As I travel the short distance back, I realize we haven't exchanged signals in a while. When my whistle receives no response, I run. In no time, I find the pack, a neat pile of roots beside it. The sheet of plastic has been laid on the ground where the sun can reach the single layer of berries that covers it.
But where is he?
"Peeta!" I call out in a panic. "Peeta!" I turn to the rustle of brush and almost send an arrow through him. Fortunately, I pull my bow at the last second and it sticks in an oak trunk to his left. He jumps back, flinging a handful of berries into the foliage.
My fear comes out as anger. "What are you doing?
You're supposed to be here, not running around in the woods!"
"I found some berries down by the stream," he says, clearly confused by my outburst.
"I whistled. Why didn't you whistle back?"Isnap at him.
"I didn't hear. The water's too loud, I guess," he says.
He crosses and puts his hands on my shoulders.
That's when I feel that I'm trembling.
"I thought Cato killed you!" I almost shout.
"No, I'm fine." Peeta wraps his arms around me, but I don't respond. "Katniss?"
I push away, trying to sort out my feelings. "If two people agree on a signal, they stay in range. Because if one of them doesn't answer, they're in trouble, all right?"
"All right!" he says.
"All right. Because that's what happened with Rue, and I watched her die!" I say. I turn away from him, go to the pack and open a fresh bottle of water, although I still have some in mine. But I'm not ready to forgive him. I notice the food. The rolls and apples are untouched, but someone's definitely picked away part of the cheese. "And you ate without me!" I really don't care, I just want something else to be mad about.
"What? No, I didn't," Peeta says.
"Oh, and I suppose the apples ate the cheese," I say.
"I don't know what ate the cheese," Peeta says slowly and distinctly, as if trying not to lose his temper, "but it wasn't me. I've been down by the stream collecting berries. Would you care for some?"
I would actually, but I don't want to relent too soon. I do walk over and look at them. I've never seen this type before. No, I have. But not in the arena. These aren't Rue's berries, although they resemble them.
Nor do they match any I learned about in training. I lean down and scoop up a few, rolling them between my fingers.
My father's voice comes back to me. "Not these, Katniss. Never these. They're nightlock. You'll be dead before they reach your stomach."
Just then, the cannon fires. I whip around, expecting Peeta to collapse to the ground, but he only raises his eyebrows. The hovercraft appears a hundred yards or so away. What's left of Foxface's emaciated body is lifted into the air. I can see the red glint of her hair in the sunlight.
I should have known the moment I saw the missing cheese... .
Peeta has me by the arm, pushing me toward a tree."Climb. He'll be here in a second. We'll stand a better chance fighting him from above."
I stop him, suddenly calm. "No, Peeta, she's your kill, not Cato's."
"What? I haven't even seen her since the first day," he says. "How could I have killed her?" In answer, I hold out the berries.
Chapter Twenty-four
It takes a while to explain the situation to Peeta. How Foxface stole the food from the supply pile before I blew it up, how she tried to take enough to stay alive but not enough that anyone would notice it, how she wouldn't question the safety of berries we were preparing to eat ourselves.
"I wonder how she found us," says Peeta. "My fault, I guess, if I'm as loud as you say."
We were about as hard to follow as a herd of cattle, but I try to be kind. "And she's very clever, Peeta.