“What about Peeta's family? They'll never come. In fact, they probably couldn't wait to inform on us. Which I'm sure he's smart enough to realize. What if he decides to stay?” he asks.
I try to sound indifferent, but my voice cracks. “Then he stays.”
“You'd leave him behind?” Gale asks.
“To save Prim and my mother, yes,” I answer. “I mean, no! I'll get him to come.”
“And me, would you leave me?” Gale's expression is rock hard now. “Just if, for instance, I can't convince my mother to drag three young kids into the wilderness in winter.”
“Hazelle won't refuse. She'll see sense,” I say.
“Suppose she doesn't, Katniss. What then?” he demands.
“Then you have to force her, Gale. Do you think I'm making this stuff up?” My voice is rising in anger as well.
“No. I don't know. Maybe the president's just manipulating you. I mean, he's throwing your wedding. You saw how the Capitol crowd reacted. I don't think he can afford to kill you. Or Peeta. How's he going to get out of that one?” says Gale.
“Well, with an uprising in District Eight, I doubt he's spending much time choosing my wedding cake!” I shout.
The instant the words are out of my mouth I want to reclaim them. Their effect on Gale is immediate—the flush on his cheeks, the brightness of his gray eyes. “There's an uprising in Eight?” he says in a hushed voice.
I try to backpedal. To defuse him, as I tried to defuse the districts. “I don't know if it's really an uprising. There's unrest. People in the streets —” I say.
Gale grabs my shoulders. “What did you see?”
“Nothing! In person. I just heard something.” As usual, it's too little, too late. I give up and tell him. “I saw something on the mayor's television. I wasn't supposed to. There was a crowd, and fires, and the Peacekeepers were gunning people down but they were fighting back….” I bite my lip and struggle to continue describing the scene. Instead I say aloud the words that have been eating me up inside. “And it's my fault, Gale. Because of what I did in the arena. If I had just killed myself with those berries, none of this would've happened. Peeta could have come home and lived, and everyone else would have been safe, too.”
“Safe to do what?” he says in a gentler tone. “Starve? Work like slaves? Send their kids to the reaping? You haven't hurt people—you've given them an opportunity. They just have to be brave enough to take it. There's already been talk in the mines. People who want to fight. Don't you see? It's happening! It's finally happening! If there's an uprising in District Eight, why not here? Why not everywhere? This could be it, the thing we've been —”
“Stop it! You don't know what you're saying. The Peacekeepers outside of Twelve, they're not like Darius, or even Cray! The lives of district people — they mean less than nothing to them!” I say.
“That's why we have to join the fight!” he answers harshly.
“No! We have to leave here before they kill us and a lot of other people, too!” I'm yelling again, but I can't understand why he's doing this. Why doesn't he see what's so undeniable?
Gale pushes me roughly away from him. “You leave, then. I'd never go in a million years.”
“You were happy enough to go before. I don't see how an uprising in District Eight does anything but make it more important that we leave. You're just mad about—” No, I can't throw Peeta in his face. “What about your family?”
“What about the other families, Katniss? The ones who can't run away? Don't you see? It can't be about just saving us anymore. Not if the rebellion's begun!” Gale shakes his head, not hiding his disgust with me. “You could do so much.” He throws Cinna's gloves at my feet. “I changed my mind. I don't want anything they made in the Capitol.” And he's gone.
I look down at the gloves. Anything they made in the Capitol? Was that directed at me? Does he think I am now just another product of the Capitol and therefore something untouchable? The unfairness of it all fills me with rage. But it's mixed up with fear over what kind of crazy thing he might do next.
I sink down next to the fire, desperate for comfort, to work out my next move. I calm myself by thinking that rebellions don't happen in a day. Gale can't talk to the miners until tomorrow. If I can get to Hazelle before then, she might straighten him out. But I can't go now. If he's there, he'll lock me out. Maybe tonight, after everyone else is asleep… Hazelle often works late into the night finishing up laundry. I could go then, tap at the window, tell her the situation so she'll keep Gale from doing anything foolish.
My conversation with President Snow in the study comes back to me.
“
“
“
I think of how hard Hazelle has worked to keep that family alive. Surely she'll be on my side in this matter. Or won't she?
It must be getting on toward noon now and the days are so short. No point in being in the woods after dark if you don't have to. I stamp out the remains of my little fire, clear up the scraps of food, and tuck Cinna's gloves in my belt. I guess I'll hang on to them for a while. In case Gale has a change of heart. I think of the look on his face when he flung them to the ground. How repelled he was by them, by me…
I trudge through the woods and reach my old house while there's still light. My conversation with Gale was an obvious setback, but I'm still determined to carry on with my plan to escape District 12. I decide to find Peeta next. In a strange way, since he's seen some of what I've seen on the tour, he may be an easier sell than Gale was. I run into him as he's leaving the Victor's Village.
“Been hunting?” he asks. You can see he doesn't think it's a good idea.
“Not really. Going to town?” I ask.
“Yes. I'm supposed to eat dinner with my family,” he says.
“Well, I can at least walk you in.” The road from the Victor's Village to the square gets little use. It's a safe enough place to talk. But I can't seem to get the words out. Proposing it to Gale was such a disaster. I gnaw on my chapped lips. The square gets closer with every step. I may not have an opportunity again soon. I take a deep breath and let the words rush out. “Peeta, if I asked you to run away from the district with me, would you?”
Peeta takes my arm, bringing me to a stop. He doesn't need to check my face to see if I'm serious. “Depends on why you're asking.”
“President Snow wasn't convinced by me. There's an uprising in District Eight. We have to get out,” I say.
“By 'we' do you mean just you and me? No. Who else would be going?” he asks.
“My family. Yours, if they want to come. Haymitch, maybe,” I say.
“What about Gale?” he says.
“I don't know. He might have other plans,” I say.
Peeta shakes his head and gives me a rueful smile. “I bet he does. Sure, Katniss, I'll go.”
I feel a slight twinge of hope. “You will?”
“Yeah. But I don't think for a minute you will,” he says.
I jerk my arm away. “Then you don't know me. Be ready. It could be any time.” I take off walking and he follows a pace or two behind.
“Katniss,” Peeta says. I don't slow down. If he thinks it's a bad idea, I don't want to know, because it's the only one I have. “Katniss, hold up.” I kick a dirty, frozen chunk of snow off the path and let him catch up. The coal dust makes everything look especially ugly. “I really will go, if you want me to. I just think we better talk it through with Haymitch. Make sure we won't be making things worse for everyone.” He raises his head. “What's that?”
I lift my chin. I've been so consumed with my own worries, I haven't noticed the strange noise coming from the square. A whistling, the sound of an impact, the intake of breath from a crowd.
“Come on,” Peeta says, his face suddenly hard. I don't know why. I can't place the sound, even guess at the situation. But it means something bad to him.
When we reach the square, it's clear something's happening, but the crowd's too thick to see. Peeta steps up on a crate against the wall of the sweetshop and offers me a hand while he scans the square. I'm halfway up
