I meet Annie and Eoghan at the elevator. I just catch them in time, slipping in neatly behind just before the doors close. I turn to one and then the other, waiting for them to tell me how training has gone but neither is forthcoming.

"So… how's it going?" I turn first to Annie, trying to gauge her expression but, as usual, I struggle to read her. She just looks exhausted. I hadn't noticed it this morning but there is something about the redness of her eyes that suggests that she hasn't been sleeping. I am still looking at Annie when Eoghan begins to speak.

"Don't worry I've got this all under control," he says, "This alliance is in the bag," he clicks his knuckles and leans triumphantly back against the mirrored walls of the elevator. "District 1 seems like an all-round decent sort of guy. The girl seemed a bit distant but I'm pretty certain she'll do whatever he does. Not sure about District 2, they seem a bit of an odd pair but they sat with us at lunch so I expect they are planning on joining the alliance. Still, there is tomorrow to confirm it all. I think I'll start by joining District 2 for training, just to make sure I get them on our side."

"Good," I say. Although I am listening to Eoghan's assessment of the day's events most of my attention remains on Annie. Something is wrong. She has wedged herself right into the corner of the elevator, away from both of us and she has a look on her face that suggests she is a million miles away.

I don't like to call her back from wherever she is, she looks so calm that I am sure she must be somewhere better than here, but a selfish part of me wants to keep her close by, to know her thoughts on things. So I call her back "How's your day been, Annie?"

It takes a second for her to focus on me and fight off her daze. Then slowly she shakes her head. "I'm not going back there tomorrow."

"What?" Both Eoghan and I say at once. The doors of the elevator ping open but none of us move. Eoghan and I are too focused on Annie who calmly stares us out.

"I'm not going back," she repeats. She pushes past us both and steps out onto the fourth floor, forcing the pair of us to chase after her.

"But you have to, it's the rules." Eoghan turns to me, "She does, doesn't she?"

I don't know. Does she have to go? I have never heard of a tribute not going before.

"What happened?" I ask, "Why don't you want to go back?"

She keeps moving towards the main sitting room where we usually gather in the evenings, not even slowing down for a moment to answer my question.

"I don't belong there."

"What do you mean?" Eoghan asks, "You are in the alliance."

"No," she says, "You're in the alliance. I was just in the room."

She rounds the corner and charges towards the sofas. It is almost as if she is trying to outrun the pair of us. It is only when she sits down that I am sure that she isn't.

"But we're on the same team," Eoghan says. "I formed the alliance for both of us."

We stand over her, looking down as she looks up. I thought she would look upset, that maybe she would be crying but she's not. She is almost completely expressionless except the tight thin line of her lips.

"And what use am I to the Careers? Did you see them?" She turns to me. "The boy from 2 ripped a dummy apart with his bare hands and threw the pieces all around the gymnasium. The girl from 1 can get a perfect bull's-eye with a bow and arrow- every time. The boy fought three trainers to their knees with the sword. I don't stand a chance."

"Then surely that's all the more reason to go to training," Eoghan says, somewhat lamely.

She stays facing me. "You told us to be mysterious and I will be a complete mystery if I don't show up at all. So it fits perfectly with your strategy." She folds her arm across her chest. "I'm not going back."

"You should go," I tell her, "The trainers can help you- anything you can learn is going to help you. Besides, you should get to know the other tributes."

"I don't want to know them. That isn't going to help me. And what exactly am I going to learn in two days? Some of them have been training their whole lives. At least you and Eoghan learnt how to do some things together. He knows something. I don't even know where to begin."

"I'll help you," Eoghan says. "And Finn will, and Mags, and together we'll be able to figure something out."

"I'm still not going back to training," she says. Eoghan and I exchange glances. We know there is no way we are going to be able to change her mind.

"You will have to go to your private training session" I say.

"To show them what?"

"Your skills," Eoghan says.

"What skills?"

I search desperately for something to say, looking for some ray of light that will make everything seem better but when I think of Annie I don't think of ways she can kill or ways she can survive, I only think of her qualities- how kind she is, how patient, how understanding. I think of the impossibly happy feeling I get when I am with her. I think of all the many little things that make her who she is and I know that I would not change a single one but I also know they will be of no use to her in the arena.

I turn to Eoghan, but he isn't even managing to hide how hard it is to define Annie's skills. "Erm…."

"Exactly," she says. "Exactly. I don't have any skills."

"Sure you do…" but I can feel my cheeks begin to burn because I know I have no way of following up this statement.

"You're smart!" Eoghan finally says, a little too loudly to sound natural. "That's got to count for something."

"And intuitive," I add.

"And practical."

"And fast."

"And Stubborn."

"And… punctual." I cringe when I realise what I have said.

"Thanks Finn, I'll make sure I'm on time for my death. Let's face it- I'm not strong, I don't really know how to use a weapon and I haven't got a hope of getting out alive."

I don't know how long she must have been mulling this over, slowly turning it in her mind- probably since that first night on the train; probably since the moment she was reaped. It must have gradually built up inside her, growing every day until now. I guess seeing the other tributes was the final straw- the final thing that just confirmed all her fears.

"You do," I say. "You do have a chance."

"Well if my only strategy is to hope I prove to be lucky I don't see what use returning to train is going to be. District 1 and 2 will just realise how useless I am then it will destroy the alliance. There are only so many times I can visit the knot tying station."

She finally drops my gaze and lets her head fall forward. Eoghan kneels down in front of her, trying to see her expression beneath the curtain of hair that covers her face.

"You could make traps," he says. "You already know all the knots, anyway, you just have to learn what to do with them. You could learn that in two days, no problem."

"That's not a bad idea," I add. Of course traps are not much use when you are being attacked by another tribute but at least this might give her something to focus on.

Slowly she looks up. "I guess."

"You could show the Gamemakers that," Eoghan continues brightly.

"But I'll need to know more than that."

"We'll teach you as best we can," I say. "We could go down in the evenings and I could show you a few basic techniques while the others aren't around." Suddenly my mind wanders away to picture Annie and me alone together as I teach her how to use a knife. My heart gives an excited flutter.

"I guess," she repeats, lacking any enthusiasm for my proposal. The flutter dies as quickly as it appears.

"So now will you go to training?" Eoghan asks, "Even if it is just to keep me company?"

"It's not like you needed my company today."

"I don't know, I was pretty grateful I could go and talk to you after trying to communicate with that girl from 2." He smiles up at her, grinning manically as he tries to force her to smile too, but it doesn't work.

She sighs. "Why does it have to be this way? I mean let's face it. We only have a limited number of days left to live and I would rather not be spending them pretending to be tougher than I am in some stifling gymnasium."

"Well it's up to you about the training," I say, "But you will have to be there for the personal session with the Gamemakers."

"Why? Because the world will fall apart otherwise? Because they won't be able to rate me and judge me and make me feel like I am worth less than I am?"

"No," I say quietly as I sit down next to her. "But they will make you do it." There is no way they would let a tribute get away with not going. It is required. They would probably send peacekeepers to herd her downstairs. We are playing in the Games now and they make the rules.

There is another pause of the kind I have learnt to expect within the walls of the Training Centre. I wait for someone else to break it.

"Well, you're right about one thing," Eoghan finally says, throwing himself down on the other side of Annie, "This isn't how we should be spending our last days."

He tries to sound light-hearted but there is a heaviness to the statement that I can't stand. I am not ready to consider the possibility that they won't come back. To me that simply isn't an option.

"Don't talk like that- either of you. You have to believe you are going to make it out. You have to give yourself a reason- something that means you have no choice but to get out alive, something to drive you onwards through the darkest days."

Another silence. I wonder what their reasons are. I know what mine are because they are right in front of me. I have to keep going because I have to bring them home.

"I just wish I wasn't so scared." Annie whispers. She leans back on the sofa, almost disappearing between the pair of us, her shoulders crumbling inward.

"Everyone's scared," Eoghan says. "Even District 2." It is easy to forget that. Easy to think of them as some kind of inhuman mutts that are nothing but ruthless killers but it is the fear which makes them kill.

It hits me then that even President Snow must be scared. Why else would he be so adamant to ruin everything I have? He is not just scared. He is scared of me.

Eoghan shifts to look down the sofa towards me. "We may all be scared but we're lucky because we have something they don't."

Silently Annie's hand slips into mine and she grips Eoghan's hand on her other side. In what I hope is a reassuring gesture I gently squeeze her hand. I hope it tells her that everything is going to be alright. I hope it stops her doubts from building up inside, even if it is just for a moment.

I don't know how long we sit together but it is as if time stands still. Even as the lights begin to fade outside I still refuse to let go. I don't want to be the first one to break the chain even though I know, sooner or later, something is going to tear us apart.