Page 3 (1/2)

3

Buttercup&039;s eyes reflect the faint glow of the safety light over the door as he lies in the crook of Priht She&039;s snuggled close toof the reaping that landed me in my first Ga and because no one can sleep witharound

After tossing and turning for hours, I finally accept that it will be a wakeful night Under Buttercup&039;s watchful eye, I tiptoe across the cold tiled floor to the dresser

The overnray pants and shirt, the shirt tucked in at the waist Underneath the clothes, I keep the few itejay pin Peeta&039;s token, the gold locket with photos of my mother and Prim and Gale inside A silver parachute that holds a spile for tapping trees, and the pearl Peeta gave me a few hours before I blew out the force field District 13 confiscated my tube of skin ointment for use in the hospital, and uards have clearance to carry weapons They&039;re in safekeeping in the armory

I feel around for the parachute and slide ers inside until they close around the pearl I sit back onthe sainstA cool kiss froiver himself

"Katniss?" Prih the darkness "What&039;s wrong?"

"Nothing Just a bad drea Pris to shield them

Careful not to rouse my mother, Prim eases herself from the bed, scoops up Buttercup, and sits beside me She touches the hand that has curled around the pearl "You&039;re cold" Taking a spare blanket from the foot of the bed, she wraps it around all three of us, enveloping me in her warmth and Buttercup&039;s furry heat as well "You could tellsecrets Even froone, then The little girl with the back of her shirt sticking out like a duck tail, the one who needed help reaching the dishes, and who begged to see the frosted cakes in the bakeryTirow too quickly, at least forwounds and knows our , I&039;jay," I tell her

"Because you want to or because you feel forced into it?" she asks

I laugh a little "Both, I guess No, I want to I have to, if it will help the rebels defeat Snow" I squeeze the pearl htly in my fist "It&039;s justPeeta I&039;m afraid if we do win, the rebels will execute him as a traitor"

Prim thinks this over "Katniss, I don&039;t think you understand how iet what they want If you want to keep Peeta safe frouess I&039;m important They went to a lot of trouble to rescue ive Peeta iree to it?"

"I think you could deree to it" Prim wrinkles her brow "Only how do you know they&039;ll keep their word?"

I reet us to do what he wanted What&039;s to keep the rebels fro on the deal? A verbal promise behind closed doors, even a statement written on paper - these could easily evaporate after the war Their existence or validity denied Any witnesses in Command will be worthless In fact, they&039;d probably be the ones writing out Peeta&039;s death warrant I&039;ll need a et

"It will have to be public," I say Buttercup gives a flick of his tail that I take as agreement "I&039;ll make Coin announce it in front of the entire population of Thirteen"

Priuarantee, but it will be much harder for them to back out of their promise"

I feel the kind of relief that follows an actual solution "I should wake you up more often, little duck"

"I wish you would," says Priht?" And I do

In the , I see that 7:00 - Breakfast is directly followed by 7:30 - Command , which is fine since Ihall, I flash my schedule, which includes some kind of ID nu the metal shelf before the vats of food, I see breakfast is its usual dependable self - a bowl of hot grain, a cup of etables Today, round farned to the Everdeens and the Hawthornes and so for seconds, but there are never seconds here They have nutrition down to a science You leave with enough calories to take you to the next e, height, body type, health, and amount of physical labor required by your schedule The people froer portions than the natives of 13 in an effort to bring us up to weight I guess bony soldiers tire too quickly It&039;s working, though In just ato look healthier, particularly the kids

Gale sets his tray beside me and I try not to stare at his turnips too pathetically, because I really want more, and he&039;s already too quick to slipmy napkin, a spoonful of turnips slops into ot to stop that," I say But since I&039;

"Really It&039;s probably illegal or so" They have very strict rules about food For instance, if you don&039;t finish so and want to save it for later, you can&039;t take it fro hall Apparently, in the early days, there was so For a couple of people like Gale and e of our families&039; food supply for years, it doesn&039;t sit well We kno to be hungry, but not how to be told how to handle what provisions we have In so than the Capitol

"What can they do? They&039;ve already got my communicuff," says Gale

As I scrape my bowl clean, I have an inspiration "Hey, jay"

"That I can feed you turnips?" he says

"No, that we can hunt" That gets his attention "We&039;d have to give everything to the kitchen But still, we could" I don&039;t have to finish because he knows We could be aboveground Out in the woods We could be ourselves again

"Do it," he says "Now&039;s the time You could ask for the et it"

He doesn&039;t know that I&039; they spare Peeta&039;s life Before I can decide whether or not to tell hiht of facing Coin alone makes me nervous "What are you scheduled for?"

Gale checks his arm "Nuclear History class Where, by the way, your absence has been noted"

"I have to go to Coht But they o to drop off our trays, he says, "You know, you better put Buttercup on your list of demands, too I don&039;t think the concept of useless pets is well known here"

"Oh, they&039;ll find hi," I say But I make a mental note to include hiet to Command, Coin, Plutarch, and all their people have already asseht of Gale raises some eyebrows, but no one throws him out My mental notes have becoht off My apparent interest in the proceedings - the first I&039;ve shown since I&039;ve been here - takes theed Probably they had some extra-special lecture planned for me But instead, Coin personally hands me the supplies, and everyone waits in silence while I sit at the table and scrawl outPeeta&039;s immunity Announced in public

This is it Probably ainThink What else do you want? I feel hi at my shoulderGale , I add to the list I don&039;t think I can do this without hihts begin to tangle I shut my eyes and start to recite silently

My name is Katniss Everdeen I am seventeen years old My hoer Games I escaped The Capitol hates me Peeta was taken prisoner He is alive He is a traitor but alive I have to keep him alive

The list It still seeer, beyond our current situation where I am of the ut Shouldn&039;t I be asking for more? For my family? For the remainder of my people? My skin itches with the ashes of the dead I feel the sickening iainst s e on its own I open my eyes and see the wobbly lettersI KILL SNOW If he&039;s captured, I want the privilege

Plutarch gives a discreet cough "About done there?" I glance up and notice the clock I&039;ve been sitting here for twenty minutes Finnick isn&039;t the only one with attention problems

"Yeah," I say My voice sounds hoarse, so I clear my throat "Yeah, so this is the deal I&039;ll be your Mockingjay"

I wait so they can ratulate, slap one another on the back Coin stays as i me, unimpressed

"But I have soets to keep our cat" My tiniest request sets off an argument The Capitol rebels see this as a nonissue - of course, I can keep my pet - while those from 13 spell out what extreme difficulties this presents Finally it&039;s worked out that we&039;ll be ht-inchaboveground Buttercup o to do his business He will be expected to feed himself If he misses curfew, he will be locked out If he causes any security problems, he&039;ll be shot immediately

That sounds okay Not so different fro since we left Except for the shooting part

If he looks too thin, I can slip him a few entrails, provided my next request is allowed

"I want to hunt With Gale Out in the woods," I say This gives everyone pause

"We won&039;t go far We&039;ll use our os You can have the meat for the kitchen," adds Gale

I hurry on before they can say no "It&039;s justI can&039;t breathe shut up here like aI would get better, faster, ifI could hunt"

Plutarch begins to explain the drawbacks here - the dangers, the extra security, the risk of injury - but Coin cuts him off "No Let the time A quarter-mile radius With communication units and tracker anklets What&039;s next?"

I skim my list "Gale I&039;ll need him with me to do this"

"With you how? Off camera? By your side at all times? Do you want him presented as your new lover?" Coin asks

She hasn&039;t said this with any particular malice - quite the contrary, her words are very matter-of-fact

But my mouth still drops open in shock "What?"

"I think we should continue the current romance A quick defection from Peeta could cause the audience to lose sympathy for her," says Plutarch "Especially since they think she&039;s pregnant with his child"

"Agreed So, on-screen, Gale can siht?" says Coin I just stare at her She repeats herself impatiently "For Gale Will that be sufficient?"

"We can alork him in as your cousin," says Fulvia

"We&039;re not cousins," Gale and I say together

"Right, but we should probably keep that up for appearances&039; sake on camera," says Plutarch "Off ca else?"

I&039;m rattled by the turn in the conversation The implications that I could so readily dispose of Peeta, that I&039; has been an act My cheeks begin to burn The very notion that I&039;iven our current circureatest demand "When the war is over, if we&039;ve won, Peeta will be pardoned"

Dead silence I feel Gale&039;s body tense I guess I should have told him before, but I wasn&039;t sure how he&039;d respond Not when it involved Peeta