There is a fluttering by my ear and I flinch, briefly losing my grasp on the red stone. I slide a foot down the rock cliff, scrambling until I regain a foothold and stop to catch my breath. Rock splinters fall below me from where I had kicked them loose and I watch their descent to the treetops far below. Way too close for comfort. They could have been me falling down and then my face would join the others in the night sky. Definitely way too close.
"For the love of god, Emma." gasps Justin from above. "I nearly jumped after you."
I look up to where he was clinging to the rock and force a smile even though all I wanted to do was cry from relief. He stares down at me without returning the grin and then climbs over the lip of the dead waterfall. A shadow of Justin's head pops over the edge, his features thrown into darkness by the night sky. He reaches down a hand and I climb to meet him, using his support to pull myself up to relative safety.
Exhausted, I roll on my back and stare up at the sky, half a leg and my arm dangling off the side. Justin collapses beside me. Neither of us speak as we're too busy sucking in the thin oxygen provided to us at the cliff's height. Droplets of sweat trickle down from my forehead, turning icy in the cool air.
"Not exactly like rock climbing at the Y, eh Emma?" remarks Justin, his words coming out in a wheeze.
I laugh softly only because it was better than the alternative. The fact was that we were still in a mad man's twisted game and while normally we climbed for recreation, today we climbed for survival.
"No, not exactly." I say, quieting down. "Otherwise I would have beaten you to the top."
It was Justin's turn to chuckle, but I could hear the hollowness in it. Grimacing, I bring myself to my elbows and shift away from the steep edge, turning to take in my surroundings.
We sat on the sixth fall in the arena, the cornucopia directly in front of us as it always was. A fire burned brightly at its edge, but there were no voices or sounds of laughter to accompany it. I imagine that they had their egos deflated after running into our traps earlier that day. The thought of our traps actually working would have brought a smile to my face if it weren't for the memory of the livid girl. It is only a matter of time before my thoughts turn to Engle and I shiver even though the air is still around me.
A rhythmic beeping breaks my thoughts and Justin sits up abruptly. I scramble to my feet and draw my sword with a clear ringing as Justin expertly readies his bow. My eyes travel to the sky, honing in on a blurry shadow drifting towards us and I back up until I hit a rock wall. Justin remains at the edge of the cliff and nocks an arrow, drawing back as the thing came near.
He pauses and then lowers the bow, his tense shoulders relaxing when he sets down his weapon. Reaching out Justin catches the capsule floating from the strings of its parachute and brings it to his chest. I join him, forcing my heart beat to steady when I realize that it was a sponsor's gift. Looking up, I study the skies of drifting clouds, surprised that there was someone out there supporting us. We were the Captured, the underdogs of the games. Why would anyone want to help someone other than a Career?
There is a hiss of air and I watch Justin open the capsule, leaning in to see what we had been given. The heavy smell of tomato soup and freshly baked bread hits me, overwhelming my senses and causing my mouth to water. I reach in and carefully remove the heavy bowl while Justin grabs the bread and drops the capsule. We retreat as far back from the open ledge as possible and sit down against the cliff wall, facing the arena.
Bringing the bowl to my lips, I take a swallow of the velvety soup and wince when it burns my mouth. Passing it to Justin, I concentrate on the warm tingling in my nose and the now rough texture of my tongue. I relish in it, savouring the feeling of being alive. Justin grunts with the hot soup, handing it back to me as he wipes at his mouth with a grin.
It's finished with three more passes and Justin grabs for the bread left at his side, his breath steaming with the remnants of soup. I watch my own breath, panting slightly while the warmth worked its way from my head to my feet. The bread crackles and a new wave of its scent engulfs us as Justin tears it in two. Half the loaf finds its way into my hand and I tear into it, grateful for the strength it would bring me.
"Thank you, Prema." I murmur, using a bit of crust to soak up what was left of the soup.
"Hang on a minute."
I stop and look at Justin who had yet to start eating. He was staring at the inside of his loaf with a confused expression and then he dug his fingers into the heart of it. With some difficulty he manages to slide out a cylinder of paper that had been baked into the bread. I grab for it, eager to read the message Prema had sent us.
Without even speaking, we draw close together and cover the massage with our bodies, protecting it from the eyes of the gamemakers. I quickly unroll the paper and work to make out the tightly scrawled words: The winds of change are coming. Look to the stars.
"Did you get that?" I ask Justin.
He nods and I get up to retrieve our abandoned capsule, reaching deep within until I found what I suspected was left. Removing my hand, I survey the small lighter with satisfaction and turn to toss it towards Justin. He catches it with one hand, looks at it and then starts gathering the thin twigs scattered on the open ledge which had fallen from a dying tree above. A flame was lit within moments and I crouch beside it while Justin continues to feed it fuel. I add some more tinder to the flames, subtly tangling the paper message with the twigs and watching it be consumed.
It was like the message never even existed, but the words were forever branded in my memory. The winds of change are coming. Look to the stars.
"Any idea what it means?" asks Justin.
Silently I take his hand as we settle down beside the fire and begin tracing in his palm. I give each letter I trace exaggeration so that he knew what I spelled, hoping that the Capital wouldn't catch on to what I was doing.
"It means that we have someone on our side." I say, secretly telling him what Prema had told me. "Watching over us."
If anyone were to be able to gain meaning from the stars it would be Justin. He was obsessed with astronomy and had countless books on the subject. Justin would be able to find our location with the constellations should the nightly cloud cover ever leave. And according to Prema's message the clouds would soon be swept away by the 'winds of change.'
"So someone in the Capital wants to be our Guardian Angel." Justin says, his voice carrying so that they could hear.
I grin and look up to the sky. He had understood the message.
"Exactly like our Guardian Angel." I reply, cheesing it up for the cameras.
The anthem breaks over us unexpectedly, our height amplifying the strains of music. I flinch back into Justin, my grin disappearing when the announcement projection opens up in the sky. Two faces were about to appear one after the other and I almost turn away, afraid to see Ronen's. Justin's arm snakes around my shoulder as we see the redheaded boy Engle had killed for getting in the way. His name was Belron from the 8th district, a Career. The second was the face of a Captured, Ella, also from the 8th district according to her profile.
I shudder, remembering the state of her camp and the shells of the scorpions that had attacked her. The blood washed stone came to mind and the hoard of Biters that had attacked us. It all seemed so long ago and yet it was only a few hours before that it had happened.
Relief swells in my chest to the point where it was almost painful. Ronen was not dead. He was still alive somewhere and my first thought was to find him. But it would be too dangerous to do so. He could turn on me even though we promised not to. This was still the Hunger Games to him. He didn't know any better and I wasn't about to face him if he would be the one to kill me. This wasn't a story about Katniss and Peeta. I couldn't let minor feelings get in the way, because they wouldn't be reciprocated, they couldn't be.
"Only four of us left." Justin murmurs and he tightens his hold on me.
I lean into his protection as the announcement ends and flick a spare twig into our fire.
"Three," I correct sourly. "There are only three of us left. As far as I'm concerned, Clayton is just another Career."
"But he's not. He's just like you and me, Emma. Clayton is just trying to stay alive and he is doing it the only way he can."
"Yeah, well the way he chose has put you in danger." I reply. "You saw him this morning. He is leading them to me which leads them to you. If they ever find us, if they ever catch us, they'll be killing two birds with one stone. I can't make the mistake of thinking Clayton is one of us."
Justin straightens and I turn to look up at him. His lips are pressed into a hard line I recognize from our childhood whenever he was irritated. I tense, waiting for the fight, but he takes a deep breath and lets it out through his mouth. I smell the soup again as his breath ruffles my hair and settle back to watch the fire again. It wasn't the time to fight with each other. Not when we were fighting everything else.
"When are you going to learn that you don't have to protect me all the time?" he asks just as I was drifting off to sleep.
"You're my baby brother, Rags." I murmur. "I'll always fight to protect you…Even if you are annoying sometimes."
"And you're stubborn all the time." He shifts backwards and grabs his discarded pack, drawing out a blanket to cover us. "The point is that right now I'm in the best position to protect you. You have to let go of me sometimes, Emma. You have to realize that you don't have to fight off the whole world."
"I know, but it's just who I am." I yawn, but refuse to shut my eyes.
The dark landscape stretched far across my vision, quiet and mysterious. Every shadow, every crevice of land was a potential threat. Even the fire beside us was like a beacon screaming out to the enemy, 'Here they are! Come find them!'
"You can probably call it the older sibling syndrome."
"More like the stubborn pain in the ass syndrome."
I gasp dramatically and reach up to flick him in the nose, working to keep a straight face.
"Watch your language." I tell him, assuming Effie Trinket's accent. "Manners matter."
"You sound like Mom." Justin chuckles.
His laugh is short lived, dying out immediately when we fully realize the subject he had brought up. Mom, family, the ones we might never see again…It was like a balloon was deflated and I felt more tired than I have ever felt before. There was no time to laugh or make jokes. The games were real, our danger was real, and our kidnapping was still very fresh.
"I'm sorry." Justin whispers and I nod, unable to speak. "I didn't mean to-It just came out…I miss them so much."
"I know." My voice is hoarse, thick with emotion that could not be let out. "I miss them too, Justin."