Merry Christmas Eve, everyone! Consider this chapter an extra special gift to all of you. Hope you're all doing well, along with your loved ones ;)

Risks Are No Laughing Matter

Eventually, the Careers left to continue their search for Katniss. The boy from District 3 then turned to go to the Cornucopia, only to find Nessa's team standing in his path. Instantly he stopped in his tracks. He would have also yelled for the Careers to come back because he'd just found Clove's replacement, but Sonia ran forward, took away the spear he was holding, and clamped a hand over his mouth before he could utter a word.

"Don't worry," reassured Nessa, as the boy pulled Sonia's hand away from his face, "we're not going to hurt you. We just need to borrow one of the…land mines…so we can um…" she then whispered in his ear so the cameras wouldn't hear her, "…crash a hovercraft and use it to escape the arena. We can take you with us if you want."

The boy from 3 looked unsure. "I don't know…it would be nice to survive that way, but the Careers might notice if there's one mine missing from their stash. They'll know I did something with it as soon as they do. They just made me a member of their team, which you may or may not have heard. That depends on how long you were standing here."

"Oh, we heard them recruiting you," said Sonia. "But that doesn't mean you can't secretly be a member of our team too."

"Yes it does," the boy quickly said. He then lowered his voice and whispered, "Believe me, I want to work with you. I really do. But no offence, Woman-who-switched-bodies-with-whoever…because you're here, Clove's got an eye on all of us. If I betray the other Careers, she'll send them a note and tell them I betrayed them, and next thing I know, I'll be reunited with Tally."

"Tally?" Nessa asked.

"Tally is…or was…District 3's female tribute," whispered Foxface. "I saw her accidentally hurt herself during one of our training sessions, and Glimmer made this boy here laugh at her when she and the other Careers did. He apologized to her when the Careers returned to their training stations, and in the process he said her name. But she only gave him the silent treatment."

The boy gave Foxface a weird look. "Weren't there more educational moments in training that you could have spied on?"

"Not when your mentor tells you to only display your true talents during your private sessions with the Game Makers, which I assume is information all mentors gave."

The boy sighed. "There wasn't really much my mentor could do for me. The only strength I have is my brain, but that's something everyone back home has. It's obvious to the whole nation, because intelligence is always what gets the lucky tributes from my district as far ahead as they make it. Really, I was just encouraged to try all the stations and see what else I was good at. Which Tally was better at doing than me, even though it wouldn't seem like it after she got humiliated."

"Listen," Sonia whispered, "I know things look bad, but we really need you on our team. We're trying to save as many tributes as possible, including you, and you're probably the only one who knows how to access those mines. Which we need so we can crash a hovercraft, which will later help us escape this place."

"I'm sorry," the boy told her at normal volume, taking back his spear. "I'm not someone you want to team up with. Send my regards to Tally."

"The ditch," Foxface murmured to Nessa. "No cameras may change his mind."

Nessa got her message and then dashed away from the boy, playfully shouting, "Okay…but you'll have to come and get us first…!"

Sonia followed Nessa as she took off, and the boy ran after all of them, spear in hand. Twice, as he chased them, he tried to stab Sonia with his spear, but missed both times. The first time was because she and her allies happened to veer to the right just as he started to take action, and the second time was because he tripped over a tree root, and while he managed to stop himself from falling, the girls had gotten four more paces ahead of him by the time he reoriented himself.

"Come back, ma'am!" the boy called out. "I'll let your friends go if you want, but you have to let me avenge Clove!"

"Not friends. Just allies," mumbled Foxface. Only Nessa heard what she said, and she had to stop herself from asking why the furtive tribute just couldn't lighten up.

The girls made a left turn, and then saw the all-too-familiar ditch ahead of them. Sonia glanced behind her, and then noticed the boy didn't seem to know the ditch was there because she and her allies were blocking his view. That would hopefully make it easier for them to lure him into their trap.

Unfortunately, she soon found out that looks could be very deceiving. For as soon as she and her allies jumped into the ditch, the boy showed no sign of surprise when he screeched to a stop at the edge of the steep space. "I'm sorry to say this," he told them, "but it seems I've got you cornered."

However, just before he could throw down his spear and stab someone, he was interrupted by the last thing anyone expected: a forest fire, which seemed to appear from out of nowhere. The trees behind the boy were suddenly engulfed in a loud, powerful blaze, and the moment he turned around and realized there was a fire behind him, he panicked. Forgetting to think, he stumbled backwards, fell over the edge of the ditch, and rolled down into it. Luckily he lifted his legs toward his stomach just as his descent began, so he didn't end up with the unpleasant leg scrape Foxface had received during her fall. Yet he did let go of his spear—which almost instantly, Sonia reclaimed.

The boy came to a stop, and once he realized Sonia had his spear again, he put his hands up. "Don't bother taking my backpack," he gasped. "Cato gave it to me and it doesn't have any weapons in it. Just a little of our food stash."

Nessa set Foxface down and approached the boy, adopting a stern frown. "There aren't any cameras here. So, are you going to help us? Or is pretending you're only on the Careers' side in front of them too hard for you?"

"Pretending's not the problem," insisted the boy. "I just can't betray the Careers. No offence, but none of you seem strong enough to pull off an escape plan."

"I hope you mean physically," said Foxface. "Mental strengths are the reason why you were my personal first choice. And I am only allowing myself to take part in alliance-seeking because I have to."

The boy swiftly shook his head. "Trust me, nobody can survive for long without physical strengths. Smarts are useful, but they can only get you so far in these situations. Which is why I have to work for the Careers if I want to win the Games. I mean, you won't be able to escape the arena without some serious muscles. And they're the physically strongest tributes in the arena, and they've got mental strengths too. Really. The reason why Glimmer made me laugh at Tally was because she knew she'd never forgive me if I did. If my district partner had formed an alliance with me, both of us would have survived the Cornucopia. It was deliberate sabotage, what happened in the training centre. So there'd be less enemies for the Careers to worry about in the long run."

"Listen," Foxface stated. "We may not be as physically strong as the Careers, but sooner or later there will be more tributes on our team. One of whom could have joined the Careers at their immediate request because of his muscles, but did not. I still don't feel comfortable having him work with us soon, but these two are convinced he is the only way we'll overpower the Peacekeepers in the hovercraft we crash. Will that ease your concern?"

"Not really," admitted the boy.

Nessa bent down and softened her expression. "Tell us the truth. If it wasn't for the Careers, would you really want to work with us?"

The boy sighed. "I would," he confessed. "But trust me, I can't. To really survive, you need physical and mental strengths. We all only have mental strengths, and you three may be confident about it, but I'm not. I've always been so feeble, and not even a week of tribute training sessions could fix that. I mean, just look at me! I may know food and tech, but I'm hopeless with weapons, and I'm so scared of fire that I can barely light the most harmless campfire without fearfully jumping back! I can barely even attack with the spear right, and it's the simplest tool in the world. Anyone like me can only survive by becoming the Careers' right-hand man, even if it means doing everything they say. Like making fun of your classmate even though she's been your friend for four years."

"It's not your only choice," assured Nessa. "We really can escape the arena. We just need a few more allies for a few more tasks, and that includes you. And you…you don't need to be a muscle-y team's assistant. You just need to believe in yourself more."

"As if."

"Really! Foxface may not be muscle-y, but if it wasn't for her smartness, I never would have thought of the right way to escape the arena."

"She's right," said Sonia. "That girl may have the hardest time trusting people and think I'm a downright idiot just because I happened to start a campfire at the wrong place and time, but…she's impressive. We all proved ourselves to be in different ways, and it's gotten us further and further ahead. Besides, if you've got mental strengths, what's stopping you from pretending we're helping you help the Careers? Aside from your confidence shortage anyway…"

The boy thought hard, and then admitted, "Nothing, I guess." He then paused to nervously listen to the forest fire, which was raging above the ditch. With a gulp, he stood up and shook Nessa's hand. "Okay, okay…my name's Geolo. Geolo Keyship. Genuine member of your team, pretend member of the Careers' team."

"Nice to meet you, Geolo," replied Nessa, smiling. "I'm Nessa, that's Foxface, and this is Sonia."

Foxface, who at least appeared unfazed by Sonia's description of her, then declared, "There's just one factor I must mention. When and if the hovercraft crashes, the Peacekeepers will not waste a second. They will jump out right away to corner whoever ambushed them. So despite my frustration about it, we will need both Katniss and the male tribute from District 11 on our team by the time we use one of the land mines to crash the hovercraft."

"What about Peeta?" Nessa asked.

"Not a chance," said Geolo. "He's also working with the Careers."

"But he doesn't want to either."

"Whether he wants to or not, I'm already taking a huge risk. If he starts doing the exact same thing I'm doing, they're bound to get suspicious."

Nessa sighed reluctantly. "Okay, we'll rescue him just before we leave. Maybe he can help us drive the hovercraft instead."

"No, I can do that," Geolo told her. "It's District 3's job to even build those things, and to do that you have to know how they're supposed to work."

Sonia smiled, noticeably impressed. "So you know how to drive, even though you're about fourteen or so?"

Geolo relaxed a bit when he saw her smile. "Technically yes, but I've never actually driven. Not yet. You have to be 20 and up to take freshly built hovercrafts on test runs. But that doesn't mean minors like me don't have a few tips memorized…"

"A fact that increases your potential," confirmed Foxface. "But the tributes I just mentioned have to be working with us by the time we ambush the hovercraft if we want to get to the phase where you drive your first vehicle. Which brings up a problem we cannot ignore: if we even want to summon a hovercraft, someone will have to um…be eliminated from the Games first. And since self-sacrificing won't do us any good…it means we will have to land a sneak attack on at least one of the Careers."

Sonia stiffened in fear. "So we'll have to split up? At least for a while? Because there's no other way we could possibly get all that done at once. Especially because the boy from 11 is probably going to need a lot of convincing that he should join our alliance…"

"Yeah," said Geolo. "And whoever pulls that sneak attack will definitely have to make a run for it once it's done. So…Fox, since it doesn't look like you'll have an easy time with that, I'll take you to the Cornucopia with me. We'll take care of the land mines together, and if the Careers come, we'll pretend I miraculously took you hostage. Also, I camped out near that place for a while, so I know the boy from 11's in the wheat field to its side. We'll figure out a strategy to bring him into the team. Nessa, Sonia…while we're there, you stay in the forest to track down the Careers, and the girls from 12 and 11. We'll meet back here and figure things out from there."

Foxface went wide-eyed with fear and started to protest, but then seemed to realize Geolo's plan was the only one that could possibly work considering the circumstances. So instead of objecting to it, she simply nodded without a word. Nessa noticed the teeniest hint of relief within her eyes, and suddenly realized that despite her distrustful nature, Foxface didn't really want to harm anyone—not even the Careers—any more than she did. Maybe there was a good side to the furtive tribute after all…well, maybe. Hopefully.

Sonia sniffed the air. "I think the forest fire's out."

"Which is both good and bad news," stated Geolo. "Forest fires don't just happen that suddenly, so that one must have been digitally placed by the Game Makers. It's a typical strategy to force some tributes together so eliminations will happen faster. Odds are, someone was just lured toward the Careers. And since we're here, Peeta already was with them, and the boy from 11's not in the forest…"

Nessa gasped. "Then it has to be Katniss or the girl from District 11! Maybe even both of them at the same time!" She helped Foxface onto her back and started climbing out of the ditch. "We have to save them before they get hurt."

"And hopefully we will," said Sonia, climbing out as well with Geolo (whom she gave the spear back to) carefully following. "Even if it means, as you say it, giving at least one of the Careers a pretty big booboo."

The team made it to the edge of the ditch, where Geolo signalled for Nessa and Sonia to stay where they were. He then climbed out of the ditch with his spear and pulled Foxface out as well, barely yanking her off of Nessa's back. "Alright, get over here," he barked, pretending to snarl. "Quick, before the others regain consciousness."

Feigning terror (or maybe she actually was scared, because they were about to go find the boy from 11; Nessa had a hard time guessing how exactly she was feeling), Foxface nodded without a word. "There," Geolo said. "Now, since you can't walk, I'm going to hoist your arm around my shoulders and drag you to the Cornucopia. I've got a favour to do for the Careers, and you might as well help me. They'll be impressed when they see I actually succeeded in capturing an ally to Clove's replacement."

Foxface nodded again, and Geolo dragged her away, which took a while because they were similar sizes. Yet despite this, they both did a spectacular job at maintaining their act, and soon they were out of earshot. Nessa and Sonia stayed where they were though, since in order to prevent their cover from being blown, they had to make it seem like they really did lose consciousness; just like Geolo had said they had.

Thirteen minutes passed, and Sonia whispered, "Okay…let's get out now. Pretend you're trying to wake up after a long nap."

Nessa quickly did her best to make herself look sleepy, before shakily climbing out of the ditch with Sonia by her side. "What…what happened?" she asked, making sure her voice sounded sleepy too.

"I…I don't see Foxface or the boy from 3 anymore," Sonia said, doing a fake moan and also making herself look sleepy. She then suddenly widened her eyes and added, "Oh no…did he somehow take her to the Careers for real? Even though he's not much of a fighter?"

"Maybe. She did have a big booboo."

The duo looked around, and after "guessing" where Geolo might have taken Foxface, they deliberately ran in the wrong direction to "look for them." But in reality, it was the Careers, and hopefully Katniss and the girl from District 11 they were searching for.

All they could hope was that they would succeed in pulling off that sneak attack. Not to mention that by the time they did, Foxface and Geolo would be ready for the next part of their real plan.

When the handcar finally arrived at the District 1 train station, the first thing Bongo did was leap off and head for the exit.

"Slow down!" Effie snapped. "We may have no choice but to reveal Wish-Trish's true form to the District 1 medics, but that doesn't mean we should be exposing ourselves as well."

"Then why didn't you tell me to bring my disguises with us back in the Capitol's station?" Bongo asked.

Effie's anger immediately disappeared. That was a good point—what had she been thinking? What had they been thinking? She and Golias had luckily still been wearing their invisible disguises when they'd left the Capitol's train station and still had them on now, but they'd all been so caught up in making sure Wish-Trish was healed as soon as possible, they'd forgotten something until just now, when it was too late to go back. The possibility that, regardless of whether or not they knew they'd stolen from Tigris, the Peacekeepers from District 1 could still lock them in a zoo! If there were any zoos in the Careers' districts—were there?

"It's okay, Effie," reassured Golias. "We still have our disguises. Bongo can just share mine."

Bongo's eyes widened and he quickly shook his head, but slowly stopped shaking it as he realized it was their only option. If he wanted to avoid being locked in a zoo, he would have to take the easier consequences for their mistake.

"Wait," said Objectiva. "I know we, or at least you, are supposed to remain invisible, but what do we do if the district's hospital only agrees to heal Wish-Trish if it means using her and me for personal gain?"

"If that happens, I'll throw in a little snack attack," replied Bongo, winking. "Red liquorice can't just be used as a treat for your tummy…"

"But we don't have any…oh. You're saying you'll create some with those powers of yours."

Golias giggled. "Just don't eat any of the liquorice, okay Bongo? Matt told us what happened in the gingerbread house. Red liquorice distracts you even more than the other foods we've seen!"

"No it doesn't. It helps me think better."

"Honestly," said Effie, "I think Golias is the one telling the truth. Every time we stopped for food on the way here, getting you back onto the handcar was nearly impossible. And it wasn't even candy we stopped to eat! It was berries and wheat!"

"Okay, okay! The point is, if we need the food to save the fairies, Bongo won't eat it," stated Bongo. "Even if it's red liquorice, my favourite."

Still carrying Wish-Trish, Objectiva flew over and peered outside the station. When she saw the walkways were deserted (because everyone was busy watching the Hunger Games), she returned to the others and placed herself on Golias's head again. "The coast is clear," she said. "Bongo, are you ready?"

The kangaroo nodded. "Ready." He then disappeared under Golias's invisibility disguise, and the group left the station together. This time nobody really led the way around the town, since even Effie didn't know which way its hospital was—she and her companions could only wander through the streets, searching for directions. Which once again took a while, because no one was outside and there were no signs or maps pointing the way to the hospital.

Eventually though, they did come across someone: a man with a black tuxedo and three necklaces covered in heavy-looking diamonds, sapphires, and garnets. He was standing behind a counter, addressing a crowd of men, women, and teenagers who all wore brightly-coloured wigs, jewels, and outfits. They looked very elegant and beautiful, but not nearly as radiant as the Capitol's citizens.

"I bet thirty dollars that Glimmer will make a replica of that ring I gave her with the secret poisoned weapon inside it!" a woman yelled.

"Remaking a ring?" boasted a man standing beside her. "How ridiculous! I'm betting twice your amount that Marvel will launch one random surprise attack after another until he's defeated all the tributes including Glimmer! One tribute each with a different weapon!"

"I bet three times your amount that they'll both survive on purpose just to bring down Clove and one of each other," said a teenage girl. "After we all saw that note she sent her district partner, I'll bet our mayor a thousand emeralds that launching that childish woman into the arena instead of a tribute was only a mistake the Game Makers made and are trying to cover up!"

Effie flinched. The Game Makers accidentally launching the wrong person? How was such a thing possible when all the tributes had trackers inserted into their arms and groups of cameras, stylists, and Peacekeepers to prevent these kinds of mistakes?

"Same here, same here!" a woman hollered. "I was suspicious from the very beginning! If that woman really was a robot powered by a Career tribute, why would she not participate in the first battle and sound as if she hasn't a clue where she is?"

"Now now," the man behind the counter said calmly, waving his hands to calm the crowd down. "Either way, why should we care whether or not District 2's female tribute was excluded from the Games? What matters is that both of our tributes made it in…and that they have potential! Now, I say Marvel will win by a landslide. Do you agree, or will all the bidding be for Glimmer to win?"

"I AGREE!" half of the crowd shouted.

"I DISAGREE! IT'S GLIMMER OR NO ONE!" screamed the other half.

Chuckling, Golias whispered, "I don't know who Glimmer and Marvel are, but the game these people are playing looks kind of fun. Should we find some jewels and play too after we help Wish-Trish and switch you and Nessa back?"

"Absolutely not!" Effie whispered back. "My job is to encourage people to cheer for my tributes, not District 1's!"

"What are tributes?" asked Bongo.

Objectiva cleared her throat, and instantly Golias remembered the real reason why they were here. "Uh, excuse me?" he called to the crowd of people. "Excuse me, uh…hey, could I just ask you a…?"

"EVERYONE!" Bongo screamed as loud as he could. "WHERE'S THE HOSPITAL?"

The crowd instantly fell silent—except for the woman who bet 30 dollars, who turned toward the man standing next to her and replied, "Remember? The hospital's that way. Just go up the sidewalk and make a right, then make two lefts."

"Wait, what? I didn't ask you where the hospital was," said the man next to her.

"Then who did?" asked the woman.

"It wasn't me," said a teenage boy. "I know it because I was busy betting a hundred-thousand dollars that Glimmer would win." He chuckled. "That's got to be more than what anyone here has."

"Wrong," scoffed a man. "I'm betting three-hundred amethysts, ten rubies, and a hundred-thousand dollars for Marvel to win!"

Everyone gasped. "How rich are you?"

"I'm the mayor's brother! How rich do you think I am?"

With any indication of their presence forgotten in seconds, Effie, Golias, Bongo, and Objectiva were able to slip away without getting caught. In a few minutes, they managed to find their way to the District 1 hospital as well.

"I will take it from here," declared Objectiva. "Remember, if I do not return within two hours, sneak in and find out why. But do not draw any attention to yourselves unless you know for sure that Wish-Trish and I are in danger."

Bongo and Golias nodded, and Effie wished her good luck. Objectiva gave a small smile, and with one last wave, she scooped up her cousin and flew into the hospital.

When Nessa and Sonia finally found the Careers, an unpleasant sight awaited them. The trio along with Peeta were standing around a tree, weapons in hand—and sitting at the top of the tree just underneath what Nessa recognized as a wasp's nest was the brown-haired teenage girl with the pretty braid. The tribute who'd looked just as startled as Peeta had when she'd accidentally replaced Clove in the pedestal circle!

Sonia froze when she saw the girl with the braid. "Katniss," she whispered. "That's her…the Girl On Fire, as everyone calls her."

"They finally found her," murmured Nessa. She grew wide-eyed with alarm. "They must be waiting until she falls asleep! Then they'll climb the tree and give her a big booboo! It'll be a sneak attack, except they'll be the ones doing it to her!"

"Which is really bad. I mean, look at her. She's grimacing! Looks like she already has a…a booboo…right now. Probably from the forest fire."

Nessa stiffened. "I've never seen any fire booboos, but Lili's mom always said they're even worse than the booboos you get when you fall down. I really hope she's okay…"

Looking surprised again, Sonia whispered, "Uh, Nessa…what's the worst booboo you've ever seen?"

"The scrape my friend Yuri got on his knee when he tripped over his dad's garden hose. It really hurt, but he didn't wanna cry. So we had to try many things to make him cry." Nessa giggled quietly. "I sang a sad song about crying. But all it did was make him laugh."

"Oh man…" Sonia mouthed, placing her hands over her eyes in disbelief.

"What?"

"N-nothing, it's just…I mean, there's…I…nothing's wrong, okay? Nothing. Actually you should be relieved, because I just decided I'm going to be the one who does the sneak attack on the Careers. Not you. You won't even have to watch me do it. You can just close your eyes until I'm done. No big deal."

"Really? But…you don't look like you want to do it either…"

"I don't, but I doubt you would want to it. So I'm doing it. I'm supplying the booboo, only because it's the only way to get a hovercraft…even if someone's going to be…eliminated…from it. Really, you don't have anything to worry about."

"Uh…okay," Nessa whispered. "I guess…now we just wait for them to fall asleep?"

"Yeah…which could take at least a few hours."

While the Careers and a nervous Peeta continued watching Katniss, the duo hid behind a cluster of trees, several feet away from the stronger tributes' space. To pass the time while they waited for the Careers to fall asleep, Nessa quietly told Sonia about some of her adventures with Lili and the rest of her friends from home. The time when they had to help Yuri cry, the tense croquet game, and the time Lili accidentally broke her mom's vase and, as a result, had her living room turned into the "museum of things we're not supposed to touch." For some reason, Sonia grew more and more nervous as her ally continued speaking. At one point, Nessa asked her what was wrong, but she simply said it was nothing.

"It's the sneak attack, isn't it," Nessa guessed. When Sonia shrugged, the former giraffe whispered, "Maybe a song will help you feel better."

"A song?" Sonia asked, a little wearily.

"Sure," said Nessa. "Lili and I sang one for her royal costume party, during the royal dance. Right after she decided she'd rather wear her glasses after all, even though the princess she was dressed as doesn't wear glasses. It was a really fun song! It'll cheer you up for sure."

She wouldn't have stood a chance here if it hadn't been for me, Foxface, and Geolo, Sonia thought. I mean, I'm glad her life is so simple and wonderful, but…if she finds out what getting eliminated really means, at least in Panem…oh maaaaaan! But she didn't say anything out loud and simply nodded.

"Okay," replied Nessa. She opened her mouth to sing, but was interrupted by a rustling noise that came from above her. It sounded like something had just leapt onto the branches of one of the trees in the cluster…maybe an animal? Whatever it was, it wasn't making any noise now.

Nessa took a deep breath and began to sing the song she and Lili had sung back at the royal dance. "When you see the royal glance, then each prince will have a chance! To show they can be swishy when they do the royal daaance!"

Sonia took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Her concerns about Nessa's vulnerability in Panem were necessary, but she couldn't let them get to her too much. The Careers already knew both of them were inexperienced with survival, and if there was one thing that wouldn't help their situation, it was succumbing to their fearfulness. She needed to calm down; so she might as well lose herself in her ally's song. Just this once.

"If a princess she will be," Nessa continued singing, "then a princess must agree, it's better if you are, a princess who can see."

She then sighed happily. Lili had been the one who'd sung that last part of the song, and as she'd done it, she had given her best friend a genuinely affectionate smile. To show that she knew Nessa had continuously but gently advised her to wear her glasses to the dance even though she hadn't wanted to, and that she was happy she'd finally decided to listen to the giraffe. That had been one of the moments where Nessa was truly happy to be Lili's best friend—one of the moments where they were both having fun and were happy to share the positivity they were experiencing. One of the moments she wished could happen more often, as they did between Yuri and Golias, and between Matt and Bongo…

Sonia smiled at her companion, and after glancing at the nearest tree trunks to make sure there weren't any cameras in them (which there weren't, but that didn't mean the tree trunks around that cluster weren't rigged), she said, "Thanks, Nessa. I'm just worried we won't be able to make the hovercraft escape plan work…and then there's our other allies. I mean, they've both got intelligence on their side, but Geolo is pretty inexperienced…and then there's Foxface, who still has that injured leg. Not to mention her problems with trusting people, which the boy from 11 also has…"

"I know," admitted Nessa. Her smile disappeared. "I guess all we can do is hope they can—"

"They can't. Not if there's that much distrust amongst them. Foxface knows it too. It was figuratively written on her face! She just went with it because it was the only choice any of us had. Plus, the boy from 11's much stronger than both of them put together. One wrong move, and our allies could be eliminated long before we can take action against the Careers."

Nessa gulped. "You're right. What do we do now?"

"Psst!"

Startled, the duo looked at each other, and then slowly looked up. There, perched up in one of the trees behind them, was the girl who sort of resembled Lili—who, based on everything that had happened so far, Nessa now knew was also the girl from District 11. She was peering down at her and Sonia, apparently having overheard their conversation. Or at least the parts about Foxface, Geolo, and her district partner.

Nessa started to quietly ask the girl if she wanted to join their team, but she quickly realized she didn't need to. As soon as she had her and Sonia's attention, the girl pointed to them and then to the Careers. Next, she pointed to herself, made a running motion with her fingers, and stuck up the thumb and index and middle fingers on her left hand. Then, she stuck up the index finger on her right hand and slowly directed it toward her raised left fingers.

Understanding the message right away, Nessa smiled at the girl, who gazed at her nervously for a moment before leaping into the branches of the tree next to hers. She then continued leaping from tree to tree, until she was out of sight and earshot.

After checking to make sure the Careers hadn't heard what happened, Sonia's eyes twinkled. "I told you she was awesome," she whispered.

Nessa nodded. "She is pretty awesome. But do you think she'll be able to convince the boy from District 11 to trust Foxface and Geolo? And us?"

"She might," said Sonia. "He's pretty reserved, but they're from the same district. Usually tributes from the same district start off on good terms with each other. And if he's impossible to reason with, she wouldn't have taken matters into her own hands. She's too smart for that."

"Yeah," agreed Nessa. She smiled. "I can't wait to tell her more about what we're doing."

"Well, if we wanna do that, first we'll have to make that sneak attack work. And if we're lucky, find a way to rescue Katniss."

"You're right. First things first."

As the time ticked by, Nessa and Sonia waited by the tree cluster, listening as the Careers continued guarding Katniss's tree, growing a little impatient but still not falling asleep. They once again grew nervous, and silently, they held each other's hands. Hopefully, neither their mission nor Foxface, Geolo, and the girl from 11's would fail…

Well, that's all for now. Will each member of the team manage to complete their respective tasks before their plans become obvious to the Careers? The next chapter will reveal it all. In the meantime, enjoy spending time with your family and friends, and I wish you all some happy holidays. :)

Note: The song Nessa sings in this chapter was from "Perfect Princess," an episode of "My Big Big Friend."