Teeny tiny filler chapter before we finally get to the start of the games! Part of me wanted to make this way longer but then there's a risk I'll still be writing it in 2 months time, so it is what it is!
"What happens now?" Aspen asked as they got back to their rooms.
Jupiter opened his mouth to answer and closed it again. It had become clear over the past few days that while Aspen was one of the nicest people he'd ever met, there were some things she didn't seem able to understand. He had a nasty feeling that she had forgotten that they were going into the games tomorrow.
"Shall we have something to eat? Look, they've left us some sandwiches"
"Is there ham? I like ham..."
It was a relief when Aspen's mother returned, her fingers flying as she explained something. Aspen nodded.
"Mum says she's sorry, there were lots of people wanting to talk to her. She says we've got lots of...sponsors to send us nice things in the games."
Jupiter swallowed hard. "Thank you." He knew logically that she was helping her daughter, and he would only be sent sponsor gifts because they were allies, but it was good to know he wouldn't be entirely on his own.
"And she says tomorrow we've got to run away from the..." Aspen stared as her mother made the same gesture several times, and frowned. Elowen picked up a pen and paper and started to write, handing it across to Jupiter.
Run away from the Cornucopia. Grab anything you can but RUN. Stay safe. Away from the big kids.
Jupiter nodded.
Two floors up, Abundance was shaking so hard she could barely hold the warm milk her mentor had brought her.
Three floors further up, Goldstein Trinket was dancing vaguely around the room, eating candy and singing to himself. Delly Cartwright was earnestly telling Chenille about every games she could remember.
On the ground floor, Hector and Ellis curled up in the same bed, drinking hot chocolate and watching old films, too scared to close their eyes lest morning should sneak up on them.
On the fourth floor, Viola had cried herself to sleep in Fynn Flanagan's arms.
In the annex, Arctic resigned himself at last to going into the games and wrote his dads a poignant goodbye letter.
Dawn broke over the Capitol. In a small apartment that suddenly felt far too large, Lyssa Rudolphine had stayed awake all night drawing posters that said "Support District Five" and "We love you Saoirse and Victor". As the sun's rays filtered through the window, she scalded herself trying to make coffee for her mother. She'd figured that if she was going to be an only child, she should learn to be useful and support her mother.