Chapter 8: Allies

The Arena - Day 2

The next morning, Maxx proposes a plan.

Grinning, he grabs a spear. "Tribute hunting today?"

"I was hoping we could," Porcelain agrees.

Soon, everyone is armed to the teeth. Luna has her bow and quiver slung over her shoulders, a knife strapped to her thigh. Porcelain has a sword sheathed at her hips, grabbing a backpack with three daggers mixed in with supplies. I watch as Bale picks up a backpack, getting a spear like Maxx.

"Here." Luna tosses me a belt with a small gray bag attached to the side. I manage to catch it.

"What's in it?" I ask.

"She speaks," Porcelain mumbles to no one in particular. I ignore her, opening the bag. Inside are silvery throwing knives.

"You're good with knives," Luna says, zipping up her coat. "Are they your preferred weapon?"

I stare at the knives for a moment, watching as they reflect back my eyes. She thinks I trained in school to volunteer like the rest of them. I blink once, then put the belt on, snapping it around my hips. "Yeah," I lie, looking up at her. "They are."

Bale says nothing, but I can see him staring at me from my peripheral vision.

Elegance volunteers to stay and guard camp.

"I think Sea-Pearl should stay. She's injured," Bale says.

Maxx shakes his head. "No, she's standing. She's fine. Besides," he says, grabbing an extra spear, "she's the smallest one here. If we need someone to climb or crawl somewhere, she can."

And with that, we head out into the valley where banks of snow and pine trees are. The sun shines over the snow blindingly, making us all squint. Luna mutters something about needing to look through the supplies again for sunglasses.

My feet crunch through snow, creating the oddest sensation. I've never seen snow in person, only in textbooks in school or in other Hunger Games. Bale seems to share my fascination, looking around. I'm thankful for the gloves we all found in the Cornucopia, made of special skin-tight material that lets us grip weapons but keeps our fingers warm.

A roar far off in the distance makes my skin prickle: other animals are here.

"I want to find that brat from Seven," Maxx says, brushing a faint bruise on his chin. "He punched me back at the bloodbath."

"What was his score?" Porcelain asks.

"A seven," Luna responds.

I glance between them all, watching as Porcelain grumbles. The boy has a high score from training. And therefore is an automatic threat.

"How's your arm?"

It takes me a moment to realize Bale has asked me a question. I peer at him as we walk, his eyes focused on me. I glance back at our allies, remembering how Luna nearly killed me yesterday. How Porcelain kept giving me dirty looks. I can't look weak in front of them again.

"Fine," I respond curtly, looking ahead. "Don't ask about it again."

Bale doesn't reply, just watches me for another second before directing his attention ahead.

I breathe quietly, trying to think good thoughts. It's short-lived because Luna soon spots a gray coat rushing along the river.

Immediately, everyone's running. My boots clomp through the thick snow, kicking up the white stuff.

"Hope it's Seven!" Maxx yells with a grin on his face.

I tense as Luna nocks an arrow, and lets the string go. The arrow flies through the frosty air, but the Tribute jumps out of the way last minute.

Then, the valley sides grow larger, resulting in giant cliffs on either side of us. As we chase the person further, it comes out into a dead end, a giant wall of jagged ice in front of us.

We close in on the poor person, Maxx and Porcelain hollering, smiles plastered on their faces. Once again, Bale looks neutral. Luna's smile is calculated and small as she pulls another arrow from her quiver. I fall behind everyone as we stop running, slowing to a walk.

We get close enough to get a good look at the Tribute, an 8 on the arm of his jacket. It's a boy, with brown hair tipped with frost. His dark eyes are wide open, olive hands clawing at the glacial wall, trying to climb.

His hand slips on a chunk of ice and he falls onto his back in the snow. I flinch when he cries out, curling up in pain below the ice wall.

"Are you okay?" Bale whispers to me.

I nodded weakly, trying to gain my bearings. I lift my head higher, trying to stand closer to my allies, worried they might look and see me looking like a coward. But it doesn't matter. As soon as I get the feeling back in my hands, Luna laughs.

"Try again, Eight," she says sweetly. "Go on, climb again. Maybe you'll fall off higher and break your neck for us."

The boy begins to cry, looking up with snow dusting his face. He can't be more than fifteen.

Porcelain wrinkles her nose, high ponytail flicking to the side as she turns her head. "Get rid of him. This is pathetic."

Luna lifts her bow, pulling the string back. The sharp tip of the silver arrow gleams in the morning sun. I close my eyes and hear the boy from Eight screaming.

"PLEASE! PLEASE DON'T! PLEASE!"

A sickening noise finds my ears, and suddenly I'm dizzy. Everything feels like I'm on a boat, like the world is rocking. Colors blur together. In a moment, I find the other Careers picking me up off my knees.

"Is she sick?" Porcelain gasps.

Bale shakes his head. "Of course not, we just got here. What could she even have gotten sick with?"

"Should we just... to be sure..." Porcelain says, trailing off, reaching for her sword as if she didn't hear Bale.

Blood pounds in my ears and I try to regain my footing. A loud boom alerts me that the boy from Eight is dead. A quick glance over Luna's shoulder shows his corpse lying in the snow, blood, an arrow - I look away before I can perceive any more details. But that doesn't change the fact that he's dead. And I helped.

I didn't even know his name.

"I'm fine," I rasp. I look up, making a point of looking the District 1 girl in the eye. "I guess there was a loose spot in the snow."

Luna nods, watching me carefully. Porcelain stays clear away from me.

Until we walk along the river.

"So, Sea-Pearl," she says softly, standing on the left of me. I look to the right, watching the chilly water of the river. Chunks of ice float down, occasionally ripping off other pieces of the bank.

"Tell me about yourself," she continues. "We never really talked much during lunch at the Training Center."

I glance over farther left where Maxx, Bale, and Luna are discussing where to hunt as we walk.

"What do you want to know?" I reply cooly. Why is she interested in speaking with me all of a sudden?

"What's your favorite color?"

"Blue."

"Why?"

"It's the color of the ocean."

"Really? We don't have the ocean near us in District One. Just jewel mines."

"That must be nice."

"Not really... So, what do you do in Four, with the ocean and all?"

"My family makes nets. And we fish some. My siblings like to hunt for pearls for fun."

"That's where you got your bracelet."

"Uh-huh. My little sister and I were swimming." Reaping Day seems so long ago.

"You know how to swim?"

I nod, with a small, hollow laugh. "Of course. Everyone in District Four does."

Suddenly she stumbles, gasping. My allies turn in alarm. And then Porcelain falls a bit towards me, shoving me with a scream.

Then I'm falling, my eyes widening as my feet crest over the bank of the river. I gasp, the frigid water knocking the air from me. Just as I sink below the surface, water crashing around me, I hear Porcelain yell "she fell in!"

I hold my breath, whatever I have left that is. My allies appear over the surface of the water, their faces smeared like an eraser on paper. I claw at the water, my face burning from the cold.

There must be 3 feet of water above me. Why can't I swim?

The exhaustion enters my body and my lungs feel like the size of a pea. I want to breathe so badly...

I just begin to close my eyes when the muffled splash echoes in the dark silence. Something grips my good arm, pulling me up.

Just as we reach the surface, I open my eyes, and stare down at the dark water below us. A shadow moves deep down, and suddenly begins to come closer.

However, I don't see what it is because I'm pulled up onto the snow, gasping for air. Someone lets go of my arm, letting me fall to my side in the snow. I gulp breaths, not minding as the cold air sears my lungs.

Bale sits a foot away from me, jaw set, hair dripping with water and clothing soaked. Maxx takes Bale's dry jacket which he was holding and hands it back to him. Bale automatically moves, wrapping the jacket around me as a I shiver, trying to sit up. It's difficult getting my muscles to respond. So I mostly lay there in the snow panting, pushing my gloved hands into the cold fluff.

Porcelain glares at me the whole way back to camp, Luna helping to support me as we walk.

When we get back, Elegance grins. "I heard the cannon! Was it y-" He freezes, seeing me and Bale. "What... what happened?"

"She fell into the river," Porcelain supplies as Maxx stokes the fire that Elegance must have started in the center of the ring of small tents. "I stumbled - there was a hole in the ice - and I accidentally shoved her in." She regards me with a guarded expression. "It's good she didn't drown, what with that injured arm."

Elegance goes to wrap a blanket around me, but Luna steps forward. "No, they both need to take off their clothes."

Bale furrows his brow, staring at her. "I'm sorry... what?"

"Your clothing is soaked," Luna replies simply. "You'll both freeze to death if you stay like that." She turns to me. "Sea-Pearl, we'll need to change your bandages too."

We each go into a tent, after I assure them I'm fine to be on my own. The inside of the orange tent is warmer than outside. It's somewhat of a relief to take off my wet, cold clothes - plus Bale's jacket - and wrap up in a blanket. I'm relieved there are no Capitol cameras in here. However, I'm still embarrassed when Luna makes me come outside and sit in a sleeping bag by the fire.

I pull the blanket up over my chin. I can feel my face turning pink. No one else seems to care though. Eventually, Bale is sitting across from me in a sleeping bag as well, staring at the fire.

Luna replaces my bandages, then hands Bale a warm thermos of soup.

He makes me drink half of it, and then finishes the rest himself.

Luna dries our clothes while I sit in my sleeping bag, huddled by the warm fire.

Elegance, Porcelain and Luna leave to go find more tributes. Maxx whistles as he chews on some dried fruit, walking in circles around camp.

I can't help but look at my feet. Well, where my feet are inside the sleeping bag. I'm glad the cuts from the glass television have healed.

There's a rustle and the sound of moving snow. I look up, watching as Bale shuffles awkwardly in his sleeping bag towards me. The blanket around him slips a bit, his bare chest visible. Out of reflex, I look back down.

"Can I sit?"

I can hear the grin in his voice. I don't reply.

"C'mon, aren't you going to say anything about how ridiculous I look? Nothing about that walk over here? Do you know how hard it is to walk in a sleeping bag?"

I still don't reply, staring at a spot in the snow where the sun shimmers.

He sits down next to me and is silent.

Finally, I can't help it, and look at Bale. He's pulled the blanket back around his shoulders. "Why did you save me? You could've let me drown. No one would have blamed you."

He ignores my question. "How did you fall in?"

I shake my head. "You saw. Porcelain tripped and fell into me."

He cocks his head. "Pretty convenient."

I stare at him for a moment, his blue eyes searching mine. "What are you...?"

"It's just interesting that she was ready to kill you before," he says, looking into the fire. His eyes lift a little, watching as Maxx pops dried apple into mouth, humming, too far to hear us. The fire crackles loudly, sparks spraying into the air. Bale leans back a bit, seeming too comfortable to be in the Hunger Games. "Porcelain was ready to kill you, and then you fell into the river and nearly died. Strange, isn't it?"

I watch him, his cinnamon hair still damp. My own hair is down, brushing my neck like needles the strands are so frozen.

It dawns on me what he's suggesting.

Porcelain. She tried to kill me.