Sunrise on the Reaping

the Everdeens could afford it on account of being hunters and having a little more disposable income.

“They reaped him to kill him, Haymitch! To punish me! I can think of no realistic scenario in which he does not die. I can only hope that his death is quick and not in vain.”

Ma and Sid are being burned alive.

Lenore Dove plays it for Burdock sometimes. . . .

Are you, are you

Coming to the tree

Where they strung up a man they say murdered three?

Strange things did happen here

No stranger would it be

If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree.

Are you, are you

Coming to the tree

Where the dead man called out for his love to flee?

Strange things did happen here

No stranger would it be

If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree.

Strange things indeed. A dead man calling out.

“I don’t see that it makes much difference. They’ll still be one hundred percent as stupid as usual, so I figure the odds will be roughly the same.”

They will not use my tears for their entertainment.

I hear her voice singing a piece of her poem, her name song.

Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,

Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before;

But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token,

And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, “Lenore?”

yellow-clad tributes

audio implant. Probably a two-way transmitter.”

It’s a thin strip of metal, shaped like a C. My fingers naturally grip the curved back as I examine the colorful animals facing off at the opening. The head of a snake hisses at the beak of a long-necked bird.