Both Ella and I paused outside Stepmother's room after we'd carefully tiptoed past Anastasia and Drizella's rooms. I whispered, "I'll get the curtains. You get Lucifer."

She nodded. After I'd opened the curtains, she opened Stepmother's door and began calling for Lucifer. "Here, kitty, kitty. Here, kitty."

Finally, she got frustrated with the cat and snapped, "Lucifer! Come here!"

Lucifer slunk—there was no other way to describe it—toward us. Cinderella scowled and, shutting the door, hissed, "Well, I'm sorry if Your Highness objects to an early breakfast. It's not my idea to feed you first. It's orders."

We all headed downstairs. Ella grinned as I gracefully flipped into the kitchen. "Great way to make a speedy escape," I murmured, silently adding, away from the Cornucopia.

She rolled her eyes at me. I laughed. Then we noticed Bruno growling and biting and kicking the rug. Lucifer was hissing at Bruno from the second step. Ella stood over Bruno and called, "Bruno. Bruno. Bruno."

Bruno slowly woke up and stared at his owner. Ella smiled at her dog. "Dreaming again?" she asked. Bruno nodded. "Chasing Lucifer?" she asked. Bruno nodded. "Did you catch him?" she asked. Bruno nodded.

She frowned and said, "Well, that's bad." Lucifer chuckled from his seat on the step—I wanted to kill that cat.

Bruno and I both scowled at her—I'd only dealt with two cats and, so far, I much preferred Buttercup—Primrose and Katniss Everdeen's cat—to Lucifer—Stepmother's cat—that might be because Buttercup actually worked for and earned his food and Lucifer just lays around and everything is just handed to him. Ella continued, "You know the orders. What if they heard you upstairs? So if you want to keep a nice warm bed, you've got to rid of those dreams. And do you know how?"

Bruno and I looked sheepishly at Ella, when we heard a thunk outside. I hurried over to the package and picked it up. "It's for us, Ella," I murmured.

Ella asked, "What is it?"

I opened it and said, "It's District 11 bread."

"How did you know that?" Ella asked.

"I ate scraps of this kind of bread when I was a child," I admitted.

I looked thoughtfully at Ella and stated, "I wonder who starved for us to get this bread."

Ella nodded and asked, "How do we thank them?"

I motioned for her to join me outside. "Make sure the cameras can see you," I hissed.

She nodded and I held out the bread and said, "My sister and I thank the people of District 11. We will eat well today."

We went back inside and Ella resumed the 'don't-dream-about-chasing-and-catching'—in my case, killing—'Lucifer' lecture for Bruno. I asked, "How do we get rid of those dreams?"

Ella grinned and said, "Just learn to like cats."

Bruno looked horrified and I whispered, "Trust me, Bruno. Not all cats are as horrible as Lucifer."

Ella whacked me on the side of my head and I muttered, "Didn't Stepmother order us not to fight?"

Ella nodded and I asked, "Why?"

She said, "She doesn't want to deal with us arguing because that happens often enough between Drizella and Anastasia."

I nodded. Then she continued, "Besides everyone has their good points—even Lucifer."

I asked, "Such as?"

Ella concentrated. "Um, there's... Well... There's got to be something good about Lucifer."

When she was unable to come up with a good trait for Lucifer, I replied, "Exactly. Lucifer is evil. End of discussion."

We both whirled when we heard Lucifer's pained cry. Stunned, Ella, scolded, "Bruno!"

I picked up Lucifer—to check for injuries and got scratched for my efforts. I quickly set him back down. Ella patted Bruno on the head and said, "Come on, Bruno. Outside. I know it's difficult but we're all going to have to learn to get along."

She came in and slammed the platter of milk down in front of Lucifer, snarling, "And that includes you, Your Majesty."

She glanced at me and whispered, "I know—Lucifer attacked Bruno—not the other way around."

Ella began feeding the other animals while I began fixing breakfast for Stepmother, Anastasia, and Drizella. I glanced at the container of fruit and studied the outside of it. I had seen that container before. I froze when the chimes began ringing and Ella rejoined me. "Ella, all that fruit—it's from District 11." I informed her.

She nodded. Then we quickly took the breakfast trays upstairs. Both Anastasia and Drizella snapped at me that they needed their beauty sleep and I answered, "I'll keep that in mind."

Then we got Drizella's ironing, Anastasia's mending, and Stepmother's laundry. We went back to the kitchen and I cut the District 11 bread in half and we each ate our share. Then we heard a terrified scream and sprinted up the stairs.