EYES OPEN ﹐ the hunger games.

06 ﹐ SECOND THINKING

CHAPTER SIX
second thinking

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          ┊͙✧˖*°࿐ IVY WAKES UP JUST AS the sun rises over the mountains. She is unsure how it is already the third day of the Games, it's felt like ages. Ages since she's been home, ages since she's slept a night without waking up with paranoia or eating a decent meal. Ages since she's seen Marigold, or her parents.

"Good morning," Ethan says, realising the girl had awoken. Ivy notices how he is still holding her, her head still resting against his chest. It's an odd moment, Ivy realises, but she doesn't mind the oddness too much when Ethan had shared both his blanket and his food with her. "How did you sleep?"

"I slept well, thank you," Ivy says, sitting up and shifting away from the boy slightly, even though that was far from the truth. "How about you? Did you not sleep at all? You didn't wake me to take watch."

"I fell asleep a few hours ago," Ethan tells her. "But it's okay, I doubt anyone would have found us all the way up here."

Ivy nods. She supposes he is right. "Do you know how many of us are left?" she asks, realising she missed the tribute to the fallen from the previous night.

"Not many, I think seven," Ethan informs her. "You, me, the girl from One, both from Two, the boy from Four, and the girl from Eight."

"It's only been two days," Ivy says, shaking her head in disbelief. "How can so many people be dead so soon?"

"It's been a harsh arena this year," Ethan answers, even though her question had been intended as rhetorical. "I suspect a few died in the cold."

"Yeah," Ivy agrees. She doesn't want to talk about it anymore. "What are the plans for today? Looking for food?"

"That," Ethan acknowledges with a nod of his head, "and I want to see if I can track down the girl from Eight. I think she's somewhere in the forest."

"Right," Ivy says, for lack of anything better to say. Is that what the boy from Ten thought before hunting her? Had he been as premeditated as Ethan? The thought made Ivy's stomach churn. Is Ethan expecting her to help him? She's unsure she could. The death of the boy from Ten had haunted her dreams last night, and that had been purely in self-defence.

"Do you have any spare weapons?" Ivy asks Ethan.

He nods, passes her a dagger. "Yeah, here. I grabbed a few from the Cornucopia. We can go back there later if you'd like and grab some more supplies?"

Ivy takes it, but is shocked by the boy's words. "What? Go to the Cornucopia? Aren't the Careers there?"

"Yeah," Ethan agrees, "but I'm sure we could take them."

"I'm not."

"Well," Ethan says, slightly exasperated, "if the opportunity arises, I'll take it."

Ivy gulps, and her breath is uneven and shallow. "Okay, well, we'll just play it by ear then."