By the end of the sixth day of the Games, I was down to two tributes. Andre and the boy from Twelve had been caught by the Careers while checking their snares, leaving the two girls to fend for themselves. At least I'd had plenty of time to speak to potential sponsors, since I'd been avoiding Claudius since the announcement of the Head Gamemaker's death.
Responsibility for the murder – and it was murder, although of course the Capitol newscasters couldn't say as much – certainly lay at Claudius' feet. I had no doubt of that, and if I'd been angry with Claudius before, I was furious now. Not only had he acted against my express wishes, he'd endangered my plan.
For once, I was glad Claudius had been the last of the victors from Two to join the alliance, because it meant that I'd befriended Allison before meeting him. As a result, she was still speaking to me, which Varius and Felix were not. Ellise, for reasons she kept to herself, had taken my side as well.
I jerked upright in my seat at the sound of cannon fire, locking my eyes on the screen that showed Collette and Eden huddled around a well-banked campfire. To my intense relief, neither had randomly dropped dead since the last time I'd checked on them.
"Final four," called Canary, as if we'd somehow lost count of the few tributes still in the frozen arena.
"Who was that?" I asked, unwilling to take my eyes from my own tributes for long enough to figure it out on my own.
"Seven," Skiff replied. "That leaves us, Two, and yours."
"Nice work, Three," Ellise said. "You're officially a Career now." From the way my face chilled, I knew I'd gone pale. "Just kidding," she added hurriedly. "Besides, I meant it as a compliment. There are two Careers and two of your kids in the final four, so it makes sense."
"Still no sign of the wolf mutts you mentioned," Crystal said. "I hope the new head gamemaker doesn't know how to trigger them, or something. I don't think any of the tributes are capable of handling wild animals at the moment."
"I don't know, the Careers have the advantage of being well-fed, at least," I responded. "Do you have enough money to send Eden something to eat? They haven't had anything since yesterday."
"I'll go talk to some people," Canary said, hopping lightly from her chair. "There's nothing more I can do here anyway."
"Be careful," I reminded her. "People will be suspicious if you show any interest in the Games now that both your tributes are dead."
"I know," she told me, rolling her eyes. "I'm not an idiot, Memorie. I was just planning to gripe about how strong and resourceful the girl from District Twelve is to the wealthiest person I can find." In spite of myself, I laughed.
"How long do you think we have left?" Crystal asked.
Beside Ellise, Allison spun around in her chair, glaring at the District Twelve escort. "Will you stop asking that?" she snapped tensely. "None of us have magic foretelling powers, all right?"
"I'd give it another two days at the most," Mags replied, shooting Allison a quelling glance. "And that's if the Gamemakers don't do anything drastic like trigger an avalanche or release those wolf mutts Memorie told us about." Mags was sporting swollen eyes and a red nose, I noticed. Her remaining tribute was slowly freezing to death, and she was finding it difficult to refrain from sending him a sponsor gift. She certainly had enough money.
"Shit, look at that," Ellise called suddenly, prompting all five of us to follow her pointing finger with our eyes. Onscreen, the boy from District Two was uncurling himself from his makeshift shelter inside the Cornucopia, sorting through the wide array of weapons scattered around the mouth of the horn. After a minute's deliberation, he hefted a spear and tucked a pair of knives into his belt.
"He's going hunting," I breathed. The Career took off across the trampled snow at a light jog, following the pristine trail of footprints my tributes had left on the first day of the Games.
Allison looked at me. "Bet your regretting all those days of wishing there wouldn't be a blizzard," she said wryly. I nodded. If nothing else, fresh snowfall would've made the trail more difficult to follow. Still, it would be several hours until the boy from Two actually caught up with the girls, and by then it would be nighttime in the arena.
I wasn't sure if that would be an advantage or not, but at least it might allow my tributes to make a clean escape. I doubted either could take the broad-shouldered boy on when they were practically weaponless, but maybe both, together…
"I'm sending them some food," I announced, scrolling down the list of possible gifts and trying to find something warm. "That way, I can send them a message. Warn them what's coming."
"That's the last of your money," Crystal worried.
I didn't hesitate. "You still have a little bit," I reminded her. "Besides, if things start looking bad, I'll go out again." I selected a picture of a pot of soup, then typed the message I wanted to send on the keyboard at the bottom of my console. The Gamemakers would censor anything too obvious, so I merely wrote Incoming, and hoped they'd figure it out.
Both girls cheered aloud when Collette opened the canister and found a container of soup and a spoon. Collette ate a few bites, then passed both the container and the slip of paper to Eden. To their credit, they both reached the same conclusion almost at once.
"The Careers," Eden confirmed, her voice slightly distorted as it issued from the speakers and into the control room.
"But when?" Collette asked. "She could have been a bit more specific."
"Not if she wanted it to get to us at all," Eden said. "Besides, what does it matter? We have this." She patted the bow at her side. The string had gone somewhat damp from the snowy environment, but her aim was still accurate enough.
"Still, she'd want us to set a trap or something," Collette said stubbornly. "We have a bunch of rope. We can do something with that." They'd acquired the rope a few days ago, when Andre and Zachary had killed the male tribute from District Nine.
"They'll see anything we make because of all this snow," Eden argued, kicking a boot through the thick white powder in disgust. "Oh, wait," she added suddenly, "What if we trampled all the snow around our campsite? Then they won't be able to tell were we've really walked.
"Or where we set the trap," Collette agreed, catching on.
"How long is that rope?" Eden asked, answering her own question as she drew the thick coils out of their pack. "This might work. Collette, do you think you can climb far enough up that tree to sling the rope over one of the branches?"
Collette walked over to the tree in question, a thick-trunked evergreen. "I can try," she told her companion. "What's your plan?"
"We don't have enough rope to do anything fancy, so I think we should loop it over a branch, tie a noose in the bottom, and hide it under the trampled snow. If we sit under the tree waiting for the Careers, one of them will have to step into the loop. We can yank on the rope and trip them. It won't be much, but it'll give us a moment of surprise, at least."
I realized they didn't know the boys from Two and Four had gone their separate ways. That would give them an advantage, at least, if they were facing one Career where they expected two. Neither of the girls had killed, though, and I afraid they wouldn't have the stomach for it. Collette had nearly cried when Eden and Zachary caught and skinned a rabbit on their second day in the arena.
It took several tries, but Collette managed to inch her way far enough up the tree's trunk to toss the rope over one of the lower branches. The two girls spent the next twenty minutes trampling the snow in a circle around their campsite that extended just beyond the base of the tree, leaving the ground more or less uniformly disturbed.
Then they sat down under the tree and waited, sipping their soup, as we in the control room watched the boy from Two make his way steadily closer.
"We're going to have to distract them," Collette said at one point.
"From what?" Eden asked, shifting in the snow to look at her companion.
"The rope," she replied. "It's almost the same color as the tree, but the shade and texture are different enough that they'll definitely notice if they look in that direction."
Eden nodded thoughtfully. "Let's make snowballs," she said finally.
"Snowballs?" Collette asked. It almost never snowed in our district, and certainly never enough for the kids to develop all the snow-based forms of entertainment that some of the other districts had. I'd seen a snowball fight between Felix and Allison last winter in District Two, so I had an idea what Eden was talking about.
"See, like this," Eden explained, showing Collette how to pack the snow into a tight ball that didn't immediately disintegrate. "At home, the grown-ups always lecture us on not packing the snow too tightly in case it hurts someone. I'd say we want to do some damage, don't you agree?"
Collette nodded, smirking. She dug through the snow and emerged with something clenched in her gloved hand. She held it up for Eden to see. A rock, a sharply pointed one. "Let's make some weaponized snowballs!" she said enthusiastically, packing snow firmly around the projectile.
The pair spent the rest of their wait amassing quite a collection of snowballs, which they piled into a gigantic lumpy pyramid in front of them. As the sun sank below the horizon, the boy from Two staggered to the top of their hill, using his spear as a walking stick. He looked tired from his long walk in the snow, but still energetic enough to pose a serious threat.
"Hey, look, a Career," Eden called tauntingly, climbing to her feet. His eyes locked on the two tributes at once, never straying to the tree or the rope.
"Let's get him!" added Collette, hoisting a snowball in either hand. Both girls hurled the balls of packed snow as hard as they could, hitting the boy in the chest and upper thigh. He grunted and snarled, but continued forward, moving as quickly as the slippery packed snow would allow.
Collette's second snowball took the approaching Career in the eyes, and he stumbled forward a few steps until he was just a few feet in front of the two girls. Eden squinted up at the rope and nodded to Collette. At the signal, they both yanked on the rope as hard as they could. The loop at the bottom caught the boy's leg, sending him hopping backwards on one foot before collapsing on his back in the snow, the spear spinning from his hand.
Eden let loose a wordless battle cry and both girls leaped forward over their mound of snowballs. Collette kicked the spear out of the boy's reach, while Eden discovered the two knives in his belt and snatched them up, baring one and holding it to his throat.
I held my breath. This was the moment of truth, the moment when one of the girls would become a killer. My words to Claudius echoed in my head. It's not kill or be killed. This isn't the arena. But the girls were in the arena, and kill or be killed should have been the official slogan of the Hunger Games. I looked sideways at the other victors and Crystal; their eyes were all focused, like mine, on the knife in Eden's hand.
Eden looked up at the other girl shakily. "Collette," she whispered, her voice shaking too. "What – what if I can't?" She looked back down at the boy, who glared back at her with eyes full of contempt.
Collette bent down and picked up the second knife, the one Eden had tossed aside. "Together," she said, baring the blade and lowering it to rest beside Eden's. "On the count of three. One. Two. Three," she finished, driving the blade downward. Eden mimicked the gesture, and both knives sank deep into the captured tribute's neck. Behind me, one of the other women gasped.
Both girls yanked their knives free, scrambling backward to avoid the blood that spilled from the two deep wounds. The Career gurgled, coughed, then fell silent. His cannon fired.
Allison and Ellise came forward and hugged me, and the gesture was so unlike them that I frowned and pulled away. "You're going to do it," Ellise whispered, her breath warming my ear. "It's the final three, and two of them are yours."
Allison, whispering in parody of her fellow victor, said, "They'd never have won in a real fight."
"I know," I replied, using the words to answer both of them. "You'll stay, right?" I asked, suddenly worried they'd abandon me now that both of their tributes were out of the picture.
"I don't know about Ellise, but I'm going to bed," Allison said, her voice resuming its normal pitch. "I feel like I haven't slept in days. Wait, that's because I haven't."
"I'll stay," Ellise said. "I'm too keyed up to sleep, and I can't handle all the drama back at headquarters right now." Headquarters was what the Careers called Victor's Tower. I said nothing, and Ellise looked down at me solemnly. "You're breaking his heart, you know," she said finally.
"I'm not sure he has one," I replied tiredly, turning back to face my control panel.
Ellise refused to be ignored. She came over and sat on the edge of my console, effectively obscuring all the readouts. "He probably didn't, not until you came along," she said. "You know I'm on your team no matter what, but it seems a little harsh, that's all."
"Good," I spat. "Harsh seems to be all you people understand. I'm glad to be speaking his language for a change."
"You don't mean that," said Skiff, apparently deciding to join the conversation despite the fact that it was clearly private.
"No, I really don't," I sighed, rubbing a hand over my eyes. "Still, what he did was…unforgivable. He can't go around hurting people every time he gets angry." Hurting was an understatement, but I didn't think it wise to discuss my lover's murder of the old Head Gamemaker in a room that was always bugged.
"Nothing's unforgivable," Mags said softly. "Besides, you know he can't have much time left. You should talk to him, at least. While you still can." And that was something that scared me every bit as the dangers my tributes still had to face before one of them could win. Someone would know Claudius had killed Troy Gallegos, and no matter how powerful his connections, no one got away with murdering the Head Gamemaker in the middle of the Games. It was only a matter of time before Snow had him executed.
"I'll talk to him," I conceded finally, getting reluctantly out of my chair. "But only on the condition that you stay here and watch the screens, and come get me right away if anything happens," I added, turning to glare a threat at Ellise. She nodded quickly and ushered me toward the door.
Claudius wasn't in his apartment, or at least, he wasn't answering the door. I scaled the stairs to Varius's apartment and knocked. Theta poked her head out after my second knock, looking tired and annoyed. "Oh good, maybe you can shut them up," she said irritably, dragging me inside.
"Excuse me?" I asked, confused.
"Varius and Jet and Felix and Claudius," she said, sounding extremely disgruntled. "Half of them are drunk and half of them are just sulking, and I'm no longer sure which half is which. It's disgraceful." I followed her into the living room, where I found a surplus of male victors occupying every horizontal surface.
"Who's that, Theta?" Varius asked from his perch on the coffee table. From the way he slurred every other word, I guessed he was one of the drunk ones.
"Memorie Renwick," Theta announced crisply. "You four had better get up at once, or she'll think the men from Districts One and Two have no manners at all."
Jet, who had been sprawled on the floor with his legs in Felix's lap, sat up immediately, looking wounded. "Of course we have manners," he said coolly, climbing to his feet. He drew himself up regally, only spoiling the effect slightly by staggering.
"May I speak to Claudius?" I asked, hoping to avoid any further interruptions.
There was a creaking sound from the couch, and Claudius peered over the high back, his dark hair tousled. "Yes, you may," he said, also getting to his feet. He, I noticed, didn't stagger or slur.
He led me into the bedroom, closing the door behind us. "What would you like to discuss?" he asked, his voice stiffly formal. "You can speak freely." That meant the room wasn't wired.
"Claudius," I began, "The Capitol – the president – will be forced to take action against us soon. I wanted to say…" I trailed off, not sure what, exactly, I wanted to say.
"They – the Capitol, Snow, even Gallegos – were going to come after all of us when the Games ended anyway," he said grimly. "I wouldn't have risked killing Gallegos otherwise, whatever you believe me capable of."
"Are you trying to tell me you didn't kill him because you were angry about what he did to me?" I asked carefully.
Claudius growled. "Angry is an understatement. Enraged might be closer to the truth. Yes, I killed him because he hurt you, but I wouldn't have done it if we weren't facing death anyway."
"You think it's come to that?" I asked, feeling an icy finger work its way down my spine.
"I know it has," he said, moving a step closer to me. "I told you before, the current president Snow isn't like his father. His father would've put everyone he even suspected of treason up in front of a firing squad. The younger Snow will make this painful. Psychologically painful. He'll make sure at least some of us live to feel the effects."
I closed the distance between us, resting my head against his chest. In the face of impending death, our earlier argument seemed trivial. Claudius took a deep breath and released it slowly, smoothing my hair with tentative hands.
"There's nowhere to run," I whispered, tears forming in my eyes. "It's not fair. I'm this close to accomplishing our goals."
"Oh, he'll wait until the Games are over," Claudius said. "We've disrupted them enough already, between your schemes and my murderous tendencies." I laughed a little, though the sound was choked with tears. "He's running out of victors, though. I don't think he'll take us all, just the core members of the conspiracy."
"So you and me, definitely," I said, pulling myself together enough to consider logistics. "Allison and Varius. Theta. Maybe Crystal."
"Probably Ellise," Claudius added. "He might spare her because she's such a recent victor, but as long as he's punishing you, I think he'll bring her in as well. I think the victors from other districts are safe, though. It's bad enough that he's killing off all of us from Two."
"I thought you said he wasn't going to kill us all," I said.
"No, but we'll kill ourselves if he tries to go to lengths we are unwilling to endure," he told me. I drew back, horrified. What could be so bad that Careers would choose death?
"Tell the others," I said. "All of them, just in case. Tell them to be prepared for anything. Ask them not to give him the satisfaction of crying or doing anything else he'll like. I need to get back to the control room. I'm not dying for nothing. Eden is going to win."
I tore myself out of his arms before I could change my mind, before he could restrain me, running out of the room and through the apartment. Theta and Varius looked at me worriedly, but I waved them off and ran on, slamming the door behind me.
Back in the control center, I checked the screens immediately and almost collapsed with relief when I saw there were still three of them lit.
"Claudius says Snow's going to kill – or punish, I didn't really understand the details of it – all of us as soon as the Games are over," I announced. "You and Skiff are probably safe, Mags. You too, Crystal. But he thinks you'll be hauled in with us, Ellise." I wasn't bothering to whisper, because Snow already planned to do his worse to us. Overhearing this conversation wouldn't tilt things one way or the other.
"Then let's make sure we win," Ellise said, clenching her hands into fists. "Crystal, send Eden something. Anything," she said, cutting the escort off when she opened her mouth to speak. "Just send her a message. Tell her to end it now. The Gamemakers will let that kind of note through, because it guarantees them more action in the near future."
Crystal nodded, bowing her head and sending her fingers skittering across the controls. "Skiff, how close is he to dead?" Ellise asked.
The other woman looked down at Four's remaining control panel. "Close," she responded. "He's freezing to death. I'd give him another hour." Beside Skiff, Mags let out a muffled sob.
"Sorry, Mags," I said. "If it's any comfort, we'll all be out of your way by the time the next Games roll around." If anything, she cried harder.
"Okay, I'm sending it," Crystal announced. A moment later, a silver parachute appeared onscreen, beeping melodically. It landed on Eden's legs, waking her up. She opened it, and I was glad to see Collette remained asleep. At least her death would be relatively peaceful. Eden unfolded the slip of paper, its whiteness nearly lost against the snow. She flinched and looked up, directly into the camera.
"Do it," I whispered. She picked up her knife, lowering it over my tribute's throat. She closed her eyes, muttered something that might have been a prayer or an apology, and brought it down with all her weight behind the swing. The cannon fired almost instantly, and I gasped in sorrow and relief.
After that, it was just a waiting game. The wolf mutts never materialized, and it took the tribute from Four less than Skiff's predicted hour to die. His cannon fired and Tesla Monogram's projected voice crackled over the speakers, proclaiming Eden Trueshine victor of the 27th Hunger Games.
I smiled and hugged the others; Mags, Crystal, Ellise, even Skiff.
The door opened and a quartet of Peacekeepers stepped inside. "Ellise Beltrane and Memorie Renwick, you are under arrest," said one of them. "Surrender yourselves peacefully or we will use force."
I shot a warning look at Ellise, and she lowered her hands to her sides. If there was a chance of some of us living through this, I didn't want her endangering her chances by fighting the Peacekeepers, especially when they would simply call for reinforcements.