Chapter 23

(Gale POV)

I can't even sleep after the night I had with Madge. I lay in bed for over an hour just thinking about how perfect tonight was, how that first kiss had been more than perfect. I don't know how I'm going to manage to be around her in town and not shout from the rooftops that she's mine. We can't ever let the public see us as a couple and that's going to be a challenge for sure. But I don't even care. I am so damn happy that I don't even care about the details.

But as happy as I am about Madge, I'm nervous for Katniss. The games officially begin this afternoon and the first day is always the hardest to watch because there is always a lot of blood shed in the first few minutes of the games. Once, years before I was even born, the game started and ended in less than 10 minutes. For Katniss though, I just want her to get out of the center of the action as quickly as she can. She'll be safer that way I think.

I arrive at the viewing early so that I can see Madge. I won''t be able to sit with her but I may be able to talk to her for a few minutes before it all starts. I see her, up near the stage and screen. She's actually alone so I go over.

"Hey there pretty girl." I say in a low voice as I come up behind her.

She turns around and smiles so big that I swear it takes everything in me not to kiss her right here and now.

"Hey yourself." She says.

"You look beautiful."

She inhales a little and looks down at her dress, smoothing her hands over it. "If you say so."

"I do. Can you get away again tonight?" I ask quietly.

She nods. "It'll be late though. Is that alright?"

"Any hour of the day is fine by me. Just tell me when and where to meet you and I'm there."

"Midnight, at the tree down in the Seam where we were the day of the reaping ceremony."

"I'll be there." I assure her.

She bites her lip and smiles. "I can't wait." She whispers as she walks passed me and finds her seat up on the stage for the viewing.

I go over to where my family is sitting and take my seat but keep my gaze up on the stage. She sits in her chair and chats with the Capitol woman next to her. She's so good at faking delight in being here, in watching the games. You'd really never know that she hated the Capitol. I mean, she had me fooled until she had a little too much to drink and told me the truth about it all.

The anthem plays and screen flickers to life. My stomach flip flops as I watch the tributes being raised into the arena. It's woodsy and that gives me a little bit of relief. Katniss can handle the woods. If it'd been a desert or beach she would've been at a disadvantage. Yes, woods are a definite plus in her favor. The countdown begins and I'm pretty sure I don't breathe at all. The bell sounds and in a fury of chaos, the games begin. Katniss hesitates and I don't know why. She's staring at something and then I see what it is. It's a bow and quiver of arrows. And it's smack in the middle of the cornucopia where killing has already begun. RUN DAMMIT, RUN! I shout in my head. Forget the bow for now, just get out of there! Finally she snaps out of the trance she seemed to be in and she's running for the trees. She grabs a backpack during her dash and also almost gets hit with a knife one of the girl tributes throws at her. It sticks in the backpack and that's good cause at least now I know she has some sort of weapon, albeit a small one. She keeps running through the woods, getting some distance between herself and the killing spree happening at the cornucopia. She did it. She survived the start of the games. the screen flickers off and I finally breathe again, leaning back in my chair. I rub my hands over my face and then get to my feet. As I do, I glance up and see Madge looking at me, her face full of genuine happiness and I know she's as relieved as I am at how this all just went for Katniss. She gives me a thumbs up as she heads towards her house with all those Capitol people who came to watch the games.

Back home, I celebrate with my friends at the bonfire party they're having. Everyone is happy to see someone from the Seam doing well, surviving the games. Music is being played and people are drinking and dancing. I have a couple drinks and enjoy myself but I don't dance, even though a couple different girls try to get me to. I don't want them. I only want Madge. And for now, I have her, in a sense.

When it's nearing midnight, I wander away from the festivities and start towards the tree where I'm supposed to meet Madge. I change my mind though when I think about how she will likely get lost trying to find that particular spot again. So I make my way towards town and wait for her at the edge of the Seam. I see her, walking this way. Unbelievably fancy dress that shimmers in the moonlight.

"I thought we were meeting at the tree?" She asks when she spots me waiting for her.

"I didn't want you to get lost trying to find it." I tell her. I glance around and see no one anywhere in sight so I quickly grab her hand and pull her to me, kissing her and feeling that same intensity as last night when we kissed.

"We shouldn't be doing this here, someone could come by and see us." She whispers breathlessly as our kiss breaks.

"Come on, let's go." I whisper back as I lead us towards the tree.

We don't see anyone along the way and within minutes we're behind the tree and out of sight. I kiss her again and her fingers intertwine with mine as I do.

"I have been waiting for this all night." She confesses as she smiles up at me.

"Me too." I admit as I sit, leaning against the tree. She starts to sit across from me, facing me and I shake my head at her. "Get over here." I tell her, pulling her into my lap, looping my arms around her waist. She giggles and I love the sound.

"How long can you stay out?" She asks.

Now I laugh. "As long as I want." My mother has long since stopped expecting me home at a certain hour. "What about you? How much time do you have before you have to be back home?"

"As long as I slip back in before our housekeeper shows up for work in the morning, I'm good. No one will be looking for me before then."

"Well that gives us all night." I point out with a grin.

She smiles. I want to just sit here kissing her all night but I also want to talk, to just spend time with her. So instead of instinctively kissing her again, I talk. "I'd love to just kiss you all night but I also want to talk. I finally have an opportunity to get to know you and I plan to do just that. So tell me, what's Madge Undersee really like?"

Her eyes meet mine and she looks slightly surprised but happy. "What do you want to know?" She asks, seeming a little shy about it.

"Only everything." I flirt, pressing a kiss to her shoulder. "But the real stuff, not the stuff you fake."

"Well that's going to be a very short conversation, I spend most of my time faking things."

"What's something you do that you aren't supposed to do? Aside from being here with me of course." I ask.

She thinks for just a minute before she answers. "I speak to the Avox whenever they have to do something for me."

My tongue curls up in my mouth at the mention of the word Avox. "Wow, I've never even seen one. Not in person anyway."

"I feel bad for them. No one is supposed to speak to them or make eye contact really. And they work so hard all the time and get no payment or anything. It seems like such a terribly lonely existence and I always feel the least I can do is show gratitude for their help so I thank them. Or well, I used to anyway."

I love that she sees them as people who've been mistreated and not as the slaves they're meant to be. "How come you don't do talk to them anymore? Did you get in trouble?"

She shakes her head. "Someone heard me do it and it really bothered them. They were worried I'd get caught and turned into an Avox myself."

I bet it was the guy. I bet he's the one that made her stop doing it. He's going to try and squeeze all the good out of her. To change her into whatever the Capitol wants them to be. Anger shoots through me and I choose my words carefully, not wanting to say the wrong thing or to really let her know what I think this guy is going to do to her. "Well, I think it's probably one of the nicest, most empathetic things I've ever heard of anyone doing and I think you should keep doing it, at least when you aren't in front of that person who didn't want you to do it."

"Really? You think it's good that I do that?"

"Absolutely. If it were me who was the Avox, your kindness might be the only thing that gets me through my miserable life. Seriously, you should keep doing it."

"Maybe I will." She smiles and I can tell she's glad she shared that with me.

"What's it like out there, in the other districts? Are they much different than here?" I ask. I know she's probably been to all of them and I've never been beyond the woods that surround 12.

"They're similar to us the closer they are to us. When you get towards the Capitol, they get a little bigger, nicer. Same silly rules and forces of power throughout though." She's quiet after she says that and then adds. "Do you think there's a District 13 left at all?"

"I don't know. It's possible I guess." I tell her. There have long since been rumors of people having survived the bombing of 13 and creating their own country so to speak now that they're free of the Capitol.

"I like to think that there is. That it's out there waiting for me to find it. That's my daydream anyway." She says as she leans her head against my chest.

She dreams of finding her way to 13? It makes me hold her just a little more closely and makes me wish I could find it for her, to make it happen for her. "I'd go with you if you found it." I tell her.

"Here's a deal for you. If I ever find it, you're coming with me and if you happen to stumble across it out there in the woods one day don't forget to come back and get me, okay?" She laughs.

"Deal." I whisper as I lean down and press my lips against hers.