The Reaper | F. Odair

Thirteen

-—-
Aaron
-—-

The rocks, the cornucopia, the trees, the sand, the events -- it now all made sense in the most bizarre way possible. I listened carefully as Katniss explained it all as we walked towards the cornucopia. The lines of rocks cut out a sector, the pedestals were each number, the water was just the background of a normal clock.
"The entire arena seems to be laid out like a clock!" Katniss gasps, breathless and oddly excited as she starts to re-explain it all for dad and Johanna. "A new threat every hour! But, they all stay within their own wedges." She explains, pointing at one of the lines.

"So the rocks are a border?" Johanna asks.

"Exactly like a border!" Katniss cries as we reach the cornucopia. "It all starts with the lightning, then the blood rain, fog, monkeys -- that was the first four."

"You're a genius, Wiress." Finnick coos next to me, grabbing the woman and kissing her on the cheek. She blushes, grabbing his arm gently and thanking him with a tug and muttering the words, 'tick tock.'

"At ten, that big wave hits over there," Katniss continues, pointing on where we had seen the wave. "But it stops at the cornucopia's center."

"The tail points to twelve." Peeta mutters, putting his machete into the gravely-dirt on the cornucopia's floor. He starts to draw it all out slowly.

"It's a horn." I mumble.

He blinks, "what?"

"Nevermind."

"Whatever -- the point faces towards the lightning strikes from last night."

Beetee's head snaps towards the girl, "lightning strikes you say?"

"Yeah, right there." She says, pointing.

"Where, exactly?"

"Uh, there. That big tree."

Beete shuffles towards her, adjusting his glasses as he looks. A devilish smile pulls onto his lips. "Perfect."

Peeta continues to sketch and I lose focus. Wiress is quietly singing behind us all, singing a very, very old nursery rhyme; hickory dickory dock. I slowly shuffle out of the circle, Finnick looks at me and back at the sketch as I reach Wiress.

"--the mouse ran up the clock." Wiress sings, her voice quiet.

I put my scythe down and gently grab her shoulders and pull her aside. "Wiress?" I whisper, she looks at me as she sings, "can you come over here and sit here for me?"

"The clock struck one, the mouse ran down," she nods. I slowly help her down and her eyes drift out towards the water.

I slowly make my way back -- "did you guys see anything?" Katniss asks.

Johanna and dad both shake their heads. "Nothing but blood." Johanna says.

"And Blight dying in my arms." Dad adds with a grumble. The two both glare at each other.

"Hickory dickory dock."

"Nothing else?" I ask, ignoring dad's comments.

"Like I said, nothing but blood."

"The dog barked at the clock."

"Whatever," Peeta snaps, shaking his head and looking back at his sketch. "As long as we can stay clear of whatever sector that's active, we should be fine." He announces, pointing at his makeshift map.

"Yeah, but that's only relatively speaking." Finnick adds with a frown.

A frown tugs at my own lips. "If the gamemakers know that we know, couldn't they just change the sectors at any time they wanted?" I point out, recalling how sneaky the bastards are. Everyone looks at me and I shift uncomfortably. "But, then again, why ruin a beautiful order of sectors that you probably spent years on." I grumble sarcastically.