whispers in the night | {kay//ems//eyes of argo}

I glance back outside to the peacekeepers outside the house. Even if you wanted to get out, like I'm sure Navya wanted too, it would probably be impossible. Especially with five kids. When Navya had showed up outside the house earlier, five kids in tow, she didn't say why she had come back, but the fact that they had bags packed to the brim was telling. I could feel their anxiety was mounting with each day that came closer to Vera's twelfth birthday each time I saw them.

Every parent was worried when their kid reached that age. I can see why they were more worried than ever, though. It was hard to see how you could rig a slip of paper, but each year it felt that kids were increasingly chosen to die based on some twisted methodology to keep those with the most power in line. And this year would have even higher stakes. It's a quell. For all we know, Snow could decide to just publicly choose who would die this year based on who's causing the most problems.

It would be more confusing if they didn't try to run.

That's not something I could think about right now, though. That's something Navya and Harb are going to need to decide. That's a problem for the future and whenever we manage to get out of this lockdown.

"Neysa," she says with a sigh after the moment of being startled by my presence, "No. I don't think so, anyhow. Harbinger doesn't tell me everything, but I think he would have told me about this. If he'd known how bad it would be he would have come with us."

I keep my gaze focused outside, looking for any sign of an anomaly in the peacekeeper's patterns. I'm silent for a moment, thoughts and conspiracies trailing through my head. What really could have gone on. I wouldn't be surprised if the whole crisis was faked by the capitol to keep District Eleven on lockdown. We don't know what happened. All I know is that more peacekeepers than ever lined the streets of our district, and the capitol never did anything for our protection like they claimed.

Before I can say another word, a small voice speaks besides me.

"What's going on? "What's so bad?"" My niece asks, absent minded fingers making her way into her hair. She was just so small. It's hard to imagine that I was once that small just a few years ago, and looking at her reminded me why I was never told certain things about plans Navya and Harb and Kirito had, even when I asked. Just seeing her made me want to surround her in bubble wrap and tell her the world was in perfect shape.

And despite my internal feelings and contextual guesses, I can't begin to imagine the fear Navya must have for her eldest daughter.

I close the gap in the curtains, hoping it will bring some form of comfort to not see the ghastly figures in the night. I don't know how much Navya wants to say to her daughter, so I nervously glance at her for a moment before speaking in as calm of a voice as I could muster.

"Nothing much," I say with a small smile forced onto my face, "We're just talking about what to do now that we're all stuck inside for a bit. I don't think any of us expected something like this to happen."

I glance back suspiciously at Navya, looking for any reaction. I know that she said that she didn't hear about anything before this, but I also know that she's a lot more clued in to what Harb knows. And it wasn't the first time that they've kept me out of plans despite my protests.

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