Shasta means three.

Chapter Twelve

Madge woke up in a waiting room. She was sitting in a chair.

"Finally!" said somebody. "I was waiting for you guys to die!"

"Hold on," said somebody else, "If they both died, who is the victor?"

"There is no victor," said Madge. "I killed myself heroically with Nightlock from district 13." Her eyes came into focus. She was surprised to discover that she was surrounded by people she knew. 23 people who were all between the ages of 12 and 18.

"Oh my god," breathed Madge.

"You killed me!" Miana screamed at Three.

Three looked at the floor. Her will to survive was gone. She looked defeated. Madge put an arm around her.

"It's ok, Three," she said. "We all lost."

"My name is Shasta," she said. "Shasta Blake."

"I'm sorry I killed you."

"It's okay. Since you killed yourself, I guess that makes us both victors."

A young girl was crying in the corner of the room. Madge walked over to her.

"Rue?" she asked.

"Madge?" asked Rue, looking up.

"Rue, I'm so sorry."

"Who killed me?"

"Miana, the district four girl. Poison is her weapon of choice."

Thresh walked over to them.

"Rue. It's okay. You're safe now."

Madge looked around the room for Peeta. He was sitting in a chair. Somehow he looked calm, as though he were waiting for the dentist, and not a war refugee like everybody else.

"Peeta," she said, walking over to him.

"Madge," said Peeta. "Alexandra is dead. This is like losing her all over again."

"Peeta," said Madge. "Who is Alexandra?"

"My daughter."

"You have a daughter?"

"From a past life. I remember it all now."

"How could you have had a past life?"

"It's compicated to explain. I died in a fire in my first life. I abandoned her, Madge."

"It's not your fault," said Madge.

"If I had taken better care of her, she would have ended up in Elysium, I lost her forever. I only lived all my lives so I could forget. I have no desire to live n the Isles."

Madge didn't know what to say to this. Luckily, she didn't have to. Somebody walked into the room.

"All right, we're ready to go!" said the man. "Madge and Shasta, my name is Charon. We're going to take you across the river to the big island, where we put all the Hunger Games tributes. Except for Peeta over there, who has lived three lives. His fate is being decided."

"I want to see my daughter," said Peeta. "Just once. Please."

"You can't," said Charon. "The good news is, Annabeth is already at one of the Isles of the Blest, so you can live with her there, if you wish."

Two people came in and took Peeta away. Madge could hear him screaming for his daughter until the mist washed it away. A boat came up to the shore to meet the dead tributes.

Annabeth had been all by herself for over 20 years. When she heard of Peeta's death, she was very excited. She ran up to the shore and came to greet him.

"Alexandra," he said. "We lost her forever."

"Percy," she said. "There's something I need to tell you. I got Persephone to pull up Alexandra's file on the underworld computer. And guess what? She's not dead."

"How is that possible?"

"She may have been granted immortality."

"How?"

"My theory is, she became a huntress."

"A Huntress of Artemis?"

"Yes."

"We have to contact Artemis!"

"I've tried."

"Can we get out of here? Just to contact Artemis?"

"No, Percy. They'll never let us out."

Percy sighed. One way or the other, he would talk to his daughter. And he wasn't going to let anybody stand in his way.

Katia was dreaming of bunny rabbits and clouds. Big fuffy bunny rabbits… ahhh…

Somebody was shaking her awake. It was Angeles.

"What?" asked Katia.

"We need to talk."

"We're talking."

"We need to go out to the woods and talk."

"Fine." Katia and Angeles walked out into the woods.

"Katia," said Angeles, "Do you have a kid?"

"What?" asked Katia, stunned.

"A kid. I know you have one."

Katia was silent.

"I knew it!" she said. "I'm telling Artemis."

Katia stopped her. "You can't."

"I'm sorry. I have to."

Angeles ran back to their campsite.

"Artemis," she said, shaking her awake.

"What?"

"Katia… um, she um, um…"

"I have a kid," said Katia, suddenly appearing.

"You what?" said Artemis.

"I was with a guy, and I got pregnant. I had a baby. That's what I was doing when I was away."

"This is serious," said Artemis.

"I know."

"Leave. Now."

"We're in Australia."

"You're a huntress. You'll live. As of right now, you're on your own."

With that, Artemis awoke the other huntresses. They walked into the distance, and suddenly disappeared.

The boy from district four walked into the Capitol. He was going to go back to the family he had just left. He could say he just wanted to run away. It would be easy.

A strange feeling suddeny passed through him. Like somebody had just walked over his grave. Ha! His grave! Like that's ever going to happen.

He walked through the Capitol, then started to run. As he ran, his arm snagged the side of a building. It was bleeding. He wiped the blood away. Then he realized something. The cut hadn't healed.

Could this really be? Could he have lost his immortality?

He stared at the blood on the cloth in distaste. He got a feeling, the same feeling you get from being buried alive. You wake up, and it takes you a moment to realize what's happening, it's dark, you're in a box, oh God, it's so dark… Six feet under the ground.

The blood looked redder, somehow. It seemed more like real blood, a part of him, not just another fluid that occasionally oozed out of him. It hurt, for real, and reality hurt more than a shot through the heart or a sixty foot fall.