"Young love," Rick swooned. "This is my favourite. I can't wait to break them apart."

President Clair was off doing meetings, but he pictured her beside him, angrily yammering on about how Maria is Bianca and that it meant Nico couldn't be trusted.

"We're working on it," he groaned aloud. "I'm waiting for a good story, alright?"

◼▲◼

Percy and Annabeth had made camp in the meadows. It was freezing cold at night, and they bundled up in jackets and blankets under their sleeping bags.

Neither of them felt warm enough to fall asleep yet, so they stayed up talking, drifting from topic to topic.

He confirmed that Annabeth was scary smart. She was really into architecture, and had picked up some understanding of it through watching construction in her district.

She had also seen every single Hunger Games in preparation, and every time she mentioned doing something after the reaping, nine times out of ten it had to do with increasing her odds.

Annabeth was an absolute mastermind. It should have scared him, but he could only be impressed.

They started talking about life in their respective districts. Percy was stunned that District 8 was that bad. People worked long hours. Air pollution hung in the air or blew to District 12. The water was poisonous, and people's hands were always bleached or dyed in different colours.

She held up her hands. "Even when I wore bandages, my fingers still bled from weaving. My stylists took away all my scars."

Percy couldn't believe that there hadn't been a rebellion. Income getting viciously cut when his people didn't catch enough fish was nothing in comparison. Even his abusive stepfather didn't seem so bad, because at least that was just one person. "Aren't the people there angry?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said. "Yeah, we are."

Soon she got quieter and closed off, and he tried to keep the conversation going. Maybe they should talk about more positive things.

"Do you have a favourite animal?" Percy wondered. "I like horses, but the closest thing District Four has to them are seahorses."

She suddenly laughed nervously, "Oh no, my favourite is embarrassing."

Percy was confused. "How so?"

Annabeth pulled her blanket out and threw it over them, blocking out any cameras. Her voice lost all giddiness as she whispered, "Percy, I plan to escape the arena."

He balked. "Wh-what?"

She giggled, "I know!" Then she went serious again, "Yes. I want to see if it can be done. My mother wanted to start a rebellion, and I want to follow in her footsteps —"

"Rebellion?" Percy spluttered. "Wait, wait —"

"— and I can't do it as a Victor. I'd be a mentor always in the public eye, and I don't know if the president trusts me anyway, with what my mother did. So I want to escape."

Percy was still trying to catch up. He didn't know what he was going to do tomorrow, and this girl was planning a revolution?

"Why are you telling me this?" he asked finally.

"Well, do you want to join me?"

This whole thing had been sprung on him out of nowhere, and his mind had whiplash. "I, um, I'll have to think about it."

"That's fair." She brushed her dirty hair behind her ear. "You could win," she said seriously. "You have a very good chance, so you wouldn't have to risk coming with me."

He didn't believe it. "I'm not great at surviving. Luke burned our supplies and I can't fully rely on sponsors."

"But you're a Career. You have enough supplies and can fight. Bryce is most likely injured, right? You could beat him. And... Luke, too."

"You've been avoiding talking about him," he noticed. "You knew he was going to join the Careers, right?"

"Yes."

"Was he the one who decided to betray us and burn our supplies?"

"No," she said. "He did it, but it was my idea. But Silena and Charles — that was him. He also killed our other ally, Thalia."

"Did he... try to kill you?"

"No," she shook her head strongly. "Luke wouldn't do that. We've been friends for half our lives and have saved each other more times than we can count."

"Okay."

"You don't believe me," she accused.

"No no," he said quickly. "I do. He just doesn't seem nice."

"He only — he always thinks the world is against him. That he knows best and everyone who disagrees is out to get him. And Percy, this is the Hunger Games. We're all on edge and need to do things we wouldn't normally do to survive. As much as I hate it... I understand why he did it. And also why he doesn't think my plan is worth risking."

Percy wasn't so sure. "Well, I would rather not kill someone to survive. And I don't have it in me to let you do it alone. Tell me about your plan."

◼▲◼

It was morning now, and Percy worried that every tribute had unanimously decided to avoid the tundra, ruling it out as either the worst zone or the one the acid rain would destroy next, since it seemed to be going clockwise. The desert should be gone by now.

So not only was everyone likely in the meadows, but it was also not a friendly place. He had expected butterflies, but there were none.

The grass seemed to whisper more than rustle, and it wasn't really grass either. They were like thin palm leaves that grew straight from the ground.

In some places, it was like a cornfield — so high and dense that an enemy could be five feet away and he wouldn't know. He swore that sometimes he saw faces flash between the grass blades.

His back ached from crouching as he went through the waist-high vegetation. His injury wasn't bleeding anymore, courtesy of his sponsors. But it still throbbed with pain.

And to make things worse, it was hot in the daytime. They'd had to sleep in the freezing cold, and waking up to equally extreme weather was not pleasant.

Annabeth didn't like it either. "It's going to be a lot harder to get to the tundra than we thought. We might have to do it here."

Percy nodded. The fields closest to the Cornucopia provided barely any concealment, so they had to go around and deeper into the meadows.

"Can Bryce do long-range?" Annabeth asked, scanning the field.

Percy nodded. "With axes and knives. He's not as great as Piper, but he's competent. I doubt he'd risk it with a slashed eye though."

"Did you see any bows and arrows?"

"The Cornucopia had a metal bow, but it disappeared. Travis didn't have it when we met him in the forest, so I thought Luke took it."

"He did," she said, "but he left it in the safe house, which the acid rain destroyed."

"Oh, and Piper had a blowgun, but she died with it."

"Did you see the hovercraft take her body?"

"Uh, no."

"Then the blowgun could still be in the arena. Bryce could have it. Cover your neck."

Percy hiked up his collar. So maybe it was a bad idea to leave the blowgun behind. He was about to ask if they should do anything else when she flung out her arm. "Shh."

Percy followed her gaze. Through a gap in the grass he saw a flash of blond hair.

He mentally flipped through the tributes. "Luke or the boy from Seven?"

"Not Luke," she said immediately. "Will Solace."

Percy couldn't tell what her plan was. It seemed to be to stay still until he passed, so they waited.

The whispering was getting louder, and Annabeth scoured the place more urgently.

Percy saw black hair in the corner of his eye, and he touched her arm and pointed. "I saw Nico that way. Twenty metres from where we saw Will."

Annabeth stared at him. "You sure?"

"Yes?"

"If they're that far apart, they're unlikely to be allies. The Gamemakers could be sending everyone here..."

She pulled him along, and they went at a faster pace than before. "Are you seeing this?" she hissed.

He knew what she meant. Suddenly it was like everywhere he looked there was part of a tribute — spear, bloody camo jacket, sword, green cap... he thought he saw Nico twice in two different places.

Annabeth sped up further. "We're getting out of here."

"What's happening? Are we hallucinating?"

"It's a trick," she said. "The meadows aren't only flipped with the tundra. The Gamemakers added the desert, too, which is why it's so hot in the day. Do you know what mirages are?"

Percy tried to remember. "Illusions? They make you see water where there isn't. I've had nightmares about that."

"Right. This is something similar."

The rustling got louder, and Percy had trouble mapping out where all the sounds came from. "It feels like we're surrounded —"

"It's a trick. Keep following me!"

He shut up and kept behind her, making sure his hand stayed on his sword.

A dart whistled by Percy's ear, disappearing into the grass. Percy ducked, dragging Annabeth down with him.

They zigzagged through the grass, and he made an effort to put himself between Annabeth and where the dart had come. At least now they knew someone had a blowgun.

Annabeth came to a sudden halt, and Percy balked. "What is it?"

"Luke's ahead," she gasped, squinting through the grass. "He's running away with his sword."

Percy's senses were spiking like crazy. Something was wrong. He yanked out his sword and spun around, barely catching Luke's blade before it hit his neck.

"LUKE!" Annabeth screamed. "Leave us alone!"

Luke slammed his sword into him again, and Percy managed to parry it off. Percy wasn't as good with his injury constantly flaring up with pain, and Luke had some kind of armour. The combination of all that made it practically a fair fight.

Until Annabeth kicked Luke's legs from the side, and he went down in a heap. He whipped his sword at Percy again, and he deflected it.

Annabeth lunged between them, and Luke stopped mid-swing. "Annabeth, move!"

"Put your sword down!" she ordered, reaching for it as he dodged away.

Percy saw with astonishment that the grass around them had snaked into the ground, as if to give the audience a better view of the fight. Percy tried to get a better look at Luke's armour. It was made of flexible metal.

"Where did you get that?" he demanded.

Luke snorted. "My sponsors. Where do you think?"

Right. Now was the time for expensive gifts. Clarisse might've even gotten that mythical "electric spear" she kept raving about.

Annabeth was waving her knife at Luke, and Percy realized that she wasn't just preventing Luke from hitting him. She was also blocking Percy from hurting Luke.

Then they heard insane laughing, and the blood drained from Luke's face as he recognized Bryce's voice.

Percy turned when he heard another voice in the same direction. It was a boy pleading with Bryce in vain.

Then a pale black-haired boy burst into the clearing, about to run past them, "WILL!"

Percy seized his collar, ignoring the flare of pain in his injured arm. "Stay here! I'll get him!"

He remembered Bryce's strange determination to kill Nico during the bloodbath. Nico's terrified face and feverish skin only made protectiveness flare in him. "I'll get Will back. I promise!"

Percy plunged into the grass, following the loud rustling and laughter. Then he saw them. Will was on his back, covering his face as Bryce sheathed his knife and pulled out his axe.

"BRYCE!" Percy roared. He sprinted towards them. Bryce lifted his head and turned — in the wrong direction.

Percy slashed his sword in a silver arc and cut through Bryce's arm.

Cut through the mirage.

The scene dissolved, and off to the left came the crack of an axe hitting bone. After Piper, Percy knew the sound all too well.

Then Bryce yelled, "JACKSON? WHERE ARE YOU?"

"Here?" Percy called out. Bryce took off running, but he didn't appear anywhere.

It wasn't a good idea to go anywhere but back to Annabeth. He sheathed his sword and quickly retraced his steps, ignoring the noises that made it seem like she was somewhere else.

He nearly slammed into her. Luke was nowhere in sight. "Where's Nico?"

She pointed behind her. "Right here."

"Where's Will?" Nico demanded, peering around them. "Didn't you go get him?"

"I was..." the words died in his throat. "I got Bryce to leave, but I couldn't find Will."

"Then let's go find him!"

Nico made a wild run to the left, and Percy barely managed to grab him. "Nico, no. Listen, you can't go right now."

"You want me to leave Will?!"

"I heard the axe," Percy said. Nico's face instantly made him regret how blunt he was, but he pressed on, "If he can't even scream for help, he's not going to make it."

"Shut up! Go away!" he shouted, trying to shake him off.

Percy shook his head, willing him to see through the haze of grief and understand. "Nico, you can't. It's too visible where Will is. Bryce is out to get you and he was just here —"

"I hate you!" Nico yelled, shocking him. He glared at Percy with such intensity that when he pulled out a throwing knife, Percy instinctively let go.

Nico took the opportunity to run, disappearing into the grass before he could move.

Without thinking, Percy gave chase, determined to protect him from Bryce. Nico purposely changed course, and Percy quickly lost him despite his best efforts.

Annabeth kept up beside him, and she ordered: "Lead us back to where you were, and we'll circle it. Watch for Bryce!"

Percy nodded, but he didn't feel optimistic about anyone finding Will in time.

"Here," he said, coming to a stop. "It was here where I saw them."

Annabeth pulled him to the right and they went slower. She surveyed the surroundings. "Will is done for. Isn't he?"

Probably. "Maybe. I heard an axe hit him."

"Why are we running after Nico?"

The question confused him. "Well, we could take him with us."

Annabeth set her jaw, a million plans running through her mind. "That changes things."

Her hesitation unsettled him. "But we will, right?"

"We'll see. Let's find him first."

◼▲◼

Nico dropped to the ground just as he reached Will, who was clutching a wound in his side. It was fatal. Even in Nico's hypothermia-induced sluggishness, there was no question about it.

"Take my supplies and...go," Will panted, wincing. Sweat covered his face, and blood leaked through his fingers.

Will's skin was warm when Nico touched it. He wanted to say something but had no idea what, and he tried to focus.

Something had been stolen from him, he knew. Nico would never be able to figure out his feelings about Will.

Nico held Will's non-bloody hand, wanting to find the right words to say. He wasn't great at expressing his emotions.

Will coughed, and his skin was so pale. "Bryce asked if I'd seen you."

Nico shook his head. He didn't care about Bryce right now.

Guilt threatened to explode into a million apologies that wouldn't make Will feel better. Nico had seen someone that looked like Bianca in the meadows, but of course she had vanished the second Will lost him.

Will's eyes fluttered open and closed as he struggled to keep them on Nico.

Nico touched some of the golden curls by Will's ear, and finally he found some words. "You're the only person who has made me feel safe and warm since my sister."

Will smiled weakly, and Nico felt him squeeze his hand. Somehow Will looked beautiful even at the brink of death.

"Thank you," Nico continued, and he hastily wiped the tears from his face. "If we had known each other longer, I think I would have... really liked you."

Will whispered, "I already do."

His heart skipped a beat. Then the cannon fired, and Nico slowly let go of his hand.

But before his misery could come crashing down, trumpets began to play, signalling an announcement. The timing was such a sick coincidence that Nico wanted to ignore it altogether, but it was too loud, like a hammering in his skull.

Venus Aphrodite cleared her throat. "Hello, tributes! I hope you're doing well. As congratulations for making it to the final seven, I formally invite you all to a feast. But it is no banquet. At the Cornucopia, there is one very special item that I'm sure many of you would like to get your hands on..."

Nico scowled. Nothing was worth it anymore.

She cleared her throat, like she knew he wasn't paying attention. "Instead of food... we offer you a gun."