"Thanks for the water," Peeta says.
"No problem," Gale replies. "I wake up about ten times a night anyway."
"To make sure Katniss is still here?" asks Peeta.
"Something like that," Gale admits.
There's a long pause before Peeta speaks again. "That was funny, what Tigris said. About no one knowing what to do with her."
"Well, we never have," Gale says."
They both laugh. I start to drift away again, despite my curiosity. It seems like days since I last slept properly. I finally fall asleep to the muffled sounds of Peeta and Gale's voices.
I dream about fire. Consuming me, burning my feathers, dragging me to the ground. I tumble into a frothy red sea, and Peeta's there, sinking, yards away from me. I call his name. He must not go under. I try to swim towards him, but the water chokes me up, if it's water at all, and I start sink, too.
I can tell I've been thrashing around by the way the furs I've made into a nest are scattered on the floor around me. Judging by Peeta and Gale's faces peering at me in the dark, I've been screaming, too. I sit there for a few seconds, trembling silently.
Then, twining my fingers in the fur of a nearby cloak, I fly across the room, alighting softly next to Peeta. Ignoring his protests, I wrap the cloak around myself and plop myself down next to him.
"Katniss, this isn't safe, what if-" he begins, but I cut him off.
"I'm sleeping here, so you may as well deal with it." I turn on my side and press my back against him, using his warmth to suppress my shivers.
Just when I think everyone has gone back to sleep, Peeta whispers, "You were yelling."
"I know. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake everyone up."
"My name."
"What?"
"You kept yelling my name. Over and over."
I can't think of a response, so I just shift positions and pull the cloak tighter around me.
After a moment, he says quietly, "Nightmare?"
"Yeah."
In the dark, I can sense, rather than see, his arm encircle me. A moment later he pulls me closer and I put my head on his shoulder, just like we used to do in the arena and the training center. Guarding each other, protecting each other.
I fall asleep like this. No more nightmares plague me until morning.
When I sleepily raise my head and look around, Peeta's arm is still around me. I lie still, not wanting to break the moment, until Gale sits up. The movement rouses Peeta, too, and Gale's eyes lock on me and Peeta lying next to each other.
"I guess that answers that," he says to Peeta.
"Huh?" I mumble, rubbing my eyes.
Peeta seems to know what he's talking about, though, because he nods. Then he seems to realize something. "Hey," he says loudly, "You shouldn't be here."
"Why not?" I ask, stretching.
"It's dangerous."
"So you've said." I'm not in the mood to discuss this.
He gestures across the room with his hand, and I realize that his hand has slipped out of the handcuffs. "Go. Get away from me before I hurt you!"
I look into his eyes, worried. Is some shiny memory threatening to break through? He looks frantic, so I give his hand a reassuring squeeze and say, "Okay. Look, I'm going." I scoot across the floor until I'm out of arm's reach.
He shakes his head. "Farther."
Sighing, I push myself to the opposite wall. "Happy?"
He grunts and jerks his head. I sigh again and rest my chin on my knees, not wanting to give up my time with him again. Now Gale is watching me like a hawk and I'm still trying to decipher his cryptic comment to Peeta. But it's not time for thinking, it's time for action. We wake the others and start planning.
