THE MISSING LINK ✧ GLOSS HUNGER GAMES

23 | ORANGE JUICE

I survive the rest of my Victory Tour.

It's not a walk in the park, of course. I never manage to form a well-liked stage presence, but at least my monotone speeches ended without incident.

And while I spent most of my time at Capitol parties hiding from the chaos, whenever Persephone found me and dragged me back out, I had a smile on my face the entire time.

Well, most of the time. Still, it's a win worth celebrating!

However, by the time we are on the train back to District 1, I am drained.

"Remember anything new today?" Amethyst asks. She's sitting on my bed — which, at this point, has become our bed — and smiling at me. Her expression flickers. "Nothing? Are you kidding me?"

"I can't help it!" I huff.

I cross my arms and lean against the vanity. Amethyst mirrors me, but her expression is a poor attempt at something serious. Her smile pokes through in seconds.

"Do you think if we zapped your brain, you'd remember me?" she asks.

I stare at her for a long moment.

"Yeah, I think my entire life would flash before my eyes if we did that," I nod, rolling my eyes before adding, "but then I'd die like... seven minutes later?"

"I wouldn't shock you that badly!"

"I don't want you to shock me at all!"

Amethyst scrunches her face and rolls over, laying down as if she's about to go to sleep. And after two weeks of her always being around, I'm still not sure if she can actually sleep.

But she snores.

Loudly.

"You're no fun," Amethyst mutters, and she's snoring in seconds.

I sigh, pushing myself off of the vanity and walking to the bed. I lay down beside her and try to sleep as well, but I can't. Too many thoughts are roaming around my mind — good ones, bad ones, imaginary ones. It's exhausting.

The clock reads 2:05 a.m. when I finally give up on sleep and open my eyes.

Amethyst is gone, I can tell by the way I can actually hear the train's rumbling again, and the entire room is pitch black. I stare at the ceiling for a long time before huffing, throwing the thick duvet off of me and getting out of bed.

I leave my bedroom, thinking a walk would do me good, and everything just seems so... dead. The hall lights are flickering and dim, and every single door is shut. It feels like I'm walking through a horror movie or something.

As I make my way further down the hall, I hear voices coming from Regina's room, and it doesn't take a genius to realize that Palladium is in there with her, giggling about something.

Part of me wants to join them and see what's so funny, but I know the two of them would go silent if I even dared to knock on the door.

I keep walking, passing the dining car and the lounge area and everything else that is between me and the bar car. And I don't mean to stop there. I've never had alcohol before (to my knowledge), but the bottles are just so mesmerizing.

There are bottles that are clear and some are thick and golden. I walk behind the bar without a second thought, looking closely at all of the different kinds. Moonshine. Nepenthe. Whiskey. One's name is too long for me to pronounce, but it's dark blue and glittery.

I reach out for it, like it's calling my name, like it's the answer to all of these sleepless nights.

"What are you doing?"