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Cashmere’s heartbeat roared in her ears as she made the slow walk to her front door. She still couldn’t wrap her head around the news, no matter how hard she tried. The president’s words still echoed in her ears with startling clarity. Male and female tributes are to be reaped from the existing pool of victors.
It was as if a rope was tightening around her neck, closing around her windpipe. Her throat constricted from emotion and Cashmere thought for a moment that this feeling might kill her before the arena even got the chance.
So, her body on autopilot, she did the only thing she could think to do.
She walked to Gloss.
Her brother’s house was only across the street from hers. Of all of the houses in District One’s expansive Victors’ Village, the Capitol assigned her the one closest to her brother’s. Although, now that she thought about it, that was probably intentional.
She made it to his door in record time, her hand poised to knock, before the door swung open. “I saw you coming,” Gloss said, responding to her unasked question. They just knew each other that way. “Come in.”
“Have you heard?” she asked, sitting gingerly on his couch. It took everything in her to refrain from launching herself into his embrace, just like when they were kids. But they both knew that their houses were littered with hidden cameras, and they had roles to play.
“Just now,” Gloss confirmed, a slight frown pulling at his lips. “Hey, Cash, how long has it been since we visited the market?”
Her breath hitched in her throat as she tried to play along. “I...don’t know. A long time.”
Gloss nodded, and the two of them made a quick show of getting ready and out the door. Their houses weren’t the only places with cameras, but at least in the Town Square, there were other people around to hide among.
The walk was quicker than Cashmere remembered, and soon, she and her brother arrived at their destination. “It looks just like I remember,” she breathed, tears pricking in her eyes.
Gloss reached for her hand. “Just like when we were kids.”
Surrounding the market was a tall, wire fence that separated the Square from the outskirts of the town. If you crawled through the hole in the fence and made it past the meadow and into the trees, you could find a small cave. The perfect size for two young siblings.
Cashmere stood with her brother in the cave now, soaking in the childhood nostalgia. They didn’t come very often now, if at all. Too many visits would arouse Capitol suspicion, and they would mark it as one of the places to watch.
Neither Cashmere or Gloss could corrupt this place like that.
“I can’t believe it,” she said, her words echoing in the small cave. “The announcement.”
“It’ll be fine.” Gloss tried to hide the way his voice trembled, but to no avail.
Cashmere sank to the floor, leaning against one of the cave’s walls. “You know, just because you won the Games first doesn’t mean you have to comfort me. I know you’re scared.”
“I’m not scared.” He joined her on the ground so their shoulders were pressed together. “They can’t make us go back in, especially not with each other. We’re family.”
Doubt still crept in the back of her mind. “You really think that?”
“Of course,” Gloss said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. “No matter what happens, we’ll always have each other, right?”
Like there was any other option. “Obviously.”
Cashmere wasn’t sure how long they sat in their cave, but it was long enough for the both of them to get hungry. Her mind was still reeling from the shock of the announcement, but things were starting to feel a little more manageable with Gloss by her side. Funny how it always seemed to work out that way.
Gloss sighed and turned to her. “We’re going to need to get home soon.”
“Soon,” she agreed, “but not yet.”
She leaned her head on his shoulder, and he gave her arm a gentle squeeze of assurance, offering quiet support. For now, Cashmere didn’t want to think about what the future would hold. She just wanted to sit here with her brother for five more minutes.