Chapter Five

"This is all that is left of the past," said Katia.

Katniss peeked into the box. It didn't look like much. Some old photographs, a diary or two, a lot of objects she didn't recognize.

"All that is left?" she asked. "There are tons of museums in the Capitol."

"Museum of huge monuments and famous people. No, this is the past you could have lived in."

Katniss looked at the pictures. One was of a small girl in a loose fitting shirt with a number on it. She was smiling and holding a round object.

"Basketball," said Katia. She pulled a large orange ball out of the box.

"It's spelled," she explained. "Never loses air." She bounced it up and down a couple of times and put it back in the box.

Katniss opened a diary and started to read it.

March 5, 2012

Today I found out I was a demigod. I am currently at the summer camp known as Camp Half-Blood. Wow, I'm so excited! This is like Harry Potter!

"Mine," said a young (looking) girl who introduced herself as Annette. "I was a bit of a bubblehead back then. Acted like some kind of Aphrodite kid!"

"Are you?" asked Katniss.

"No!" said Annette. "I'm a daughter of Zeus."

"That's cool," said Katniss.

"In the demigod days it was," said Annette. "It doesn't mean anything now."

"I wish I had been alive back then," said Katniss.

"We miss it too," said Katia. Suddenly she perked her ears up. "You can look through it if you want. I have been summoned." She left the room.

"How did she know that?" asked Katniss.

"Ah, Katniss," said Annette, smiling. "You are asking for the story of the Oracle. You see, at Camp Half Blood, we used to have an oracle named Rachel. She was a good oracle, green fog and rhyming prophecies of impending doom, the whole nine yards. She predicted the end of the world. It was a very blunt prophey. It clearly stated that the world would end and we should get out of Camp Half-Blood as soon as we could."

After that, everybody evacuated and Camp Half-Blood was destroyed. Rachel decided to retire, because she said it was too stressful. So they needed a new oracle. Artemis recommended a huntress."

"Katia?" asked Katniss.

"No, Katniss," said Annette. "All of us. From now on, every huntress has powers of precognition. It is not as good as that of the oracle, but sometimes we can get a green smoke prophecy if we all hold hands in a circle."

"Will I have these powers?" asked Katniss.

"You will. Since the last girl quit, we gave her powers to Katia. I think Katia is enjoying it, but I'm sure Artemis will remember to ask her about it."

At that minute, Katia came in the room looking a little sad.

"All right, Katniss," she said. "Arrtemis has asked me to give you your powers."

Katia sat down and motioned for Katniss to do the same. She closed her eyes and held Katnisses hands. Katniss experienced a strange feeling.

It was warm and fuzzy. This is nice, she thought. She closed her eyes and her head flooded with visions of people. People at parties, people ziplining, people winning things.

"Post-cognotion," Annette whispered.

Suddenly the visions changed, and the warm, fuzzy feeling was replacd by something else. A war. People burning, people falling from the sky. Dead people.

"Precognition," said Annette.

It was midnight. There was a knock at the door. Reluctantly, a woman in her forties shuffled out of bed and opened the door.

She was greeted by a young (looking) boy. He couldn't have been over seventeen. *1

"Hey," he said. "Do you know of a place where I can stay the night? I can pay money." This was a good tactic and usually worked.

"You can stay here today," she said. "Until you find a place to stay."

"Thank you." He stepped inside.

"What's your name?"

"You can call me Gabriel."

"All right." She noticed a small tattoo on his left wrist. It looked like a symbol of some kind. Maybe Greek.

"Is that a Greek symbol?" she asked.

"What is Greece?"

"An ancient culture."

"What are some Greek symbols?"

"Oh, you know, Greek letters. Alpha, Omega, sort of thing."

"Ah."

"Here, get some sleep." She let him sleep on the couch.

I'm going to die, thought Madge. Why did I volunteer?

"Hey," said Peeta. "You scared?"

"Indefinitely," said Madge. "We are riding the train of death."

Peeta picked up a small cracker from one of the snack trays.

"Ah," he said. "But there is good food."

"They're trying to make sure we're too fat to kill anybody."

"Well, that's certainly going to take a lot of work."

Madge stared out the window thoughtfully.

"Can we escape?" she said.

"No," said Peeta.

"Let's commit suicide. It would make a statement."

"You know how the people in the Capitol make a statement? They dye their hair. I think we should lean a little more in that direction."

"Poison ourselves," said Madge. "Then, blame it on the Capitol."

"We aren't spearheading a rebellion here," said Peeta. "We're waiting to die."

"And forever wander in the fields of Asphodel?"

"What did you just say?"

"I have absolutely no idea. But what I'm saying is, we should commit suicide."

"How about you commit suicide?"

"How about we kill each other?"

"What?"

"We can fake killing each other. That would make an even bigger statement."

"Look, Madge. The best we can do is die with dignity."

"Or create a path of destruction by killing innocent children."

"We're innocent children."

"Not after we kill innocent children."

"It's self-defense."

"If all twenty-four tributes are acting out of self defense, then who is the offender?"

"The Capitol."

Madge sighed. Die with dignity. Is there such a thing in the Hunger Games?

1* And yet, he was.