"How far back does this go?" Athena takes a few steps into the shadows of the tunnel, but I'm guessing she can't see any farther than me.

"I don't know." I press a finger against my forehead. "I've only gone in a little ways."

"Hmm." She puts her hands on her hips. "Maybe we should check it out. You never know what could be in there."

"Isn't that why we shouldn't go in?" I slouch. "Even if anything worthwhile is in there, we can be sure it's trapped."

"You're right." Grinning, she punches her palm. "Bet I can hear any traps before you can see them!"

"I—What? No, wait!" I grab the end of her ponytail. Thankfully she wasn't running off at top speed, so she can't get onto me for dealing too much damage.

"Ack!" She stumbles back but manages not to knock me back.

"At least give us a little time to prepare!"

Reclaiming her ponytail, she wrinkles her nose at me before glancing at the others closer to the entrance. "Fine. But the challenge still stands!"

What, over trap-spotting? I think it's more important to catch all of them than to see who can catch more. But if a competition's what it takes to motivate you, sure. I'd win, anyway. What kind of obvious traps could you hear before you could see, anyway?

"Polly!" Trucy is pouting with her fists to her hips when I look back at her. "You don't tug on a girl's ponytail! Er—" she folds her arms loosely, squinting at the ceiling—"or a guy's, I guess."

I glance at Simon, but he's already scowling at me, so I turn away quickly.

"Anyway. It's not nice," Trucy says. "Now, I know boys do that sometimes to girls they like—"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" I put my hands up. "I—"

"Oh!" Athena grins. "Is that how it is, Apollo?"

"No! It's nothing like that! I was just trying to keep you from running off and springing some trap!"

Athena snivels loudly, clenching her fists. "Oh... So you could never see me as someone you could be attracted to, is that it?"

What?! I never said anything like that!

Klavier swoops in, leaning in close to Athena. "Herr Forehead must be even more ignorant than I thought if he fails to recognize your beauty."

She grins at him instantly. "Aw, thanks."

...I don't even know what's happening anymore. Me being insulted. Nothing new.

With a sigh, Athena glides her hands through her ponytail. "In all honesty, this might be a problem, though. Apparently someone managed to catch me at the bloodbath by snagging it." She looks to Simon, who gives her a half-nod.

"Apparently?" I furrow my brow. "Wouldn't you remember something like that?"

Frowning, she puts her hands on her hips. "Yeah, if I remembered anything from the first few minutes of the Games. I don't know if it was just that traumatic or if my head got hit too hard, but I have no recollection of anything before the cannons started firing."

Huh.

"Well, if it's that dangerous..." Trucy bobs on the balls of her feet. "I think you would look good with short hair."

"You think?" Athena runs her fingers through her ponytail one more time before getting out her knife and spinning it in her hand. "I mean, it would be safer..."

Holding her breath, she tightens her grip on the knife and gathers the top of her ponytail into her other hand. The knife hovers above her hair for a minute before she casts the blade to the ground with a clatter.

"I can't do it!" Sniffling, she lets go of the ponytail.

Geez...

Recovering from my cringing back, I lean over and pick up the knife. "Well, if you can't do it yourself, I can always—"

"Don't you dare!" she snarls, looking ready to fist me.

I jump back again. "Okay! Okay! I'm not touching your ponytail! H-here." I turn the knife around to offer her the handle, and she snatches it back gladly.

Wait, that reminds me. None of my smaller alliance saw what happened to Clay, but maybe...!

No, Athena can't remember anything from the bloodbath, so it's useless asking her. I can check with Simon, though.

Although, Simon is a Career. Could it have been him? I can't imagine him using anything but a sword, but if there weren't any available at the time...

Well, there's no way to know if I don't ask him myself. Uh, maybe not that directly. I'd rather not lose any extremities in my pursuit of the truth.

Trucy's blocking my path, pulling a few strands of Athena's hair up and letting them fall. "If you don't want to cut it, I can braid it around your head. That would shorten it up without being too permanent."

Athena hops, clasping her hands together. "Ooh, that sounds great! Let's do it!" She pulls her ponytail holder out and glances at Jinxie. "We could do a whole braiding chain, too! Jinxie, want me to braid your hair?"

"Oh, um..." Jinxie tugs her sling closer to her wrist. "Sure?"

"Come on, let's make a line." Trucy brushes her fingers through Athena's hair a few times before removing her own hat. "And Polly, you can come braid mine."

"Hold it!" Arms crossed, I give her an incredulous look. "Do I look like the kind of guy that knows how to braid hair?"

"I don't know." She taps her lower lip. "It'd be kind of hard to tell that about a person just by looking. Unless their hair was braided already."

"That was rhetorical." I sigh. "Is your hair even long enough to braid?"

"Sure! Just start at the top."

She and the other girls sit down in near unison, and I hold out up here until Trucy pouts at me. Grumbling, I sit behind her and try to figure out how to do this by watching the others in front of me.

First it was the dress and makeup for the chariot ride, and now I'm in a line of girls braiding each other's hair... How about I switch out my backpack for a nice purse while I'm at it?

Anyway, I guess I'll be talking to Simon later. If he'll even look at me after this.

The death toll has already started by the time we're all happy with our hair. Since Jinxie is now the guardian of the clipboard, she's going to keep track of the remaining tributes now. That's fine with me. I probably shouldn't do it when I can't even bring myself to look at the projection.

I'll have to eventually. But... every time I've looked, another one of my friends has been up there, and I know a tribute who saved my life and several others' is going to be there tonight. I... I'll watch it sometime, I promise. Just not yet.

Judging by Jinxie's pen strokes, Fulbright was the only one who died today.

Only. Only one innocent tribute dead in the last twenty-four hours. As if that's a good thing. Technically, it puts the rest of us closer to success, but if that's what I wanted, I'd feel a lot better with, say, Aura's face up there.

The anthem comes to a close, but I think I'll give us a minute before I start questioning Simon. It's hard to handle all of this, and my mission technically isn't that urgent.

So I just stare at a safe spot of the sky for a while. Most of the clouds are gone now, so I can see a few stars. The same tonight as they have been the rest of the Games. People spending whole lifetimes trying to get to them, and the stars just stand there and watch...

I turn back to the alliance, and we work out our night shifts. Once we all have our sleeping bags set out, I approach Simon.

"Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?"

"You've already asked one." He leans over a bit, a hand hovering over his sword hilt. "I hope for your sake the others are actually worth my time."

Uh... So, yes? "I'll be quick." Pulling out Clay's jacket, I take a deep breath and grip the knife blade through the fabric. "First, did you see who killed Clay Terran?"

He thinks for a moment. "The one who wore that jacket, I presume?"

I swallow. Am I ready to hear this? "Yes."

"I believe his starting plate was near my own, but my attention was focused on a different pursuit at the time. I didn't see him again until he had already begun to join the soil for which he was named."

He laughs at his little joke, and I slam my foot down.

"That's not funny!" I don't realize how up in his face I am until I feel the edge of Taka's feather tickling my hairline.

Simon eyes me, and I've probably just ordered myself a death sentence, but I don't care. He has no right...!

"Very well." He maintains his gaze. "Suffice it to say, I did not witness his death."

I pull back, my pulse still loud in my ears. "Okay..." After a few breaths, I present the knife. "Do you know who used this?"

"Clearly they didn't retrieve it." He scrutinizes the handle, although there's not much to identify it with except for a few thin, red stripes. "I haven't seen one like it among the Careers. It doesn't appear to be a throwing knife, so it likely wasn't provided as part of a set. Thus, I have no way to identify its user."

As far as I can tell, he isn't lying.

My shoulders droop, but I give him a nod of thanks. "That's all I wanted to know."

"What's going on?"

I pivot to see Athena stepping up to us.

"Oh, I was just asking if he knew who had used this knife." It's probably useless, but I present it to her regardless. "I guess you don't have any ideas?"

She looks over it and shakes her head. "I've never seen it, sorry."

Before I can thank her for trying, my bracelet tightens.

I... I must have been imagining that.

I wave the handle a little. "Are you sure it's not familiar?"

She frowns. "Yeah, I'm sure it isn't. Should it be?"

I rub my wrist. "No..."

"Apollo?" Her head tilts to the side a fraction. "What's wrong? Are you all right?"

"I'm fine." I shove the knife and jacket into the backpack. "I, uh, was just hoping to learn more than that, that's all." Throwing one strap over my shoulder, I stand up and give her a nod. "Good night."

"Um, good night."

I hurry to my sleeping bag without looking back.

Why would she be lying...?