"Lilith, wait!"

She didn't stop. She knew what Finnick would say, and she didn't need him trying to change her mind.

"Please, I just want to talk."

She could probably make it back to the suite before he had the chance to catch up to her. He might have longer legs, but she was still faster. Did she really want to though?

She slowed down slightly, and, without stopping, turned towards her friend. "Look, if you want to go along with Haymitch's plan that's fine, but I just can't do it. I would love more than anything to be able to, but I really can't. Please, just leave it at that."

"Why?" He grabbed her arm as he caught up to her. "You're one of the most anti-Capitol people I know. I don't understand what's stopping you from doing this."

"There's plenty of things that nobody, even you, knows about me." She spoke softly, her voice filled with regret.

"I just have to much experience with the price rebellion against Snow costs to risk it." She bit her lip nervously. "Plus, I don't trust Thirteen." Her eyes flash with anger for a moment before calming down again.

"Wait, why don't you trust Thirteen?" Finnick looked genuinely confused as he dropped her arm. "They're the masterminds behind this rebellion."

"But why did it take so long?" She asked bitterly, clenching her fists. "And don't say that they were waiting for the right moment. There have been times in the past where the districts were ready to fight, but Thirteen never showed up then. What makes Katniss Everdeen so special?"

"What are you-"

But Lilith was already gone. She move swiftly until she reached the suite and locked herself in her room.

She shouldn't have said that. No one could know the truth about her past, not if they wanted to remain alive. It wasn't safe.

She could only hope that Finnick wouldn't think too deeply about what she had said, and that he would leave it alone. Some secrets were dangerous and better left buried deep in the ashes of her history.

That night her nightmares were about flames and failed rebellions. About Snow deciding to finally take his revenge, and about her loved ones being tortured.

When she woke, she was covered in sweat. Breathing heavily, she stumbled to the bathroom. Her hair was matted, and she looked like she had bruises under her eyes.

After fumbling with the controls on the shower she finally managed to turn it on. The hot water soothed her aching muscles and comforted her mind. Today was going to be brutal.

when she stepped out of the shower she threw on some training clothes and her locket. After pulling her hair into a low ponytail, she headed down the hall for breakfast.

She was the first one there, as she helped herself to the delicious food. She decided to grab a muffin, a couple of pieces of bacon, and water. She could never eat much early in the morning, it upset her stomach.

"Good morning," Anders said as he entered the room. "Sleep well?"

"Nope, but what else is new?" She peeled the wrapper off her muffin, taking a bite out of it. Peanut butter, her favorite.

"Fair enough." He starts heaping piles of food on to his plate.

"Yuck, how do you eat that much? I would puke if I tried that." Lilith grimaced at the thought.

"I'm also not the one who has to train soon," he says as he settles down next to her. "Ah, here comes the others."

Right as he says that Finnick and Marie enter the room. Grabbing food for themselves they join Lilith and Anders at the table.

Lilith just grunts a hello, too busy with her muffin.

"Things are going to be different this year," Marie starts speaking right away. "Don't hold back during training, they need to see what they're up against."

"Sounds good," Lilith replies as she finishes off the last of her muffin.

"Can do," Finnick adds.

"Alright then, you have about fifteen minutes before you have to go down there, don't be late." She starts to eat her food, signaling the end of the conversation.

Lilith returns to her room, making sure she's ready for training. Remembering the dark circles under her eyes, she applies just enough makeup to hide them. Time to go.

Meeting Finnick by the elevator, the two victors head down to the ground floor.

The tension between the two of them was palpable. She needed to make this right if she didn't want to risk losing her friend.

"Look, I'm sorry for how I reacted last night," Lilith confessed. "I didn't mean to get upset."

"I'm sorry for pushing you like that. It's your decision, I shouldn't judge you for it." Finnick gave her a sad smile. "Are we good?"

"I guess, unless you want to do some begging first." She smirked at him playfully.

"In your dreams, Adara." He smirked right back at her, running a hand through his bronze hair.

When the elevator opened, she could see that quite a few of the victors hadn't even bothered to show up. She didn't see Twelve anywhere, but they were sure to arrive soon.

"Divide and conquer?" She looked questioningly at Finnick.

He nodded, "See you around." He then left to go to the tridents.

Scanning the stations, Lilith decides to work on camouflage first. She'd save the weapons for later when everyone was here to see it.

The only other people there were the morphlings, the two from District 6, who seemed to be enjoying painting flowers on themselves. Their skin was yellowed and sunken, obviously from years of drugs. It was sad to watch them, knowing their sorry state was because of the Games.

"Mind if I join you?" She smiles at them, as she walked over to the station. "I've always wanted to learn, but the opportunity just never came up."

They don't speak, but they grin at her, gesturing for her to sit down beside them.
"Thank you."

She had never realized how difficult this actually was, getting all the colors just right, so that it looked real. People really underestimated this skill it seemed, something she vowed from now on not to do again.

She was getting ready to move on when somebody joined them at the station. Looking up, she saw that it was Peeta, from District 12. She vaguely remembered that he had used camouflage last year during his Games, it had helped save his life she thought.

"Hi, I'm Peeta, District Twelve."

"Nice to meet you, I'm Lilith, District Four." She extended her hand out to him to shake.

He accepted her hand, flashing a friendly smile. "You Have much experience?" He gestures towards the paints.

"I'm afraid not," she showed him her arm which didn't quite look like tree bark. "I guess it's just not meant to be."

"It's better than most," he replied to her. "It's something that takes a lot of practice."

"Well, it was nice talking to you," she told him. "I'll see you later." Giving him a small wave, she stood up, deciding to go make some fishhooks.

The trainer tried to give her advice, but quickly realized that she was far more experienced than he was. Which made sense, District 4's industry was fishing.

Making fishhooks reminded her of Damon, he had taught them to her after all. She used to struggle with them, but when he explained it, it all seemed to make sense. Now was a bad time to think of Damon though, not that there really was a good time to do it. Thankfully she was distracted by Finnick and Katniss joining her.

The three of them worked in silence after brief greetings. Katniss actually wasn't too bad, considering she was from District 12 and all. The young girl seemed to watch Lilith more than the trainer, copying the tricks she used on her hooks.

"Why did you volunteer for that girl?" Katniss asked, after Finnick had drifted off to another station and they were alone. She was looking at Lilith out of the corner of her eye.

Lilith was startled by the question, but she was careful not to show it. Firing back, she said, "Why did you volunteer last year?"

Katniss seemed confused, "Because Prim is my sister, she's family. I couldn't let her die."

"And Annie is my family, I had to save her."

She turned to look Katniss in the eyes. "She has more reason to live than I do. I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if I had let her go back into the arena."

Katniss looks at her stunned for a moment, then nods understandingly.

"That hook's pretty good by the way," she says, gesturing towards the hook Katniss had been working on. She gave her a small smile before waving goodbye, heading over to the knives next to have a little fun.

Picking up a few, she stepped back to view the targets. Lightning fast, she threw the knives in rapid succession, hitting dead center every time. She grabbed more, adding in some tricks to make it more difficult, but each knife hit right where it was supposed to without exception.

She could see a few people were watching her, but she ignored them, moving on to a couple of daggers. She was on top of the dummy in an instant, slashing and dodging like it was second nature. She could almost feel flesh ripping beneath her blade, instantly sucking the joy out of her performance.

She knew that what she was showing the others now would pale in comparison to the carnage that would follow her in the arena. Even the victors who had seen her games had yet to see what she was truly capable of. She was scared of what would happen if she really let go, if she let herself get consumed by the violence. It wouldn't be good, she knew that much.

Training flew by quickly. She spent time working on camouflage with Peeta, and even got some lessons in archery from Katniss in exchange for helping her with knife throwing.

She never asked about Haymitch's plan, and no one ever brought it up, though it was certainly because of her presence. She still refused to take part in their alliance.

When it was time for their individual assessments, they all sat around joking about what they might do. The Gamemakers already knew what they were capable of, so they would have to work hard to surprise them.

"Personally I think Johanna should tell them the story of the time she got drunk at that Capitol party," Lilith suggested, giving her friend a knowing look.

"I will throw an axe at your face if you don't keep quiet about that." Johanna glared at her.

"Please, continue, I haven't heard this one." Seeder leaned forward on her elbows in anticipation.

"Don't you dare, Lilith Keren Adara, " Johanna growled. "I will make you regret the day you were born."

"Why," Lilith said deciding to call her bluff. "You don't want to tell them about how you tried to serenade President Snow?" She says in a sweet voice, "I personally love that story."

There was a long silence, and then everyone burst out into uncontrollable laughter.

"Oh, you're going down, Adara." She suddenly sat back, looking about as innocent as someone like Johanna could. "I know all sorts of secrets about you. Want me to share some?"

"That's okay, but you'll never have as much dirt on me as I do on you." She rolled her eyes, "oh, I almost forgot, thanks for giving me an idea on what to show the Gamemakers. You really saved me there."

Just then they could hear a voice telling them that it was her turn.

"Try not to kill yourself," Johanna called out.

When she entered the room everything was in its place, no sign of what Finnick had done.

She couldn't believe she was going to do this, but Johanna actually had given her an idea. She just had to hope that nobody else got hurt because of her.

Walking over to the knives, she grabbed a long dagger. It was beautiful and jagged, perfect for what she had in mind.

Next she went to the camouflage station, finding a container of blood-red paint that would do just nicely.

The Gamemakers were looking at her in confusion, they had no idea what she was about to show them.

Smirking to herself she headed over to the side of the room. Dipping the dagger in the paint she started to carve words into the wall.

It made an agonizing sound as they scratched and scraped against each other. The paint dripped from each line, like blood seeping from a wound.

This was her rebellion, her small form of revenge. This way she was the only one in any danger. She still thought the others were crazy, but she understood why they felt the need to move against Snow.

When all was said and done the words were carved into the wall for the Gamemakers and the rest of the tributes to see. Snow couldn't possibly ignore this, in fact, she hoped he knew exactly what she had done.

As she turned to face the Gamemakers, she could feel the words staring back at her.

POISONED

SECRETS

PERFECT FOR A SNAKE

Author's Note

I definitely meant to update yesterday, but obviously that didn't happen. I promise I'll update on time next week.

What do you guys think about this chapter? What secret, or secrets, is Lilith so scared about someone finding out? What about her assessment?

Please let me know what you think about this chapter, and any ideas or tips you might have for improving the story/writing.