This takes place directly after the last chapter when she sees the cliff.

Time never listens. We humans are so worthless, our lives formed in the morning dew, and swept away by the evening rain. And time, the great element that watches over, takes over. Time is never on my side. It would solve my problems; I would have time to slow down before watching the ground slip away beneath me. I catch on the edge, my fingers grappling at the stone and sliding over the loose pebbles. I drop the knifed rope form my hand and let it fall into the mist bellow, but even with both hands, I'm still slipping, forget about pulling myself up.

Footsteps, Quake runs to the cliff. Oh how I wish I could say goodbye. The cameras will be on me now, The audience will hold their breaths and laugh at my last moments. Quake raises the sword, I don't know what would be better, having my fingers taken or falling to the earth myself. I can't imagine the pain of my reunion with the ground.

Deep below me I hear the splash. The splash? The rope, it has reached the end of the fog, and also reached water. Water. Water! WATER!

MY fingers let go and I push away from the rock, turning my body into a dive towards the mist. I hear the clang as Quakes sword clashes into the rock, but it's muted from the swirling air. The hanging droplets seem to part, everything around me is clear, and for a moment all I can see is a wall of soft nothingness. I don't have time to wonder what would happen if I was wrong, if all that waited bellow me was the same bone shattering rock.

but I'm right, and wrong in a way. Stones, Boulders, water. The clear spray froths between the hope breaking rocks, smooth from the relentless pounding.

If I die here, I'll me mashed into an unrecognizable lump of food. Mind food, that's what I am to the capitol. Food for their power hungry souls.

If they even have souls.

I crash into the waves; I can feel the stone at my side as bubbles spurt around me. My worries are taken away with the surface. My eyes open and I can see the bottom far below me. It's also a hard rock with boulders stretching towards the surface, stretching towards their prey. There, hooked on one of the lethal crags, is my only weapon.

I start to rise to the surface so I can refill on air, but I notice that the thrashing above would only take me away from what may be my salvation. So I turn and shoot towards the knife rope. With a few strokes I'm there, my ears are popping from the depth and my lungs are screaming at me. I franticly unhook the rope, but it's not that simple. I yank on it with what little might I have left, but it only makes the hold tighter.

Determination sets in. My mind becomes foggy from lack of air, but I still pull myself down and begin to untie whatever knots have formed and kept it in place.

It feels like forever before I tug it free. I look to the surface through half open eyes. I don't think this was worth it after all. I struggle to move my feet as a dark blanket begins to tuck in my thoughts. Swim. I command myself.

The surface is drawing nearer, I feel my grip on the item loosening. My grip on life loosening. With it But suddenly I can breathe. I gasp for the air, it tastes so good. I gulp down a wave and end up coughing, desperately trying pull the dark blanket from my thoughts. I scramble onto a large smooth boulder and flop down onto its solidness, the same solidness that I dreaded only a few minutes ago.

Lying there, my mind slowly slips away.

I'm up as soon as I notice I was down. The careers can see me here, for all I know their newly equipped arrows are pointed at my skull at this moment.

I glance up, just in case. But all I see is the vines over the cliffs and a layer of smoky mist. I notice that Quake had no idea what was down here, he probably thinks I'm dead. Even if had heard the splash as I entered the water –which I doubt because after living your life jumping in to waves, you don't make a splash- he doesn't look capable enough to put two and two together and notice what is at the bottom of the crevice.

I sit back down on the smooth rock and ponder what to do next. My instincts tell me to high tail it up the other side of the cliff and into whatever lays beyond. It's true that I could, that side is much less steep and covered in scraggily trees and foliage. I don't recognize the plants from here, but I dismiss the thought from my mind.

There must be some other way to cross the gorge other than falling into it; otherwise I bet almost all the tributes would be dead by now. I wonder if I missed any canons, I decide to pay close attention to the death recap tonight. Dead kids. It sends shivers up my already soaked spine.

I find myself hoping that the ten year olds are still alive; it makes me sad to think that their lives could be dispensed so easily.

I'm still wondering how anyone got across the gorge, so I decide to investigate by the shore. I know that if anyone was in the water, they would be swept downstream. So I travel up, I don't want to be near anybody. Now, they are all my enemies.

As the day progresses, the mist thins. I notice the dark stone bridges that naturally swoop across the river canyon. They loom above me menacingly, anybody could be up there. This is how tributes can cross. I periodically finger my robin, I'm constantly marveling at how the pocket button held against the rapids.

A cannon echoes, I start terribly at the sudden noise. I wonder who the hovercraft is coming for.

After a while I notice that the stream seams to curve slowly around the area of the cornucopia, but it's only when I see another gorge merging to this one that I notice the entire cornucopia is bordered by canyons. I stop before the two rivers become one. The strength of the rapids is making me uneasy. In fact, now that I think of it, the rocks seem to be more eroded and spaced apart in the water. I smell waterfall. A distant rumble tumble noise that bounces between the cliffs. I look up at the strangely beautiful sun. The sky seems to be cast in an eternal sunset. Not to intense, just oranges and pinks that stream across the blue that is already blooming with bright violets. It is only about two pm.

I start climbing the cliff about half way between two bridges, but my twisting path to scramble up has led me right back over one. Here I can see strange forest stretching upwards and odd rock formations dribbled over the arena.

The panicky feeling in the pit of my stomach keeps telling me to get away from the careers, but otherwise I'm strangely calm. I've already spent most of my worries and emotions. My feet begin to take me away from the center island formation that holds the cornucopia, but my mind thinks better of it. There is a tall overhanging stone that juts over the bridge. Here I can keep track of anyone leaving or coming near me and still have the advantage of being higher up. The thought makes me scared out of my wits, but what is fear against survival? And if it turns out everything around me is poisonous… well there is a cliff right beside me. If all hope is lost might as well use that to my advantage.

Wait.. is everything poisonous. Come to think of it these brightly colored berries look highly unfamiliar. I inspect a broad, deep green leaved bush. Strange pink berries hang from the tips of each leaf by a wiggly string of goo. I want to poke it, but then I think better of it. I don't recognize these, even from the edible plants station. In fact I've never seen anything like the forest that surrounds the arena. A tingle of emotions bubble up inside me. Nothing will be easy this year.

I scale the ledge with little problems. I sit between the few rocks that spike from the little amount of space around me.

I inspect the rope, running it through my fingers. It feels familiar.

"I run my fingers along the net, taking in the knotted texture. I glance up at Jaylyn questioningly and she starts to give an explanation.

"You'll have to make this in the arena." "

A smile crawls across my lips as I begin working. I loosen the five thin knives, they're not meant for being thrown, but then again it's not like the ones at home where either. I begin to sort a few of them into the pocket that doesn't contain the bird whistle, but I quickly reverse my actions. I've learned to never put sharp things in my pockets the hard way.

So instead I slide the knives to the side, resolving to find a vine to tie them around my waist. I don't want to weaken the rope by taking strands from it, I know it will have to be strong to do any damage against a trained career, or anyone for that matter.

I also realize that I need two equal weights to tie on either end.

I take one knife in my hand and hide the rest of them under a small cleft with the rope. After shoving dirt and scraps naturally over my items, I set off towards the ground. After a few leaps from the mass of stone I'm standing by the bridge. I look at the ever changing sky before scampering into the woods. Night will come in a few hours.

trust me, the chapters get better.

I've got some pretty evil stuff planned for Ember. :)