A/n: Just so you know, this is 2 ½ weeks after the other chapters.

Lila's POV

It's been a little bit more than two weeks since my ankle broke. It took a while for it to stop hurting because the hospital equipment here in District 12 is not as great as the ones in the Capitol. Well, either way, my ankle's better and I have been going back to school.

I was walking home from school exhausted of doing work all day long. Well, that's what everyone's like when they home from school. I walked into my house to find my brother, Ethan, and his new friend, Rose, "doing homework" together. Ha, they were doing anything else but homework. But, she's been coming over to our house ever since the day I fell from the tree. She helps my mother with patients and when there were no patients she went and hung out with Ethan. My sister, Jasmine, on the other hand goes to hunt a lot now. She said she found a friend who's just as good in hunting as she is.

"Hi, Ethan! Hi, Rose!" I said in a cheerful voice while taking off my shoes and sweater.

"Hey," Ethan mumbled.

"Hi Lila! How was school?" she asked.

"Great!" I answered. She smiled at me and went back to doing whatever she was doing. I walked over to my room upstairs. I had no homework so I wondered what I would do for the day. That's when I realized I haven't climbed trees for three weeks! I loved to climb trees. I feel like I'm in another world. I could even jump from tree to tree like Rue did in the Hunger Games. Actually, I learned it from her. It took practice to jump from tree to tree, but now I'm an expert at it. The only reason I fell from the tree that day was because I was wearing heels. I could do much better with sneakers.

I changed my clothes and slipped on some sneakers. Then, I wrote a note saying that I've gone out to explore and to don't worry I'll be back soon. I do this every time I go out. I took the paper and left it on my bed. Then, I grabbed my bag that I always go traveling with. I grabbed a map that I always kept and then, I opened the window and crawled onto the roof. I took out the map and unfolded it slowly as to not rip it. I drew a map of the whole country of Panem. It took a lot of trips to the library and lots of exploring but I got as much as I could on the map. And I could easily extend it, too, if I needed to. I just glued another piece of paper to the edge. It's not really neat, but I'll make a revised copy later.

I frowned. It never dawned on me that I only have the map north,south, and west of District 12. Not east. There are districts north and west and south of District 12. To the near south are a lot of woods. I haven't traveled that far east though. But I need to see east of District 12. Time to go exploring. I grabbed on the nearest tree to the roof and climbed. Once, I got high enough that no one could see me, but I could see if there was any danger I jumped from tree to tree in the direction east of District 12. I checked my watch. I had a little less than five hours to get home in time for dinner and not get anyone worried about my whereabouts.

I went for hours and it started to get dark. It was getting late and I would never make it back for dinner in time. Not knowing what to do I just sat on a branch and stared at the sunset in the direction of District 12. Even if I started to go home now, I wouldn't make it in time and I can't see in the dark. When the sun finally set, I leaned against the trunk of the tree and fell asleep.


"Alo?" someone said with caution. I lifted my head and tried to register where I was. Oh, right, now I remember. The sky was a little lighter, so I knew that dawn was almost here. I looked down. There was a little girl with a torch lit with fire. "Ahlan," she said with a smile. "Esh esmek?" she asked. Huh? Her face faltered then she smiled again. "I asked what your name was," she explained in English.

"Oh, um, my name is Lila," I answered. "What language were you speaking in?" I asked curiously.

"Arabic," she answered.

"Never heard of it," I giggled. I climbed down the tree and jumped down on the ground next to her. "What's your name?" I asked.

"My name's Ameena," she answered. "You?"

"Lila," I said. I looked at her. She looked about my age. Her hair was shiny black and she wore hair out, except for two tiny ponytails on both sides of her head. Her eyes were a dark brown and she looked like she had just taken a bath. Her clothes were somewhat clean. She was wearing a purple t-shirt and white shorts that were knee-length. "So, you're, um, Arabic?" I asked unsurely.

"Only just a little bit," she said. "Everyone in our city is different. They come from all different places. We learn many different languages in school. That's where I learned to speak Arabic," she explained. "Why are you here? Are you lost?" she asked.

"Um, no just exploring. I've never really explored this far east of my district, so here I am," I explained. "What district are you in? I've never known of a district east of mine. In fact, there is no district around here. I know where all of the districts are," I said frowning.

"Districts? Oh, you mean in Panem, right?" she said as if she hit a realization.

"Yeah, I mean Panem. Where else would I be talking about?" I asked annoyed. Then it hit me. "You're not from Panem."

"Nope."

"Care to explain?" I asked.

"Sure, I'll explain while we're walking to my home. You need a place to rest right?" she asked.

"Well… yeah," I admitted.

"Okay, come on," she said urging me in one direction. We walked in silence for a while. I checked my compass.

"We're walking a little bit southeast of my district," I said frowning.

"Yeah, only a little bit," she explained. "Wait, what district are you from?" she asked.

"Twelve. And you talk about this like you know about the districts. I thought you weren't from Panem?" I said confused.

"I'm not. I just know a lot about it. I'm not the only one who loves exploring," she says with a smile. "Besides, I know a lot about it because I know people who study your country."

"If you know about Panem, why don't we know about you?" I asked.

"We keep ourselves hidden. The last thing we need is a war with your country," she said hastily.

"Hasn't there been anyone who found you guys?" I asked.

"Yeah, everyone from my city is somewhat from your country. We find many people from Panem and take them to our city and they get to live there instead."

"Was there any people who didn't want to stay at your city?" I asked.

"Well, a few. They aren't allowed to go back. We can't risk anyone from Panem knowing we exist," she said. I stopped in my tracks.

"Then, I can't go with you. You're going to make me stay there aren't you?" I asked suspiciously.

"Well- I don't know. I mean I found you. The people there aren't going to let you go back to Panem," she said looking at the floor.

"What if I swear not to tell anyone?" I asked.

"Well, who knows you might break that," she said.

"But, seriously you should see our city. It's more amazing than any place you ever saw in Panem," she said triumphantly.

"Really?" I asked in astonishment.

"Yeah, it's an exact replica of New York City. The people who found the place a little less than 100 years ago were here before the big "end of the world" thing, so they knew how New York City looked like," she explained.

"Whoa, back up. I have no idea what you just said."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"What's New York City? And what end of the world thing?" I asked confused. Her eyes widened.

"You mean you people in Panem don't know about how you guys even came to be?" she asked.

"Uh, no?" She stopped in her tracks and turned to stare at me. She looked at me with utter disbelief. "So, you wanna tell me or are you just gonna stare at me like that?" I asked smiling.

"Well, there was this huge catastrophe that destroyed a lot of countries and- well, Granny can tell you the story," she said.

"Granny? You mean your grandma?" I asked.

"No, she's not my grandma. Everyone just calls her that. She's the only person we know of who was there before Panem. She's 106 years old," she explained. "Everyone listens to her stories of the place she used to live in. It was called the United States of America. I have to take you to see her."

"Cool," I said.

We walked in silence for a long time after that.

"We're almost there," Lila announced happily after a long time of walking. There was a thick wall of leaves in front of us. She stepped past the deep foliage and disappeared. I followed her through it. On the other side of the thick greenery was a beautiful beach. There was sand and sparkling blue water. The sun was way up overhead, revealing that it was somewhere in the afternoon. I racked my brain to see what this place was called. The ocean. The word is almost foreign to me. I've never seen the ocean. Only lakes and rivers.

"This is the Atlantic Ocean. That's what they always called it," Ameena said. "It's fun playing in it. Why don't you clean up, while I try to find a boat? I always hide the boat, so…"

"Okay," I said. I walked towards the water and took off all my clothes. Hey, no one was there. Then I went inside the water. Whoa, it was like so cold. But it was so amazing. It's different than swimming in lakes and rivers. Of course, this was salt water. But it feels more open, more amazing. I swam for awhile while Ameena got the boat ready. It was a canoe.

"Is that the only one you have?" I asked just out of curiosity.

"No, there are a lot hidden all over the place. It's camouflaged with leaves and dirt and stuff. We keep a lot just for emergencies."

"Cool," I said. I got out of the water and put on my clothes. I was still wet, but it didn't matter. Ameena and I got into the canoe and started rowing. She would tell me a direction if we were going off course.

After what felt like forever I asked Ameena, "Are we there, yet?"

"Almost," she said smiling.

"What time is it," I asked groaning.

"Oh, don't be such a whiner," she said. "It's about 3 o' clock."

I groaned. This was taking forever. "See? We're here," Ameena announced gently. I lifted my head up. There was land about a mile away. "It's an island. While every other place on the coast was flooded in North America, this place wasn't. It's a sanctuary for us and many of your people from Panem. It's probably the only high-elevation area along the east coast," she explained. We rowed faster to the island. We docked on the far side of a beach where there was plenty of tropical trees. Ameena sure didn't want to be seen.

"Do your parents know you go exploring?" I accused.

Her face darkened. "No. I usually sneak out. One day when I went exploring, my parents found out and forbid me to. Of course I didn't listen to them. I'm a really curious girl, so I love to go exploring. It's great. There are so many places in this world that we still haven't discovered. There's got to be. It can't be just Panem and us, right?"

"Yeah," I smiled. "We should do that one day. Sail off and leave our family. Explore the rest of the world."

"Let's make a pact. When we both get older, let's do that," she proposed.

"Deal," I promised. "I guess I'll have to go on another long boat ride with you again, then."

She laughed. I realized that this girl is probably better to hang out with than all of my friends back home combined. Well, of course I've only spent a little more than ten hours with her. But, her life is really interesting. And she knows a lot more than me.

"Come, this way," she said breaking my thoughts. I followed her down a road. She led me to a huge city. There were so many buildings and they were all sky high. "I live on the outside of the city. I'm not that rich," she explained, her face showing embarrassment.

"Okay, let's see your home," I said.

"Tell me a story," she said urgently.

"What? Huh?" I asked in bewilderment.

"My parents can't know that I was exploring. I need a made-up story," she explained.

"Just tell them I showed up at the beach," I said.

"Okay, whatever," she said. She led me down another road and pretty soon we were at a nice two-story house. She opened the front door and walked in. "Heeeeey, mom! I'm home from school!" she screamed. I raised an eyebrow. Liar, much? She smiled a fake innocent smile. An older boy came into the room. He made a disgusted face at her.

"You didn't come from school. Look at you. Looks like you just came back from wrestling a cow," he said. Ameena stuck her tongue out at him.

"Sad to say, that monster over there is my brother," Ameena said to me.

"Hey, who's that?" her older brother asked.

"She's from Panem. Found her at the beach," she said.

"Sure you did," he said. "What's your name, little girl?" he asked me.

I grimaced. "Little girl? I'm not little, stupid!"

"Guess my sister made another annoying friend," he said walking away. "So, what else is new?"

Ameena rolled her eyes. I went over to him and slapped him. (A/n: LOL.) Hey, it's not every day I get called annoying. In fact, I never did. He deserved it.

"Hey, what was that for?" he yelled alarmed. Ameena doubled over laughing.

"That's what you get for calling me annoying and a little girl," I said matter-of-factly. Right then, two older people walked into the room.

"What happened here?" the women asked.

"Nothing, mom," Ameena answered immediately.

"Hey, can I go to Grandma Mikayla's house, daddy?" Ameena asked with puppy dog eyes.

"Sure. Who's this over here?" he asked.

After explaining to her parents, we left the house and Ameena guided me to Grandma Mikayla's house. (A/n: That will be in the next chapter.)


Katniss's POV

"Peeta! She's still not back, yet!" I screamed to him.

"Calm down. She'll be back," he said gently.

"Lila's been gone since yesterday when she came back from school! Who knows? When she went in the woods, what if she got kidnapped?" I asked him half screaming/half sobbing. This is the first time she's been gone for this long. More than twenty four hours. She left yesterday after school and now it's the next day after school's over. I've sent a search team this morning to try to find her in this district, but they haven't found her yet. It's a bit odd, it's the first time she's been gone this long, and it's also around the time of the mysterious kidnappings.

"They've only been kidnapping older people, Katniss. She'll come back," he said softly.

"Don't worry, Miss Mellark," Rose said. "She'll come back. We're all sure of it."

"Yeah, mom. Don't worry," Ethan said. "We'll find her."


A/n: Ok, so that's Chapter 4 for you! Naughty little Lila making her parents worry like that. Ameena did say that anyone who comes from Panem aren't allowed to go back. Do you think Lila'll be able to come back to her family?

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