Jeopardy: The Fourth Quarter Quell

Meeting - Luxury

Luxury

"Fat lot of good you did on watch, eh Luxie?"

"Shut up," I tell her, not that it'll do any good. I've been telling her to shut up since morning. She dances around gleefully, delighted that this didn't happen on her watch. Every so often I swing the mace close enough to her to give her a bit of a reminder that I can hurt her and it won't cost me anything, but it doesn't wipe the smug grin from her face.

Luxie. I hate being called Luxie. Ever since Gio first used it, it's only ever been used by people who want to annoy me. Somewhere he's laughing right now.

"If it was me, they'd never have got past," Diamond sings. She can't mean it, but again it's like she's attempting another dig at my ego. My singing voice sounds like someone grating two rocks together. But what practical good is singing, anyway? None at all. Let Diamond have her fun; soon she'll be dead.

The thought fills me with relief. Finally I will be able to stop looking over my shoulder to see how far behind she is, like I have been doing my whole life. Finally I'll have won once and for all.

I do another quick sweep of the perimeter. After two and a bit days the supplies have all been cleared up. Everything useful that we can't afford to lose on the inside, everything that we don't need clustered around the outside so that the other tributes can't get it easily. They might be weak, but why give them any advantage?

As normal, there's no sign of any other tributes anyway. Nothing came up today when we went out hunting, leaving Venus behind again of course, since she's capable enough to guard but much too clumsy to be any use on a hunt. If there are any tributes, they're far away. With any luck, the Gamemakers will be starting to draw them together, weeding out the really weak ones so we can take on the survivors at the feast.

Ade glides out of the Cornucopia, Crispin at her shoulder. I have to bite my tongue to stop myself laughing a little; it might not be obvious to Ade herself with her staunch pride, but it doesn't even need pointing out to me that he'd follow her to the end of Panem.

"He's totally got a thing for her," Diamond points out.

I ignore her childish comment and hope that Ade didn't hear it. She's made it incredibly clear that she won't tolerate 'any illusions of that kind', and though I know I could fight her off, her and the non-boyfriend together could be a risk. Since they took care of the girl from Three who dared to hide on our territory, I've been wary of their devastating teamwork.

We don't train to work as teams. The Games is a solo thing, always has been. There was no need to think that this year would be any different. The Careers might be a pack, but only because...why? Strength in numbers? We're strong already, on our own. If anything, it's more risky to stay with people who are closer to you in ability. That's probably what Claymore thought, or rather, Portia, and he went along with it like the sap he probably is deep down. The Careers have always been a pack; any other way is nearly treachery. Besides, the more people, the more targets, right?

"Crispin and I were thinking that we should look for water," Ade says as Diamond and I come close enough to hear her.

"No offense, Lux, but you used up a fair amount cleaning yourself off," Crispin adds, with a wicked grin. I laugh along because he's right, but how else was I meant to get all that filthy mud off me? I must stink as it is.

"There's got to be some kind of natural water for the other tributes," Ade continues. I snicker as she gives Crispin a look that seems to be her equivalent of 'accidentally' stepping on his foot. Of course. The other tributes. What are they all doing now? Nothing, probably. Or hopefully dying. There haven't been any cannons for a while so surely the Gamemakers are getting bored.