[23] - August

I can feel the awkward tension in our group building with every passing minute. It's our fourth day in this horrid desert, and Pollux has been getting worse and worse. At this point, he's almost stopped talking.

I watch Pollux as he eats his breakfast; his back is hunched, and his sunken eyes flutter around him as he eats. He looks like he hasn't gotten a minute of sleep, but I know he has, considering how much I've heard him screaming in his sleep. I haven't been able to distinguish anything he's been saying, but there's no doubt that his paranoia is tearing him apart. I don't know why - clearly, Mandy's figured out some way to survive this long - but it seems like Pollux thinks that the longer he stays in here, the closer she comes to death.

"How much longer do you think we've got?" Calder asks from next to me as he unzips his fleece.

I take a look ahead of me - yesterday, a massive sand dune came into view, and we all decided that it would be the best idea to climb the hill and look over the Arena for the others. The only problem, though, is that this desert is massive.

"We're probably about two days out, still," I tell Calder. Pollux must have been listening because he buries his head in his hands.

Pollux quickly drags himself to his feet. He looks scarily like a corpse - being in this Arena has destroyed him.

"We need to leave," Pollux says, his voice hollow yet urgent. "Come on."

Calder and I exchange a glance, but neither of us says a word. I tried arguing with Pollux two days ago, and it almost ended in a full-out brawl. For now, Calder and I might just have to wait for Pollux to self-destruct.

I follow as Pollux leads us towards the large dune in the distance, and I have to push down my anger. Pollux walks around here like he's the only one in danger around here, like he's the only one who could die at any moment. Calder should feel safe - Princess isn't going to die anytime soon - but I have no idea where Rochelle is or how close she is to death. I have enough to worry about without having to deal with Pollux.

Calder falls into line next to me, huffing with exertion. He's much stockier than Pollux or I, and that does him no favors in this heat.

"Tell me something interesting, Calder," I sigh. "I'm about to punch somebody."

"I'm not that interesting," Calder says, wiping sweat from his forehead. "What should I talk about?"

"Just tell me about your family," I suggest. I'm sure that'll get him going for a while, and I need a long-winded distraction.

"Not much to tell," Calder says with a shrug. "Parents were fishers like everyone else. They had their own little boat, and that was how we got along. Most of the fish went to the Capitol, obviously, and we ate what they let us keep."

"So you worked on the boat, too?" I ask.

"I had to," Calder says. "We all did. Fisher, Azura, and I - those are my older siblings, by the way - we all had to work. All hands on deck; that was the best way to catch as much as we could."

"So you were working all the time," I paraphrase. "Weren't you in school, though?"

"Not really," Calder says with a shrug. "They were pretty loose on that - most of what they taught was about fishing, and most of us knew all that stuff anyways. We just had to go in for the Panem history stuff."

I shake my head in disbelief. In District One, going to school is the main indicator of status; anybody who's anybody is enrolled in the academies, and everyone else is left to fight over whatever spots are left or enter the workforce after the age of twelve.

"Lyssa went to school, though," Calder says, glancing behind us as we walk. "She wasn't out on the boats like the rest of us. Her family runs the lighthouse by the docks, so she didn't have much to do other than go to school, I guess."

I nod - Lyssa is Calder's District partner, but I didn't see much of her before we entered the Arena. I know she was paired with the boy from Nine; I'm surprised that the two of them are still alive, to be honest.

"If Lyssa wasn't out in the workforce, I'm assuming she's not much of a physical threat," I comment. Calder shoots me a wary glance, and I can tell that I've said the wrong thing.

"No, Lyssa's not a physical threat," he spits, like his words are poisonous. "Not to him, anyway, if that's what you're wondering."

Calder and I glance up at Pollux - he's picked up the pace, leaving the two of us behind. We walk faster to catch up.

"That's not what I meant," I apologize. "I wouldn't wish that on anyone, you know that. I just have to think about everyone who's still in here. Who's a threat to me and who's not."

"Lyssa's very smart," Calder says. His cheeks are red, and I don't think it's just from the heat. "All those years in school did her some good. But no, she's not as strong as us."

"Well, if she's not a physical threat, then we don't have to worry about anything," I say, trying to appeal to the boy next to me. "As long as she stays away from us, she doesn't have to worry about us."

By us, I mean Pollux, and Calder knows that. He nods, satisfied with my logic.

"She deserves to win more than I do," Calder mutters, and I'm not sure if he's still talking to me. "Just kill me before you get to her."

Calder clearly cares a lot about Lyssa, more than he's been letting on. I tuck that information into my back pocket for later, but it just makes me think more and more of Princess. And Rochelle. Rochelle and Princess and Rochelle and Princess… what a mess. I have to hope that both of my girls are okay - I don't know what I would do if Princess was killed in here after everything we've been through to get here, and my life depends on Rochelle's survival right now. Time is running out - I need to find my girls. My fate depends on it.