Chapter Eight

' "Keep breathing 'cause I'm not leaving you anymore,

Believe it, hold on to me and never let me go." '

Nickelback – Far Away.

By the end of the day, I find myself considering Tertia a friend. She was both scary and enthralling, the kind of person who left me so confused that I couldn't help but try to figure out. I had a feeling that she considered me a friend, too, but neither of us broached that subject. We weren't willing or able to. The thought of confessing that I considered her, a girl from District 2, a friend seemed… it seemed wrong. How could I consider her a friend, but be willing to kill her if I needed to to protect MaddiGrace?

We had continued at the weaponry stations for a while, making a game out of my learning how to use each new weapon. By the time we left the weapons, I was competent with most of them, if not all, and felt that I had at least a good fighting chance. I still favoured the throwing knives because they meant I wouldn't have to get so close, but it turned out I handled the close-combat weapons much more effectively.

Tertia then suggested we explore different stations, so we did. We spent a fair amount of time at a station based on first aid and by the time we were told to get lost, Tertia resembled and mummy and I… well, I'm not sure, but her bandaging skills were much better than mine. I barely spoke to MaddiGrace all day, but Tertia was enough to keep me occupied, and then the day was over and Katzula was waiting for us by the elevator.

"How did you guys go?" Katzula finally questioned as we sat around the too-big table, plates piled high with expensive food.

"Sammy made a girlfriend." MaddiGrace supplied cheerily, her eyes twinkling.

"Oh?" Katzula looked at me, curious.

"Nothing like that." I snort, "Tertia – the girl from 2. She helped me out with learning to use a few of the weapons…" I shrug and turn my gaze to MaddiGrace. "Besides, I wasn't flirting like you were."

"This could get nasty…" Katzula chuckles around a mouthful of God-knows-what.

"I wasn't flirting with Tex!" MaddiGrace shakes her head. "We were just being friendly."

"You know how to light a fire… hell, you don't need anything to light a fire!" I exclaim, almost disgusted with her for denying it. MaddiGrace flushes slightly and folds her arms over her chest. Katzula sits awkwardly still beside her, trying to look as if she can't hear a word we're saying. "And yet, you played dumb for that boy from 4."

MaddiGrace looks both hurt and furious. She shoves her chair back so roughly it falls, snapping against the floor. She pauses, as if considering picking it up or shouting at me, and then turns on her heel and stalks into her room. The door slams, breaking the silence, Katzula lets out a shaky breath and I simply groan.

"You should really stop saying things… she's thin enough, missing too many more meals might kill her, Sam." Katzula chides me softly, gently, and I throw her a hard glare. She doesn't wither away like I expect her too and suddenly I switch her face with Tertia's in my mind, but Katzula doesn't glare back and me and the illusion fades as fast as it arrived.

"Have you worked out any more of that stupid plan?" I demand, frowning.

Katzula scowls at me. "No. I haven't. And if it weren't for the fact that I rather like MaddiGrace, I don't think I would bother trying to help you right now. I can assure you, however, that I am trying to arrange everything."

"Great!" I throw my hands up angrily. "This whole thing is so… so useless!"

"Sam," Katzula rises slowly to her feet, her eyes cold. It's the first time I've ever seen her look truly unhappy with me, I realise, and that shocks me. "I'm doing my best. I'm trying my hardest. If you can't appreciate that a little, if you can't stop to… look, just grow up!"

"Kat…"

"Don't." She glares at me. "Just because you had a bad day, just because MaddiGrace is talking and flirting with some boy… does not give you any right to treat me, or even her, like we are less than dirt! Perhaps it is best if we don't talk until we absolutely have to."

Katzula leaves me alone with my simmering anger. She heads in a direction I haven't even noticed before, taking a door I didn't see, and I almost follow her. Instead, I sit stupidly at the table before I head for my own room. I spend a while in the shower, letting the scalding water burn every last thread of frustration and anger from me, until I'm mostly numb with only a slight sampling of self-disgust.

Dressed only in thin cotton pyjama pants, I try to apologise to MaddiGrace. She refuses to answer the door when I knock and although I try the handle, the door is locked. Katzula isn't even in her room, so I stand outside it for a while, looking around our apartment-like floor. Part of me suspects Katzula has gone out to explore the Capitol, I'm certain she has no rules that say she has to stay in this building at all times, and part of me wants to find her.

In a spur of the moment decision, I head for the door that I saw Katzula disappear into. It opens into a small stairwell that I climb hurriedly, taking the stairs two and three at a time until I almost smack face-first into the door at the top. I manage to open it and a blast of chilly night air slams into my chest.

I'm greeted with the most unexpected sight imaginable. The stars twinkle overhead, more beautiful than the multi-coloured lights of the Capitol below the building. I almost cry out as gravel digs into my bare feet, my eyes darting to the ground below me. I side-step onto a small pavestone and follow it, my eyes on the ground for most of the short trip, and then I look up.

More than half of the roof top is made up of garden beds and small, potted tree. I catch my breath as I move amongst the sweet-scented flowers, the proud looking trees with their full branches… somewhere amongst it all, I find a stone fountain.

And Katzula.

I approach her quietly, surprised she didn't realise I was there. I stand off to the side and watch her for a moment. She looks almost… I catch myself before I can finish the thought, watching as she lets her fingers trail gently through the pool surrounding the water fountain. Her eyes are lowered, almost closed, but she looks surprisingly peaceful. Content.

"Kat…" She jumps as I speak her name. She almost slips into the fountain and I have to bite back a laugh. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay." She shrugs. "I can't even begin to imagine what you're going through, so I won't even try… we both overreacted."

I sit down beside her, letting my gaze wander around the rooftop garden. "Are we allowed up here?"

"If we weren't, I doubt there'd be an access door." She shrugs.

We sit in silence for a while. Katzula returns to skimming her hand over the surface of the water, creating a ripple effect wherever her fingers touch it. I watch her, marvelling at the way it distorts our reflection. I hope to God that the arena I'm going to be dumped in is mostly land because I sure as hell can't swim, and the idea of being surrounded by water… I shudder at the thought.

"I wish we had met under different circumstances, Sam." Katzula's voice is wistful as she continues to stare down at the water. I watch her face, examining it closely. "I don't want to have to watch you in that arena…"

I hug her with one arm, uncertain as to what to say. Katzula turns and buries her head in the space between my shoulder and neck, her breath tickling my skin as she wraps her arms around my waist. I let my other arm drape over her, figuring that considering I have no words, I'll comfort her as best I can. The hug seems to be enough right now, so I simply hold her close. Her body head is comforting and I even let my head rest atop hers, inhaling the sweet smells of her hair and the flowers around us that wafted around me with the slight breeze.

"Sam…" Katzula's lips brushed against my neck, sending odd shivers racing the length of my spine as she lifted her head slightly. I shifted mine, arching my neck awkwardly until I could almost see her face. She didn't look up, didn't move her head enough for me to see her eyes, but I didn't mind so much. "I can't watch you die."

I frown. Something about the tone of her voice catches me off guard, but I can't place my finger on it. "Hey, you're keeping MG safe for me, so I promise I'll do my best to get out…"

She lifts her head fully now and I'm confronted with the full extent of her eyes. Those odd eyes stare at me, pinning me to the stop, almost freezing me in place with their intensity. Tears glimmer behind her eyes, but she sets her jaw and swallows loudly.

"You don't understand, Sam…" She inhales a little shakily. "I can't – I won't – watch you die."

"Kat…"

Before I can even begin to work out what is going on, Katzula's lips find mine, successfully stealing my first kiss. I freeze as her lips begin to move against mine, so soft and gentle and feeling oddly like the satin of the Capitol blankets on the train. I open my mouth and her tongue slips inside, rubbing itself against mine.

I taste the saltiness of her tears before I feel them. They flow freely down her face from behind her closed eyes as I stare, wide-eyed, at her pale face. Her hands lift to cup my face as she continues to kiss me, trying to evoke a reaction. I close my eyes, feel myself yielding slightly, and then she draws back.

She's torn herself from my grasp before I can stop her and for a moment she stands in front of me, looking horrified. A strangled apology slips from her lips before she takes off, sprinting away from me.

I stare after her for a long time. My mind slowly clears itself of the thick fog, allowing a few clear but confused thoughts to slip through my mind. I touch my face, wiping the dampness from my cheeks, and then my fingers flutter to my lips. I trace my lips with the very tips of my fingers, applying only the lightest touch.

What the hell just happened?

…

Katzula is absent from breakfast, but I manage to apologise to MaddiGrace. She forgives me willingly, happily, and together we head down to the training room. She leaves me the moment the double doors open, heading off to find Tex from District 4, while I wander around the stations aimlessly, trying to wrap my mind around the events of the night just gone.

I'm so lost in my thoughts that I don't even notice Tertia until I'm flat on my back, staring up into her dark eyes. The pleased expression on her small, round face informs me that she is the reason I'm lying here, but I say nothing as she thrusts out a hand and helps me to my feet.

"I hope you don't get that dazed in the arena," She teases as we head for the station that will teach us all we need to know about snares. We drop to the ground, cross-legged, and fiddle with the ropes. "What's on your mind, Sam?"

"We're not being friends, remember?" I throw back, offering her a half-smile as I toss the ropes down in front of me, positively fuming. I can't get my mind off of Katzula, which makes trying to learn something utterly pointless, which means I have no hope of ever learning how to make a snare that will work and possibly save my life. "This is stupid!"

"Alright, Princess," Tertia's voice is harsh as she prods me hard in the side with a stick she was using. Her rows of impressively constructed snares make my mood sour even more as I slump back, scowling at her. "Spill it or I'm gonna shove this through your heart."

"Go ahead." I shrug, sitting back on my hands. "You were the one who didn't want to get personal, Tertia." I remind her. "So why start now?"

"Because beating you is no fun when you're carrying on like a child." She counters cheerfully enough. "And I was thinking that, perhaps, we could form an alliance in the arena. But if you're going to be like this all the time, I'm no longer interested."

I smile and almost laugh at her. She returns the smile and for the first time since I've met her – which was only yesterday, admittedly – there is nothing lingering behind that smile. "I just don't know, Tertia… I guess I'm just frustrated. I want to go home as much as anyone else, but…"

"You're lying." She informs me. "About what's bothering you."

"How exactly can you tell?" I ask curiously, unable to stop myself. She smiles and shrugs sweetly, refusing to give anything else away, and I scowl at her. "The Capitol girl who shows me and my District partner around… she kissed me."

"Is that all?" Tertia rolls her eyes. "That's nothing to get all worked up over."

"I'm in love with my District partner." I reply, glaring at her. "And Katzula – that's the Capitol girl, my escort – knows that… and… it was…"

"Your first kiss." Tertia finishes when I can't. She softens slightly. "Got yourself quite a mess there, 12." She teases before she looks away. I follow her gaze to the boy from 2, the guy she came here with and the guy I thought, automatically, she would team up with. "You want to know why I'm over here, trying to form an alliance with you, and not the boy from my district?"

I nod.

"I used to follow Nero around like a lost puppy before we came here. I always made sure he didn't see me, I think I would have died if he had… and then, one day, I finally got the courage up to ask him out." She hesitates, her eyes darkening at the memory that only she can see. I wait patiently for her to continue her story. "I don't know what made me think I had a chance with him, he was the most popular boy out and he had his eye on Fantasia – District 2's own pride and joy, the daughter of the Mayor – but I guess I figured I had nothing to lose…"

I frown as she trails off. She doesn't seem like she's going to continue, her small face hardening and growing so dark I almost want to touch her, to snap her out of the memory. Instead, I simply watch her, forcing myself to speak. "What happened?"

She shakes her head roughly several times and swallows. "It was horrible. I walked up to him and just blurted it out. In front of his friends. They all started laughing and teasing me and he just stood there, smiling down at me like I was the most pathetic thing in the world… and then he took my hand and walked me behind the shop. He told me I had to…" She cut herself off sharply, her eyes hard. "I almost did… but then I couldn't, so I shoved him off me and tried to get away…"

"Tertia, you can stop…" I murmur, my heart growing cold as I watch her.

"He grabbed me and shoved me into the wall behind us. He held a knife to my throat, told me if I ever said a word to the Peacekeepers, he'd make me regret it. I kneed him so hard that he wet his pants." She laughed bitterly. "He cried. He actually cried. His friends saw it and I took off. I made sure I found Fantasia and I told her just how much of a lowlife creep she was. Rumour got around and… he made me pay."

"What… what did he do?"

She lifted her shirt, revealing a long and jagged line that ran across her stomach. "I told everyone I cut myself during training, but he tried to gut me like I was a pig or something." Her eyes found Nero. He was watching us, the faintest of smiles on his face. "I almost died."

I watch as she resumes working on her snares, not even looking at what she's doing. Over and over she builds a steady flow of snares until she runs out of items and ideas for new ones. We climb to our feet and head to a camouflage station. She grabs hold of my arm just before we stop in front of it, her eyes cold as she meets my gaze.

"If I can't kill him before I die, Sam…" She holds my gaze coldly. "Then you have to. He cannot go home."

I say nothing and we spend the rest of our time playing with mud and dirt, the mood lightening despite the heavy cloud hanging over my head.

…

MaddiGrace joins Tertia and I at lunch time, leaving behind her small fan club of Tex and the boys from 6, 8 and 9. She looks oddly bored and exhausted as she slumps down beside me, slinging an arm around my shoulder and taking a large swig from my orange juice before she takes her arm from around me and holds it out to Tertia, introducing herself.

"I can't wait to go to bed," MaddiGrace informs us, a yawn emphasizing her words. She pushes a mixture of salad around on her plate, picking at it every now and then. "I am so tired I think I could even fall asleep in a pond."

"You realise the first of our courses start after lunch…?" Tertia looks unimpressed as MaddiGrace cries out in disappointment and disgust, throwing her hands up in the air. My best-friend almost nearly face plants her salad as she head-butts the table, wrapping her arms over the back of her head and emitting a muffled squeal into the surface of the table.

"No…" I shake my head slowly and pat MaddiGrace's back, trying to quieten her as she fake-sobs. "What do we have to do?"

"An obstacle course, and then some kind of climbing wall." Tertia supplies helpfully, frowning at MaddiGrace who only fake-sobs louder at Tertia's words. "We have an agility course tomorrow, as well as some sort maze…" MaddiGrace gets even louder. "And then we go back to normal for our last day of training… but that ends at lunch… didn't your escort telling you anything?"

The mention of Katzula stops MaddiGrace and she lifts her head quickly, so quickly her neck cracks in protest. She winces and I find myself absent-mindedly massaging the back of her neck as she stares at Tertia. "Kitty Kat wasn't at breakfast."

"Kitty Kat?" Tertia's nose wrinkles.

"Kat… Katzula." MaddiGrace chimes. "Our escort. We call her Kat for short. Kitty Kat sounded fitting, though."

She hums to herself and I start to question whether she is intentionally trying to weird out my new friend. It seems to be working. Tertia watches MaddiGrace with a scowl, her eyes dark. I hope to God Katzula can find a way to keep MaddiGrace out of the arena because I sure as hell like my chances better with Tertia, but her and MaddiGrace? I shudder at the thought.

"So, you're Capitol suck-ups, huh?" Tertia bites out, causing MaddiGrace to fall silent.

"Kat isn't like the others." MaddiGrace informs her firmly, on the defensive. I smile slightly as Tertia tilts her head, cracking her neck. Her brow is arched and I almost laugh. She's testing MaddiGrace, I realise suddenly. "She's better than them and like one of us. She wants to stop this."

"She's still a Capitol brat," Tertia leans forward, cupping her chin in her hands. The mask of innocence she puts on is flawless, I note as I watch her. She bats her eyes gently at my best-friend. "So you are both Capitol suck-ups. I thought 12 had standards…"

"Take that back!" MaddiGrace snaps at Tertia. The girl merely smiles, successfully infuriating my best-friend a little more. I groan under my breath, trying to ignore the looks we are now receiving from the other tributes. Especially Nero and Tex, I notice. Nero is looking between Tertia and MaddiGrace

"What's the matter, 12?" Tertia teases. "Didn't want to get caught out?"

"If Katzula could, she'd stop this entire thing!" MaddiGrace snarls, almost lunging across the table to grab Tertia. I intervene quickly, snagging my friend by the back of the shirt. Tertia's on her feet, shifting from foot to foot and looking bored at MaddiGrace fumes at her. I shift myself between the pair, wincing as Tex approaches us, looking amused. "She's make the stupid Capitol…"

I swing around, clamping my hand over her mouth before she can finish. The silence is deafening as I look around, meeting wide-eyed gazes. The Peacekeepers don't move forward, don't head towards us, but I still feel fear prickle the back of my neck as I look down at MaddiGrace. Her eyes are wide, as if she finally realises what she'd started to say. I let my hand drop from her mouth and shift until she's tucked behind me, my eyes darting between tributes and Peacekeepers.

"You're not so bad, MaddiGrace." Tertia says after what seems like forever. Slowly, the room fills with noise and I relax. MaddiGrace slumps into her seat and throws Tertia a half-scowl-half-smile as she pushes her plate away. "In fact, I like you. You're better than the princess you got here with."

And, just like that, MaddiGrace and Tertia are like the best of friends. It's like they've known each other their entire lives – and I find myself at the victim of their pranks and jokes for the rest of lunch. But I don't mind. I find myself swimming in relief that MaddiGrace is beside me, safe and unharmed.

I guess the fact that she'll probably die in the newly established Hunger Games is punishment enough to keep the Peacekeepers from dragging her away for speaking out against the Capitol.

…

MaddiGrace left Tertia the moment we returned to the rearranged training room. The idea of turning the two new hoops we had to jump through for the Capitol into a competition didn't appeal to her in the slightest. I was starting to doubt it as Tertia and I stood by off to the side, barely listening to the instructor as he explained the obstacle course that ended in a skyscraper sized climbing wall.

The moment he gave the all clear, the boy from District 1 was sent through. I didn't have the heart to watch, so I simply eased myself to the ground beside Tertia's feet and she watched for the pair of us.

"The trick is not to panic." Tertia declared as the boy returned from the course a few minutes later, the girl rushing off to show the Gamemakers what she was made off. "Don't even think about it. Just react."

"Should I close my eyes, too?" I snort as I look up at her. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Nero approaching the start of the course as the girl from 1 finishes, looking as if she'd very much like to die right there and then.

"If you think it'll help." Tertia teases. "You need all the help you can get, anyway."

I laugh and climb to my feet just in time to see Nero finish the course. He throws a smile at Tertia, his eyes cold and almost gloating as he looks at her. Tertia growls low in the back of her throat and I find myself giving a soft squeeze to her shoulder as she starts to head for the course.

"Don't trip!" I shout after her and she throws me a pointed look, softened only by the humorous laughter behind her eyes. "I want everyone to see me wipe the floor with you and not have to feel sorry for you because you can't stay upright!"

"Bring it on, 12!" She calls back cockily.

Tertia flies through the obstacle course. She bounds the low hedges, throws herself under what I assume is some sort of mesh. On hands and knees she scurries over rough rocks and bounds over small pools of water. I can hardly believe she has the energy for the climbing wall when she jerks to a stop below it.

"She'll fall."

I jump at the voice, my eyes flashing to Nero. He stands off to my left, arms crossed over his chest, his eyes pinned on Tertia as she hesitates at the base of the wall. He looks so confident with his prediction that I almost want to slap him. Instead, I do the only thing I can think of that could help Tertia.

"Come on 2!" I shout at the top of my lungs. Tertia's head swings around, her eyes finding me. "You're gonna make it too easy for me!"

It works like a charm. I'm not sure if it's because of what I said or because she saw Nero, but Tertia throws herself onto the climbing wall in the same way she threw herself into the rest of the course. She's like a blur as she scales it, getting higher and higher. I almost don't have the heart to watch her as she freezes near the top, where a jutted edge hangs out. She'll have to literally hang, relying on her arms, or jump and hope to God she doesn't fall.

She stretches as far as she possibly can, reaching for the edge of the lip at the top. She slips and begins to fall just at the same moment someone – MaddiGrace, I'll bet – screams so loudly I jump. Beside me Nero is smiling.

Tertia doesn't fall far. She catches herself part way down and scales the rest before the instructor can stop her. She jumps the moment she gets to the part she slipped, the last haul, and somehow manages to catch herself on the lip of the jutted out stone and haul herself up. She stands up the second she's up, her hands on her hips as she looks down at the rest of us.

She takes a moment to breathe and then rather than use the flying fox to get to the ground, Tertia climbs down the wall and bounds back through the obstacle course, a smile plastered to her face. She skids to a stop just in front of Nero and I, and the moment he walks away, she collapses into a heap in front of me. Her breathing comes in jagged gasps as she grins up at me.

"Beat that, 12." She hisses out.

Tex is the next one to make it through the course, and then the boy from 6, the girl from 7, both from 11… and then it's my turn. Tertia has completely recovered by this point and she whispers strings of advice and encouragement to me before I head for the starting point, my heart pounding so loudly in my chest that I can barely hear a word.

I race through the obstacle part without much worry. I take the easier route. After watching twenty-two tributes, I had my route pegged out pretty well. Once or twice I had to change my course, but overall, it was effortless. I stuck to running where I could, not bothering to climb or jump or swing unless I had no other option. I was far too worried up the upcoming wall and if I wasted too much energy on the first part, there was no way I could scale it.

My feet skidded to a stop seconds before I slammed into the climbing wall. I took a deep breath and a step back, craning my neck to try and figure out the best way to go about it. I hopped from foot to foot, wishing more of the tributes had made it through. Time was wasting, I knew, and if I didn't go soon then the instructor would call me back and send MaddiGrace through so we could all return to our floors for the night.

In a probably stupid and hasty move, I jumped at the wall. I used my height and the spring from my jump to propel me as high as possible, my fingers curling around a handhold some way up. It worked surprising well, I realised as I began to climb.

I didn't climb it straight upward, like Tertia had. Instead, I used the pair from 11 as my inspiration and sort of zigzagged my way up the wall. Several times I almost fell, plummeting to the bottom regardless of the harness I was strapped into was a terrifying thought. Somehow, I made it to the top. I'm not certain how, but I did.

"Come on, 12!"

I could barely hear Tertia from up here, her voice not quite deep enough to make the distance. I grinned and forced myself back down the wall rather than opting for the flying fox. I bounded back, taking the same route through the rest of the course as I started it with. By the time I collapsed in front of her, I was in hysterics as she stood over me, grinning.

"You still need to work on it." Tertia informs me as she helps me up. We both turn, watching as MaddiGrace skips contently through the obstacle course. She stops at the foot of the wall, touches it, and then turns on her heel and skips back. "Your partner is weird, 12."

"Weird is good." I laugh, watching fondly as MaddiGrace skips right to a stop in front of Tex. "I wouldn't want her any other way."