Beacon of Hope

Chapter Twenty Eight <3 Birds and Plans

My eyes open slowly, and I see Peeta walking around, swaying Ivy gently. I smile slightly, still weak, and he notices, sitting back down. I perch myself up, and he hands me our daughter. I brush the dark hair that has fallen in her bright blue eyes.

Soon, she starts to wail, so I rock her gently and whisper, " Shhhh, it's okay, mommy's here."

Peeta wraps an arm round me and pulls me close. He kisses my cheek and whispers into my ear, " You make a great mother."

I look up at him and smile wider, because Ivy's gone to sleep. " Peeta, could you look after her?"

" Yeah," he says and takes her from me, " still tired?"

I yawn and nod, laying back. A few moments later, I hear a scream. A shrill, female voice that can only be one person.

Prim.

I jump to my feet and run into the forest. I keep running, screaming, " Prim! PRIM!"

Her screams continue to get louder and louder, and when I reach a clearing, Peeta's voice is there also. And Gale. And. . .

And Ivy.

I look up to see birds circling round my head and I scream louder. Jabberjays. But how else could they get those screams? Except from extracting it out of them?

I run back and I'm almost about to reach Peeta and Ivy, but I run into a clear wall instead. I'm knocked back, and when I look up, Peeta is banging on the glass. I get up and do the same and he's calling on me and I have to get out. I cover my ears and let out a bloodcurdling scream before everything goes black.

When I wake, Peeta is over me, shaking me violently. " Peeta?" I ask, and he nods, tears shining in his eyes.

He picks my wailing form up and carried me onto the beach, where he sits me on his lap and cradles me while I cry. I sob into his shoulder, and look over to see Johanna cradling Ivy, and Finnick stroking hair out my babies eyes. I smile slightly through the tears and Peeta notices. He smiles too.

" It wasn't real, Kat," he whispers, stroking the tears from my face and drying it up. I nod.

" I know, I'm sure they just took recordings."

" They must have. Ivy's only a day old, and they had her screams," he nods.

Finnick comes running over and shouts, " It's a clock! The arena's a clock! Think about it, the fog only goes off at a certain time, and the tree becomes deadly at 12 o'clock! It makes sense!"

I contemplate it for a few seconds. Then I nod. " You're right!" I shout. " It's a clock!"

Later on, we sit in a circle and talk. A parachute comes down and I walk over, swaying Ivy slightly. I pick it up, and take it back over it. When I open it, I am faced with blankets, baby grows, dummies, and baby formula. I dig to the bottom, saying, " This must have cost a fortune!"

Finally, I find a note.

She's beautiful, sweetheart. Keep her safe. Thanks for the mention by the way. Stay alive.

- H

I laugh lightly and pass the note to Peeta. He laughs to and says, " Welcome, Old Man."

We start to discuss the tributes that we're up against. Brutus and Enobaria. " I have a plan. To eliminate the others. The lightening tree goes off at 12, yes? Well, we run the wire from the tree to the beach. Whoever is on the damp sand will be electrocuted. We just stay away from the beach and the tree."

We're all quite wary till Peeta changes our mind. " There's no harm done if it doesn't work. We should at least try."

We all agree, and the others start to pack up while Peeta, Ivy and I sit on the beach. I turn to him. " I don't wanna be with anyone else. Just you. We should leave."

" Look, I understand, Kat, but we have to try. If we leave now, they could kill us. . . Or Ivy. . . Or-" he shakes his head. " After this okay?"

I nod and pull him in for a kiss. We kiss passionately and then rest our foreheads on eachothers. We start to kiss again, but are interrupted by Finnick clearing his throat.

" Come on, loverbirds, time to go."

I nod, and get up. So does Peeta. He takes my hand, holding baby Mellark with his other, as we walk into the unknown.