The next morning, I woke from fitful sleep to find Beetee slumped in his chair, his coffee long gone and his suit rumpled. I began cleaning quietly around him, and when he woke, I placed a hand on his shoulder. He looked up at me and patted my hand. He left the room briefly before the broadcast for the day began and came back in his regular clothes. He had a doughnut in his hand and I brought him coffee.

The beginning of the broadcast day began with what had happened overnight in the Arena. I was glad to see that my daughter had hidden in some brush and not stirred from that spot for the whole night. The Careers, as usual, hunted at night, but they didn't find my daughter, or her district partner.

"She has to find water," Beetee murmured. "They both do."

I knew this, but I also understood that usually, he didn't have anyone to talk to...and he was usually fine with that, but not this year. Not this year. Because I was Wiress' mother, and no matter what happened, he was the Victor of District Three and whether it's right or wrong, he felt a responsibility towards me.

And we fell into a pattern after a little while. I keep busy. There's always something to do as an Avox, though for many of the chores, I'm excused since my daughter is competing. So I make sure Beetee's coffee cup is always full unless he wants something else.

As I watched the Games, I found myself thinking of my husband Romex. I wondered how he was dealing with watching the Games, I wondered if there was anyone to comfort him at all. He'd never been the easiest person to get along with, and even harder, sometimes, to love. He was prone to delusions, but he was a brilliant man, and I had loved him despite how crazy he was. Or maybe because of it. Perhaps I wasn't quite sane. I'm certainly much less than sane now. Much, much less.

And so we watched, as Wiress searched for water, we watched as she climbed trees and studied the Arena. Days slipped by, as our Tributes stayed alive. We watched as Wiress constructed her traps, deadly and beautiful contraptions.

And we watched, kept watching. Geiger was lost in the Arena. He'd manged to find water, but he wasn't a fighter. He wasn't clever in that way. I felt the same way I do about most of the Tributes from Three: he never had a chance. Though maybe that wasn't strictly true. He was certainly braver than most and he didn't try to strike an alliance with the Careers. He kept to himself, and kept low.

I felt badly that Wiress and Geiger were friends. It might have been easier if they hadn't known each other at all.

The kill rate seemed to be high for these Games. The Careers were active and hunting, the rest of the Tributes hiding, running. My daughter is hiding in a tree. Watching to see how her machine works.

And there's Geiger, though it's dark now, and Wiress is dozing in the tree, Geiger and a hulking District Two boy who are fighting now. Geiger is putting up a good fight. I'm proud of him. But Wiress has woken up, looking over curiously.

The District Two boy was edging closer to Wiress' trip line, and that's what she's watching for. I can tell that she didn't see Geiger there...her face was too smooth and not anxious enough.

Before I know it, there's a spear through poor Geiger's lower chest, and then a sicking wet sound of the mechanism going off, the sound of wooden spike driven through skull and neck. The boy from Two stiffens, but is dead, the canon going off, before he hits the ground.

Geiger is not dead yet. Wiress looks down, seeing the boy from Two first, lying with the spikes she'd fashioned in his head and neck, blood spreading and pooling around him in the dark forest...but then she spies Geiger, and any satisfaction on her face drains into a blank sort of shock, and she makes a small, pained sound.

"Oh, sparks," Beetee muttered.

Oh, Wiress,I think, as she hurries down the tree and over to Geiger's side, dragging him away quickly. I can hear her breathing, the sharp inhale and ragged exhale, and all cameras are on her now. She and Geiger were now the dramatic event of the day so far, and she helped him up, half-dragging him along to hide in some brush.

I could barely watch, but I couldn't look away. They were close, the two of them. I can't imagine siblings being any closer. And she held him as he died. Beetee put his head in his hands.

We all hate losing our Tributes.

Rayan came in at that point, bouncing excitedly. "She's got a sponsor!"

Beetee picked his head up and blinked over at him, shock plain on his face: this never happens. "What?"

"She's got a sponsor. He wants to send her bread! And that's for starters. He wants to see how she progresses, of course, but..."

His brow furrowed in thought. "Bring it here. Make sure it's District 3 bread. I'll wrap it before it goes into the Arena." He got up. I could see him chewing on the inside of his mouth as he thought.

A sponsor. That meant someone was betting on her. I know how the betting pool works. The odds on Wiress winning, or even living for another few days, increased with how well she did with sponsors.

Rayan brought the bread, still warm, into the viewing room, and Beetee wrapped it up carefully. He didn't say anything, but he took a long, yellow ribbon out of his pocket to tie the wrappings on. "Okay. Send it in," he said, stepping aside as Rayan took it to the gift distribution room.

The meaning of the yellow ribbon was probably lost on Rayan, but not on me. Beetee was mourning someone.

And now, so was Wiress.

He was setting her up with a storyline.

I looked up at the screen. My daughter was running, running. Her eyes were empty, and she looked completely lost.

I watched as she got the parcel, and she unwrapped it. She sat, hidden, as she chewed on the bread, looked at the ribbon, and thought. I could see her matching up things in her head, drawing connections, making realizations.

And then she kissed the ribbon, putting it around her neck. She consolidated her packs. I can see all the emotion on her face, but she wasn't crying or showing weakness. She put on the night-goggles she'd taken off the boy from Two, and started to travel deeper into the woods.

When she stopped for the night, she climbed a tree and wrapped herself in Geiger's sleeping bag, cuddling into it as if she were snuggling up to a person, and hid her face.

It looked to me as if she were embracing her storyline.

I just hoped it would help her survive.