the old books Gran used to read, the ones with the sirens that would sing sailors to their deaths. "Tell me about your home, Camas" Aqua finally says. "What's District Two like?"

I sigh. "Quarries, mostly. It's pretty gray. We have this giant mountains next to us, all covered in snow in the winter. When I was little I used to think the mountains were like soldiers, just watching over us." I laugh a bit, shaking my head. Why am I saying all this? "Anyway, it's kind of boring. At least you can go swimming in District Four."

"Fair enough." Aqua smiles peacefully, her eyelids blinking tiredly. "Miss Amphrite says that children in District Four are born with sea salt in our blood."

What a stupid saying, I think, but smile back instead. "Miss Amphrite? That's your mentor, right? The victor from the Twenty-ninth Hunger Games, was it?"

Aqua nods. "Yeah. She's like everyone's grandmother back home. She volunteers a lot at the schools and she's always down at the docks."

"I've watched her Games back in school," I say, remembering the classes at the training academy. Every few weeks, we'd rewatch a past Hunger Games and take notes on the strategies the Victor used and how the other tributes messed up. "She managed to take out three tributes with just a piece of fishing line. Really impressive."

Aqua shifts, turning back to face the stars. "Yeah. She's... she's really something. I'm pretty tired, Camas, so I think I'll say goodnight."

"Alright," I say quietly, "Goodnight."

She rolls over, curling up on her other side, facing away. I watch her side move beneath her jacket as she breathes, steady and strong. I wanted to keep talking, but maybe the chase today exhausted her too much. I'll figure out something tomorrow. Hopefully I can get her alone and she'll let something about the issues between her and Isaac slip.

I turn my head, gazing back up at the stars. There won't be any faces in the sky tonight. The second day here has passed without any fallen tributes, but tomorrow will hopefully change that. I have a line of sponsors, no doubt. They'll want a good show.

I intend to give it to them.

Zephyranthes Creed, 16, District 11

Fireflies flit around the forest, blinking softly, glowing pale gold in the dark. Stars are visible through the few breaks in the leafy trees above, and I can see a sliver of the silver moon providing us with some dim moonlight. Small crickets chirp and I can hear an owl hooting in the distance. It's so peaceful I could nearly forget where I am. Nearly.

But I'm not an idiot, and idiots forget that they're in the arena.

I watch Kale and Twila chew on two pieces of bread, silence settling over us in the middle of a noisy forest. I don't think they're idiots. They had made a good shelter, I'd seen it last night as I climbed from tree to tree, reaching my spot above the thorny bushes. I hadn't been betting on someone running through them, but I guess being chased by the Career Pack is a good reason.

"Thanks again, Zephyranthes," Kale says, nodding at me.

I smirk. "I told you, call me Zephyr. Honestly, Zephyranthes is a mouthful."

"What does it mean?" Twila asks, peeking at me with big brown eyes.

"It's a flower," I respond quietly. "A little white one with six petals. We call them zephyr lilies for short. They grow around back home, near the fruit trees in Eleven. My momma loves them."

"It's pretty," Twila says with a shy smile.

I laugh lightly. "Thanks. Your name too. I haven't heard it before."

"District Eight name I guess," she says, eating the last of her bread with a happy sigh. "Thank you for the bread. It's been the best thing we've eaten since we got here. We only have dried beef in the backpack Kale managed to grab at the Cornucopia."

I managed to grab some good stuff back at the blood bath. I nearly had my head taken off by the boy from District 1, but I'm a faster runner. I was able to grab my backpack and head to the forest. The couple from District 12 were running away far in the distance so I went a different direction before finally climbing a tree and watching the last of the blood bath.

Briony made it out alive, her face wasn't in the sky, but I haven't seen her since.

"Have you seen your district partner?" Kale asks, as if he can hear my thoughts.

I shake my head. We're sitting together next to the base of a tree, some soft moss providing a comfortable resting spot. I prefer to be up high in the trees, looking down at everyone else below, but for now I think we're safe. Still, I don't relax, ready to run at a moment's notice. I hate feeling like a rabbit heading towards a trap. We're just prey for the Careers like this.

I shove my thoughts aside, clearing my throat. "No, I think she left the blood bath before I did. The pair from Twelve headed off deeper into the forest but I don't think they had any supplies."

They nod quietly before Kale glances at my backpack and sleeping bag. "You got a good cache."

I pull my green pack over. The words are unspoken between us. We might be allies now, but that requires transparency if there's going to be trust. Sharing supplies is a must, no questions asked. "I lucked out." I tip the backpack over, letting the supplies pour out. A bottle of matches, skin full of water, fishing line, a small first aid kit, and a thin blanket tumble out onto the grass.

Kale pulls over their backpack, pulling out the few items inside: a bottle of water, pack of dried beef and a bottle of iodine tablets. They had already shown me their sewing kit, which Twila had used to sew up the gash in Kale's arm. He had gotten an injury at the Cornucopia from the boy from 2, and the stitches Twila had done yesterday ripped open when he climbed the tree.

"You got a really high score in training," Twila says.

I shrug. "Guess I impressed them." I glance over at Kale. He's muscular, that much is obvious. He looks like the guys back home that carry harvests. I'm lean, I'm built for agility, I know I'm faster than him. Strength is usually a big factor for the Gamemakers, but I don't remember his score being particularly high. "You got... a six?"

"Seven," Kale replies simply. He nods at Twila. "We both did."

My brows knit. How did he make the same score as a twelve-year-old? "Didn't throw some weights around?"

"I did, but I don't really have great survival skills I guess." Kale smiles but even in the dim light I can see he's embarrassed.

"Well," I say, smirking, "it's a good thing you ran into me. I've already been eating some of the plants around here. There's some good edible stuff around, but there's a patch of poison ivy down further. I'd avoid that, you'll get rashes."

Twila grins. "Really?"

"District Eleven might be shitty, but we know plants pretty well," I say. As much as I hate District 11 and the Peacekeepers there, it's home. I can't say it hasn't ever given me anything.

"Guess you just have to know where to look," Twila says, glancing around the forest. She giggles as a firefly flits by her face. "We used to catch these back home. Did you ever do that, Kale?"

He bobs his head, a quick smile crossing his lips. He turns his eyes towards me. "Thank you. For earlier. You could've let the Careers find me in the tree."

I wave my hand dismissively. "I didn't think about it. Besides, it's nice to have someone to talk to." Maybe if it had been another tribute, I wouldn't have done anything. But the pair from Eight seem like they aren't the type to stab me in my sleep. Anyone allying themselves with a twelve-year-old probably doesn't have murder on their mind anyway. Now that they know I can find them food, I'm irreplaceable.

Twila yawns. "We didn't make a new shelter," she says tiredly.

"We can make another one tomorrow," Kale replies. He shakes his head, raking his fingers through his curly hair. "I don't think we can go back to our old one now that the Careers found us."

Twila frowns at the mention of them.

Kale elbows her playfully like an older brother. "Don't worry, I'll keep watch. You can rest."

"You can sleep in the tree," I say, nodding up at the large branches above us. "You can use my sleeping bag if you want. It's easy to use these belts from the uniforms to keep yourself from falling off the branch."

Twila grins and for a moment - maybe it's the darkness playing tricks on my eyes? - I see Rose. My heart pangs. I ignore the urge to grab my sun stone necklace. It's still tucked safely inside my zipped-up jacket.

"Thanks, Zephyr," Twila says.

"Where are you going to sleep?" Kale asks.

I shrug, leaning back against the rough bark of the tree trunk behind me. "I took a nap earlier, I'm fine."

With another grin, the girl reaches over and scoops up my sleeping bag. She goes to the nearest climbable tree, testing the branches before climbing up slowly. "Goodnight," she whispers to us as she disappears further up into the branches.

"Hope she doesn't fall," I mutter, turning back to Kale. "It can be little tricky belting yourself in at first."

"She's smart, she'll be fine," he replies simply. He glances at the ground before looking back up at me. "You can sleep. You've earned it. I owe you that, at least."

I shake my head. "I really meant it. I took a nap, I'm not tired. You need the sleep more. You outran the Careers today." It's a wonder they didn't spear him before he managed to get away. At least he wasn't stupid enough to use the sword he has, they would've fought him off in less than ten seconds. There's a reason they usually get all the sponsor backing.

"I don't think I can sleep," Kale finally admits. He runs his hand through his curly hair again. A firefly lazily moves in front of his face, blinking gold to light up his face just the slightest bit. Kale lifts a hand up, gently catching the bug on his index finger. "We have these back home in Eight. We call them lightning bugs. Me and my dad used to catch them every summer and then let them all go at the same time."

"My momma used to say they were good luck," I add. I can remember those summers too, laying outside before curfew. It's hot and sticky out, and the cicadas are a racket, but Rose and I would watch all the fireflies come alive. Momma would tell us whenever we caught one that it would give us luck, and to make a wish. I stopped making wishes the first year I got beaten by the Peacekeepers. Momma stopped telling me they were good luck when I started the fires.

But Rose was still there. She and I still spent summer nights outside, and Rose would dance with the fireflies.

"Please not this year," she whispered every time to the fireflies when the Reaping was getting close.

It was her third year in the Reaping this year, and I breathed a sigh of relief when they called Briony's name and not Rose's. As much as I had grown to like Briony this past week, it was better her than Rose.

Kale watches as the firefly flutters from his finger, floating back into the air. "We can use some luck," he murmurs.

I almost make a wish.