𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑾𝒉𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝑳𝒐𝒕𝒖𝒔; 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒄𝒌 𝒐𝒅𝒂𝒊𝒓

𝑻𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑬𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆

Katniss begins explaining what Wiress was trying to tell them.

"The entire arena seems to be laid out like a clock. There's a new threat each hour, but they stay within their section," Katniss explains as they walk to the center of the cornucopia. "It all starts with the lighting, then the blood rain, fog, monkeys. That's the first four hours. At 10:00, the big wave hits from over there."

"Wiress, you're a genius," Finnick praises as he walks past her.

"Look, the tail points to 12:00," Peeta says, pointing off into the distance. It also just so happens to be exactly where the lightning tree is.

"That's where the lighting strikes, right?" Lilith wonders out loud.

"Yeah, it strikes at noon and midnight," Katniss says.

"Strikes where?" Beetee asks, suddenly paying attention.

"At that big tree," Katniss says, pointing off into the distance.

"Good," Beetee says and stops paying attention.

Lilith watches him carefully. She can almost see the gears turning in his head. He's coming up with a plan. Maybe it's the plan to get them out of here.

Lilith hears Wiress beginning to mutter a nursery rhyme. Hickory, dickory, dock. Lilith slowly walks away from her, not wanting to get stuck babysitting Nuts.

She goes to where Peeta is drawing the arena in the dirt.

"So, 12:00-1:00 is lightning, then 1:00-2:00 is blood, then fog, then monkeys," Peeta says, labeling sections of his clock drawing to match the threats.

"Then 10:00-11:00, the wave," Katniss says.

Peeta marks that section on the clock.

"Did you guys see anything else?" Lilith asks.

"Nothing but blood," Johanna says with a scowl.

Lilith resists the urge to laugh as Johanna's expression. She knows it's horrible, but in situations like this, it's best to find some sort of comedy.

"It doesn't matter," Peeta dismisses. "As long as we steer clear of whichever sector is active, we'll be safe."

"Relatively speaking," Finnick comments.

"What if we just stay on the beach? Or here, even?" Lilith suggests.

"Would that even work?" Katniss says.

"It could. The monkeys didn't come onto the beach, they stopped at the tree line. The only thing that came all the way to the cornucopia was the wave. So as long as we stay away from there," Lilith explains her thoughts.

"We could avoid everything all together," Peeta says.

She nods her head with a smile.

"That could work," Peeta says. He looks at Katniss with a smile, and she just rolls her eyes.

Silas stands beside Lilith, nodding his head over to a secluded area. She looks at him confused, but follows as he walks over.

"What's up?" Lilith asks.

"We're coming down to the last few seconds. I just, I don't know. If anything happens to either one of us, I don't want to give up," Silas says, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Nothing is gonna happen to you, or me," Lilith assures him.

"But if something does, can we make a promise to keep going?"

Lilith sees his worries as silliness. Nothing is going to happen. They were split up for a while, but they made their way back to each other. But, seeing as this looks important to him, Lilith agrees to make a promise.

"Okay, I promise I won't give up," Lilith says with a serious expression on her face.

"I promise too," Silas says, giving her one nod.

The siblings feel more secure with their promise, and they rejoin the group.

But then, everyone is caught off guard by Wiress's loud gasp. They turn to see a knife in her back, and the knife being held by Gloss.