Katniss wiped the dust from the old novel she found amongst the piles of fallen books. "Peeta, look at this," she said, staring at the back of the tome. For, obviously, such a large book couldn't be called anything other than 'tome' or perhaps 'brick'. "'A class of junior high school students is taken to deserted island where, as part of a ruthless authoritarian program, they are provided arms and forced to kill until only one survivor is left standing.' It was published fifty years before the first Games were held."
The implications alarmed Peeta, "You don't believe they would actually take an idea from a book, do you?"
Katniss opened the book and skimmed through a few pages. The more she read, the more likely that possibility seemed. "It seems so. They even have 'danger zones'-I would think that's where the Capitol got the idea for manipulated environments."
He looked over her shoulder at the book, skimming over the words as well, "The students are in male-female pairs and the total number of participants is '42'. If you reverse 42..."
"...You get 24."
Katniss and Peeta looked at one another in disbelief. It was seeming less and less like a mere coincidence.