even if he repeated the
story, it couldn’t do me much harm. it was just something i
witnessed. and he lied as much as i did about delly
cartwright.
i realize i do want to talk to someone about the girl. some-
one who might be able to help me figure out her story.
79
gale would be my first choice, but it’s unlikely i’ll ever see
gale again. i try to think if telling peeta could give him any
possible advantage over me, but i don’t see how. maybe shar-
ing a confidence will actually make him believe i see him as a
friend.
besides, the idea of the girl with her maimed tongue frigh-
tens me. she has reminded me why i’m here. not to model
flashy costumes and eat delicacies. but to die a bloody death
while the crowds urge on my killer.
to tell or not to tell? my brain still feels slow from the wine.
i stare down the empty corridor as if the decision lies there.
peeta picks up on my hesitation. “have you been on the
roof yet?” i shake my head. “cinna showed me. you can practi-
cally see the whole city. the wind’s a bit loud, though.”
i translate this into “no one will overhear us talking” in my
head. you do have the sense that we might be under surveil-
lance here. “can we just go up?”
“sure, come on,” says peeta. i follow him to a flight of stairs
that lead to the roof. there’s a small dome-shaped room with
a door to the outside. as we step into the cool, windy evening
air, i catch my breath at the view. the capitol twinkles like a
vast field of fireflies. electricity in district 12 comes and goes,
usually we only have it a few hours a day. often the evenings
are spent in candlelight. the only time you can count on it is
when they’re airing the games or some important govern-
ment message on television that it’s mandatory to watch. but
here there would be no shortage. ever.
80
peeta and i walk to a railing at the edge of the roof. i look
straight down the side of the building to the street, which is
buzzing with people. you can hear their cars, an occasional
shout, and a strange metallic tinkling. in district 12, we’d all
be thinking about bed right now.
“i asked cinna why they let us up here. weren’t they wor-
ried that some of the tributes might decide to jump right over
the side?” says peeta.
“what’d he say?” i ask.
“you can’t,” says peeta. he holds out his hand into seeming-
ly empty space. there’s a sharp zap and he jerks it back.
“some kind of electric field throws you back on the roof.”
“always worried about our safety,” i say. even though cin-
na has shown peeta the roof, i wonder if we’re supposed to be
up here now, so late and alone. i’ve never seen tributes on the
training center roof before. but that doesn’t mean we’re not
being taped. “do you think they’re watching us now?”
“maybe,” he admits. “come see the garden.”
on the other side of the dome, they’ve built a garden with
flower beds and potted trees. from the branches hang hun-
dreds of wind chimes, which account for the tinkling i heard.
here in the garden, on this windy night, it’s enough to drown
out two people who are trying not to be heard. peeta looks at
me expectantly.
i pretend to examine a blossom. “we were hunting in the
woods one day. hidden, waiting for game,” i whisper.
“you and your father?” he whispers back.
81
“no, my friend gale. suddenly all the birds stopped singing
at once. except one. as if it were giving a warning call. and
then we saw her. i’m sure it was the same girl. a boy was with
her. their clothes were tattered. they had dark circles under
their eyes from no sleep. they were running as if their lives
depended on it,” i say.
for a moment i’m silent, as i remember how the sight of
this strange pair, clearly not from district 12, fleeing through
the woods immobilized us. later, we wondered if we could
have helped them escape. perhaps we might have. concealed
them. if we’d moved quickly. gale and i were taken by sur-
prise, yes, but we’re both hunters. we know how animals look
at bay. we knew the pair was in trouble as soon as we saw
them. but we only watched.
“the hovercraft appeared out of nowhere,” i continue to
peeta. “i mean, one moment the sky was empty and the next it
was there. it didn’t make a sound, but they saw it. a net
dropped down on the girl and carried her up, fast, so fast like
the elevator. they shot some sort of spear through the boy. it
was attached to a cable and they hauled him up as well. but
i’m certain he was dead. we heard the girl scream once. the
boy’s name, i think. then it was gone, the hovercraft. vanished
into thin air. and the birds began to sing again, as if nothing
had happened.”
“did they see you?”
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