Last

chapter 1

My gloved hand closes around the crook of my bow as my eyes land on a small turkey that stands across the lake. I slowly pull an arrow from my quiver and place it on the string. I aim it at the turkey, who is now running frantically in circles, and I'm about to let my arrow fly, when a crack of a branch behind me startles me. I whip around and point my bow at the newcomer when he puts his hands up above his head.

"Woah, there, Lily. It's just me," he says, and I let out a sigh of relief.

"Jack. You scared me. Never do that again!" I scold him, but I can't contain my laughter. I collapse in his arms for support as I laugh so hard I can't breathe. He joins me, but pushes me away from him. His eyes meet mine, and he and I stare at each other for a while. I watch as his eyes wander away from mine, and look my scar up and down, as if to examine it. He knows what's coming, and suddenly I do too. A shooting pain courses through my head, and I fall to my knees. Jack rushes to my side, and whispers in my ear, "Say it." I begin to recite the basics that I know about myself like my mother taught me, starting with the simple things and making my way to the more complicated things.

"My name is Tigerlily Everdeen. I am fifteen years old. My parents are Camellia and Newt Everdeen. My brother is Aster Everdeen, named after one of my mother's close friends. My best friend is Jack Odair, son of Millie and Lennox Odair. The Capitol has just announced something called, 'the Hunger Games', which will take one girl and one boy between the ages of 12 and 18 to fight to the death in honor of the war and the downfall of District Thirteen. The First Reaping is tomorrow." I take a deep breath, and the pain subsides from my head. Jack helps me to my feet and leads me back home, singing softly in my ear. When we reach my front door, Jack whistles a distinct, four-note tune. A chorus of it follows, made by the thousands of Mockingjays in the trees. My mother opens the door, nods to Jack, and helps me inside. My Grandmother, who's visiting us, leads me to the kitchen table as she tends to my scar, which has now opened and is heavily bleeding. She gives me some Morphling and some sleeping drugs, and I feel my eyelids grow heavy.

I'm suddenly running through the forest alongside Jack, his back scarred and bloody.

"TIGERLILY!!" He calls. "TIGERLILY, WHERE ARE YOU?!?"

"I'm right here, Jack!" I say, but he doesn't hear me. "JACK!!" I call. "JACK!! I'M HERE!! He doesn't show any signs of hearing me, and then I realize his hands are clasped over his ears. I listen harder, and that's when I hear them. Screams. Cries of pure agony, like Jabberjays the Capitol used against District thirteen in the war. Jabberjays. Of course! I look behind us and see millions of Jabberjays reflecting the screams of my parents, Jack's mother, his father Lennox when he died in the war. My late Aunt Primrose, President Steelfeather, and....me. The Jabberjays are reflecting my screams. That's why Jack was calling out for me. He wasn't sure if those were my actual screams, or the awful birds. I find myself screaming with them, and... I wake up. The blaring sun reflected through the window burns my eyes, so I close them again and drift back into a more peaceful, dreamless sleep. When I wake up again, I can hear my parents whispering in the other room, but I can make out what they're saying easily.

"We can't let them do this," my father is saying, and I hear him sip his tea.

"We don't have a choice," my mother replies. I can hear it in her tone that she's doing her best not to yell.

"The Odairs would agree with me."

"You don't know that!" my mother takes a deep breath.

"Wow." my father says calmly. "I thought you decided you would 'never get angry because it causes more problems'." He takes another sip of tea.