i stayed in the darkness with you »devereaux blitz

I really don't blame her. The idea of discussing our father's birthday present (a man who already has everything he could ever want) does seem a bit - bland. And frankly ridiculous. Nevertheless, she shouldv'e remembered. We had it all planned out, a nice little secret sibling meeting to fit around career training and school and basically everything that constitutes being a Devereaux, and she had missed it. My watch ticked and ticked and normally I would've gone and searched for her much earlier than this, but it seemed pointless at the time. I was on time, just as I always am, what did it matter what my siblings were doing? As long as I am being the grown up, they can be the children all they want, despite mother's protests.

Granted, sitting around doing nothing for 3 hours certainly was relaxing and definitely far from my normal routine so, again, I can't blame Corran for getting herself lost in a book. At least, I assume that is what she is doing. Reading in the library, forgetting about time as some story captures all of her attention. My eyes search through the rows and rows of books, my recently polished shoes clicking against the floor. So proper. Dressed in a suit and tie even when no one is supposed to visit the house today and when I have no need to go to work with father. So smart. I glance over some of the books in the non-fiction section. Analytical, business, statistics, biographies; I recognize many of the titles of these books. I pause and pull a book from the shelf, the dust on the cover proving I am the only one that touches these books. The History Of Panem, reads the cover. But just as I begin to flip through the pages, the lights go out and the shutters close and I am left in pitch black.

I let out a heavy sigh and feel around with my hands until I find where the book belongs before beginning to make my way to the edge of the shelves. (Totally not creepy, this is totally not creepy at all ...) The clack of my shoe sort of echoes around the library and when I pause at the edge of the bookcase, my wrist near to my ear, I can hear my watch ticking. "Hello? Anyone?" I shift my head towards the sound of Corran's voice before I hear another voice calling to her, "Corran! Corran! Ripred where are you?" The voices are coming from different directions, so I head towards the louder one - Hollyn, of course. As I get closer and closer to where I heard her voice, I hear the door rattle. Locked? Interesting. I know I shouldn't find this all that ominous, that there is a perfectly logical explanation for all of this (Power got cut. Happens quite often, even to the rich families of Panem. So the shutters shut, they are old and I bet anything can shut them. And the doors? Must've locked behind me. I should've remembered to bring the key with me.) but honestly, it's still all a bit odd. But I don't mind - a bit of adventure is a welcome change.

When I hear more rattling at the door, much closer this time, I extend my hand, looking to find a human being. "Hollyn?" I say, just before my shin collides with something - probably a table - and a hushed curse, ("Ripred!"), escapes my past my lips and I fall into the wall, somehow managing to catch myself before I have the chance to fall to the ground. I push myself away from the wall and into an upright position, and slide the table back into place, the legs of it grinding loudly on the floor. Right, okay, some light would be helpful ... And that's when something clicks in my brain and I reach in my jacket, searching around blindly for where I keep my lighter. And after much feeling around, I find it next to my cigar, smiling - and flick the trigger of the lighter until the flame comes to life, sending a bit of light into the darkness. "Right, now, where is everyone?" I say, waving the flickering light around in front of me, searching with the bit of light I have.

"A respectable man always carries a lighter and a cigar, just in case."

Thanks Dad.