I drop Trucy's knife and hurry over to the girls. Jinxie scuttles backwards as I sling one of my backpack straps off my arm and come to a stop.

"When did she get injured?" I fling the main leather flap open and fumble to find the bandages.

Trucy tugs one of Ema's sleeves off and pulls the jacket away to the side. "I didn't see anything come at her. Did you slip?" She gives Ema's shoulder a little shake.

Ema manages a moan that's clearly a negatory. "Just adrenaline? Bleeding can..."

The plastic on the bandages comes apart with a loud, high-pitched rip. She doesn't seem to mind the interruption.

"...give away lying. Like, a stress response from lying can... accelerate heart rate, increase blood pressure, tense muscles... Pretty sure it's a sympathetic system thing, so this might be the same kind of situation." Exhaling, she lifts her arms out of the way as Trucy gets to the bandages. The entire section over her back is stained crimson, but I'm not sure how much is fresh. I can assume that it's too much to be good.

Folding the top flap of plastic back so the sticky side won't interfere with anything, I let Klavier remove a wad of gauze and start unrolling it. Trucy tugs the old bandages down, just enough to be out of the way, and he starts wrapping the wound immediately. I only catch a glimpse—it seems like a pretty long horizontal gash, but it's still less than halfway across her back.

"You still hanging in there?" I try to make eye contact with Ema, but her eyelids are drooping too much.

"Mm." She tilts her head a bit as Jinxie picks her jacket up and silently folds it. "Not feeling well... Not unconscious yet."

"All right. Stay with us."

"What do you think I'm trying to do?"

"...Right."

The bandage is passed between Trucy and Klavier, and they keep wrapping until the roll is up. The blood hasn't soaked all the way through, at least. Maybe her theory was right and, now that the excitement is gone, she's back to normal. Short a bit more blood, but back to normal.

I rub my wrist under the bracelet. Lie detection, huh? I wonder if my bracelet works on a similar principle... Although I would think it could only respond to me tensing muscles.

Ema is thoroughly slumped now, although the bleeding seems to have come under control. Trucy rolls the edge of the 7's shirt back down once the old, soaked bandage is cut away. There's only so much space around one person, so I stay over here and call, "How's her pulse?"

Klavier checks it at her wrist, keeping an eye on her watch. "Fast." He sets her hand down. "Is there any safe way to make her drink?"

I rest my right hand in the crook of my elbow and tap my forehead with the left. "Well, you're not supposed to give an unconscious person food or water." They didn't emphasize it much at the first-aid station—probably because we're supposed to be more concerned about our own well-being—but they did mention it.

"Ema?" Trucy reaches around from the back and flicks the top of her cheek a few times. "Ema." My district partner shakes her head. "She's out."

Klavier lets go of his water bottle with a sigh. "Later, then. For now, it might be a good idea to set out. We can't hope to clean up our mess, but we can at least make it to a less distinctive place." He gets to his feet in one swift motion and immediately cries out, his right leg buckling.

"Whoa!" I have to grab his elbow to keep him from toppling over.

"Thanks." He stops and pushes himself up more carefully with a long exhale. "Well. I can feel it now." His calf spasms a little, but he's prepared enough not to fall over this time. "Herr Forehead, I believe you were retrieving a few knives for Fräulein Magician?"

"Ah, right." I start to climb back down. I managed to get the first one most of the way out, so it's not much of a problem. It takes a minute to get down to the next mutt, though, and a knife is buried to the hilt in its right eye. Remind me not to make Trucy angry...

I grip the handle hard and start tugging. It refuses to come out easily. It's pretty much stuck—

—stuck on his jacket—

With a gasp, I let go and pull back. He's dead—there's no point in—in—

"I can get them if you're having that much trouble."

Jolted into the present, I take a minute to locate the voice and look up the mountainside. Klavier is peering down, a different dressing over his leg and a shining parachute on the rocks with him.

"No, I'm fine!" I take a deep breath. "I'm Apollo Justice and I'm fine." Turning back to the mutt, I stomp on its head and give the knife another try. This is Trucy's knife, in a Capitol mutt's eye. Nothing to get upset about. Just... helping out my district partner.

The knife comes out with a schlorp, and I set it down before going for the next one. It's not as hard to get free.

By the time I clean off the blades and bring them back to Trucy, the prickling in my eyes has gone away.

The next mountain is within sight when a large shoulder bag blocks our path. I come to a stop, and no one accidentally runs into me from behind.

"What is it?" Trucy ducks to the side to see around me.

"Just a bag, as far as I can tell. Is someone else around?" I scan the area, but it looks like it's only us. I don't see any wires or anything attached to the bag, either.

"It seems to be in disorder." Klavier takes the opportunity to set Ema down for a minute. "I imagine someone dropped it."

"Just randomly, though?" I frown. "This doesn't exactly look like a murder scene."

"Perhaps the owner dropped it to flee?" he suggests.

"It doesn't look that heavy..." I lower myself to place a hand on the strap. Nothing shakes or explodes. That's a good sign.

Klavier leans against the wall of rock, his injured leg crossed behind the other. "Or an attack could have happened at night, when the sleeping tribute was chased away without thinking to grab it. In any case, I doubt we need to take too many extra precautions."

I tug the back toward me and let go, stepping back. Still no reaction. Still no one approaching. I guess it really is safe.

Breath held, I unzip the main pocket and pry it open. Inside is some red fabric and a water bottle, empty. A side pocket has some crumbs, but that's all.

"Well, better than nothing!" Trucy's right behind me now. "What's the red thing?"

I pull it out—as it unfolds, I have to keep pulling.

"Ooh, a scarf!" She snatches it. "I can use this for magic tricks!"

"Er... Great. Have fun." I pick up the bag by the strap. "There's no reason to leave a perfectly good bag here, right?"

"Right. I can carry it." Trucy takes it and slings it over her shoulder. "We can put the mutt meat inside, too."

Klavier watches her slide the parachute-wrapped parcels into the bag. "I still doubt that's going to be any good as food."

"Well, we won't know until we try." I retrieve the water bottle so Trucy can zip the pocket shut. "And it's not like we can keep getting every single meal from your sponsors."

He smiles. "Are you sure?"

"Considering it's past noon and we've had no sign of lunch being sent, I would say yes," I grumble. "I don't care how many screaming girls are throwing money at you; you don't have an infinite amount of funds, and they should be spent wisely."

Snapping, he says, "I would consider guaranteed-edible food a worthwhile investment."

"Yes, but you can find that in the arena. Some medicines and other things, not so much." I slouch. "Unless your edibility standard is honestly that high. But no one outside of the Capitol could afford that kind of food every day."

He laughs lightly, flipping his bangs with a quick head motion. "Considering my brother is a victor and I'm a nationwide rock star—" his grin widens—"I'd have to say that's not true."

You rich little snot.

Trucy folds her arms and gazes up at the rest of the mountain. "So I guess your odds of not getting reaped were pretty good, huh?"

He looks to the side. "I'm not sure if I would say that..."

Really? But his brother became a victor before he ever reached tessarae age. So if it's only the basic minimum of paper slips, he had a pretty unfair shot at making it to nineteen unscathed.

Unless—! Unless the reapings are unfair...! He wouldn't dare to say any more out loud, but if they can be rigged, why wouldn't the Capitol want to see a victor's younger sibling fighting for another win? Instant celebrity, instant buzz for all the viewers.

I... had been wondering why he'd do so much District 7 heavy lifting if he didn't need the money. Was he so sure he could end up in the Games that he was taking precautions?

"Are we resting or just dawdling?" He glances between Trucy and me before checking behind him and stiffening. "Ah—"

"Jinxie?" Trucy scurries over the rocks, and I lean after her to see past Klavier. Ema is still lying against the rocks, but now so is Jinxie. I check the former's pulse while Trucy keeps going.

"I suppose we're resting, then." Klavier stands evenly between them and takes the weight off his bad leg. "Is she asleep?"

Trucy nods, frowning and pulling away. "She must be exhausted after all her scares yesterday. She didn't sleep at all during my watch, either..."

Satisfied that Ema isn't circling the drain yet, I press a finger to my forehead. "She was wide awake by the end of my watch."

"And I doubt she even slept with one eye open before she found us, the poor Fräulein. Let her nap, then. Sunset is a while away yet."

"Right." I find a clean-looking spot and sit, my feet tingling at the sudden relief. "In the meantime, we could roast some of the meat. We haven't gained much ground, but if we're stopping, anyway..."

Klavier doesn't look so sure, but Trucy hops to her feet. "Good point. There are enough bushes around to get a fire going, I'm sure." She surveys the area for a way to go before she pauses. "Ema?"

Scooting around, I find Ema still slumped against the rocks but gripping the collar of her jacket and shivering.

"Hey! Are you awake?" I get up and approach her, but she doesn't respond. "Ema?"

"Hmm." Klavier sidesteps me to check the bandage, but there's no more bleeding.

It's a pretty nice day, as far as weather is concerned. Maybe it's colder if you're not moving around much, or if you've lost a lot of blood.

I zip up her jacket, but she still goes into shivers after a few moments.

"Here." Trucy nudges me to the side and starts wrapping the muffler around Ema's neck. "Might as well."

"Yeah." I keep an eye on the 7 girl, who seems at least a little more comfortable now.

"Grr..."

Blinking, I look back at the others, but they seem as startled as me. I'm sure I would have seen something approaching—

"You dare imprison me?" The voice is so low and growling I wouldn't peg it as Jinxie's if I didn't see her mouth moving as she walks, swaying, toward us. Her eyes seem pretty unfocused. Is she okay?

"That loathsome, no-good—" Her foot comes down on the edge of a rock, and she careens to the side too far to recover.

"Jinxie!" I jump, managing to catch her wrist. She still falls a bit and swings around, her knees smacking into the rocks.

Startled, she finally brings her eyes into focus—"Eek!"—and immediately smacks my forehead. At least she doesn't have any charms on hand to stick to me.

"Jinxie!" Trucy takes her other hand and helps her up.

"Wh-what happened? Where am I?" She looks around but freezes when she sees me. "Th-the Red Demon!"

At... least she's talking. If not saying anything I want to hear...

"No, Polly's a good demon, remember?" Trucy nudges her a little farther onto the path. "He saved you!"

Ha ha, I mean, it was kind of a reflex, but...

"Thank you, O Terrible One!" She actually bows down. "I-I'm not sure what I can give you in exchange, but please don't take my soul!"

And maybe that's a little too much appreciation...

Of course, everything is made so much better by Klavier cracking up behind us.

"I'm not taking any souls!" I slam my fists down. "You don't have to pay me back, just... try not to fall off the side of the mountain. Also, did you take off the slips on your forehead? I thought that was your district token."

"Wh-what?" She touches her forehead and recoils. "I-I have to reapply them...!" It only takes a moment for her to find them on the ground and plaster them to her forehead again.

Trucy gives her a smile. "So are you feeling a little bit better now?"

Jinxie clasps her own shoulders. "I-I guess. I..." She takes another look around and shivers.

"It's okay. You don't have to cheer up all at once." Trucy holds her hands behind her back. "It's good to have you back, though!"

"Thank you..." Her gaze flicks around a few more times—how disoriented can she be?—before she lets a breath out. "What are we doing right now...?"

"Just resting for a bit." Klavier smiles at her. "We can get back to traveling once you feel well enough, Fräulein Priestess."

"A-all right."