I went to sleep as soon as we got back to the horn, but I woke up at least six times because all I could dream of – no, have nightmares about – was Coy and Finch's deaths. They replayed over and over in my mind and how I didn't do anything to stop it from happening. Eventually, I gave up on tossing and turning and told Cyra to go to bed and that I would take watch. I made myself a hot chocolate and sat down with only my thoughts to keep me company, which probably wasn't the best thing. My only musings were of the boy from my District and his friend getting slaughtered in front of me. Then Kai popped up, my little brother gazing at me with wide eyes simply saying, 'Coy can't come to play.' Over and over and over, it played in my mind and I once again found myself rocking backwards and forwards.

"I'm so sorry Coy, I'm so sorry." I whispered through the salty tears that ran down my face, wishing there was something I could do.

Beep. Beep Beep. Beep. Beep Beep.

I looked up with a started as the automated noise sounded, scrambling off of the log I had balanced myself upon and over to the parachute that was slowly falling down as if we had all the time in the world. The small canister popped open easily and I gratefully swallowed the tablets it contained as they were made to calm you down and I felt significantly more relaxed a few minutes later and read the card attached.

-. - - / ... .- ..-. . .-.-.- / .. ...- -.- / .. -. / - - ..- -. - .- .. -. ... / - - / .- . ... - / .- .. - ... / -... - -.- / ..-. .-. - - / - . -. .-.-.- / -. - / - - / - ... . - .-.-.- / -.-. .- .-. . . .-. ... / -. . - - .. -. -. / - - - / -.. .- -. -. . .-. - ..- ... .-.-.- / .-.. - ...- . / ..-. .. -. -. .. -.-. -.-

I stared at the piece of paper for a minute, the dots and dashes swirling around in my head. I didn't know what it meant for a while, my brain not fully functioning that the small notions could mean something to me, but then it clicked. When Finnick and I talked, we didn't just talk about each other; we talked about Panem and the Dark Days and we spoke about spies and the way people communicated. One of the things they'd used was a code of dots and dashes that my Dad taught me because he used them on the boat to talk without the peacekeepers knowing. He remembered. My eyes roamed over the text and slowly but surely I managed to translate what it said.

NOT SAFE. IVY IN MOUNTAINS TO NORTH WEST WITH BOY FROM TEN. GO TO THEM. CAREERS GETTING TOO DANGEROUS. LOVE FINNICK

I felt butterflies in my stomach when I read that he had written 'Love Finnick', my hand instinctively reaching to clasp the pearl pendant in my hand. He was trying to help me get to Ivy, huh? And he'd objected to the alliance in the first place… Well I guess anything was better than the careers. I looked across to the group of people all sleeping soundly by the mouth of the horn, before looking up at the sky and mouthing 'thank you'. That's when I set off. I grabbed all the stuff I needed, my jacket; a couple spears and daggers, plus some extra arrows that I found; a sleeping bag and torch; some rope; food and water – enough for me and the others when I found them – and a medical kit; shoving them all in a rucksack. I checked my shoe laces and jacket were done up and pulled the bag onto my bag, creeping away from the Cornucopia. But in the time that it took me to look back, I had already made the decision to do the better thing and lead myself around the side and to the edge of the horn's mouth; where Caggie was sleeping.

I shook her shoulder lightly, whispering her name and slowly she began to stir, before jumping up when she saw my face so close to hers.

"What are you-"

"Shhhhh!" I put my hand over her mouth, checking that both One and Two were all still in their slumber, "I'm going, I've got everything I need but you should come with me. We can go together."

The girl from Eight shook her head at me, smiling sleepily, "Mari, I can't come with you. You've got to do this yourself, I can distract them."

"But you can't stay here they'll-"

This time it was her turn to cut me off, a soft look on her countenance, "I know. But you have someone to find, something to fight for when it all comes down to it. I meant what I said when we first met. They call you a Goddess for a reason, Mari. I'll give you two hours. Two hours to get as far away from the Cornucopia as you can before I wake them up and tell them you've gone, I'll make them head the complete opposite direction. Just go, do this for me. And if not for me, then for the boy, make sure he didn't die for you not to win this thing."

I thought of Coy again, his terrified face exposing his youth and his unequipped being for these games. I nodded, gaining the courage to do it on my own, to make sure Coy didn't die in vain. Jogging away, I headed straight for the first layer of trees, to conceal myself as I headed North West to find Ivy, wherever she was with the boy from Ten. I owed Caggie now, but I didn't know whether that was a debt I would ever be able to repay.

XX

I hiked the whole night, hoping to get as far away from the Cornucopia and as close to Ivy as I could before dawn broke. And when it did I stopped off in a shaded area to have a drink of water and a couple of the biscuits I had taken, setting off again as soon as I had finished. I walked warily, checking behind me every so often and kept a spear in my hand and a dagger in my belt at all times. My legs ached and my back was beginning to cramp, so I decided to find somewhere to set up camp for the night. Soon, I came to a small stream that had obviously come from the waterfall on the North most mountain and debated crossing or following it down. Spying some small rocks sticking out the top of the body of water, I decided to cross and find a tree on the other side to camp by, a need for furthering my distance from the careers. I stuck my foot out and pushed down on the first rock and when it didn't moved I stood fully on it, doing the same with the other five that went across the stream. I broke through the edge of the forest about fifteen minutes later, breathing a sigh of relief when I saw that I was at my general destination. The mountains.

Before the large mountain range, there was a promenade of rocks, more like boulders, that stood in front and I skimmed my eyes across them, wondering whether I should climb over or find a crevice I could fit everything in and camouflage myself. I decided on the latter, as I didn't know exactly what was behind the boulders and getting the rucksack over was too much for my aching limbs at that moment.

So I scavenged along the line, almost whooping when I found a place I could easily be concealed and hopped inside, sitting in the sleeping bag I had brought and getting out some more food. There was a layer of leaves covering the entrance to my hide out so it was pretty dark, but I didn't want to risk using the torch just in case. So I ate and drank a little before scooting back and letting myself fall asleep.

XX

I felt myself calm down when Mari fell asleep in the cave, knowing she was away from the careers made me worry a lot less because there was less chance of them making her mentally challenged. I could see it in her from the moment on the train and after she told me about her life; I knew she wasn't all that stable anyway and I didn't want her to get worse because it would make her more of a target in there. We were lucky that she was such an amazing girl because the sponsors were pouring in and I was able to send her the calming pills, along with my coded message; thanks to Beetee.

"Strong," I faced Mags as she sat down next to me on the sofa, "She's strong enough."

"I know," I smiled lightly, looking back at the sleeping girl on the screen, "But sometimes that isn't good enough."

And as I looked over to all the other Victors I realised they all had strengths they were able to use in the arena, Mari's strength wasn't supplied to her. I knew why that was, she'd voiced her own opinion on the matter to me and that was why I was so set on getting her out. Snow was trying to punish her for ruining my punishment. I had to give her the chance to show her strength, like Mags gave me mine when I was in the arena.

XX

Beep. Beep Beep. Beep. Beep Beep.

I rubbed my eyes as I woke up and tried to figure out exactly what was making that noise and widened them when I realised exactly what it was. Scrambling to get out of the sleeping bag, I rushed out of my little cave and checked my surroundings. I spotted the parachute a few feet away and I felt my heart leap at what was attached to it. Finnick was a God, I swear. I grabbed the trident within seconds and brought it back into the cave with me, detaching the parachute and taking the note that came with into my hand. Luckily it wasn't in code this time, my sleepy mind not awake enough to translate.

YOU KNOW I THREW MY FIRST TRIDENT IN THAT EXACT SPOT ON THE BEACH. WASN'T NEARLY AS GOOD AS YOU THOUGH. LOVE FINNICK.

I giggled slightly, shaking my head in fondness – of course it would have been better than me – and I almost forgot where I was. Almost. A squeal brought my attention back to the outside and I chanced a look through the leaves. Stifling a gasp at the scene, I picked up the trident, weighing it in my hand and stepping outside. The girl was struggling, the boy grasping her arms tightly, so she couldn't move, his back to me. I walked further towards them, readying my newly acquired weapon in my hand, before letting them know of my presence.

"Let her go Hazen." The boy span around, his grip swapping from her arms to holding his sword to her neck as they both looked at me.

"And why would I do that?" He spat and I raised my arm as he pressed the blade closer to the girl's neck.

"Because you want me, I know you do. So let Caggie go."

Smirking, he shifted, "Okay."

My eyebrows furrowed – surely it wasn't that easy? I stayed poised to fight as he loosened hold and Caggie moved slightly away from him, but I realised what was happening too late. I jumped forward, reaching my arm out as Caggie screamed, Hazen's sword slicing her throat. The cannon sounded seconds later as her body hit the floor and I regained my previous stature; anger coursing through me. He ran at me and I blocked his shot with the trident, kicking him in the stomach, pushing his sword out of his hand. As the clang of the metal hitting the floor echoed around us I stepped forward and the trident into his abdomen. Pulling away, I looked over at Caggie's body lying a few metres away and closed my eyes for a moment, I got to repay her; even if she never knew.

I rushed back to the cave and packed up my stuff. I had to find Ivy and the boy from Ten before dark or I would go crazy. Taking another of the tablets Finnick had sent me, I started walking in the direction I was told they were in, keeping my guard up at all times. The hovercraft flew overhead and I watched as the claw reached down and took up Caggie and Hazen's bodies one after the other. I stopped for a moment, wanting to clean the end of my trident in the stream and as I did so I looked at it closer than I had before. I looked at the scratches on the points and the dent in the handle and finally the initials that were engraved into the end.

F.O

Finnick Odair. It was Finnick's trident. Why the hell would he give me his trident? I thought back to the first day of the games, before I got on the hovercraft. Why the hell would he give me his Mother's necklace?

"They're important to him…" I muttered to myself, still hunched over the stream as I stared at the weapon in my hand.

XX

"Eight left. Caesar'll be wanting interviews soon." I nodded at Chaff, for once hoping that I would be one of the mentors interviewed.

The only ones left were both from One, the girl from Two, the boys from Seven, Nine and Ten, Ivy and Mari. The boy from Nine wouldn't last much longer – his arm becoming infected since he pulled the knife that was imbedded in it out – and the boy from Seven was close to the careers new path as they searched for Mari. But the others, well they really had a chance, all of them. Ivy and the boy from Ten were surviving well on their own and with Mari they would be unstoppable, even One and Two would be scared of them – but what would happen after that? Mari wouldn't want to kill Ivy and Ivy wouldn't want to kill her; I could see it when I watched them train, they were actually friends.

"So what's the odds like?" Haymitch piped up, taking a sip of whatever alcohol was in his flask.

The 'vaguely normal' group of Victors had gathered in Eleven's apartment and by 'vaguely normal' I meant not the careers or the morphlings. It was me, Mags, Haymitch, Chaff and Seeder, Beetee and Blight. The games were on in the background as we sorted out sponsors and chatted about people's tactics. Blight had no hope for his boy, who he had attempted to help but his advice was ignored completely and now the boy had almost run out of everything he needed. But Mags, Haymitch and I, we had strong tributes who were allies; so we had to be allies too, until the end of the games – or the end of our tribute.

"One are both 12/1, Seven's 20/1 and Nine's 30/1. Ten's 9/1, Ivy's 7/1 and Mari's…" I looked at Beetee expectantly as trailed off, looking at the small screen in front of him.

"Mari's what?" I asked, confused as to why he couldn't just tell us.

"Mari's 2/1."

2/1? Mari was 2/1 on the betting pool, she was most likely to win in the eyes of the Capitol? Caggie was right, Mari had people who believed in her; but a whole lot more than she thought.