A Knife in the Dark | ✓

Twenty Four

Day twelve brings nothing new for Cato and Clove. Cato, from Clove's convincing, never left to hunt down Thresh in fear of her following him as she'd promised. Peeta's condition had worsened, though his fever had broken.

"What's wrong with him?" Saylee asked, squinting at the screen. "Infection?"

"Blood poisoning." I said. "He's got all the symptoms. Could be fatal. Judging by some of his symptoms, it'll definitely be fatal if he doesn't get it treated."

Jake shot me a sideways look. "And how do you know this?"

I shrugged. "Isn't it obvious? Look at the wound, and look at him. He's pale, had a high fever, and it looks like he's got chills. The symptoms that point towards it being fatal are confusion, shock, red spots on the skin, and little to no urine production. And, you know, nausea. He isn't in shock or confused, but see how his skin's covered in some patches of red? He's not doing so well."

The day wasn't interesting other than that, and though we were all anticipating something, we worked on our homework in relative silence.

Much later on, at night, an announcement was made. We all exchanged a look, setting aside our books and sitting up a little straighter.

"It's a Feast." Jake said, distracting us from the screen. I didn't hear what they were saying, though I knew that Jake was right. "Things have been boring. They need to make it interesting, maybe kill a tribute or two in the process."

Sure enough, Jake was right. A Feast.

On screen, Peeta and Katniss began arguing about whether or not she could go. The cameras switched to Cato and Clove, who were having the same argument.

"I'll go," Cato was saying, "and you'll stay hidden and out of the way."

"No," Clove said through gritted teeth, her hands balled into fists, "I'll go while you hunt down Thresh. The thing we most need? Oh, he'll be showing up to that. And so will our favorite girl on fire. I'll take down Twelve, you take down Eleven, and we'll meet up and take out Loverboy together. It'll be quick, and everything'll be done by sundown."

Cato set her with an angry look. "No."

"Yes."

"Clove, don't you feel something wrong with that plan?"

"What?" She scoffed. "That you aren't the star of it? You can't take all of the glory, Cato. Let me do this."

We never heard his answer, because the cameras moved back to Katniss and Peeta.

Hours later, another parachute arrived for Katniss. Inside was a bottle. We didn't see the note from her mentor, but she looked up at the sky and smiled, holding the slip of paper and the bottle close to her chest. It was an answer enough.

✗

Katniss left at dawn, having slipped whatever was in the bottle into Peeta's soup. The cameras switched.

Cato and Clove's hair was damp, Clove's tied back as it had originally been for the start of the Games. She and Cato stood, staring into the clearing. They were waiting for the Feast to begin.

Once the table appeared, the redheaded girl from District 5 raced out, swiping her bag from the table and sprinting into the trees. Cato swore under his breath. "I forgot about her."

"It's fine." Clove hissed. "We'll deal with her too." She checked the clearing. "Time for you to go."

He nodded once. "Stay alive. I'm getting you home, Urban."