Welcome back everybody! Oh dear…poor Wish-Trish. Let's hope she can be saved…
Three Days & One Reveal
Silence filled the air—one of those tense, awkward silences that Big Big Friends could never stand. The kind of silence that Golias would normally interrupt by doing something funny, just for the sake of it. Making music with his trunk, imitating a bulldozer, pretending to be the seahorse he and his friends had admired the day Lili had brought them to see a gigantic colourful fish tank…but for the first time ever, he couldn't find it in him to break the silence. He had squashed Wish-Trish. Sure, as soon as he'd done it, Bongo had made it clear that he knew it hadn't been on purpose, but that didn't change the fact that she was squashed to begin with.
Now what were they going to do? They needed to take Wish-Trish to a hospital, but they also needed to stay away from the Peacekeepers. And what if they wouldn't be able to save the poor fairy? Effie had just now told the Big Big Friends about how Objectiva wouldn't be able to swap her and Nessa back to normal. So if they couldn't save Wish-Trish, would her cousin have to go to China and get her powers back? What were they going to do?
Finally, Bongo spoke. "I uh…I guess we don't have a choice. We'll have to take her to the hospital."
"But we can't, Bongo!" Golias wailed. "Or else they'll take her away from us because they'll think she had something to do with how we stopped the Peacekeepers!"
"Well then what do you suppose we do?" snapped Effie. "Climb aboard the nearest train and bring her to a district hospital?"
Golias gasped. "That's it! We can just take her to one of the districts! Those are the other cities in Panem, right?"
"Well, yes," said Objectiva, "but Wish-Trish said there were Peacekeepers in the Knife Witch's district too."
"There are Peacekeepers in all the districts," Effie clarified. "But even if there weren't, travelling to one of them is a horrible idea! With the tributes already in the Capitol, the only way from here to the districts is through the trains that collect and drop off the necessities we need!"
"Necessities?" Bongo asked.
"Every district is in charge of providing something important for the Capitol. District 12 gives us coal, District 5 gives us power, District 11 gives us crops…and every seven days, I believe, a train arrives to collect these harvested things and bring them here. But those trains are only supposed to carry necessities! Not people, let alone animals and…mutts!"
"Now you wait just a minute," retorted Objectiva. "Would the districts' Peacekeepers consider us necessary for them to focus on if the ones here think we are Capitol residents like themselves?"
"Well," Effie stammered, "I suppose not, seeing as no Capitol resident would dare take refuge in such uncivil places. But—"
"Then that settles it. If the necessity transport train is the only way to get my still-living cousin to a safe hospital, then we will take it. I lost Starpoint without doing anything to stop the Knife Witch from sealing her fate! I will not lose Wish-Trish without even trying to save her!"
"Objectiva's right, Effie," said Golias. "We can't let Wish-Trish feel even worse. She's our friend."
Bongo nodded vigorously. "Besides, we need her so we can hurry up and switch you and Nessa back!"
"Alright, alright," sighed Effie. "But we cannot let anyone see us accessing the train. I wouldn't be surprised if the entire Capitol knows we've stolen from Tigris by now."
"Then we will have to find some different disguises and leave these ones behind," said Objectiva.
Bongo gasped. "Invisible disguises! YES! We can just use them to make ourselves invisible as long as we're wearing them."
Effie stared in confusion. "But we don't have any invi—"
And then suddenly they did, for before the escort could finish her sentence, Tigris's products lost their colour—and so did her and her companions. Now their bodies and facial features were just white outline versions of themselves, with nothing but their surroundings appearing to be in between the outlines.
"Do you really call this invisible?" Effie demanded.
"Relax," said Bongo, giving her the same charmingly knowing smile he'd given her back on the plane before pushing the big red button. "No one can see us! We just look like this so we know we're invisible to everyone else, and so we won't lose track of where we're putting our feet."
"Or our trunks," added Golias, tooting his trunk.
A man in a bright lavender suit heard the honk sound Golias's trunk made from across the street and stopped walking, looking around in confusion. "What was that?" he asked.
"No more trunk noises or talking until we get onboard the train," hissed Effie.
"Oops…sorry."
None of them made any noises after that, which allowed the tribute escort to lead the group to the Capitol's train station without any problems. Luckily, having been there many times already because of her job, she knew the way there by heart—but one detail she didn't know was where the necessity train was. It was nowhere in sight, and the screen displaying the departure/arrival schedule was surprisingly blank. In fact, there were no trains in sight at all. The tracks around the station were all empty and silent, with the only vehicle present being a dusty but functional-looking handcar sitting next to the ticket counter.
Objectiva shrugged. "Better than no transportation at all."
"Neh-eh-eh-eh-eh," stated Bongo, shaking his hands in defiance. "Kangaroos don't ride handcars. Only vehicles you can relax in!"
"Bongo, do you have to make things difficult every time we have to use a vehicle?" Effie sighed. Although honestly, she had to admit that he did have a point. She preferred relaxing rides in vehicles just as much as he did—maybe even more. But saying that out loud would only jeopardize their chances of reviving Wish-Trish safely, and that was something they couldn't afford. Maybe Effie was used to the wonderful, luxurious, laid-back life she'd always lived, but using a handcar wasn't nearly as bad as being stuck outside of her body and having to rely on a presumably childish giraffe to do her job.
Golias looked around the station. "Where are all the tr—oh. There's a sign on that garage door that says 'All trains off duty for the Hunger Games.'"
"Figures," mumbled Effie. "Everyone's busy watching the Games, both here and in the districts."
"What's so fun about hunger anyway?" Golias asked.
Groaning, Effie looked each of her companions in the eyes and declared, "Listen. Everyone may be busy watching the Hunger Games, but that doesn't mean we have permission to use any of the trains. We've done enough stealing for today, so it'll be better if we take the one vehicle no Capitol resident would ever dare to use or have any concern over the disappearance of. Which is that handcar."
"Uh, wouldn't that be stealing too?" Golias asked.
"Not exactly," admitted Objectiva. "Look at how dusty it is! Clearly no one in this station has any plans to use it, or will have any plans to use it. Besides, crossings from city to city usually involve travelling through the countryside. Wish-Trish could use some fresh air before she is hospitalized, especially if it takes us hours to get to a district."
"Fine," said Bongo, rolling his eyes in frustration. "We'll use the handcar. Golias, help me get it on the tracks."
"Okay," replied Golias. The duo then hurried over, and working together, they lifted the handcar out of its corner and onto one of the train tracks. As they set it down, a cloud of dust flew off the handcar, and unable to stop himself, Golias sneezed; causing the dust to fly into Bongo's face, which made him sneeze. So hard, in fact, that he jumped, and all the invisible clothes he was wearing fell onto the floor, causing him to resume his natural green colour and become visible again.
Instantly Bongo recoiled, almost dropping the still unconscious Wish-Trish in the process. "Oopsie…no one else is here, right Effie?"
"Quite fortunately, no one," the escort sighed. "Now hurry, let's get onboard and leave before someone does come." She and Golias then stepped onto the handcar, with Objectiva and Bongo following respectively through flight and a swift bounce. After that, the kangaroo gave Wish-Trish to her cousin, who flew up to sit on Golias's head while he and Bongo (the former with his trunk) accessed the handcar's pump.
"Which district should we go to?" Objectiva asked.
"It'll likely take resources from the wealthiest district's hospital to heal a tiny fairy from a door crush accident," said Effie. "District 1 it is…but, seeing as I've only ever been to the poorest district, we will have to rely on those distance-measuring signs to find our way there."
In a few seconds, they were in the great outdoors, on their way to the tunnel that served as the city's entrance and exit. Yet while it seemed they were able to leave the train station without being seen, there was one thing Effie hadn't considered: the possibility that there were cameras hidden in the station. Cameras specifically installed to prevent train theft, especially when all of the station's employees were spending time off duty to watch the Hunger Games…
The next few days were mostly uneventful after that. That was simply how long it took Effie's team to get to District 1 via handcar, especially since they had to keep stopping—either for food that grew in the wilderness, or because Bongo had several complaints to make about how hard all the pumping was on him.
For Nessa's team, the next few days were also mostly uneventful. Sonia had eventually succeeded in using a ball of string from Foxface's backpack, a few twigs, and several leaves to bandage up her reluctant ally's leg as best as she could. They would need to earn some sponsors if she wanted to supply healing cream as well, so now all they could really do was search the arena for water and any non-Career tributes, all the while hoping Foxface's leg wouldn't get infected. She still couldn't get along with either of her teammates, but regardless of this, Nessa and Sonia still knew she was an important person to have in their alliance.
Since the arena was so big, it took the entire second day in the arena to find a water source, which they immediately used to rehydrate and then fill a few flasks Sonia had taken the opportunity to create with her sewing talents. That was when it became clear that despite her inexperience with survival, the manufactory skills that she (like all residents of District 8) possessed made her a key element to their team. Which almost but didn't prompt Foxface to correct the statement she'd made about her back in the ditch.
They were very careful not to mention the arena escape plan once they left the ditch because of the cameras, so Clove never found out about it while watching the Hunger Games (this time live, since she'd finished watching the replay of Day One's events last night). But that didn't mean she wasn't disgusted by all the things she'd seen the mismatched stylist do during Day One—it was like that woman had completely lost her mind! Skipping? Singing? And how did she not know what "the fallen" really meant?! It was obvious to everyone in Panem!
She wasn't completely helpless though—the stylist had had the guts to disable Foxface and force her to become her ally, and she'd saved the life of the girl from District 8 by distracting the other Careers and Lover Boy (the latter of whom had once again tried to defend her; how did those three still not see that those two knew each other?!). But still! How could a Capitol resident do all the things this lady was doing? If anyone else watching this still believed the Quarter Quell lie, what were they thinking? That District 2's seventy-fourth female tribute was the most dimwitted tribute ever to enter the Capitol?!
Clove clenched her fists. This whole thing was now not only completely wrong, but also really confusing. Every adult in Panem knew the things that this crazy stylist apparently didn't know and had to rely on Foxface to learn! This was basic Hunger Games stuff; what was with her? And what was taking Rani so long? It was already the morning of Day Two and she still wasn't back yet. President Snow couldn't be that busy, could he?
And then suddenly, a thought struck Clove. A thought that no one in the Capitol would have considered, despite how odd this situation was getting. A thought that she was stunned didn't seemed to have crossed Cato's mind by now. It was the only explanation for the last-minute switch, and he had to know it just as much as she did! Glimmer and Marvel wouldn't know it, but why would it be the same case for him? He'd been there when she'd first discovered it was a possibility. Two months had passed since that big day, and she still remembered it like it was yesterday…
Flashback - May 10th, District 2. 7:46 PM.
It was Clove's 15th birthday, and she couldn't be happier. She'd always loved getting weapons as presents—especially knives, her favourite kind—but this year, her birthday had been made extra special. Her mother had gifted her with a special dagger that had been on her side of the family for centuries, passed down every year to the dagger's current wielder's oldest daughter when she turned fifteen. And now, she would get to have it, use it in an emergency, and pass it on when the time came.
"Except I don't think I'm going to give it up until I die," Clove was now saying to Cato, who at the time was her next-door neighbour and best friend. "That's how glad I am to have it in my hands."
He chuckled. "I agree. You're exactly where it belongs, even if you do have a kid or two."
"Which I won't. By the time I'm my mom's age, I'll be too famous to have time for kids."
"Yeah. Too busy being a famous assassin that the Capitol's gonna hire every time someone tries to escape the districts."
They both laughed, and then Cato smiled teasingly, picking up the sword that his fighting instructor had lent to him. "Bet you a diamond the Capitol's gonna hire me instead of you."
"Oh really?" Clove retorted, aiming her dagger at him. Although they both knew he was the one person she could never kill and vice versa; their sadistic personalities and love for using sharp blades were the similarities that had made them into such close friends. Whenever Clove and Cato had sword and knife duels against each other, it got intense, but they always ended in stalemates. Unlike their battles against other people, which always ended with Cato or Clove (depending on which one of them was in the battle) winning and their opponents painfully limping away, blood dripping from their bodies.
"Come on," teased Cato. "Everyone knows swords are more promising."
"Not a chance. You're going down."
Then they began another one of their sword/dagger duels. As always, Cato had two advantages: being more muscular and having a longer blade. But Clove had advantages of her own, which were her agile reflexes and craftiness in how she positioned and used her weapon. That was her favourite part about knives and daggers—they were almost the size of pens, so before killing someone, you could create a work of art in blood without having to worry about running out of ink.
It was epic; his sword clanged against her dagger for most of the duel, but he managed to land a small cut on her left cheek, and another just below her right shoulder. She also managed to slice both of his elbows and his left hip, after which he kicked her hip hard, causing her to fall on her back. He then pointed the sword at her nose, and she pointed the dagger at his chest. They remained still for a few seconds, breathing heavily, before Cato put down his sword and helped Clove up. The two of them started to engage in more banter, when suddenly they thought they heard a high-pitched voice coming from several feet behind them.
"Hide," Cato whispered. They took their weapons and darted behind a roadside shop, where they crouched down and peeked past the side of the stand.
The duo held back a gasp as the source of the sound came fluttering into view: two little fairies, both with fair skin, bright purple wings, and dark purple hair. Yet there were also noticeable differences between the fairies. One of them had her hair tied into a stylish tree-like ponytail, a dark blue shirt with short pale blue sleeves and a lavender W printed in the middle, an ocean blue skirt, pale blue tights, and navy shoes. The other fairy wore her hair in five braids that were each sticking out in different directions around her head (kind of like the points of a star), and she had lavender shoes, gold tights, and an almost-white yellow dress with a star-shaped skirt and a bright purple S printed on her chest. They were currently flying through the city, looking around in confusion.
"Are you sure we are in the right city, Starpoint?" the fairy with the blue outfit asked.
"Alright, I admit it," said the other fairy. "This city does not appear to be as fancy as the Capitol has been said to be. But do not worry, for the luxury in this district must mean we are getting close to the Capitol."
The fairy in the blue gulped. "We should leave. My intuition is saying someone is watching us. And you know we are not supposed to reveal our existence to anyone other than the couple who helped Objectiva transfer her power!"
"Wish-Trish, we cannot leave! We are here to end the cruelty of the Capitol by experimenting and seeing if we can make others swap places even if they do not want or wish to. By seeing if we can make President Snow swap places with someone from one of the poorest districts of all! Someone who is so ambitious and kindhearted that once they are in the president's body, they will end all the sadism happening here once and for all."
Wish-Trish took a deep breath and seemed to calm down a little. "You are right, you are right…I just need to focus on my intuition and choose which district civilian I should have the president swap bodies with."
"Have you not already narrowed it down to three choices?" Starpoint asked.
"I have, but I cannot decide between them. Sonia Woolweave of District 8 seems promising, with her longing to come out of her shell and do something spontaneous for the true greater good. Though at the same time, there is also the wise and resourceful Primrose Everdeen of District 12. And let's not forget the sweet and clever Rue—"
Suddenly Clove was on her feet, dashing out from behind the roadside shop and toward the fairies, dagger in hand. Maybe District 2 wasn't as rich as the Capitol, but that didn't mean her city didn't give President Snow the respect he deserved! She didn't care where these creatures had come from or anything—they had no right to overthrow President Snow and replace with some worthless girl from one of the weaker districts. They were going to pay, and not in money or jewels.
The fairies immediately saw her coming and panicked. She threw her dagger at the fairy named Wish-Trish, but she flew out of the way just in time and then retreated high into the sky with Starpoint in tow. The dagger landed on the ground, and Clove rushed toward it and picked it up, yelling, "You can't get away from me, creeps! I've been training to kill for ten years!"
As she was yelling, Cato caught up to her, holding his sword. He then helped Clove onto his shoulders and threw her upward, and correctly predicting the moment her descent would begin, she waited for that moment to come and threw the dagger again. This time it was thrown with more force, making a beeline for Starpoint. She heard it coming and tried to fly away, while Wish-Trish seemed to sense it was coming and tried to pull her relative away from it, but neither of them were quick enough. Clove's dagger pierced through Starpoint's body and wings, and Wish-Trish could only pull her away from its wielder a second after she was stabbed.
Clove reached out to pull the dagger out of Starpoint's chest, but her descent towards the ground began at that moment, and she could only grasp air. Wish-Trish began carrying Starpoint higher and higher into the sky, and the sadistic girl could only yell, "GET THEM!"
Cato got her message and threw his sword at the fairies in an attempt to stab Wish-Trish, but because the sword had a longer length than the dagger, he wasn't able to make it go high enough to reach the fairies. They escaped, taking Clove's family's centuries-old dagger with them.
End of flashback
That's right—to everyone who guessed Clove was the Knife Witch, you were correct. It had indeed been her who was responsible for the death of Starpoint, and for Wish-Trish's ongoing trauma. No one else in District 2 had ever found out about Starpoint's murder though, since Clove hadn't wanted her mother to find out she'd lost the family dagger. Instead, she and Cato had promised to keep their encounter with the fairies a secret, and hope Wish-Trish never came to Panem again. Which they'd always doubted she would, since she'd freaked out after seeing the dagger go through Starpoint's body.
But Wish-Trish must have come into Panem again, because nobody in the Capitol could possibly have behaved like this so-called stylist was now. Not even if they'd lost their mind—this was just too genuine, too far-fetched. Clove was shocked that it had taken many hours and the thought of President Snow (who hadn't found out about Starpoint's murder either) to realize the truth about her last-minute replacement. And that Cato apparently still hadn't.
Clove glanced around the room, and when she saw Rani still wasn't back yet, she stood up and headed for her tribute bedroom. If Cato's impulsiveness and anger issues were stopping him from coming to the same realization as her, she would have to get the message to him from outside the arena. Luckily, Clove knew that sometimes, sponsors delivered notes on paper to their tributes when giving them gifts. All she had to do was write a note, find someone who was sponsoring for Cato, and convince them to trade notes with her.
And if I'm lucky, she thought, maybe the Capitol citizens will notice I don't have a remote control or something. Then they'll realize the Game Makers and Caesar Flickerman lied to them about the lady who replaced me and do something about it. Maybe they'll force the Peacekeepers to sneak me into the arena when the other Careers kill another tribute!
With a nasty smile, Clove entered her bedroom and began her search for a piece of paper. All she had to do was make sure everyone saw her giving Cato that note. Then she'd finally get into the arena, kill Fire Girl, and get her revenge on the lady who'd replaced her.
The morning of Day Three arrived, and Nessa's team continued their search for more allies. Still nobody had been eliminated from the Games since Day One, and still they hadn't encountered any non-Career tributes. The only information the trio knew about their whereabouts was that, right after first entering the forest, Foxface had seen District 11's male tribute go into a field of wheat, and the rest of the tributes were somewhere in the forest as well; they just needed to find out where.
At this point, Nessa and Sonia had won their debate about who to recruit into their alliance. Whether their reluctant teammate liked it or not, having the tributes she didn't want to recruit on their team was important; which once again left Foxface no choice but to go with her teammates' decisions.
As they continued wandering around the arena, Nessa began to get nervous. She now knew the boy from District 3 was the third tribute who had panicked upon seeing her during Day One, and she was starting to develop the same worry she'd had just before rescuing Sonia: would the boy be impossible to reason with because of his distrust towards her? Or would she or her current allies manage to convince him that they only wanted to help him? And what about the tributes from Districts 11 and 12? Would they want to trust her if she finally found them?
"I don't know. I personally want to seek out the girl from 11 first," Sonia said after Nessa expressed her thoughts. "It would be cool to learn how to jump across tree branches. Before the campfire thing, I saw her pass by me, and she just looked so…so cool!"
"Do not grow to idolize her, Sonia," warned Foxface. "She may be skillful, and Panem's only successful evacuee may happen to be from her district, but those facts and your idolization will likely increase her chances of seeing less potential in you. Which could result in her betraying us by taking advantage of your thoughts about her."
Sonia immediately brushed off that comment. "That's just you not wanting to trust her, like you don't want to trust anyone. I'll admit there's a chance she would do such a thing, but if I were you I'd lighten up a little."
Seeing an even more weary look appear in Foxface's eyes, Nessa quickly said, "Well, I'm excited to find the girl from District 11 too. Maybe she and Juniper Berryharvest knew each other!"
"That, I know isn't possible," said Sonia. "Juniper left twelve years ago, and that tribute is twelve years old. When Juniper left, it was probably a month or so before the girl was even born!" She smiled. "But that doesn't mean her parents don't know her…"
"If they did, they would have been punished for Juniper's departure," stated Foxface. "And I watched the other districts' reaping videos. The girl has at least five siblings, all of whom are younger than her. Clearly her parents lived too long to have been punished."
"Well, I still want to meet her," affirmed Sonia. "Something about her just gives me a good feeling, and you don't usually feel that with tributes from other districts! I mean, if you're not a Career."
Foxface started to reply to that statement, when suddenly Nessa, who was giving her another piggyback ride, stopped in her tracks. Sonia saw the look in her eyes and stopped too, trying to figure out what was going through her mind.
"I hear something from behind that tree cluster," Nessa whispered. "Someone's talking to a voice I don't recognize…and it sounds like Marvel."
Sonia gulped. "You don't think Peeta and the Careers found one of the other tributes before we did, do you?"
"They must have," said Nessa. "I've heard all the Careers' voices and Peeta's, and whoever Marvel's talking to doesn't sound like any of them."
The trio edged a little closer to the sounds of the conversation, and it instantly became clear to them that the unfamiliar voice belonged to a male tribute. A few more steps, and they could hear what was being said.
"The point is," Marvel was now saying, "you may not look like a fighter, but odds are you've got some mental muscles that can benefit my allies and me. Which we could really use after being tricked by Clove's inexperienced replacement, and that happened after we recruited Lover Boy."
"Okay," breathed the tribute he was speaking to, sounding stunned but delighted at the thought of working with the Careers.
"It has to be the boy from 3," Foxface whispered, and Nessa gulped. Her reluctant ally had been so determined to recruit him…and now they couldn't!
"So what do you want me to do?" asked the District 3 tribute.
The person who replied was not Marvel, but Cato. "Since you're not a fighter, we need you to bring all our food back to the Cornucopia and find a good way to guard it. It'll be easier to track down Clove's replacement and Fire Girl without having to carry our weapons and our food."
"Let's see…I can reactivate the land mines hidden under the Cornucopia," suggested the boy from 3. "Then I can program them so that anyone who tries to steal our food will be blown up."
"Blown up?" Nessa whispered in fear. "Like a balloon? So we'll just float away like Miss Puffy, Lili's special balloon? Never to be seen again?"
"Yes…like a balloon," lied Foxface. Sonia, meanwhile, just stared at Nessa in surprise.
Glimmer was then heard chuckling. "Sounds awesome. Just make sure there are a few non-mined spots, so we can access it without getting blown up ourselves."
"I will. It'll be like a secret code only you guys will know."
"This could lead us to an advantage…even if we do not recruit him," Foxface whispered. She sounded intrigued for the first time since she'd formed her alliance with Nessa, which made the former giraffe smile.
As the Careers, Peeta (who was apparently still working with them), and the District 3 tribute began discussing the code itself, Sonia smiled. "You know, land mines might be strong enough to crash a you-know-what…maybe we should ask that guy to help us when the Careers leave to keep looking for Katniss."
"No," murmured Foxface, "it is too late to recruit him. He is already on the Careers' team…and he sounds happy about it."
"Maybe he's just pretending to be happy," suggested Nessa. As soon as those words came out of her mouth, a wave of guilt came over her. The reason why she'd said it was because she herself had pretended to be happy many times—with Lili, the one person she was supposed to be genuinely happy with. And none of her friends had even seemed to notice…
"Pretending to be happy as in, pretending he wants to be the Careers' ally when he would rather be ours?" Foxface asked.
Another wave of guilt came over Nessa. Every time she'd given Lili a fake smile, it had been because she'd wanted to give her other friends real ones. That wasn't what a best friend was supposed to do…right?
Sonia noticed Nessa's expression and frowned. "Uh, Nessa…are you implying that you've gone through something like that yourself at one point?"
Nessa shook her head. She couldn't think about her feelings for her friends back home; not now. First she had to help the tributes who wanted to leave the arena. So, answering Foxface's question, she said, "I don't know if the District 3 tribute feels that way, but I know Peeta does. Every time the Careers tried to hurt me, he tried to tell them not to! He's only working with them so he can stop them from finding Katniss. So…there's a chance the boy from District 3's just pretending too."
"But the other tribute from 3 is already gone," Sonia reminded her. "Who could he be secretly trying to defend?"
"It remains a mystery," murmured Foxface. "But then again…you never know. Maybe it is an act…but maybe it isn't."
"I think we should ask him when the Careers leave," said Nessa. "It's the—"
"Only way to know for sure," finished Foxface. She sighed. "Alright…we will wait until the Careers leave, and then we will talk to him."
"Really?" Sonia asked. "I…thought you'd put up more of a fight than that. Even though he was one of the tributes you didn't try to discourage us from recruiting."
Foxface winced. "Well, maybe your mention of the land mines gave me a little confidence in Nessa's plan…but that is not worth either of you smiling over. There is still a chance it will fail."
"Yeah," scoffed Sonia, frowning, "because you don't want us idiots to know you actually want him, the other intelligent tribute, on our team."
"That is not true."
"Yes it is!" Sonia whisper-shouted. "Just because he's as smart as you are, you think he'll have an easier time getting along with you than us! Which will make this whole experience better for you!"
"Shh," hissed Nessa.
Foxface and Sonia quickly fell silent, just in time to hear Cato say, "…one more thing you should know. Clove may not be in the arena, but she did pick up on something. It's not just Fire Girl we need to really watch out for."
"How do you know that?" came Peeta's voice.
Cato chuckled. "She got a sponsor to send in a note for me last night. You're not gonna believe this, but we met these fairies a while back, and they have these powers to make people switch bodies…"
Nessa froze, and her allies slowly looked at her, eyes wide in fear. Clove and her friends knew about the body swap—which meant they really had to be careful not to mention their escape plan. If they said or did anything else suspicious, they now knew Clove would see it and then find a way to rat them out. Which wouldn't lead to anything good.
"Okay, now we really have to recruit the boy from 3," Sonia whispered. "To pull off the land mine stunt, and to see how ahead of us Clove makes our enemies."
Foxface nodded. "We will just wait until the Careers leave, and then we will have him on two teams."
Nessa edged a little closer to her current allies. "I hope he's only pretending to like being the Careers' ally…"
Wow. Will District 3's male tribute turn out to be a good ally for Nessa's team to have? Can Effie's team revive Wish-Trish in time? Will Clove's plan to reunite with the other Careers succeed? Stay tuned…