Gus

"Right," Hephaestion says. "It's almost midday. Let's talk about hunting."

A horrible chill settles over me. Since the four of us are in the strongest alliance in the arena, it's inevitable that we have to start tracking down our opponents and killing them. I wonder if the thought filled Grandpa with so much dread as he stalked the corridors of his castle, sixty-two years ago.

Killing Deckard was relatively easy. He was partially trained and charging at Hephaestion with a spear. It wasn't premeditated, I was just protecting my friend. But the next person I kill, I know I will have planned it out, tracked them down, and they might be someone who can't fight back. I won't be able to claim I was protecting anyone.

"What is there to talk about?" I ask.

"Someone needs to stay here and guard the supplies," Hephaestion says. "We need a plan for searching the castle and a way of signalling to each other if anything goes wrong. I've figured out the first two. I'm just stuck on the third one."

"Okay," I say. "Tell me what you've figured out so far."

"I think you and Lucinda should guard the supplies and Spruce and I will hunt for opponents," Hephaestion says. "We'll search the castle from the top down. I reckon most of the outliers went up as far as possible after the bloodbath."

I realise that this castle might have dungeons. I feel this great, yawning pit in my stomach. Hephaestion had waited until sunrise to wake me. He'd slept for most of the morning. I wonder if he's scared of the dark. Either way, I doubt he'd want to venture into the dungeons. I don't want to, either.

Grandpa was in the dungeons when he came the closest to death in his games. It was just him and the boy from Twelve left. Twelve was a miner, accustomed to the dark. He stabbed Grandpa in the shoulder and almost stabbed him in the throat. Grandpa says he only survived because, as a kid, he'd taught himself to walk around his house with his eyes closed, to get a sense of what it was like for his brother. Then he'd taught himself to fight with his eyes closed, when fighting became as easy and natural to him as walking through his house. He thought it'd make him better at fighting if he could use his other senses the way his little brother did. It did. It saved his life.

"I have an idea for a signal," Lucinda says. "I brought a journal and pen as my district token. You can take them with you. Then, if you need to tell us something write it down, fold it into a paper aeroplane and throw it to us."

"What's a paper aeroplane?" Hephaestion asks.

The Sevens both laugh.

"No, I'm serious," Hephaestion says. "We don't have paper aeroplanes in Two."

"It's when you fold a piece of paper into an aeroplane shape and then throw it and it's supposed to fly," I say. I know what a paper aeroplane is. Aunt Sotope taught me how to make one when I was a kid.

Hephaestion frowns, clearly trying to picture what a paper aeroplane looks like. There's no way he knows how to make one.

"You can make one, right?" I ask Spruce.

"Of course," Spruce says. "I'm a Seven. We have paper aeroplane tournaments in our schools. I won three years running. My mentor once killed a Career with a paper aeroplane."

"Your mentor…" Hephaestion says. "Hatchet Kowalski, right?"

Spruce nods.

"So that was what he threw at Silver Oberst? It doesn't look like an aeroplane. It looks like a throwing knife. No wonder it made Silver step into that trap."

Spruce sighs. "You Careers are so weird. Are you sure you're human, Hephaestion? You're not a robot?"

"Spruce," I say. "Don't be mean to Hephaestion."

"It's okay," Hephaestion says. "I've been called a lot worse. I'd actually think it'd be cool being a robot. If something went wrong with me, they'd just send me off to District 3 to get fixed and then I'd be back to normal."

There's a long, awkward pause.

"We should probably go," Hephaestion says. "Get hunting."

"Okay," I say.

Hephaestion and Spruce gather supplies for the hunt - weapons, pouches of food, water skins. When they're done, Hephaestion gives me a hug, while Spruce hugs Lucinda.

"Stay safe out there," I say. "Don't get killed."

"I'll be fine," Hephaestion says. "I'll be back before nightfall. You stay safe. Look after our camp."

"I will."

Then he and Spruce both leave. As they leave, I can overhear Spruce talking to Hephaestion.

"Out of all the cool things you could get if you were a robot - super strength, laser eyes, rocket boosters - you think getting sent to Three to get repaired is the coolest? Really, Hephaestion?"

"Really. What's the point in having laser eyes and rocket boosters if they don't work properly?"

Once Hephaestion and Spruce leave, Lucinda and I sit down in our shelter. Soon we come up with a plan to pass the time while we're waiting for our allies to come back. I want to make a special quiver for my spears so I can carry more than one but I'm not very good at sewing. Lucinda is, so she agrees to stitch one together.

We eventually start a conversation while Lucinda is sewing. We talk about school. Lucinda has always been at the top of her class. I'm a little jealous. I've always been near the top but not quite there. Eventually, we end up talking about the subjects we study and I get annoyed that Lucinda knows more about biology than me. It's not even the boring parts of biology that Coulomb loves so much. It's the interesting stuff - photosynthesis and chlorophyll and xylem and phloem. She says she doesn't even like biology, it's just part of the curriculum in Seven. She likes physics. So I tell her all about all the stuff I learned at school about electricity and energy and nuclear radiation and I watch her go green with envy because they never taught her physics on that level in Seven.

I'm about to suggest that we were both born in the wrong district - she would've been happier as a Five and I would've been happier as a Seven - when I hear a terrible crashing sound. I look outside the shelter to see the opposite wall of the castle - the wall where Hephaestion and I had piled the bodies yesterday - collapsing in on itself.

A cannon fires. Suddenly, I'm gripped by fear.

"Lucinda," I say. "You don't think… it was one of us?"

Lucinda shakes her head. "Why would the gamemakers target Spruce and Hephaestion? They're both playing the games properly."

Spruce is a rebel. I think. But I don't say it. There are worse rebels in the arena. Mitch is blatantly a rebel and Valerie and the Threes seem to be leaning that way. Even Petra and Mirabelle, both of whom have committed acts of rebellion but kept them secret, so I only found out from Aunt Sotope, have committed more far serious crimes than Spruce. Harbouring a dangerous fugitive and spying are more serious crimes than vandalism. And Lucinda's right. Spruce is playing the games the way the gamemakers expect from him. He's allied with me and he's willing to hunt down and kill his opponents.

Then I begin to hear the screams. It's a boy's voice, high-pitched with terror. His voice echoes down the castle walls. I can't make out what he's trying to say. I step out of the shelter and look around, hoping to see some sign of my allies. All I can see is stone walls and a cloud of dust hovering around the collapsed section of wall.

"Hephaestion!" I call. "Spruce!"

The boy is still screaming. I can't tell who it is.

"Gus," Lucinda says, following me out of the shelter and taking my hand. "I don't think it's them."

"Are you sure?"

"His voice hasn't broken yet," Lucinda says. "It can't be Spruce or Hephaestion."

The screams stop. A cannon fires.

"I hope you're right," I say.

Lucinda returns to the shelter. I pace around the courtyard, restless.

What if something happened to them? I wonder. What if the two cannons were them?

I have to resist the urge to cry. I'm supposed to be a leader, a hero. I'm supposed to protect my allies. I should've stepped forward when Hephaestion said he was going hunting. I should've put myself in harm's way for them.

Then I notice a flicker of movement. A tiny paper aeroplane floating down from above the battlements near the collapsed section of wall. I rush over and catch it.

It's covered in bloody fingerprints.

I hold my breath as I read it.

Allies,

Apologies for the delay. We got into a fight. We are fine (physically). Spruce is sad.

Cannon #1 - Unknown. Likely cause of death, collapsing wall.

Cannon #2 - 6M. Found him at edge of collapsed wall and engaged in fight. He did not fight back enough to hurt us, screamed for district partner. Spruce killed him (hence the sadness). Saw 6F on other side of collapse, out of range. Possible D6 alliance separated by collapse.

We will continue hunting for a few more hours. We know 6F is nearby.

Yours faithfully,

H.

I breathe a sigh of relief. They're both okay. The bloody fingerprints must've been Rory's blood on Spruce's hands when he folded the aeroplane. I hold the letter close to my chest, shaking.

"Gus?" I hear my name and see Lucinda approaching.

"I just got a paper aeroplane from them. They're okay, look!"

I hand the letter over to Lucinda. I can feel tears in my eyes. I hope nobody notices. I don't want to look weak because I worry about my allies.

I can barely admit this to myself but I can't stand the thought of Hephaestion getting hurt out there.

That's silly of you, Gus. I tell myself. Hephaestion is the toughest person you've ever met. Why are you worrying about him getting hurt?

I think back to the letter. Hephaestion has just witnessed - and possibly helped - Spruce kill an innocent thirteen-year-old boy and he seems perfectly calm about the whole thing. I can only imagine Spruce's sadness and guilt over killing the kid if it was noticeable enough for Hephaestion to write about. I should be disgusted by how cold Hephaestion is about that Rory's death, his Career attitude. But I find I admire it.

Maybe Rory never did anything wrong, but he was still chosen by the Capitol to die for his district's crimes. And there were rebels in District 6, though they weren't as widespread as in Three or Eight. Aunt Sotope has told me about Petra's family. They were all involved. Now Rory is dead, the rebels of Six have been punished.

It was my allies' duty to kill Rory and they did their duty. Spruce probably doesn't understand, or he's struggling to get his guilt under control like I am. Hephaestion understands. He is as cold as he has to be, the Capitol's executioner.

Another day, another death recap.

15th Place: Unknown, presumably killed by the collapsing wall
Someone died but Gus doesn't know who died and he can only guess as to how they died. Next chapter is a mentor chapter so we'll probably find out who it was and confirm their method of death but for now… it's a mystery. See if you can guess who it was

14th Place: Rory Turner (D6), Axed by Spruce
I must confess, Rory is the tribute I almost forgot about when writing the interview chapter. I'm not sure why because he actually gave quite a good interview. Maybe I was just thinking more about Petra, who I knew was going to outlast Rory. Rory was a sweet kid. He didn't interact much with Gus but he certainly left his mark on Petra and Spruce. That might affect Gus later on, especially since his alliance with Spruce is becoming increasingly strained.