第108章
i give a nod. “we call them nightlock.”
“even the name sounds deadly,” he says. “i’m sorry, katniss.
i really thought they were the same ones you’d gathered.”
“don’t apologize. it just means we’re one step closer to
home, right?” i ask.
“i’ll get rid of the rest,” peeta says. he gathers up the sheet
of blue plastic, careful to trap the berries inside, and goes to
toss them into the woods.
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“wait!” i cry. i find the leather pouch that belonged to the
boy from district 1 and fill it with a few handfuls of berries
from the plastic. “if they fooled foxface, maybe they can fool
cato as well. if he’s chasing us or something, we can act like
we accidentally drop the pouch and if he eats them —”
“then hello district twelve,” says peeta.
“that’s it,” i say, securing the pouch to my belt.
“he’ll know where we are now,” says peeta. “if he was any-
where nearby and saw that hovercraft, he’ll know we killed
her and come after us.”
peeta’s right. this could be just the opportunity cato’s been
waiting for. but even if we run now, there’s the meat to cook
and our fire will be another sign of our whereabouts. “let’s
make a fire. right now.” i begin to gather branches and brush.
“are you ready to face him?” peeta asks.
“i’m ready to eat. better to cook our food while we have the
chance. if he knows we’re here, he knows. but he also knows
there’s two of us and probably assumes we were hunting fox-
face. that means you’re recovered. and the fire means we’re
not hiding, we’re inviting him here. would you show up?” i
ask.
“maybe not,” he says.
peeta’s a whiz with fires, coaxing a blaze out of the damp
wood. in no time, i have the rabbits and squirrel roasting, the
roots, wrapped in leaves, baking in the coals. we take turns
gathering greens and keeping a careful watch for cato, but as i
anticipated, he doesn’t make an appearance.
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when the food’s cooked, i pack most of it up, leaving us
each a rabbit’s leg to eat as we walk.
i want to move higher into the woods, climb a good tree,
and make camp for the night, but peeta resists. “i can’t climb
like you, katniss, especially with my leg, and i don’t think i
could ever fall asleep fifty feet above the ground.”
“it’s not safe to stay in the open, peeta,” i say.
“can’t we go back to the cave?” he asks. “it’s near water and
easy to defend.”
i sigh. several more hours of walking — or should i say
crashing — through the woods to reach an area we’ll just have
to leave in the morning to hunt. but peeta doesn’t ask for
much. he’s followed my instructions all day and i’m sure if
things were reversed, he wouldn’t make me spend the night in
a tree. it dawns on me that i haven’t been very nice to peeta
today. nagging him about how loud he was, screaming at him
over disappearing. the playful romance we had sustained in
the cave has disappeared out in the open, under the hot sun,
with the threat of cato looming over us. haymitch has proba-
bly just about had it with me. and as for the audience . . .
i reach up and give him a kiss. “sure. let’s go back to the
cave.”
he looks pleased and relieved. “well, that was easy.”
i work my arrow out of the oak, careful not to damage the
shaft. these arrows are food, safety, and life itself now.
we toss a bunch more wood on the fire. it should be send-
ing off smoke for a few more hours, although i doubt cato as-
sumes anything at this point. when we reach the stream, i see
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the water has dropped considerably and moves at its old lei-
surely pace, so i suggest we walk back in it. peeta’s happy to
oblige and since he’s a lot quieter in water than on land, it’s a
doubly good idea. it’s a long walk back to the cave though,
even going downward, even with the rabbit to give us a boost.
we’re both exhausted by our hike today and still way too un-
derfed. i keep my bow loaded, both for cato and any fish i
might see, but the stream seems strangely empty of creatures.
by the time we reach our destination, our feet are dragging
and the sun sits low on the horizon. we fill up our water bot-
tles and climb the little slope to our den. it’s not much, but out
here in the wilderness, it’s the closest thing we have to a
home. it will be warmer than a tree, too, because it provides
some shelter from the wind that has begun to blow steadily in
from the west. i set a good dinner out, but halfway through
peeta begins to nod off. after days of inactivity, the hunt has
taken its toll. i order him into the sleeping bag and set aside
the rest of his food for when he wakes. he drops off imme-
diately. i pull the sleeping bag up to his chin and kiss his fore-
head, not for the audience, but for me. because i’m so grateful
that he’s still here, not dead by the stream as i’d thought. so
glad that i don’t have to face cato alone.
brutal, bloody cato who can snap a neck with a twist of his
arm, who had the power to overcome thresh, who has had it
out for me since the beginning. he probably has had a special
hatred for me ever since i outscored him in training. a boy
like peeta would simply shrug that off. but i have a feeling it
drove cato to distraction. which is not that hard. i think of his
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ridiculous reaction to finding the supplies blown up. the oth-
ers were upset, of course, but he was completely unhinged. i
wonder now if cato might not be entirely sane.
the sky lights up with the seal, and i watch foxface shine in
the sky and then disappear from the world forever. he hasn’t
said it, but i don’t think peeta felt good about killing her, even
if it was essential. i can’t pretend i’ll miss her, but i have to
admire her. my guess is if they had given us some sort of test,
she would have been the smartest of all the tributes. if, in fact,
we had been setting a trap for her, i bet she’d have sensed it
and avoided the berries. it was peeta’s own ignorance that
brought her down. i’ve spent so much time making sure i
don’t underestimate my opponents that i’ve forgotten it’s just
as dangerous to overestimate them as well.
that brings me back to cato. but while i think i had a sense
of foxface, who she was and how she operated, he’s a little
more slippery. powerful, well trained, but smart?