Nothing Personal

Trap - 9

"No, I'm going to win."

Skyler whipped her head around, her glasses nearly flying off her face. She was on top of a building; how could there be anyone there? There wasn't. But the voice, low and amused, had to have come from somewhere. It sounded like the boy from Eight, the creepy one who thought he was clever.

"No, I'm going to win."

It was so matter-of-fact it made her skin crawl. That and the fact that she didn't know where he was speaking from. There was nothing about except for a small bird perched at the edge of the building, watching her carefully with a beady black eye.

Skyler didn't trust birds. They always looked smug, like they knew everything and just didn't want to tell you, or that they knew everything that you were doing and were about to go and tell someone. Birds back home were either mockingjays, who somehow managed to be happy when everybody else was sad, or jabberjays, who hid so that you couldn't see them and had recently been trained to pass on instructions from the Peacekeepers. Their favourite phrases were "Work harder" and "It is a duty and an honour to serve the Capitol." Usually someone said something quickly just to shut them up.

"Don't tell anyone I'm here," she whispered to it.

"Don't tell anyone I'm here," it whispered back.

A jabberjay. An original, probably. She'd heard them - they were impossible to escape - but they were sneaky and she'd never actually seen one in real life before. She'd seen mockingjays, of course, though she'd never sung to one because she couldn't hold a tune. But mockingjays looked different; they were more black, with red plumes in their wings. This thing looked coarse and common, with a sly glint in the eye that the Capitol had probably put there.

As if it knew that she was thinking unpleasant things about it, it took off, soaring into the air. Could birds get out of the arena? Or were they stuck too? She watched it float away into the clearing sky. There were a couple of hours left until dark. Then it would be time to camp out for the night. Last night had been cold, but she didn't dare get down and seek warmer shelter inside. She knew it was completely irrational because she hadn't seen anyone in the area, but still...

For the first time since entering the arena, Skyler started to properly believe that she could win.

Oak had believed that since he'd entered the arena. After leaving Grace he'd spent a few hours up a tree, looking out for people. Klaus, without Amber, was on top of one of the hills, and had stayed there. That was all he'd been able to find out, but it meant that the pack-hunting of the Careers was no longer a threat. There was nothing to stop him going near the Cornucopia.

Now, in the fading light where shadows flickered distortingly, he crept closer, taking seconds over every step in an attempt to keep the noise down. There was his tree, and still some blood from Pataya's death on the floor that hadn't been washed away by the storm. The ground was still damp so he crouched down and rubbed some mud onto his cheeks, to try and camoflage them. Not that he would really need it, if he was so high up, but it made him feel better. The mud was cold and clung to him, making him shiver.

Something moved behind a tree.

He froze. He was being ridiculous, seeing things. There was nobody there.

Very carefully, he took another step towards his tree.

There was definitely something there. Someone.

A voice was whispering behind him, high above and almost opposite where he thought someone was moving. The hairs on the back of his neck prickled. Scared wasn't the word. As far as he could tell he wasn't in any immediate danger because there wasn't really a person behind the tree, it was just a trick of the light, and the whispering could have been the wind in the trees. The light was that kind of eerie orange glow that makes everything look a bit surreal anyway. So he wasn't scared, but he was more freaked out than he'd ever been in his life. He didn't dare to move.

The whispering was most definitely human. It was also definitely female. Dreading what he might see, he looked up, but there was nothing there that he could see.

"Don't tell anyone I'm here."

Skyler. He sighed with relief; what a fuss over nothing. "Skyler, it's just me! I didn't know you were so good at camoflage!" he whispered back softly.

She didn't reply. Maybe she'd want to make amends, while they still had the chance. So he hoisted himself into the tree and climbed, startled at how relieved he felt that his old ally, his district partner, was still alive and sounded unharmed.

He glanced up and stopped, one foot dangling in midair.

She wasn't there. From on the ground it had been possible that he couldn't see her, but up here it was clear that she'd moved on by now. She always had been a silent mover, especially for someone so clumsy. Perhaps she'd only meant to let him know that she was okay. Well, that was cool. He supposed it made sense. In her situation, he would have probably done the same; waited until she was nearby, whisper a quick message, then hop on through the trees. Now they weren't obliged to stick to each other.

Still, she had been impressively, impossibly silent. Maybe he'd underestimated her.

Something fluttered by his foot; a jabberjay. They were nasty little creatures that would bite if you got too close, and this one seemed angry. He soon worked out why. Someone had tied it to the branch. Not Skyler, surely?

"Don't tell anyone I'm here," it whispered, flapping its wings madly.

Something rustled in the tree behind him and he thought he heard someone gasp.

His heart sank. Slowly, knowing that he was too high up to jump safely, he turned around.

A pair of narrow eyes, watery in the evening light, glared at him. The shape was female and he could see that she'd tied herself to the tree to stop herself from falling, while she pointed a bow and arrow at him. She looked uneasy, scared of heights, but determined. And he was stuck. Perfect entertainment; how ironic after everything he'd tried to avoid.

"I'm a fool," he sighed.

His body hit the ground at the exact same time the cannon went off.

Court untied herself and climbed to the ground, her legs trembling at the thought that she might have fallen. It had been an elaborate trap and she hadn't even thought it would work. It was just something to do, something to distract from and to sate the burning fire demanding revenge. Why revenge on the boy from Eleven she didn't know. But it was one more down. And now she was here to win.

The jabberjay continued to whisper.