The Avox (ON HOLD)

Chapter 4-Hidden

*THIS IS A REALLY IMPORTANT CHAPTER BECAUSE IT REVEALS SOMETHING HUGE! HOPE YOU LIKE IT!*

I wake up to the sound of something burning. Wood burning. I could recognize that crackling sound anywhere. I recognize it as a fire. I get up on my feet faster than I should have, and feel dizzy again. As I sit down on the grass, I smell something delicious. Smells like…eggs. I turn around to find Layla sitting by a fire, with a long stick in her hands. Attached to the stick is a small, flat, plate-looking object that seems to carry the source of the egg-smell. “Layla!” I yell as I get up and walk over to the fire. She gestures for me to stay quiet, and then to a sleeping Peeta on the other side of the fire. “Oh, ok. Has he slept the whole time? And how long have we been out?” I ask her. She nods and holds up five fingers. “ Five days?!” I ask. She quickly shakes her head, no. “Hours?” I ask again. She nods this time, gesturing for me to come and sit down next to her. I walk over to the fire and sit by her. I notice that the stick part of the object she holds is a spear. I know who’s spear that was. Cato’s. It was the only one with a soft grip on the end of it. I still wonder how she found, or made, the flat, metal part attached to the end. “Where did you get the eggs?” I ask. She points to a nearby tree. Up above me, I see in one of the branches of the tree, a large birds nest. “Oh. You got some eggs from the nest. Did you climb all the way up there?” I ask her. She nods and hands me the spear so I can hold it over the fire. Then, she walks over to the tree and begins to climb it. Not only can she climb high, I figure out, but she is also incredibly fast. She climbs almost to the top of the tree to reach the bird’s nest, when I hear a small whimpering sound. I turn around and see Peeta squirming around on the ground. Nightmares…again. When I turn back around to Layla, she is already on her way back to the fire with a large egg in her hand. She reaches me and cracks the egg over the pan-like object she created. She points to her wrist and holds up five fingers. I’m guessing she means keep the eggs cooking for five more minutes and then they will be ready. She throws the eggshell in the grass and takes over for me on egg-cooking duty. I walk over to Peeta, carefully, not knowing if he will still be mutt when he wakes up. I kind-of poke him in the shoulder over and over again, until he turns around and looks at me with his big, blue eyes. He is back.

“What happened? And how long have I been sleeping for?” he asks me. I sit by him in the grass. “You went mutt.” I say slowly. He looks down, ashamed. “Oh…did I hurt anyone?” he asks. “No…but we hurt you.” I say, stifling a laugh. “Layla had to whack you in the head with a stick for you to pass out. I tried reasoning with you, and telling you who you are, but nothing worked.” He looks at me, his eyes sad with black circles under them. “I’m sorry. It’s just, being back here is so overwhelming.” he says. “Tell me about it. That was the only reason I have been acting crazy all day. From all the memories. They are much more vivid here. My running around and crying then laughing; it was all because of this place.” I say, motioning towards the trees. I know it is safe to be around Peeta now, so I move closer to him and rest my head on his shoulder. “Katniss,” he says, “what if we don’t find anything. I mean, what if we just came here for nothing?” “We will find something, Peeta. We have Layla. She knows where the Backup Capital is, right?” I ask him. “I don’t know. You know, now that I think about it, she never really told us where to go after we got to the arena. I wonder if she even knows where to go after here.” he replies.

We both stand up and walk over to Layla. She is finishing up the eggs and putting one of the three eggs on a big leaf. She hands it to me. “Thanks.” I say, and she hands me a stick with a split end that I use for a fork. She hands food to Peeta and finishes up for herself too. When she’s done, she walks over to the lake and sets the pan/spear into it. I’m guessing it’s for the hot plate to cool off. When she makes it back to the fire, Peeta and I are already devouring the eggs. “So, Layla…” says Peeta, wiping his mouth, “Katniss and I talked about finding the Backup Capital. We wanted to make sure with you that you know where you are taking us.” She looks down at her egg. “Layla…” I say. She slowly puts her egg down on the grass and grabs a nearby stick. She uses it to draw in the dirt. “What is she doing?” Peeta asks. “She’s trying to tell us something.” I reply. She draws lines and curves of all sorts of assortments. Then, she steps back and tilts her head to look at her work. She nods. Peeta and I both walk up to the artwork in the dirt. In it is a sloppy, dirty message written in handwriting that could resemble a first-grade child. I guess she didn’t get enough school. I cock my head to the side, slightly, and try to make out what Layla had written:“I think…they….changed their…location…Katniss. I…don’t know…where exactly they…are.” “What?!” I yell at her. I realize that it wasn’t her fault that they changed their location, so I calm myself and say, “Sorry, I just…really? Are you sure you don’t know? I mean, did you already check were they were before?” She shakes her head no, then yes. Then, she gestures something I didn’t get and Peeta says, “She says that she checked where they were before, while we were sleeping. And there was nothing…” Great. Just great. We came all the way here, and now we have to keep going on for days trying to find some stupid Capital again. I am about to sit down in the grass, upset, when I hear a sound awfully familiar. Gunshots. The last thing I remember is feeling an immense pain in my left arm, and seeing Layla and Peeta rush to my side, eyes wide with terror.

Anything I touch turns into ashes. I turn to Peeta. Even he is afraid of me. He backs away slowly, towards the edge of the cliff. I follow him. I want him to know I love him. I want to hug him. He reaches the edge of the cliff and trips. His foot slides down and is now hanging off the edge of the cliff. I run to help him, and before he can stop me, I touch his hand and he disintegrates.

I wake up panting and screaming. Peeta is by my side comforting me, while Layla is off to the side of us, preparing something using leaves. I look at Peeta and he smiles. He doesn’t say anything, but just smiles and looks down at my arm. “Oh my gosh!” I exclaim. There is a gaping hole in my arm about the size of a quarter. “It will be fine, Katniss. Layla was quick enough to take out the bullet before it did any serious damage.” Peeta says. I look in her direction and she looks over at me too. I give her a thanking smile. “What happened?” I ask. Peeta sits up. “Well…it seems that we have found a clue about where the Backup Capital is.” he says. “Ok…that’s great. But what happened to my arm?” I ask. “That’s just the thing, Katniss.” he says, standing up, “All of a sudden out of nowhere, a bullet comes flying at you. Not me, or Layla, but you. The only people who would do that are-“ ‘The Capital” I interrupt him. “The Capital…” he says. “So we know where they are now?” I ask. “Not exactly.” says Peeta. “We still don’t know where the bullet came from. It looked like it came out of thin air. Like, there was no source from where it came from. Unless, in some strange way, there was an invisible person with an invisible gun.” he scoffs. I think about that strange, abstract idea. Then, I understand. “Peeta, Peeta, I know where it is!” I exclaim, surprised at myself. “What?” he says. “I know where the Backup Capital is hidden. H-I-D-D-E-N, Peeta. Their invisible.” I say. He smirks at me, and says, “Your funny Katniss, you know that?” I am angry now. “No, Peeta. Really. Look, if you said that the bullet came flying out of nowhere, then that means that source of the bullet had to be hidden. So I think that if it was the Backup Capital that shot me, then they are hidden, and they are close.” I say. He looks at me for a second and then his eyes widen. “Katniss, you’re a genius.” he says. I smile. “And I am also your fiancé.” I say, looking at him and pointing at my shiny ring. I had completely forgotten that I had it on until now. He smiles. “Well…what are we waiting for?” I ask. Peeta smirks and points at my arm. “Oh…” I say. “I will go and check out the forest ahead to see if there are any clues. I’ll go back to where you got shot and check things out there too.” says Peeta. “No, Peeta. I can’t let you go alone. It’s too dangerous.” I say, objecting. “Katniss, it will be fine. I’ll take my weapons. You and Layla stay here and try to heal your arm. You need all the strength you can get. We have a big, big, big day ahead of us!” he says, winking at me.  I laugh. I know he imitated Effie when he said that. She always said that in the mornings before a “big day” in the Hunger Games. He gathers his things, gives me a kiss on my head, and heads off into the woods.

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