142 FIRST ECHORE

He has not spoken a word, which Mirabelle doesn't mind so much, except that back home, her servants were her friends. They were her family when her parents were too busy to even think about her. And she hasn't thought about Home in years, because she's forced herself to think of the Capitol as her home. But this phantom is bringing up ghosts from her past that she does not want to see.

Just before leaving, Pericles told her that he would be on television, commentating the Reaping Recap, and if she knew what was good for her, she'd watch it.

So watch it she does, because her husband's words wreak of unspoken threats, and Mirabelle cannot get in trouble, not when she's so close she can taste the freedom on the tip of her tongue.

Now it's just her. And the shadow.