At the end of the day, when darkness came and the capital symbol floated in the sky, it was revealed that a total of six people had been killed that day, more than the bloodbath had claimed.

The last face shown was MaryBeth's, and Niles and Daphne sighed as they saw it. No wonder Maris had the bow and arrows earlier; she had probably pried them from MaryBeth's dead hands.

Niles said goodnight to Daphne and then braced himself for the next few hours. It was strange to think that even though he still worried, only six other people remained in the arena. That meant that only seven people were standing in the way of Daphne's victory, though unfortunately most of them would not die on there own. It was likely that Niles and Daphne would have to fight for their safety…or rather, Daphne's.

That was when he heard the sound, the crunching of snow and the rustling of leaves. He got to his feet. "Who's there?" he asked.

"Shh…" he heard. "You don't want to wake your little sweetheart, do you?" The faint whisper didn't sound like any tribute he knew of, but it was as if he knew the voice from elsewhere, but where? "Who are you?" Niles whispered back to her.

"I'm Melinda, but call me Mel."

"Mel?"

"Yes. I have a proposition. I'll help you if you'll help me."

"You mean an alliance?"

"What else? Look, I know why you're here why you volunteered, and I know your skills. You need all the help you can get. I need supplies. Take it or leave it."

"I don't know, I have to speak to-"

"Whatever. Don't wake her up. Listen, I'll come back here tomorrow morning sometime. If you want to take advantage of this offer I'll stay, otherwise we'll let each other go and not say another thing about it. Deal?"

"Deal."

When Niles began to feel heavy, he gently shook Daphne awake and she began to take watch. Waiting and being aware of the night did something strange to her. If she stood still and kept her eyes open, it was as if her body dissolved into the cold and darkness and only her thoughts remained.

She reflected on what she had said to Niles earlier that day, that she loved him. She did. Carefully, she reached over and stroked his hair, not even thinking that he might still be awake.

But he was.

And when Daphne was not expecting it, he took her hand and began to kiss it, and she felt her cheeks go hot. She began to move herself over until they were side by side. Niles had not stopped kissing her hand just yet, and she was not about to stop him. When he did, he smoothed over the top of it and held it in his as he tried to sleep.

What a rush things had been since they had been put into these games. Death, injuries, tears, and professions of love. No doubt she had had more excitement in the past week than she had had in her entire life.

Niles had helped her with these things. With all of her heart she hoped that he would go on to win after her death. He did deserve it, after all. The boy had done so much for her and for everyone, and it only seemed fair that he should live.

For the rest of the night she thought about the same things as the seconds, minutes, and hours ran together until sunrise.

Author's note: Sorry that this chapter was so short and that it wasn't exactly exciting, but the next chapter will be better! Thanks for hanging in there and continuing to read this story! (Twenty-one chapters already, gee whiz! I wasn't expecting it to be this long.)