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Chapter Text

May 8th of HG 58 (the year of the 58th Hunger Games)
The Presidential Mansion
The Capitol, Panem

President Coriolanus Snow was talking on the telephone to Romulus Thread, who was the brand-new Head Peacekeeper in District Eight, when the president felt something icy-cold press against the inside of his left forearm. The strange thing was, his left forearm was inside a white shirt sleeve, which was inside a suit-coat sleeve, and nobody else was in the room. Meaning: There was no logical reason why Snow’s forearm should be feeling icy-cold.

As soon as the telephone call ended, Coriolanus took off his suit-coat and draped it on the back of his chair, he unbuttoned the left sleeve of his shirt, then he pulled his left shirtsleeve all the way up to the elbow.

He stared at what he saw.

If he did not know better, President Snow would think he now was seeing a tattoo of dark-green handwriting on his skin—but Snow knew that what he was seeing was no tattoo.

****

Coriolanus Snow hated most District people with a white-hot hatred, though he knew better than to show such hatred—it was bad politics.

Actually, Snow tolerated district people from District One and District Two, but this was because during the Dark Days, those two districts had joined the rebellion only partially and grudgingly.

During the Dark Days, District Four had been the third-to-last district to join the rebellion; so in theory, Snow nowadays should tolerate people from District Four as well. But Snow had been suspicious of District Four people since he had been nineteen. Snow had watched nineteen-year-old Mags Flanagan on hologram, and Coriolanus had been unable to shake the feeling, The Victor is up to something. But in the years since Snow became president of Panem, he was never able to prove a thing against Mags.

As for people from District Three, Districts Five through Twelve, and District Thirteen, Snow hated all of them. Snow hated those districts’ people because during the Dark Days, those districts had heavily favored the rebels—

—the rebels who had killed Coriolanus Snow’s mother and father before little Cory was even five years old.

Coriolanus had never been friends with a district man, and Coriolanus had never fallen in love with a district woman. Nor could he imagine either event happening to him in his remaining years. Yet if his brand-new soulmark was to be believed, now Snow not only had a soulmate who was sixty-two years younger than he was, but she was also District.

****

Coriolanus Snow did not have many memories of his parents, because he had been too young when they had died.

His most vivid memory of his father had been little Cory often asking his mother, “When will Daddy be home?” (The elder Snow had worked late a lot.) Then when Julius Snow had been at home, often he had been holding a record/play minibox and talking to it, rather than giving attention to his young son. But Cory had admired his father, because all the adults who knew Julius Snow well, spoke admiringly of him. Cordelia Snow had clearly loved her husband, and this fact had given little Cory many good feelings.

Coriolanus Snow’s few memories of his mother Cordelia were all happy ones. The most vivid memory that the president now had about his mother was—How ironic!—a discussion about soulmates and soulmarks—

****

Cordelia Snow had just toweled off her son after his bath. This was when Cory asked, “Mommy, do you have a soulmark?”

“Yes, Cory, it’s on my back. You can’t see it unless I wear a swimsuit.”

“And Daddy has a soulmark too?”

“Uh-huh, on the back of his left hand. The writing’s really small. He got it on the day I was born, when he was two years old. Your Grammy says that getting the soulmark made Julius cry.”

“Why? Does it hurt?”

“Your father says he doesn’t remember quite what happened, only that he didn’t like it at the time. But I’ve heard it said that getting the soulmark feels like someone presses a rubber stamp against your skin, except the rubber stamp is made of cold, cold, cold ice. Supposedly even if you’re asleep, the cold will wake you up when you get your soulmark.”

“Is that what your soulmark felt like? Very cold?”

“I’m younger than your father, so I was born with my soulmark. It’s never felt cold.”

“Can it see it, Mommy? Your soulmark?”

His mother looked at Cory for ten seconds or so, then she said, “Okay.” She sat on the bathroom floor with her back turned to her son, she unbuttoned her blouse, then the blouse dropped from her neck to the back of her waist. Cory saw on his mother’s right shoulder, words written in his father’s handwriting, colored royal blue.

Cory pouted. “I can’t read the words, Mommy! What do they say?”

Cordelia pulled her blouse back up. As she was refastening the buttons, she answered, “The words are, ‘May I share this table?’ Your father said those words to me in the Student Center at Capitol University, and they were the first words he ever spoke to me.”

“And what does Daddy’s soulmark say?”

As Cordelia stood up, she said, “His soulmark-words are in pink, in my girlish handwriting. His words say”—she laughed—“ ‘Um, WHAT did you just say?’ Because those words, the stupidest words I’ve ever said to anybody, were the first words I said to your father.” Cory’s mother laughed again.

“Do I have a soulmark, Mommy? Could you look, please?”

“Well, I can tell you for sure that you weren’t born with one. But you’re four years old—maybe you have one now and somehow you didn’t feel it come.”

Cory’s mother took the towel that had been draped around Cory’s shoulders, and hung the towel on the towel rack.

Cory’s mother looked over every square centimeter of the boy’s now-naked skin, then she draped the towel on her son again. “Nothing to see, just as I thought. But I still have to check your hair and the bottoms of your feet. Sit on the floor.”

To an impatient four-year-old boy, his mother checking his hair took way too long—she was being very patient and thorough.

At last she announced, “There’s no soulmark in your hair.”

She then said, “Now I have to check the bottoms of your feet. Hold them up to me.”

Cory faced his mother, lay on his back on the tiled bathroom floor, and lifted his feet off the floor. He figured that his mother would simply look at the bottoms of his feet.

But instead, his mother wrapped an arm around his feet, capturing them, then she began tickling the soles of his feet. Grinning, she explained, “I’m trying to see a soulmark, and I’m trying to feel a soulmark. I don’t want to miss feeling it, so I have to keep trying.”

“Mommy, you’re tickling me! Stop,” Cory said, even as he laughed and laughed.

****

Four months after this tickling session, rebels had murdered Cory’s parents just because they lived in Panem’s grand capital city. This was when Cory’s happy childhood had ended.

District people had murdered Coriolanus Snow’s parents, and now Coriolanus Snow was supposed to believe that the love of his life was a 62-years-younger District girl? Impossible!

Chapter Text

The first day of kindergarten: September, HG 63
District Twelve Elementary School

The teacher asked, “Does anyone here know ‘The Valley Song’?”

The Seam girl who wore the red-plaid dress, who wore her hair in two black braids, did not answer with words; she simply raised her hand.

Five-year-old Peeta looked around. Nobody else in class had his or her hand up to say he or she could sing “The Valley Song.” Little Peeta certainly did not; Peeta’s father did not sing, and Peeta’s mother played only Capitol music.

Meanwhile, the teacher was asking the black-braids girl, “What is your name, child?”

“Katniss. I’m named after an edible root.”

Dislikable Bruno Berg, whose father owned Berg’s Fruits, Vegetables, and Dairy, called out, “What’s your brother named? ‘Potato’? ‘Carrot’? Har-har-har!”

Katniss calmly replied, “You’re stupid. I don’t have a brother.”

The teacher said, “Katniss, will you stand on this chair and sing for us?”

Little Katniss scowled, but she climbed on the chair and began to sing.

A window was open, and through that window, little Peeta had heard the chirping of birds—till little Katniss sang. She had such an amazing singing voice that the birds beyond the open window went silent.

Little Peeta smiled goofily at the still-singing girl as he thought, Katniss is the girl I will marry someday.

No sooner had little Peeta thought this but little Delly Cartwright began pointing at Katniss, who still was standing on the chair and singing. “Teacher, teacher!” Delly said excitedly. “Katniss has writing on her leg! Why is that?”

Katniss had dark-brown Seam skin coloring; this meant that the white writing on the inside of her right lower leg was easy for Peeta to see.

Katniss stopped singing. She scowled at Delly as Katniss bent down and yanked up both of her socks as high as they would go—which covered up the white writing.

Katniss jumped off the chair. “I’m done singing,” she told the teacher, then she walked back to where she had been sitting on the floor.

The teacher then tried to explain to the class about “soulmarks” and “soulmates.” The more little Peeta listened, the more unhappy he got—

Somewhere in Panem was the soulmate boy whom Katniss would meet someday. Then this boy and Katniss would fall in love, then they would get married, then they would have babies, and it would all be wonderful, because he and she were soulmates. This boy, whoever he was, would know Katniss as his soulmate right when he met her, because her first words to him were already written on him somewhere.

Peeta did not have words written on him anywhere. He was not anyone’s soulmate; he was not Katniss’s soulmate.

Little Peeta wanted to cry. He had just met the girl he wanted to marry, and now he found out that she was going to marry somebody else.

****

Two hours later
After the end of first-day kindergarten

Little Peeta had made a decision. He could not marry Katniss, but he would be Katniss’s friend if she would let him. And hopefully Katniss would let Peeta remain her friend once she fell in love with her soulmate.

So now Peeta walked up to Katniss—talking to her was scary, but Peeta made himself do it—and he said to her, “I’m not your soulmate. Whoever he is, he’s lucky, because you sing really pretty.”

Katniss blushed. “Thanks.”

“I want to be your friend. I’m Peeta. Peeta Mellark.”

Little Katniss’s gray eyes bored into little Peeta’s blue eyes as she said, “I’m Seam. You’re Merchant. Mrs. Mellark hates Seam people—everyone in the Seam knows it.”

Peeta said, “I’m not my mother. I don’t hate anybody. I’d really like to be your friend, Miss Katniss.”

Little Katniss stared into little Peeta’s eyes for only two seconds before she nodded. “Okay. I’m Katniss Everdeen. My daddy’s a miner. Sometimes he finds squirrels and sells them. He sings gooder than me. Mother is the district healer; she used to be Merchant. My little sister Prim has blond hair and blue eyes like you. She can walk and talk now. Prim loves her cat doll.”

Little Peeta was grinning when little Katniss finished talking. Little Peeta thought, This went better than I had hoped.

Chapter Text

April, HG 70
Three months after the mine disaster
Under an apple tree in front of Mellark’s Bakery

Eleven-year-old Katniss wanted to cry. I’m so sorry, Prim.

Soon Katniss would die of starvation, and Prim would die, and their mother would also starve to death. Katniss was not too much bothered by the thought of her own death—who was she but a mere Seam girl whose own maternal grandparents shunned her? But Prim was a treasure, and the thought of Prim dying was a tragedy.

Now Katniss leaned back against the bark of the apple tree and waited for death to come. Her left hand landed atop a now-soggy pile of girl’s baby clothes, but Katniss was too weak from hunger to shove the clothes away.

It was cold outside, and the rain was fierce, which Katniss thought was fitting. It would be wrong, Katniss decided, to starve to death on a sunny, warm day with birds chirping.

Katniss noticed her friend Peeta watching her through a big pane of glass in the bakery. As soon as Katniss and Peeta locked eyes, Peeta shook his head as he pounded his right fist into his left hand. Then he walked away from the window.

Two minutes later, Katniss heard shouting from inside the bakery—which had to be loud if Katniss could hear the shouting outside the bakery, in the pouring rain, over at the apple tree. Katniss recognized the voice: Mrs. Mellark was screaming at someone.

Less than a minute later, Peeta Mellark walked out of the bakery’s front door, with a loaf of bread in each hand. Katniss noticed a black spot on the crust of each loaf of bread.

Katniss saw Peeta do an odd thing then. Once he walked out the front door, he turned to his left, toward where Katniss knew the Mellarks’ pigpen was. But as Peeta walked along the bakery’s front, he was not looking where he was walking, he was looking through the big window, into the bakery.

When Peeta was nearly to the corner of the building, he stopped. He did not walk around the corner, then walk to the pigpen; instead, he turned and walked toward the apple tree.

By the time Peeta was standing a meter away from Katniss, his curly blond hair was plastered down to his head, and his chin was dripping rainwater.

Katniss was unhappy to see that Peeta had a bruise on his left cheek, and the left side of his lips were bleeding. “Oh, Peeta,” she said quietly—Katniss was too weak to speak any way but quietly—“what did she do to you?”

Peeta bent down and laid the two loaves of burned bread in Katniss’s lap. “Eat up, Katniss—two loaves of multigrain twist-loaf, our very best.”

“She hit you for burning expensive bread? That witch.”

Peeta shrugged.

It took Katniss several seconds to realize what Peeta had just done. “Peeta, I can’t take these. Seam people don’t take charity.”

“Katniss, take the bread. You’re my friend, and you’re about to die!”

“I’ll pay you back when I can—”

“No. Never. I’m not doing this to be owed.”

“Doesn’t matter, I will pay you back. And no more charity!” Meanwhile, Katniss began to wrap wet baby clothes around the two loaves of bread.

Peeta looked relieved.

Peeta said, “Here’s a promise, Seam girl: When you’re about to have your toasting with your soulmate, I’ll sell you the bread. No charity.”

Katniss looked at Peeta, confused. “You talk about my someday-soulmate much more than I do, Peeta. Why?”

Peeta hesitated to answer. When he finally spoke, he said, “I need to go back inside, or my mom will hit me again.”

Peeta turned around and walked toward the bakery’s front door. Rain poured down on him.

****

The next day, before the start of school

Katniss walked up to Peeta and handed him a yellow-blooming dandelion.

“What’s the dandelion for?” Peeta asked.

Katniss blushed. “I won’t explain, because I’d sound stupid. But it means ‘Thank you for the bread.’ ”

Peeta smiled that big Peeta-smile that made him the most popular kid in their year at school. “You’re welcome, Katniss.”

Blushing Katniss looked down at the playground pavement. “The dandelion is also to say I’m sorry you got hurt for me.”

“Katniss. Look up,” Peeta said.

As soon as Katniss looked up, Peeta’s eyes bored into hers. “I would let President Snow chop off my right arm if it meant I was keeping you alive. Believe this, Katniss. Always.”

Katniss shifted her feet, uncomfortable. In all the world, she thought only her father would ever say such a thing to her.

Then Peeta’s expression changed: Another big Peeta-smile shone on his face. “So what’s with the hair now? One braid, instead of two?”

Katniss smiled back. She had a plan to save her family now, to go hunting for squirrels and rabbits after school, and she was sure she could do it. Katniss said to Peeta, “That’s another long story, but now I think my life will get better, and the one-braid is connected to this.”

Chapter Text

Before school, June 7th, HG 73
Two weeks before the 73rd Hunger Games Reaping
Outside District Twelve High School

Fifteen-year-old Peeta was about to walk into the school building when he heard yelling: “Stop, Peeta! Wait up!” He recognized Katniss’s voice.

When Peeta turned toward Katniss’s voice, he was shocked. Katniss was striding toward Peeta, her quick walk making her braid bounce up and down on her right shoulder, and Katniss was carrying a loaf of bread in each hand!

Katniss stopped in front of Peeta and held out the bread. “Paid in full, two loaves of multigrain twist-loaf. Still warm when I bought them. Eat up.”

Instead of taking the bread, Peeta said, “Friends help friends when they need help, without expecting repayment.”

Katniss shoved the bread close to Peeta. “Take the bread,” she growled. “Seam people always repay what they owe, and Seam friends repay as soon as they can.”

Sighing, Peeta took the bread.

****

One second later

Peeta asked Katniss, “So how do you have just-baked bread to give to me?”

Katniss said, “Yesterday after school, when I went out hunting, I decided that I would ask everyone to pay me in PDs”—Panem Dollar coins. “I planned to go to Undersee’s”—Undersee’s Clothing Store, owned by the mayor’s brother—“and buy new knee socks. Two weeks from now, when I’m wearing my Reaping dress, I don’t want my knee socks to slide down and everyone see my soulmark.”

“Sure, I can understand that,” Peeta said.

“Well, I had a really good hunt: three rabbits and three squirrels. Between Rooba”—the butcher—“and your father, I had twenty-six PDs in my pocket when I walked into the clothing store. I swear, I felt as rich as a rainbow,” Capitol person.

Peeta grinned at her. “Twenty-six PDs of your own. Must be nice.”

“Anyway, I bought the knee socks, then I went home. At first, I was going to give Mother the rest of my coins, but I realized that there was something else I could do with the money. So when I handed Mother the coins, I held back eight PDs.”

“The price of two fresh loaves of multigrain twist-loaf.”

Katniss nodded. “So this morning, I was at the bakery right at seven. Your father unlocked the front door, and your mother was behind the display case. She took one look at me and said, ‘Get out of here, Seam brat—’ ”

Peeta sighed. “Yeah, that sounds like my mom. Sorry.”

Katniss laughed scornfully. “But I was ready for her: I already had the coins in my hand. I yelled, ‘I have money.’ I showed the coins. Then before she said one more word, I said, ‘I know you will cheat me, so you get out of here!’ I pointed at your father and said, ‘I want him to sell me the bread. He is honest.’ ”

Peeta was laughing. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be laughing at my mom. But I can picture her face right then. So what happened next?”

“Your father said, ‘Go into the back, Medea. I’ll handle this.’ Your mother puffed up and said, ‘Aloe Everdeen’s Seam-trash daughter just insulted me! No way am I leaving!’ Then your father got badass—I’ve never seen him badass before. He said, ‘Medea! In the back, now!’ They stared at each other, then she left, he stayed, and he sold me the bread.”

“Whoa. I’ve seen Dad be ‘badass’ only five times in my life, maybe.”

“One other thing you should know, Peeta: When your father handed me the bread, he said, ‘How did you know to ask for “multigrain twist-loaf”? That’s what we call it.’ I didn’t give him an answer.”

Peeta shrugged. “Well, if he asks me at dinner tonight and I answer honestly, my mother will punch me in the face again. So maybe I’ll answer that a forest fairy told you what to ask for.”

****

Before school, one week later
In a hallway of District Twelve High School

Katniss was getting books out of her locker. Peeta’s voice said from over her shoulder, “Hey, thanks for the bread. I finished up the last of it yesterday.”

Katniss turned to smile at Peeta. “You’re welcome. And now we’re even.”

“Okay, fine, but why did you not let me share any of that bread with you? It was tasty bread.”

“Peeta, do you even have to ask that? If I pay you what I owe you by giving you bread, then you give some of that bread back to me, then I’ll owe you again.”

Peeta said tiredly, “I know that, Katniss.” He paused, then said, “I shared some of the bread with Madge and Delly, if that’s okay.” Katniss shrugged. Peeta added, “That is, I shared the bread till it got really stale. I won’t offer stale bread to anyone outside my family.”

Katniss nodded. “I know you shared the bread; I saw.” Then Katniss said with fake casualness, “You know, Peeta, Madge is really pretty. And she’s blond like you. And she’s Merchant. You could date her. Marry her someday.”

Peeta shook his head. “I’m not interested in marrying Madge. Or Delly either, before you ask. Besides, Madge likes a different boy.”

Chapter Text

At the Reaping
The Square, District Twelve

“Ladies first,” Effie Trinket said into the microphone. She reached a fake-fingernailed hand into the girls’ glass ball.

The fists of sixteen-year-old Katniss were clenched. Katniss squeezed her eyes shut. Her mind screamed, Not me, not me, not me!

“Primrose Everdeen,” Effie Trinket said cheerfully.

Katniss’s eyes flew open. She saw sniffling Prim step out into the center aisle of the pen, close to the Reaping stage; four big Peacekeepers immediately surrounded the tiny blonde and herded her forward.

The second thing that Katniss did then was to herself step out into the center aisle and yell, “I volunteer! I volunteer as tribute!”

The first thing that Katniss did, once she decided to volunteer for Prim, was to pull up her knee socks. For the next ten minutes, Katniss knew, she was going to be on nationwide hologram-broadcast nonstop, and Katniss did not want anybody to see her soulmark.

****

One minute later

As Effie Trinket asked Katniss silly questions, Katniss looked out over the Square. Katniss looked down at Reaping-age girls, Reaping-age boys, small children, parents, and other onlookers. Among the twelve-year-old girls, who were placed at the front of the girls’ pen, Prim was weeping and sobbing. Back among the sixteens, Madge Undersee looked sad. Over in the boys’ pen, in the very back, Gale Hawthorne looked angry. Among the boys’ sixteens, Peeta Mellark looked shocked.

Katniss did not seek out her mother’s face—Katniss was sure she did not want to know what Aloe Everdeen was feeling at this moment.

Meanwhile, everyone in the Square was looking at Katniss as if she had dropped a noose around her own neck. So it was no surprise when the entire district gave Katniss the three-fingers funeral salute, seconds later.

Part of Katniss shared everyone’s fatalism; the thought screamed in her head, What have I done? I’ve just committed suicide a week from now, that’s what I’ve done!

But another part of her—the Katniss who had faced down an attacking boar and lived, who had faced down an attacking bear and lived—this Katniss made tribute-Katniss lift up her chin and look dry-eyed into the holo-cameras. Katniss thought, Nobody outside District Twelve has any idea what I can do. I will surprise everyone.

Meanwhile, Effie Trinket, the rainbow (Capitol person) with the solar-powered smile, was saying, “But more excitement to come! It’s time to choose our boy tribute!”

Katniss was looking straight at already-shocked Peeta when Peeta got an even bigger shock.

****

Meanwhile, in the Presidential Mansion

President Snow had stopped watching Reapings years ago. So he was at his desk, working while his holoprojector stayed off, when a telephone rang. His secretary said, “It’s Minerva, sir. She sounds excited.”

“Put her through.”

The telephone clicked, then Minerva Snow said, “Grandpa, turn on your holo! Hurry, hurry!”

Minerva Snow was the only person in Panem who could give orders to President Snow without being Avoxed on the spot. Snow turned on the holoprojector; he did not need to ask Minerva which of seven hologram-channels to view. Snow immediately muted the sound.

Snow recognized Effie Trinket standing in front of a Justice Building; what he was seeing had to be the District Twelve Reaping, still going on. Snow gave the girl-tribute only a glance—she had Seam coloring, she was short (probably aged fifteen), she was thin, and her clothes were simple. The boy-tribute, on the other hand, was as tall as Effie in her heels, he was well fed (which was unusual in District Twelve), he was muscular, and he had blue eyes and curly-blond hair.

“I’m guessing you have a crush on the boy,” Snow said into the telephone. “He looks sixteen.” Minerva was fourteen.

“Um, yes, I do, he’s handsome”—Snow could hear his granddaughter blush—“but I didn’t call about him, I called about her. She volunteered, Grandpa—she volunteered for her sister!”

Snow now gave the hologram-version of the fifteen-year-old Seam girl another look. Her face did not show fear, it showed determination, which was unheard-of among newly-Reaped outer-district tributes. (Snow also noted in passing that for some reason, the girl was wearing knee socks in June.)

“My dear, look at her,” Snow said gently to Minerva. On hologram, Peacekeepers were leading the boy and girl into the District Twelve Justice Building. Snow continued, “The inner-district volunteers”—Careers—“will eat her for breakfast.”

“I don’t care!” Minerva yelled. “Her sister Primrose got Reaped, she’s twelve, she’s tiny, she had no chance, and then Kat-something volunteered for her sister, it was the bravest thing I’ve ever seen, and she can’t just die!”

“But she will die,” Snow said gently. “She will pay the price for her district’s rebellion years ago, and she knew this when she volunteered.”

“Well, I don’t like it, Grandpa! Not one bit.” Minerva hung up.

The holo-image changed then, showing the District Eleven mayor rise from his chair and walk toward the microphone. Snow turned off the holoprojector.

But Snow did not immediately return to his work.

Snow stared at the far wall as he thought, What is your angle, Kat-something? Merely to save your little sister’s life, at the expense of your own? I doubt it. You’re up to something, I’m sure.

****

Some minutes later
In the Justice Building, District Twelve

Madge said to Katniss, “They let you wear one thing from your district in the arena. One thing to remind you of home. Will you wear this?” With a finger, Madge tapped a fancy gold pin on her own Reaping dress.

To Katniss, what was so odd was that there was urgency in Madge’s voice.

“Me, wear your pin?” Katniss asked, confused.

Madge took the gold pin off her dress and held it out to show to Katniss.

Madge’s offered jewelry was a pin of a small bird in flight, inside a circle; the entire pin was made of gold.

Madge said, “Here, I’ll put it on your dress. All right?”

“Um, hold on,” Katniss said.

Madge did not wait for permission; she leaned in and affixed the bird to Katniss’s dress.

Katniss said, “Hold on, Madge, let’s not rush this.”

Madge asked—after she had pinned the little golden bird to Katniss’s dress—“What’s wrong?”

“Look, you know my family is poor. I don’t own any jewelry, including any gold pin—”

“And you don’t own any gold pin now. I’m lending you this pin. But I really want you to wear the mockingjay pin in the arena.”

Katniss did not ask Madge why she was pushing this so hard. Instead, Katniss shoved her right knee sock as far down as it would go. “I’ve never shown you my soulmark. Read it.”

Madge bent down to read the words. She murmured, “Whoever he is, he has perfect penmanship.”

“Madge! That’s not the point.”

Madge straightened up, to stare at Katniss’s face. “You think that when your soulmate mentions the ‘pin,’ he means this pin?”

“Yes! Oh Madge, until now, the words made no sense; but now, I think my soulmate is—”

A Peacekeeper opened the door and yelled, “Time’s up! Go!”

Madge kissed Katniss on the cheek, then left.

“—another tribute,” Katniss said in the temporary silence.

****

One minute after that

Katniss said to Gale, “If I—if I don’t come back, Gale, I hope you find a good life. Happiness. I want you to marry a girl you like.”

Gale chuckled, but he did not look happy. “Katniss, the one girl I want to marry the most—she’s taken. Sort of. So I guess I’ll go with Plan B.”

“What’s Plan B?”

“Maybe I’ll flirt with your friend the mayor’s daughter. She likes me. But Katniss?”

“Yes, Gale?”

“Hunt a Career tribute the same way you hunt a wild boar, and you will come back. If Haymitch the drunk can be a Victor, why can’t you?”

****

During the tributes’ ride to the train station

Peeta was crying. Katniss wanted to cry too, but instead she kept her face dry-eyed and looking resolute.

Katniss said, “Peeta, please don’t cry. It’s just bad luck, is all.”

Peeta said, “Katniss, I swear, you will come back to Prim. You will win this. I will make it happen.”

Between Katniss and Peeta sat Effie. Sounding surprised, Effie said, “You two know each other?”

****

A little over a day later
During the Tribute Parade

President Snow gave his speech from the balcony of the Presidential Mansion, speaking to this year’s crop of Hunger Games tributes. Snow saw that those twenty-four tributes were colorfully costumed, and they stood in twelve chariots that were gathered in front of Snow in the City Circle.

Glimmer, the girl-tribute from District One, was dressed like a pornographic fantasy—as girl-tributes from One usually were, Snow had noticed long ago. But this year, Glimmer was outshone (literally!) by Peeta and Katniss from District Twelve, who burned with illusionary fire as they stood in their chariot.

But besides upstaging District One, the Twelves’ illusion-fire costumes were upstaging Snow himself, the president of Panem, and Snow did not like this!

Snow’s expression did not change, and he did not falter in his speech—nothing outwardly hinted that Snow’s thoughts were on anything other than the speech he was giving. But as Snow was bloviating, he thought, I’m sure that Katniss Everdeen volunteered for her sister not out of sisterly love, but because Everdeen is a showoff. I bet the fire-costumes were her idea too—because Everdeen is clearly a showoff. Well, Miss Everdeen, showing off at my expense will cost you.

****

Meanwhile, in City Circle

Katniss stood next to Peeta in their chariot, and listened to President Snow give his speech. If holo-cameras had not been aimed at her and Peeta, Katniss would have rolled her eyes—because as far as she could tell, the speech that Snow was giving now was, word for word, the same speech as last year. And the year before that. And the year before that.

Katniss thought, “We applaud your courage and your sacrifice”? Give me a break. Do you want to show you admire us, President Snow? Stop the Games so that our “courage” and our “sacrifice” won’t be needed! Stop the Games like what should have happened fifty years ago. You smooth-talking murderer, you are disgusting.

****

Days later, during the Tribute Interviews

Katniss had completed her three days in the Training Center, had been evaluated by Gamemakers, and was now being interviewed by Caesar Flickerman.

Katniss had talked to the strange people of her prep team, to her own stylist and to Peeta’s stylist, to most of the tributes, and to a few Gamemakers during her Evaluation—but nobody among these people, nor Caesar Flickerman who had started talking to Katniss two minutes ago, was her soulmate.

(Katniss had avoided talking to the six Career tributes; and the reclusive redheaded girl from Five had avoided Katniss. Katniss hoped that none of the Careers was her soulmate, ditto “Foxface”—talk about awkward!)

Now Katniss was telling Caesar Flickerman, “...[The ‘Girl on Fire’ costume] was the most gorgeous costume I’d ever seen, and I couldn’t believe I was wearing it. I can’t believe I’m wearing this, either.” Katniss lifted up her skirt to spread it out. “I mean, look at it!”

The upshot was that Katniss wound up spinning around on stage, in front of Caesar, Cinna, a live Capitol audience, and the nation of Panem via hologram. And as Katniss was spinning, the dress burned away—live, on hologram.

Luckily for Katniss, Cinna had shoed her in knee-high dress boots, so now nobody saw her soulmark.

****

Minutes later

Katniss had rejoined the rest of the tributes on stage, and now it was Peeta whom Caesar Flickerman was interviewing. Caesar had just asked Peeta if he had a girlfriend back home; Peeta had shaken his head.

Caesar grinned at him. “A handsome lad like you, there must be some special girl. Come on, what’s her name?”

Peeta sighed. “Well, there is this one girl. I’ve had a crush on her since I was five. But she sees me as just a friend.”

The audience awwed.

Katniss wondered, Who does he mean? Madge? Delly?

Caesar asked Peeta, “She have another fellow?”

“Sort of, but not really. It’s complicated.”

Caesar clapped Peeta on the shoulder. “So here’s what you do: You win, you go home. She can’t friend-zone you then, eh?”

Peeta shook his head and sighed. “Winning ... won’t help in my case.”

“Why ever not?” asked Caesar, looking genuinely mystified. Katniss, watching and listening, was just as puzzled.

Peeta blushed beet-red and stammered out, “Because she came here with me. ‘Twenty-four go in and only one comes out,’ isn’t this the saying?”

The room was bedlam after those words. Caesar Flickerman looked stunned, members of the live audience were yelling, Haymitch was smirking, Effie was smiling at Peeta, and all the other tributes on stage were staring at Katniss (except for Rue from Eleven, who was giving Katniss a shy smile).

Katniss felt a moment’s anger, that Peeta had put her on the spot like this, in front of the entire country! But then Katniss felt deep embarrassment. She thought, Peeta has been my friend for eleven years—how did I miss this?

****

Meanwhile, in the Presidential Mansion

President Snow and his granddaughter Minerva were watching the Tribute Interviews. Minerva was fascinated by what she was seeing; her grandfather felt quite the opposite.

Snow thought, First Katniss Everdeen wore that flashy “Girl on Fire” costume at the Tribute Parade, and tonight she wears an interview dress that catches fire. Someone should tell this show-off that she’s a girl tribute from District Twelve, not District One. And if the Twelve boy Peeta is in love with Katniss Everdeen of all people, he is a class-A fool.

“I volunteered to save my sister,” ha! I’m sure that Katniss Everdeen is here only so she can win the Victor monthly stipend. Too bad for her plans, Seneca Crane and I have already had a chat about her; Everdeen won’t win anything except a pine box.

Snow was also still annoyed by Everdeen’s apple-shooting trick. What was Seneca Crane thinking, after that stunt Everdeen pulled at her Evaluation? After she shot an arrow toward Gamemakers, Crane should have ordered her flogged with rubber hoses, not awarded her a score of eleven!

****

Not quite 1-1/2 days later
Day Two of the 74th Hunger Games, before dawn
In the forest, in the arena

The-Careers-plus-Peeta, using flashlights and torches to see in the darkness, walked away from Katniss’s tree.

Katniss, high up in that tree, counted to sixty; when she was sure that the Careers could not hear her voice, Katniss said quietly, “Folks watching at home, I have something to say.”

Katniss paused two seconds, waiting for Seneca Crane to switch the live broadcast over to her.

Katniss said, “Folks, Peeta is scamming the Careers, and everyone in District Twelve knows he’s scamming the Careers. Peeta has been my friend since we were five. He’s not trying to lead the Careers to me, he’s trying to lead the Careers away from me. But Peeta is playing a dangerous game, and I’m worried about him.”

Katniss paused, sighed, then spoke again: “As for him being in love with me, I had no idea. I’m still deciding what to think about this.”

****

Days later, in the arena

Katniss had real weapons now: a silver bow and a silver sheath of arrows, which she had looted off Glimmer’s tracker-jacker-stung corpse. Katniss had two kills to her credit from dropping the tracker-jacker nest on the-Careers-plus-Peeta: Glimmer, and the District Four girl-tribute. After Katniss had claimed the bow and arrows, she had used them to put “hunger” back into the Hunger Games, at least for the three surviving Careers, by blowing up their stash of Cornucopia goodies.

Alas, in the carrying out of this plan, clever little Rue had been speared to death, but Katniss had put an arrow in the neck of Rue’s killer. For the first time in Katniss’s life, she had aimed her weapon at a human being and had killed her target. But Katniss the killer had also been Katniss the friend: Katniss had sung to dying Rue, then Katniss had covered Rue’s corpse with flowers and had given Rue the District Twelve funeral salute.

Only hours ago, Claudius Templesmith had announced that two tributes could both win the Hunger Games if they both came from the same district.

After the announcement, finding Peeta had been a real challenge for Katniss. Injured Peeta had laid in a stream and had disguised himself as a mud bank—the camouflage had been perfect.

Finding Peeta had been a problem for Katniss, but Peeta had had bigger problems of his own—

Cato’s sword had cut deep into Peeta’s leg, after Peeta had fought to protect Katniss from an angry (and tracker-jacker stung) Cato. Now the sword-wound was deep and inflamed, and Peeta was weak. This despite the fact that Katniss had used medical knowledge on Peeta that she had never realized she knew.

But now Katniss and Peeta were hiding from the District Two Careers in a cave. Feverish Peeta was lying in a sleeping bag that Katniss had stuffed him into.

Peeta said, “Katniss, thanks for finding me.”

Katniss shrugged off the thanks. “You would have found me if you could.”

“Yes. Look, if I don’t make it back—”

“Don’t talk like that. I didn’t drain all that pus for nothing.”

“I know. But just in case I don’t—”

“No, Peeta, I don’t even want to discuss it.” Katniss laid her fingers on Peeta’s lips to quiet him.

“But I—”

Katniss leaned down and kissed Peeta. She felt his lips burning unnaturally hot from fever.

Katniss felt something then. Something made her heart beat faster.

Pretending nonchalance, Katniss pulled the edge of the sleeping bag up around Peeta.

Still seemingly unexcited, Katniss said, “You’re not going to die. I forbid it, all right?”

“All right,” Peeta whispered. His face showed amazement that Katniss had just kissed him.

“It’s settled then,” Katniss declared. She leaned down a second time; she kissed Peeta for the second time. This time Katniss knew to expect that her friend’s lips would be fever-hot.

What Katniss did not expect was how this second kiss made her feel. Katniss had overheard girls at school talking about going to the Slag Heap and kissing a boy—Katniss now felt like how those girls had said they had felt: Happy. Tingly. Alive.

Katniss realized she could not think of Peeta as “just a friend” anymore.

Katniss raised up, and looked down at Peeta. Peeta was smiling as much as a sick person could smile.

“Peeta,” Katniss said with complete seriousness, “I am going to get in so much trouble, because I like this, but...”

Katniss leaned down and kissed Peeta a third time.

What Katniss broke the third kiss, Peeta’s face was as radiant as the sun.

****

Days later

Thresh from District Eleven had killed Clove from Two. Then Cato from Two had killed Thresh. “Foxface” (the reclusive District Five girl-tribute) had died when she had eaten nightlock berries that Peeta unknowingly had gathered. Katniss had put the nightlock berries in a pouch, hoping she could pull the same trick on Cato as had killed Foxface.

Then all three remaining tributes had been attacked by mutts that looked like werewolf-versions of dead tributes. All three tributes had climbed atop the Cornucopia to escape the mutts. Katniss and Peeta, working together, had knocked Cato off the Cornucopia, where he had fallen down among the werewolf-mutts. But well-armored Cato had not died till hours later, when Katniss had shot him in the head.

Strangely, no trumpets had sounded then. Katniss and Peeta had moved off the Cornucopia (with difficulty, in Peeta’s case—his leg had been gushing blood). Even after the two Twelves had moved far away from Cato’s corpse so that a hovercraft claw could easily reach Cato, still no trumpets had sounded. Then Claudius Templesmith had announced that the two-tributes-can-win rule had been changed back.

Very likely the Gamemakers had expected Katniss to kill Peeta then; or less likely, Peeta to kill Katniss. But Katniss was done playing their games. Soon afterward, Katniss and Peeta each had an open hand that was filled with nightlock berries.

“On the count of three?” Katniss asked.

Peeta kissed her, then replied, “On the count of three.”

Katniss and Peeta stood facing each other. Her right hand was holding his left hand.

“Hold them out,” Peeta said, “I want everyone to see.” Peeta straightened out the fingers of his right hand a little, which revealed a few more nightlock berries, then he raised his right hand a little. Katniss’s left hand copied both moves.

“Together?” Katniss asked.

“Together,” Peeta answered, his eyes boring into hers. “One.”

Katniss and Peeta, each being careful not to spill any berries, leaned forward at the same time. They kissed.

They each leaned back, standing straight again. Katniss said, “Two.”

Katniss and Peeta each leaned forward, they kissed (much longer, the second time), then they leaned back to stand straight.

At the same time, each of them said, “Three.” They brought their berries-hands to their mouths.

The instant that the berries entered their mouths, the trumpets sounded. Then Katniss and Peeta heard the voice of Claudius Templesmith—but his voice was not smug like usual, it was frantic. “Stop! Stop! Ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to present the victors of the Seventy-fourth Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark. I give you—the tributes of District Twelve!”

****

One second later

Katniss and Peeta each spewed the berries out of their mouths; Katniss went so far as to wipe off her tongue with her shirttail. The two new Victors moved to the edge of the arena’s lake, where they rinsed out their mouths with water.

Then Panem’s first Co-Victors looked at each other—each of them had a lower face that was wet, and their clothes were water-splashed.

Katniss said, “Peeta, I want you to be more than just a friend. To hell with You-Know-Who.”

Peeta looked as shocked as when he had been Reaped. But Peeta’s shock did not stop him from pulling Katniss in for a kiss—

—seconds later, he collapsed in her arms. Blood-loss had made him weak.

Katniss hurried to get Peeta into the Victor-hovercraft. As Katniss pulled Peeta forward, she had an irrelevant thought: I still have no clue who my soulmate is.

****

Meanwhile, in the Presidential Mansion

Minerva Snow was smiling as she cried. “Oh Grandpa, Peeta and Katniss are beautiful. Katniss is my hero now.”

President Snow was so angry—at brainless Seneca Crane, at lovesick Peeta Mellark, and especially at uncontrollable Katniss Everdeen—that he walked out of the room, rather than dim Minerva’s happy mood.

Snow vowed that Seneca Crane and Katniss Everdeen would both pay for this.

Chapter Text

Ten minutes later
In Snow’s office, the Presidential Mansion

President Snow was at his desk, processing paperwork and grumbling about how Katniss Everdeen had ruined these Games, when Snow’s telephone rang.

Calling was 52-year-old Septicus Kopf, who was Panem’s Minister of Security. Kopf’s job was to uncover Rebellion plots in the districts and among misguided Capitols. A year ago, Kopf had ferreted out that privileged Capitol siblings Cassius and Lavinia Lockhart were planning to run away together to District Thirteen. Because of Minister Kopf’s tipoff, Snow had sent a hovercraft after the young Lockharts. Cassius had been killed, Lavinia had been Avoxed, and a point had been made.

But now, Snow was sure that Septicus Kopf was not calling to report on Rebellion plots.

Septicus Kopf was a fashion disaster, which was almost unforgivable in a man of such prominence. Kopf had been wearing the same purple wig in public—and only that purple wig in public—for the past five years.

But Kopf’s ever-present purple wig was by far not his worst personal failing.

Septicus Kopf was a pervert. He liked sex with young District women, and even sex with young District men—because both parties knew that the penalty for a District person to injure a Capitol citizen was death. Kopf loved the power imbalance. And Kopf’s favorite young District sex partners? Victors, who were unwillingly whored out by Snow.

Meanwhile, the list of young Victors had just bumped up by two. Septicus must be drooling enough to soak his shirt, Snow thought.

“Good morning, Minister Kopf,” Snow now said into his telephone. “What can I do for you?”

“Two Victors to be whored out! I can’t wait,” Kopf said. “I’m guessing that they’ll be made available at the usual time—the end of the Victory Tour?”

Snow was about to unthinkingly reply Yes when realization hit: Handle this wrong and you’ll see riots in every district.

So Snow instead said into the telephone, “I have not decided yet whether they shall be whored out at all, Septicus. The fact that they are publicly seen as a couple complicates things.”

“All the better! I can’t wait for that boy to suck my dick, then I fuck him in the ass, after he’s publicly declared his love for the Girl on Fire. As for Katniss, it would not surprise me if she’s still a virgin when I get my hands on her. Three holes she might have, all untouched!”

“Septicus, contain your excitement. If one of ‘the Star-Crossed Lovers of District Twelve’ is ever seen ‘dating’ anyone from the Capitol, and there is even a hint that the Twelve Victor is doing this unwillingly, there will be riots in every district.”

“I’m sure the Peacekeepers can handle it,” Kopf said dismissively. “Trained Peacekeepers versus District monkeys? Pfft. No contest. But do I need to remind you that I’m owed this? After all the sponsor money I’ve pledged, not only to Katniss, but also to Thresh and the inner-district volunteers? Also, my large sponsor-pledges go back years! If the Games ever come when the ‘gold’ Cornucopia will actually be solid gold, it’ll be because of money I’ve paid in!”

“So what? Avoiding massive unrest in the districts is more important than you ... indulging your hobby, Septicus. If I decide not to whore them out, you would do well to make your peace with this. Meanwhile, you saying to me variants of ‘You owe me’ annoys me very much—I trust you understand.”

“Fine,” Kopf said, in a tone of voice that said that nothing was fine.

****

Days later, before the Games Recap

Cinna had dressed Katniss like an innocent little girl—her shoes were flat-heeled, and while the bust of her dress was padded, the dress was gathered just below that bust, hiding whatever hourglass figure that Katniss had. The hemline of the dress stopped above Katniss’s knees—like dresses that little girls wore.

In terms of color, Cinna had dressed Katniss like a candle flame: her shoes were blue, the tights that covered her legs were orange, and the dress was yellow—but a yellow that shimmered when Katniss moved.

Katniss thought Cinna was a genius.

What bothered Katniss was that she picked up from Cinna that she was being dressed up like a tiny, innocent girl so that unspecified people would not get “ideas” about her. In one sense, it was ridiculous that a girl who had killed three Careers (four, if she counted mercy-killing Cato) could ever again be thought of as “innocent.” But Katniss did not argue about Cinna’s choices, because Cinna knew the ways of the wicked Capitol much better than Katniss did.

The last thing that Cinna did was to pin Madge Undersee’s gold pin to Katniss’s dress. By now, Katniss knew that the bird within the gold pin was the mockingjay, the symbol of the Dark Days rebellion.

****

The Games Recap

The first thing Katniss did when she saw Peeta was to run up to him, hug him, and kiss him. Which made him stagger. This was how Katniss learned that Peeta had a prosthetic leg now, and that he needed the cane that he was holding.

Guilt smashed into Katniss; she tried to apologize. Peeta stopped her mid-word by kissing her again.

Then Katniss and Peeta sat down on a red-velvet love seat together, and Caesar Flickerman began hosting the “fun.”

Soon Katniss wanted to cover her eyes with her hands, but Haymitch had warned the new Co-Victors that this was not allowed. As Haymitch had warned her and Peeta, Katniss discovered that the Games Recap was a horror.

Whoever edited the holo-film loved to show every killing in the Bloodbath in full, then loved to repeat a killing from several camera angles. As a result, the Bloodbath, which had lasted maybe ten minutes long, was stretched out to twenty or thirty minutes during the Recap.

This dragging out of the Bloodbath during the Recap had been bad enough for Katniss in previous years, when she had had to Mandatory-View the Recap in District Twelve’s Square. But this year it was agony for Katniss to watch outer-district kids whom she had known, at least a little, be killed for the entertainment of rainbows.

Katniss and Peeta were holding hands during the Recap; and often during the Bloodbath part, Katniss squeezed Peeta’s hand hard.

Soon the Recap showed the tracker-jacker nest being dropped on the-Careers-plus-Peeta, in all the attack’s gory glory. The Recap paid extra attention to the death of the District Four girl (who was named Marina, Katniss learned) and to Glimmer’s death. Right afterward, the broadcast showed woozy Recap-Katniss having problems stealing the silver bow from Glimmer’s disgusting corpse.

(Real Peeta leaned over to real Katniss and murmured, “Those bugs hurt worse than anything my mother ever did.”

Katniss murmured back, “I know.”)

The Recap was three hours long, and the Gamemakers used that time to tell a story. This year, the story was how Katniss and Peeta, the eventual Co-Victors, fell in love. Katniss saw clips of Recap-Peeta with the Careers, swearing that he hated Katniss and pledging to lead them straight to her—then he led the Careers everywhere but where Recap-Katniss was (with two exceptions). Recap-Katniss, for her part, once the “two tributes can win” rule-change was proclaimed, searched and searched for Recap-Peeta, not quitting till she found him, then she nursed him back to health.

Almost at the end of the Recap, the trumpets sounded—before then, both the “two tributes can win” rule being revoked, and the berries stunt, had been edited out.

Then both Recap-Katniss and Recap-Peeta were standing in water at the edge of the lake, with some of their skin and clothing wet—but why the new Co-Victors were wet and standing in water, the Recap did not explain.

Recap-Katniss said, “Peeta, I want you to be more than just a friend. To hell with You-Know-Who.”

Recap-Peeta pulled Recap-Katniss in for a kiss—

Then he collapsed in her arms.

“The End.”

Now, the real Katniss and Peeta kissed. The Capitol audience awwed.

****

One second later

The “Anthem of Panem” played, as President Snow, followed by Minerva Snow, walked onto the stage. Minerva Snow was carrying a white pillow on which laid two Victor crowns.

By the time President Snow and Minerva were standing in front of the Co-Victors, with the Snows’ backs to the studio audience, Katniss and Peeta were respectfully standing.

President Snow turned toward the pillow, picked up the larger Victor crown, and placed it on Peeta’s head. President Snow’s eyes peered deeply into Peeta’s eyes, as if searching for something. Katniss could not guess what Snow was looking for, or whether he found it in Peeta’s eyes. Meanwhile, no words were spoken between the man and the youth.

Then President Snow stepped sideways in front of Katniss; his teen granddaughter moved sideways by the same distance. President Snow turned toward the pillow, picked up the smaller Victor crown, then turned back to face Katniss, the crown in his hands.

All the while Snow spent bringing his hands up and forward, placing the Victor crown on Katniss’s head, and bringing his hands down—Snow spent those seconds glaring at Katniss.

Snow’s right hand came up again, to push Katniss’s styled black hair aside, revealing the mockingjay pin.

Snow, while still glaring at Katniss, said sarcastically, “What a lovely pin.”

****

An instant later

Katniss gasped, hearing Snow’s words. Those were the words of her soulmark; President Snow was her soulmate!

Then Katniss thought about the words themselves, not as she had always imagined them being said one day, but as Snow had now spoken them. Snow had said the words sarcastically, while glaring at Katniss—his message was You are wearing jewelry that symbolizes sympathy for the Dark Days rebellion, and I disapprove! Fine, Snow was Katniss’s soulmate now, but Katniss was not going to stop wearing the symbol of the rebellion just because Snow disapproved of it, nosirree! Nor was Katniss the only person in District Twelve, not by a long shot, who liked the Dark Days rebellion and who was sorry that the rebels had lost.

Now, how to say all this?

Katniss was angry now, and angry Katniss was better at words than even Peeta, so it was no surprise when the perfect words popped into her head—

Katniss gave Snow an Effie-fake smile and said with sugary sweetness, “Thank you.” Katniss glanced meaningfully at the mockingjay-pin and added, “It’s from my district.”

Snow's eyes went wide, then he muttered, “Shit!”

“Grandpa!” exclaimed Minerva Snow, who looked shocked down to her toes.

****

One second later

Snow’s back still was to the audience. He turned his head to look at Caesar Flickerman; Snow murmured, “End the show!”

Caesar Flickerman faced the audience (and the cameras) and said cheerfully, “And now ends our recap of the Seventy-fourth Hunger Games, starring our romantic Co-Victors, Peeta Mellark and Katniss Everdeen. Tune in tomorrow for the final interviews—I promise you an entertaining conversation. You in our audience, thanks for coming, and drive home safely. Goodnight, everyone!”

The bright camera-lights shut off; ordinary-brightness lights came on.

Snow turned to Flickerman and ordered, “Show us where is a meeting room in this building. Miss Everdeen and I need to talk—alone.”

Snow turned to his granddaughter. “Ride back to the Mansion with Desdemona. Miss Everdeen and I have business.”

By now, Caesar had taken a few steps toward the wings of the stage. “Ready?” he asked.

“Let’s go,” Snow ordered Katniss.

“Hold on,” Katniss said angrily. “I’m not moving one centimeter till my team knows what’s going on.”

Oddly, Snow did not push the issue. But he did fold his arms and renew his glare at Katniss.

Meanwhile, Peeta was saying, “And what is going on, Katniss? I’m lost.”

Katniss chin-pointed at Snow. “He is You-Know-Who.”

Caesar Flickerman’s eyes went wide, as Peeta said, “ ‘Shit!’ is right.”

Minerva Snow—still on stage, still holding the pillow—was looking at everyone else in confusion.

By now, Haymitch and Effie had climbed the stairs to the stage and were walking toward the group. Both of them looked worried (although Effie was much better at hiding it).

When the newcomers were close, Haymitch asked, “Sweetheart, what’s the story?”

Katniss sighed. “There’s something I haven’t told y’all, though Cinna knows. Sorry, I didn’t think it was important. Anyway, I have a soulmark.” Katniss kicked her right foot out briefly. “Just now I met my soulmate: President Snow.”

Haymitch said nothing; he only stared. Effie murmured, “Oh my.”

Snow said, “Miss Everdeen, now that everyone has been informed”—he shot Minerva Snow a quick look of apology—“do I now have your permission to confer with you?”

Katniss looked at Haymitch and Effie, as Katniss took Peeta’s hand and squeezed it. Katniss said in complete seriousness, “If I’m not back in the Twelve Apartment by dawn, it means I’ve been shot.”

“Miss Everdeen, you are acting overdramatic as usual,” Snow said. “Mister Mellark, Mister Abernathy, and Miss Trinket, you three are going straight to the Victory Banquet. Miss Everdeen and I will be along later.”

“Correction,” Katniss said to the Twelve Team, “I won’t be shot till after the party ends.”

Then Katniss, with her Victor crown on her head and her mockingjay pin reflecting the light, said to Snow, “Let’s talk.”

Chapter Text

Caesar Flickerman led Snow and Katniss away from the stage; but within a few feet, two big men were walking on either side of President Snow. Katniss scowled.

Caesar led the other four people into an employee area, then to a door. Caesar took out keys from his pocket and unlocked the door. “Your meeting room,” he announced.

Snow and the bodyguards walked in, and the bodyguards did bodyguard-type things that did not take long (since the room had clearly been empty of people). But Katniss, meanwhile, had remained standing next to Caesar in the hallway.

“Come in, Miss Everdeen,” Snow said impatiently.

Katniss said, “Before I go in, your men come out. You wanted to talk to me alone? Then that’s how we’ll be: alone. No bodyguards, no Peeta and Haymitch, just you and me.”

“My bodyguards go everywhere with me, to protect me.”

“R-i-ight. If they’re any good at their jobs at all, they’ve figured out I’m not even carrying a peashooter right now, and I’d have to stand on tip-toes to punch you in the throat. You’re bullshitting me—you don’t want them here for protection, you want them here to frighten the cannonbait girl who dared outplay the Careers, and who then outplayed the Gamemakers.”

Snow glared. “Miss Everdeen, come in now, or I will have Hefaestus or Pietus carry you in.”

“You want to cheat—why am I not surprised? You and I are soulmates, which means we are equal somehow, and we can’t be equal if you have big men with you who are awaiting your orders to kill me! So I’m staying out here till they leave or they carry me in yelling.”

“If I may, Mr. President,” Caesar said calmly. Katniss suspected that Caesar had a lot of experience at calming down angry President Snow.

Caesar continued, “I suspect this ‘soulmates’ thing is as much a mystery to you and to Katniss as it is to me, am I right?” Snow didn’t answer with words, but he frowned for a second. “Mr. President, you two can’t uncover the truth together if Katniss feels under threat the whole time. Imagine if you went to the archery range to talk to Katniss, and she kept a loaded bow in her hands while she was talking to you. No matter what she said, you would feel threatened, right? Let me show your bodyguards where the vending machines are.”

“Go with him,” Snow snapped.

After the bodyguards walked past Katniss and began to follow Caesar down the hall, Katniss gave Snow the same sarcastic bow that she had given the Gamemakers after she had shot the apple out of the pig’s mouth. Only then did she walk into the meeting room.

****

Seconds later
In Caesar’s meeting room

Along one wall, Katniss saw five devices that looked like holoprojectors, except they also had television screens and keyboards. All over the other three walls were glued sheets of paper that were dense with computer-printed text; different sheets of paper were connected by strings of yarn in different colors. From one paper, Katniss learned that Foxface’s name was actually Windmilla Finch—

Behind Katniss, Snow demanded, “How can you be my soulmate? Are you not fifteen?”

Katniss turned to face him. “No, I’m sixteen. Sixteen years and two months, just about. I was born on—”

“May 8th, HG 58. Shit. I never thought to check your birthday.”

“And I always thought my soulmate would be my age, more or less. Not white-haired and wrinkled.”

Then Katniss stared down Snow. “I don’t know why Peeta and I aren’t soulmates, because I love Peeta and he loves me—”

“You mean the ‘Star-Crossed Lovers’ romance was not merely an act to get sponsors?”

Katniss gave Snow a You’re stupid if you think this look, then she continued: “Whereas I can never, not in a million years love you, even if you were sixteen instead of ... whatever age you are.”

“I am seventy-eight, Miss Everdeen.”

“Hey, call me Katniss, okay? Nobody ever calls me ‘Miss Everdeen’ except at Victor Health Hospital. You and I are soulmates, which means equal, which means first names. Though I have to say, Cor-i-o-lanus is a mouthful. I think I’ll just call you Cory.”

“No, Katniss. I grudgingly accept you addressing me by my first name, but a nickname is too familiar. As you just said, you plan never to be my wife, lover, or girlfriend. My name is Coriolanus—learn to pronounce it.”

“Very well, Coriolanus,” Katniss said. The long name was a little easier to say, the second time.

Snow said, “Before either of us say any more, let us agree never to lie to one another.”

Katniss laughed. “Okay, but are you sure you want to go down that road? Because I’m sure your days are full of people telling you what you want to hear; how long has it been since someone looked you in the eyes and told you, ‘You’re full of shit’?”

“Not often. Almost always, the speaker is Avoxed or executed shortly afterward.”

Katniss laughed again. “Then it’s good for me that you sent your bodyguards elsewhere, isn’t it?” Then a thought came to her. “Unless they’re listening outside the door, ready to burst in?”

“They are not. They are wherever Mr. Flickerman led them to, and they will remain there until I stand in the hallway and yell for them.” Snow raised his eyebrows. “This is no lie.”

In the middle of the meeting room were twelve simple tables and their chairs. Katniss sat in a chair and looked at Snow. “You and I have to figure out why God, or The Cosmic Force, or The Spirit of Panem, or whatever, picked you and me as soulmates. So let’s start with, If you didn’t know I was your soulmate, how would you describe me?”

“A showoff, who is always drawing attention to yourself, starting with that fake ‘I volunteer for my sister’ stunt.”

“What?”

“I must say, you did some fast thinking there—unless you bribed Effie Trinket to draw your own sister’s name from the ball?”

“You are telling me, Coriolanus, that when Prim was Reaped and I volunteered for her, I did it for some other reason than to save my sister’s life? What reason would that be, please?”

“To win the generous Victor stipend, to be ‘bathed in riches.’ It is obvious.”

Katniss laughed again. “R-i-ight, because tributes from Twelve find it to be so easy to kill Careers and to become Victors. I’d have better luck digging in my yard, hoping to uncover a vein of gold.”

“So you did not volunteer hoping for the prize money?”

“Listen, I volunteered for my sister expecting to die—probably in the Bloodbath. But the way I figured it, I had a teeny, tiny chance to win”—Katniss held her thumb and index finger almost touching—“whereas Prim had no chance to win. But I was no cocky Career, thinking, ‘Oh, I’ve got this in the bag.’ I expected to die. So I’m no showoff, and anybody from Twelve would laugh, hearing me called that.”

“But you were a showoff during the Tribute parade. And later, wearing the burning interview dress.”

“Those outfits were Cinna’s ideas, not mine. Me, a clothing-design genius? This is something else that would make Twelves laugh.”

“You were a showoff when you sang to your young ally from District Eleven when she was dying. You were again a showoff minutes later, when you covered her dead body with flowers. People in the Capitol have told me they found those scenes disturbing, not entertaining to watch.”

“Why should I care what rainbows thought? I sang the song I sing to Prim, to honor my dying friend Rue, and I did the flowers-thing for all the people in Eleven who knew Rue and who could only watch helplessly as she slipped away. I don’t decide Right or Wrong by whether rainbows think something is right or wrong.” Katniss gave Snow a piercing stare.

“Fine, maybe you are not a showoff. But you did not follow the rules in your Games.”

“That’s because there are no rules. When Clove threatened to torture me, live on holo, just so she could get sponsor-pledges, no rule said she couldn’t do that. On hologram, I’ve watched tributes kill their allies in their sleep—such a dishonorable act never cost anybody the crown. But maybe you mean the rule that says, ‘If you’re not from One, Two, or Four, you’re not supposed to fight back.’ Well, fuck that rule, and fuck Seneca Crane, and I don’t apologize for messing with Seneca Crane’s head with my berries stunt, any more than he’s apologized to me for messing with my head with his werewolf-mutts!”

Snow said, “It’s highly unlikely that Mr. Crane will apologize to anyone for anything, being as he’s dead.” Snow looked at Katniss with one raised eyebrow, as if to say, And it’s all your fault.

Katniss said, “Don’t blame me for his death. I’m not the person here with bodyguards and who can command Peacekeepers.”

“I would not have ordered him killed if you had followed the traditions, Katniss.”

“If I had ‘followed the traditions,’ Peeta would be dead now. No.” Then Katniss smiled. “You tell me I did wrong, but you gave Peeta and me the crown anyway. So now it’s your ‘berries stunt.’ ”

Snow looked stunned.

Katniss said, “How would I describe me? I volunteered for Prim because it was the only way to keep Prim safe, once she was Reaped. Once I got in the Games, I used everything I could use to win the Games, not so I could be rich, but because as a Victor, I can keep Prim safe. Then later, when I realized I was in love with Peeta, I tried to also keep Peeta safe. I did whatever it took, for however long it took, to keep Prim and Peeta safe, and to hell with all rules!”

“This is astonishing,” said Snow. “The last part of what you said, about doing ‘whatever it took, for however long it took ... and to hell with all rules’—this describes how I approach being president of Panem.”

Katniss said, “Except that with you, the ‘rules’ that you say ‘to hell with’ include love, kindness, and loyalty. You absolutely don’t get that when I volunteered for my sister, when I laid flowers on Rue, and when I refused to kill Peeta at the end, I wasn’t doing these things to work some angle. You don’t understand me because you’re evil. You are the most evil man I have ever met, and I want to scream because I’m bound to you for the rest of our lives!”

Snow snapped, “I am not evil, I am practical.”

“Practical? Practical? You’re perfectly willing to hold Hunger Games for a thousand years, and that’s practical?”

He shrugged. “The rebels signed the Treaty of the Treason, seventy-four years ago; I’m just enforcing the treaty.”

Then Snow’s face showed anger. “You don’t like being bound to ‘evil’ me? I don’t like having the most disrespectful Victor of all bound to me either. I mean, you’re more of a loose cannon than even Abernathy was.”

Katniss was puzzled. “You mean Haymitch?”

“You’ve never watched the tape of his Games?”

“No. Should I?”

“Forget I said anything.”

****

Seconds later

Snow took several calming breaths, then he said, “Katniss, you are not what I expected.”

“Really? Because I’m sure nobody in Twelve is surprised by anything I did.”

“I figured you were like everyone else, pretending to be good, good, good, when really they’re out to get something from me.”

“You should meet my sister Prim sometime. Or Peeta. They really are good. Peeta once took a beating to help someone who really needed the help.”

“You did not take the hint I dropped. How curious. What, if anything, do you want from me?”

Katniss looked at him, puzzled. “Nothing, beyond my Victor stipend, and my mansion, and whatever goodies come from being a Victor. Give me what your ‘special film’ promises me, and I’ll go back to Twelve and you’ll never hear from me again ever, except when I’m mentoring.”

“So you’re not asking me to increase your stipend above the standard, or to give you a free apartment in the Capitol?”

“No, why would I ask for those? And if you’re offering, don’t. It wouldn’t be fair to Peeta or Haymitch if I got stuff they didn’t.”

Then Katniss snapped her fingers. “Actually, there is something I ask you for, Coriolanus.”

“What?” Snow said warily.

“The report on the mine disaster in Twelve that happened in January, HG 70. Afterward, a bunch of rainb—Capitols came to Twelve, they went into the mine, they interviewed miners—but whatever report they wrote, nobody in Twelve has seen it. Not Mayor Undersee, not the miners, nobody. And sure as hell, nothing has been done from that report. My father died in that accident, so I want that report.”

Snow said, “I will send you every scrap of paper about the mine disaster that the Capitol has. I also will send you another document.”

“Another document? About what?”

“I won’t talk about it now—who knows who is listening? But I will send you this other document, and I will ask you for your honest thoughts as a District person.”

“Ookaay...”

Then Katniss looked Snow in the eyes. “If you’re going to dig up the mine-disaster report for me, I owe you. What do I do for you in return?”

“Nothing. In fact, there was something that I was maybe going to ask of you, before I knew you were my soulmate, but now I have decided I will not ask it of you.”

Katniss was puzzled again. “Is it something I would not be bothered by, if I did it for you, or something I would be bothered by?”

“You would be very bothered. But I have decided I shall not ask this of my soulmate Katniss.”

“Thanks, I guess. But in the meantime, I still owe you.”

“Understood,” Snow replied. “But I cannot see how I can ever collect.”

Katniss said, “You’re not what I expected either. If I had said ‘I owe you’ to President Snow of the crowning ceremony, I would have expected him to say, ‘Fine, scrub the floors in the Presidential Mansion for a year.’ ”

“Katniss, I promised not to lie to you. If you had said to me ‘I owe you’ an hour ago, I would have had you doing much worse than a year of scrubbing floors. I was angry with you.”

Katniss nodded. She was quiet for several seconds, then she said, “Going back to something you said a minute ago: I never thought I would feel sorry for the president of Panem. But it must be awful dealing with people who act nice around you, and you never know whether they’re nice because they like you, or because they want something from you—and this goes on every day. As a coal-miner’s daughter in Twelve, I never have this problem; if someone seems to like me, he or she does like me.”

Snow smiled like the uncle whom Katniss had never had. “My dear, I suspect those days are over. You’re not only a Victor now, you are ‘the Girl on Fire’ and half of ‘the Star-Crossed Lovers of District Twelve.’ I predict everyone will want to claim you as their friend, or want to ask you for money, or something.”

Katniss shrugged. “So long as it’s not Twelves trying to cozy up to me, I can handle it.”

Then Katniss said, “By the way, Coriolanus, I’m not angry at you anymore.”

Snow replied, “And I am no longer angry at you, Katniss. Shall we head to the banquet?”

****

During the limousine ride

Snow said to Katniss, “You told me that you expected not to win. Yet you did win. Why do you think you won?”

“Because I wanted to win more than the Careers did. They only wanted bragging rights, but I needed to go home to my sister.”

After a pause, Katniss asked, “There will be booze and ‘fun pills’ at this banquet, won’t there?”

“In large quantities, yes.”

“But you yourself never touch the stuff, right?”

“I will drink two glasses of champagne, and take all night to do so. Pills I don’t touch.”

Katniss smiled at Snow. “I like that, that you’re disciplined. I am too. I mean, I haven’t been offered booze back in Twelve, and nobody in Twelve has ‘fun pills’ to offer anybody, but I’ve already decided that when I’m offered that shit tonight, I’m going to say no.”

“What about alcohol as a way to cope with stress? I am sure this is why Mr. Abernathy drinks so much.”

“If my life gets stressful, I’ll find other ways to cope.”

“Katniss, we have just found another way we are alike.”

****

Minutes later, at the Victory Banquet
The Presidential Mansion

As a very relieved-looking Peeta took Katniss in his arms, Katniss watched Snow stride up to a potbellied man in his fifties who was wearing a purple wig and a bright-orange suit. Whatever Snow was saying to the man was accompanied by a shake of Snow’s head.

The purple-wigged man argued, though Katniss could not hear the words. “No, Septicus!” Katniss heard Snow yell, louder than all the other talk in the banquet room.

The purple-wigged man turned to glare at Katniss and Peeta, before stomping away to the open bar.

Peeta said to Katniss, “He’s some high muckety-muck in Snow’s Cabinet. You do not want to hear the questions he asked me about you. Or about me.” Peeta shivered with disgust.

Then Peeta smiled at Katniss. “I’m glad you’re okay.”

She replied, “I am okay, can you believe it? The talk with Snow went better than I thought it would.”

When Katniss caught Haymitch giving her a worried look, she smiled at her mentor and gave him a thumb-up.

Chapter Text

Two days later
At the District Twelve train station

As Peeta and Katniss, holding hands, stepped off the train, the crowd of District Twelve people screamed.

Most of the people of District Twelve, Katniss saw, were held back behind a long barricade. Peacekeepers were interspersed on the far side of the barricade, in case Twelves caused trouble; but today the Peacekeepers were unneeded, because Twelves were in a joyous mood.

But while most Twelves were behind the long barricade, the Mellark family, and Aloe and Primrose Everdeen, stood in front of the barricade.

Actually, Prim was standing with her back to the barricade, with her hands going up and behind her; pressed against the barricade from behind, Madge and Gale were each holding Prim’s nearer hand. Madge and Gale each had their free hand on the other one’s shoulder.

Madge Undersee and Gale Hawthorne, Aloe and Primrose Everdeen, and most of the Mellark family, all were grinning hugely at Katniss and Peeta. But Medea Mellark, who was staring fixedly at the Co-Victors’ held hands, was not smiling at all.

Katniss looked around some more. Haymitch was not smirking, he was actually grinning. Effie’s smile for the holo-cameras was theatrically big, as usual, but now her eyes were smiling too. The Capitol Liaison was smiling, but his smile looked fake; he reminded Katniss of a Capitol car salesman.

When Twelves’ yelling and cheering finally died down, Mayor Undersee, the Capitol Liaison, and Haymitch all gave speeches. Then it came time for the Co-Victors to each give a speech.

Peeta bowed to Katniss and said, “Ladies first.” He winked at Effie.

Katniss’s speech was just long enough to (hopefully) not seem rude or ungrateful, and Katniss was blushing the entire time she stood at the microphone. She hated public speaking.

Not soon enough, Katniss walked away from the microphone (to applause, amazingly), and walked back to where Peeta was standing. Peeta gave Katniss a hug—the crowd cheered. Then Peeta walked up to the microphone and gave his own speech.

Peeta did not stammer, and he did not stumble over his words. He said the same things that Katniss had said; but coming from Peeta, the message made you want to cheer and then to hug him.

At the end of that speech, Peeta turned to look at Gale.

The two young men carried out some kind of silent conversation—using eyes, eyebrows, and mouth expressions—that Katniss could not follow. The only part that Katniss did understand was at the end, when Gale gave a small nod.

Peeta at the microphone turned toward Katniss and held out a hand. “Katniss, please come here.”

“Oh my,” Effie murmured.

Katniss could not guess what Peeta was about to say, or what Effie thought was happening. But Katniss walked over to Peeta and took his hand.

Peeta said, “Katniss, I have loved you for eleven years; and in the Hunger Games arena, you decided to love me. I have saved your life in the arena; you have saved mine. Despite complications”—Peeta did not glance down at Katniss’s right lower leg, which today was covered with long pants—“I think our lives together would be happy. Will you marry me?”

The train station suddenly was meadow-quiet.

For five seconds, Katniss stood stunned—she absolutely had not seen this coming. Then she said, “Yes, Peeta, I will. You know I will.”

In response, the cheers of the Twelve crowd were so loud, it was a wonder that the roof of the rickety train station did not collapse.

****

The next morning
In Katniss’s brand-new mansion

Aloe Everdeen, Prim, and Effie Trinket were happily going over a home-decorations mail-order catalog that Effie had brought with her from the Capitol. Katniss also was looking at the catalogue—it was her mansion being decorated, after all—but Katniss was eyeing the catalog with lots less enthusiasm than the other three females.

(Effie was supposed to have boarded the train back to the Capitol a half-hour ago. But instead, she was at Katniss’s dining-room table, chattering about shower curtains, kitchen curtains, and foyer throw rugs.)

The doorbell rang. It was only the second time Katniss had ever heard a doorbell, other than in Capitol holo-shows.

When Katniss answered the door, she found one of Snow’s bodyguards on her doorstep. The man was holding a vase that was crammed full of red roses, and holding a big manila envelope. “These are for you, from President Snow,” the bodyguard said.

Katniss took the vase and set it on a table in the foyer; now she noticed that wedged between two roses was a tiny envelope. In Snow’s handwriting, the envelope was addressed “to Miss Katniss Everdeen and Mister Peeta Mellark.”

When Katniss was handed the big manila envelope, she stared openmouthed.

On the front of the envelope, in the upper-left corner, were typeset the words “Office of the President,” with a Snow’s-handwriting “CS” underneath. Also in Snow’s handwriting was “Katniss Everdeen,” written in big letters as addressee—

—but underneath Katniss’s name appeared the thing that made her stare. Snow had written, in letters almost as big as her name, “The penalty is death if opened by anyone other than addressee.”

Katniss turned the envelope over. On the back, the envelope flap was nailed down with three red-wax seals; above and below those red-wax seals were the same words as on the front: “The penalty is death if opened by anyone other than addressee.”

Katniss tapped the “The penalty is death” message, then looked at the bodyguard. “Does he normally write this when he sends something out?” Katniss assumed that the only thing in the envelope was the mine-explosion report.

The bodyguard shook his head. “I’ve never seen him write this before. I’ve never seen him send out something with those words.”

****

A minute later

Katniss brought the vase of flowers and the manila envelope to the dining-room table. Everyone else was eager for Katniss to open up the little envelope that was tucked into the roses. Katniss discovered that inside the little envelope was a card, on which Snow had written, “Congratulations on your upcoming wedding.” Everyone (including Katniss) smiled when she read those words aloud.

But the big manila envelope drew nervous looks from Katniss’s mother and sister. Effie took it further: “I am sure I do not want to see what is in that envelope.”

In any case, less than five minutes after Katniss brought the manila envelope to the dining-room table, Effie announced that she would board the train now. Katniss, Peeta, and a surprisingly agreeable Haymitch escorted the escort to the train station.

When Katniss returned to her mansion, she walked up to the big manila envelope—which laid, still undisturbed, on the dining-room table—and she carried the envelope upstairs to her bedroom.

With her bedroom door shut and locked, Katniss opened the envelope.

****

Seconds later

In the envelope were three documents, not the one document that Katniss had expected.

On top was the mine-explosion report, which was four pages long. On top of Page One was Confidential printed in big letters; that word had been scratched out and “CS” handwritten underneath. Some of what the mine-explosion report said was technical, and Katniss could follow only parts of it. (For instance, it took Katniss a while to figure out that what miners in Twelve called firedamp, the report called methane; what the miners called stinkdamp, the report called hydrogen sulfide.) On Page Four of the report was a description of remedies to prevent another coal-mine explosion in the foreseeable future. As Katniss had expected, she was unaware of any of the recommended remedies being carried out.

Evidently President Snow had drawn the same conclusion as Katniss. Behind the mine-explosion report was a letter on “Office of the President” letterhead:

July 15, HG 74

To Capitol Coal management, District Twelve:

Miss Everdeen informed me that in the four-and-a-half years since the mine explosion of January 19, HG 70, nothing has been done to remedy the causes of the explosion. Mayor Undersee reports that the miners still complain of free-floating coal dust in the mines, and of a methane odor in some tunnels. If any of the remedies that were recommended on page 4 of the enclosed report have been carried out, I find no evidence of such.

For fifteen days after the mine explosion, coal production was 0 percent of quota. When coal production resumed in February, HG 70, coal production was at only 48 percent of quota. Not until six weeks after the mine explosion was coal production at 100 percent of quota. Not only did coal production drop for eight weeks, but the Government of Panem was obliged to pay one month of condolence salary to the families of thirty-seven deceased miners. One of the deceased miners was Pick Everdeen, Miss Everdeen’s father.

Because Capitol Coal management has not made clearly-needed safety improvements to the District Twelve coal mines, I am convinced that another such accident could happen at any time. I would be unhappy if this happened.

Capitol Coal management is hereby ordered to make the coal mines safe. I shall hold Capitol Coal managers personally responsible if there is another mine explosion.

Be certain that Mayor Undersee and/or Miss Everdeen will inform me if improvements to mine safety are not made, or are made halfheartedly.

(signed) Coriolanus Snow
President of Panem

The third document in the manila envelope confused Katniss. It said “Treaty” on Page One, but it was not the Treaty of the Treason that Katniss had studied in school.

****

Minutes later

Katniss discovered that the treaty that Snow had sent to her was between the Capitol and District Thirteen, back in “the year 2639.” But why had the Capitol made a treaty with District Thirteen? Thirteen was dead!

On the last page of the “Treaty,” where the signatures went, Katniss recognized two names from history books: President Justinian Heavensbee, “for the Capitol,” and Pierre Leeg, “Mayor of District Thirteen.” In Capitol-written history books, Justinian Heavensbee had saved civilization by overpowering the rebellious and ungrateful districts; whereas Pierre Leeg had committed treason and had incited all the other districts to commit treason, then he and his district had paid the ultimate (thermonuclear) price.

However, when coal miners talked among themselves, and they did not think that Capitol spies or Capitol microphones were listening, Katniss heard a different story: the supposedly true history that the Capitol’s history books suppressed—

****

The Rebellion was close to defeating the Capitol when the Capitol invaded District Thirteen. Or perhaps the Capitol tricked District Thirteen into thinking they were being invaded.

In any case, Mayor Leeg ordered all District Thirteen soldiers and weaponry to be pulled back to District Thirteen, to counter the invasion.

But once all the Thirteens were back in Thirteen, the Capitol did not push into Thirteen; instead, the Capitol nuked Thirteen. The land of District Thirteen was ruined for every use, and Pierre Leeg and all his people died instantly.

Instantly the other twelve districts went from being on the verge of victory, to being nearly helpless. One by one, the other twelve districts were conquered.

When the districts could no longer fight, they signed a nonnegotiable treaty—a treaty of horrors, in which some of the rebels gave up their children in an annual fight to the death.

The only consolation, for the rebels who actually signed the Treaty of the Treason and for the rebels who were forced to live by that treaty’s terms, was that the Hunger Games would last only twenty or thirty years. When the youngest child of any rebel turned nineteen, the Games would stop forever.

****

But now in Katniss’s bedroom in her mansion, on the last page of the Capitol-Thirteen treaty, below Justinian Heavensbee’s and Pierre Leeg’s signatures, Katniss saw that Snow had written—

“District Thirteen is not dead, they are hiding. HG 1 = year 2641. Negotiations did not begin on the Treaty of the Treason until this treaty with D13 was signed in 2639 and District Thirteen was ‘dead.’ ”

Katniss had to read the treaty two more times to understand what she was reading, then she wanted to scream.

This treaty allowed District Thirteen to withdraw from the Dark Days rebellion. District Thirteen was required to pull all its army back to District Thirteen territory, to convincingly ‘bomb’ themselves, then to disappear, all without telling the other districts what was really going on. If the other twelve districts could be convinced that Thirteen had been destroyed, the Capitol promised to not invade Thirteen, to not nuke Thirteen, to not conventionally bomb Thirteen, and to otherwise not bother Thirteen in the years afterward.

Katniss glared at Pierre Leeg’s signature. Seventy-six years ago, District Thirteen—the same District Thirteen that had convinced the other districts to join with it in fighting the Capitol—had cut and run, lying to the other districts in the process, and this had led directly to the Treaty of the Treason and to Prim being Reaped!

Katniss’s mansion came with three telephones: one in the study downstairs, one in the kitchen, and one on the other side of Katniss’s bed upstairs. Two minutes after Katniss figured out the District Thirteen treaty, she was speaking directly to President Snow.

****

One second later

Katniss said to Snow, “Thank you for the roses—they’re beautiful. Also, thank you for the mine-explosion report and the letter you wrote. As soon as I finish talking to you, I’m going to the mayor’s mansion, then he and I will ruin Capitol Coal’s day!” Katniss chortled. “And, uh...”

There was silence at both ends of the line for several seconds.

Snow said, “Besides the mine-explosions report and my letter to Capitol Coal, something else was in that envelope. Are you calling about the other thing? Answer vaguely.”

“Yes, the—the other thing is what I’m calling about. Definitely.”

Snow asked Katniss where in her mansion she was calling from (her bedroom), asked if anyone was in the room with her (no), then asked Katniss to lock her bedroom door (already done).

Now Snow sounded distracted, as Katniss heard the sounds of a keyboard being typed on. “I am sure Mr. Abernathy has already told you and Mr. Mellark that there are hidden microphones in almost every room of your house—”

“Every room except the basement. Yes, he has.”

“—as well as a tap on your telephone. I am turning off all electronic surveillance while we talk now.”

“Ookaay...”

“Just as I do not want your mother, your sister, or Mr. Mellark listening to what we are about to discuss, neither do I want Peacekeeper Captain Cray or his people listening in.”

Katniss nodded. “That’s smart. I wouldn’t trust Cray to know my locker combination at school.”

“So,” Snow said, “now that nobody can overhear us, what do you think about the old treaty I sent you?”

“What do I think about it? I think that if I knew where Pierre Leeg’s grave was, I’d go to Thirteen and spit on his grave. And since trains don’t run to Thirteen anymore, I’d be perfectly willing to walk there.”

“You want only to spit on his grave?” Snow said with amusement. “Not befoul his grave with some different fluid of yours?”

Katniss said primly, “Effie is trying to teach me to be a lady.”

“Do you have any other thoughts? As someone who wore into the arena a pin symbolizing the Dark Days rebellion? I shall not arrest you for however you answer, Katniss.”

“My other thought is that the rebels were sure played for chumps. They fell for Pierre Leeg’s line of ‘We have to leave you other districts here to fight by yourselves, because we’re being invaded—but don’t worry, we’ll be back soon.’ And the rebels were played for chumps big time when they trusted that the Capitol would follow the Treaty of the Treason.”

“What do you mean? The Capitol follows the treaty to the letter.”

“Coriolanus, that is stinky coal dust and you know it! I read the Treaty of the Treason and it’s clear as day that only the actual children of actual rebels were supposed to be Eligibles during a Reaping. Not loyalists’ children, not the children of people who were too young to fight in the rebellion, and not the children of people not even born until after the treaty was signed! The rebels who signed the Treaty of the Treason, this was what they agreed-to when they signed: Twenty or thirty years of awful punishment, then the punishment would be over!”

“Yours is a very naïve reading of the Treaty of the Treason, Katniss.” Snow’s voice dripped with condescension.

“No, it is the plain-language reading, with no words being twisted to say what rainbows want the words to say. It is the interpretation that says that the Hunger Games should have run out of Eligible kids fifty years ago! But hey, if you had stopped the Games before Haymitch had even been born, in HG 74 you couldn’t sell action figures and reenactment tour packages to rainbows, could you?”

“I think, Katniss, I will end this telephone call before you say something you will regret.”

“The Games must end, Coriolanus! Now, not later. And I will never regret telling you this.”

****

Minutes later

Katniss put the Capitol-District Thirteen Treaty back into its “The penalty is death” envelope, and shoved the envelope under her mattress. Then Katniss walked out of her bedroom, carrying the mine-explosion report and Snow’s letter.

Some minutes later, Katniss was in the mayor’s mansion, talking to Mayor Undersee.

Mayor Undersee had not seen the mine-explosion report. He asked Katniss how she had managed to get, less than a week after her Victor-crowning, the report that Undersee had been unsuccessfully pushing to be sent for four-and-a-half years. Katniss, bashful about revealing that she and Snow were soulmates, evaded the mayor’s question.

Mayor Undersee made four copies of the mine-explosion report and of Snow’s letter. The mayor kept one copy of each document for himself; soon afterward the Capitol Liaison, Domiducus Jones, was given the second copy of each document.

Mayor Undersee and Katniss Everdeen, each grinning cruelly, presented the third copy of the mine-explosion report and the third copy of Snow’s letter, to Capitol Coal’s top managers. Katniss enjoyed watching Capitol men who always acted so smug around coal miners, turn pale and look panicky.

Finally, Katniss borrowed a tape-dispenser from the mayor, then Katniss and the mayor walked into the Hob. With Greasy Sae’s permission, Katniss taped the four pages of the mine-explosion report, and the two pages of Snow’s letter, to the countertop of Greasy Sae’s stall.

Katniss grinned. Soon coal miners will know that Capitol Coal is supposed to be fixing the mines. And if Capitol Coal dawdles, Mayor Undersee and I will hear about it!

****

Several days later (July 19th, HG 74)
After consulting with Effie

The lives of Katniss and Peeta had changed after the 74th Reaping, and Reapings always fell on the summer solstice in June. Katniss and Peeta would leave Twelve, to begin their Victory Tour, at the winter solstice in late December. So it made perfect sense for the Co-Victors to set their wedding day halfway in between, on the first day of autumn in late September.

Written wedding invitations were mailed out to the small number of Merchant families in District Twelve (including the mayor’s family). Wedding invitations also were mailed out to fifty-seven Victors (including Haymitch).

Seam people were not sent written invitations—Katniss’s writing-hand would have fallen off—but in five different places in the Hob, Katniss put up notices that read, “We’re getting married on September 21. Y’all come!”

Not invited to the wedding—

• Peacekeepers,

• the Capitol Liaison,

• all other Capitol people in District Twelve, and

• everybody who lived in the Capitol, except for President Snow and Minerva Snow, Effie, Cinna, and Portia.

Absolutely, positively, not invited: Gamemakers—even after Head Gamemaker Plutarch Heavensbee dropped a broad hint to Enobaria that he was really hoping for an invite to the Co-Victors’ wedding.

Chapter Text

Two days later (the night of July 21, HG 74)
Plutarch Heavensbee’s office, the Games Center
The Capitol

Before sunset, Plutarch had opened all the blinds for the east-side window of his office.

Plutarch stayed late in his office, doing busywork and, when he ran out of busywork to do, he played Tundra (a Solitaire game).

Plutarch also accessed some Hunger Games files that only Gamemakers and Caesar Flickerman could access; but Plutarch did not access these files for work-related reasons. Plutarch burned these special-search files onto a 5-centimeter optical disk, then he erased the files themselves from his computer hard drive.

Sometime after nine o’clock, Plutarch activated the overnight security protections, walked out of his office, locked the door, and headed for the elevator—

Plutarch did not close his blinds for the east-side window, nor did he turn off any of his office lights.

Correction: Plutarch shut the blinds on his office’s east-side window the next morning, when morning sunlight made everything in his office shine like fire.

The morning of July 22nd was a normal workday, spent planning the Third Quarter Quell that was now eleven months away. At 12:30, Plutarch took his lunch break.

But instead of Plutarch going to his usual haunts for lunch, he walked to the corner of Colorado Street and Justinian Avenue, where a food truck set on the corner of two sidewalks. Plutarch ordered three “hot dogs made with a secret District Five recipe” (so the sign claimed).

Plutarch was halfway through eating his first hot dog when a young woman walked up to him. She wore a bright-purple sleeveless dress, which showed off her unusually muscular arms and legs. Unusually for the Capitol, she was not wearing a wig to cover her blond hair, nor did she have piercings, tattoos, or skin dye. She wore no makeup or earrings; her necklace looked cheap.

She said to Plutarch, “Pardon me, but are those hot dogs any good?”

Plutarch replied, “They taste peppery. Do you like pepper?”

“Oh well,” the young woman said.

The young woman walked to the corner, crossed the street going eastbound when the Walk sign said to walk, then she turned left to walk north on the right side of the street.

Not quite a minute later, Plutarch (still eating hot dogs) crossed the street going eastbound. Once he had crossed the street, he turned left and himself began to walk north.

The young blonde was now about a block and a half ahead of Plutarch. He made no attempt to catch up with her; indeed, most of the time he looked everywhere but at her.

Plutarch and the blonde walked north for two more blocks, then a blue car pulled up alongside the blonde. The blonde spoke briefly with someone in the car, then she walked to the passenger door, opened the door, and got into the car.

At the next intersection, the blue car turned left; but Plutarch kept walking north.

Plutarch had walked two more blocks north when a taxicab pulled up beside him. The only person in the taxicab was the driver, a dark-skinned man in his forties. “Do you need a taxicab, sir?” the man asked.

Most Capitols could not tell a genuine District Eleven accent from a holo-comedy fake accent. Plutarch could spot the difference, from seventeen years of hearing two authentic District Eleven accents every year. The taxicab driver’s District Eleven accent was fake, fake, fake.

Even so, Plutarch said, “Yes, I need to get back to the Games Center.” Plutarch opened the taxicab’s rear door and slid into the back seat.

At the next intersection, the taxicab turned right—but it did not go to the Games Center. Instead, the taxi took a roundabout route within the Capitol before eventually parking at the back of a warehouse.

The blue car that the purple-dress blonde had gotten into, already was parked behind this same warehouse.

Half a minute later, Plutarch and the taxicab driver were shutting the back door of the warehouse—from the inside.

Inside the warehouse were the purple-dress blonde, a second woman who looked exactly like the first (except that the second blonde was wearing a gray uniform), and a gray-uniformed man who watched Plutarch closely and who was holding a big gun like he knew how to use it.

“You called this meeting, Mr. ‘Smith,’ ” said the dark-skinned taxi driver, replacing his fake Eleven accent with an accent that Plutarch had heard only on illegal radio. “So, we are here and you are here; what do you want to tell us?”

“It’s about Katniss Everdeen,” Plutarch said.

****

One second later

“Go on,” the dark-skinned man said.

“She might not be useful now as the Mockingjay. Snow maybe has turned her into an unwilling Capitol spy against Rebellion sympathizers in District Twelve.”

The dark-skinned man whistled. “Yes, that would be a disaster, if we brought the Mockingjay into top-level meetings and she were reporting everything to the Capitol.”

“Katniss would never spy for the Capitol,” declared the purple-dress blonde. “Katniss hates the Capitol!”

Plutarch glanced at the twin blondes in turn. “Hating the Capitol wouldn’t be enough to say no, if Snow threatened Katniss’s sister Primrose. Snow loves making those kinds of threats against Victors, so I keep hearing.”

The dark-skinned man asked Plutarch, “Why do you think Snow has sunk his hooks into Katniss Everdeen?”

“Because of something strange that happened right after the Crowning Ceremony: Snow sent the rest of the Twelve Team to the Victory Banquet, but he held Katniss back. The last I saw of them, Caesar Flickerman, Snow, Snow’s two most loyal bodyguards, and Katniss were walking away together. The girl is strong, but that’s a scary situation! Then a few days later was the strange thing with the coal mines.”

“What happened with the coal mines?” the dark-skinned man asked.

“Yesterday I called Haymitch Abernathy about a personal matter”—Plutarch had tried leaning on Haymitch to persuade Katniss to send Plutarch a wedding invitation; instead, Haymitch on the telephone had laughed at Plutarch. “Anyway, Haymitch, before he ended the telephone call”—translation: laughingly slammed down the handset—“bragged about how Everdeen had persuaded Snow to ‘persuade’ Capitol Coal to fix the coal mines that had never been fixed after the mine explosion of years ago.”

“I don’t get whatever you’re trying to say,” said the gray-uniform blonde.

Plutarch said, “Katniss Everdeen was admired in Twelve before the Reaping, apparently; and admired a hundred times more during her Games for how she acted during her Games. But after she somehow talked Snow into making the coal mines become safe? Today she is a solid-gold hero in District Twelve. The Rebels there will tell Everdeen anything, show her anything, and let her meet everyone! Which is exactly what Snow would want if he has turned Everdeen into a spy!”

The dark-skinned man said, “You throw out a big if. We have no evidence at all that Katniss Everdeen is a spy for Snow.”

Plutarch said, “Whether she is or not, I’ve figured out a way she won’t be.” Plutarch took the 5-centimeter optical disk out of his pocket and held it out to the dark-skinned man. “On this disk is a map of District Twelve, showing where the Everdeen mansion is in Victors’ Village, and showing where District Twelve Middle School is. I’ve also included a holo-file of Primrose Everdeen being interviewed when Katniss was in the Final Eight.”

“What are these files for?” asked the dark-skinned man, as he took the optical disk.

“When the time comes to start the Second Rebellion, before you do any overt attack on Peacekeepers or the Capitol, you do a preemptive rescue of Primrose Everdeen and take her to Thirteen. When Snow can no longer threaten Primrose Everdeen, he loses Katniss Everdeen as a spy.”

The purple-dress blonde asked, “ ‘Preemptive rescue,’ how is this different from kidnapping?”

“It’s different because it’s for a good cause,” Plutarch said pompously.

“I bet it’ll be scary for Katniss’s sister,” said the gray-uniform blonde. “Poor girl, she won’t understand.”

The dark-skinned man nodded toward the young women who had just spoken. “I agree.”

The dark-skinned man then said to Plutarch, “I’ll pass this disk on to President Coin, but I don’t think she’ll use it. If we seize and hold young Primrose against her will, how are we any better than President Snow?”

****

Almost two months later (September 20, HG 74)
The day before the Everdeen-Mellark wedding
The ring-table meeting room, the Presidential Mansion

Snow looked into the faces of his Cabinet ministers. “Is there”—cough, cough—“any other business to discuss?”

The meeting room was silent, except for Snow’s coughing. His coughs were quiet, and the red spots on his white handkerchief were tiny; but the fact that he was coughing at all in front of his ministers filled him with embarrassment.

“Very well,” Snow said, “I will be leaving the Capitol within the hour”—on a fully-armed hovercraft, Snow did not need to add—“and I will be gone for one day or perhaps two, depending on how persuasive Minerva is. If my”—fourteen-year-old—“granddaughter had her way, she would pitch a tent in Twelve’s Victors’ Village, so she could bask in the ‘wonderfulness of Peeta and Katniss’—her words— for the rest of her life.”

Snow’s Cabinet ministers chuckled, except for Septicus Kopf. Katniss Everdeen was admired in the Capitol for her archery skill that had earned her a Victor crown; but Katniss and Peeta were beloved by the Capitol’s teenaged girls for their “storybook” romance and upcoming wedding.

Now Snow stood. “Anyway, lady and gentlemen, thank you for coming. You are dismissed.”

The ministers left the room, except for Ovida Allsop (Minister of Transportation) and Septicus Kopf (Minister of Security).

Unusually, Kopf was courteous. “After you, Ovida.”

Forty-something Ovida Allsop told Snow, “Officially, I’m here to tell you that forty-three Victors are using the special Inter-District Travel Permits that you allowed me to issue.” Fifty-nine Victors were alive in HG 74, so forty-three Victors traveling to Twelve was a big percentage of this group.

Ovida continued, “I could understand the Victors jumping at the chance to all travel to the sand and surf of District Four, but for all of them to go to boring and stinky District Twelve?”

“Wonderful,” Kopf said sarcastically. “You put forty-three Victors in one place tomorrow, plus Haymitch Abernathy and the girl with the mockingjay pin, all of them outdoors so directional microphones are damned lucky if they hear anything juicy, and how many full-blown Rebellion plots will be hatched even before the wedding cake is cut?”

Snow shrugged (and briefly coughed). “Which is why Victors normally are allowed travel only to the Capitol, and then only when summoned; and Victors normally travel to other districts only on their Victory Tours. But the general public is not aware of these restrictions, and Miss Everdeen made the case that people would notice if no Victor outside District Twelve attended the wedding.”

Septicus frowned. “So what? Security must—”

Snow continued, “So I have allowed the Victors their inter-district travel this week, Septicus; deal with it. Fortunately, neither Brutus and Enobaria, nor Beetee and Wiress, plan to marry in the foreseeable future, so this problem will not repeat soon.”

Then Snow looked back at Ovida. “Was there anything else you needed to tell me?”

“Not needed to tell you, no. But I wanted to ask you to ask Minerva to pay careful attention to the wedding, once it starts. I’m sure that this is one wedding that Minerva will be telling her own granddaughters about.”

Snow smiled. “I will tell Minerva what you said. Goodbye for now.”

Ovida Allsop smiled back at Snow, hurried away toward the double doors, then only Snow and Kopf were in the ring-table room.

“Yes, Septicus?” Snow asked warily.

Kopf said, “Your cough is getting worse, despite the best medical care in Panem. Have you given thought to what this could mean?”

“What it means, Septicus, is that I am dying. Every day, by millimeters.”

“Then you should start thinking about who should succeed you as president.”

“An excellent idea, Septicus, excellent! What do you think about Ovida Allsop as the next president of Panem? The girls and women of Panem would feel a deep kinship with her.”

“Are you making a joke? Is this a joke?”

Snow sighed. “Yes, Septicus, I was trying to—what is the District Seven expression?—‘shake your tree.’ I think hard about my successor every day, but I have not yet made a decision. Perhaps you have thoughts on the matter?”

“Name me as next president,” Kopf said. “Like you, I will show the districts who is boss, and I will not stand for their shenanigans.”

“Oh, Septicus, were it only this easy! Many district people are stupid, many are lazy, and many plot against their betters. District life is harsh, and many in the districts deserve their harsh life—”

“ ‘Many’ district people are bad? Not all of them?”

Snow frowned when Kopf interrupted him; now he replied, “I have lately discovered that some district people are good, just as I have always known that some Capitol people are bad. Speaking of whom, Septicus, I will not name you as successor for one simple reason—”

“And what reason is that?”

Twice now, Kopf had interrupted his president, so Snow decided to drop the nice, careful wording. Snow glared as he said to Kopf, “Because you are a pervert, Septicus, even among what the districts think of as a city of perverts. Right now, the districts are close to rebellion—how long would things stay calm when the new president treats all the youths and maidens in the districts as his own bedroom sex toys?”

Kopf opened his mouth to make an angry reply; Snow did not give Kopf the opening. “I have a hovercraft to catch. Goodbye.”

****

The next day, 11 a.m.
The Square, District Twelve

The Square was filled with a crowd of people, each one present to witness Katniss’s and Peeta’s wedding—

• Aloe Everdeen and Primrose Everdeen—Prim was bouncing on her toes from excitement;

• many Seam people, including most coal miners;

• every Merchant in Twelve (including Medea Mellark, amazingly);

• Mayor Chonn Undersee, his wife Marrilyn, and his daughter Madge;

• District Twelve’s Hunger Games escort, Effie Trinket;

• District Twelve’s senior Victor, Haymitch Abernathy, who was standing very close to Twelve’s escort;

• forty-three Hunger Games Victors from eleven other districts, whose behavior in the crowd varied from quiet and watchful (Hammerhead Oleery of District Four) to loud and earthy (Johanna Mason of Seven); and

• stylists Cinna and Portia, who were standing close together.

A little distance away from everyone else, President Snow and Minerva Snow stood together, surrounded by four watchful bodyguards.

No Peacekeepers were in the Square, except some who stood in a circle around the Snows and their bodyguards, facing outward. No Peacekeepers worked crowd control.

Neither the Capitol Liaison, nor any other Capitols who worked in District Twelve, stood in the Square. However, if anyone looked closely at the Justice Building, he would see many Capitol faces at every Square-facing window.

At the edges of the Square, Caesar Flickerman and a holo-camera crew of Capitols, plus a different holo-camera crew of Capitols working for “Victors Tonight,” each were filming the people in the Square.

****

One second later

The front doors of the Justice Building opened, and Peeta and Katniss stepped out onto the Justice Building’s front patio. The crowd cheered—native Twelves, visiting Victors, and presidential granddaughter alike, all yelled and whistled.

Portia had dressed Peeta in all-white clothing that was old-fashioned even by the time of the Catastrophes; but Peeta wore the swallowtail coat and the top hat and managed to look sophisticated, not ridiculous. Cinna, meanwhile, had dressed Katniss in an outfit borrowed intact from India (even though India had ceased to be an inhabited country centuries ago). Katniss’s wedding clothes looked like white-silk long pants covered with a white-silk dress.

Meanwhile, Peeta and Katniss, having just stepped out of the Justice Building, now turned to their left and walked toward the microphone and microphone stand that were the only things on the Justice Building patio. Three months earlier, this microphone had stood where it stood now; but now Mayor Undersee, Haymitch Abernathy, and Effie Trinket were part of the crowd of onlookers in the Square, not up on the Justice Building patio with Peeta and Katniss.

At the microphone, the white-dressed couple kissed; the crowd cheered. Then Peeta said, “Ladies first.”

The bride scowled at Peeta briefly, then looked out at the crowd and said, “Morning, y’all, thanks for coming. Uh, we’re legal.”

This time, the crowd was even louder.

Peeta grinned. “I paid the fifty PDs that I was asked to pay, then Katniss and I signed the papers that they asked us to sign, then we signed in a giant blue book, then this nice Capitol lady in a cyan wig stamped in the blue book with her big stamp-thingy, and so now we’re married—”

Peeta’s hands shot up to stop the crowd from getting noisy again.

“Officially,” Peeta said. “Now we’re married officially. But in Twelve—and in other districts, from what I’ve been told yesterday and this morning—the official paperwork stuff is the least important part of getting married. Mr. Berg, will you bring up the barbecue?”

Bryce Berg, who owned Berg’s Fruits, Vegetables, and Dairy, carried a wood-fired barbecue up the stairs and set it down on the patio. Meanwhile, Gale Hawthorne carried up onto the patio a bag of something called “charcoal” (even though it was actually partly-burned wood, not coal).

Peeta at the microphone said, “Normally, a toasting is done in somebody’s house, using its fireplace. But there are so many of y’all here, even the Mayor’s Mansion or a Victors’ Village house is too small for all of y’all to see what is going on. I’ve never heard of a District Twelve toasting being done outdoors before, but this is what we’re about to do.”

Katniss said into the microphone, “We’re not big on tradition, in case y’all haven’t noticed.” The crowd laughed.

Peeta pulled a box of matches out of his pocket and held the box up, before pocketing it again. “Now Katniss and I will put charcoal in the barbecue and we’ll get a fire going, just the two of us. For you from other districts: Thanks, but we won’t need your help.” Peeta was looking straight at Johanna when he said this.

Johanna laughed and gave Peeta two thumbs up.

A few minutes later, Peeta was back at the microphone. “We’ve started the fire, but it’ll take a few minutes for the fire to catch. ‘Victors Tonight,’ if you’re broadcasting this live, now would be a great time to go to commercial.” The crowd laughed.

Peeta said, “Y’all from other districts are probably wondering, ‘If you’re doing a Toasting, what do you toast?’ Dad, would you hand me the bread?”

Cake Mellark walked up onto the patio with a loaf of bread and with two straightened coat hangers. He bowed to Peeta and Katniss, handed the straightened coat hangers to Katniss and the loaf of bread to Peeta, then walked down the steps again.

Peeta said at the microphone, “For people of District Twelve, the traditional toasting bread has nuts and raisins in it, but Katniss and I are using a different bread—”

Katniss interrupted: “No, we won’t explain why we’re switching the bread.”

Peeta nodded. “Not even my dad or my brothers know the reason why. Anyway, today’s bread is multigrain twist-loaf. Miss Madge Undersee, as a friend to both Katniss and me, will you come up here and hold the microphone while Katniss and I toast the bread and say our vows? And Madge, please take over the play-by-play.”

As Madge walked up the steps, Peeta tore the loaf of bread in half. Madge walked over to the microphone stand and took the microphone in hand.

****

Minutes later

Peeta said, “My bread is about done. Yours too, Katniss, it looks like.”

Katniss said, “I’ll take your word for it. You know lots more about cooking bread than I do.”

Madge said, “Folks, Katniss and Peeta are about to speak wedding vows to each other, while they wait for their toasted bread to cool. After their vows, they each will tear off a bite-size piece from their half-loaf, and feed the piece to the other person. Peeta will speak first, since he proposed.”

Peeta vowed, “Katniss, I fought to protect you in the arena, and I will fight to protect you in the years ahead—you and our children both. I will protect you, feed you, and soothe you. I have already loved you for eleven years, and I vow to never stop loving you.”

Katniss vowed, “Peeta, I’m not good at words like you are, so my vow is basically ‘What you just said, back at you.’ But when you need protecting, or our children do, I will protect you and protect them, and nobody in Panem will stop me. I vow to keep loving you like I learned to love you in the arena.”

Then Katniss and Peeta each tore off a mouthful of bread and fed it to the other.

Madge commented: “What each of them is about to do is to hand off his or her half-loaf. Each onlooker who is handed bread, tear off a bite-size piece for yourself and then pass the bread to someone else. Just as many of you who are gathered here today will eat bread that Katniss and Peeta toasted, so District Twelve will gain by having this married couple among us.”

Then Katniss and Peeta walked side-by-side down the Justice Building stairs. Katniss gave her half-loaf to Peeta’s father Cake Mellark, as Peeta handed his half-loaf to Prim. The bride and groom each began receiving hugs.

Still on the patio, Madge said, “People of District Twelve, I give you Mr. and Mrs. Mellark, who now are married by both the laws of Panem and the customs of District Twelve.”

The crowd cheered (except for the few who were chewing bread or were handling bread).

Bryce Berg walked up the stairs and put the cover on the barbecue, to smother its flames.

****

Later, during the (huge) wedding reception

Katniss said quietly to Snow, “Thank you for letting Victors travel to Twelve. Prim actually got to talk with Finnick Odair, and got blond-hair hair-care tips from Cashmere—I’m sure Prim won’t stop grinning for a week!”

****

Katniss saw mine-explosion orphan—and current District Twelve Community Home resident—Gamma Churchill talking with Beetee and Wiress. Interestingly, the two super-smart Victors did not look bored; instead, they were totally focused on whatever Gamma was saying.

****

Twenty-something redhead SurfEllen Cassidy (from Four) and Brutus and Enobaria (from Two) walked up to Katniss and Peeta. SurfEllen said, “We’re impressed with the food.”

“And the beer,” Brutus said, as he hoisted his bottle in salute. “Mile-High Beer is my favorite.”

Katniss shrugged. “We don’t know anything about beer, so we went with what Haymitch said to get.”

The three Career Victors shared a look. Enobaria said carefully, “Haymitch would know about beer.”

“But not about food,” SurfEllen said. “Whoever you guys listened to about the menu knows his stuff! Or her stuff. There is so much District Ten venison here that I can stuff myself silly!”

Peeta said, “Most of the menu-planning was done by Twelve’s escort, Effie Trinket.”

Katniss said, “Yeah, I just had to say ‘Okay’ a lot.” Then Katniss frowned in puzzlement. “I don’t remember anything about buying any District Ten venison. I’m pretty sure we would have had to special-order it through Rooba.”

SurfEllen grinned. “Then maybe the mutt-breeders finally did something useful: breed rabbits that taste like deer. Because your venison, it’s delicious.”

Peeta grinned. “Now I understand! SurfEllen, that isn’t mutt-rabbit you’re eating, it’s deer. But not deer from Ten, it’s deer from Twelve.”

Katniss looked very proud of herself. “Deer that two days ago was walking around.”

Enobaria’s grin showed gold fangs. “You go, girlfriend!”

Peeta put his arm around Katniss’s shoulders. “The ham is almost the same story. Most of the ham we’re serving is farm-raised in Ten, but mixed in with that is also a boar that attacked Katniss a month ago.”

Brutus asked, “How did a wild boar get inside your fence?”

Katniss just looked at Brutus with raised eyebrows.

“Oh,” he said.

Brutus put out his hand for a shake. “I’m impressed, Katniss.”

Enobaria showed Katniss and Peeta her gold-fangs grin again. “The next time I talk to Plutarch Heavensbee, I’ll tell him about the great food he wasn’t invited to eat.”

SurfEllen said, “Yeah, about that—why didn’t you invite the Head Gamemaker to your wedding? When you become a mentor, you’ll want to be on the Head Gamemaker’s good side. Otherwise he’ll target your tributes.”

Katniss’s eyes flashed. “Three months ago, Heavensbee and the rest of the Gamemakers tried to kill both Peeta and me with fireballs, and later with werewolf-mutts. Why now should they get to eat any of the deer I shot? Or any of the wedding cake that the Mellarks baked but Peeta decorated? Besides, have you looked at Plutarch Heavensbee? It wouldn’t hurt him to miss a meal.”

Brutus stared, but Enobaria and SurfEllen guffawed.

****

Away from everyone else, the bride and groom were talking to the president of Panem. Two of Snow’s bodyguards were twenty meters away, and the Peacekeepers were even farther out than that, which gave Katniss, Peeta, and Snow privacy if they talked quietly. Madge had informally adopted Minerva Snow, and the two of them were off in the wedding-reception crowd somewhere, doing teen-girl things, while two bodyguards guarded the girls.

Peeta asked Snow, “Are you enjoying your time here, sir?”

Snow shrugged. “Twelve is Twelve, Mister Mellark—not pretty, not interesting, and it smells. But I find I am enjoying the absence of constant meetings and telephone calls more than I suspected I would. Minerva, however, is enjoying her time here much more than enough to make up for my lack. Miss Undersee showed Minerva your old family house, Katniss, and I do believe this made Minerva’s entire week.”

Katniss blinked in surprise. “C’mon, Minerva got happy actually seeing Prim’s and my old shack in the Seam? Ookaay...”

“Indeed,” Snow replied, as he turned to watch the tug-of-war in Twelve’s meadow.

The Victors were holding a tug-of-war in the meadow, Career Victors v. outer-district Victors. Closest to the center of the rope were Enobaria and Johanna, who each was yelling family-friendly insults at the other team’s Victors.

Snow smiled for a while, watching the tug-of-war, but then his smile suddenly disappeared. “When the next Rebellion happens,” he murmured to Katniss and Peeta, “if one of you does not lead it, the Rebellion will then most likely be led by one of these Victors who is eating your food today.”

Peeta and Katniss both stared at Snow.

Chapter Text

Three months later: December 20, HG 74
The day before the start of the Victory Tour

Three months into her marriage, a routine had developed in the life of Katniss Mellark. She woke up in Peeta’s bed, they quickly showered (sometimes together), then they went over to Katniss’s mansion. Peeta cooked breakfast, while Katniss talked to Aloe and Prim. After breakfast, Katniss washed dishes while Aloe (or Prim) dried the dishes, while Prim (or Aloe) and Peeta stood in the kitchen and talked to the dishwashers. If this was a school day for Prim, these events happened earlier in the morning; if Prim did not have school that day, things happened later in the morning.

After the dishwashing was done, if Prim had school, Katniss walked Prim to school. After Katniss returned from the school building, sometimes Katniss went into the woods and hunted. Sometimes Katniss posed for a Peeta oil painting. Sometimes Katniss and Peeta started out a painting session as artist and model, then one thing led to another. (Which was not a problem—Johanna Mason’s wedding gift to the Mellarks had been box after box after box of latex condoms.)

****

This particular snow-covered morning, the walk of Katniss and Prim to middle school had been a talkative one. This was Prim’s last day of school before Winter Break, and also was Katniss’s last day to spend with Prim before Katniss and Peeta left on their Victory Tour.

Katniss now was walking from the middle school back to Victors’ Village. She decided that today was too cold and snowy to hunt for wild animals; instead, she would offer to model for Peeta.

Katniss was smiling a slag-heap smile as she imagined how her morning might end up.

Katniss’s smile disappeared when she saw a black limousine moving toward her from Victors’ Village.

****

One second later

Katniss recognized the black limousine. Three months ago, it had rolled down the cargo ramp of the scariest hovercraft that Katniss had ever seen, onto District Twelve’s meadow. In that limousine had been four bodyguards (one of whom had doubled as driver)—and Coriolanus and Minerva Snow. Later that day, the driver-slash-bodyguard had driven Minerva Snow and Madge Undersee around Twelve, in what Madge later described as the “Mayor’s-Daughter Tour of District Twelve.”

As the presidential limousine now came alongside Katniss, it stopped, and the door in the back of the limousine opened up. “Katniss, please join us back here,” Snow’s voice said.

As Katniss walked forward two meters toward the open door, she wondered who us was.

Us turned out to be Snow and Peeta, and their clothing surprised Katniss. While the bodyguards wore heavy coats and hats so that they could be outside briefly, Snow and Peeta were dressed for full winter weather, just as Katniss herself was dressed.

President Snow said, “Katniss, I wish for the three of us—Mister Mellark, you, and I—to talk in your woods. I presume there is a hidden access somewhere? Please direct Hefaestus how to drive to it.”

The limousine went silent, as Katniss thought of a thousand reasons to refuse to answer. Possible hanging and possible flogging topped the list.

President Snow said calmly, “I trust you, Katniss. Do you trust me?”

And this is the only question that matters, isn’t it? Katniss thought. Once I answer that question, everything else is a no-brainer.

Katniss looked at Peeta, who shook his head. “I’m not anyone’s soulmate, Katniss—I can’t advise you.”

More silence passed.

Katniss said to the driver, “See that waist-high wall up ahead? Turn off the road left, just before the wall.”

****

Two minutes later

“The sign says ‘Electrified,’ ” Snow said with remarkable calm.

President Snow, Katniss, and Peeta were out of the limousine, which was parked near the “electrified” fence with the limousine’s engine idling. The four bodyguards, no fools they, remained inside the toasty-warm limousine.

Katniss laughed scornfully. “Remember that Cray is the Head Peacekeeper here.” Katniss pulled off a glove and grabbed a fence-wire with her bare hand. Still alive, Katniss said, “I haven’t heard the fence hum since Cray came here.”

President Snow said, “All right, then how do we get from here to the woods?”

Katniss took a few steps to where there was a snow-covered trough in the ground below the wires. “Crawl or slide under the wires here. Even if the wires are hot, you can go out and come back with no problem.”

“How can you be sure, Katniss? We will all three die if you are wrong.”

Katniss hesitated, then said, “My father went in and out here all the time. Even when the fence was humming.”

Snow said, “Me, crawling—my bodyguards so seldom get to laugh. Come, Mr. and Mrs. Mellark, let us go see the woods up close. While we talk.”

Katniss gestured toward the limousine. “You aren’t taking any bodyguards with you?”

Snow gave Katniss a cool look. “Are you worried about an assassination, Katniss?”

“Yes, a four-footed assassination. Bears are hibernating now, but any other animal we meet will be hungry, and I have no weapons.”

Snow shrugged. “The bodyguards stay here. Being the president of Panem involves taking risks from time to time—a fact you shall learn one day, Katniss.”

Katniss did not understand Snow’s last sentence.

****

Minutes later
In the District Twelve woods

Katniss had walked Peeta and President Snow far enough into the woods that the electrified fence and Snow’s limousine could no longer be seen.

Now Snow looked at Katniss and said, “I have two problems that are on my mind every day. And discovering that you are my soulmate, Katniss, has only confused my thoughts further.”

“What are the problems?” Katniss asked.

“My big problem is that there is unrest in the districts, and it is getting worse. I have made the laws harsher, then harsher still; I have made punishments harsher. District Eight and District Eleven are big prisons now. The Rebels cannot win if they rebel; perhaps they themselves even know this. Yet sooner or later, Panem will have rebellion again, which will ruin much of the country. I cannot think of anything more to do—short of making every infraction a hanging offense, which is impractical—to make the districts quiet down.”

Katniss said, “Three words: Stop the Games.”

“Be practical, Katniss!” Snow snapped.

“It’s you who isn’t being practical,” Katniss said, glaring.

Peeta asked calmly, “And what is your other big problem, sir, that you think about all the time?”

“My health is failing. I have between one and four years left. The logical person to name as my successor is one of my Cabinet ministers, but this will not work. One of my ministers would be a disaster for Panem as president. The rest are good enough to head a ministry, and I even like most of them, but they are unfit to be president.”

“Unfit?” Peeta said. “Unfit how?”

“They lack vision, they lack boldness. They are plodders, all of them except for the degenerate. A plodder is unfit to be president, just as reserved Katniss here is unfit to take over Caesar Flickerman’s job.”

Katniss shuddered. “No. No. I don’t even slightly want Caesar’s job. But if the job is opening up, Peeta would be perfect, hint-hint.”

Peeta grinned at Katniss. “Of course, if the Hunger Games stop, my job will go away right when I get it!”

Katniss scowled. “Ha, ha, very funny.”

Then Katniss looked at Snow and said, “If one of your Cabinet people won’t work, then I guess you should look outside your Cabinet.”

“Exactly!” Snow said, smiling at her.

“Like, say, a Head Peacekeeper or something. Just don’t pick Cray—talk about unfit.”

Snow said, very seriously, “It was not Cray whom I was thinking of.”

“Oh, shit,” Peeta muttered.

“I don’t follow you,” Katniss told Snow; then she looked at Peeta in puzzlement.

Peeta said, “I think I follow him, but my idea is crazy.”

Snow said, “No, Mr. Mellark, the idea is not crazy at all. It made perfect sense, once I moved past my hatred of district people.”

“What are you two talking about?” Katniss demanded.

Peeta bowed to Snow, making a go ahead gesture.

Snow said, “Katniss, I shall declare you to be my successor as president of Panem.”

****

An instant later

“What?” Katniss said. “This makes no sense!”

“Not so,” Snow said calmly. “You have vision—from the moment that your sister was Reaped, you had ideas about how things should be, and you acted on those ideas. You showed boldness is blowing up the mined food at the Cornucopia, and you showed definite boldness when you pulled out the nightlock berries and defied the Capitol.”

“I didn’t defy the Capitol! I didn’t even think about the Capitol. I just decided that killing Peeta was not an option.”

“Which showed both your vision and your boldness—I see now. At the time, though, I was strongly tempted to order your mother and sister to be executed in front of you.”

Katniss stared at the older, bearded man. Then she growled, “That would have been the most evil thing you have ever done.”

“No, Katniss, I have done worse. Ask Miss Mason. Or your own Mr. Abernathy.”

Peeta said with fake cheerfulness, “President Snow, I will never be the guy to argue someone out of saying Katniss is one of a kind. But how can you be sure she’s up to this? She’s sixteen now—plus kind of a Rebellion sympathizer—”

Katniss raised an eyebrow. “ ‘Kind of’ a Rebellion sympathizer?”

Peeta said to Snow, “Anyway, how do you know Katniss can do this? You can’t know what kind of woman she’ll be when she’s forty.”

“Ah, Mr. Mellark, but I do know—Katniss is my perfect match—I have her handwriting on my arm to prove it. As president, she will act as I would myself act if I faced the same problem.”

Katniss said, “Suuure, I’ll be just like you. Except for the ‘evil’ part. And the ‘favoring rainbows and screwing over the districts’ part. Have you thought this through? Because even before they drop your body in the ground, I’ll announce, ‘No more Hunger Games.’ ”

“Katniss, I do not understand how you can think this way. You have a much better house now, you have much money now—the Hunger Games have been good to you!”

“Spoken like someone who has never feared a Reaping. The Hunger Games were all set to kill my sister Prim, and Peeta here—two good and kind children who absolutely did not, no fucking way, deserve to die! And Eleven’s Rue and Thresh did die!”

Snow said calmly, “This can be debated another day. But to go back to something you said shortly ago—that as president, you will not be evil, and you will not favor the Capitol over the districts. Would it surprise you that I approve? President Everdeen will make reforms that no Capitol-raised president would think of, and I am gambling that you can bleed off resentments in the districts instead of the districts raising rebellion.”

“Whoa,” said Katniss. “No pressure.”

“Make no mistake, I still hate the Dark Days rebellion—it killed my parents. I hate the idea of a Second Rebellion nowadays. I think of District people who are working for a Second Rebellion as evil, stupid, misinformed, or ungrateful—”

“Wrong,” said Katniss.

“—but my soulmate is the hero of the Rebellion, soulmate-matching is never wrong, so I figure that a rebellion nowadays somehow must have some good to it.”

Peeta asked Snow, “Why are you telling us all this now? You’re not on your deathbed.”

President Snow answered, “Because it changes your Victory Tour.”

****

One second later

Katniss shook her head. “I don’t understand.”

President Snow looked at both Co-Victors and said, “In previous years, you both have been forced to listen to previous Victors give speeches during Victory Tours. How would you describe the speeches?”

Peeta said carefully, “When they talked about Twelve’s tributes, they used the words honor and sacrifice a lot.”

Katniss rolled her eyes. “R-i-ight, like underfed District Twelve kids chose to go into the Games and chose to die.”

Peeta looked at Snow and said, “The Victors’ speeches also used the phrase ‘generosity of the Capitol’ a lot. And there were always words in there like ‘These Games are how we keep the peace.’ ”

Katniss said, “Yeah, Coriolanus, and you know what I think about those pretty words.”

Snow said, “Indeed I do. The sad thing is that, after seventy-three years of the latest Victor saying those words and all twelve districts hearing them, nobody believes those words. Not the Victors, not the districts.”

“So why keep saying them?” Peeta asked.

“Why, indeed?” Snow asked. He looked at Katniss and said, “One day you will be president. You can do almost anything—no laws of Panem will stop you, only human nature is beyond your power. But you will learn—hopefully, not too much to your sorrow—that with total freedom comes total responsibility. Whenever you choose to do something, or to not do something, whatever the result is, it’s on you.”

Katniss shook her head, not getting Snow’s point. She looked over at Peeta—he looked puzzled as well.

Snow said, “This Victory Tour will be your first lesson in acting as president, Katniss, because I give you total freedom to speak. You may call me evil, you may call the Games evil, you may say that a district’s two tributes were losers who deserved to die—you may say anything, and you shall not be arrested, edited out, or even publicly rebuked. Of course, you are also totally free to say the ‘pretty words’ that nobody wants to hear but that everyone expects you to say.”

Katniss and Peeta both stared at Snow. Eventually Katniss asked, “What’s the catch?”

“The ‘catch’ is that whatever happens, you caused it, because you started the ball rolling in whatever direction you chose. If your words cause a riot and Peacekeepers kill rioters, you killed those rioters, Katniss, as surely as if you had arrowed them.”

“Shit,” Katniss said.

Peeta grinned. “Katniss, if the people of a district don’t riot, and instead they chant your name and carry you around on their shoulders, that’s on you too.”

Katniss shook her head. “Won’t happen. I’m just an ordinary District Twelve girl who’s good with a bow and arrow.”

Peeta said to Snow, “She has no idea, the effect she can have.”

President Snow said, “I am an old man, and I am getting cold, so let us wrap this up. The Victory Tour will end with a President’s Ball in the Presidential Mansion. This is where I will announce two things: that you are my soulmate, Katniss, and that you are my designated successor as president. Tell your stylist to make you an outfit for the announcements that does not hide your soulmark. When I make the announcements, I will not be hiding my soulmark either.”

Katniss whistled. “After this, life is gonna get exciting for all three of us.”

****

AUTHOR END NOTE: So not only will Katniss eventually become president of Panem in this AU, she will get the job at a young age. And Snow is no longer myuhaha-evil in this AU. Katniss is in love with Peeta and is married to him. So everything is wonderful for Katniss now, right?

Not exactly.

Septicus Kopf really wants to be the next president of Panem, and he is not the type of person to lose gracefully.

Then there is Alma Coin. She has been looking for a way to start a Second Rebellion, to then depose Snow, and then to become the next president of Panem. Coin plans to turn Katniss Everdeen into a figurehead Mockingjay in this Second Rebellion, as soon as Coin figures out how. So Snow’s upcoming announcement will mean that Coin has to trash Plan A—Coin will probably be very unhappy with Snow and Katniss both.

All in all, later chapters of this story will be exciting.

Chapter Text

The next day, in the dining car of the tribute train
Ten minutes away from District Twelve

Gathered at the dining table were Katniss and Peeta, Haymitch and Effie, and Cinna and Portia. The four adults were shooting the two teenagers puzzled looks, because Katniss had just called a meeting.

By Effie’s coffee cup was a large stack of blank index cards. Effie had started to write on one index card, and to mumble to herself, as soon as the train had begun to move.

Katniss looked around the table and said, “Yesterday, Cori—President Snow flew out to District Twelve and had a secret talk with Peeta and me. We talked out in the woods, this is how secret our talk was.”

“I nearly froze,” Peeta said, laughing.

None of the adults laughed. Haymitch and Effie shared a worried look.

Haymitch asked, “Sweetheart, there any chance you can tell us what was said by Snow?”

Katniss said, “Not yet. But at the end of the Victory Tour will be the President’s Ball. This is when President Snow will make two announcements.”

Peeta said, “One of the announcements will be that Katniss and President Snow are soulmates.”

Katniss scowled. “Peeta! We’re supposed to keep everything secret till then!”

Peeta said, “Kat, as soon as you tell Cinna about the dress he has to make, they all will figure out the We’re soulmates announcement, hm?”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Katniss said grudgingly.

Katniss looked at Cinna and said, “Right up to the President’s Ball, keep hiding my soulmark. But for the President’s Ball, show it off.”

Portia said to Cinna, “A slanted hemline would work. Knee-length on the right, ankle-length on the left.”

Cinna nodded. “What I was thinking.”

Then Katniss said, “Effie, stop writing that speech.”

Effie’s tone was patronizing: “Trust me, dear, I am listening to your every word. But I need to write both of your speeches and rehearse you two by the time we get to District Eleven, and we have no time to waste.”

Katniss shook her head. “That’s not why I’m saying this. Me and Peeta, we’ll be writing our own speeches. Or if Peeta needs a speech written, I’ll write it.”

Haymitch was shaking his head hard. Effie’s pen was stopped in mid-word as Twelve’s escort stared at Katniss.

Meanwhile, Peeta was laughing. “Um, Kat, how about I write my own speeches, and show them to you ahead of time? Sorry, but you make speeches like I sneak through the woods.”

Haymitch put down his teacup and said, “This is not a good idea, Katniss. Not a good idea. There are a hundred different ways that you can say the wrong thing and get yourself arrested—”

“Not gonna happen,” Katniss said. She reached into her breast pocket and pulled out a folded paper. Without unfolding the paper, she handed it to Haymitch. “President Snow wrote this out in his limousine yesterday morning.”

After Haymitch unfolded the paper, he said, “ ‘Office of the President’—this part is printed. Below it is written out, ‘74-12-20. Mrs. Katniss Mellark and Mr. Peeta Mellark are not to be arrested or threatened for anything they say or do during the Victory Tour. Even their most extreme words or actions are not to be censored. I make no exception to this order. Coriolanus Snow, President of Panem.’ Under his signature, Snow’s written a telephone number.”

Haymitch looked stunned as he refolded the paper and handed it back to Katniss.

Effie looked worried sick. “Katniss dear, so much could go wrong if you say the wrong thing, and I want to help you avoid trouble.”

Katniss scowled, and started to reply, but Peeta laid a hand on her arm. “Effie is scared that, paper or no paper, she’ll get blamed if things go sour.”

Effie shot Peeta a grateful look.

Katniss said, “I’m not gonna tell y’all about President Snow’s second announcement ahead of time, except to say: This paper”—Katniss tapped it with a finger—“relates. And Effie, this paper means what it says. I can say or do anything—including stupid stuff. And just because I don’t get arrested for stupid stuff, doesn’t mean that Snow will set that stuff aside when I finally face him. So you see, whatever I say on stage, it doesn’t matter at all who wrote it, Snow’s going to be royally pissed at me.”

Peeta said, “As Snow put it, ‘With total freedom comes total responsibility.’ ”

Haymitch lifted his teacup (which had more than tea in it) to his lips. Smirking, he said, “Sweetheart at the microphone, unfiltered—this Victory Tour just got lots more interesting. But I might stay on the train in Districts One, Two, and Four, so when angry mobs kill Sweetheart, they don’t kill me too.”

****

The next day
By the District Eleven Justice Building, facing District Eleven’s Square No. 1

President Snow had not been stretching the truth, Katniss decided—District Eleven was a big prison. Between the five-meter-tall district-boundary fence that was covered with barbed wire, the many, many Peacekeepers who stood at the edges of the Square with their helmets on, and this Square’s unsmiling faces everywhere Katniss looked, District Eleven was a grim, grim place.

At the far end of this Square were two platforms. On one platform, under a huge picture of Rue in her Training Center clothing, stood a family of a man and woman and many little girls. On the other platform, under Thresh’s picture, stood an old woman and a teenaged girl. The teen girl (Thresh’s sister?) was giving Katniss a challenging look.

Eleven’s Capitol Liaison gave a speech that was long on “Yay, Capitol!” Then Eleven’s mayor spoke (briefly, thankfully). The mayor surprised Katniss when he ended his speech with “...and now little Vidalia Cooper will welcome Mr. and Mrs. Mellark to District Eleven.”

A dark-skinned girl, young but already solemn-faced, stepped forward to the front of the crowd, while holding a bouquet of different flowers. To Katniss, no two flowers in the bouquet looked the same.

Katniss tried her best to imitate an Effie-smile for the girl, but the girl did not smile back. “Are these for Peeta and me?”

“For you, ma’am,” the girl said. “For all you did for Rue.”

Katniss reached down for the flowers; the girl solemnly handed them up. Katniss walked back to the microphone, briefly hefted the bouquet, and said, “District Eleven, Peeta and I thank you for these flowers.”

Katniss was pasting on a fake smile. Peeta, Katniss knew without looking, was smiling a genuine smile. District Eleven continued to stare back at Katniss and Peeta—unspeaking, unsmiling.

Peeta did not talk long—by his own admission, he had not spent much time with either Rue or Thresh. He told the Elevens that Rue followed Katniss around in the Training Center “...but so quietly. I’d look around and there would be Rue, watching Katniss. Rue was so cute.” As for Thresh, Peeta said, “...He was so strong! He was amazing on the overhead bars—he was fast, and he made them look easy. I think Marvel, the boy from One, and Marlin, the boy from Four, were both afraid of Thresh—though of course they’d never admit it.”

This drew a cheer from the crowd.

Then it was Katniss’s turn to speak. She had a hard time not crying as she talked about Rue, and about Thresh’s unexpected act of mercy. “District Eleven people, I mourn them both, I really do.”

The crowd gasped, and at first Katniss could not guess why. Then she realized that the Elevens were not expecting a Victory Tour speech to be genuine, instead of being crammed full of “rah-rah for the Capitol” bullshit.

Katniss stopped talking then, and looked behind her and to her left. Eleven’s mayor smiled at her, but Eleven’s Capitol Liaison looked like he wanted to shoot Katniss dead.

Katniss turned her head to look at Peeta, and mouthed the words one month. Peeta stepped to the microphone and said, “People of Eleven, your two tributes kept my wife alive. To show my thanks, I want to pledge one month of each year of my Victor’s stipend to go to the surviving family of Rue and of Thresh.”

Katniss said, “Yes! A month a year from me too!”

The crowd actually smiled then.

An old man in the crowd whistled Rue’s four-note end-of-workday whistle, then he kissed the fingers of his left hand, then he gave Katniss and Peeta the District Twelve funeral salute. Right afterward, everyone else in the crowd (including Rue’s and Thresh’s families) also gave Katniss and Peeta the funeral salute.

Right after all this, everything went to shit.

****

An instant later

Behind Katniss, an unfamiliar man’s voice yelled, “Haymitch, get them inside!”

A second later, male arms wrapped around Katniss’s waist from behind, and she was carried backward toward the Justice Building.

Just before Katniss was pulled inside the building, Katniss and her rescuer were jostled by someone. Katniss let go of the flowers she still was holding.

As soon as whoever had been holding Katniss let go, she pushed open one of the doors and stepped outside, intending to pick up the flowers she had dropped. In the Seam, a gift might be refused or repaid, but it was never abandoned.

But after picking up the flowers, Katniss froze staring at what she was seeing, the flowers in her hand forgotten.

Two masked, faceless Peacekeepers had grabbed the old man in the crowd who had led the district in funeral-saluting the Co-Victors. One Peacekeeper swung his baton down low, behind the old man; the old man dropped to his knees. The other Peacekeeper stepped behind the old man and—Bang!—shot him in the back of the head.

Ba-bang! Two shots sounded from the far side of the Square, where the tribute-family platforms were. Rue’s father, and Thresh’s grandmother, dropped limply to the floor of their respective platforms.

In the entire crowd, nobody—not one Eleven resident, not one Peacekeeper—said a word. Without any order to do so, every District Eleven resident had dropped to their knees and had put their hands behind their heads.

They are used to this, shocked Katniss thought.

Katniss’s right hand (the hand not holding flowers) was grabbed, and a man yelled in an Eleven accent, “Come inside, Mrs. Mellark, it is not safe out here!”

Again a man dragged Katniss into the safety of the Justice Building. The man turned out to be Eleven’s mayor.

****

Soon afterward

The Peacekeepers who were acting as the Twelve Team’s escort at the Justice Building, took Twelve’s Victors plus Effie back to their train.

Once Katniss was on the train, she went back to her private compartment, locked the door, lay on her bed, and cried for hours. On the train, now Katniss cried more than she had cried at age eleven for her dead father—because young Katniss had not blamed herself for her father’s death.

That night, Eleven’s mayor held a formal dinner that Katniss and Peeta could not get out of attending. Katniss publicly thanked and praised the mayor for rescuing her, but she barely spoke three words to Eleven’s Capitol Liaison or to Eleven’s Head Peacekeeper.

****

Later that night, during the trainride to District Ten

Katniss and Peeta were in bed together, but not for sex.

“I killed them, Peeta,” Katniss said, sniffling. “Three District Eleven people who did nothing wrong, and didn’t deserve to die. I’m responsible for their deaths.”

“No, Katniss, you’re wrong,” Peeta said. “Those Peacekeepers, they did wrong, not you. They overreacted, they committed murder. You did not tell anyone to do anything that they might be punished for. This is one time that total freedom does not mean total responsibility.”

Katniss said, her face determined, “Whether I am responsible for their deaths or not, I will make sure nothing like this happens again.”

****

Hours later

Peeta woke up in bed alone. He pulled on a robe and searched for Katniss.

She was not in her private compartment.

Peeta found Katniss in the dining car, sitting at the dining table, staring into space. An untouched cup of hot chocolate, in its saucer, set by Katniss’s left hand.

Katniss must have recognized Peeta’s distinctive walk. Peeta was still behind Katniss when she said, “I’ve figured out a way to prevent Peacekeepers from killing local people during our Victory Tour stops. So Snow will be pleased, right? Not when he hears what I have to say. The second announcement of his, it might wind up not getting announced.”

Peeta put his hands on Katniss’s shoulders and began rubbing those (very muscular) shoulders. “If this happens”—Peeta sighed theatrically—“I guess you’ll have to settle for being merely ‘the Girl on Fire,’ and half of ‘the Star-Crossed Lovers of District Twelve,’ and Seventy-fourth Hunger Games Co-Victor, and Mrs. Mellark, beloved wife of the best cheese-bun baker in Panem.”

Katniss’s hands reached up and back, in order to rub Peeta’s arms that were still working her shoulders. “I love you—you know this, right?”

****

Hours later
Standing at the microphone in District Ten

Katniss said, “People of District Ten, Peeta and I have some remarks that I hope will be worth your time to hear. After all, it’s barely above freezing right now, so what Peeta and I say better be worth your time, right?”

The crowd laughed—a little. Katniss figured the Tens were still expecting the standard rah-rah Victory Tour speech, and the Tens resented having to stand out in the cold to hear it.

Katniss continued, “Before I say anything else, and before Peeta speaks, there are things y’all should know. Yesterday in District Eleven, an old man gave Peeta and me the District Twelve funeral salute,” which Katniss demonstrated how to do properly. “In District Twelve, it’s a sign of respect, and I almost cried at my Reaping when the people of Twelve all gave me the funeral salute. Remember that in the arena, I gave this salute to Rue after she died. Yesterday, the old man in Eleven gave me and Peeta the funeral salute, and everyone in Eleven copied it. I took everyone in District Eleven giving Peeta and me the funeral salute to mean ‘We respect you both.’ But the Peacekeepers in Eleven saw things differently—they killed three people, including the old man. I saw them die, and I do not want to see anyone else die. So people of Ten, please do not give us the funeral salute, do not throw things, do not scream, do not yell anything—don’t give your Peacekeepers any excuse to start shooting. Y’all clapping at the end of our speeches probably won’t get anyone killed by the Peacekeepers, but I can’t be sure.”

Katniss looked out at the sea of District Ten faces. They were not bored now, nor did they look resigned at wasting a half-hour. Instead, every District Ten face looked angry.

****

Later

At the end of Katniss’s and Peeta’s remarks, the District Ten crowd was well behaved. They did not make any kind of gesture, or throw things, or yell, or scream—they simply clapped at the end.

And clapped. And clapped. The (unhelmeted) Peacekeepers of District Ten looked pissed, but did not do anything.

****

Two days later
At the District Eight train station

The Twelve Team was met at the train station by the local Capitol Liaison (who looked disapprovingly at Katniss) and by the district mayor (who smiled warmly at Katniss).

With those two men was a woman in her thirties—whom the mayor introduced as Cecilia Esterhaus the Victor (and whom Katniss recognized as one of her wedding guests). Also part of the District Eight group was a man in his eighties—Woof Weaverson, Victor of the Thirteenth Hunger Games (but not a wedding guest). Alas, Woof now could not walk unassisted, and there was nothing behind his eyes.

Woof was being assisted in walking by a dark-skinned woman in her thirties, whom Cecilia introduced as Distaff Paylor, a floor supervisor at the wool-cloth factory.

Katniss looked into Distaff Paylor’s eyes and saw Leadership there—here was a woman who, like Katniss, was willing and able to make hard decisions.

Meanwhile, Peeta was saying, “Paylor? Like in Spool Paylor, the District Eight male tribute?”

Distaff Paylor smiled proudly, “I’m his aunt. Before Cato killed Spool, Spool killed the boy from Four. He was brave.”

The Capitol Liaison said, “Ahem. If all of you will please step this way, you will ride to the Justice Building in warmth and comfort in my limousine. Alas, the limousine seats eight but not nine; so Miss Paylor, I regret to say you must stay behind.” The Capitol Liaison did not look regretful in the least.

Cecilia smiled a too-kind smile. “You go ahead and ride in the limo, Agamemnon. Take Miss Trinket with you—you folks from the climate-controlled Capitol aren’t used to real winters in District Eight. As for the rest of us, we’re Victors, mostly. Except for Miss Paylor and our esteemed mayor, we’ve all gone through worse things than some cold wind.”

“Get in the limo, sweetheart,” Haymitch murmured. Haymitch and Effie had a brief conversation without words, using looks and eyebrows only, then Effie walked to the limousine.

Meanwhile, the mayor smiled knowingly at Cecilia before he too climbed into the limousine.

As the limousine drove away, Cecilia said, “Shall we walk? Distaff, speak your mind.”

Woof really needed Distaff’s help to walk, Katniss saw. While helping Woof walk, Distaff said, “District Eight believes that Spool Paylor was punitively Reaped. District Eight almost rioted when Spool was Reaped, we almost rioted when he was killed in the Bloodbath, and Eight has been walking the knife-edge ever since.”

Katniss asked, “Why do you think Spool was punitively Reaped? And who do you think did it?”

Peeta asked, “If everybody thinks Spool’s Reaping was rigged, why have you not rioted?”

Distaff hesitated to answer. Cecilia said, “Disti, I think you can trust them.”

Distaff said, “The who is a no-brainer: Head Peacekeeper Romulus Thread. Why he might have Reaped Spool is because”—Distaff looked at Cecilia, who smiled encouragingly at her—“because I’m active in the Rebellion here.”

“Whoa,” Katniss and Peeta said together.

Distaff looked at Peeta. “We haven’t rioted because we have no proof that Thread rigged Spool’s Reaping. Thread doesn’t exactly let us Eights rummage through his filing cabinets.”

Haymitch asked, “This Romulus Thread guy is from Two, yeah? Forty years old, more or less? He any relation to Remus Thread?”

Katniss asked, “Who is Remus Thread?”

Distaff said to Haymitch, “The rumor in Eight is that Romulus Thread went to Two’s Secret Academy”—which teaches District Two teenagers how to be Career tributes—“and went most of the way. But when he was seventeen, he was judged ‘Does not meet standards’ and got transferred to the Peacekeeper Academy; he did a year there. Do you know what kids in Peacekeeper Academy call kids who were kicked out of Secret Academy? ‘Losers.’ So Thread probably got called this a lot. Meanwhile, his younger brother, a year behind him in the Secret Academy, went all the way and even was picked to be the Designated Volunteer. One of two, actually—the rules for the Fiftieth Hunger Games were a little different. Anyway, Remus Thread went into the Fiftieth Hunger Games, but an outer-district boy killed him.”

“Actually, Remus Thread got killed by a sixteen-year-old smart-mouth from District Twelve,” Haymitch said.

Peeta whistled. “Thread is going to love seeing you, Haymitch.”

Distaff looked at all three Victors from Twelve. “Head Peacekeeper Romulus Thread hates people in the outer districts—floggings and even hangings happen here at least once a week. He hates Victors—”

“I could tell you stories,” Cecilia said.

“—and now I’m guessing he also hates District Twelve. So Katniss and Peeta, be careful.”

****

Way too long later

Old Woof walked slowly, which meant the entire group of six walked slowly. While the wind was cold. By the time Katniss walked into the back of the Justice Building, a big part of her was regretting not riding from Eight’s train station to Eight’s Justice Building in the big, warm limousine that she had been offered.

Soon the group walked out the front doors of the Justice Building. Distaff said to the Twelves, “It’s been nice talking to you,” handed Woof off to Cecilia, then headed off to join Spool Paylor’s family under his giant photograph. Cecilia and Woof turned to the right; they would stand in front of the Justice Building, beside the mayor, the Capitol Liaison, and Effie.

Besides the Capitol Liaison and the mayor, three other men were already standing with their backs to Eight’s Justice Building: three Peacekeepers. Of all the Peacekeepers whom Katniss could see near Eight’s main Square, only these three Peacekeepers had gewgaws on their white armor, and only these three were unhelmeted.

Meanwhile, while Katniss was looking at the three head-honcho Peacekeepers, they were looking back at the Twelve Victors. The oldest and gewgaw-est Peacekeeper was glaring at Haymitch.

Haymitch walked up to the man and stuck his hand out for a shake. “You’re Romulus Thread, right? Haymitch Abernathy. Your brother tried to kill me a long time ago, but no hard feelings.”

Needless to say, Head Peacekeeper Thread did not shake Haymitch’s hand.

Peeta nodded toward the microphone stand. “Time to go to work.”

“In the cold wind,” Katniss said. She strode purposefully toward the microphone stand, as a crowd of silent District Eight residents watched.

Almost everyone in the crowd was unsmiling, besides being silent. But in the front of the crowd, a teen girl with a strawberry birthmark over one eye was beaming at Katniss, as though Katniss had handed the younger girl a stack of ten-PD coins.

****

Minutes later

Katniss began her speech to the Eights by saying something that District people were not used to hearing: an apology. “We Victors had to show everyone else we’re rough and tough, and so at the train station, we passed up a chance to ride in the nice warm car—instead, we walked here.”

Peeta said, “Which proves that while Victors are brave, we sometimes aren’t smart.” The crowd laughed.

Katniss resumed: “Anyway, folks, walking here took longer than we thought it would, so we got here late, which means that y’all had to stand in the cold longer than y’all planned to. For this I am deeply sorry, y’all.”

With this said, Katniss began her Watch out for trigger-happy Peacekeepers speech-introduction. She had made the same introductory remarks in District Nine as she had said in District Ten. Now in District Eight, she said almost the same words for a third time—

“Before I say anything else, and before Peeta speaks, there are things y’all should know. Three days ago in District Eleven, an old man gave Peeta and me the District Twelve funeral salute....”

A minute later, Katniss was continuing on: “...But the Peacekeepers in Eleven saw things differently—they killed three people, including the old man. I saw them die, and I do not want to see anyone else die. So people of Eight—”

Behind Katniss, a male voice yelled, “Her words are lies, and her words are treason! Peacekeepers, arrest her!”

****

AUTHOR END NOTE: I once read a fanfiction that put forth the idea that as a boy, Romulus Thread attended “Career school” in District Two but was not good enough to be a Career-volunteer tribute; later, Romulus’s brother Remus was chosen to become a Career tribute (only to be killed by Haymitch in the Second Quarter Quell)—and this explains why Head Peacekeeper Romulus Thread is so cruel to the people of Twelve and to the Twelve Victors.

I would like to give proper credit to that fanfiction story’s title and author, but I don’t remember either one.

Chapter Text

Meanwhile
In the office of Head Gamemaker Plutarch Heavensbee

While the door was locked, the white-noise generator was making it difficult for anyone outside the door to eavesdrop, and two bug-jammers were working hard, Plutarch was talking on the radio.

The radio that he usually kept hidden in his office.

Hidden, because this radio would get Plutarch a quick bullet to the brain if he were caught with it.

Why the extreme punishment? Because with this radio, Plutarch could talk to Alma Coin, “President” of District Thirteen. Which was no-shit treason.

Fortunately for Plutarch’s good health and life span, every day it looked more and more likely that the Ministry of Security was not concerned with Capitols spying for District Thirteen. Maybe the Ministry of Security believed, like the general public believed, that District Thirteen was dead?

Anyway, now Plutarch had his office holoprojector on (but muted), with the holoprojector set to the Panem News Network, while Plutarch spoke quietly with the aforementioned Alma Coin—

“Ma’am, I don’t know what to tell you, I really don’t. Five months ago, I was sure that after Snow’s and Everdeen’s meeting after the crowning, he had turned Katniss Everdeen into a Capitol spy. And—”

Coin’s voice was testy: “We had to rewrite a lot of Rebellion planning after you told us this. Are you telling me you were wrong?”

“I don’t know! If Everdeen is Snow’s secret spy, then Snow is playing a longer game than he ever has before. Because what Katniss Mellark has been saying on the Victory Tour has been just short of treason. I can’t imagine Snow would let ‘the Girl on Fire’ say those things if she were taking his orders.”

“Mr. Heavensbee, instead of you guessing where her allegiances lie, find out—”

Silent PNN interrupted itself then. Under a “BREAKING NEWS” banner-block, the scene shifted to the patio of some district’s Justice Building. Katniss and Peeta Mellark were being approached by two Peacekeepers, each Peacekeeper aiming his gun at Katniss. At the bottom of the holo-image was another text-block: “LIVE from District 8: Katniss Mellark, traitor?”

Plutarch blurted, “Shit, speaking of ‘Katniss the traitor’—I gotta go!” Right afterward, he turned off the radio and shoved it back into its hiding place.

Once Plutarch’s spy-radio was hidden, the bug-jammers were turned off, and the white-noise generator was turned off, Plutarch unmuted his holoprojector.

****

Meanwhile
In front of the District Eight Justice Building

Katniss had been facing the crowd, and talking into the microphone, when Romulus Thread had ordered her to be arrested for treason.

I expected this. I’ve planned for this, Katniss thought. She made her muscles relax.

Still facing the crowd, she said, “I tell you no lies. What I told you about District Eleven, I saw.”

A young, helmetless Peacekeeper appeared to Peeta’s right. He was pointing a pistol at Katniss’s face.

“Hands behind your back,” a male voice ordered, speaking behind Katniss.

Katniss ignored the order, keeping her right hand holding Peeta’s hand and her left hand holding the microphone stand.

Male hands grabbed both of Katniss’s hands and yanked them behind her back. Cl-cl-cl-cl-click! Handcuffs bit into the skin of her hands and wrists.

Katniss said, as calmly as she could manage, “You can’t arrest me. It isn’t allowed.”

“Oh yeah, bitch?” said the voice from behind. “Watch me!”

Katniss made herself speak calmly: “Peeta, my breast pocket. Grab the paper.”

The youthful, gun-pointing Peacekeeper said, “Mr. Mellark, I need for you to step away from your wife.” He spoke calmly, gently, not like a hardass.

Peeta said, “She has a paper you need to see: a note from President Snow.”

“Liar!” Thread yelled, ten meters behind Katniss. “Add forgery to her crimes.”

After a pause—the young Peacekeeper looked shocked at Peeta’s words—at last he said, “Very well, Mr. Mellark. But I don’t want to shoot you. Move slowly when you take the paper from her pocket, then slowly when you hand the paper to me.”

As Peeta was moving slowly, Katniss’s Peacekeeper growled, “This is a waste of time, Junior-Lieutenant.”

The non-hardass Peacekeeper replied, “If Mr. Mellark hadn’t mentioned President Snow, I’d agree with you, sir.”

Katniss’s Peacekeeper leaned close to her ear and murmured, “Whatever you and Lover-Boy are cooking up, I hope it includes running away. I want an excuse to shoot you both.”

As soon as the Junior-Lieutenant Peacekeeper was handed the note, he quickly backed away from Peeta and unfolded the note. Seconds later, he blurted out, “Holy shit.”

The young Peacekeeper had been pointing his pistol at Katniss or at Peeta for the last minute. Now he holstered his pistol.

Katniss said, “Junior-Lieutenant, please come to the microphone and read the note so everyone hears its words.”

Behind Katniss, her handcuffer snarled, “Quiet, traitor! You take orders now, you don’t give orders, got me?”

The Junior-Lieutenant shook his head. “Mrs. Mellark is right, sirs, I think you need to hear this. This note, I think it’s from Snow.”

The young Peacekeeper walked in front of handcuffed Katniss, her note in his hand and his back to the audience. Katniss had already seen that this man was one of the three Peacekeepers who wore no helmet; now she saw that he also had the plainest gewgaws on his armor of the three officer-Peacekeepers.

Amid his gewgaws was the name “Poole, J.”

Peacekeeper Junior-Lieutenant Poole turned the microphone stand around, so that the microphone was facing him, and read the entire note aloud—

“ ‘74-12-20. Mrs. Katniss Mellark and Mr. Peeta Mellark are not to be arrested or threatened for anything they say or do during the Victory Tour. Even their most extreme words or actions are not to be censored. I make no exception to this order. Coriolanus Snow, President of Panem.’ ”

Poole even read-out the telephone number that Snow had written at the end.

After reading the note aloud, Poole again turned the microphone stand around, so that the microphone faced Katniss. After doing this, Poole turned and walked over to stand to Peeta’s right (so that the audience and the holo-cameras could see Katniss standing there handcuffed).

Poole asked, “Mister Mellark, why did you say that this note is from President Snow, instead of from someone else, or instead of saying that you did not know its origin?”

Peeta said, “I know Snow wrote it, because I saw him write it and hand it to Katniss.”

“Bullshit,” Thread yelled from behind. “You two haven’t been to the Capitol since the end of your Games. This note is dated five days ago.”

Katniss said, “Did Peeta say that the note was written in the Capitol? No, he didn’t. Get the wax out of your ears, Peacekeepers! Snow gave me this note in District Twelve.”

The man who had handcuffed Katniss said, “A likely story! You expect us to believe that President Snow traveled all the way to District Twelve to talk to two cheater Victors?”

“Yes, exactly,” Katniss said calmly, into the microphone. “I think you should call that telephone number now.”

“That’s not going to happen,” declared Thread.

“You heard him, traitor,” said Katniss’s handcuffer.

Poole said, “Sirs, I respectfully suggest that you reconsider. I think this note is real.”

Thread demanded, “Why would President Snow give you two cheaters and traitors a blank-check note like this?”

Katniss answered coldly, “It’s not your place to know that, Head Peacekeeper Thread.”

Thread said, “I should shoot you here and now, as a lesson to future traitorous Victors.”

A new male voice said, “Poole, would you read off the telephone number again?” The speaker’s voice cracked from nervousness.

After Poole read off the note’s telephone number, the new voice said, “Rom, I call that number all the time, and President Snow calls me from that number all the time! You need to call that number.”

Katniss said into the microphone, “I want Peacekeeper Junior-Lieutenant Poole to make the call—standing at the microphone so we all can hear. Him I trust to do the right thing.”

“Fine, whatever,” Thread said. “Do it, Junior-Lieutenant.”

Poole borrowed the Capitol Liaison’s pocket-picturephone and made the call. He did not reach President Snow, but he did reach Snow’s secretary. After she typed on a keyboard, she said, “Here is the president’s reply to anyone who asks about Mrs. Mellark’s note: ‘I wrote it. I meant it. Don’t you have more important things to do?’ ”

****

One second later

Katniss’s voice was as imperial as Snow’s: “Take off the handcuffs, Peacekeeper behind me.”

For several seconds, nothing happened. Then Thread said disgustedly, “Do it.”

Katniss’s handcuffs were removed. The Peacekeeper behind Katniss murmured, “You’re still a traitor and a cheater, note or no note.”

Katniss did not bother to reply. Instead she held her hand out to Poole. “Please give me my note back, Junior-Lieutenant Poole.”

When the note was handed to her, she pocketed it—as her mind raced.

Mrs. Katniss Mellark and Mr. Peeta Mellark are not to be arrested or threatened for anything they say or do during the Victory Tour. Katniss was angry at Thread and his minion, she wanted to insult them, to slap them, to kick them in the gonads—and she could! Snow’s note would let her do all these things, and the two dipshit Peacekeepers would have to take it. Katniss was so tempted!

But what would be the consequences if she did any of these things? Probably the Eights in the Square would attack the Peacekeepers in the Square—and whatever happened then, the blame would be all on Katniss.

Now Katniss got another glimmer of what Snow had meant when he had said, “With total freedom comes total responsibility.”

Time had passed after Katniss had pocketed the note, but nobody had spoken. She turned around and faced the Peacekeeper who still stood close to her. In a low voice, she said, “You are no longer needed where you are standing. Go back to the Justice Building ... Asher, P.”

“You can’t give me orders!”

“Do we need to call Snow again?”

Peacekeeper Asher glared at Katniss, then he walked away.

Katniss turned back to the microphone and said, “People of Eight, there are three Peacekeepers on stage with me. I have no thanks and no praise for Thread or Asher, but I praise and I thank Peacekeeper Junior-Lieutenant Poole. He did all the right things.”

Katniss began to clap, then Peeta clapped, then everybody in the crowd and everybody on stage clapped—as the young Peacekeeper officer blushed.

Katniss noticed that many Eights in the crowd held off clapping for a Peacekeeper till they had looked over at the Spool Paylor platform and had seen that Distaff Paylor was clapping. Seeing Distaff Paylor clap for Peacekeeper Poole, these other Eights clapped too.

After the applause died down, Katniss and Peeta went back to doing the Victory Tour in District Eight by its usual routine.

****

Meanwhile
In the office of Head Gamemaker Plutarch Heavensbee

Plutarch Heavensbee shook his head in amazement as he turned off the holoprojector.

Plutarch said to the empty room, “Katniss has a ‘Get out of flogging, prison, Avoxing, and execution’ card from Snow? How did this happen? What does it mean?”

Chapter Text

That night
During the trainride to District Seven

Peeta and Katniss were in Peeta’s bed, but neither Mellark was sleeping.

Peeta pulled Katniss close and said, “What a crazy day. Want to talk about it?”

Katniss said, “I learned something today.”

“Besides learning that Cray is not the worst Head Peacekeeper in the districts?” Peeta asked with a grin.

Katniss said, “The night of the Crowning, when Snow and I went to a room and yelled at each other—I saw Snow angry. Angry at me. I kept waiting for Snow to order his bodyguards to shoot me dead. Because he wanted to, it was obvious, and he’d never be punished for killing me. But he didn’t order me shot, he didn’t lose control of his anger, and ever since then, I’ve wondered why. Now I think I have a little answer why.”

“So tell: Why?”

“Because of what happened today, after my note was read aloud and Snow’s secretary said it was real. I was itching for payback, and now everyone in Eight knew I could do anything I wanted and get away with it. Peeta, I can’t tell you how tempted I was to yell the nastiest insults I could think up, to kick Thread and his stooge, to slap them silly. Oh, I wanted to make those two hurt, especially since I knew I could get away with it!”

Peeta said, “I felt the same way. Trust me, Kat, if you had started kicking and yelling insults, I would have too.”

“But another part of me thought, ‘If you attack Peacekeepers on stage, the Eights will attack Peacekeepers in the Square.’ Which would have meant Eights being shot, Peacekeepers being beaten to death, and I would be to blame for every death. So I made myself not give in to my temper, because I being hot-tempered would have fucked things up.”

Peeta’s voice was thoughtful. “Which I think explains why Snow didn’t order you shot. As popular as you were at the end of the Games, if Snow had said, ‘I killed Katniss after her Games because she hadn’t been a good little tribute, and this really pissed me off,’ riots would have broken out in almost every district. Snow probably thought, ‘I might kick off the new Rebellion if I really lose my temper,’ so he didn’t lose his temper.”

Katniss pointed to the flower-vase on the nightstand, which presumably had a microphone hidden in it. Don’t talk about Snow’s upcoming announcement. “When Snow dies and they pick his successor, they better not pick Romulus Thread. That man has no self-control, which makes him dangerous.”

A minute later, Katniss rolled over so she could speak quietly in Peeta’s ear. “Coriolanus is evil, he is absolutely evil, but he is not as evil as he could be. Some of what he does, actually makes sense now.”

****

The next morning
In the office of Romulus Thread, District Eight

The telephone on Thread’s desk rang.

Thread answered it, “District Eight Peacekeeper Barracks No. 1, this is Peacekeeper Major Romulus Thread.” His tone of voice said Whoever you are, you better not be wasting my time.

President Snow said, using his own don’t-mess-with-me voice, “I have reviewed the footage of what happened yesterday during the Mellarks’ Victory Tour stop in District Eight.” Snow’s voice did not hint whether he approved or disapproved of what he had seen.

“I stand behind my actions and my orders, Mr. President,” Thread said.

“I see. After a day to reflect, you tell me you would change nothing you did?”

“I would change nothing, Mr. President,” Thread declared firmly.

“At one point you spoke of shooting Mrs. Mellark—I presume you meant to shoot her then and there, in front of everyone in the Square. Or were you merely toying with the idea of shooting her?”

“I was thinking about it, but not decided yet. I was angry at Katniss Mellark, and she was not acting compliant.”

“I see. Let us talk about Peacekeeper Captain Palinurus Asher—how would you rate his actions during the incident?”

“Captain Asher is an excellent officer, Mr. President. He obeys my orders and often anticipates them. He arrested the suspect exactly as I would have.”

“I see that you ordered Junior-Lieutenant Justinus Poole discharged from the Peacekeeper Corps, and sent to Capitol Prison for Avoxing punishment.”

“Yes, sir. He disregarded Peacekeeper standard procedures for arresting criminals, choosing instead to take orders from the suspect. Also, he publicly humiliated me, Mr. President.”

Romulus Thread was nervous now, though his voice did not show it. Nervous, because President Snow’s voice was giving nothing away.

Snow said, with no emotion whatever, “When Junior-Lieutenant Poole told you that he believed that the note that Katniss Mellark was carrying had been written by me, you did not walk over to him in order to look at the note, and you did not order Poole to bring the note to you. Please explain.”

“Katniss Mellark was speaking treason, traitors are the evilest of criminals, so I was sure that Katniss Mellark would have forged any note claiming to be from you.”

“By ‘treason,’ you mean that Mrs. Mellark was telling District Eight residents that Peacekeepers in District Eleven had shot three District Eleven residents with no justification, and she had witnessed this.”

“Yes, treason. When Peacekeepers kill district riffraff, the scumbags always deserve it. Either this is what she saw or she made the whole thing up and lied about Eleven’s Peacekeepers. Either way, it’s treason.”

“Are you now convinced that I did indeed write the note that lets Mrs. Mellark say whatever she wants?”

Now Thread was worried. “Yes, Mr. President, I am convinced now. Permission to speak freely?”

“I am guessing you wonder why I gave Katniss Mellark a note that lets her speak unpleasant statements.”

“Yes, exactly. Why let her speak treason?”

The president’s voice was as cold as fallen snow when he said, “My reasons for writing the note, and how Mrs. Mellark chooses to use the note, are for me to discuss with Mrs. Mellark, not with you.”

Snow paused, and now his voice sounded angry: “I hate a riot breaking out in a district. We almost had a riot in District Eight yesterday—because of you! If you had dragged Mrs. Mellark off the stage in handcuffs and thrown her into a Peacekeeper truck or, even more unwisely, if you had shot her while she was on stage and cameras were rolling, how do you think events would have ended? A riot in District Eight for sure, plus maybe riots in other districts! All because you decided that Mrs. Mellark talking about Peacekeeper atrocities in District Eleven was lying and treason, and you decided that a note from me that gave her permission to talk about such things, was a fake. You complain about the Peacekeeper procedures that Poole failed to follow—what about the more consequential Peacekeeper procedures that you ignored?”

Thread decided that the wise course now was to say nothing.

Snow said, “And Asher was indeed your twin in his actions. While he was standing behind Mrs. Mellark, he was continually insulting her and threatening her, so my lip-readers tell me. But fortunately for everyone, the District Eight riot did not happen, despite you and Asher, because Mrs. Mellark and Junior-Lieutenant Poole stayed calm and thought fast.”

Thread remained silent, as he wondered what his fate would be.

Snow said, “You and Asher have been demoted, effective yesterday. Romulus Thread, you are now a Captain; Palinurus Asher is now a Senior-Lieutenant. You each shall have a letter placed in your file that states that you were demoted by order of the president.”

“I understand, Mr. President,” Thread said, feeling sick. The demotion meant that he was no longer a Major; and the letter in his file meant that he would never be promoted to Major. Thread was fucked.

“As for Justinus Poole, I have countermanded the order for his Avoxing. He has been returned to the Peacekeeper Corps, and is being flown, even as we speak, back to District Eight. Today I have promoted Poole to Senior-Lieutenant, and have ordered a letter to this effect to be put in Poole’s file. Since Senior-Lieutenant Asher has one day’s seniority on Senior-Lieutenant Poole, and you outrank both of them, the three of you keep the same relative ranking—for now.”

Thread said humbly, “Thank you for not executing Asher or me, or Avoxing us.” For Thread, it was either say these words or say Hey, old man, you can take your demotions and shove them up your ass! But Thread figured he was in enough trouble already.

Snow said to Thread, “One other item to discuss: You are suspected of rigging the Reaping of this year’s District Eight male tribute, and this supposedly was how Spool Paylor came to be Reaped. I choose for now not to make my own investigation, but I hope for your sake that your accusers are mistaken.”

****

An hour later
At the District Seven train station

After all of the meet-and-greets—between the Twelve Team, Seven’s Capitol Liaison, Seven’s mayor, and Blight and Johanna—were complete, Johanna said, “You guys go ahead to the Square. I and my little friend”—the tablet computer in Johanna’s gloved hand—“and the newlyweds will be there soon.”

Haymitch groaned. “You realize this wind is cold, don’t you, Jo? If you make Boy and Sweetheart late to their own speeches again, I’m going to thump you.”

Johanna’s grin was savage. “You try it and you’ll get an axe in the chest, old man.”

Effie looked at Co-Victors and said primly, “Keeping the people of Seven waiting past the scheduled time is rude, children.”

Haymitch smirked. “And throwing Effie’s schedules into the trash isn’t just rude, it’s asking to be lectured nonstop between here and District One. So don’t do it.”

Johanna said, “Fine, fine, we won’t dawdle, we won’t stroll. Now get in the frigging limo and leave, sheesh!”

When Johanna, Katniss, and Peeta were alone, Johanna held up her tablet computer and asked slyly, “You two ever seen a porno film?”

Katniss said, “What? No! That’s what perverted rainbows do! Peeta and I are decent district people!”

Peeta said, “Um, Katniss? Coach Darby”—District Twelve High School’s wrestling coach—“owns some pornos, and he’s neither a pervert nor a rainbow.”

Johanna shook her head. “Brainless, oh Brainless, you are the purest Victor I have ever met. Walk with me and let me try again: Would you two like to see a porno with you two in it?”

“What?” sputtered Katniss. “That’s impossible. No way—”

“Certainly, Peeta and Katniss,” Johanna said with a grin, “I’ll be glad to show you the porno that you asked for.”

“Wait!” said Katniss. “We didn’t—”

Johanna pulled a glove off, and began moving one fingertip across the tablet screen. Soon a two-dimensional movie began, Cato-Kat Cornucopia Carnival.

****

One second later

In the 74th Hunger Games arena, Katniss and Peeta are running toward the Cornucopia at night, trying to escape a fearsome pack of mutts.

Real Katniss said, “Those ‘mutts’? They aren’t werewolf-mutts, they’re Dobermans.”

Johanna said, “All will be explained soon. Watch the movie.”

Katniss says to Peeta, “I can’t climb up the Cornucopia by myself. How about you push me up, then you try to climb up the Cornucopia by yourself?”

Peeta says, “Of course, Katniss my beloved. Have I mentioned that I have no sense of self-preservation?”

Real Peeta said, “Jeez, the movie is making me sound like a moron.”

Peeta pushes Katniss up onto the Cornucopia. Katniss stands up, and looks across the Cornucopia. There she sees Cato.

Off-screen, the sound of growling and attacking dogs can be heard. Peeta says, “Ow, ow, ow!” Peeta has climbed halfway up the Cornucopia when he says, “Katniss, help me! Take my hand!”

Cato says to Katniss, in a voice deep and sexy, “Hey, Girl on Fire, I bet you’re a virgin, aren’t you? Do you want me to fix this before you and I have our Big Battle?”

Peeta says, “Of course she’s a virgin—I completely respect Katniss’s choices. Ow! OW! C’mon, Katniss, pull me up!”

Katniss puts her hand on top of Peeta’s head and shoves him down into the pack of Dobermans. “Sheesh, you’re annoying.”

Then Katniss again stands, facing Cato. Katniss begins to rip off her clothes. “Yes, Cato, take my cherry! Take me with your—your thing!”

Johanna said, “This part seems real, Brainless—that you wouldn’t even know the right word.”

Peeta said, “Well, Katniss knows the right word now. She knows lots of things now.” Katniss and Peeta kissed in the cold wind, as Johanna rolled her eyes.

Meanwhile, Katniss gets naked and Cato gets naked. They energetically fuck atop the Cornucopia.

Peeta commented, “The passion part they got right. Katniss can be a real wildcat when she gets going.”

Katniss scowled and slapped Peeta’s arm.

Soon Katniss is yelling, “Oh yes, oh YES, this is wonderful, I’m being fucked by a real man, not some boy who gets his jollies from baking!”

Katniss screams in orgasm, then again the sound of snapping dogs can be heard. Peeta says, “Ow! If you would please give me a hand up, Katniss, I would be grateful.”

****

Seconds later

Real Katniss said, “That movie, it’s fake!”

Johanna said, “Of course it’s fake! Anyone who stayed awake during Mandatory Viewing knows this.”

Peeta asked, “So how does it look so real?”

Johanna said, “Have you ever noticed that when it’s down to the Final Eight, and the Gamemakers do their recap at the beginning of Mandatory Viewing, how the graphics get flashier? Extreme close-ups, two tributes fighting and then they freeze but they’re not blurry, or the camera does a 360-degree circle around two fighting tributes?”

“Yeah?” said Katniss, wondering where this was going.

“For those few seconds, the Gamemakers aren’t using the actual Games footage of the real tributes, they’re showing you a scene using figures of the tributes. A figure is a mannequin of a tribute that bends and moves and talks, all inside a computer. You guys following?”

Peeta said yes, while Katniss mumbled something. Every kid who went through District Twelve High School would one day be either a coal miner or be selling stuff to coal miners, and neither group needed to know about computers—so computer use was not taught in District Twelve schools. Katniss had never seen an actual computer till after the Hunger Games, when Twelve’s Capitol Liaison had brought Peeta and her into his office. Katniss certainly had no clue what a computer could be used for.

Now Johanna’s fingertip worked her tablet, while she talked: “Since the Fifty-ninth Games, the Gamemakers make a figure of every tribute who is in the Final Eight. After the Games end, the Gamemakers sell these figure-files to the public. See, here’s your Games.”

Now on screen, Katniss saw Marvel, Cato, Clove, Foxface, Rue, Thresh, Peeta, and herself. These figures looked just like the real tributes! But every one of the naked figures was standing with knees and heels together, his or her arms straight out to the side, with his or her hands palm-down and parallel to the ground. Every face stared straight ahead, with a blank expression. The screen breathlessly promised, “Each figure comes with full voice files!”

Most of the figures were priced at fifty PDs; but the figures of Cato, Peeta, and Katniss were priced at one hundred PDs.

Real Katniss said, “So some nirdus”—young man with computer savvy but lacking in social skills—“in the Capitol plunked down three hundred PDs for figures of Cato and us, then made his own porno movie of us on his computer?”

Johanna shrugged. “Plus another twenty-five PDs for the 74th HG Cornucopia prop, and another twenty-five for a figure of a Doberman ‘mutt.’ Say three-hundred fifty PDs for this guy to impress his friends.”

Peeta asked, “Is the movie we just saw on the panemnet?”

Johanna laughed. “This one, and many more. You’re a popular porno actress, Brainless.”

Katniss groaned.

Johanna added, “Though most of your films are just you and Lover-Boy frying each other’s brains in interesting places. My favorite of those kind is you two making love in a glass submarine that’s cruising over Sunken Florida.”

Katniss got a thought. “Are there porno movies out with you in them, Johanna?”

“Tons of ’em. Let me show you a Johanna-porno that came out recently.”

Katniss wondered why Johanna was smiling mischievously.

Johanna’s fingertip worked her tablet, then another movie started.

This movie was Jo-Kat Joy.

****

One second later

Katniss and Johanna are standing by a security-guard desk. Behind the security guard is a sign: “Hunger Games Training Center. Proper authorization required beyond this point.”

Real Katniss said, “Is this supposed to be the ground floor of the Training Center? It looks nothing like this.”

Johanna said, “This is what you’re focused on? You’re not the least bit curious about the title?”

Peeta noted, “Your hair is longer in the movie than in real life, Johanna.”

“That’s how I looked when I was a tribute.”

Katniss says, “Golly, Johanna, this is my first mentoring, and my tribute goes into the Games tomorrow. Gee, what am I supposed to do? I’m lost.”

Real Katniss said, “ ‘Golly’? ‘Gee’? Do people really see me like this?”

Johanna says, “I’ll teach you how to mentor, but it’ll cost you. Follow me.” Johanna walks toward the elevator; Katniss follows.

Katniss said, “It’ll cost me? You mean money? Aren’t you richer than me?”

“Get in the elevator, Katniss. All will be clear soon.”

Katniss and Johanna move into the otherwise-empty Training Center elevator. As soon as the elevator begins moving up, Johanna begins to take off her clothes.

Real Johanna laughed. “They got my preferences wrong, but this part they got right.”

“What are you doing?” Katniss asks stripping Johanna.

“This is how I get comfortable in Seven’s apartment when Blight isn’t there, and since Seven’s apartment is where we’re going, why wait?” Johanna winks at Katniss.

“Why won’t Blight be there?” Katniss asks, looking everywhere in the elevator except at disrobing Johanna.

Johanna smirks. “Blight went out drinking with Haymitch. You know he’ll be out for a while.”

The elevator dings. Almost-naked Johanna gathers up her clothes and walks like a queen through the elevator doors into Seven’s apartment. Katniss follows, like a puppy.

Seven’s apartment is painted dark green, with paintings and photographs of big trees and of lumberjacks working.

Katniss is clearly nervous. She says, “I like your apartment better. On Twelve’s floor, the walls are painted black, and the paintings are of coal rocks.”

Johanna by now has removed all of her clothes; they are in a pile on the couch. She says to Katniss in a husky voice, “I didn’t bring you here to discuss decor.”

Johanna puts her hands on Katniss’s shoulders and stares into Katniss’s eyes. “Tell me, are you the Girl on Fire when you’re in bed?” With Peeta?”

“Yes!” real Katniss said, smiling at Peeta.

Katniss replies unconvincingly, “Sure. Everything’s great. Peeta is a devoted lover.”

Johanna says, “You’re leaving something out. Be honest.”

“Okay, I want to enjoy the sex, and I do enjoy it, mostly, but something is missing.”

Johanna grins. “Missing? Like what?”

Katniss snaps, “If I knew, I’d go get it, then it wouldn’t be missing anymore!”

Peeta laughed. “Oh Kat, that’s you perfectly, right there.”

Johanna purrs, “I think I know what’s missing. Hold still.”

Johanna leans forward and kisses Katniss. Katniss kisses back. When Johanna ends the kiss, Katniss looks like she wants the kiss to continue.

“Coalfire!” Katniss exclaims.

“ ‘Coalfire’?” real Katniss said. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Peeta was laughing. “I think it’s how some Capitol nirdus thinks we talk in District Twelve.”

All three Victors rolled their eyes.

Peeta said, “Y’know, Kat, their kiss was actually kind of hot.”

Real Johanna moved closer to the face of real Katniss. “Maybe we should do it for real then.”

Katniss stepped back. “Stop it! I’m not into that!”

Johanna laughed. “Brainless, I’m just messing with you.” Then Johanna grinned and added, “Probably.”

Katniss said with mock disappointment, “Look, here we are at your Justice Building. Darn it, now I won’t get to see the rest of the movie.”

Johanna sighed. “Yep, it’s back to work, kids. You have to go give your canned, boring speeches, and I have to pretend I find them interesting.”

Katniss grinned. “Coalfire, Johanna, are you in for a shock!”

****

That night
During the trainride to District Six

Katniss had decided, several districts ago, that there was something sexy about having sex on a moving train.

When the sex was over, when it was just two sweaty young people kissing and cuddling, Peeta asked, “So how was it? You melted my socks, by the way.”

Katniss kissed Peeta, then said, “Coalfire, the sex was great, golly gee!”

They both laughed hard.

****

Two nights later
During the trainride from District Five to District Four

Peeta was violently throwing up at one end, and his other end had diarrhea.

During a brief respite from his misery, Peeta said to Katniss, “This is revenge by the ghost of Windmilla Finch. I unknowingly poison her, then she deliberately poisons me.”

Katniss did not think the joke was funny.

****

Hours later
Just arrived in District Four

The first thing that the District Four greeters said, after only three-fourths of the Twelve Team had walked off the train, was “Where’s Peeta?”

Haymitch said, “Still on the train. We think he’s no longer sick, but he’s in no shape for today’s dog-and-pony show.”

Katniss saw Four’s Capitol Liaison frown at Haymitch’s words.

Effie said, “We are so sorry that the people of District Four won’t be able to see Peeta, because we know he has so many fans here!”

Five people were meeting the Twelves at the District Four train station—besides the Capitol Liaison and Four’s mayor, facing the Twelves were two Victors who had been to Katniss’s wedding, and an old woman who carried a pencil and writing pad. The old woman looked pointedly at Hammerhead Oleery and SurfEllen Cassidy.

Hammerhead Oleery said, “In a way, Peeta not coming is a good thing, because the three of us”—Hammerhead gestured to mean SurfEllen, the old woman, and himself—“want to spend time talking to Katniss alone. How about you guys take the limo to the Justice Building, while us four talk while we walk over there?”

Haymitch said, “What, again? This shit’s getting old.”

By the time the limo drove off, Hammerhead and SurfEllen had introduced Katniss to Mags Flanagan, who was the Victor of the Eleventh Hunger Games. Then the foursome began walking, while the three District Four Victors interrogated Katniss.

Chapter Text

Seconds later
Walking away from the District Four train station

Katniss noticed several Peacekeepers, who were standing on the train-station platform, watch the four Victors leave. These Peacekeepers all were helmeted.

Katniss thought, Maybe the Peacekeepers are all wearing helmets to keep the cold wind off their faces. But Katniss did not really believe this. The winter wind had also blown cold in Twelve, Ten, Nine, Seven, Six, and Five, but Peacekeepers in those districts had remained unhelmeted.

Only in Districts Eight and Eleven—both being districts where Peacekeepers oppressed district people—had the Peacekeepers worn helmets during the Victory Tour stopover.

“—Victor you are,” SurfEllen said.

Katniss replied, “I’m sorry. Say that again?”

Late-twenties SurfEllen said in a challenging tone, “You confuse us. We don’t know what kind of Victor you are.”

Forty-something Hammerhead clarified: “You volunteered to save your sister. You blew up the Cornucopia stash, which was dangerous for several reasons. You sang to dying Rue. You covered dead Rue with flowers. You’re a hero to the people of Four, even though your tracker-jackers killed Marina. But you have the note from Snow, which means you’re at least a little bit Loyalist.”

“Wait, you know about the note? The Victors in Seven, Six, and Five didn’t know anything about what had happened to me in Eight.”

Old Mags scribbled on her tablet, IT WAS ON PNN.

“Do you know what PNN is?” Hammerhead asked Katniss. “Panem News Network is—”

“—a subscription news channel that reports the news everywhere in Panem.” Katniss rolled her eyes. “Listen, I’m only sixteen years old, and from the coal-grubber district, and a new Victor, but I know about Panem News Network. And part of what I know is that they’re for Capitols only. In the districts, they offer their service only to Capitols living in the districts, to Head Peacekeepers, and to district mayors. But what Peeta was told, when he tried to sign up, was ‘Victors are not acceptable subscribers.’ ”

“Same in other districts,” SurfEllen said. “So you’ve probably noticed, Katniss, that starting with District Ten, the Victors who greet you have no idea what you’ve been up to this week.”

Katniss said, “Yeah, Johanna made a comment before our speeches in Seven that she expected the speeches to be boring and she’d have to pretend to find them interesting.”

Then Katniss looked at the District Four Victors. “But somehow y’all are pirating Panem News Network. So y’all know about—”

Hammerhead said, “District Eleven—or at least, what you’ve been saying about District Eleven since you left there. All three of us watched the clusterfuck in District Eight, live as it happened.”

Mags scribbled on her pad, CAN WE SEE YOUR NOTE?

Katniss took the note out of the outer pocket of her coat, unfolded it, and handed it to Mags. SurfEllen’s eyebrows went up as she read the note.

Mags passed the note to Hammerhead, who read it, refolded it, and handed it back to Katniss. Hammerhead’s face was expressionless.

Meanwhile, Mags was writing on her pad, THAT’S SNOW’S WRITING. She underlined her sentence three times.

SurfEllen said to Katniss, “We’re awfully curious why Snow gave a note like this to the same girl who pulled off ‘the berries stunt.’ We heard he was pissed at you.”

Katniss replied archly, “And I’m curious why I see helmeted Peacekeepers in a Career district. Isn’t the reason y’all get to keep your Secret Academy”—which trained children how to fight as Careers when someday they volunteered for the arena—“because you’re loyal to the Capitol?”

Silence.

For a while, the Victors walked in silence. Katniss did not answer SurfEllen’s question, and no Four Victor answered Katniss’s question.

Katniss spoke into the silence: “Listen, when we get to the Justice Building, I’m giving my speech. When I finish it, I’m heading back to the train to be with sick Peeta. I won’t leave the train except for the mayor’s dinner.” Which would give Katniss no opportunity to talk privately with anyone, as the Four Victors all knew. “So whatever you want to ask me or tell me, talk fast. Besides, it’s cold out here.”

Hammerhead lowered his voice and asked, “If a Rebellion broke out today, would you side with the Capitol or with the Rebellion?”

With no hesitation, Katniss said, “The Rebellion. In a heartbeat.”

Mags wrote, DOES SNOW KNOW THIS?

Katniss replied, “I’ve never told Snow I’m a Rebel; but I’ve told him several times that he should end the Hunger Games now, and if he doesn’t, he’ll never have peace in the districts.”

Mags wrote, WHY HAVEN’T YOU BEEN HUNG FOR TREASON?

Katniss shrugged. “I can’t tell y’all that, not yet. It’s connected to why Snow gave me this note.”

“ ‘Not yet,’ ” Hammerhead repeated. “When can you talk about the note?”

Katniss said, “Soon. Right after PNN explodes.”

Mags, Hammerhead, and SurfEllen all looked surprised.

Mags began to tap her pencil against her lips. Hammerhead and SurfEllen waited for whatever Mags would write next. Eventually Mags wrote—

DISTRICT FOUR IS REBEL—FISHERMEN, SECRET ACADEMY LEARNERS, ALL D04 VICTORS, ME.

Hammerhead and SurfEllen gasped. SurfEllen hissed, “Mags! What have you done?” SurfEllen looked worriedly at Katniss.

Mags smiled at the other two Four Victors, patted SurfEllen’s cheek, then went back to writing—

SNOW SUSPECTS WE’RE REBELS BUT HAS NO PROOF. THIS IS WHY WE NOT HUNG. BUT IF YOU TELL SNOW, WE ALL HANG.

Katniss promised, “I won’t tell him.” She saw Hammerhead and SurfEllen relax a little.

Then Katniss shook her head in confusion. “How can you be a Career district and be Rebel? And why tell all this to me? You don’t know me.”

Hammerhead said, “I asked Mags the first question back when I was a learner. What she said was, If only Loyalist districts have Career Victors, what happens when there is another rebellion? Total slaughter. When the time comes, the Rebels need to have Career Victors too.”

SurfEllen added, “Mags tells the learners in our Secret Academy what Panem was like before the Treaty of the Treason. Trust me, nobody who goes into the Games from Four is a Loyalist, no matter what bullshit we might spout in interviews.”

Mags wrote, KATNISS, I AM CONFUSED BY YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH SNOW. BUT THE GIRL WHO DID RIGHT BY PRIMROSE, RUE, AND PEETA WILL NOT BETRAY THE REBELLION TO SNOW. I TRUST YOU.

Hammerhead and SurfEllen looked worried again, but said nothing.

“Whoa,” Katniss said. She was stunned by the amount of trust that this old Victor had just shown her, and Katniss pledged to prove herself worthy of this trust.

And with this last spoken word, the foursome had arrived at District Four’s Justice Building. The D04 Victors went off in one direction, while Katniss went off in another.

****

Minutes later
On the patio of District Four’s Justice Building

Four’s mayor apologized for Peeta being out sick—the people in Four’s main Square actually said “Aww.” Then the mayor called Katniss Mellark to the microphone. As helmeted Peacekeepers held guns and watched, the Fours chanted Katniss’s name. Loudly.

Later, Katniss warned the people of Four, just as she had warned previous districts, not to give her the District Twelve funeral salute, lest the Peacekeepers go apeshit.

****

Hours later, in the Capitol

On “Victors Tonight,” Cordelia Flickerman announced solemnly, “In District Four today, Co-Victor Peeta Mellark was not able to meet his fans because he was ill with an unknown ailment. He spent his day recovering on the tribute train.”

“Victors Tonight” acted as if tragedy had befallen the entire nation, just because the general public had not been able to see beloved Peeta for one day.

“Victors Tonight” showed teenage Capitol girls saying variants on “We love you, Peeta! Get well soon!”

But while “Victors Tonight” was treating Peeta being sick like a tragedy, Septicus Kopf was grinning. He had just thought-up a brilliant idea.

He immediately made telephone calls.

****

The next day, in District Three

Katniss noted that District Three, like Districts Four, Eight, and Eleven, had its Peacekeepers wearing helmets.

Victors Beetee and Wiress were part of the District Three group that met the full Twelve Team at the train station. (By now, Peeta was fully recovered.)

When Three’s Victors suggested that they walk Katniss and Peeta to Three’s Justice Building, Haymitch did not object this time. Haymitch merely rolled his eyes, tapped an imaginary wristwatch with a finger, then followed Effie into the limousine.

As soon as the District Three Victor couple and the District Twelve Victor couple walked away from Three’s train station, Wiress said, “Commercials.”

Beetee translated: “Wiress thinks the commercials that Panem News Network shows to subscribers are funny. They do not intend the commercials to be funny, but to district people they are absurd.”

Peeta said, “So you know about our adventures in other districts—even though PNN won’t let you watch their show.”

“Child’s play,” Wiress said.

Beetee translated: “The subscription box is made right here in District Three. And the schematic for the subscription box is available for the price of a six-pack of beer.”

Katniss said to Beetee and Wiress, “I’m guessing you have questions for us.”

Wiress said, “Crowning and legs.”

Beetee said, “I would expect a Victor from District Twelve to hate President Snow, to absolutely loathe him. Yet, Katniss, it looks to Wiress and me like you have a strange friendship with President Snow. This friendship looks like it started with the Crowning Ceremony—which, Wiress and I are pretty sure, is when you and Snow first met.”

“Um...,” Katniss said. She shot Peeta a panicked look: Help me to not reveal my secret!

Peeta smiled like a Capitol car salesman and said, “Beetee, I’m sorry, but you’re wrong. I’m a Victor, I’m from District Twelve, and I don’t hate or loathe anybody.”

Beetee did not let himself be sidetracked. “The other question we have is, Wiress noticed that beginning with your Reaping, Katniss, Panem has never seen your legs below the knees.”

Katniss said, “Maybe I think my legs are ugly.”

Wiress said, “Remake.”

Beetee translated, “If you had scars on your legs on Reaping Day, you have been to the Remake Center twice now—those scars would be gone. Yet you still cover up your lower legs.”

Beetee looked at Katniss with raised eyebrows. Would you care to explain?

Katniss said, “Boy, it sure is cold out here! Does District Three always get this cold in winter?”

****

The next day
On the patio of District Two’s Justice Building

District Two was a very different place than the districts that Katniss had previously visited.

To start with, the Peacekeepers who were guarding the district residents were unhelmeted, and Katniss saw fewer of them. Two’s Peacekeepers held their rifles in front of their waists, instead of assuming the ready-to-shoot posture of helmeted Peacekeepers. Some in the men who stood in the Square themselves wore Peacekeeper haircuts—as did a middle-aged man who was standing at the far side of the Square on Clove’s platform. Closest to the Justice Building patio were teenagers—cadets from the Peacekeeper Academy and learners from District Two’s Secret Academy.

Katniss saw women in the crowd who she thought at first were Capitols—then Katniss realized that she was seeing District Two women who were copying Capitol fashions. This was something Katniss had not seen in any other district.

Now Two’s Mayor walked to the microphone and introduced the Co-Victors from District Twelve. Yesterday in Three, Peeta and Katniss had been cheered by district residents after their introduction; Katniss wondered whether today, she and Peeta would be booed.

It turned out that the Twos neither cheered nor booed the outer-district Co-Victors. Instead, as Katniss and Peeta spoke, the Twos stood there in an angry silence that reminded Katniss of many District Twelve Reapings.

****

Minutes later

Katniss was crying. She was talking about Cato to a full Square of District Two residents, plus Cato’s family and Clove’s family up on platforms, and tears ran down Katniss’s face as she unburdened her conscience—

“...There I was atop the Cornucopia. Peeta had pushed Cato off the Cornucopia, and Cato was lying on the ground, being chewed-on by ten werewolf-mutts. Meanwhile, those same mutts had ripped open Peeta’s leg; he was bleeding to death. I used my last arrow to make a tourniquet for Peeta’s leg. But the whole time I was working, I was listening for the cannon that would tell me that Cato was dead, and I was trying to ignore the screams that told me that Cato was still alive.

“I figured that Cato would live only a few minutes. But when I thought this, I forgot about his armor. Which was stupid, people, because I’d lost my second-to-last arrow when it had bounced off that same armor, and at that time in the Games, I needed every arrow.

“Cato’s armor was good enough that even ten mutts could not kill him. But his armor did not stop them from torturing him. They chewed on his face, they chewed on his hands, their jaws broke bones inside his armor. Cato suffered. He screamed. For hours.

“I could have stopped Cato’s suffering at any time—by loosening Peeta’s arrow-tourniquet, putting the arrow in my bow, and shooting Cato. Eventually I did this—after Cato had suffered for hours. I was selfish, I admit it—I didn’t want Peeta to suffer at all, while I let Cato suffer for hours. And even as I took my shot, Peeta went back to bleeding to death. Then the two-Victors rule got changed back, so I had to get creative. When we finally got Peeta into the Victor hovercraft, he died on the operating table. Lucky for both of us, the doctors in that hovercraft were good at their job.”

Peeta squeezed Katniss’s shoulder.

“People of Two, family of Cato, know this: Of the four tributes I killed, Cato is the one I have nightmares about. Not because I killed him, but because I let him suffer for hours first. I keep thinking, ‘If I had been less selfish, Cato would not have suffered. If I’d been smarter, I would have found a way to quickly end Cato’s misery and save Peeta’s life. I was lazy too, thinking I could let the mutts do my work for me.’ I am sure that there must be a better way I could have handled Cato and Peeta, but I did not see the better way and did not work it, and for this I am so sorry.”

The District Two residents remained silent, though now their postures were no longer angry. The family members on Cato’s platform continued to glare at Katniss.

But what happened on Clove’s platform was a total surprise to Katniss—

On Clove’s platform were five people: two children who looked like Clove, a man and woman in their thirties, and a muscular man in his fifties with a Peacekeeper haircut. Katniss figured he was Clove’s grandfather.

Clove’s grandfather surprisingly yelled, “ON-DUTY PEACEKEEPERS! OFF-DUTY PEACEKEEPERS! PEACEKEEPER-CADETS! PRESENT ARMS!”

The Peacekeeper-cadets in the front, the Peacekeepers standing at the edges of the Square who were watching the crowd, men in the crowd with Peacekeeper haircuts, and some plainly-dressed women in the crowd—they all instantly went to a posture of heels together, backs straight, stomachs in, shoulders back, and chins jutting out.

An instant later, the Peacekeepers who were performing crowd control moved their rifles from being held in front of each man’s waist to being held in a ceremonial position. Now each on-duty Peacekeeper held his rifle in front of him, its barrel pointed straight up, and with his two cupped hands holding the rifle by the stock; each on-duty Peacekeeper’s eyes looked straight ahead.

Meanwhile, off-duty Peacekeepers in the crowd, and the Peacekeeper-cadets in the front, all were saluting. Clove’s grandfather also was saluting.

Behind Katniss, Haymitch murmured, “Kids, they expect you to salute back.”

Which Katniss promptly did, right next to saluting Peeta.

As soon as Katniss saluted, Clove’s grandfather ordered “AS YOU WERE.”

The Peacekeepers with rifles went back to holding their rifles across their waists, and everyone in the Square who had been saluting, stopped.

****

The next day
In District One

The Co-Victors’ Victory Tour speeches in the luxury district went over as expected, considering that Katniss had killed both District One tributes. In other words, Katniss and Peeta were not given a friendly welcome, though at least nobody in One threw gold bars at them.

In District One, Katniss did not cry over tribute deaths. As far as killing Glimmer from One and Marina from Four went, Katniss had been put in a “kill or be killed” situation, she had killed (at the cost of being tracker-jacker stung herself), and so her conscience was clear. So far as killing Marvel—the first human whom Katniss had targeted with her bow and arrow—Katniss regretted having to kill him; but on the other hand, he had just speared Rue like a frog!

Just like in District Two, here in District One, Katniss saw district women who were dressed like rainbow women. Katniss thought all these Effie-wannabees looked ridiculous.

****

That evening
At the District One mayor’s dinner

Katniss and Peeta were sitting at the mayor’s table along with Haymitch and Effie, and Glimmer’s and Marvel’s mentors Cashmere and Gloss. Who, besides being District One Victors, were sister and brother, so they sat next to each other.

After dessert, Gloss leaned over and whispered in Cashmere’s ear. Katniss caught the word snake.

Cashmere stood up and looked pointedly at Katniss. “I need to use the ladies’ room. Join me?”

Katniss asked, “Why? Do you think I’ll need to find toilet paper for you?”

Effie leaned over and whispered, “Dear, Cashmere wants to talk privately with you about something.”

When Katniss looked back at Cashmere, Cashmere was rolling her eyes.

Just before Cashmere and Katniss walked into the women’s restroom, Cashmere said, “Honey, you really need to spend more time with other women.”

Katniss shrugged. “If I’d done that before, I’d have looked pretty at my Reaping, but now I’d be dead.”

In the women’s restroom, Cashmere said to Katniss, “When you get to the Capitol”—the Victory Tour’s next stop—“both of you watch out for the Minister of Security, Septicus Kopf. He’s in his fifties and he wears a purple wig all the time. He’s a pig.”

Katniss nodded. “If he is who I’m thinking, he asked Peeta very personal questions at the Victory Banquet. Peeta likes almost everyone, but Peeta did not like him. Peeta said the guy was creepy.”

Cashmere said, “Just remember, Septicus Kopf is a bad man who does bad things. Try to keep away from him.”

****

Meanwhile
In the library of the Presidential Mansion
The Capitol

Coriolanus Snow was sitting in his favorite chair, with the upcoming Peacekeeper Detective Lewis novel in his lap. Sometimes Snow picked up the galley-proofs book and read from it.

But mostly Snow spent his time in the library thinking about his soulmate, Katniss Mellark. Tomorrow at the Presidential Ball, Snow would announce to Panem that he and Katniss were soulmates; and he would announce that this unruly Victor, not yet seventeen years old, would become president after he died. Now-Snow in the library was trying to foresee every outcome of tomorrow-Snow speaking those words.

By Snow’s wing-back chair was a small table, and on the table set a decorated telephone. Now the telephone proved it was functional as well as artistic: it rang.

“This is the president,” Snow said into the telephone.

A woman’s voice said, “Sir, it’s Minister Kopf calling. He says it’s about a delicate matter concerning your granddaughter, and it’s better that you talk with him tonight instead of in the morning.”

Snow almost muttered an obscenity. “What time is it now?” he asked. Snow did not need to wear a watch—he had plenty of people who would keep track of time for him—and the library had no clock.

“It’s 9:46, Mr. President,” the operator said.

Snow did not sigh, but he wanted to. “Very well, put Kopf through.”

****

Twenty-one minutes later

When Septicus Kopf walked into the library, he was carrying a tablet computer. While one bodyguard patted down the purple-wigged man, the other bodyguard glanced over the tablet, looking for signs of a hidden bomb.

When the bodyguards finally gave Kopf permission to approach Snow, Snow’s first words were, “It is after 10 p.m., Septicus, and I am fatigued. What about Minerva is so important that it cannot wait till tomorrow?”

“It’s about the Mellarks, Mr. President. Katniss and Peeta. The Star-Crossed Lovers of District Twelve. It is well known that Minerva is a fan of their great love story.”

“Indeed, sometimes Minerva becomes tiresome about the Mellarks. Come to the point.”

“Do you recall that three days ago, when the Victory Tour was in District Four, Katniss appeared alone because Peeta was on the train all day? Sick, supposedly, or recovering from sickness, supposedly.”

“ ‘Supposedly’?”

Kopf moved his tablet computer from down by his thigh, up to where he could stroke the screen with a fingertip. “I’ve managed to keep this off the panemnet so far, but I thought you should see this before Minerva does.”

Seconds later, Snow was watching a two-dimensional video of poor quality. From the placement of the camera (almost as high as the ceiling, looking diagonally down) and the setting (the private compartment of a train), Snow figured out that he was looking at surveillance video from a tribute train.

The date that was stamped in the lower-right corner of the video was “74-12-29,” which was the date that the Co-Victors’ train had been in District Four.

The video showed Peeta Mellark in bed with a young woman. The young woman was not Katniss Mellark.

****

AUTHOR END NOTE: I know these four Victory Tour chapters have been boring in places. But know, readers, that things are about to get exciting for our heroes, beginning with the next chapter. Because when Snow announces, “See this girl with the white writing on her leg? She is your next president,” the shit hits the fan.

Chapter Text

8:07 the next morning
Not quite eleven hours till Snow’s announcements
Between District One and the Capitol, on the train

When Katniss woke up, in the Mellarks’ bed on the train, her first thought was Something sounds different.

Within seconds, she realized what was different: The sound of air moving past the train was much lower-pitched. Katniss jumped out of bed, ran to the window, and pulled the curtain back.

Katniss saw that the train was moving forward, but slowly.

Katniss’s jumping out of bed had awakened Peeta. He now looked at her with sleepy eyes.

Katniss told him, “Something might be wrong with the train. We need to get dressed.”

Five minutes later, Katniss and Peeta hurried into the dining car. Effie, Cinna, and Portia were already there, but not Haymitch.

“What’s wrong with the train?” Katniss blurted.

“Nothing,” Cinna replied calmly. “It’s working fine.”

“But it’s going slowly.”

Effie said, “Katniss, dear, remember that District One is close to the Capitol. If we’d left One traveling at our usual fast speed, uh...”

“Four hundred kph,” Cinna said.

“—we would have arrived in the Capitol in the middle of the night. Your fans would have been sleeping, you two would have been barely awake, and those orange lights they use at the train station at night look dreadful on holo.”

Portia said, “Instead, the train engineer foot-drags, and we’ll arrive at the Capitol’s train station at ten.” Which was not quite two hours from now.

Effie smiled at Katniss and Peeta. “May I suggest that you eat breakfast now, then shower, then let Cinna and Portia take their time at making you two look good when you step off the train? Today is going to be a big, big, big day!”

As Katniss headed toward the stack of clean plates, she called over her shoulder, “Oh Effie, you don’t know the half of it.”

****

A little after 10 a.m.
Not quite nine hours till Snow’s announcements
Track 12A at the train station
The Capitol

Katniss was surprised that the crowd of young Capitols cheered so loudly when the Twelve Team stepped off the train. Katniss’s first impulse was to put her head down and to hurry past the people in the crowd. But then Katniss realized that she was going to be amid crowds (adoring crowds, hopefully) for the rest of her life.

So Katniss pasted on a smile, waved to the crowd, and tried to copy how Haymitch and Effie were acting. This wave-to-the-crowd situation was just as new to Peeta as it was to Katniss, but he acted like he had done this all his life.

Katniss chuckled. Maybe Peeta should be Panem’s next president.

On Katniss’s robin’s-egg-blue blouse, she wore the gold mockingjay pin. This seemed to please the crowd.

Once the Twelve Team had worked their way through the crowd, the Twelves discovered that waiting for them was Minerva Snow, who was flanked by two bodyguards. At the sight of Katniss and Peeta, Minerva broke out into a grin that never left.

Minerva said, “Grandpa sent a limo because he wants to talk to Katniss and Peeta. But he’s letting me ride with them in the limo.” Minerva’s grin got grinnier.

Effie fretted, mentioning that the Co-Victors had a 1 p.m. interview with Caesar Flickerman.

Minerva said, “Grandpa knows about this, and he told me to tell whoever asks that Katniss and Peeta will be back in the Training Center in plenty of time. So Mellarks, shall we roll?”

****

Ten minutes later
In the library of the Presidential Mansion

Snow said to Katniss, “I have reviewed every security tape of the incident in Eleven’s main Square, I have interviewed Eleven’s mayor, and I have vigorously questioned Peacekeeper Colonel Kushner. The surveillance videos show three helmeted Peacekeepers, without orders, independently shoot three district residents, while a fourth helmeted Peacekeeper, also without orders, helped to subdue the old man. I do not believe Col. Kushner when he tells me he does not know who the four Peacekeepers are, but I cannot prove he is lying. One of the few things I am sure of, Katniss: You did not cause this, and you could not have prevented it.”

Katniss sighed with relief.

Then Katniss asked, “So what happened to the Peacekeepers afterward? A stern talking-to? A wrist-slap?”

Snow growled, “On the contrary, I informed Col. Kushner that if District Eleven riots in the near future, I am holding him personally responsible, unless he cleans house first. Above and beyond this—”

• All Peacekeepers in District Eleven had been taken off watchtower duty and patrol duty, and were confined to barracks, without pay. This included Peacekeeper officers. The Peacekeepers had been confined to barracks for a week and a half now; they hated the punishment.

• All Peacekeeper firearms, including officer sidearms, were to be surrendered to the Head Peacekeeper or his designate, who was required to lock up the firearms. It was now a capital offense for any Peacekeeper to possess a firearm during the time that Peacekeepers were confined to barracks.

• Peacekeepers were not allowed to be anywhere outside the barracks or mess hall even briefly, except when moving to or from the mess hall.

• Any Peacekeeper who went outside anywhere other than to or from the mess hall, was declared outlaw: District residents were permitted to hurt him or to kill him without punishment. The mayor of District Eleven had been informed of this rule-change.

As for District Eight, Snow told Katniss and Peeta that Thread and Asher had been demoted, while Poole had been promoted.

Katniss nodded with satisfaction. “Good. All three of them got what they deserved.”

While Katniss, Peeta, and Snow were talking, from time to time Snow was hit by coughing jags. After one coughing jag, Snow shrugged and said, “They come and go.”

****

12:58 p.m.
A little over six hours till Snow’s announcements
The gymnasium in the Training Center basement

For Katniss, the most interesting part of her and Peeta’s interview with Caesar Flickerman happened before the holo-cameras rolled—

Caesar asked Katniss, “Do you have that note from Snow? I hope so.”

“It’s in a pocket of my skirt. You want to see it?”

“Not now, but I’ll ask to see it on camera.” Caesar lowered his voice and asked, “Did the president give you the note because you’re his soulmate?”

Katniss murmured, “Yes he did, but I can’t tell you anything more.”

Still speaking quietly, Caesar asked, “Do you know why President Snow has called for Mandatory Viewing at seven o’clock tonight? There has never been Mandatory Viewing during a Presidential Ball before.”

Katniss shook her head. “If I know anything, Caesar, I can’t tell you. Well, not today.”

Caesar’s voice was quiet, but his gaze was intense: “I have not told anyone, Katniss, not even my staff, about you and President Snow. Let me just say that, if the president must have a soulmate, I’m glad the soulmate is you.”

****

5 p.m.
Two hours till Snow’s announcements
The ballroom of the Presidential Mansion

Since the six members of the Twelve Team had stepped out of the limousine, Effie Trinket had not been walking, she had been strutting.

Now Effie led the Twelve Team (Effie in the lead, then Katniss and Peeta, then Cinna, Portia, and smirking Haymitch) as they entered the ballroom. Effie called back, “Enjoy the night, children. All this is for you.”

“All this” turned out to be quite a lot. Just glancing around, Katniss saw so much food as to make the tribute train’s dining car seem like an arena backpack.

Once inside the ballroom, Haymitch looked around, frowned, and stopped a black-dressed servant woman. “Take us to where the District Twelve group is to sit.”

The servant woman walked away. Katniss soon figured out that the servant woman was leading the Twelve Team straight to the table where President Snow and his family were seated.

As the Twelve Team walked along the right side of the ballroom to Snow’s big table, Haymitch murmured to Katniss and Peeta, “This is new. Twenty-four years ago, I got put at a table by the kitchen.”

“Why?” Katniss murmured back.

“Let’s just say that President Snow was pissed at me. In any case, Victory-Tour Victors never sit at the president’s table.”

“Until now,” Peeta said, smiling at Katniss.

The Twelve Team now was walking past many tables where Capitols sat, on their way to Snow’s table. Katniss heard a woman gasp. “Katniss has a soulmark on her leg!”

Peeta squeezed Katniss’s hand to relax her.

Within seconds, the ballroom was noisy with Katniss has a soulmark being repeated again and again.

Just before the Twelve Team took seats at Snow’s table, Katniss murmured to Cinna, “You did good with the dress.”

****

Minutes later

President Snow’s table was the biggest in the room, partly because it had to seat ten people: President Coriolanus Snow; the president’s son Augustus Snow, Augustus’s wife Irmina, and their daughter Minerva; and the six-person Twelve Team.

Minerva Snow was not wearing her hair in a “Katniss braid” tonight (neither was Katniss herself), but Minerva was wearing a gold mockingjay pin.

Peeta pointed out that many Capitol women in the ballroom were wearing mockingjay pins. President Snow kept to himself whatever he thought of this fashion trend. Meanwhile, Minerva was grinning at Katniss: “But you’re the only woman in the room whose mockingjay pin is authentic!”

Peeta laughed. “If it had been up to Katniss, she wouldn’t have the pin now. After the Games, she tried to hand over the pin to Madge Undersee, the mayor’s daughter.”

Minerva said, “What? Madge never told me this! Katniss, why would you give away that pin?”

So Katniss, who hated to be the center of attention, wound up having nine people listen closely at her table (and she noticed silence fall at nearby tables) as she told of her unsuccessful effort to return the mockingjay pin to its rightful owner—

“...Then Madge told me, ‘I won’t take the pin back, but I will take five PDs for it. If you pay me for the pin, then you owning the pin isn’t charity.’ Well, this started another round, with me trying to talk Madge into taking more money, but she wouldn’t budge. So I wound up going to the Capitol Bank in the Capitol Liaison Building, I withdrew five PDs from my brand-new Victor-stipend account, I paid Madge, and now I own the pin. But Madge was too nice to me—I bet every other lady in here paid much more than five PDs for her own pin.”

President Snow said, “As I told you six months ago, it is a lovely pin.”

Katniss, Peeta, and Minerva shared a look. Katniss replied to President Snow, “Yes, you did tell me this.”

****

Seconds later

Snow’s big table was bare of food. Katniss said, “Um, first time here. How do we get food?”

President Snow said, “If you wish, you can go through a line buffet-style. But I prefer to have food brought to me.”

Snow barely raised his hand, and instantly a black-dressed servant woman stood at their table. She had red hair, and on the left breast of her dress was the name Breakerina. She had in hand a pad of paper and a pen. She took the orders of President Snow, then the other Snows, while the Snow family asked for foods that Katniss had never heard of.

Eventually Breakerina turned to look at Katniss with raised eyebrows. “What can I bring you, ma’am?”

Katniss said, “If it isn’t rude, will you tell me what your story is? You have a District Five name and District Five coloring, but you have a Capitol accent.”

Breakerina blushed, then said, “After the Dark Days ended, the Capitol needed a lot of repairs to its electrical infrastructure, so a big bunch of District Five people came here to work. Months later, they finished the work; but by then, the Capitol had made the rule that banned District people from traveling.” Breakerina shrugged. “So they stayed, and married each other. Four generations later, here I am.”

“Oh. Thank you for explaining this, Breakerina...?”

“Finch. Breakerina Finch.”

Katniss felt like she had been slapped; Katniss saw Peeta flinch too. Katniss looked at President Snow and said, “We don’t know what they have for food here, so we’ll go through the buffet line.”

When the Co-Victors were far enough away from Snow’s table to not be overheard, Katniss said to Peeta, “No way will I order around Foxface’s stranded cousin!”

****

A minute later

Katniss and Peeta were each carrying an empty plate in hand as they walked alongside table after table, each table groaning with food. The last table offered narrow glasses that were each filled with a dark-brown liquid labeled “Vomit cola.” Katniss and Peeta agreed the stuff sounded disgusting, but they could not guess why people would want to drink it.

Katniss stopped a male servant, whose nametag (Oak) matched his blondish District Seven coloring. “Excuse me, Oak,” Katniss asked quietly, “what is vomit cola, and why do people here drink it?”

Oak answered in a low, angry voice, “When you’ve eaten till your stomach is full, you drink vomit cola and it makes you throw up everything you’ve eaten. Once your stomach is empty, you’re free to pig out till you’re full again. After that, drink another flute of vomit cola, and now you can eat and eat some more.”

Katniss hissed, “They do this here? When children and old people are starving in District Twelve?”

“They starve in District Seven too, I hear,” said Oak. “And yes, they definitely do this here.”

“Thank you for explaining, Oak. Uh, as you were,” Katniss said. Oak hurried away.

It took every bit of self-control Katniss had, not to overturn the table with the vomit cola on it, then to walk up to her president-soulmate and to slap him across the face.

It was at this moment, when Katniss was feeling white-hot anger at the Capitol and its people, that an oily male voice behind Katniss said, “Good evening, Mr. and Mrs. Mellark. I’m so glad to catch you two together.”

****

One second later

Katniss and Peeta turned around. When Katniss saw the purple wig, she thought, Oh, shit. Katniss wondered why Kopf was holding a tablet computer like Johanna’s. Aloud, Katniss said with no emotion, “Minister Kopf, good evening.”

Septicus Kopf smiled like a Capitol car dealer. “Ah, you know me? Because I don’t recall us meeting before.”

Katniss said coldly, “We haven’t met before. But Cashmere told me about you.”

“Ah, Cashmere. Such a beautiful and agreeable young woman—”

Peeta demanded, “What do you want, Minister Kopf?”

Kopf snapped, “Speak to me in a respectful voice, you monkey cheater! I’m here to let your wife know that you’ve been fooling around behind her back.”

Katniss said, genuinely angry, “What? When was this? With who?”

Peeta said, “Katniss, I’ve never cheated on you!” As answer, Katniss glared at him.

Kopf said, “I don’t know ‘with who,’ except that she’s Capitol. As for when”—now Kopf was finger-swiping his tablet—“this happened four days ago, when your husband was ‘sick’ in District Four.”

The surveillance video shows an unoccupied private train compartment that has a queen-size bed in it. A door opens, and Peeta and a young woman walk in. The woman wears a pink wig and Capitol clothes.

Real Peeta said, “Katniss, what you’re seeing, it’s not real!”

Katniss said, “It looks real to me!”

Peeta says, “Look, Octavia, I LOVE Katniss. I DO. But when it comes to sex, she—Katniss has no imagination.”

“You’re saying she’s boring?” Octavia asks. Octavia speaks with a Capitol accent.

Peeta nodded. “And there are things Katniss says No to, and she won’t change her mind!”

“It’s because,” real Katniss said angrily, “I always have good reasons for saying No!” A little tiny part of Katniss wondered why Kopf was smiling.

Octavia kneels in front of Peeta. She unbuckles his belt, then shoves down his underwear and pants. “I can guess ONE thing Katniss says NO to.”

Not waiting for a reply, Octavia begins to kiss Peeta where sixteen-year-old boys enjoy being kissed.

Peeta groans. “Ooh, I haven’t gotten a BLOWJOB since the last time I was at the Slag Heap—”

“Peeta,” Katniss growled dangerously. “You’re a goddamn liar.”

“This is not real, Katniss!” real Peeta said. “Not real!”

“What do you think, Katniss?” Kopf asked with a smile, as he gestured at the screen. “He betrayed you—real or not real?”

Scowling Katniss replied, “Re—”

Peeta groans again. “COALFIRE, Octavia, this feels fantastic.”

Katniss said, “Wait, what?”

Katniss said to Kopf, “Move it forward five minutes.”

Kopf did so—while still smiling.

Five minutes later, now Octavia is naked and lying on the bed. Her hips are rolling in invitation; and her arms are reaching up, offering embrace. “Come fuck me now, my handsome District Twelve Victor stud.”

Peeta, meanwhile, is getting undressed. He pulls off his shirt and tosses it aside. He pulls off, and tosses away, his shoes and socks. Peeta pulls his pants off and tosses them aside; then the same with his briefs. Peeta’s full, naked body is now revealed to the camera; his erection is visible, as are his two muscular legs.

Katniss started to giggle. Amid her giggles, she said, “Peeta, can you forgive your stupid, jealous, idiot, moron, jealous wife when she’s being a stupid, jealous idiot?”

Peeta’s voice sounded relieved. “I can and do.”

Katniss and Peeta kissed.

Kopf, no long smiling, demanded, “What’s going on? This is strange behavior for a wife who sees clear proof that her husband cheated on her.”

Katniss looked at Kopf like she wanted to arrow him (because she did). “It would be strange behavior, yeah, if your ‘clear proof’ was real. But it’s not real—it’s as fake as your supposedly-purple hair.”

Kopf blustered, “It’s real, I tell you. Tell me why you say it’s not.”

Peeta laughed. “Why should we tell you jack? So you know what mistakes to fix next time?”

A new voice said, “One mistake I saw, when Minister Kopf showed me this video, was that the ‘young Capitol woman’ was Opal Burke, the District One female tribute in the Sixty-first Games, but disguised with a pink wig.”

President Snow, who had somehow sneaked up unnoticed, looked at Katniss and Peeta and continued, “The accent is authentic—Miss Opal Burke affected a Capitol accent in her Games. I suppose it gained her sponsor-pledges. Alas, when the inner-district volunteers”—Careers—“went to melee, Miss Burke was the first one killed.”

Then Snow looked at Kopf. “Since Miss Opal Burke died when Mr. Mellark was three years old, I very much doubt that he and she had a rendezvous four days ago. Which means, Septicus, that Mr. and Mrs. Mellark are still off-limits to you.”

Katniss strode up to Kopf and yelled, “You made a fake video to break up our marriage! You’re disgusting!” Then Katniss slapped Kopf across the face, hard enough to knock his wig askew, and hard enough to startle him into dropping his tablet.

Katniss was surprised by the smattering of applause she heard. Kopf, meanwhile, glared at Katniss before picking up his tablet computer and slinking away.

A minute later, when Katniss and Peeta were at the other end of the line of tables and the Mellarks were loading food onto their plates, Katniss murmured to Peeta, “For once I’m glad you have a prosthetic leg. Shit, how much trouble would my stupid jealousy have caused us if I hadn’t spotted the video as not real?”

Peeta grinned at Katniss and murmured, “Well, it’s a good thing you did spot it. Coalfire golly!”

****

6 p.m.
One hour till Snow’s announcements

Orchestra musicians appeared and began to play music for dancing. Peeta and Katniss, just like at their wedding, began the first dance on the empty dance floor; a minute later, other couples joined them.

After the newlyweds had danced three dances together, Haymitch, looking pained, told Katniss and Peeta that “it would be a good idea” if they danced with sponsors. However, Katniss loudly refused to dance with Septicus Kopf when he demanded a dance as a sponsor.

When Plutarch Heavensbee, now the Head Gamemaker, asked Katniss for a dance, she wanted to refuse, but could not think up a good reason. So reluctantly she let him lead her to the dance floor.

On the dance floor, Plutarch said, “I hope you aren’t planning anything tonight to make me fall into a punchbowl again.” When Katniss said nothing, Plutarch added, “Shooting the apple out of the pig’s mouth, this was inspired! You deserved your score of eleven.”

“Thanks,” Katniss said—and this was all she said.

After a pause, Katniss said sullenly, “I suppose you asked me to dance because you want me to say I’m sorry for not inviting you to my wedding.”

“No, who you invite or don’t invite to your wedding is completely your choice—”

“Pfft. Yeah, right.”

“—except I would think that the politics would have been obvious.”

“For what it’s worth, Peeta tried to talk me into inviting you. Peeta also urged me to invite the District Twelve Capitol Liaison. Same reason, because of ‘politics.’ Which I suppose means ‘Katniss, you don’t want this guy as your enemy.’ Well, just like I didn’t invite you, I didn’t invite Domiducus Jones either, and I see a lot more of him than I see of you.”

Plutarch sighed. “This is bad. I didn’t ask you for a dance in order to rehash the wedding invitation that I didn’t get, and now the song is half-over.”

Katniss scowled. “Why did you ask me to dance?”

“A friend of mine is very curious about you. Why did President Snow give you the note? Are you working for him now, assigned to spy on the districts?”

Katniss rolled her eyes. “Do you have any idea how many district people who aren’t supposed to know what PNN says, watch the show or get told about it? Tons of Rebels know by now about Snow’s note and me. If I tried to sweet-talk my way into some super-secret Rebellion group so I could rat them out to Snow, they wouldn’t let me past the front door.”

“Then why did Snow give you the note, since it ruins you as a Capitol spy?”

“Maybe because I’m not a Capitol spy, hm? I didn’t love the Capitol before I came here—and every minute I spend in this ballroom makes me love the Capitol less.”

Katniss added, “But as for why he gave me the note, I’m not allowed to talk about this now. But I’ll tell you that if I did tell you what’s up with the note, you wouldn’t believe me.”

The song was ending now. Plutarch leaned close to Katniss and asked quietly, “One last question: If a Rebellion broke out, would you agree to be its spokesperson?”

Katniss gave Plutarch a long look. Then Katniss quietly replied, “I don’t think a Rebellion will break out.”

Plutarch’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. Still quietly, he asked, “Why do you say this?”

Katniss curtseyed to Plutarch and said at regular volume, “Thank you for the dance.”

****

7 p.m.
The beginning of Mandatory Viewing

President Snow walked close to the orchestra and signaled for its musicians to stop playing. In the sudden quiet, Snow called out, “Dancers, please return to your seats.”

When President Snow stood alone in the middle of the dance floor, he said, “For those of you joining us via hologram: We are in the midst of the President’s Ball, which this year honors our newlywed Co-Victors, Peeta and Katniss Mellark. Indeed, they stand over there.”

President Snow gestured to his left. Katniss and Peeta, and Minerva Snow, stood at one corner of the dance floor.

President Snow made no comment about Peeta having a tiny wastebasket by his feet and a narrow glass of vomit cola in his hand, or about Minerva’s hands holding a light plastic stepstool.

President Snow continued, “I have two special announcements to make now. Would Mrs. Katniss Mellark and my granddaughter Minerva please take their places by me?”

Katniss walked over by Snow’s left and turned to face the holo-camera. Meanwhile, Minerva set the stepstool down a half-meter behind her grandfather, then she stepped onto the stepstool.

Katniss heard several voices in the ballroom ask, “Why isn’t Peeta over there with Katniss?”

Effie Trinket, former runway model, had taught Katniss one modeling pose, which Katniss was using now. Katniss’s left foot pointed toward the base of the holo-camera, while Katniss’s right foot was turned sideways, with the heel of Katniss’s right foot touching the side of Katniss’s left foot. With Katniss posed this way, her soulmark not only was visible to the holo-camera, it was readable: “What a lovely pin.”

(Probably to Effie’s dismay, Katniss did not look at the holo-camera with a sunny model-smile; instead, Katniss looked at the camera with her face completely serious.)

Snow continued, “Before I make my first announcement, please help me remove my coat, Minerva.”

Snow unbuttoned his suit’s coat, then moved his arms behind his back. Ten seconds later, with Snow and his granddaughter working together, Minerva was holding Snow’s coat.

Without a coat, the president’s upper-body clothing was revealed to be a vest that covered a dress shirt and tie. The dress shirt was half-sleeved, not full-sleeved.

President Snow pulled his arms forward to his sides, then extended his left arm farther forward, palm facing forward.

Capitols near the dance floor gasped.

Visible on President Snow’s left forearm were words, handwritten in forest-green, that read, “Thank you. It’s from my district.”

Katniss recognized the handwriting, of course.

Chapter Text

One second later

President Snow said to the holo-camera, “As you can see, Mrs. Mellark and I each have a soulmark. We are, in fact, soulmates of each other.”

In the ballroom, Katniss heard gasps, following by murmurings.

Snow continued, “I shall speak briefly about having Katniss as my soulmate, then Katniss shall speak briefly about having me as her soulmate, then I shall make the second announcement that is the real reason for Mandatory Viewing. As for when Katniss speaks, let me say that from this minute on, Katniss may—and probably will—say anything she pleases.”

Katniss did not speak to that, but she smiled and nodded. Katniss looked over at Peeta; Peeta at the corner of the dance floor was silently laughing.

****

One second later

Snow said, “It has taken me a full six months to come to terms with Katniss and I being soulmates. Your soulmate, so all the books declare, is your perfect match. Well, at the end of these Games, I was convinced that Katniss Everdeen was the least deserving Victor in the seventy-four-year history of the Hunger Games, because she turned her Games into a tawdry melodrama, then she cheated at the end. And she was supposedly my ‘perfect match’? At first I said, ‘Impossible!’ But after six months, I see it: Katniss is my perfect match. We are each ruthless when we go after something we crave, and we ignore the rules.”

Snow glanced over at Katniss and nodded. I am done.

Katniss said, “I’ve had the same problem, these last six months, wrapping my head around ‘He is my soulmate? No way!’ As a girl, I expected that when I met my soulmate, I’d fall instantly and totally in love with him. The big problem with this was, by the end of the Seventy-fourth Hunger Games, I still had not met my soulmate, but I knew I was in love with Peeta. Which I thought meant that when one day I met my soulmate, things between my soulmate, me, and Peeta would get awkward. I was not looking forward to this part of my future, believe me! Then at the Crowning Ceremony, I did meet my soulmate—who I had always thought-of as the most evil man in Panem. But for y’all who are wondering: I don’t love Coriolanus now, and he doesn’t love me. But now we do each of us, respect the other one. Except sometimes I still think of Coriolanus as evil, and he sometimes wishes a fireball had killed me. Perfectly matched we might be, but Coriolanus and I thinking the same? Not hardly.”

Katniss looked straight into the holo-camera and added, “District people are wondering now: ‘Has Katniss become a rainbow-lover?’ ” Katniss heard gasps in the ballroom, from her deliberately using the vulgar term instead of the polite term Capitols. Katniss glanced over at Peeta; he was grinning. “The answer is No. I still think like a monkey, and I prefer the company of monkeys to Capitols.” Now the gasps in the ballroom were for a different reason. “Spending as much time around Capitols as I have spent since Reaping Day, I’ve made friends with some of them; but the only one I’ll mention by name is Effie Trinket. Yes, District Twelve, that Effie Trinket. On the other hand, there is one rainbow man who I would cheerfully arrow; he knows who he is—and no, I’m not talking about Coriolanus.”

Katniss paused for several seconds, as she scoured her brain for additional remarks about her soulmate-connection. Then she turned her head, looked at Snow, and nodded. Done.

Snow looked into the holo-camera. “This brings me to my second announcement. This is Mandatory Viewing for people in the districts, but you people in this ballroom shall want to listen closely too...”

****

Meanwhile, in the District Twelve Mayor’s Mansion

The Undersee family and the Hawthornes were gathered together to watch Mandatory Viewing.

Madge said, “This explains it! Every time I’ve seen Katniss since she came back from the Games, she’s acted weird.”

“Weird how?” Hazelle Hawthorne asked.

“Like something was on her mind, but she wasn’t sure she could share it with me. Since I don’t have a soulmark.”

Gale said, “I saw her and Peeta talking to Snow at her wedding. I figured Snow got invited because of some kind of Victor politics—but at the wedding, I watched him and her and I thought, ‘Katniss sure is more relaxed around Snow than I would be.’ ”

Madge said, “I couldn’t guess why she was acting weird. I was worried that she had seen her soulmate die in the Games. Or else that Katniss was in love with her soulmate and in love with Peeta, so Katniss was trapped in a messy love triangle.”

Gale, who was holding Madge’s hand, raised it to his lips and kissed it. “Madge, hon, remember that Katniss is strong. She would tell the new guy, ‘I really love you, but being with you won’t work. Goodbye.’ No way would Katniss get sucked into a love triangle.”

****

Meanwhile, in the Presidential Mansion ballroom

Snow continued, “These days, two things consume my thoughts as president. The main thing is that there is discontent in the districts—riots, work slowdowns, work stoppages. I have taken every practical measure I can think of—the very actions that Katniss labels as ‘evil’—but the unrest in the districts grows ever worse. My other problem is that I am old, my health is failing, and I need to appoint a successor before I die. Alas, every potential candidate whose name comes to mind is unfit in some way. Six months ago, I foresaw a nasty internecine battle for succession in the Capitol, but I saw no way to avoid such a calamity.

“Then on the night that I crowned the Co-Victors, I discovered my soulmate—I learned that Katniss Everdeen the unruly Victor was my ‘perfect match.’

“In the months afterward, as it became more and more clear that this sixteen-year-old-girl was no more in love with me than I was in love with her, I wondered, ‘If Katniss is not in my life to be the great love of my life, then how is she my perfect match’?”

“Two weeks ago, I realized that Katniss was the answer to my problems—both of my problems. So I announce today that I choose Katniss Everdeen Mellark to be my successor as president.”

Snow tried to say more, but he could not be heard over the shouting in the ballroom.

****

Meanwhile, elsewhere in Panem

In the Capitol, 97 percent of the people who were bothering to watch the broadcast—“Mandatory Viewing” was not mandatory for Capitols—now said some version of “We are royally fucked.” The 2.9 percent of broadcast-watching Capitols who were descended from district people were cautiously hopeful. Avoxes did not know what to think.

One hundred percent of Reaped-district residents said “Fuck,” “Holy shit,” “Whoa,” or “Wow.”

Ninety-eight percent of Reaped-district residents did fist-pumps, and/or the district residents high-fived family members, and/or the district residents high-fived friends.

One person in District Twelve said, “Couldn’t President Snow have picked someone other than that trashy Seam girl?” She was immediately shushed by her husband and her two oldest sons.

Drinks were brought out in celebration, in twelve out of thirteen districts. In the thirteenth district, a dark-skinned man in his forties remarked, “Setting up a new Rebellion, we might have done a lot of work for nothing. But that’s good, right?”

“Bitch!” the man’s leader muttered.

****

Meanwhile, in the Presidential Mansion ballroom

Snow had to say “Quiet down, please” six times before he could be heard in the ballroom without raising his voice.

Once the ballroom was quiet again, Snow said, “I shall let Katniss Mellark speak to you now.”

Katniss’s Cinna-designed gown had no pockets, but Peeta’s suit did. Peeta walked over and handed to Katniss half of an index card, to remind Katniss of the speech that she and Peeta had spent days writing (and she, memorizing). Peeta still held the glass of vomit cola in his other hand. Then Peeta walked back to his place at the corner of the dance floor, and went back to guarding the wastebasket.

Katniss said, “Let’s start with what I know y’all are thinking: You look at me and you see a girl, not a woman. President Snow thought I was fifteen in my Games, and I’ve grown only a centimeter since then. But though I’m only sixteen—and two-thirds—I’ve already taken on two big responsibilities. I married Peeta, which means I’ll care for Peeta when he’s sick, and I’ll care for our future children while they are children. I’ve become a Victor, which means that beginning this June, I’ll be a mentor, responsible for a tribute’s life in the arena.

“I take these responsibilities seriously, so I’ll take being the president of Panem just as seriously. When I board the train to District Twelve in a few hours, lots of books will go on the train with me. And every time I visit the Presidential Mansion in the future, I’ll leave there with more books. I have sometime between a month and several years to learn this job before I take it, and I plan to make the most of my time.

“Coriolanus told me only two weeks ago that I would be president someday, and I haven’t had a chance to crack the books yet, so I don’t have many firm plans now. But I have two laws I plan to make on my first day as president. Peeta?”

Peeta walked over and put the glass of vomit cola into Katniss’s right hand. (Katniss’s left hand still held the half of an index card.) Then Peeta set the wastebasket at Katniss’s feet.

As Peeta walked back to his corner of the dance floor, Katniss heard a man ask, “Is that monkey going to drink vomit cola while the camera is filming? She won’t like what happens next, ha-ha!”

Katniss looked at the holo-camera and said, “On my first day as president of Panem, I’ll stop the Hunger Games. It won’t matter if tributes are on their pedestals and the countdown clock is counting down, I will stop the Games!

“When I read the Treaty of the Treason, what the words in there say clearly to me is that only the actual children of the Dark Days rebels were Eligible for Reaping. Sometime between HG 20 and HG 30, the last child of a rebel would have aged out, which should have meant that the Games stopped forever. Well, the Games didn’t stop—but they will stop, once I take office.

“I will not replace the Hunger Games that kills district children with a Games that kills Capitol children. If the past seventy-four years have taught us anything, it’s that vengeance just causes more problems. Instead, I’ll show generosity and forgiveness to both the Capitol and to the districts.

“The other thing I’ll do on my first day in office? Before I tell you this, let me tell people in the districts what this is.” Katniss briefly hoisted the glass of vomit cola.

Katniss let her face and voice show anger: “District people, rainbows call this ‘vomit cola.’ It’s their dirty secret—you won’t hear it mentioned on Capitol holo-comedies, Capitol holo-dramas, or Panem District News. What this drink does is, after a Capitol person eats till he’s full, he drinks vomit cola, pukes up everything in his stomach, and now he or she is free to pig out again on an empty stomach. To a rainbow, this makes perfect sense. Why eat one beefsteak when you can eat three? Why eat two slices of cheesecake when you can eat ten?

“Now, I just heard someone here in the ballroom get all pissy and say, ‘So what? What’s wrong with that?’ I’ll tell you what’s wrong with that—

“In the districts, contraception is banned unless you can go to the Capitol Store. Wages are low. In District Twelve, even if both parents work in the mines, if the family is large but no child is old enough to take out tesserae, the children starve. Children starving to death in District Twelve isn’t unusual. When I was seven years old, Meri Martinelli, a Seam girl in my class at school, starved to death.

“In fact, I almost starved to death, when I was eleven years old. I almost starved, and my baby sister Prim too. The only thing that saved us from starving was help from Peeta Mellark. Who couldn’t help Prim and me much, because he was eleven years old like me.

“So here in the Capitol, some people each eat a week’s worth of food in one night, then most of that food is wasted when the feasters deliberately vomit the food up—while in the districts, children and old people starve to death. And vomit cola makes this outrage possible? Then I declare—”

Katniss moved the glass of vomit cola so it was over the wastebasket, then she opened her hand. Crack! Splash!

“—my first day as president, I’ll legalize condoms in the districts, and I’ll ban vomit cola in the Capitol!”

“Not if you’re dead!” a purple-robed Junior Gamemaker yelled. He was running toward Katniss with a steak knife in his hand.

****

An instant later

Katniss did not have a bow and arrow at hand, nor did she have a throwing knife at hand. She did, however, have a wastebasket available. Her foot shoved the wastebasket across the dance floor toward the purple-robed young man, in hopes of tripping him.

But before the sliding wastebasket reached the Junior Gamemaker, he went down; Peeta had tackled him. The young man’s steak knife slid clattering across the dance floor.

“P and H, hold off,” Snow said calmly.

Katniss did not take time to look at President Snow or to wonder what he was talking about. She rushed over to where the steak knife had stopped, opened her left hand to let the notes-card fall away, picked up the knife in her left hand such that she could stab or slash with it, then she ran over to Peeta fighting the Junior Gamemaker—

—just in time to see the fight end. The young Capitol man was lying on the dance floor, on his stomach; Peeta was lying on top of him, and Peeta had a hand covering each of the young man’s ears. Peeta spun the man’s head around his spine—

Crack.

—and the young Capitol man went limp.

“Boom,” said Katniss, imitating a cannon. “Great job, Peeta. Cato didn’t do it any better.”

The ballroom was utterly silent.

Using her right hand, Katniss helped pull Peeta to his feet, as if what had just happened were no big deal. Katniss still held the steak knife in her left hand, ready to kill.

Katniss looked around then. Pietus and Hefaestus, Snow’s bodyguards, each stood near the dance floor; each had a pistol in hand, but each pistol was pointed at the ceiling.

Snow said calmly, “Hefaestus, Pietus, add the Mellarks to the list of people you protect—though perhaps they might not need your help. Servants, get this dead fool off my dance floor.”

Septicus Kopf stood up then. “President Snow, this savage monkey just killed a Capitol citizen, and we’re all witnesses. This is a hanging offense, and I demand you protect us from him immediately!”

Snow replied calmly, “Septicus, you would do well to speak respectfully about the husband of your future president. Rather than hang Mr. Mellark, I wish to praise him for acting quickly, decisively, and effectively. It was a kill worthy of a Victor.”

Snow looked at Katniss and Peeta, who now were standing together on the dance floor. “Do you have anything else to say for your speech, Katniss?”

“No, I’m done,” Katniss said, while still brandishing the steak knife.

“Then I declare Mandatory Viewing to be ended,” Snow said. “Goodnight.”

As soon as the holo-camera lights went off, Snow turned around and looked at his granddaughter, who still was standing on the stepstool and who still was holding his coat. Snow calmly said, “Thank you for your patience, my dear. Now please be a good girl and help me put on my coat.”

Minerva’s hands helped her grandfather put on his coat, but her eyes were looking into Katniss’s. Minerva looked stunned by what she had just seen and heard.

Katniss shrugged. This is a typical day in my life now.

Chapter Text

Before 9 a.m. the next morning
Snow’s office, the Presidential Mansion

Barely had President Snow sat down in his chair when his secretary told him he had a caller: Johanna Mason. The last time that Mason had called Snow had been right after her loved ones had died; she had been drunk when she had called.

“Put her through,” Snow now told his secretary. A second later, Snow said, “Good morning, Miss Mason. How can I be of service to you?”

“Always you’re so polite,” Johanna said. “After my family and my boyfriend died, in ‘accidents,’ you were polite then too. This is probably how Everdeen managed to like you eventually: You’re polite.”

“Miss Mason, I am busy. Please make your point.”

“Here’s my point, Snow: the President-to-be and her hubby need bodyguards. Like, right now.”

“I have Pietus and Hefaestus working on the problem.”

“Uh-huh, and how exactly are those two finding bodyguards for Katniss and Peeta?”

“I shall not disclose their methods or criteria to you, Miss Mason.”

“Let me guess: The bodyguards they hire must be Capitol angels—who don’t get drunk, don’t pop pills, don’t get sexy-wild on weekends, and don’t have any habits they can be blackmailed about.”

“Something like this, yes.”

“R-i-ight, you’re going to take some Capitol man—who might be related to a Gamemaker, or to someone who makes vomit cola, or be a cousin to some rainbow who loves fucking-over district people—and you’re going to give this Capitol guy a gun, and put him near the girl who said she’s going to end all that shit. Why? Just because this guy is an ‘angel.’ Or this imaginary ‘angel’ bodyguard of Katniss’s might be a nephew of one of your cabinet ministers. Your plan has a hole in it.”

Snow kicked himself for not thinking of this himself. “You are correct. And what is your solution, Miss Mason?”

“Duh, give bodyguards to Katniss who are district people. This fixes the loyalty problem. Choose potential bodyguards from the existing pool of Victors—this way, the bodyguards won’t freak out at the moment when they’re supposed to be shooting an assassin. Killers got no problem with killing again.”

“This is ... actually a very good plan, Miss Mason. Of course, all the Victor-bodyguards will need shooting lessons—neither the Secret Academies nor the Training Center teach children anything about firearms.”

“No biggie. I’m halfway good with a sword now, which I never touched till after I was crowned. I’m sure I can learn to shoot a pistol, or rifle, or whatever I have to learn.”

“Oh? I assumed you were calling to suggest this idea of Victor-bodyguards for the Mellarks. Are you volunteering to be one of the Victor-bodyguards?”

“Damn straight—I volunteer, I volunteer as bodyguard! Especially if—The law that says it’s death for a district person to injure a Capitol person, the Mellarks’ bodyguards will need to be excused from this law.”

“True. Something else that I must confess I had not realized till you pointed it out.”

“Whoa.” When Johanna spoke again, her voice sounded respectful: “Having Katniss as your soulmate has been good for you, Mr. President—you’re nicer.”

A compliment from Johanna Mason? Snow was shocked.

Snow told Johanna that he would inform her when and where she should report for firearms training, as soon as such things were figured out.

****

Meanwhile, in Plutarch Heavensbee’s office

Plutarch had his door locked, and was talking to Alma Coin on illegal radio. He felt like shit this morning.

Coin’s normally flat voice sounded amazed. “Mrs. Mellark actually said, ‘I don’t think a Rebellion will break out.’ Astounding. I suppose it’s because she believes that when she becomes president of Panem, the districts won’t have complaints anymore.”

“Not big complaints,” Plutarch said tiredly. “Not big enough to rebel over.”

Then Coin said, “District Thirteen now must discard all its plans for the Rebellion, and start over from the beginning. We will contact you when we know what your role is.”

“If you haven’t finalized your new plans till after Katniss Mellark takes office,” Plutarch said sadly, “I don’t think there will be a role for me. I sure can’t give you help when I’m just one of twenty-two unemployed former Gamemakers.”

“If we can use you later, we will,” Coin said. “If we can’t, we won’t. Lost Sheep out.”

Plutarch sighed as he packed the illegal radio back inside the empty coffee can. It would have been nice, Plutarch thought, if Coin had offered me at least a little sympathy.

Right now Plutarch had a monster hangover—as did many other Gamemakers this morning, Plutarch was sure. But the reason that Plutarch had gotten so drunk last night was that he had realized that soon he would be doubly unemployed.

Plutarch had betrayed the Capitol when he had realized that he would never rise higher in Capitol society than being Head Gamemaker; but by offering his services to Coin, when she became president of Panem, Plutarch would be her chief advisor. Even twenty-four hours ago, it had seemed to be a sure thing that Coin would create and control a successful Rebellion, then would become president of Panem, which meant that Plutarch had made the smart choice.

But this was as of yesterday.

Today? Alma Coin someday becoming Panem’s president was now as unlikely of coming true as was Plutarch’s other big fantasy: Cashmere Bainbridge as Plutarch’s sex-crazed girlfriend.

****

By noon in Snow’s office

Besides Johanna Mason calling, fortyish Hammerhead Oleery of District Four, and late-twenties Gloss and Cashmere Bainbridge of District One, also called President Snow. Each of them volunteered to be a Victor-bodyguard for Katniss and Peeta.

Gloss Bainbridge then pointed out: “When Katniss and Peeta are in the Capitol, Cashmere and I can’t be two places at once, doing two things at once. Drop us from your list of Victor-whores.”

The suggestion was sensible; also, the Bainbridge siblings were nearly thirty, and so did not command the price that they once had brought. “Agreed,” Snow said.

Once Snow had hired his four Victor-bodyguards, the question then became: Who would teach them how to shoot?

****

12:15 p.m.
Peacekeeper Officer Barracks, District Eight

Senior-Lieutenant Justinus Poole was at his desk, reviewing subordinates’ reports, when Peacekeeper Captain (formerly Major) Romulus Thread walked into Poole’s office. Poole immediately jumped up and came to attention.

“As you were,” Thread growled.

Thread was holding fax sheets. Now he tossed them onto Poole’s desk. “Congratulations, golden boy,” Thread said sarcastically, “President Snow is transferring you out of this hellhole.”

Without another word, Thread turned and left.

According to the faxed orders, Poole was to immediately pack up his things, go to District Seven, and report to the Head Peacekeeper there. And what would Poole do after reporting in? His faxed orders from Snow said only, “Special duties.”

By 2 p.m., Senior-Lieutenant Poole was boarding a hovercraft. He decided he would miss neither District Eight nor its martinet Head Peacekeeper.

On the other hand, President Snow had rescued Poole from becoming an Avox, so whatever the president wanted from Poole in District Seven, Poole would work-at with 110-percent effort.

****

By 2:30 p.m.

The Minister of Transportation, Ovida Allsop, faxed permits for traveling to District Seven to Hammerhead, Gloss, and Cashmere.

At Snow’s order, Ovida did not tell anyone else what she had done, and she did not talk about her secret faxings over the telephone.

But a fax machine uses a telephone line, and a fax line can be tapped just like a telephone voice-line can be tapped. Fifteen minutes after Ovida locked her door and sent out the three faxes from her inner office, Minister of Security Septicus Kopf had a duplicate of each faxed travel permit on his desk.

What is that monkey-lover Snow up to? Septicus Kopf wondered.

****

2 p.m. District Seven time (3 p.m. Capitol time)
Head Peacekeeper’s office, District Seven

“As you were,” Peacekeeper Captain Goddard said to Peacekeeper Senior-Lieutenant Poole. Poole and his gear had just left the hovercraft and had been trucked directly to the District Seven Head Peacekeeper’s office.

Once Poole relaxed his posture, the Head Peacekeeper looked at him curiously. “We’ve got a perfectly good target range here, but President Snow gave me orders to equip you to build your own target range, somewhere else in District Seven. A target range, by the way, that you are to tell me where it’s at, once you build it, but neither I nor any other Peacekeeper may visit it and our patrols must avoid it—Snow was very clear about this.”

Poole nodded, even as his eyes widened in surprise.

Goddard continued, “You are permitted to draw guns, ammo, and field meals for five people, but I am not to ask, and you are not to tell me, who the other four shooters are.”

And at this moment, Poole absolutely could not guess who those four people could be.

Goddard again: “As for what your ‘Special Duties’ are, I have no clue, I may not ask you, and you may not tell me, once you find out. But I’m supposed to send you to Dee-Seven’s mayor now, and he’ll tell you what your job is.”

Poole stared. “The mayor, sir? You don’t know my assignment but he does?”

“This is correct. One other thing, Senior-Lieutenant Poole: Until you get orders to the contrary, you are in civvies twenty-four/seven.”

Ten minutes later, Poole was ringing the mayor’s doorbell. As soon as the mayor noted Poole’s distinctive Peacekeeper haircut, he pulled on a coat and stepped outside. “Let’s walk outside and talk,” the mayor said.

Twenty minutes later, Poole was outside in District Seven’s Victors’ Village, talking to the mayor and to Johanna Mason. The young-woman Victor was wearing a savage grin. She told Poole, “Any fucking rainbows who try to whack President Katniss will be given what they deserve! And I’ll be doing the giving while I cackle with glee.”

****

Meanwhile, in District Four’s Victors’ Village

When Finnick Odair answered his doorbell, he discovered Hammerhead Oleery on his doorstep. “Put on a coat and hat,” Hammerhead said, “and enjoy the brisk winter air with me.”

Translation: I need to talk to you where the bugs won’t hear us.

A minute later, the two District Four Victors were walking outside. District Four seldom got snow in winter, but the January weather was cold nonetheless.

Hammerhead said, “I just came from the Mayor’s Mansion. I’ll catch a train to the Capitol in the morning.” Hammerhead pulled from his coat pocket the faxed Inter-District Travel Permit with his name on it, and handed the Permit to Finnick.

Finnick asked, “What’s in District Seven? Besides Jo.”

“Johanna and me and Gloss and Cashmere will be learning how to shoot guns. We’ve all volunteered to be bodyguards for the Mellarks.”

Hammerhead added quietly, “Gloss and Cashmere just called me. They told me that besides getting permission to kill Capitols, they’ve been excused from whore duties. Cashmere asked me to ask you to call up Snow and volunteer to be a bodyguard too.”

“Huh,” was Finnick’s only response.

Hammerhead and Finnick walked together in silence for five minutes. Then Finnick asked, “Before Peeta married Katniss, he lived in his mansion by himself, right? No family moved in with him?”

“That’s right,” Hammerhead said. “Why?”

Finnick said, “At first it’ll be just Katniss and Peeta in the Capitol. Later on, Katniss’s mom and Katniss’s sister Prim will move to the Capitol. And since I can’t follow either of them into the restroom, how good a bodyguard can I be?” Finnick grinned. “You should be reading your recruitment speech to Enobaria or to Lyme Sahad, not to me.”

“I’ve already talked to Lyme, trust me,” Hammerhead replied. “If the Rebellion dies on the vine, she has the same problem I do.” For years, Hammerhead and Lyme had been war-gaming a second rebellion in the basement of their respective mansions. “I don’t want to spend the rest of my life only growing mushrooms, and I’m sure Lyme doesn’t want to spend her remaining years only developing photographs.”

Finnick said, “I don’t think the president’s husband rates a third bodyguard, while Katniss herself gets only two; so I don’t think I should work as Peeta’s bodyguard.”

“Finnick, Peeta is more than—”

“But what Katniss and Peeta also need, and what I can give them, is information. From the day I was first whored out, Capitols have told me things, I’ve overheard things at parties, and servants have told me things when I asked them. Future President Katniss needs a spy in the Capitol, and I think I can be a damned good one for her.”

Hammerhead smiled. “So you would be Katniss’s Minister of Security? You’re right, you’ll be good at it. But please, don’t start wearing a purple wig.”

****

Meanwhile, in District Eight

Panem District News was the watered-down, dumbed-down news program that told district people what was supposedly going on in Panem. A PDN broadcast was heavy on propaganda and was light on reliable information for district residents. (For instance, PDN never mentioned any riot in any district, so the other districts never heard about the riot.) Almost always when PDN covered a press conference, the speaker at the press conference was President Snow.

But this afternoon, the speaker was Tailor Snodgrass, the mayor of District Eight. On the dais where the mayor was speaking, Victor Cecilia Esterhaus stood on the mayor’s right, and Eight’s Capitol Liaison was standing to Cecilia’s right.

The mayor said, “Ten minutes ago, District Eight Victor Cecilia Esterhaus delivered to me and to Agamemnon Quincy, who is District Eight’s Capitol Liaison, a written message from someone who claims to be the leader of Rebellion forces in District Eight. I believe the message is authentic. I shall now read the message—

“ ‘District Eight’s Rebels pledge that we will not riot or rebel, so long as Katniss Mellark is our next president or our current president. However, if Katniss dies, District Eight’s Rebels will be angry, and we will no longer be peaceful. Signed, WantsEqualityForAll.’ ”

What Cecilia did not tell either the mayor or the Capitol Liaison was that she had twice hand-copied the message and had burned the original, lest anyone notice that WantsEqualityForAll had the same handwriting as Distaff Paylor.

****

3:30 p.m.
Alma Coin’s quarters, District Thirteen
Six-and-a-half hours after Coin’s radio conversation with Plutarch Heavensbee

The man came to attention and saluted. “Soldier Mitchell, reporting as ordered, ma’am!”

Alma Coin returned the salute, then tapped the closed folder in her lap. “Soldier Mitchell, I have a special mission, and I think you’re perfect for it. You are a superb shot with every firearm we’ve given you, you are loyal to District Thirteen, and you are closemouthed.”

Mitchell proved he was closemouthed by saying only the words “All true, ma’am.”

“In the armory is a sniper rifle. I’m told the rifle has a fifteen-hundred-meter range, but this might not be true. Anyway, I order you to draw the rifle and ammunition for it each morning, to take it up into daylight, and to practice with it for as long as daylight lasts. Do this every day till I give you new orders—shoot when it’s hot outside, when it’s cold, when it’s raining, when it’s snowing, and when it’s windy. Do you understand?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Your goal is to be able to hit a human target at one thousand meters, then to extend your effective range beyond one thousand meters.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Two more things. First, you are not to practice shooting from the ground, where you are on the same level with your target. Instead, I want you firing from the ruins of our Justice Building, or from a tree—I want you shooting down at the target from as high up as you can get.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Finally, and this is the most important part of all: You are to discuss what you are doing with nobody, and you are to answer no questions from anyone. This specifically includes Col. Peter Boggs and Lt. Alma Jackson. No matter who asks about what you’re doing, no matter what the question is, answer with ‘I am ordered not to answer your question. You need to talk to President Coin.’ ”

Mitchell blinked. “I’m forbidden to talk about this even with Thirteen’s officers, ma’am?”

“This is correct. Now carry out your orders, Soldier Mitchell. Here is the paperwork you’ll need—dismissed.”

Mitchell saluted, took the offered papers, then left.

Coin thought, When that girl’s brain gets turned into gray splatters, the Capitol will take the blame. Then the Rebellion will be back, bigger and angrier than ever!

Coin almost smiled at the thought of how she could profit from Katniss Mellark’s untimely death.

Chapter Text

Earlier, at the end of the Presidential Ball: 2:06 a.m.
The Presidential Mansion ballroom, the Capitol

Everyone at Snow’s table was standing—the Twelve Team, because they had said their goodbyes and were about to leave; Snow, because he was being polite; and the rest of the Snow family, because they were following their patriarch’s lead.

Katniss was just about to step away from the table when instead she called out, “Breakerina! Breakerina!” Katniss forcefully beckoned the redheaded servant woman over.

When Breakerina stepped up to the table, she said, “Yes, ma’am?” Her face showed puzzlement.

Katniss said, “Breakerina, it was nice meeting you. Good luck in your life.”

Breakerina’s big smile, Katniss decided, reminded Katniss of Peeta’s smile on their wedding day. Katniss was surprised that she could make this woman so happy with two little sentences.

Katniss continued, “Do you know Oak? Kinda-blond hair, looks District Seven-ish?”

Still-beaming Breakerina said, “I do, it’s Oak who got me this job! We work another job together, at a grocery store.”

Katniss said, “I don’t see Oak around, so would you tell him ‘Thanks and good luck’ for me?” Katniss raised her voice: “It was Oak who explained to Peeta and me all about vomit cola.”

Snow’s voice was droll: “Ah, so it is Oak the servant whom I should”—he paused—“thank for this part of your education.”

Katniss wagged a finger at Snow. “Don’t mess with him, Coriolanus. Peeta and I asked a question, and Oak answered it.”

Minerva and Breakerina were both wide-eyed, seeing anyone dare wag a finger at President Snow.

****

Minutes later: 2:17 a.m.
Track 12D at the train station, the Capitol

A crowd of young Capitols had gathered to see the Twelve Team board the train for District Twelve. Katniss was surprised how big the crowd was—but then she remembered: Capitols never slept.

A pink-wigged teenager called out, “Peeta, you were so brave, saving Katniss from the knife-man! Weren’t you worried about being hanged, because he was Capitol?”

Peeta turned toward the girl and shrugged. “I figured, the worst that would happen would be that Katniss watched my hanging. But this meant she’d be alive to see it. Not saving her was never a choice.”

Katniss smiled at him. “Now you understand about me and Prim.” She kissed Peeta in front of the crowd, which cheered.

Someone called out, “Peeta, give her a kiss worthy of a Victor.”

So Peeta kissed Katniss back. This kiss made Katniss’s toes curl.

The crowd cheered louder.

“C’mon, kids, save it for the train,” Haymitch said. “Let’s go home.”

With a wave and a smile (slowly Katniss was learning how to play to a crowd), Katniss and Peeta climbed the stairs and entered the dining car.

****

Seconds later
In the dining car of the train

Cinna hugged Katniss and said, “So many times tonight, you impressed me.”

Portia, meanwhile, was hugging Peeta. “You are a hero,” Portia said.

As soon as Cinna ended the hug and stepped away from Katniss, wet-eyed Effie stepped in to hug Katniss. “My dear, I am so, so, so glad that you think of me as a friend. And for you to say this to District Twelve—oh my, I haven’t the words! Thank you.”

Haymitch said to Katniss, “Everyone in Twelve hates Effie—it bothers her sometimes. You did good, sweetheart.”

Katniss wondered how Haymitch would know about Effie’s hidden-away feelings.

****

Hours later
Arriving at the District Twelve train station

As soon as Katniss and Peeta stepped off the train, two men on the train-station platform who were playing banjo and fiddle, shifted their playing to a clap-the-beat version of “The Miner and the Mine-Girl.” There were plenty of Twelves at the train station to clap along with the song.

Just like six months ago, when Katniss and Peeta had returned to Twelve as Co-Victors, now it looked to Katniss like everyone in District Twelve was at the train station (except day-shift coal miners). Just like before, the crowd was loud.

What was new were people in the crowd holding up signs: enlarged photos of “the Girl on Fire” in the chariot, with each photograph captioned “President Katniss Mellark.”

Three of the people holding up those signs were Prim, Gale, and Madge. This made Katniss smile.

Peeta gave a speech (which to Katniss was perfect); then Katniss gave a speech (which she thought was awful). She was not surprised that Peeta’s speech brought cheers and applause, but Katniss was flabbergasted when her own inept speech also drew claps and cheers.

All the time that Katniss was speaking at the microphone, Domiducus Jones, who was Twelve’s Capitol Liaison, was giving Katniss a look that she could not read.

But eventually the speechmaking was over, and the Twelve Team was about to walk back to Victors’ Village. The Co-Victors still had a dinner at the Mayor’s Mansion to attend tonight—but after this, the Victory Tour would be entirely, completely, 100-percent over!

Just then, Peeta’s father Cake Mellark beckoned with his hand. “Peeta, Katniss, can I borrow you two for a minute?”

When Katniss and Peeta were standing near Peeta’s parents and brothers, Cake Mellark leaned forward and said quietly, “Peeta, whatever you did for Katniss when you were both eleven, you’ve never told the rest of us. But you gave her two loaves of multigrain twist-loaf, right?”

Peeta turned to stare down his mother. “Two burned loaves of that bread, yes.”

Medea Mellark glared at her son. “I told you to feed that burned bread to the pigs!”

Peeta said, “Katniss is worth more to me than a thousand pigs, Mother. A million. Worth more to me than you are. Deal with it.”

Yeast Mellark said, “Peeta, I’m proud to be your brother. You stepped up, you saved Katniss’s life—and all of Panem is better off because of what you did.”

Medea Mellark crossed her arms. “The pigs aren’t better off.”

Katniss, who had been silent up till now, said, “I paid Peeta back for the bread as soon as I could. I don’t mooch.”

****

The next morning
At the District Four train station

Hammerhead Oleery, who was carrying a suitcase, rushed to board the train that was bound for the Capitol.

Hammerhead was wearing stylish, camera-ready clothes as he boarded the train; but all the clothes in his suitcase were workclothes that were suitable for working on a fishing boat. Hammerhead had packed this way because he suspected that whatever awaited him in District Seven, it involved dirt, sweat, and powder burns on clothing.

As Hammerhead was hurrying toward his train, a twit of a Peacekeeper demanded, “Do you have permission to board this train?”—in a tone of voice that meant I’m sure you don’t. Hammerhead enjoyed surprising the twit when Hammerhead pulled the faxed travel permit out of his pocket.

Once Hammerhead had boarded the train, the rainbows who had boarded the train minutes earlier—they didn’t need to show written permission in order to travel from any part of Panem to any other part—looked at him in wonder. Hammerhead realized that he was not only the only Victor on this train, he was this train’s only district person, period.

****

Meanwhile, in the office of Minister of Security Septicus Kopf
The Capitol

Something was going on, Kopf could not find out what it was, and it was pissing him off.

Wiretapping Coriolanus Snow was a risky (foolish?) decision, so Kopf had dared only a very basic tap on Snow’s telephone. This phone-tap reported only whom the president had called (or who had called the president), and the telephone call’s start and stop times.

This simple tap, in itself, did not tell Septicus what was said; but usually Septicus could listen to the telephone call by other means. Every Victor, for instance, lived in a mansion with many hidden microphones and with the mansion’s telephone-line tapped.

And indeed, yesterday morning, four Victors had called up the president—one of whom was Johanna Mason, who was known to fiercely hate Snow. Yesterday afternoon, Snow had called all four Victors back. But was Kopf bathed in covert recordings of those Victors’ conversations? No. Within seconds of Snow beginning talk with each of the four Victors, Snow went to Fully Secure Mode, and all secret recording stopped.

What had the four Victors talked about with Snow? Kopf could not guess. All Kopf knew was yesterday the three Victors who lived outside Johanna Mason’s home district of Seven, had been faxed a travel permit to go to Seven.

For the Ministry of Security, the procedure for spying on Peacekeepers was slightly different than for spying on district people. Recordings enabled by telephone taps and hidden microphones could be accessed by the Minister of Security—but these recordings also would be always reported to the Minister of Peace, Leonardus Chadwick. Sometimes spying on Peacekeepers led to Septicus Kopf and Leonardus Chadwick yelling at each other—

Unless Fully Secure Mode was laid onto the telephone call that Snow made with a Head Peacekeeper. Then neither Kopf nor Chadwick had a clue what had been said.

Yesterday, Snow had made a telephone call to the District Eight Head Peacekeeper and to the District Seven Head Peacekeeper—but Snow had promptly squelched both calls’ recording. Once again, Kopf was locked out of knowing what was going on.

It was only when Kopf read a brief report by a bored informer that Kopf got a crumb of information about what Snow had talked to two Head Peacekeepers about—

BARTENDER AT THE YARN BALL [a District Eight bar]: Where’s Lt. Good Guy [Peacekeeper Senior-Lieutenant Justinus Poole]?

A PEACEKEEPER: HC’d [hovercrafted] to Seven. Snow sent him surprise orders this afternoon.

BARTENDER AT THE YARN BALL: This sucks. He was the only shiny bone-white [Peacekeeper officer] who wasn’t a dickhead.

So inner-district Victors were being sent to outer-district District Seven—at their request?—and a goody-two-shoes Peacekeeper officer, who had been both rescued and promoted by Snow, also had been sent to Seven. A coincidence, maybe? After all, District Seven was a big place, unlike District Twelve.

District Twelve? Where the “next president” is from?

Hold on, what Victors are involved in this? Johanna, Cashmere, Gloss, and Hammerhead—two women Victors, two men Victors.

Then Septicus Kopf saw the connections between yesterday’s minor mysteries. Oh, Kopf could not prove his theory, but he was sure of himself nonetheless—

Uppity monkeys Katniss and Peeta Mellark now needed bodyguards. Capitol people could not be trusted to do this job—Gosh, I wonder why?—so the monkeys’ bodyguards had to be other monkeys. These four Victors had volunteered for the job, and Sr.-Lt. Poole would train them in shooting guns.

Kopf could not guess how short or long a time it would take for the four Victors to become competent presidential bodyguards. So since Kopf planned to kill Katniss Mellark before she could take office, Kopf needed to act now.

That coal-grubber pretender needed to die. Septicus Kopf deserved to be the next president of Panem, not some olive-skinned teenaged district girl who did not own a single pink leather dress!

Kopf picked up the telephone and made a call. Fortunately, Kopf as Minister of Security could invoke Fully Secure Mode, just like President Snow could; Leonardus Chadwick would just have to wonder what his subordinate Romulus Thread had talked about with Chadwick’s Cabinet rival.

****

Minutes later
In the office of Romulus Thread, District Eight

“I don’t see why it matters when we arrest Mellark,” Romulus Thread said into his telephone. “We say ‘We’re here on official Peacekeeper business, point your guns elsewhere,’ then we put the handcuffs on her. The Victors won’t like it, but they won’t interfere.”

“That’s the stupidest idea I’ve heard this morning,” Kopf said. “Tell you what, Thread, you come to the Capitol, you try to arrest President Snow while spouting this nonsense, and you’ll find out whether Hefaestus and Pietus point their guns anywhere except at your head.”

“But I would never try to arrest Snow, because he’s the president of the country,” Thread replied. “He’s the rightful ruler.”

“And Mellark is the future ruler of the country, so most people think. In any case, I doubt that ‘We’re Peacekeepers, so we have the law on our side’ would cut any ice with Johanna Mason. You’ve heard the rumors about her.”

“She’s a crazy nympho bitch—nobody’s going to listen to her. Assuming she survives the gunfight.”

“Are you really telling me that if your Peacekeepers went toe-to-toe with Mellark’s bodyguards, that One, you’d come out of it without heavy casualties, and Two, Snow wouldn’t Avox both you and your team afterward?”

After some silence, Head Peacekeeper Thread said, “So kill her now, you’re saying. Before the Victors graduate from bodyguard school.”

“Finally,” Kopf said sarcastically, “Eight’s Head Peacekeeper catches on.”

Thread paused, then said, “I’ll invent some excuse to send Asher”—Thread’s Second-In-Command—“to Twelve. He hates ‘the Girl on Fire’ too, and he has the skills necessary to hunt her down and kill her.”

“Will Cray be a problem? Twelve is his district, after all.”

Thread laughed scornfully. “Cray the slacker? With a little luck, Cray will barely know Asher was there. Then when Mellark turns up dead, Cray will be all ‘How the fuck did this happen?’ ” Thread laughed again. “I’ll tell Asher to try to frame Cray for the whack. Shouldn’t be hard.”

****

A few hours later
At Track 7D at the train station, the Capitol

Hammerhead Oleery, with suitcase in hand, looked at the posted schedule, then looked at the clock above the train platform.

Hammerhead had two hours before his next train departed for District Seven. This gave Hammerhead time to grab some food and a drink at any of several Capitol restaurants near the train station—and to drop in unannounced at the Presidential Mansion.

****

After a taxi ride to the Presidential Mansion

After waiting only fifteen minutes in the waiting room, Hammerhead was able to meet with Snow—mainly because Hammerhead promised the president that the meeting would take less than a minute of his time.

And Hammerhead was right: The meeting in Snow’s inner office was very short—

“Mr. President, I talked over the situation with Finnick Odair, and we realized that everyone in the Capitol except for you is a potential enemy to Katniss Mellark. Finnick has offered to spy for Katniss, to uncover plots against her life. But to spy on Capitols, Finnick has to be in the Capitol. So he needs for you to summon him here and to order him to stay here, to give him cover for his spying.”

Snow looked sharply at Hammerhead. “Does he realize that there is only one reason I would summon him here now, and would keep him here? The next Games is five months away.”

Snow was asking Is Finnick really volunteering to be a Capitol whore all year around?

Hammerhead nodded grimly. “Finnick is as committed to Katniss Mellark’s health and survival as those of us who would take a bullet for her.”

“Very well,” Snow said. “Before you board your next train, I shall send Mr. Odair a presidential summons. He is still ... popular enough that the summons is believable.”

****

The next day

Twenty-four hours after Hammerhead Oleery of District Four had arrived in the Capitol, while in transit to District Seven, Finnick Odair (also of District Four) himself arrived in the Capitol. When young Finnick, not yet twenty-four years old, stepped off the just-arrived train, he was wearing his sexy-playboy smile.

Yesterday, forty-something Hammerhead Oleery had been recognized in the Capitol, but Capitols had not made a fuss over him. Whereas less than five minutes after Finnick had locked his hotel-room door, he heard a knock at this same hotel-room door. When Finnick answered his door, he found in the hotel’s hallway a blushing “Victors Tonight” reporter and her holo-camera crew.

Smiling Finnick invited them into his hotel room.

Chapter Text

Earlier—that morning

At the same time that Finnick Odair was boarding a train for the Capitol in District Four, Peacekeeper Senior-Lieutenant Palinurus Asher was putting the key in the ignition of a Peacekeeper truck in District Eight.

Minutes later, at the edge of District Eight, Asher drove his Peacekeeper truck through the open “District Twelve” gate and onto the Peacekeeper Road that ran from District Eight to District Twelve. As Asher drove through the gate, the District Eight Peacekeeper just outside the guardhouse saluted him.

Asher returned the salute, drove five meters beyond the gate—then he turned the truck left 90 degrees, set the parking brake, and stepped out of the truck. Asher closely watched the Peacekeeper at the guardhouse close the gate, reconnect the copper band across both halves of the gate, then call Head Peacekeeper Thread to re-electrify the fence. Only when Asher heard the hum of electricity return to the gate and fence did he walk back to the truck and drive away on the Peacekeeper Road.

A little over three hundred kilometers separated the fenced boundary of District Eight and the fenced boundary of District Twelve, which was northeast of Eight. While it was expected that if Peacekeepers needed to go from one district to the other (to put down a riot, say), then the Peacekeepers would be transported by hovercraft, troop movement over the Peacekeeper Road was always a workable backup plan.

District Six maintained all of the Peacekeeper Roads, and cleared away trees and shrubs for forty meters on either side of each road. The idea behind clearing away all this vegetation was that if Rebel hovercraft bombed the road, “the barrens” were wide enough that Peacekeeper vehicles had plenty of room to maneuver between the road and the tree line.

If a Head Peacekeeper reported a flaw in a Peacekeeper Road (a pothole, cracked pavement, saplings growing in the barrens, etc.), crews from Six were supposed to make the repairs immediately. But they didn’t; Asher had often heard about Head Peacekeeper Thread making an inspection drive, reporting a flaw in the road, and a week later “those morphling-heads” still had not fixed it.

Yet now, for the first hour-plus after Asher had left District Eight, the Peacekeeper Road was not in bad shape (except for snow on the road), and uncut grass was the tallest thing growing in the barrens.

Then Asher drove past a sign that showed two horizontal red stripes. (Two red stripes also were painted across the pavement, Asher knew, but these red stripes were covered by snow.) Northeast of these two red stripes, reporting on road conditions was not Thread’s responsibility anymore, it was now Head Peacekeeper Cray’s.

Now the Peacekeeper Road became a mess. Asher learned the hard way that the snow on the road covered up potholes and cracked pavement, and the barrens were worse than on Eight’s side of the red stripes. Asher saw not only saplings growing in the barrens, but thin-trunked trees.

Asher thought, It wouldn’t surprise me if it’s been ten years since Cray picked up the telephone and called District Six Road Maintenance. Fifteen years would not surprise me either. What a slacker!

It had taken Asher less than an hour and a half to drive from District Eight’s boundary to the two red stripes; but it took Asher another three hours to go from the red stripes to District Twelve’s quote-unquote electrified gate.

****

At the District Eight gate in District Twelve’s fence

Asher honked the truck’s horn and waited for the District Twelve Peacekeeper to walk out of the guardhouse.

Nobody came out.

Asher honked again.

Still nobody came out.

Asher shut off the truck’s ignition, pocketed the keys, then picked up rocks from the ground. His plan was to stand just outside the electrified fence and to throw rocks between the fence’s wires, with those rocks hitting the guardhouse’s windows.

But when Asher and his handful of rocks got near to the “electrified” fence, Asher noticed two things—

One, the copper band that was supposed to go across the shut gate, to keep the gate and fence electrified, was instead leaning against the guardhouse.

Two, the sound of high-voltage hum was completely missing.

Asher picked up a stick and threw it such that it hit two different fence-wires. What Asher should have seen were sparks and maybe flame; what he should have heard was crackling. Instead, the stick hit the wires and bounced off, with no drama at all.

The truck had some basic road-emergency supplies in it. Asher was able to open the gate by himself, using a 30-centimeter crescent wrench that he had wrapped in a plastic rain poncho.

Now thoroughly pissed, Asher stomped from the open gate to the (very empty) guardhouse and yanked the telephone handset up from its cradle.

The telephone rang seven times before it was answered.

A male voice said, “Hey, fucker, whoever you are, get out of my guardhouse! The guardhouse is for Peacekeepers only.”

Asher said, “You must be Cray, right? Well, I am a Peacekeeper—Senior-Lieutenant Palinurus Asher from District Eight—and just now I had to break in like a burglar because nobody is at the guardhouse! As it seems you know.”

“Shit, Lieutenant, what did you have to break in for? Now you’ve made me look bad. If you’d just waited an hour or two, Peacekeeper MacGregor”—Darius—“would’ve been by on his patrol and would’ve unlocked the gate.”

Asher bit his tongue on the first seventeen things he wanted to say. (Starting with Wait an hour or two? Do you realize it’s below freezing out here?) Instead, Asher said to Cray, “I shall drive my truck inside the gate, then I shall drive around till I find your office. It’s not my job to open the gate, so I’m not going to shut the gate, either. If you want it shut, sir, talk to your Peacekeeper MacGregor.”

Asher slammed down the handset of the guardhouse’s telephone.

****

Minutes later, in Cray’s office

Asher was talking to Cray and two other Peacekeeper officers—all three of whom could stand to lose a few kilograms. Asher began to lay down his line of bullshit—

“I’m searching for bandits in the inter-district areas that surround District Eight. Most of the bandits, we think, are between us and you—between Eight and Twelve.”

Cray nodded. “What do you need from us?”

Asher faked a laugh. “Well, not to shoot at me if you see me beyond your fence, for one thing!” Then Asher put on his most serious face. “I’d like to see a detailed map of Twelve and the inter-district lands around it. Eight’s maps stop at the red stripes.”

Asher gambled correctly that a map of Twelve that was complete enough to show detail outside District Twelve, would give plenty of detail of what was within District Twelve. Without trying hard, Asher learned where Mellark’s Bakery was. Off to the northwest were twelve big buildings that were collectively labeled “Victors’ Village.” Four of the big buildings had penciled-in labels saying “Bitumena,” “Haymitch,” “Katniss,” and “Peeta.” Asher memorized where Katniss’s and Peeta’s mansions were.

But Asher said nothing to Cray or to his minions about Katniss or her mansion. Instead, Asher pointed to just east of the train station on the map, which had the expected teardrop-shaped track, so that a train arriving from the Capitol could turn around to go back to the Capitol. The surprise for Asher was that both of District Twelve’s railroad tracks, the from-Capitol track and the to-Capitol track, continued to run east from Twelve’s train station, out to and past the teardrop-track, then both tracks turned northeast. “Where do these tracks go?”

Cray laughed. “To District Thirteen—long, long ago. Those tracks are still there only because nobody wants to do the work to rip them up.”

Asher lowered his voice. “Aren’t you worried about a horde of Thirteens arriving here by train?”

“Nope,” said Cray said, grinning. He tapped a place on the table where the tracks would be if the map were 5 centimeters taller. “A bridge collapsed sometime in the HG Thirties. Nobody’s fixed the bridge since. If Pierre Leeg’s crew comes to Twelve, it won’t be by train.”

“What about Thirteens driving here?” Asher asked. He tapped the Twelve-Thirteen Peacekeeper Road on the map.

Cray laughed. “Sometime around HG 5, we built a bad-ass wall over the red stripes. This wall is as wide as the road and both barrens—tree line to tree line. If the Thirteens want to show up here with tanks, they’ll need to chop down trees first, or blow up our wall—either of which we will hear.”

“So you’re not worried about Thirteen causing you any problems, even though you’re the easiest district for them to reach?”

Cray’s grin was smug. “We’re not worried at all.”

Asher spent several minutes making notes about the topography of the inter-district lands around District Twelve—this was supposedly what he was here in Twelve for.

Asher closed his notebook, then he asked with faked casualness, “So how does Katniss get outside the fence? Does she show up at a gate and ask a Peacekeeper to let her out?”

“Nah,” Cray said. His chubby finger tapped the map-fence’s west side, near a big building labeled “Coal Warehouse Two” (with the penciled-in additional label, “The Hob”). Cray said, “There’s a spot where the dirt has been dug out to make a trough under the fence. Even when the wires are hot, she can slip in and out.”

“And you don’t arrest her for poaching?” Asher asked, his disapproval clear.

An overweight Senior-Lieutenant shrugged. “Why? It just creates paperwork.”

Cray added, “Besides, have you checked the price of Dee-Ten-raised turkeys lately? It’s robbery.”

Asher thought, What a group of slackers, with Cray the worst. This guy deserves to be framed for Katniss’s murder.

****

One second later

Asher looked at the clock in Cray’s office. “There is no way I can drive back to Eight by sundown, especially with half the road as bad as it is.” Asher glared at Cray, who shrugged. “So it looks like I’ll be staying here tonight, then start back in the morning.”

Cray nodded. “If you need to call Thread and let him know you’ll be late, there’s the telephone.”

Asher was mildly surprised that Cray knew the name of District Eight’s Head Peacekeeper, but gave the matter no more thought.

The telephone call between Asher and Thread took less than a minute—neither Peacekeeper officer was the gabby type.

As soon as Asher hung up, Cray told him, “Park your truck in our motor pool, then give me the keys.” The storage box for motor-pool keys was in Cray’s office. Cray continued, “After you hand over your keys, Junior-Lieutenant Barkley will get you settled into the officer’s floor of the Peacekeeper Barracks. Dismissed.”

****

One second later

Asher came to attention, saluted, turned an about-face, and marched out of Cray’s office. Three minutes later, after more by-the book military courtesy, Asher laid a District Eight-marked key ring on Cray’s desk, did more parade-ground military courtesies, then left with Junior-Lieutenant Barkley. Barkley, when Asher could not see him, was making faces at Asher.

Cray did not immediately put Asher’s truck keys into the motor-pool storage box. Instead, Cray sat at his desk and thought hard.

Cray did not believe for one second that Asher was here merely to gain information about how to catch inter-district bandits. For one thing, inter-district bandits, at least bandits surrounding District Twelve, were not a problem. But more importantly, Asher was lying.

Cray was flabby, lazy, a whoremonger, a glutton, and in other ways a disgrace to the Peacekeeper Corps—but he was also an investigator with solid hunches. This was how he had been promoted to District Head Peacekeeper (albeit of Panem’s tiniest district).

Cray the investigator decided that Asher had come here for one of three purposes—none of which involved catching bandits.

Maybe Leonardus Chadwick, the Minister of Peace, had sent Asher to Twelve to nose around, to observe how Cray ran things, then to report back to the Minister of Peace. Well, if this was what was going on, then Cray was already fucked, and there was nothing he could do now to fix things.

Or Asher might be here for something related to District Thirteen. Asher’s two questions about travel between District Thirteen and District Twelve had surprised Cray; Cray now wondered if Thirteen was about to make trouble. Cray promptly dismissed the thought—if Thirteen had risen from the dead, how could it be that District Eight knew this, but District Twelve did not know? Besides, if Thirteen was strong again and did decide to make trouble, no way would Thirteen announce its return by invading Twelve.

Asher’s third possible reason for being in Twelve, Cray thought, was something related to Katniss Everdeen—correction, Katniss Mellark. Hadn’t Asher asked where and how Katniss went outside the fence?

At this moment, realization hit Cray—he growled in anger. Cray was used to thinking of Katniss as the Seam girl who sold him poached turkeys—but Katniss was also the reason that Asher and Thread had both been demoted, and she was the named next president of Panem. Asher planned to kill Katniss!

With this realization, Cray rushed out of his office and ran straight to the motor pool. He searched Asher’s truck from front to back. Cray hoped to find written plans how Katniss was to be assassinated, or to find a sniper rifle and ammunition, but he was disappointed. The only thing in the District Eight Peacekeeper truck, besides road-emergency miscellany, was a satchel that contained thermal-imaging goggles. Cray took the satchel and goggles.

****

The next morning, at dawn

It had been years since Cray had been at work as the sun was rising. But Asher wanted his truck early in the morning, supposedly because Thread wanted Asher back in District Eight as soon as possible.

Both Cray and Asher were wearing Peacekeeper-issue white wool coats and white wool hats.

Cray unlocked his office door. Playing dumb, he said to Asher, “You want coffee? Be just a few minutes.”

Asher said, “If I could get the keys to my truck, Captain Cray, I would very much appreciate it.”

Cray was walking toward the coffee-maker behind his desk. He stopped, turned, pulled a key ring from his pocket, and tossed it to Asher. “The key to the motor-pool keys’ storage box is the blue key. You sure you don’t want some coffee?”

“I have orders to get going, sir.”

Cray looked busy loading up the coffee-maker—but a keen observer would notice that Cray did not actually turn the machine on. Behind him, Cray heard the tinkling of keys, the slamming of the storage-box lid, then Asher said, “At your convenience, sir.”

A minute later, Cray had his key ring back in his pocket, and Asher was gone. As soon as Asher shut the office’s outer door, Cray was unlocking the motor-pool keys’ storage box for the second time in three minutes.

When Cray looked at all the key rings hanging on hooks in the storage box, something was off. When he figured out what was wrong with what he was seeing, he swore.

The key ring for the District Eight truck, which had a tag that said “D08-1” in big blue text, still hung on its hook. But the keys for a District Twelve-assigned Peacekeeper truck were gone.

“He’ll kill Katniss in a truck assigned to me!” Cray yelled in the empty office. “That son of a bitch.”

****

Meanwhile, in the motor pool

Yesterday, Asher had left unlocked the passenger-side door to the District Eight truck. So now, even though Asher had keys to a different truck than the District Eight truck, Asher was able to open the Eight truck’s passenger door and could slide his hand under the Eight truck’s passenger seat. Asher was feeling around for the satchel under the passenger seat that contained the thermal-imaging goggles.

With Asher wearing thermal-imaging goggles in the woods, the Mellark woman would be as easy to see as if she were wearing head-to-toe red. She could not hide from him!

This was why Asher now was angry when he realized that the satchel and its precious goggles were gone, gone, gone. Cray and his Peacekeepers are all crooks! Asher thought. I leave the door unlocked and they steal right out of the truck. Disgraceful!

With a muffled curse, Asher quietly shut the passenger door of the Eight truck, and unlocked the driver-side door of the Twelve truck whose keys he had stolen. As Asher slid behind the steering wheel, he thought, Even with no thermal-imaging goggles, I still have a huge advantage over Katniss Mellark in the woods: She doesn’t know anyone is hunting her.

****

Seconds later

As Cray was locking the front door to his office, he heard a Peacekeeper truck start up and drive away. Cray thought, I can’t let Asher get out of sight. Hurry, hurry!

Cray rushed to the motor pool and quickly found the District Eight truck. He had the satchel for the thermal-imaging goggles in one hand, and the District Eight truck’s key ring in his other hand. Cray, the satchel, and the keys all were thrown into the District Eight truck.

Hurry up! Get this truck rolling!

Once Cray drove the Eight truck outside, he noticed that everything was covered with clean whiteness—new snow had fallen during the night.

****

Minutes later

Cray went no farther than the District Eight gate, which was on the southwest side of District Twelve. Alternating between binoculars and his “borrowed” thermal-imaging goggles, Cray watched as Asher drove southwest on the Peacekeeper Road outside the gate, just as he was supposed to do.

Correction: Asher drove southwest on the Peacekeeper Road at first.

When Asher was a hundred or a hundred and fifty meters outside the gate, he turned right. Slowly he drove across the snow-whitened barrens toward the tree line.

When Asher reached the tree line, he turned right again, driving with the tree line close on his left.

Asher was about seventy meters diagonally left of where Katniss would go under the fence when he turned left and drove a short distance into the forest. Then Asher stopped the truck and turned off its engine. Cray could see only little bits of the truck with binoculars; but when he switched to the thermal-imaging goggles, he watched the thermal glow of the truck engine fade away till it was as dark as the surrounding trees and ground. The only thermal glow came from Asher, who sat inside the truck.

But while the District Twelve-assigned truck that Asher was driving had its engine off and its heater off, one part of the truck was still drawing current from the battery, Cray knew. Every five minutes, the truck’s location-beacon was sending out a low-power signal that was saying “I’m stopped in the woods! I’m stopped in the woods!” Which would be the “evidence” to “prove” that Cray or one of his people, not Asher, had killed Katniss.

Asher, you turkey-fucker! Cray thought.

****

About an hour after sunrise
A little after 9 a.m., District Twelve time

Cray saw black-braided Katniss walk toward the woods from the trough in the fence that was near the Hob. Katniss never looked in the direction where Asher had hidden the white truck.

At the tree line, where a fallen log lay next to an upright tree, Cray saw Katniss bend down. When she straightened again, Katniss was holding her bow and a quiver of arrows. Katniss pulled the quiver onto her left shoulder (over the strap of her game bag that was already on her left shoulder), she shifted her bow into her right hand, then she walked into the forest.

Fifteen seconds later, Asher reappeared at the tree line, near where his stolen truck was parked. He walked quickly toward the spot where Katniss had entered the forest.

Cray was trying to decide how best to handle this whole clusterfuck when his pocket-picturephone chimed.

“Fuck a dog!” Cray swore, when he saw who was calling him.

Chapter Text

The Caller-ID on Cray’s pocket-picturephone said that Cray’s caller was Domiducus Jones, the Capitol Liaison. “Yeah, whaddaya want, Jones?” Cray said into the telephone.

Jones’s voice said, “Here with me is Miss Antonia Wilson, a Capitol citizen. She wishes to report a crime.”

“Fine, I’ll send my Second, Senior-Lieutenant Grieg, to take her statement. He’ll be there in half an hour.”

“Miss Wilson doesn’t want to talk to a flunky, she wants to talk to you.”

“Well, I’m busy right now. Very busy. I’m in the middle of something important.”

“Oh, I’m sure,” Jones said sarcastically. “You’re ‘busy’ watching Panem News Network on holo, with your feet on your desk. Come here and take Miss Wilson’s statement.”

“Eat me, Jones. You are not my boss, and what part of ‘I’m busy’ do you not understand?”

“Cray. You’re right, I’m not your boss. But I have a telephone book in my desk, and the telephone book has the number for Leonardus Chadwick, the Minister of Peace,” who was Cray’s boss. “And I remind you that important people in the Capitol have their eye on Twelve these days. How long do you think a goof-off Head Peacekeeper can keep his post when President Snow is watching Twelve nonstop? I told my crime victim that you will talk to her, and if you embarrass me, I shall more than embarrass you. So when shall I expect you?”

When Cray looked back toward the woods, he saw that Asher had disappeared into the woods.

Shit. What else can go wrong this morning?

“Fine,” Cray growled, “I’ll be in your office as soon as possible.”

****

Just inside the woods west of District Twelve

Asher was grinning.

Snow had fallen last night, partially filling in Katniss’s footprints in the snow from yesterday and before. The only footprints not filled in were the girl’s footprints from today.

Tracking down Katniss Mellark was going to be so easy!

****

Elsewhere in those woods

Katniss had been in the woods only five minutes when she heard the snow-crunching noise made by another human walking around.

Gale Hawthorne was working in the mines. Rory Hawthorne was in school, as was Prim. Aloe Everdeen seldom came out to the woods, and never came to the woods when snow was on the ground. Haymitch never set foot in the woods without loudly calling for Katniss—this scared off game animals, which made Katniss scowl, but Haymitch was more concerned about not getting himself arrow-shot.

Peeta in the woods walked around like a Townie with a prosthetic leg. The only way Peeta could be more noticeable in the woods would be to beat a drum.

So the other person in the woods was not Gale, Rory, Prim, Katniss’s mother, Haymitch, or Peeta. Who then was he (or she), this other person in the woods, and why was he (or she) in the woods with Katniss?

****

Meanwhile, at a little after 7 a.m., Capitol time
Didymus’s All-Districts Grocery, the Capitol

Breakerina Finch stood at her cash register and could not stop yawning. Part of the explanation for her yawns was that she had been up late last night, working her other job. The other reason she was yawning was that in January, the sun would not rise for another hour; her body was saying, “It’s still night, and night is when you sleep.”

“Please stop yawning,” a jaunty male voice said. “Now you’ve got me doing it.”

Breakerina looked up into the eyes of her check-out customer—and almost fainted. “You’re Finnick Odair!”

“I am,” he said, with a smile that made Breakerina weak in the knees. “And you are Breakerina—or else you stole Breakerina’s nametag, because your name is actually Bertha.”

Breakerina laughed, then activated the conveyor belt. As she scanned the first item, she said, “Horsemeat jerky—I’ve never tried this. Is it good?”

Finnick said, “Yes, Hennie—she’s the younger female Victor from District Ten—turned me on to horsemeat jerky.” Finnick laughed. “I tried to sell her on the tastiness of kelp chewies, but I don’t think I made headway. Anyway, your store is the only place in the entire Capitol that sells horsemeat jerky, so here I am!” Finnick’s smile was foreplay.

Breakerina said, “I can’t believe this; I am so lucky! A few days ago I met Katniss and Peeta, I actually talked with Katniss, and now I’m talking with Finnick Odair!”

“Katniss and Peeta came in this store to buy groceries?”

“No, Oak—he’s a stocker here—he got me a job at TempServant. Both of us got assigned to work the Presidential Ball at the end of the Mellarks’ Victory Tour. Both me and Oak wound up talking with Katniss—she’s really nice. Both Oak and I like her.”

Finnick said, “The Presidential Ball—wasn’t this when President Snow named Katniss as the next president of Panem?”

“It was, and I was in the ballroom when he said it! I will be telling my grandchildren about this.”

Then Breakerina gasped. She asked Finnick, “How well do you know Katniss? Can you get a message to her?”

Finnick shrugged. “I talked to Katniss for only a few minutes at her wedding, but I suppose I could pass on a message if it’s important. What’s the message?”

Breakerina leaned close to Finnick and lowered her voice. “I overheard something last night. Please tell Katniss she’s in danger.”

****

Meanwhile, in the District Twelve woods

Katniss realized that the other person in the woods was behind her, and was walking the same path that Katniss was walking.

He (or she) was following Katniss; Katniss was being stalked.

****

Meanwhile in District Twelve
In the office of Domiducus Jones, Capitol Liaison

When Cray rushed in, waiting for him were Domiducus Jones and a Capitol woman with blue-dyed skin, who was wearing dark-blue nursing scrubs.

Jones performed introductions: “Miss Wilson, this is the District Twelve Head Peacekeeper, Captain Paulus Cray. Captain Cray, this is Miss Antonia Wilson. She works as the nurse in the Capitol Coal Medical Clinic.”

Cray was only halfway listening as he looked the woman over. Cray saw no wounds, bandages, or bruises. He noticed that the woman did have the same stiff posture and frowning face as Medea Mellark, the baker’s wife.

When Cray was listening to voices again, Wilson was ranting about “miner-monkeys.” Cray did not have time for this shit. He interrupted Wilson, mid-rant, to ask, “What is the crime you’re reporting?”

She answered in an offended voice, “Four miner-monkeys whistled at me. And one of them called me ‘Nurse Bitch.’ I demand you arrest them!”

This was her story: After she got off work yesterday at the mine-company medical clinic, she felt like buying a half-liter of ice cream. Yes, she could have gone up one floor in the Capitol Liaison Building and bought chocolate ice cream at the Capitol Store—but instead, she felt like eating vanilla ice cream. To buy vanilla, Wilson needed to go to Berg’s Fruits, Vegetables, and Dairy. Anyway, as Wilson was walking from the Capitol Coal Medical Clinic to Berg’s, “the incident” with the four miners occurred.

“So what did the miners look like?” Cray asked impatiently.

Wilson answered, “Three of them were in their twenties, or maybe their thirties. One was in his forties. All of the men looked like miners—dark skin, black hair, gray eyes. They wore dusty miner clothes.”

Cray rolled his eyes. “Well, that narrows down the list to only about two thousand suspects. Did these four men grab you, or touch you without your permission?”

Wilson looked at Cray like he were an idiot: “I told you what they did. They whistled at me, and one of them called me a bitch.”

“And you can’t give me any more description than what you’ve told me already?”

“They were all skinny. They all needed haircuts. And the two men whose hands I could see, had coal dust under their fingernails.”

Cray turned and walked toward the door of Jones’s office. “I can’t find these men, based on her description,” Cray told Jones, “and what she described is not a crime according to the Peacekeeper Manual. You wasted my time for this?”

Jones said, “But you’re the Head Peacekeeper! You have discretion to define offenses that aren’t in your Manual, and to make arrests and to decree punishments for those offenses. So arrest four miners and flog them, and the entire Capitol community here in Twelve will feel better.”

Cray said, disgusted, “Wow, you two are the rainbow-est of rainbows, you know that?” With those words, Cray was out the door.

Then Cray ran from the Capitol Liaison’s outer office to the Peacekeeper truck that was parked outside the building. He had Katniss Mellark’s murder to prevent—but he was probably too late. All because of two self-important Capitols.

****

Meanwhile, in the District Twelve woods

Katniss wondered how the other person knew exactly where Katniss was walking. Then she realized—and she almost gasped out loud in horror. The new-fallen snow gave Katniss’s tracker a clear trail!

Katniss turned in place, and looked back in the direction she had come. She was confused at first by what she was seeing—was the snow on the ground moving beyond distant tree branches? Then Katniss realized that she was not seeing white snow moving, she was seeing the white hat, white coat, and white armored boots of a far-away Peacekeeper.

Katniss thought about climbing a tree to hide from him—but realized that this would not work. With the forest’s leaves all dropped, Katniss could not hide if she were in tree branches; and her freedom of movement would be almost none.

Katniss believed that the Peacekeeper was too focused on Katniss’s footprints in front of him to see Katniss herself, now two hundred meters away. The odds were in her favor—for now. But as soon as he saw her, she would be in deep shit.

The Peacekeeper was too far away for Katniss’s arrows to hit him. What to do, what to do?

****

Meanwhile, in Didymus’s All-Districts Grocery

Finnick stood there, waiting patiently, as Breakerina checked-out two more customers. When she was idle, Finnick asked her in a low voice, “How is Katniss in danger?”

Breakerina murmured, “Do you know Septimus Kopf, the Minister of Security?”

“Actually, it’s ‘Septicus,’ and yes, I know who he is,” Finnick replied. Now his smile was gone. Shit yes, I definitely know Septicus Kopf, Finnick thought.

Breakerina said, “Last night I was working a party at his house, and rich citizens”—Capitols—“were whining how terrible life will be when Katniss Mellark becomes president. I overheard Mr. Kopf say, ‘Don’t you worry about that archer-monkey. She will be murdered very soon by District Twelve’s notoriously corrupt Head Peacekeeper. Or so everyone will believe.’ ”

Finnick thought, I need to stop Katniss’s murder! But how?

****

Meanwhile, in the District Twelve woods

Katniss had one big disadvantage over her Peacekeeper pursuer, and four advantages.

Her big disadvantage was that bullets moved faster and farther than arrows did.

On the other hand, Katniss knew how to move silently in the woods; she knew these woods; the sky was overcast today (meaning, no shadows cast); and so far, her Peacekeeper tracker had not spotted—

“You’re mine, bitch,” the Peacekeeper yelled. His voice was faint, because he was still many decameters behind Katniss.

Katniss ran.

****

An instant later

“You’re mine, bitch,” the Peacekeeper yelled. His voice sounded familiar to Katniss, but was not Cray’s.

Immediately, running Katniss shucked off her game bag. As soon as the game bag was lying in the snow, Katniss made a half-turn right, glancing back as she did so. Now many trees and tree branches blocked Katniss and the Peacekeeper from seeing each other. This was what Katniss wanted.

Katniss ran a little farther, till she saw an old (thus wide) tree with a bush growing at its base. Now she slowed down, going from running, to walking, to shuffling her feet. Her boots slid forward along the ground, shoving snow left and right.

The old snow and the new snow, together, came up almost to the tops of Katniss’s boots. So when Katniss shuffled her feet forward, this made twin furrows in the snow.

Oh please, please, she thought, don’t let him catch me out before I finish my trick!

Katniss shuffled forward five meters past the tree, stopped, then she shuffled backward, keeping her boots in the furrows she had made. When she was again beside the tree and bush, Katniss jumped sideways, over the bush. Her boots made footprints behind the bush when she came down to ground—but hopefully, the bush would block her pursuer’s view of those footprints.

With an arrow nocked, Katniss hid behind the tree. She was still panting from her running; she breathed in and out through her mouth, not through her nostrils, so that she would be quieter.

Katniss listened for the sound of crunching snow and she waited.

She had to wait only ten or twenty seconds before the sound of running footsteps in snow came close. Just as Katniss had slowed to a walk as she had come near to the wide tree, now Katniss heard the Peacekeeper slow down.

When the panting man walked past the wide tree, Katniss silently moved around the tree so that he still could not see her. Alas, this also meant that Katniss could not see him.

When the sounds of crunching snow told Katniss that the Peacekeeper had gone five meters past the wide tree, Katniss dared to peek out from behind the tree.

The Peacekeeper was standing astride the end of the shuffle-furrows of snow, his pistol in his right hand. He was clearly confused—he looked to his right, to his left, and to the empty and bare tree branches above his head—but he saw neither Katniss nor her footprints. He looked down in front of him, where he expected more footprints to be, but none were.

He never turned to look back in the direction he had come from.

The first time that the Peacekeeper man’s face was almost in profile, it took all of Katniss’s hunting-discipline not to gasp aloud. The Peacekeeper who was hunting her was Asher, the shithead Peacekeeper officer in District Eight who had handcuffed Katniss during the Victory Tour and who had threatened to shoot Peeta and her.

Right now, Asher had not yet noticed Katniss behind the tree. She announced her presence by silently stepping sideways and arrowing Asher’s gun-hand.

As Asher screamed, his pistol went flying. The gun buried itself in snow.

By the time that Asher had yanked the arrow out of his hand and was alternately looking at Katniss and at the pistol-sized mound in the snow, Katniss had nocked another arrow. She pointed the arrow at Asher’s face.

Other than his swiveling head, Asher did not move. Katniss knew that a predator sometimes was motionless just before it attacked.

****

Meanwhile, in District Twelve

If the Capitol Liaison had not interrupted Cray, Cray would have dashed straight out the Eight Gate after Asher, trying to prevent Asher from killing Katniss. But by now, Cray figured, Asher had killed Katniss (or hopefully Katniss had arrowed Asher). All Cray could do now was to see a rogue Peacekeeper brought to justice—and oh yeah, to make sure that he, Cray, did not get framed for Katniss’s murder.

So Cray, instead of racing out Twelve’s District Eight gate like a hellion, raced toward the District Twelve Peacekeeper Barracks.

Once Cray was on the Officer floor of the barracks, he yelled, “Senior-Lieutenant Grieg! Junior-Lieutenant Barkley! Come here, please.”

The two officers were soon in Cray’s office, looking surprised that he had addressed them formally, instead of by their first names.

Cray looked at Grieg, his Second-In-Command, and asked, “Do we have anyone in the Eight Gate guardhouse now?”

Grieg said, “No, after that Eight assclown left, we went back to using a rover.”

Cray said, “That District Eight officer, Asher, did not leave. He’s in yonder woods, trying to kill Katniss.”

Cray paused while his officers stared at him. Then Cray began to act like a Head Peacekeeper for the first time in nine years. Grieg and Barkley looked at each other in shock.

****

Ten minutes later

The District Eight truck that Cray was still driving, and a regular District Twelve Peacekeeper truck from the motor pool, both drove to Coal Warehouse One by the District Twelve train station. Cray parked the Eight truck behind the warehouse.

Cray planned for Asher to not come back into Twelve except in handcuffs or in a body bag—but if Asher did slip into Twelve, he would need the Eight truck to establish his alibi. Too bad for Asher, Cray had just hidden the Eight truck.

With the Eight truck hidden, Cray took over the driving of the unstolen Twelve truck, which already had four people inside it: Senior-Lieutenant Grieg, Darius, Purnia, and a Peacekeeper named Albinus. Since everyone was each wearing Peacekeeper armor, a wool coat, a wool cap, and a shoulder-radio, and was holding a pistol, the truck was crowded.

Cray drove the unstolen Twelve truck to the Eight Gate, and Purnia got out of the warm truck. Cray ordered Purnia, “You have guardhouse duty till Junior-Lieutenant Barkley tells you to stand down, or till you are properly relieved. If you have any questions, Junior-Lieutenant Barkley is in charge till we get back. Now open the Eight Gate.”

“On it, sir.” Purnia actually came to attention and saluted Cray, who had nearly forgotten how to return a salute. Then Purnia added in a low voice, “Get the fucker, sir. Avenge Katniss.”

Once the unstolen Twelve truck was on the Peacekeeper Road, the truck followed the tire tracks of the Twelve truck that Asher had stolen only a half-hour earlier. Soon Cray and his Peacekeepers came across the stolen truck, where Asher had parked it in the woods.

Cray said, “Albinus, Senior-Lieutenant Grieg, this is your stop. If Senior-Lieutenant Asher shows up wanting to drive that truck, then Grieg, arrest Asher on my authority if he’ll submit quietly. But if his gun comes up, I want him dead. This order goes for you too, Albinus” (since usually an enlisted Peacekeeper killing a Peacekeeper officer was a firing-squad offense).

After Grieg and Albinus got out of the unstolen Twelve truck with their pistols (and saluted Cray, whatthefuck?), only Cray and Peacekeeper Darius MacGregor were in the unstolen Twelve truck. Cray drove the truck so to follow Asher’s footprints, till the truck reached the place where both Katniss’s footprints and Asher’s footprints entered the woods.

Cray stopped the truck and pocketed the keys. As Cray was pulling on the thermal-imaging goggles, Darius asked quietly, “Sir, um, why am I here with you, instead of with Lt. Grieg or in the guardhouse? Lt. Asher is an officer—if you get killed, I can’t arrest him.”

Cray replied, “I’m not worried about Asher, I’m worried about Katniss. She trusts you, but she doesn’t trust me.”

Cray shrugged. “Can’t say I blame her,” he muttered.

Then Cray continued, “If Katniss is still alive, she’ll be royally pissed at all Peacekeepers, and she won’t believe a word I say—unless you’re standing right there. I don’t want to die today with an arrow in my eye.”

Then Cray shifted into his “officer voice”: “Weapon loaded?”

“Yes, sir,” Darius replied.

Cray gestured to where two sets of new footprints led into the woods. “Let’s find Katniss. Or her dead body. You lead till I take over.”

****

Soon afterward

Cray was already feeling winded, while Darius was barely breathing hard, when Darius mentioned passing Katniss’s game bag lying in the snow. Right after this, Cray’s thermal-imaging goggles finally showed something other than blackness and little red animals.

Cray said to Darius, “Two people are alive up ahead, but one of them is on the ground. C’mon!”

Cray yelled, “ASHER, STOP! YOU CAN’T ESCAPE! KATNISS, I HAVE DARIUS WITH ME.”

Cray ran faster—but not much faster. He was definitely out of shape for this.

Even so, what spurred Cray on was that if he could get to Katniss before she bled out, he would never discover what punishments a truly angry President Snow could think up.

Soon Cray shoved the thermal-imaging goggles up onto his white cap and panted to Darius, “They’re just ahead.” Cray brought his pistol up, ready to fire it.

Then Cray and Darius found Katniss and Asher. Cray discovered it was not Katniss on the ground, but Asher.

Darius yelled, “KATNISS, WE’RE NOT HERE TO SHOOT YOU.”

Cray had been staring down at Asher, who was lying in the snow on his stomach, with his hands handcuffed behind his back. But after Darius yelled, Cray looked up to see Katniss’s bow and arrow aimed at his own face.

Cray immediately lowered his pistol, and ordered Darius to lower his. After the longest two seconds of Cray’s life, Katniss lowered her bow.

Asher was glaring up at Cray. “Fuck, you stole the thermal-imaging goggles? I’m surprised you didn’t sell them in your black market.”

Cray shrugged. “Cray of yesterday would have thought about it. Today? Nope—it’s against the rules. Oh, by the way, Palinurus Asher, you’re under arrest for the attempted murder of Katniss Everdeen Mellark.”

Then Cray walked up to prone Asher, cleared his throat, and said—

“You have the right to remain silent. If you give up the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to speak with an attorney and to have the attorney present during questioning. If you so desire and cannot afford one, an attorney will be appointed for you without charge before the questioning begins. Do you understand your rights as I have read them to you? Do you waive and give up these rights?”

“What?” Asher said.

Cray ordered Darius, “Stand him up.”

As Darius pulled Asher up off the ground, Cray looked at Asher and laughed cruelly. “I was just messing with you, Senior-Lieutenant. I just quoted something I heard in a History holo and have always wanted to say. But here and now, we both know that you will answer all my questions—with enough persuasion.”

Katniss asked Asher, “Did Thread put you up to this?”

Asher snapped, “That’s Captain Thread to you, monkey!”

Cray said, “But until recently, he was Major Thread. Rommie has motive.” Cray grinned as Asher’s face fell.

****

Minutes later

Cray and Darius were walking Asher out of the woods and toward the unstolen truck. Katniss was walking beside them.

Katniss looked at Cray in puzzlement, because she saw a seriousness in how the man carried himself. She said, “You seem different. What’s different about you?”

Darius said, “He finally got with the program.”

Cray nodded. “I’ve cut corners for years. Peacekeeper life is unpleasant at times; this was my excuse. But today I realized that if you were alive when I found you, you would shoot me. And the Peacekeeper investigators would rule it to be a justified shooting. All because nobody would believe that ‘corrupt Cray’ came into these woods to arrest an assassin, not to aid and abet the assassin’s crime. This stopped me cold when I realized it, that whoring with district girls and doing other shit would get me killed today. So I gave up acting corrupt.”

****

Hours later

Peacekeeper Captain Romulus Thread arrived in District Twelve, via the Peacekeeper Road, to visit his Second-In-Command.

Asher was in jail. Cray had telephoned Thread and had informed him that Asher would face a firing squad at dawn (since Cray had never built a gallows in Twelve, and refused to build one now).

When Thread strode into Cray’s office, it was with an angry face and with a tirade on his lips. Undoubtedly Thread expected to catch Cray in a chair with his feet up on his desk. Instead, Thread discovered that unsmiling Cray and unsmiling Grieg were standing two meters from the door, each with a pistol aimed at Thread. As Cray arrested Thread, Junior-Lieutenant Barkley, who had been hiding behind the door, pulled a black hood over Thread’s head.

****

A little over twenty-four hours later
The ring-table meeting room, the Presidential Mansion

President Snow was hosting his ministers for dinner, to celebrate that the Rebels in all twelve districts had pledged “No riots and no rebellion, to honor President-to-be Katniss Mellark.”

Purple-wigged Septicus Kopf was enjoying his meal. The first meat course was a centimeter-thick, batter-fried steak that was covered with a delicious gravy made with ground-up jalapeño peppers.

President Snow stood up, raised a glass of wine, and told his ministers, “We gather to celebrate a glorious future for Panem, when Mrs. Mellark becomes president. We also celebrate that right now Mrs. Mellark has brought peace to all the districts, merely by breathing.”

President Snow glanced at Septicus Kopf.

Kopf, about the time his heartbeats became painful, figured out that the jalapeño gravy had more than hot peppers in it.

****

Meanwhile, in District Thirteen

Alma Coin had summoned Soldier Mitchell to her quarters. With the door shut, now she returned his salute.

“How is the sniper-rifle training going?” Coin asked. “Any problems?”

“No, ma’am,” Mitchell answered. “I’ve learned how to shoot accurately even when I’m shivering with cold.”

“Continue your sniper-rifle training,” Coin ordered.

Chapter Text

The next morning, in District Seven

Peacekeeper Senior-Lieutenant Justinus Poole was finishing up breakfast when Head Peacekeeper Goddard stopped by his table. Goddard said, “President Snow called me yesterday. He asked me to pass on some news to you.”

“What’s the news?”

“A Peacekeeper Senior-Lieutenant from District Eight went to Twelve and tried to kill Katniss in the woods. He’s named Asher—you know him?

Poole stared. “Captain Asher—excuse me, Senior-Lieutenant Asher—tried to kill Katniss? Jeez, I know he hated her, but I never thought—Did he succeed? Is she dead?”

“No, Snow told me she arrowed Asher in the hand, which knocked his gun away. Eventually she handcuffed him with his own cuffs.”

Poole did not tell Goddard what he suspected, that Katniss probably had gleefully handcuffed Asher with the handcuffs Asher had cuffed her with, in District Eight during the Mellarks’ Victory Tour.

Now Goddard continued, “Asher is dead by District Twelve firing squad. Eight’s Head Peacekeeper is dead too, a man named Thread—Snow himself ordered Thread’s death.”

Poole said. “Oh, wow. Asher and Thread are both dead? Wow.”

Goddard’s eyes bored into Poole’s. “Anyway, it’s a happy ending for ‘President Katniss,’ but if she had had bodyguards with her in the woods, there would have been no worries for President Snow.”

Poole said, “Katniss doesn’t have any bodyguards.” Right now, he mentally added.

Goddard, still staring at Poole, said, “Well, I hope she gets some bodyguards soon. Peeta needs them too.”

I’m working on it, Poole thought. Aloud, he asked, “Sir, you’re a Head Peacekeeper—what do you think of a Head Peacekeeper plotting to kill ‘President Katniss’?”

Goddard eyed Poole. “He’s a total disgrace to Peacekeeper officers, that’s what I think. If I were in charge of Head Peacekeeper Thread’s firing squad, I would have told the shooters, ‘Avoid the heart, avoid the head. Target the abdomen, target the legs.’ He still would have died, but it would have taken him hours, and he would have suffered during every minute.”

Now Goddard clapped Poole on the shoulder. “Change of subject: A special shipment came in last night for you and the Exxes,” who were the four supposedly-secret people whom Poole was training how to shoot firearms. However, all the Peacekeepers in District Seven knew that three out-of-district Victors had arrived in Seven shortly after Poole had arrived, and that these three out-of-district Victors were now living in Johanna Mason’s mansion.

Peacekeeper Captain Goddard continued, “The special shipment is four paintball pistols and a zillion paintballs, plus five waterproof overalls and five sets of safety goggles. I have to wonder what you’re teaching your Exxes, Justinus.” Goddard said this last part with a smile.

Poole replied, “Well, sir, Jo—one of the Exxes suggested it. She pointed out that target-shooting is not like shooting in the field: A target doesn’t shoot back, and the shooter knows the target won’t shoot back. With the paintball pistols, the Exxes can shoot at each other—and can cause each other that rush of fear—without killing each other. Or killing me.”

“So you’re trying to make the Exxes’ training be more realistic? That’s smart.” As Goddard was walking away, he called back over his shoulder, “Too bad your hair isn’t long enough to braid, nor is it blond and curly. Limits the realism.”

****

An hour later
At the Victor-bodyguards’ target range in District Seven

Cashmere said, “Two Peacekeeper officers tried to kill Katniss? This sucks raw potatoes sideways.”

Poole said, “They both are dead now. Firing squad.”

Johanna said, “If they’re Peacekeepers, they deserve to die, a hundred times over.” Johanna quickly added, “Except for you, Poole.”

Poole made himself not roll his eyes. “Thank you, Johanna.”

Poole and the Victor-bodyguards—Johanna, Gloss, Cashmere, and Hammerhead—all were wearing waterproof overalls. All five people had safety googles present, although Johanna’s goggles were hanging around her neck, not covering her eyes.

Before Poole handed out the paintball pistols and paintballs, he said, “Johanna, cover your eyes with your goggles, please. That’s where they belong.”

“Fuck that,” Johanna said. “we’re Victors, we don’t worry about dainty ‘eye protection.’ ”

Poole said, “Johanna, we will be spending lots of time and money training you. All this will be wasted if you are blinded after you are shot in the face during training—”

“—and you definitely will get shot in the face, Mason,” Gloss said, grinning gleefully. “Expect it.”

“So put the goggles over your eyes now,” Poole finished.

Johanna pulled her goggles up to cover her eyes—but muttered “What a bunch of wimps” as she did so.

The paintball pistols and paintballs were passed out, and Poole demonstrated how to load and fire the pistols—

Hammerhead immediately aimed his paintball pistol at Johanna and shot her in the forehead.

“What was that for?” Johanna demanded. The outside top of her goggles now had blue paint splatters.

Hammerhead smiled like an angel. “To make you glad you’re wearing eye protection.”

****

One second later

Poole said, “Now you’re going to learn how to thwart assassins, by taking turns playing the bodyguards for Katniss or Peeta, and playing the evil assassins out to kill him or her. Which means that yes, you get to shoot each other—but mostly you’ll be shooting me, when you’re playing assassin.”

Poole walked the Victor-bodyguards through his playground. The regular target-shooting range was five hundred meters long and about sixty meters wide, on a rectangle of treeless ground. To the left of the gun range, and to the right of the trees not yet cut down, Poole had marked off a 500-meter straight path that was divided into 100-meter segments.

Poole explained, “Just outside of the Start line, the two bodyguards will turn their back on the path, along with me, and the three of us will loudly sing two verses of ‘Anthem of Panem.’ This will give the assassins time to hide, and the loud singing will cover up whatever noises the assassins make as they hide. Then the bodyguards and I will turn around and walk along the path. I as the Dignitary set the pace till shooting starts, then I’ll take direction from the bodyguards—to get on the ground, to run, whatever you bodyguards tell me. Assassin or bodyguard, if you get paintballed in a ‘fatal’ place on your body, you’re out of the game for the rest of the round—no shooting allowed afterward.”

“What’s the scoring?” Cashmere asked.

If the Dignitary made it all one-hundred meters to the Finish line without a “fatal” paintball shot, the bodyguard-team was awarded ten points, plus one point for each bodyguard still “alive.” If the Dignitary was hit with a “fatal” shot, the assassin-team got twenty points, plus one point for each bodyguard “killed” before the Dignitary was “killed.” However, if the assassins’ first shot killed the Dignitary, and the bodyguards had fired no shots before then, the assassin-team got thirty points—and bragging rights.

A sponge and a 200-liter water drum would be used to clean everyone off before the next round.

A coin-flip decided that for the first round, Gloss and Hammerhead would be the bodyguards, while Cashmere and Johanna would play the assassins.

****

At the Start line

Gloss, Poole, and Hammerhead stood with their backs to the Start line, which was a half-meter away. They sang the “Anthem of Panem”—Poole was not surprised that Gloss sang bass.

As soon as they finished singing, they turned around to face the Start line. Gloss yelled out, “READY OR NOT, CAZH, HERE WE COME!”

Poole stepped over the Start line—

Pfft.

—and immediately felt something sting the top of his head. “I’m dead,” Poole said. “Round over.”

“What?” Gloss yelled.

Above the men, Johanna’s voice crowed, “Bye-bye, Peeta! That’s thirty fucking points.”

Five meters from the Start line grew a big tree with thick limbs. Johanna, sitting astride one of those limbs, grinned down at Gloss, Poole, and Hammerhead, her paintball pistol now pointed at the sky.

Cashmere stepped out from behind that same tree, where she had been hiding. Grinning Cashmere said to Gloss, “Usually I have to work harder to beat you, big brother!”

“It’s on, Cazh,” Gloss said. What Poole thought was odd: As Gloss spoke those words, he was smiling.

****

Minutes later

After Poole sponged the green paint out of his hair, the five people walked a hundred meters to the next line across the path. This would become the new Start line.

Cashmere sang the ‘Anthem of Panem’ melody in a soprano voice; Johanna harmonized in alto.

Johanna was eyeing tree limbs even before Poole stepped across the Start line.

As Poole walked along the grassy path, he noticed that he could hear his own walk, and Cashmere’s; but Johanna’s tread was almost silent.

Poole and his two women “bodyguards” had walked about half the distance to the Finish line when up ahead, grinning Gloss stuck his face out from behind a tree—then quickly hid again.

As Johanna whooped, Cashmere ran toward the tree yelling, “I see y—”

Pfft.

Poole said, “Round over. I’m shot in the back.”

Behind Poole and the women, Hammerhead said, “Alas poor President Katniss, dead at sixteen.”

Gloss stepped out from behind his tree. “Payback, little sister.”

“This is goddamn fucking unfortunate,” Cashmere said—in a dead-on Capitol accent.

****

Minutes later

After a pitched paintball-gun battle—two women assassins dead, two male bodyguards dead—Poole ran across the Finish line. This earned the men ten points.

As the Victor-bodyguards were sponging off their paintball “wounds,” Hammerhead said, “The men are ahead, forty to thirty.”

“Not for long!” Johanna and Cashmere said together.

Then it was the women’s turn to play bodyguard, and the men’s turn to assassinate.

As “Katniss” (Poole) walked along the path, Johanna looked closely at tree limbs above, and grass and trees ahead, while Cashmere was nonstop looking out for a man appearing from behind.

It was all wasted effort—because Gloss and Hammerhead never showed up until after Poole called out “Across the Finish line.”

Cashmere said to Johanna, “We get the twelve points, but somehow I think we lost.”

Johanna nodded. “That was nerve-wracking.”

Poole and the women watched Gloss and Hammerhead stroll up the path to the Finish line. Hammerhead was grinning like he knew the world’s biggest secret.

“Why didn’t you motherfuckers shoot?” Johanna demanded.

Hammerhead answered with a smile, “You got twelve points, so does it matter?”

Gloss said to Cashmere, “Maybe we felt like being lazy.”

A few minutes later, as soon as assassin-Cashmere appeared out from behind a tree, bodyguard-Hammerhead popped her. Assassin-Johanna stepped out from behind a different tree and shot at “Peeta,” but missed. Bodyguard-Gloss did not miss. The men picked up twelve points.

When it was again the women’s turn to be the Dignitary’s bodyguards, the same thing happened as last time: Johanna and Cashmere were hyperactive and clearly worried, and the men Victors never showed up till the round was over.

“These mind-games are most unfortunate, truly,” Cashmere said at the Finish line. Again she spoke with a perfect Capitol accent.

****

Ten minutes later

It was again the women’s turn to play the bodyguards; and for the third time, it looked to Poole like the men-assassins would be no-shows.

By now, Poole and the women were only ten meters from the Finish line. Poole noticed that both Cashmere’s face and Johanna’s face were more relaxed than the previous two times.

“Another twelve points,” Cashmere said.

Johanna said, “Looks that w—”

Pfft.

Even as Poole said “I’m dead,” Gloss yelled out from behind, “Gotcha, ladies!”

Hammerhead came out from hiding behind a tree, and sauntered up the path while wearing a big grin. As soon as Hammerhead was close to Gloss, the two men high-fived—all while the women looked pissed.

****

A few hours later, on the other side of Panem
In District Twelve High School

Back in July, Katniss had not complained at all when Haymitch had told her that, as a Victor, she was no longer required to attend school.

So she was annoyed that today she found herself back at the high school. She was even more annoyed that she came to the high school now to use its quote-unquote library (which was actually a shelf of books in the Teacher’s Lounge). Katniss was scowling now, because in the almost-eleven years that Katniss had been in school before the Seventy-fourth Reaping, she had successfully avoided standing in front of the “library” shelf, except for once.

The teachers in the Teacher’s Lounge would not let a student take a library book out of the room, so a student had to sit at one of two desks and read her chosen book in the Teacher’s Lounge, while the teachers shot her You’re not gone yet? looks. Maybe the teachers would let the President-to-be take a book home, but Katniss had decided before she entered the school today that she would not ask for this.

Now five teachers and one student were in the Teacher’s Lounge when Katniss walked in. The one student already in the Teacher’s Lounge was Gamma Churchill.

Katniss did not know much about Gamma—only that she was two years behind Katniss in school; both of her parents had been killed in the mine explosion; Gamma now lived in the Community Home (Katniss shuddered); Gamma usually swore like a hungover miner; and Gamma had talked to the super-smart Victors, Beetee and Wiress, at Katniss’s wedding reception.

“Hey,” Gamma now said to Katniss. “You got lonely for this place, so you came back?”

Katniss said, “Snow realized that putting a coal-grubber teenage girl in charge of Panem is a bad idea if the girl has no education. So he’s sent me a bunch of books to read. But one of the books talks about a constitution, and I don’t know what a constitution is.”

“What’s a constitution?” a math teacher asked.

Katniss turned to face the man. “I think it’s a piece of paper with laws written on it, and all the other laws of the country can’t go against the laws in the constitution, and the president has to follow the constitution too. Which is the part I don’t get.”

“Does Panem have a constitution?” Gamma asked.

“I’m pretty sure not,” Katniss said. “I can’t imagine some ‘constitution expert’ running up to President Snow and telling him, ‘You’re not allowed to do such-and-so.’ ”

Coach Darby said, “Gamma, don’t reply to that. What Katniss is saying could be considered treason if anyone else said it. If you talk with her about a constitution, you could be arrested.”

Surprised, Katniss looked around. All the teachers in the room looked nervous. Gamma looked thoughtful.

Katniss said, “Anyway, I’m here to find out if Panem has a constitution; and if we don’t, why we got rid of it. Because the Three Countries Before”—Canada, the United States of America, and Mexico—“each had a constitution before the Catastrophes.”

The Teacher’s Lounge was silent, and the teachers all looked uncomfortable.

“So Gamma,” Katniss said, “this is why I’m here. Why are you here?”

“I’m wondering about the nuke that the Capitol dropped on District Thirteen to end the Dark Days. Wasn’t the Capitol worried about fallout? The wheat in District Nine could be radioactive now, and the meat from Ten be radioactive—why hasn’t the Capitol worried about eating radioactive food for seventy-five years?”

Katniss stared at Gamma in amazement. Katniss had completely bought into the lie about Thirteen being destroyed (until Snow had sent her that treaty), but Gamma had seen through the lie!

Gamma continued, “But I don’t expect to find any answers here.”

“Why not?” Katniss asked.

Gamma gestured to the books on the shelf. End to end, there were less than two meters’ worth of books. “Because this is hardly the Panem National fucking Library. Last month I got a hankering to learn about electronics. There’s nothing about electronics here. You want to know how an aspen tree is different from an ash tree? Again, zilch. Fuck, there are only four pages in this entire bookshelf that explain how burned coal is turned into electricity.”

“Don’t swear, Gamma,” a woman teacher said tiredly.

The math teacher asked, “Why do you want to learn about electronics, girl? It’s not like Snow will let you move to Three and take a job in an electronics factory.”

Coach Darby said, “President Snow won’t, but President Mellark might.”

All eyes in the room looked at Katniss.

****

Fifteen minutes later

The period was over, so Gamma had to go to her next class—after she had stated that the information she was seeking was not to be found in the high-school “library.” By then, Katniss had likewise realized that her own search for information about constitutions was fruitless.

Outside the Teacher’s Lounge, Katniss stopped Gamma in the school’s main hallway. “Please meet me in front of the school, after school,” Katniss said. “I want to hire you for a job.”

“What kind of job?” Gamma asked, looking puzzled. “I’m fifteen. What could I do instead of someone older?”

Katniss smiled at her. “You’re fifteen, but you’re also smart. You’re perfect for the job of Explainer.”

****

After end of day at the high school

Katniss saw Gamma sprint out the front doors of the high school. “I’m here, Katniss!”

Katniss grinned. “Okay, here’s the plan: We’ll walk to the middle school and wait till my sister Prim gets out of school. Then the three of us will walk back to my house, where I have to make a telephone call. Then we’ll talk about your job. Sound good?”

“You bet!” Gamma said. Then she looked annoyed. “Shit!”

“What’s wrong?”

“This is one of the nights I’m supposed to help with dinner, and Mrs. Monescu”—the director of the Community Home—“will chew my ass if I’m late.”

Katniss really did not want to go anywhere near the Community Home; but what she said aloud was “After we pick up Prim, we’ll swing by the Community Home and I’ll tell Mrs. Monescu that you’re my guest for dinner tonight.”

Hearing this, Gamma choked. “Dinner? With the Girl on Fire? Who is offering me a job?”

Katniss smiled. “Don’t get too excited. Dinner will be leftover rabbit stew, plus whatever Peeta has baked today. Could be two kinds of cake, could be just bread.”

Gamma choked again. “ ‘Don’t get too excited,’ you say. You’ve never eaten at the Community Home, have you?”

During the walk to the middle school, Katniss said quietly to Gamma, “The Capitol has always lied about the nuke—no nuclear bomb was dropped on District Thirteen. This is why they’ve never worried about nuclear junk getting into the food. Don’t tell anyone.”

Gamma said, “But if Thirteen was never nuked, then why...?” She gasped. “Hold on, Thirteen is alive?”

“Shh, shh!” Katniss said. “I can’t tell you anything more than what I’ve told you. And maybe I shouldn’t have told you this much.”

After ten more seconds of walking, Gamma said, “Katniss? There’s shit you won’t tell me, and I understand why, but at least you haven’t lied to me. I always know when I’m getting lied to.”

****

Forty minutes later
As three girls approach Katniss’s mansion

“Holy fucking shit,” Gamma breathed. “This is where y’all live? Fuck, I need to get myself Reaped for the Third Quarter Quell!”

“No,” Prim said firmly. “You do not ever want to be Reaped.”

Katniss nodded. “Gamma, I’m pretty sure you’re joking, right? But in Victors’ Village, don’t ever say anything about getting Reaped, even as a joke.”

****

Five minutes later

Katniss had introduced Gamma to her mother and to Peeta. This had been maybe a mistake—Gamma had blushed and had become tongue-tied when she had talked to Katniss’s husband. Katniss, even as clueless as she was, had figured out that Gamma had a schoolgirl crush on Peeta. (Growl.)

Gamma had pointed out that Katniss was not introducing her to Haymitch. Katniss had explained, “Nobody should go in Haymitch’s house if they don’t have to. Effie Trinket deserves combat pay.”

But now, with all the introductions done (or skipped), Katniss brought Gamma into her mansion, up the stairs to the left side of the upstairs hallway, to the first room to the left. As Katniss opened the door, she said, “This room in Peeta’s house is where he paints. In my house, it’s where I’m keeping books.”

Gamma stared at what she saw in the room. “All those books are yours?”

“On loan from the Presidential Mansion library. But I don’t expect Snow will ask for them back before he dies. They’re all books about history, government, and psychology.”

“Books about how to be a president.”

“Uh-huh. But today I realized, talking to you, that the whole point of the high-school ‘library’ is to keep kids ignorant. This is bad enough if a kid grows up to be a miner. But I will be president in a few years. If I know nothing about electronics, a District Three person can lie to me; if I know nothing about growing wheat, a District Nine person can bullshit me. How good a president can I be if I’m making decisions from lies that I’m believing because I don’t know better?”

“Not good at all.”

Katniss said, “So what I’m going to do now is to call up President Snow”—for some reason, these words made Gamma choke again—“and ask him to send me textbooks. High-school freshman through senior, all subjects, from all twelve districts and from the Capitol. Then I’ll sit down and read ’em all—or try to.”

Gamma said, “I’d kill to be able to do that.”

Katniss grinned at Gamma. “That’s what your job will be—reading the books that I read, then explaining to me the parts I don’t understand but you do.”

Gamma looked stunned. “Paid to read, paid to learn? Katniss, where do I sign?”

Katniss’s smile got bigger. “One other thing. President Mellark will need a Minister of Education who will tear down and rebuild the education programs everywhere in Panem. And how can somebody change the schools in District Three unless she already knows what District Three is teaching its kids?”

“I must be fucking dreaming,” Gamma said.

At dinner, Gamma’s wonderful day got even better: Peeta had baked bleached-flour bread and an apple pie, besides the usual cheese buns.

****

A little later
Close to sundown in District Seven

For the Assassination Games, the day’s final score was Men 416, Women 364. Both teams of Victor-bodyguards had asked Poole to score Gotchas (thirty-point surprise assassinations) separately. The men were ahead there, too: eight Gotchas by the men, versus five by the women.

It turned out that Hammerhead had a knack for thinking like an assassin, whether he was playing an assassin or was hunting for assassins.

Now Poole asked, “What have we learned today?”

Hammerhead grinned. “Complacency by their bodyguards gets Katniss killed.”

Johanna retorted, “Not looking up gets Peeta killed.”

Poole resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “Have we learned anything else?”

Gloss said, “It’s harder to protect the Dignitary from an assassin behind you than from an assassin in front of you.”

Johanna said, “I’ve learned that when Cashmere gets royally pissed, she shifts into a Capitol accent so perfect it’s scary.”

****

AO3-only Author End Note: This Chapter 21 replaces the first Chapter 21 that was titled “On Hiatus.” Six of you commented on that earlier Chapter 21, and your comments were complimentary enough to encourage me to resume writing the story.

So now I wish to thank Terelou, Debs, sister3cg, AlynnaStrong, eyeoftigger, and infinitegraces.

Chapter Text

One month later (February, HG 75)

Fortunately, Senior-Lieutenant Poole and all four Victor-bodyguards knew how to drive.

Poole knew how to drive a Peacekeeper Unarmored Small-Group Transport (which was basically a civilian car with white paint and stencilings).

Johanna owned an all-terrain vehicle.

Gloss and Cashmere each owned a luxury sedan.

Hammerhead bought the cheapest new car he could buy, explaining to the others, “District Four’s salty air is cruel to cars. It takes only seven years to go from me driving the brand-new car away from the train station to the car rusting into uselessness. So I buy cheap so I don’t cry anymore when I need to junk my old car and buy a new car.”

(This made Johanna smirk. “You cry over a car? How rainbow of you. Nothing makes me cry.”

Hammerhead’s reply was, “Do you want to get paintballed in the forehead again?”)

Anyway, since neither Poole nor the Victor-bodyguards needed to be taught how to drive, they did not need to be taught how to drive the presidential limousine after they all were hovercrafted to District Six. Instead, Poole and the Victors learned from Hefaestus evasive driving of the presidential limousine.

One time when Johanna was at the wheel, she nearly wrecked the limousine. Afterward, she denied intentionally causing the near-wreck. Poole did not entirely believe her; Johanna was grinning too much.

One part of the evasive-driving training was to drive the limousine along a wavy path, between orange road cones, without hitting the road cones and in the fastest time possible. Gloss and Cashmere turned the wavy-path challenge into a brother-v.-sister race, with Poole reluctantly working the stopwatch. (Gloss won, with a 2.1-seconds better time.)

****

The next day
At the Presidential Mansion in the Capitol

Poole and the Victor-bodyguards met for half a day with Pietus, Hefaestus, and the rest of the Snow-family bodyguards. What happened was a no-question-forbidden question-and-answer session. (Poole learned more about the sex life of Augustus and Irmina Snow than he ever wanted to hear.)

After this discussion, Pietus and Hefaestus announced that the Victor-bodyguards were ready to assume their duties.

President Snow personally handed out pistols and gold badges to the four Victor-bodyguards—and to Justinus Poole, who was absolutely not expecting the honor.

Each gold badge had a stylized representation of a flying mockingjay, the words “Mellark Presidential-Protection Detail,” the badge-holder’s name, and a badge number.

The badge numbers were odd. Poole’s was 002P, Cashmere’s was 001F, Gloss’s was 001M, Hammerhead’s was 004M, and Johanna’s was 007F.

Snow explained with an odd smile, “The double-zeroes at the front mean that, even though all of you are district, you are permitted to kill any Capitol citizen who threatens one of the Mellarks. I got the idea from some pre-Catastrophes literature.”

“I like it,” Johanna said. She deepened her voice and glared at an imaginary foe. “The name is Mason, Jo Mason. Bodyguard double-oh-seven-eff, licensed to kill Capitols.”

After the ceremony, Snow ordered Poole transferred to the Capitol, with Poole still being in plainclothes, to solve whatever paperwork problems and supply problems the “Mockingjay Detail” might have. The four Victor-bodyguards, meanwhile, were hovercrafted to District Twelve to begin their new work.

****

One month later (March 20th, HG 75)
The night before the Reading of the Card
The library of the Presidential Mansion

While standing in the hallway outside the library, Minerva Snow balanced the tray, with its two bowls of ice cream, onto her left hand. Then she knocked on the library door with her right hand—immediately afterward, Minerva switched to holding the tray two-handed.

Hefaestus yanked the door open—while squatting. His pistol was aimed up. Two meters beyond the open door, Pietus stood with his own pistol aimed at Minerva’s chest.

Minerva was in deadly peril—for one second. Then Pietus holstered his pistol; Hefaestus stood, then holstered his own pistol.

“He’s over there,” Pietus said to Minerva, nodding to Minerva’s left.

“Thanks, guys,” Minerva said, smiling at the bodyguards as she carried the tray of ice cream into the library.

The library was big enough to allow informal meetings. In a corner of the room was a rectangular table that seated eight. In a different part of the room, two chairs were set close together and facing each other; in another place in the room, three chairs were close and facing each other. In still another part of the library, four chairs faced a huge couch. But Minerva’s Grandpa sat in the wing-back “leave me alone” chair that was neither near any other chair nor facing any other chair in the room.

By the “leave me alone” chair was a small table, on which a decorated telephone set. At the moment, Grandpa was not talking on the telephone—and hopefully the telephone would not ring before Minerva left.

Usually when Grandpa was sitting in the “leave me alone” chair, he was reading a book, or at least had a book in his lap. But tonight, Grandpa had no book with him.

Grandpa’s thoughtful expression disappeared when he spied Minerva walking toward him with the tray. He pasted on a smile and asked, “What is this, my dear Minerva? Have you brought us something?”

“Yes I have, Grandpa: vanilla ice cream.” Minerva put one bowl of ice cream on the floor by Grandpa’s chair—he raised an eyebrow—and grabbed the lip of the other bowl, but did not yet hand over the bowl. “The ice cream is a bribe. I have questions I want to ask you,” Minerva said seriously, “questions that if anyone else asked, they might be arrested for, and I want you to tell me the truth without arresting me for treason.”

Grandpa’s two hands took the bowl of ice cream off the tray. “Bribe accepted. Ask your ‘treasonous’ questions.”

Minerva dropped the now-empty tray onto the carpet—then plopped down on the carpet herself.

Grandpa’s eyebrows went up. “I am sure that if you asked Hefaestus or Pietus politely, he would bring you a chair.”

Minerva grinned up at Grandpa. “Katniss would not ask anyone to bring her a chair, and she would not be bothered by sitting on the floor. And Katniss will be our next president.”

Grandpa smiled crookedly. “Mr. Mellark was right—the young woman definitely has an effect on people. Minerva, ask your questions—now I am curious.”

“Okay, sure,” Minerva said nervously. “Um, they finished my Reading of the Card dress today. My dress is white silk, to match the white-silk pillow that the Box will set on.”

“I am sure you will look lovely tomorrow,” Grandpa said. “Now, my granddaughter, your questions?”

Minerva took a breath, then asked, “Are there people, Peacekeepers or special Capitol workers, who go around outside the districts and collect wild animals for the Capitol to eat?”

“No,” Grandpa said. His expression was puzzled—How can this question be “treasonous”?

****

One second later

Coriolanus Snow looked down into the innocent face of his granddaughter. He thought, She does not look like a traitor. Aloud, Snow explained his no: “You do not ‘collect’ wild animals like you collect acorns. You need a weapon, in order to kill the wild animals—and to stop some of them from killing you. No Capitol person does such work because it is dangerous, and because we have easier ways to get food.”

“So if someone in a district kills a wild animal, he’s not stealing from the Capitol.”

“Well, no, but the district person is poaching, which is illegal. And the district person is hunting by using a deadly weapon, which is illegal for him to own, even for hunting. If a Peacekeeper had ever caught Katniss or her father with a bow and arrow actually in hand, even out in the woods, the Everdeen person would have hanged.”

“But you’re the person who makes the laws, Grandpa. Poaching is illegal only because you say it is—but you just said that poaching doesn’t harm the Capitol. So make poaching legal. And make weapons that are used only for hunting, also be legal.”

“I cannot make such a law, because you cannot poach without owning and using a weapon. And nobody—not Katniss, not I—can guarantee that a bow and arrow that is used for hunting rabbits will never be turned on Peacekeepers or Capitol citizens.”

“But it’s so sad, Grandpa! District Twelve parents are poor, and some District Twelve children are starving—I sure noticed this at the wedding reception—and if poaching were allowed, some children wouldn’t starve. Isn’t saving children’s lives more important than some maybe, could-be, might-or-might-not danger to Peacekeepers? Legalize poaching for the districts, please, and save kids’ lives!”

Snow thought, I will not, because I truly do not care if district children die. Actually, I prefer such a thing, so long as quotas are met.

Aloud, Snow said, “Poaching is unnecessary. District children of Reaping age can sign up for tesserae, for themselves and members of their families.”

Minerva made a face. “I ate tesserae-mush in third grade. Yucch! I thought at first it had spoiled, but the teacher said this was how it was supposed to taste. Making district children eat yucchy tesserae, and they get more slips in the Reaping ball—that’s just plain cruel, Grandpa.”

Snow eyed his granddaughter. “Are you saying that I am cruel, child? Because I wrote the rule about tesserae in exchange for extra slips in the Reaping ball, back in HG 31—my first year as president.”

Snow expected Minerva’s automatic answer to be No, of course not, Grandpa, you are never cruel. Instead, Minerva stared at her grandfather for a long time.

When Minerva spoke again, she was also weeping. “Grandpa, Katniss was right, at least a little bit. You let district children starve, some even to death, and the only way they can avoid starving is to accept awful-tasting food, which also makes them more likely to be sent into the Games. To die. Grandpa, in this you are evil.”

Minerva fled. She was in such a hurry to run out of the library, she left the tray and her bowl of ice cream still on the floor.

****

Seconds later

Snow sighed as he watched Minerva hurry away.

Then a decision that for several days Snow had been struggling with, now decided itself. Snow picked up the handset of the telephone by his wing-back chair.

A minute later, Snow was speaking to Katniss Mellark in District Twelve. He asked her, “If I send a hovercraft to District Twelve, will you and Mr. Mellark—and your bodyguards—board the hovercraft and spend tonight and tomorrow in the Presidential Mansion?”

Katniss said, “This is short notice, Coriolanus. Why are you sending for us?”

Snow told Katniss of the decision he had just made.

“You are fucking kidding me,” she blurted.

“I am being practical,” Snow replied. “While the Seventy-fifth Games are going on, you and Peeta both will be at known places in the Capitol, at known times, because you both will be mentoring. Likewise, your bodyguard Johanna Mason will have two sets of duties during the Games. All this creates a security hole, which is impractical.”

“Huh,” Katniss said. Then she said, “What time is Mandatory Viewing tomorrow, seven o’clock Capitol time? Will this be enough time for Cinna to make me a new outfit?”

Snow said, “Actually, I prefer for you to be wearing district clothes. If you wear special clothes while you are in the woods, please wear those.”

“Sure, no problem,” Katniss said, sounding stunned. “So no shit, Coriolanus, you really are—”

“Yes, Katniss.” Snow paused, then added, “Not five minutes ago, Minerva called me evil—the same word you have used. I do not want this word carved on my headstone.”

At the other end of the line, Katniss conferred with Peeta, then told Snow, “Peeta and I, and our bodyguards, all will go to the meadow and wait for the hovercraft. And Coriolanus, Peeta says—here, he can tell you himself.”

Peeta Mellark’s voice came over the telephone: “Mr. President, thank you.”

****

7 p.m. the next day, Capitol time
Mandatory Viewing in the Districts
(Optional viewing in the Capitol)

Head Gamemaker Plutarch Heavensbee was hosting a “Reading of the Card” party of Gamemakers and Junior Gamemakers at his house. Plutarch had designed the Clock Arena and he had cowritten the specifications for its mutts—the Clock Arena would be remembered as Plutarch’s masterwork. Plutarch and his party guests was about to find out what kind of district teenagers would be Reaped to fight and die in Plutarch’s deadly arena.

Now the holoprojector showed a three-dimensional version of the Seal of Panem; underneath, red solid letters spelled out “MANDATORY VIEWING.”

As the broadcast began, Plutarch picked up a glass of champagne, but did not yet drink any of it.

The holo-image changed then, to show President Snow sitting in a white chair, against a white backdrop. He was dressed all in white—even his tie and his shoes were white. Next to where Snow was sitting, his granddaughter Minerva, also white-clad, stood holding a white pillow. On the white pillow rested a hinged wooden box and a tiny gold knife.

A Gamemaker in Plutarch’s living room said, “President Snow looks healthy enough. He looks like he still has a few years left in him.” Which translated to We Gamemakers still have a few years of employment left.

“The Games are in three months,” said a barely-old-enough-to-shave Junior Gamemaker. “Is three months enough time to get ready for whatever the card says?”

Plutarch said, “We’ll make three months be enough time. Even if we get only one meal and one hour of sleep for the next ninety days. Now everyone hush.” Plutarch’s party guests, who were also his work subordinates, all groaned.

President Snow had stood up by then. Facing the camera, he was saying, “...each district elected its male and female tribute. For the Second Quarter Quell, double the number of tributes were Reaped—two female and two male tributes from each district. How shall the Third Quarter Quell be different from the regular Games and from previous Quarter Quells? Let us discover the answer together.”

On holo, Minerva moved so that the white pillow, and its box and knife, were in front of Snow. He turned the box so that its hinge was toward the camera, then he lifted the hinged lid. The camera could not see inside the box. After seconds of rummaging around inside the box, Snow shut its lid.

Now Snow was holding a tiny envelope—originally white, but now yellowed with age—with 75 written on the front. He picked up the little gold knife, and brought the tip of the knife to a top corner of the envelope.

As Minerva moved back around to stand at Snow’s side, a young woman’s voice yelled “STOP.” But Minerva’s lips had not moved.

From somewhere off-camera, Katniss Mellark strode straight up to Snow and to the envelope he had not yet opened.

“What the hell?” Plutarch wondered aloud.

****

An instant later

President Snow and his granddaughter both wore nothing but white—their clothing was made of expensive fabric, and were each well tailored in Capitol fashions. Katniss, on the other hand, wore unpressed blue work pants that were dotted with dark blotches. (Plutarch guessed the blotches were washed-out animal-blood stains.) Above the pants, Katniss wore a workingman’s old leather jacket that was way too big for her short girl body. A big, well-worn leather bag was worn diagonally, going from Katniss’s left shoulder to under her right elbow. Covering Katniss’s feet were knee-high leather boots that were not new and shiny. Katniss’s hair was done in her Hunger Games single braid that came down from the right side of her neck.

Minerva was staring at Katniss now; Minerva looked confused. Plutarch noticed that President Snow seemed neither confused nor surprised by the interruption.

Plutarch was hit with a sense of dread, which was caused by the president’s odd behavior. Plutarch feared whatever he was about to see and hear.

****

Meanwhile

Katniss said, “President Snow—”

A young male voice yelled from off-camera, “KAT, DON’T BLOCK SNOW OR MINERVA! AND TURN AROUND TO FACE THE CAMERA!”

Minerva was standing to the president’s right; Katniss now moved to stand on Snow’s left, with her body angled halfway between facing Snow and facing the camera.

Katniss shot a brief, embarrassed smile to someone off-camera, then she turned to look at the camera—

“President Snow—Coriolanus—the Hunger Games have gone on long after they should have stopped. I ask you to end the Games now.”

Plutarch noticed that President Snow did not hesitate before he said, “Agreed. The Hunger Games are ended”—Minerva gasped—“and I declare the Treaty of the Treason to be fulfilled.”

Katniss said, “Then you won’t be needing this.” Katniss plucked the still-unopened 75 envelope out of Snow’s hand, tore the envelope in half, and dropped the envelope’s two pieces into her big leather bag.

Then Katniss stepped in front of President Snow. “You won’t be needing this either,” she said. Katniss grabbed the wooden box off the white pillow, then the box also was dropped into Katniss’s big leather bag.

President Snow held up the little gold knife as he looked into the camera. “It looks like I shall not be needing this.” Snow casually dropped the knife onto the white pillow.

Katniss stepped back to her place at Snow’s left side and grinned at the camera. “People of the districts, the Games are gone forever! Celebrate! Prim, you will never be Reaped again!”

Snow looked at the camera and said seriously, “Indeed, an era of Panem’s history has ended, as ends this—”

“Excuse me,” Minerva said; both Snow and Katniss startled at Minerva’s interruption. Minerva took a half-step toward the camera, then turned to look at Katniss. “Excuse me, but isn’t your seventeenth birthday coming soon? Sometime in May?”

“Yes, May eighth,” Katniss replied, looking puzzled by the question.

“Grandpa,” Minerva said, “can we invite Katniss to the Mansion on May eighth for a birthday party? She deserves a nice party, after what she just did.”

Snow looked at the camera. “Yes, Katniss, you are invited to the Presidential Mansion on May eighth, to celebrate your birthday. And maybe the districts shall choose to hold their own celebrations to honor Katniss’s day. On this note, Mandatory Viewing is ended.”

Plutarch looked at the champagne glass in his hand, then he threw the full glass against the wall.

****

Meanwhile in Command, in District Thirteen

Alma Coin was being watched by everyone else in the room, she knew without looking around.

So Alma Coin made herself not clench her fists. She made herself not scowl, and she made herself not glare at the holoprojector.

But in her head, Coin thought, Your birthday will also be your deathday, Katniss Everdeen Mellark. Count on it.

Chapter Text

Ten minutes after the end of Mandatory Viewing
Brown’s Funeral Home, the Capitol

Fidelius Brown, mortuary owner, watched as two black limousines pulled up and parked in his front driveway. In one of those two limousines, Fidelius knew, was President Snow. President Snow personally visiting Fidelius’s business explained why Fidelis was pulling Receiving duty tonight, instead of this task falling to his most junior employee.

Fidelius wore a tangerine-orange wig. Since he owned and operated a funeral parlor, the suit he was wearing now was an understated cherry color.

The doors of the first limousine opened, and three men and a woman stepped out. The four people each wore a pistol on their hip; but more than that, it was their deadly seriousness that tipped Brown that they were presidential bodyguards. For ten seconds, the four bodyguards looked in every direction, bodies tense, as if expecting an invading army nearby. After ten seconds, the bodyguards relaxed—mostly.

Then the biggest of the three male bodyguards rapped on the glass of the rear door of the first limousine, before opening that door. President Snow and a teenage girl stepped out of the first limousine; both were dressed in head-to-toe white.

Meanwhile, from the second limousine, four Victors stepped out—Hammerhead Oleery (who had won his Games when Fidelius had been a blue-wigged youth of fifteen), Gloss and Cashmere Bainbridge, and Johanna Mason.

Fidelius still had not figured out why President Snow had told him to expect a visit from the president of Panem in the evening. Now Fidelius was also wondering why President Snow had brought four Victors with him on his mysterious funeral-home errand.

Because Fidelius had instantly recognized the four newcomers as Victors, it took him several seconds to realize that the Victors were armed like, and they acted like, President Snow’s bodyguards.

When the four Victors decided that the neighborhood was not dangerous, Johanna Mason rapped on the glass and opened the rear door of the second limousine.

Peeta and Katniss Mellark stepped out of the second limousine. Peeta, like the four Victor-bodyguards, was dressed acceptably (meaning, he was wearing Capitol clothes, though toned down). Katniss’s clothing, however, was old, shapeless, stained, and district-y. She looked like a “district” character in a holo-comedy. Katniss’s hairstyle—if Fidelius could even call it that—was practical. Fidelius thought, No jewelry—except for a simple wedding ring—no skin dye, no piercings, no makeup, no wig—does the girl not care how she presents herself?

Katniss was wearing a leather bag that was too big, too simple, and too ugly to be called a “purse.” Something in the bag made it bulge out; Katniss looked sideways pregnant.

“Mr. Brown?” President Snow said calmly. Fidelius was beckoned forward. “You have a crematorium here, do you not?”

“I do,” Fidelius replied. He looked back and forth at the two limousines. “Where is the deceased?”

Katniss walked up then, to stand next to President Snow, facing Fidelius. Now Fidelius noticed that one of the buttons was chipped on the man’s leather jacket that Katniss was wearing. Fidelius thought, She’s rich now—she doesn’t need to wear hand-me-down clothes anymore.

Katniss said to Fidelius, “We’re not here to burn a body, we’re here to burn a box.”

****

One minute later
Inside, by the crematorium

Johanna said, “I wonder how many little envelopes are in the box.”

President Snow said, “The last envelope says 300.”

Hammerhead sputtered, “The Capitol planned for the districts to be punished for three hundred years?”

Cashmere said, “C’mon, Sharky, you’re surprised?”

Katniss said, “Really, 300?” She took the wooden box out of her big leather bag and laid it on a worktable. “Let’s find out what the last envelope says—hopefully it’s ‘The Games are over. Have a good life, districts.’ ”

Seconds later, Katniss had taken the 300 envelope out of the wooden box and was using her finger to open the flap.

Fidelius said, “You can’t open that! You’re District, and that envelope is Capitol property!”

Snow shook his head. “No longer.”

Fidelius said, “Then shouldn’t we save the box and its envelopes for a museum? It’s a priceless historical object.”

“No,” said Katniss. “If rai—if Capitols want to bring back the Hunger Games, let’s not make it easy for them. This box burns, along with all its envelopes. Which reminds me—”

Katniss reached into her big leather bag and pulled out the two torn halves of the 75 envelope, which she dropped into the wooden box.

Johanna said, “Don’t keep us hanging, Katniss. Does the last envelope say the Games are over?”

Fidelius saw that what Katniss took out of the little envelope was not a little card, but rather a piece of paper folded several times.

Katniss whistled—

“That’s not good,” said Peeta.

—then she began to read aloud.

To show the generosity of the Capitol, there shall be one more Hunger Games, then the Games shall be ended for all time. Below is described how tributes for the last Hunger Games shall be chosen.

The first round of tributes in a district shall be selected by icosimation (forming the children into groups of twenty, one of whom is selected to be a tribute). Children who take out tesserae and children who do not take out tesserae shall have an equal chance of being Reaped.

The eligible children in a group of twenty shall all be of the same gender, and may not vary by more than one year in age. The year-younger children shall have an equal chance of being Reaped as the year-older children.

When the last group is formed, having less than twenty children of the same gender, the group shall be subject to icosimation if the size of the group is eleven or more.

Learners and former learners at secret academies shall not participate in icosimation. No Reaping-age child may volunteer to be a Reaped tribute or may volunteer to replace a Reaped tribute.

When Reaping by icosimation finishes in a district, tributes will be taken to a prepared place outside the district fence; there they shall battle to the death. Weapons provided shall be the district’s usual work tools. Any tribute who tries to run away shall be shot; any tribute who attacks a Peacekeeper shall be shot.

The district Games shall go on till there is one local-Victor male tribute and one local-Victor female tribute. These two tributes shall board the train as tributes for the Hunger Games.

If a local-Victor tribute dies from injuries before entering the Hunger Games arena, he or she shall not be replaced.

Katniss glared at President Snow. “How does this crock of shit possibly ‘show the generosity of the Capitol’?”

President Snow patiently explained, “The first round of tributes are chosen at a ratio of one in twenty. Instead, the card could have specified decimation—one in ten. Five percent more Eligible children would have died if this card had specified decimation. Besides which, beginning in HG 301, the Games would not happen—this is very generous.”

Listening to the president and the future president speak, Fidelius thought that Katniss was acting insolent and deserved whipping. Fidelius wondered why President Snow did not, at the very least, sternly rebuke the shabbily-dressed girl.

Soon afterward, the wooden box and all ten remaining envelopes were charged (shoved) into the cremator and set afire. Right after this, President Snow, the teen girl, and the president’s bodyguards all left.

But Katniss Mellark and the other five Victors stayed behind in the crematorium, till they saw that the box and its envelopes were ash. This took ten minutes.

Chapter Text

A little later
About 8:30 p.m. Capitol time, about 10:30 p.m. District Twelve time
On the hovercraft approaching District Twelve

The hovercraft pilot asked Katniss to come into the cockpit. As soon as she stepped inside, the pilot asked her, “The plot of empty land inside the District Twelve fence, it’s normally empty this time of night, right?”

Katniss replied, “The meadow? Yes, for sure.” She ticked the reasons off on her fingers. “It’s full dark now, children have school tomorrow, and the Merchants and day-shift miners have work tomorrow. It’s past bedtime for lots of people; I don’t expect anybody in the meadow except my mother and sister. And Haymitch, maybe.”

The pilot said, “Well, there are a lot more people in your meadow than your mother and sister and Haymitch-maybe.” He gestured toward a rectangular screen that showed many little red ovals. “Those are heat-signatures for people in your meadow, Mrs. Mellark. Several hundred people, it looks like. I’ll try not to land on top of any of them.”

Puzzled Katniss nodded, then she walked back to the cargo area, where Peeta and the Victor-bodyguards still were sitting in jump seats. Katniss said to Peeta, “Several hundred Twelves are in the meadow after dark. I wonder why.”

Peeta and the older Victors shared a look that Katniss could not read. Then Peeta said to Katniss, “When we leave here, I’ll carry both overnight bags. You’ll need both your hands free.”

Katniss was puzzled by Peeta’s words, which Peeta did not explain.

****

Minutes later, in the meadow

The hovercraft did not “land” as such, it just hovered low enough that the bottom of the cargo ramp hit the ground. As Katniss and Peeta, and their four Victor-bodyguards, walked down the cargo ramp, light from inside the hovercraft cast six shadows in front of them.

As soon as Katniss, Peeta, and the Victor-bodyguards were clear of the cargo ramp, the cargo ramp raised up and shut, and Katniss’s eyes were plunged into black darkness. Mechanical sounds and rushing wind told Katniss that the hovercraft was moving up and away.

Coming right out of the hovercraft, Katniss’s eyes were not yet adjusted to starlight and moonlight, but she saw moving lights in front of her. Her first thought was fireflies, but March was way too early for fireflies to be flitting around.

The moving lights turned out to be coal miners rushing around while wearing their miner helmets and miner lamps. The miners formed up into an honor guard in the meadow, defining a path from where Katniss and company had arrived to where seven people waited. Once the two inward-facing rows of miners were formed up, the miners all bowed their heads—not to humble themselves, but so that their many miner lamps lit up the path to walk.

By now, four turned-on flashlights revealed that waiting for the arrived Victors were Aloe and Prim Everdeen—but also Haymitch, Mayor Undersee, Madge Undersee, Gale, and Gamma Churchill. Katniss was not sure—black shadows made it hard to tell—but it looked like Madge and Gale were holding hands.

Surrounding the newly-arrived Victors and the honor guard of miners were several hundred District Twelve people. Katniss could not see the people themselves (yet), but she saw shining miner lamps surrounding her, and she could hear the people—

The Twelves were singing a song—a song that Pick Everdeen had sung to his older daughter many times in the woods. Wisely, Twelves were not singing the actual lyrics for this song, but were la-la-la-ing the tune.

But Katniss both knew the lyrics and was not afraid to sing the lyrics. As Katniss walked toward Pick Everdeen’s widow and Pick Everdeen’s younger daughter, Katniss loudly sang the song that Pick Everdeen had taught her—

Strange things did happen here,
No stranger would it be
If we met at midnight
In the hanging tree.

Katniss wanted to rush forward and hug Prim, but Katniss knew that of the five other people with her, only Johanna had experience at walking over uneven ground in poor light. So Katniss walked slowly, while she wanted so much to sprint.

But less than a minute later, Katniss and company were standing in front of Prim and company. Prim shoved her flashlight into her mother’s hands, then rushed forward to hug Katniss.

As Prim squeezed Katniss, Prim said, “You did it, you ended the Games, thank you on behalf of all my friends, thank you!”

As Katniss hugged her sister back, she said, “I did it for you first, Little Duck. You’re safe now.”

The next to hug Katniss was her mother. Aloe said, “Your father wanted the Games to end so bad. And now he’s looking down and smiling as big as the moon because you made it happen.”

Haymitch, remarkably, was not carrying a bottle. (So Katniss figured he had a flask hidden in his coat.) As Haymitch hugged Katniss, he asked, “Where are your bow and arrows, sweetheart?” (Katniss still was wearing her hunting clothes.)

Katniss laughed. “Do you have any idea how long it takes to make one arrow? Souvenir-hunters in the Capitol would have emptied my quiver in minutes!”

When Haymitch broke the hug, he looked into Katniss’s eyes. With a cracking voice and tears-shiny eyes, the mentor said, “Katniss, I don’t have the words to express my gratitude for you talking Snow into stopping the Games. ‘Thank you’ don’t begin to say what needs saying.”

Gamma Churchill hugged Katniss, then said, “The fucking Reaping balls love the Community Home. You’ve saved all our asses, thanks.”

Then it was Gale’s turn. Gale grabbed Katniss by her shoulders and said, “Catnip, I’m so proud to have you as a friend.”

Behind Katniss, Hammerhead’s voice said, “Katniss, you see how the people in Twelve are partying? I’m sure that people in One, Four, and Seven are partying just as hard. Because of what you did.”

Johanna’s voice laughed in delight. “Shit, where aren’t people partying?”

“The secret academies,” Gloss replied.

“For sure,” Cashmere said.

Peeta said, “The Capitol. There, it’s like everyone’s favorite uncle died.”

Gale still was standing in front of Katniss. Hearing the words of Gloss, Cashmere, and Peeta, Gale grinned savagely—

—as Madge said with feeling, “Good. Serves them right.”

****

The next morning
During breakfast at Katniss’s mansion

The four Victor-bodyguards, once they had moved to District Twelve, each could have moved into an empty mansion in Victors’ Village that would otherwise never house a Victor. Instead, Hammerhead, Gloss, Cashmere, and Johanna had chosen to all four move into the mansion of long-dead Bitumena Churchill. Somehow the Victor-bodyguards had decided that Hammerhead (“Sharky”) would get the master bedroom of the mansion.

When the Victor-bodyguards had moved into Bitumena’s mansion, they had discovered that the stove did not work. Hearing this, Peeta had said, “No problem, I’ll cook breakfast for eight instead of four.”

Even after Bitumena’s stove had been fixed, the Victor-bodyguards kept showing up at Katniss’s mansion for breakfast, and Peeta kept feeding them.

What Katniss found amazing was that when you put Prim and Johanna at the same table, and Prim and Cashmere at the same table, the otherwise outlandish female Victors behaved themselves.

Now as Peeta was passing around a plate that was piled high with bacon strips, he said, “This morning I realized: All the Gamemakers and escorts are now out of work.”

“Great!” said Johanna. “Frigging hallelujah! I hope they never, ever get work, and they all wind up sleeping under the seats in the Avenue of the Tributes grandstands.”

Prim asked, “Escorts too? They don’t—they didn’t do anything bad except pull kids’ names from a ball.”

Gloss blinked. “I’m surprised to hear you say this, Primrose. Being as Effie Trinket pulled your name from a ball.”

“But it’s not like she meant to! I like Effie—she’s nice.”

“For a rainbow,” Johanna said.

“For an escort too,” said Gloss. “All the Career-district escorts who were bawling their eyes out last night? There isn’t one of them I’d offer a handkerchief to. They didn’t give a rat’s, uh, rear for any of their tributes, whether Reaped or volunteer.”

Hammerhead nodded. “I’ve mentored only twice in the years that Effie has been Twelve’s escort. But I saw that Effie gave her all, both years, even when the Twelve kids were hopeless.”

Katniss made the rocking-hand gesture. “Sometimes I like Effie too—and sometimes she is so Capitol.”

The Victor-bodyguards laughed. Johanna said, “They’re all like that. I’m serious, I think it’s a job requirement that only women who are the rainbow-est of rainbows can be escorts.”

Katniss said, “Now I feel bad. I didn’t give Effie any warning about what I was going to do last night. The poor woman probably is worried sick now. Which is sad, because as soon as I become president, she’ll be my first hire: office manager.”

“Does Effie know this?” Peeta asked. “That you’ll hire her as soon as you’re president?”

“You should call her,” Prim said. “Now, or close to it. Don’t let Effie be sad any longer than she needs to be.”

Katniss raised an eyebrow. “I should call Effie after breakfast instead of walking you to school?”

“I’m thirteen, big sister. I can walk myself to school for one day. Right now, Effie needs you more than I do.”

****

After breakfast

“It’s so wonderful that you called,” Effie said to Katniss in her fake-cheerful voice. “What a pleasant surprise. Especially since yesterday was such a big, big, big day for you and for District Twelve. Did you celebrate?”

“Yes, we did, a little,” Katniss said. “But not for long. It was close to eleven at night when the hovercraft dropped us all off in Twelve, and everyone was tired. Haymitch offered me a toot from his flask, but I turned him down.”

Effie laughed; but when she spoke, her words sounded wistful: “That Haymitch, he is such a rascal.”

Katniss asked, “How about you? How was your evening?”

Effie still was talking in her fake-cheerful voice: “Some friends of mine from high school came over to my apartment. We drank wine and talked. They were good friends for me, which was sweet.”

“Now I suppose you’re updating your résumé. Sorry about that.”

“Don’t be, Katniss! I choose to think of it as life handing me a new opportunity earlier than I expected. I could be a recruiter for a modeling agency, I could be a special correspondent on ‘Victors Tonight’ or some other holo-program, or I could become a fashion designer—don’t worry about me, dear.”

“Actually, there is one other job you can take,” Katniss said. “A job you’ll be perfect for. But I can’t tell you when you’ll get it.”

Effie paused, then asked, “A job with you, Katniss?”

“Uh-huh. Effie, when I become president, you’re my first and only choice as office manager.”

“Dear, I’m flattered, but surely in the hundreds of thousands of people who live in the Capitol, someone else has more experience at such a thing than me.”

“But I don’t know them and I don’t want them, I want you. Besides, Haymitch says you’re the best escort ever, and if ‘Victors Tonight’ hires you, will they value the best escort ever?”

“Haymitch said this?”

“Uh-huh. He told me once that he had ten escorts before you, he’s dealt with escorts from other districts and, quote, ‘The only reason that mentoring for Twelve is not a total clusterfuck is because of Effie. She keeps all the shit organized. Besides which, Effie is one of only two escorts I’ve ever met who truly care for the tributes.’ ”

Very quietly, Effie said, “I thought Haymitch hated me.”

“No, Peeta thinks Haymitch likes you. Why else did Haymitch spend so much of the last nine months talking about you?”

“Oh my,” Effie replied.

Peeta, who was sitting nearby, said something; Katniss repeated his words into the telephone: “Remember the beginning of the Seventy-fourth Reaping? Haymitch hugged you on stage. Yeah for sure, he likes you.”

“The ruffian knocked my wig askew,” Effie said. But now the smile in her voice was real, not fake.

****

A little over six weeks later: May 6th, 2715
(May 6th, HG 75 under the previous calendar)
Two days before Katniss’s seventeenth birthday
In an “empty” factory in the Capitol’s industrial area

Soldier Mitchell was talking on the encrypted radio to President Coin. Mitchell was worried, because he had no good news to pass on. Basically, he was stumped.

Two days ago, Mitchell had been told his target: Katniss Mellark. Mitchell had been shocked, but not for a second had it occurred to him to refuse his orders, or even to question them.

Two days ago, Mitchell had been sneaked back into the Capitol; Col. Boggs and the Leegs had been ordered to assist him in his latest assignment. Things between Mitchell and Boggs were awkward now—Col. Boggs far outranked Mitchell, yet President Coin for some reason had not briefed Boggs on this latest mission, and Soldier Mitchell still was under orders not to discuss the assassination of Katniss Mellark with anyone except his president.

Now over the radio, President Coin said to Mitchell, “Give me your report.”

Mitchell said, “Ma’am, I must report that I see no way to complete the assignment.”

Mitchell explained—

When the presidential hovercraft arrived at the Capitol, it always moved down to land in a special landing zone in Hovercraft Base Beta. That special landing zone was surrounded by a cylindrical wall that was high enough and thick enough that Mitchell could not shoot into the open hovercraft from any building in the Capitol, no matter what the range of the weapon might be.

But even assuming that Mitchell could see into the open cargo area of the presidential hovercraft, apparently it was procedure for everyone in the presidential party to get into the bulletproof limousine and to shut the doors before the cargo ramp dropped.

When the presidential limousine left Hovercraft Base Beta, the limousine always drove through the Capitol by a deliberately indirect path, before the limousine entered the Presidential Mansion through one of three bulletproof garage doors. Only after the garage door had shut did the presidential party exit the limousine.

If something unexpected happened during the drive to the Presidential Mansion, such as a traffic accident directly ahead, procedure for the limousine driver was to leave the scene any way possible, even to ramming nearby cars with the limousine. Under no circumstances was anyone in the limousine supposed to open a door or to step out of the limousine.

Once the presidential party stepped out of the limousine in the Presidential Mansion, a sniper’s cause was hopeless, because the windows in the Presidential Mansion all were bulletproof.

Now as Soldier Mitchell finished his summary, President Coin said calmly, “The precautions and procedures you describe are why I have never ordered President Snow to be shot. But the bodyguards guarding the Mellarks are new to their duties. Is there a way to coax them out of the limousine?”

Soldier Mitchell sighed. “Ma’am, it’s true that the Mellarks’ bodyguards are newbies, but they also are Victors. I suspect they don’t rattle. I request permission to ask Col. Boggs for advice.”

“No,” Coin said. “You are not to discuss any part of this with him.”

“Um, ma’am, Col. Boggs recognized my disassembled sniper rifle as a sniper rifle. He knows I’m here to shoot someone.”

“If you and I don’t come up with a better plan, shoot out the limousine’s tires, try to shoot out the radiator, and hope for the best. Coin out.”

****

May 7th, 2715
(May 7th, HG 75 under the previous calendar)
The day before Katniss’s seventeenth birthday
The Square, District Twelve

“Hello, ‘Victors Tonight,’ this is freelance correspondent Cressida Dormer,” the woman said excitedly, “and I’m here with Katniss and Peeta Mellark, and with Katniss’s District Twelve friends. District Twelve is holding a two-day celebration to honor Katniss’s seventeenth birthday.”

The woman who was holding the microphone and facing the holo-camera had half her blond hair shaved off; vines were tattooed on the bald half of her head. Gale looked to Katniss like he was biting his tongue to stop himself from saying something, but to Katniss (and Peeta, and their Victor-bodyguards), Cressida was nothing special for a Capitol.

Before Cressida could say more, Peeta interrupted: “I think ‘Victors Tonight’ would be very interested in the song that Mr. Donner and Mr. Porter are playing now.”

(A Merchant man playing banjo, and a miner man playing fiddle, stood on the Square-facing patio of the Justice Building while they performed instrumental duets.)

Katniss blushed as she slapped Peeta’s arm. “They’re playing a pre-Catastrophes song, ‘Coal Miner’s Daughter.’ It’s a District Twelve classic.”

Peeta grinned at Katniss. “Uh-huh, and it’s the third time today they’ve played that song. Robbirt and Stivvin must really like the classics.”

Katniss did not mention it to “Victors Tonight,” but she was pleased to see Twelves enjoying themselves during her birthday celebration. Twelve’s next-to-last Parcel Day had been a week ago, but many Twelves had held food back for this party. As a result, this district-wide birthday party was almost as grand a celebration for District Twelve as had been the District Holiday that the Capitol had thrown on the day that Katniss and Peeta had returned to Twelve as new Victors.

Meanwhile Katniss, still blushing because of “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” scowled at Peeta and said, “Let me introduce folks.”

Katniss looked into the holo-camera and said, “Tomorrow, Minerva Snow is throwing a birthday party in the Presidential Mansion for me. Whoa. Minerva persuaded her grandfather to send a hovercraft not only for Peeta and Haymitch and me, but also for my District Twelve family and friends, who’ve never been on a hovercraft before and who’ve never seen the Capitol. First in the group is my mother, Aloe Everdeen, and my sister Prim—”

Cressida gushed, “All of Panem already knows Primrose, and we love her.”

Prim beamed at the holo-camera and waved.

Peeta said, “The teen troublemaker who sorta-kinda looks like me is my younger older brother, Yeast Mellark.”

Yeast Mellark slapped Peeta’s shoulder, then waved at the camera.

Katniss said, “Now let me introduce my big friend, Gale Hawthorne. Gale and I practice a hobby together—”

Gale laughed. “ ‘Practice a hobby together’? Is this how you’re describing me, Catnip?”

Katniss said, “I don’t want to get you in trouble, okay? Anyway, ‘Victors Tonight,’ the District Twelve blonde who is as pretty as Prim is Madge Undersee. She’s the mayor’s daughter, and Gale’s girlfriend”—Madge took Gale’s hand—“and Peeta’s friend, and my friend, and Minerva Snow’s friend.”

Peeta said, “Madge also played a small part in our wedding ceremony.”

Madge smiled mischievously at Katniss and said, “And then there’s your pin.”

Madge looked into the holo-camera and said, “Katniss’s famous gold mockingjay pin that she wore into the arena, and that she and President Snow talked about at the Crowning Ceremony? It was my pin, and I pinned it to Katniss’s dress right over there in the Justice Building.”

Katniss covered her eyes with her hand. “Yes, you loaned the mockingjay pin to me. Then when I tried to return it afterward, you wouldn’t take it back. You made me buy the pin from you.”

Madge laughed. “For five PDs, folks. To a Victor, this isn’t even couch-cushion money.”

Katniss said, “Ahem. Finally, Victors Tonight, also going to the Capitol is Gamma Churchill, my salaried research assistant. Y’all will be hearing a lot about Gamma in the years ahead—she’s as smart as Beetee and Wiress.”

Gale said, “I don’t know how smart Gamma is, but she’s the only person among us who remembers what year this is—”

“It’s 2715,” Gamma said, grinning at Gale.

Gale said, “Why can’t we keep calling this year ‘HG 75’? That number is easier to remember.”

Madge said, “Because, big man, ‘HG 75’ means ‘the year of the Seventy-fifth Hunger Games,’ but thanks to President Snow and Katniss here, there won’t be a Seventy-fifth Hunger Games—this year or ever.”

Cressida asked, “Katniss, besides your District Twelve friends and family, who else will be at Minerva Snow’s party?”

Katniss answered, “The Capitol members of the Twelve Team: escort Effie Trinket—”

Katniss braced herself, waiting for Gale to say something nasty about Effie; but it seemed that Gale had taken Katniss’s threats to heart.

“—Peeta’s stylist Portia, and my stylist Cinna. Also, Minerva is inviting some of her friends from school.”

Katniss did not hint that this part of the upcoming birthday party was scaring her. Anytime Katniss had to socialize with Capitols she did not know well, she felt nervous and awkward.

“Ahem. Finnick,” Johanna Mason said quietly.

Katniss said, “Minerva also invited Finnick Odair, since he’s already in the Capitol—and because I think Minerva likes him. It’s cute.”

Cressida asked, “Will President Snow attend the birthday party for his soulmate?”

Katniss made the rocking-hand gesture. “He will, but I can’t say for how long. His coughing fits are back.”

Cressida asked, “What will you Twelves do in the Capitol?”

Katniss said, “Prim wants to see the Twelve Apartment in the Training Center, where Peeta and I lived while we were in the Capitol. Gale and Yeast both want to see the Training Center Gymnasium.” Katniss rolled her eyes.

Yeast Mellark said, “I also want to see the Games Center. After all, they give tours to Capitols, so why not give a tour to the brother of a tribute?”

Peeta said, “Yeast, remember that all the Gamemakers and Junior Gamemakers were laid off two days after President Snow’s announcement. There won’t be anybody in the Games Center tomorrow. Besides, if somebody was inside, he sure wouldn’t let Katniss’s gang enter his building.”

Katniss shrugged. “Well, I’m not feeling friendly toward Junior Gamemakers either, so it evens out.”

Katniss then said, “I promised everyone that we would take a walk along the Avenue of the Tributes between the Remake Center and the Presidential Mansion.”

Peeta said, “The last time that Katniss and I were on the Avenue of the Tributes, no cars were on the road and Katniss and I had fake flames coming out of our backs.”

Gamma said, “I would love to know how your stylists pulled off that trick.”

Cressida laughed. “Gamma, everyone wants to know how Cinna and Portia worked that trick!”

****

Seconds later, in District Thirteen

Anyone other than Alma Coin would have been smiling because of what she just had heard on “Victors Tonight.”

Anyone else would have smiled, but Coin was solemn-faced when she went to the encrypted radio and spoke to Col. Boggs—

“Have Soldier Mitchell contact me as soon as possible. I am changing his orders.”

Now Coin had a much better plan for killing Katniss Mellark than to shoot out a limousine’s tires, then to hope for the bodyguards to act foolishly.

Chapter Text

The next morning: May 8th, 2715 (Katniss’s seventeenth birthday)
Party Room No. 2, the Presidential Mansion

At the party were Peeta and Katniss, and the District Twelve people who had hovercrafted to the Capitol with them; Minerva Snow and five of her friends from school; Effie, Cinna, and Portia; Minerva’s bodyguards; and the Victor-bodyguards. President Snow had popped in briefly, to cordially welcome the Twelves to the Mansion, before leaving again; “Alas, duty calls.”

Katniss had watched Snow’s “cordial” act with amazement, because ten months ago he had told her how he truly felt about district people.

But while Snow was actor enough to now seem the gracious host, he could not fake healthy lungs. The five minutes that he had spent in the party room, he had spent coughing.

Two of Minerva’s invited guests still had not shown up: Finnick Odair and Plutarch Heavensbee. Katniss really hoped that Heavensbee would get a flat tire, or the flu, or amnesia, and so would miss her party.

****

Meanwhile in Mile-High Apartments, a high-rise Capitol apartment building

Plutarch was looking at the clothes in his closet, trying to decide what to wear to Katniss Mellark’s birthday party.

There were many pairs of pants, and many shirts, that together sent the message of I’m an important man in this city. Unfortunately, Plutarch was not an important man in this city anymore. Not since Katniss Mellark and President Snow had ended the Hunger Games.

Which left only one easy explanation why Plutarch would spend a day with a teenage girl: molester. How did molesters dress? Plutarch did not want to be mistaken for a molester.

Sheesh, how did dressing up for one girl Victor’s birthday party suddenly get so complicated?

Plutarch’s thoughts were interrupted when someone knocked on his apartment’s front door. Plutarch idly wondered why his visitor did not ring the perfectly good doorbell.

Then Plutarch realized what he was hearing: four knocks (pause), five knocks (pause), then four knocks.

Someone was knocking on Plutarch’s door thirteen times.

Plutarch hurriedly put on a random pair of pants and rushed to the door. Whoever was on the other side of the door, Plutarch did not want him or her standing in the hallway, for Plutarch’s neighbors to see, one second longer than necessary.

Once the door was open, Plutarch recognized his visitor: a District Thirteen soldier whose last name began with M, and who usually never spoke. But after the man entered the apartment, he began to definitely speak—

“I need the access code to get into the Games Center building. Then I need the access code to get into your office.”

“Why? What for?” Plutarch demanded.

Soldier M. said nothing, but his look said Those are stupid questions in District Thirteen.

Plutarch could “play spy” too: He handed Soldier M. a piece of paper and a pen, saying, “I’ll tell you the codes, but I’m not writing them down, you write them down. This way, I can claim I don’t know how you got the codes.”

Plutarch recited the two codes, Soldier M. wrote them down, then the Thirteen man left without even saying Thank you.

****

Two minutes later
Curbside, outside Mile-High Apartments

Soldier Mitchell climbed into the back seat of the taxi that Col. Boggs was driving. Once the door was shut, Mitchell said, “Mission successful. Now please take me to the Games Center building. Once you drop me off, disappear. But don’t go too far away—when I’ll need you outside, I’ll need you fast. Sir.”

“Yes, sir,” Boggs said sarcastically.

As Boggs drove, he wondered who lived in Mile-High Apartments, and the only name that Boggs could come up with was Plutarch Heavensbee. Who until recently had an office on the top floor of the Games Center—an office with a window that faced east and a window that faced north.

On the seat next to Soldier Mitchell was the satchel that contained the sniper rifle that Boggs had not been briefed about. So, Boggs figured out, Mitchell was about to go into Heavensbee’s office, then sooner or later he would sniper someone.

But who? Boggs wondered. The windows in the Presidential Mansion, on the west side of City Circle, all were bulletproof; and the Training Center that was on the north side of City Circle (and directly across the Circle from the Games Center) was empty. This left as possible targets, only people walking the sidewalks, and people driving or riding in cars, on both Games Street and Avenue of the Tributes. Was Mitchell’s mission to sniper someone driving an ordinary car? (Because in the Capitol, most limousines had bulletproof windows.)

But what worried Boggs most of all: Why was President Coin holding back crucial information about this assassination mission from himself, Peter Boggs, who commanded Coin’s army?

****

A half-hour later
Party Room No. 2, the Presidential Mansion

Plutarch Heavensbee had just arrived at Katniss’s birthday party. For Katniss, who found talking to people to be hard at the best of times, talking to Plutarch was impossible. Was she supposed to tell him I’m sorry you’re out of a job when she was not one bit sorry?

Poor baby, now he isn’t drawing a paycheck. But from now on, twenty-three district kids who would have died every year, won’t. Guess who gets my sympathies, Plutarch.

Needing an excuse to end the talk with Plutarch, Katniss looked around the room. That’s when she found her excuse—

Gamma Churchill and Yeast Mellark were standing by a window, looking out. Gamma was saying, “I’ve never thought about what the Avenue of the Tributes looked like when it didn’t carry tributes in chariots. But look, Avenue of the Tributes is just an ordinary street now, with cars on it.”

Yeast nodded. “Prim told me that the rest of the year, the lines on the street weren’t paint, they were tape. For the Tribute Parade, the tape got pulled up and poof, the street was unmarked.”

Now Katniss stood up, saying to Plutarch, “Now I need to keep a promise. Nice talking to you.”

Katniss walked into the center of the room and raised her voice. “Folks from District Twelve, I promised you a walking tour of the Avenue of the Tributes, and now seems like a good time to do it.”

The young Twelves looked eager. Smirking Haymitch murmured something to Effie. Aloe Everdeen looked torn.

Peeta stepped up beside Katniss. “Now for all us Twelves to truly redo what Katniss and I shared during the Tribute Parade, we’d need to get some mutt-horses, and a chariot big enough for all of us, then ride the big chariot down the middle of the street as a crowd cheers. Alas, I see a lot of problems with this idea, the biggest one being: I don’t think Capitol drivers would let us take up the whole street.”

Cashmere said, “They’d move away in a hurry if Cinna set all the Twelves’ backs on fire!”

Everyone laughed, including Cinna; who then said, “Sorry, no fire.”

Peeta said, “So y’all from Twelve, it looks like you’ll just have to settle for walking on the sidewalk.”

Hammerhead said, “While a bulletproof limousine moseys alongside Katniss and Peeta, just in case.”

****

Five minutes later
In Plutarch’s office in the Games Center

Mitchell did not get excited when the presidential limousine, with a luxury car following, turned off Games Street onto Avenue of the Tributes eastbound. One government limousine or another had turned onto the Avenue of the Tributes about once every ten minutes; Mitchell figured at first he was seeing more of the same.

Mitchell started to feel excitement when both the presidential limousine and the big car that was following, slowed down and turned on flashing lights halfway between the Games Center and the Remake Center.

When the limousine reached the end of the street by the Remake Center and, instead of turning left onto Remake Street, did a 180-degree turn onto the Avenue of the Tributes westbound, Mitchell’s heart beat faster.

The presidential limousine drove only a short distance before it pulled over and stopped. Six people got out. Even without his scope, Mitchell recognized Katniss Mellark by her dark skin and her black hair braid.

While Mitchell was rummaging around in his satchel for his glass-cutter tool and suction cup, he noticed the luxury car pull over behind the limousine; seven people get out. The luxury car then drove away. Mitchell idly noted that one of the people who had emerged from the second car was a teen girl with her hair in one blond braid.

Mitchell, using the glass-cutting tool and the suction cup, cut a 25-centimeter-diameter circle of glass out of the east-facing window, where the glass was in front of his face.

When Mitchell’s attention returned to his target, he saw that the group from the presidential limousine, and the group from the luxury car, all had merged into one big group.

This group now was on the sidewalk, walking in Mitchell’s direction. Peeta Mellark was waving his arms around, clearly telling a story; Katniss Mellark walked and seldom spoke.

In the street, the presidential limousine matched the speed of the Co-Victors on the sidewalk.

Mitchell contacted Boggs by encrypted radio with a brief message: “Target sighted. Things will get hot now.”

Then with well-practiced moves, Mitchell assembled the sniper rifle with full ammo clip. This took only seconds.

The one and only time that Mitchell wondered why President Coin had marked Katniss Mellark for termination, was as he was easing the barrel of the sniper rifle through the hole in the glass.

Even as Mitchell was pulling the trigger, the six people who had come from the limousine, all dropped to the sidewalk—including Katniss Mellark, Mitchell’s target.

So Mitchell’s first shot at Katniss Mellark missed her. How did she know I was about to shoot at her? he angrily wondered.

****

A few minutes earlier, on Games Street

A particularly selfish Capitol “client” had caused Finnick Odair to be late for Katniss’s birthday party. This annoyed Finnick, and threw him off his game.

Finnick was in a taxi that was almost to the Presidential Mansion when he realized that he had left Katniss’s birthday present back at his apartment. Rather than go back and fetch the present (and become even later to the birthday party than he already was), Finnick told the taxi driver to stop at a seafood shop on Games Street that was a block away from the Presidential Mansion.

Finnick walked out of the seafood shop with a shrimp ring on a paper platter, again feeling annoyed.

Finnick knew to the centidollar, how much District Four shrimp fishermen had been paid to harvest these fifty-two shrimp; he knew to the centidollar, how many PDs that other Fours had been paid to peel the shrimps and to lay them out to create this shrimp ring; and he knew to the centidollar, what he had just paid for this party treat. Finnick thought, Somebody is making a fine profit off this shrimp ring, and it sure isn’t District Four!

So Finnick was again in a fuck-the-Capitol mood as he walked south on Games Street. Soon Finnick was on the corner where Games Street met the western half of City Circle, about to turn right and to walk to the Presidential Mansion. At this moment, Finnick saw someone moving around in the Head Gamemaker’s office in the Games Center building, which was on the other side of City Circle.

Finnick knew the building was supposed to be empty. Briefly he thought that it was Plutarch Heavensbee in that office—undoubtedly updating his résumé. But then Finnick noticed that the man in the office was spending lots of time peering to the left, out the east-facing window.

Finnick also noticed that the man in the office was slim—which Plutarch Heavensbee most certainly was not.

Finnick wondered what the intruder-man was watching so attentively. Finnick looked off to his left—and choked.

Katniss and Peeta, the Victor-bodyguards, Haymitch, Katniss’s blond sister Primrose, and five other people were climbing out of two vehicles. They were who the intruder-man in Plutarch’s office was watching.

Finnick dropped down to place the shrimp ring on the sidewalk, then he yanked out his pocket-picturephone and speed-dialed Johanna Mason. “Johanna,” Finnick blurted, “somebody is in Heavensbee’s office and he’s watching you guys.”

“Describe him.”

“C’mon, Jo, I’m on the other side of City Circle, which is thirty meters big. I can’t see him well—”

Then Finnick saw the barrel of a rifle slowly move out through the east-side window.

“JO, HE’S ABOUT TO SHOOT! GET EVERYONE DOWN!”

One second later, bang! The intruder’s rifle fired.

Chapter Text

“SNIPER! GET DOWN!” Johanna yelled.

Johanna grabbed Katniss by her belt; as Johanna and Cashmere hit the pavement, Katniss was yanked down too. Meanwhile, Hammerhead and Gloss shoved Peeta down and piled on top of him. Johanna and Cashmere, for whatever reason, did not pile on top of Katniss.

Bang came from somewhere ahead. Katniss heard a whizz sound above her.

“WHERE IS HE?” Hammerhead yelled.

“GAMES CENTER, PLUTARCH’S OFFICE!” Johanna yelled back.

Cashmere pushed herself up to kneel in front of Katniss, facing the Games Center building with her gun drawn.

“GET THEM IN THE LIMO!” Hammerhead yelled, as the right-rear door of the presidential limousine opened.

“Katniss?” said Prim. Fearfully.

Johanna and Cashmere stood up, and yanked Katniss to her feet. But Katniss did not look at the open limousine door, she looked at her sister.

All of the other District Twelve people were flat on the sidewalk now; Haymitch’s body covered Aloe Everdeen. But Prim stood grimacing with her hand over the left side of her face. Blood was running out between Prim’s fingers and was running down her left arm.

“Prim!” Katniss broke away from Johanna and Cashmere—

Bang! Whizz! Someone said in a Capitol accent, “That was close.”

—Katniss grabbed Prim by the waist, intending to haul her to the limousine, when Katniss was herself grabbed around the waist.

“Get in the fucking car!” Johanna yelled.

BANG! Hammerhead fired a pistol-shot toward the Games Center.

Johanna trying to drag both Katniss and Prim was slow going. “Let go of her!” Johanna yelled.

“Fuck you, Johanna!”

Then Gloss was there. Gloss picked up bleeding Prim; “Got her,” Gloss said to Katniss. “Get in the limo.”

Johanna and Cashmere shoved Katniss into the limousine right behind Gloss-carrying-Prim.

Once the doors were shut and Poole (acting as driver) hurried away, Peeta said, “Katniss, you have blood on you.”

Katniss said, “I wasn’t hit, but Prim is hurt!”

Hammerhead, meanwhile, had pulled out the limousine’s small first-aid kit and was using it on Prim.

Johanna said, “Motherfuck, Katniss, you are brainless! When bullets are flying and a bulletproof limousine is two steps away, you get in the fucking limousine! That’s what it’s there for.”

Cashmere said, “Jo, ease up. If Gloss got shot, I’d be just as stupid.”

Hammerhead said, “Primrose, it looks like all you have is a laceration where the bullet grazed you. I do not think the bullet penetrated you. But the injury is 4 centimeters long and 7 millimeters at the widest, which is why you’re bleeding so much.”

“Great,” Prim said. “Stitches.”

Katniss called forward to Poole, “Take us to the Training Center. They should still have the full first-aid station in the Gymnasium.”

As the limousine turned right, off of Avenue of the Tributes, Katniss saw through the window glass, Finnick standing on the corner. He was talking on his pocket-picturephone.

****

As soon as possible afterward

The Training Center had a keypad door on its north side, near the parking lot, which luckily still opened after Cashmere punched in a code. This way, six Victors and Prim were able to enter the Training Center without exposing themselves to sniper fire.

On the main floor, Katniss stabbed the Down button by the elevator. Just as the elevator doors opened, Katniss heard sirens from many directions, all getting louder.

Katniss told the others, “I think Finnick told the Peacekeepers about the sniper.”

Gloss said, “I bet the lowlife is a Gamemaker, or one of Plutarch’s rainbow friends.”

Seconds later, the seven people arrived at the Training Center Gymnasium. Without even trying to, Katniss noted that the bow and ten arrows were still at the same rack where they had been ten months ago.

“Hello, axes,” Johanna murmured.

Treating Prim at the First Aid station in the Gymnasium would not take long, it turned out, because Prim refused to let any of “you amateurs” stitch up her cheek. However, the healer-patient informed the Victors, the wound needed to be thoroughly cleaned first. Prim asked Katniss to be the person to pour rubbing alcohol onto her wound—

“But Little Duck, rubbing alcohol hurts! You’re asking me to hurt you!”

“No, big sister, I want you to heal me. Kill the nasty germs before they make trouble.”

A minute later, Hammerhead said to Katniss, “We’ve done all we can for your sister, for now.”

Katniss shook her head. “But I haven’t done all I can for Prim. That clown hurt my sister and he needs to pay for it.”

Katniss looked over at the racked bow.

Peeta said, “Katniss, don’t even think it. Peacekeepers are coming—let them handle the guy.”

****

Minutes earlier, after the limousine raced away
On the sidewalk by Avenue of the Tributes

Haymitch was lying on Aloe Everdeen; Aloe was lying on the sidewalk. Now Haymitch raised his head. “District Twelve people, everyone okay? Anyone hurt?”

When nobody groaned, or admitted to an injury, Haymitch stood up, and pulled Aloe up. “Change of plans, y’all: We walk from here to the Presidential Mansion—lucky for us, it’s right up the street—and once we get there, we’ll find out how Prim is.”

Haymitch murmured to Aloe, “I guarantee you, Prim is fine. Katniss will make sure of it.” Aloe nodded.

As the Twelves stood up, Haymitch noticed Capitol people on the sidewalk and at the edge of Dark Days Park, who were staring at the Twelves. A man asked the Twelves, “Why did you all drop down as soon as shooting started?”

Haymitch said patiently, “Don’t you ever watch holo-dramas? When a sniper starts shooting, you hit the ground.”

“But that’s in holo-dramas. How did you know to do it in real life?”

Haymitch looked at the Capitol man, considered several replies, then said, “You’ve never truly been in danger, have you?”

Minutes later, Haymitch had led the Twelves far enough westward on the Avenue of the Tributes sidewalk that they were crossing Games Street. There Haymitch saw Finnick standing on the opposite corner. Finnick had his pocket-picturephone to his mouth and was facing the Games Center on the other side of City Circle. Haymitch heard Finnick say, “Yes, he’s still in Heavensbee’s office, but he’s not shooting.”

Once all the Twelves had crossed the street, Finnick gestured for Haymitch to come over. “Hey, will you take this inside?” Finnick gestured toward the shrimp ring at his feet. “I think I’m going to be standing here a while.”

By then, Haymitch was hearing approaching sirens. “Yeah, the Peacekeepers need a spotter.”

****

Minutes later

Haymitch was talking to the Peacekeepers at the Presidential Mansion’s east-side Peacekeeper station, and Haymitch was frustrated.

The problem was not whether the District Twelve group would be allowed back into the Mansion to rejoin the birthday party. This had been easily achieved, once the Twelves all had showed picture IDs.

The problem was that the presidential limousine, which logically should have raced back to the Presidential Mansion, had done no such thing. Aloe Everdeen was anxious to know about her injured daughter, and the Peacekeepers outside the Mansion could not answer her questions.

Meanwhile, Haymitch saw that Peacekeeper vehicles were surrounding the Games Center next to the Presidential Mansion, and many Peacekeepers with serious firearms were entering the Games Center.

Also next to the Presidential Mansion was the Training Center. Suddenly gunshots sounded from the Training Center. Glass shattered in the south-facing window on the seventh floor of the twelve-story building; at the same time, glass shattered in the north-facing window of Plutarch’s office in the Games Center.

“What’s happening?” Madge Undersee asked, as several more gunshots sounded from the District Seven floor of the Training Center.

“Johanna is being Johanna,” Haymitch replied, in the sudden quiet.

The Twelves gasped as the sniper’s rifle barrel suddenly appeared, outside where the Head Gamemaker’s north-side window had been.

But at the same moment, an arrow flew out of the Training Center’s District Seven apartment, over City Circle, and toward the sniper and his rifle.

Haymitch got angry. Sweetheart is facing off against a sniper? If she lives through this, I’ll kill her myself.

****

Meanwhile, in Plutarch Heavensbee’s office

Soldier Mitchell was dying, he knew it. But he had not yet failed in his mission.

The Victor-bodyguards, who had shot him from forty meters away, had put bullets in him; he respected them because they had not flustered in battle. But Mitchell was not yet dead, so he still could kill Katniss Mellark to complete his mission.

As for the quote-unquote Peacekeepers, the lapdog quote-unquote “soldiers” of the Capitol, Mitchell could hear them below in the Games Center, stomping like elephants. If Mitchell lived long enough, they would find him. Mitchell doubted that the Peacekeepers intended to handcuff him and to put him on trial.

But whatever the Peacekeepers’ plans for Mitchell, he would not be alive for them to carry out those plans. Mitchell decided that while he was sure to die today, he refused to be killed by men who deserved less respect as soldiers than even District Thirteen fourteen-year-olds.

After the Victor-bodyguards had shot at Mitchell and had wounded him, now a strange thing happened: they stopped shooting and they lowered their guns a little. Then, while Mitchell was trying to guess why the Victor-bodyguards had ceased fire, Katniss Mellark herself stepped forward, near the ruined window. She was pointing an arrow at Mitchell; but for some reason, she did not fire the arrow.

Mitchell moving his body hurt now, but he made himself raise his sniper rifle and aim it at Katniss Mellark. This was when she fired her arrow. It took the arrow only a second to fly forty meters and reach him.

Oddly, the arrow-shot did not kill Mitchell. Indeed, it did not even injure him. But instead, his sniper-rifle slammed into his shoulder, hard enough to knock Mitchell off his feet and back away from the window.

Slowly, painfully, bullet-bleeding Mitchell stood up and again took aim at Katniss Mellark. The Victor-bodyguards now were bringing their pistols up to shoot him; but Katniss herself was holding her bow down by her right side, with no arrow nocked and no arrow in her left hand. Mitchell could not guess why she was presenting herself as such an easy target, but he would take advantage of her defenselessness in his last second of life.

Mitchell covered Katniss Mellark’s forehead with his crosshairs, as her magnified face stared back at him. Mitchell pulled the trigger.

It was the last thing he ever did; an instant later, his rifle exploded.

A half-second later, when four more pistol-bullets slammed into Mitchell’s falling body, he was already dead.

****

On the other side of City Circle, in the Training Center’s District Seven Apartment

Johanna grinned at Katniss. “The shithead didn’t realize that you plugged the end of his rifle barrel with your arrow.”

Katniss chin-pointed to the other side of City Circle. “He hurt Prim. He might have killed Prim. He deserved everything he got.”

Hammerhead said calmly, “Let’s head back to the Mansion. I hope everyone realizes that all of us except Prim will get our asses royally chewed out by President Snow.”

****

Minutes later
Party Room No. 2, the Presidential Mansion

President Snow was not the first unhappy man whom Katniss had to deal with. Katniss, Peeta, blood-covered Prim, and the Victor-bodyguards re-entered the party room to discover dead silence, except for a news-reporter’s voice that came from a holo-projector on wheels that had not been in the room an hour ago. When Haymitch turned away from the news report to see Katniss and the others walk in, he ran over to her.

Haymitch was still a strong man and Katniss was a small girl, so Haymitch could pick her up if he wanted to. Now he wanted to.

Katniss’s feet came off the ground as she traveled backward and was slammed against the wall. “What kind of thoughtless shit were you trying to pull, sweetheart?” Haymitch yelled. He looked murderous.

“He hurt Prim. I killed him,” Katniss said, trying not to sound like a frightened child.

“No, sweetheart, you pulled some holo-drama stunt that left yourself wide open for him to kill you, but you got lucky. You.”—he shook her—“Got.”—Haymitch shook Katniss again—“Lucky. L-U-C-K-Y.”

Now Cinna was standing next to the two of them. Calmly he said, “Haymitch, please.” Haymitch let Katniss drop to the floor; Katniss shot Haymitch a glare.

But then Cinna looked at Katniss with sad eyes. “What you did was reckless, Katniss.”

Katniss suddenly felt awful. The only way she could have felt any worse is if Cinna had said I am disappointed in you, Girl on Fire.

“I am disappointed in you, Katniss,” Coriolanus said. He had entered the room without Katniss noticing. “But first, let me take care of your sister.”

Coriolanus called back over his shoulder, “Hefaestus, take Miss Everdeen to Victor Health Hospital on my authority. Tell them they are to make Miss Everdeen’s cheek healthy, and they are to make it pretty. Then Hefaestus, buy Miss Everdeen whatever replacement clothing she needs, on my account.”

“I get to go inside Victor Health Hospital?” asked Katniss’s sister the healer. “Thank you, President Snow!”

After Hefaestus and smiling Prim left the room, Coriolanus looked at Katniss and repeated, “I am disappointed in you.” Coriolanus continued, “Sometimes you shine with glorious potential, but today you acted less mature than Minerva.”

“But Prim—”

“You endangered all four Victor-bodyguards, and you endangered yourself, because of someone who had taken only minor injuries. You also revealed a critical weakness in yourself to your enemies—and believe me, you have enemies now, note the plural, who number more than one dead man with a rifle. Perhaps you still think of yourself as one dead miner’s older daughter, but you are much more than this now. Tell her, Haymitch—tell her what she means to the districts.”

Haymitch blinked in surprise at the president’s words, then Haymitch said to Katniss, “Your soulmate’s gonna die soon, yeah? What happens afterward if you’re already dead because of some fool stunt? Then some rainbow fuckhead becomes the next president, and the districts keep on getting screwed over. That is, unless the districts rebel. But since you’re dead, this cuts down the chances of the districts winning the Second Rebellion. Imagine life in the districts if we fight two rebellions and lose both of them. But win or lose, if the districts rebel, district people will die. On the other hand, if you’re alive and healthy when Snow dies, then you become president and the districts stop getting screwed over, without needing a Rebellion. Nobody dies in any of the districts.”

Coriolanus said, “Nobody would die in the Capitol either, if another rebellion were averted.”

Katniss said quietly, “I don’t want any Capitol people in this room to die. Not even Minerva’s friends whose names I don’t remember.” Then Katniss frowned. “Except maybe Plutarch. How the hell did the sniper get into Plutarch’s office?”

Coriolanus said, “I am curious about this myself.”

Plutarch, Katniss noticed, was in the far corner of the room, talking quietly with Hammerhead.

Looking around the room, Katniss noticed that Peeta and Minerva were standing silently nearby and were listening. Peeta—whom Katniss loved; and Minerva—whom Coriolanus loved.

With a mixture of anger and confusion, Katniss said to Coriolanus, “You talk about me trying to save Prim as if it’s a bad thing. Why is it bad?”

It was Finnick, who had walked into the party room without Katniss noticing, who answered: “When there is someone whom you will do anything to protect, an enemy can push you around. This is bad enough when you’re a Victor. If you become president, I suppose it would be a disaster.”

“It would be,” Coriolanus agreed, “unless you decide that nothing is more important than your duty as president. Nothing, Katniss.”

Then Coriolanus told a story—

****

“Katniss, you know I have a son and a granddaughter, but do you know why I no longer have a wife? A long time ago, the Minister of Peace, Andronicus Williams, kidnapped Malvinia and threatened to kill her if I did not go to a certain place at a certain time. Obviously it was a trap; what is not obvious is that I did not go to the meeting place. Angry Andronicus killed Malvinia on holo-camera.”

“Poor Grandma,” Minerva said. “Poor Grandpa.” She stepped forward and rubbed Coriolanus’s back.

Coriolanus said, “Later, Andronicus was captured. I ordered him dismembered, I watched his death in person, then I returned here to the Mansion. In the privacy of my room, I vomited because of the gruesomeness I had just seen, then I wept for Malvinia. But Katniss, my point is that in those minutes, I was alive to weep for Malvinia and I was president, but Andronicus was neither.”

Minerva asked, “Grandpa, if a bad man kidnapped me, would the same thing happen?”

Coriolanus sadly nodded his head.

Minerva stood straight and raised her chin. “If that day ever comes, Grandpa, I will be brave.”

****

Katniss looked at Peeta, Cinna, Haymitch, and Coriolanus. “I hear what y’all are saying. I endangered my bodyguards because I was selfish; and in a minute, I will tell all of them I’m sorry. But hear me now: Whether as tribute or as president, I will not be a piece in anyone’s game; expect the unexpected from me from now on.”

Coriolanus gave Katniss a piercing look, then he said, “At least now you understand what is at stake.” Then Coriolanus’s voice turned to steel. “Now, Katniss, let’s you and I have a chat with Mr. Heavensbee.”

****

One second later

Hammerhead walked up to Katniss and Coriolanus, with a sweaty Plutarch Heavensbee following behind Hammerhead.

Hammerhead said, “Katniss, apology accepted. Mr. President, Plutarch here has something he wants to tell you.”

Coriolanus turned to look at the pudgy former Head Gamemaker. Katniss stared at Plutarch Heavensbee as fiercely as a snake would, and her look was just as unfriendly.

Hammerhead said, “Plutarch, your best hope is to come clean.”

Plutarch did indeed come clean. Less than fifteen seconds into Plutarch’s talk, Yeast Mellark blurted, “District Thirteen is alive?”

Gale blurted, “C’mon, ‘President’ Coin?”

Suddenly the entire room—Capitols and Twelves, young people and mature—all were listening to Plutarch’s tale. Even the Avoxes were listening.

Katniss could not get a read on her soulmate; she could not tell whether Coriolanus was as stunned by what he was hearing as Katniss was, or if all of this was old news to him.

“What do you think, Katniss?” Coriolanus asked, and she still could not read him. Plutarch could not either; he was clearly panicked.

Katniss glared at Plutarch. “Why should we believe what you say?”

Heavensbee said, “I can’t prove I’m telling the truth, but I am. I thought I was working to make a successful Rebellion, which would make a better Panem for everyone. But Katniss, when you made me no longer useful to President Coin, she tried to kill you and she set me up to take the fall. Call me a traitor, fine; call me a spy, it’s what I am—but I am no murderer, and I don’t like President Coin using me as thoughtlessly as a roll of toilet paper.”

Katniss said to Coriolanus, “Let’s talk in the hallway.”

Coriolanus led Katniss out of the party room, down the hallway, and into an empty room. Katniss asked him, “How many spies do you have in District Thirteen?”

Coriolanus said, “None. I have not had a spy in District Thirteen in twenty-three years.”

Katniss said, “You keep telling me to be practical. The practical thing is to reverse his polarity as a spy.”

Coriolanus blinked. “ ‘Reverse his polarity’? This is a District Three term.”

Katniss grinned. “Uh-huh. Gamma and me have been working our way through those other-district books you sent.”

Coriolanus grinned. “Has your reading included ‘Peacekeeper Detective Lewis’ novels?”

“No, why?”

“Let me explain to you something known as ‘Nice Peacekeeper, mean Peacekeeper.’ ”

One minute later, Katniss and Coriolanus walked back into the party room, fetched Plutarch, and walked him into the empty room that they had just left. Coriolanus looked furious, and Plutarch looked frightened for his life.

Katniss said to Plutarch in the empty room, as silent Coriolanus glared at him, “Here’s how things are. President Snow wants to hold a show trial, then execute you in a nasty way.”

“A very nasty way,” Coriolanus said. “You are a traitor.”

Plutarch turned white.

Coriolanus added, “At the least, Mr. Heavensbee, you should be taken to the basement and shot before Katniss’s birthday party ends this afternoon.”

Plutarch stared in horror.

Katniss said to Plutarch, “Meanwhile here’s me, Panem’s next president—no thanks to you. I gotta be honest, I don’t like you. Really, I don’t like any Gamemaker, but as for you, I’m still pissed that you thought you deserved to attend my wedding last September.”

Plutarch started to say something, but stopped.

Katniss said, “But, Mr. Head Gamemaker, you were working for the Second Rebellion, which to me”—Katniss shot Coriolanus a sideways look—“makes you a little bit of a hero. I think someone who’s a little bit of a hero should be treated a little bit nice. Besides, I believe your story, including the part that you didn’t want to kill me or kill Prim.”

Now Plutarch looked hopeful.

Katniss continued, “So instead of you being tied to a post in City Circle and our president watches me shoot an arrow through your heart, I suggest you spy on District Thirteen for us. But you have to tell us everything. If ‘President’ Coin tells you her dog had puppies, you report how many puppies.”

As soon as Katniss said this, relieved-looking Plutarch began divulging. Among the more useless bits of information he shared: Plutarch was letting District Thirteen pirate off his Panem News Network subscription.

****

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the Capitol

While Katniss was learning about President Coin, President Coin was learning about Katniss. On encrypted radio, Col. Boggs told his leader how Soldier Mitchell had died.

Then Col. Boggs said, “Ma’am, I was sitting in the grandstands south of Avenue of the Tributes, so I saw the entire thing play out. I saw Soldier Mitchell’s first shot at Mrs. Mellark—which somehow she knew to duck—on through her freakishly accurate arrow-shot that made his rifle blow up. What I did not see, even slightly, was the brilliant tactician who bested three Career tributes in her Hunger Games. Today Katniss Mellark’s sister Primrose was not even seriously injured, only slightly injured, but from the moment the girl was hurt, Katniss Mellark acted foolishly.”

Chapter Text

A year and a half later: November 16, 2716

Since Katniss’s never-to-be-forgotten seventeenth birthday in the Capitol, two Reaping Days had come and gone: the Seventy-fifth and the Seventy-sixth. Except these special days weren’t called “Reaping Day” anymore, now they were called “Children’s Day.”

On each Children’s Day in District Twelve, parent-and-child games were organized, Robbirt and Stivvin played their banjo and fiddle, songs were sung, and speeches were given. Three miners who were surprisingly skilled at public speaking, stood at the microphone on the Justice Building patio and gave speeches—and while these men did not trash-talk the Capitol, neither was there any hint of “The Capitol is so wonderful” in their remarks. All three miners had known Pick Everdeen, and now they had good things to say about him to his daughters. Over and over, the three miners praised Pick Everdeen’s “courage.” Katniss did not ask the three men, but she suspected that they were Rebellion leaders in District Twelve—and that Pick Everdeen had been one too.

Peeta and Katniss, at Haymitch’s request, had made a point of inviting Effie Trinket to each Children’s Day in District Twelve. Judging by the flabbergasted coverage on “Victors Tonight,” Effie was the only former escort to be invited back to her district for no-longer-Reaping Day.

The people of the Capitol seemingly did not know what to do, now that there were no more Reaping Day, Tribute Parade, Tribute Interviews, and Victor Interview events in the Capitol to look forward to anymore. It took a full month after President Snow had announced that the Games were ended, before the red, yellow, and white tapes that were used for traffic control on Avenue of the Tributes were pulled up, and the street was painted with colored traffic-control lines.

Capitols all had agreed that the temporary curved guide-walls in the center of City Circle be replaced with a permanent traffic island, but what should be put atop this traffic island? The most popular suggestion in the Capitol was a bronze statue of Katniss and Peeta in their chariot, their backs ablaze. (Katniss made a countersuggestion: That the statue-tributes in the statue-chariot be Thresh and Rue, to honor the 1,725 district children who had lived only hours or days after a chariot had brought them to City Circle. Needless to say, Capitol people hated Katniss’s idea.) Now, a year and eight months after the end of the Games had been announced, the traffic island had been constructed, but it was only a round concrete curb that held dirt and grass; it had no statue.

There was nationwide discussion about what to do with the Training Center and the Games Center. Capitols were in favor of turning the places into museums; district reaction was “Get rid of them both.” When asked her thoughts, Katniss said, “If they’re still standing on the week I take office, neither of them will be standing the week after.” Both buildings were demolished, with Victors invited to the Capitol as witnesses. Nothing else was built at those two sites after the rubble was hauled away; now northwest and southwest of City Circle were two vacant lots.

The Remake Center was privatized, becoming an exclusive health spa.

Plutarch Heavensbee had been hired by “Victors Tonight” as a color commentator, on the Friday segment of the show where “Victors Tonight” recapped decades-old Hunger Games. Prim, who watched “Victors Tonight” regularly, mentioned to Katniss that Plutarch got only about ten minutes of airtime a week. Katniss idly wondered whether Plutarch was earning enough money to pay his bills—then she realized that she truly did not care.

On Katniss’s seventeenth birthday, Coriolanus had gifted Katniss with a computer. A year and a half later, Katniss had learned computer basics and a little more—but not much more. Gamma Churchill, on the other hand, had become a whiz on Katniss’s computer, and supposedly was saving up to buy her own computer. Gamma’s favorite activity on Katniss’s computer was email exchanges with Wiress through the panemnet. (While Wiress had trouble speaking, she apparently could write just fine; and in email, Wiress was downright witty.)

Peeta had borrowed Katniss’s computer exactly once, to go on the panemnet and to search for pictures and two-dimensional television clips of Bitumena Churchill, who was Twelve’s first Victor. From these photos and clips, Peeta had painted a portrait of Seam-colored Bitumena that now hung over the fireplace in her mansion. In the painting, seventeen-year-old tribute-Bitumena was in a desert, holding a blood-tipped, long-handled sickle with a two-handed grip, with the tip of the sickle turned forward. In short, Bitumena was holding the sickle the same way she would have held a miner’s pick. On the left side of the painting was a boy’s right arm and hand that held a lasso. (Bitumena had become Victor after she had killed the boy from Ten.) Gamma Churchill, who was the something-niece of Bitumena Churchill, had hugged Peeta and Hammerhead after they had hung the painting.

Katniss and Peeta had celebrated their second anniversary (cotton anniversary) two months ago in September. Katniss had gifted Peeta with a “Kiss the Cook” apron; Peeta had given Katniss a forest-green t-shirt that said “Panem’s Top (Artist’s) Model.” (By now, Peeta had painted several nudes of Katniss that Prim was not allowed to see.)

Peeta and Katniss had not graduated from high school, but kids their age had done so, and the Co-Victors had attended the graduation ceremony (as guests). Madge Undersee, the day after she had graduated high school, had become Mrs. Madge Hawthorne.

Prim and Gamma both were attending District Twelve High School now—Prim as a freshman, Gamma as a senior. Gamma was bored with reading schoolbooks—unless she was reading another district’s schoolbooks. Katniss and Gamma had held long discussions about topics that were taught in Capitol high-school textbooks but were taught nowhere else. As for Prim, she was fourteen now, and almost as tall as Katniss, but the sisters still walked together to and from school every day.

Beginning around the time of Katniss’s eighteenth birthday, in May of 2716, whenever Katniss talked to Coriolanus on the telephone, he spent most of his time on the telephone coughing instead of speaking.

All this was the state of Panem, and of District Twelve, and of Katniss and the people in her life, on November 16, 2716.

On the morning of November 16th, Katniss’s telephone rang in her mansion.

****

Katniss did not hear the telephone ring; she was in the woods, hunting. Or she had been hunting, until she heard her mother’s voice from the edge of the woods, yelling for her.

When Katniss finally was face-to-face with Aloe Everdeen, Aloe told Katniss, “A man who works for President Snow called you. He wants you to call him back as soon as possible.”

Katniss thought, And so we’re in Endgame.

In the kitchen of Katniss’s mansion, Aloe had written down a telephone number and a name: Aloysius Forrest. Katniss remembered that Forrest was the Chief of Staff at the Presidential Mansion.

Katniss and Aloysius Forrest did not talk long, and Katniss had correctly guessed what Forrest wound up telling her. Katniss ended the telephone call with “...Have the hovercraft pick us up at four o’clock. Tell the pilot we’ll make a short jump to District Eight before we fly to Hovercraft Base Beta,” west of the Capitol. “Now, about Effie Trinket—can you have her meet us at the hovercraft base, or do I need to tell her to meet us at the Presidential Mansion? I would prefer the first choice.”

Seconds later, Katniss hung up the telephone in the kitchen. She turned around to see Aloe standing in the doorway. Aloe asked, “President Snow, how is he?”

Katniss replied, “The doctors give him between a week and a month. The Chief of Staff man told me to bring with me everyone I already plan to hire, so they can be trained before—before they get their jobs for real. Which will be when I get my job for real. Forrest told me to pack everything I might need, and not to expect to return to Twelve soon, because Coriolanus wants me in the Mansion around the clock till he dies.”

Aloe nodded. “Who will be leaving with you today, and who will be staying here?”

Katniss said, “Peeta and Gamma will be going with me today. And the Victor-bodyguards, of course. We’ll pick up Distaff Paylor in Eight—shit, I need to call her! And Effie. Paylor will be my chief of staff. I really, really want you and Prim to stay in Twelve until I’ve been president for long enough that things no longer are crazy.”

Aloe smiled. “This works.” Then Aloe asked, “Why did you tell the man not to send a hovercraft here till four this afternoon? Do you really expect it will take so long to pack?”

“No. I have a few errands to run—like going to the Community Home and getting Mrs. Monescu’s formal permission for Gamma to move out. But mainly, I want to walk Prim home from school. It will be the last normal thing I do in my old, normal life.”

Aloe chuckled. “Oh, Katniss. Your life has not been ‘normal’ from the minute that Effie Trinket called Prim’s name.”

****

After the telephone call, Katniss’s first three stops were in Victors’ Village. She told Peeta (who was painting at the time), “Pack up like crazy, because we’re hovercrafting to the Presidential Mansion at 4 p.m., and we’re not coming back for a long time.”

Katniss went next to Bitumena Churchill’s mansion and gave the Victor-bodyguards the same message.

Katniss’s third stop was to see Haymitch. This early in the morning, Katniss found Haymitch to be only a little buzzed. He looked at her with a serious expression and said, “You know I’m proud of you, yeah? You’re gonna be one of Panem’s great presidents, I’m abso-fucking-lutely sure. Tell Effie I miss her, and ask her to call me. Please. Ask Effie to please call me. She’s big on manners, yeah?” Both Katniss and Haymitch laughed.

****

It turned out that all Katniss needed to do to get Gamma Churchill released from the Community Home was to sign a paper stating that she, Katniss, was employing Gamma. However, Katniss expected that she would need to jump through more hoops to get Gamma cut loose from high school, seven months before graduation.

However, Mr. Berg, the principal of District Twelve High School, surprised both Katniss and Gamma.

Mr. Berg said, “Look, I won’t be doing either of you any favors if I just sign a paper that says ‘Gamma may leave.’ Because this would make her a high-school dropout. Just like you, Katniss. And both of you are about to step into jobs where you need the credential of a high-school diploma, at the least. Now, the talk of the teacher’s lounge is about all the other-district textbooks you two have been reading—it’s safe to say that you two know many things that nobody in there”—Berg gestured in the direction of the teacher’s lounge—“has a clue about. But officially, Katniss, you’re a high-school dropout; and Gamma, you’re about to be, so officially you’re both ignorant coal-grubbers. But I have an idea.”

Katniss said, “Every Victor is a high-school dropout, not just me. But since Victors weren’t allowed to do real work before now, it didn’t matter.”

Gamma said, “What’s your idea, Mr. Berg, so Katniss and I aren’t dropouts?”

Mr. Berg replied, “I gather up a collection of final exams in all required subjects for both semesters of D12HS’s senior year, and you find a responsible person in the Capitol—”

“Effie,” Katniss said.

“—to give all those final exams to you two. When one of you passes every final exam, she will be awarded a District Twelve High School diploma in absentia next June.”

“To get the diploma,” Katniss said cautiously, “I have to pass every senior-level final exam?”

“Exactly,” Mr. Berg said. “It’s the only way I can work it when your butt hasn’t been in a seat for all those classes.”

“Piece of cake,” Gamma said with a smile.

“I hate you,” Katniss said to Gamma.

****

Four p.m., at District Twelve’s meadow

Many people stood in the meadow, waiting for the hovercraft from the Capitol to arrive.

The Victor-bodyguards and Peeta each had brought several suitcases to the meadow—between one and two weeks’ worth of clothes—so that they would be presentable while they lived in the Presidential Mansion.

Gamma Churchill did not own a suitcase. She showed up at the meadow holding a single large trash bag. Thankfully, the trash bag that held all of Gamma’s worldly possessions was bulging.

Katniss, on the other hand, brought more suitcases to the meadow than anyone else, and brought her computer in a carrying case, and brought boxes and boxes of books. Katniss had hired off-duty miners to haul all the books from the second floor of her mansion across Twelve to the meadow, and so Katniss wound up handing out lots of ten-PD coins in the meadow—but hauling those heavy books such a long distance, those miners earned their reward!

Right after Katniss paid off the miners, the hovercraft landed in the meadow.

Mrs. Monescu and many Community Home orphans hugged Gamma goodbye. The Mellark family (even Medea Mellark), as well as Madge and Delly, hugged Peeta goodbye. Madge hugged Katniss goodbye, as did Aloe and Prim.

Prim said to Katniss, “Wow, the next time I see you, you’ll be president of Panem. This is so cool.”

As Katniss squeezed Prim, Katniss said, “You and Mother keep everyone in Twelve healthy until I return, okay? I’m sure you can do it.”

Once everyone (and their cargo) were loaded on the hovercraft and the hovercraft was in the air, smirking Johanna asked Katniss, “Is there anything you didn’t bring?”

Katniss looked at Peeta, shared a secret smile, then replied to Johanna, “Condoms. Beginning tonight, Peeta and I will be trying to make a baby.”

Johanna said, “Why wait till tonight? We have lots of time with nothing to do. You two walk over there and join the Two-Click”—1.24-miles—“Club.”

Hammerhead said, “Ahem. Johanna, you do realize that the only privacy wall in this machine is in the cockpit, right?”

Johanna grinned evilly. “So? The Star-Crossed Lovers can make their baby in the cockpit. The pilot will enjoy watching, trust me.”

Peeta grinned a huge grin. “Nah. We’re going to arrive in District Eight in twenty minutes. Katniss and I spend twenty minutes in the bedroom just kissing.”

Gloss said, “Yeah, Katniss, about our side trip—instead of flying straight to the Capitol, we’re going to District Eight to pick up the aunt of the last District Eight male tribute, because you hired her as your Chief of Staff?”

Katniss said, “Distaff Paylor is—well, was—the head of the Rebellion in District Eight. People in Eight listen to her and they follow her. Which is the person I need in charge of the day-to-day operations in the Presidential Mansion. I’m going to be doing a lot of new things as president, and I need someone like Distaff Paylor who will make sure that everyone who supposedly is working for me is working with me. I do not want to see a war between my district employees and my Capitol employees, and I do not want the Capitol people who take jobs in the Presidential Mansion trying to ruin my programs.”

Twenty-two minutes later, after Distaff Paylor had boarded the hovercraft, the rest of the trip to the Capitol was awkward. Paylor did not know the Victor-tributes or Gamma, and knew Katniss and Peeta only slightly.

The real surprise of the trip for Katniss was when the hovercraft arrived at Hovercraft Base Beta, and the travelers were met by Effie Trinket, Minerva Snow, and a fortyish man who was President Snow’s personal assistant.

From Katniss’s age-twelve Reaping and probably before, there had been two constants in Effie’s ever-changing looks. The first fashion-constant for Effie, whenever Katniss had seen her, had been that Effie had always worn a wig in an unnatural color. The second constant thing had been weirdness with Effie’s lips: the corners of her mouth had been painted the same color as the rest of her face, and only the parts of her lips that were directly under her nose had been given a bright color. But now Effie’s head was topped with natural-looking, straight blond hair; her makeup was almost natural instead of being theatrical; her entire lips were colored pink—but not eyeball-stomping pink—and Effie’s clothing was colorful, yes, but was no longer outlandish. Katniss thought, She looks like how Madge will dress when she’s thirty.

Katniss said to Effie, “I really like your look.”

Katniss and Effie were hugging at the moment; Effie’s reply was to squeeze Katniss a little harder.

Johanna said, “You look good, Trinket,” and Effie beamed.

Minutes later, the hovercraft-arrivals were climbing into a limousine along with Effie. (Minerva and Snow’s assistant were returning to the Presidential Mansion in their own limousine.) Just before Katniss and Gamma entered their limousine, Gamma murmured in Katniss’s ear, “It is so fucking weird that now I’m on the same team as ‘the angel of death.’ ”

****

Ten minutes later, at the Presidential Mansion

Katniss and Peeta were assigned their own room in the Presidential Mansion, Gamma was assigned her own room (she was dumbstruck at not having to share the space), and Distaff Paylor was assigned her own room. Effie was offered a room in the Mansion temporarily, but turned down the offer.

Then all the cargo that had been on the hovercraft was sorted out, and Avoxes delivered the right suitcases (and boxes, and trash bag) to the right room.

By then, Minerva Snow was standing in the hallway outside the Mellarks’ room. Katniss gathered her team together, nodded to Minerva, and said, “Let’s meet our host, President Snow.”

Minerva led the presidential-transition team to a part of the Mansion where Katniss had never been before. Outside of a closed door, everyone except Minerva and Katniss was patted down by bodyguards—however, Snow’s bodyguards did not seize the Victor-bodyguards’ weapons.

Then Katniss and her team were allowed to walk with Minerva into Coriolanus’s bedroom. Coriolanus was lying on the bed when the group entered.

The first thing that Katniss noticed in the bedroom was the motorized wheelchair by the bed. The second thing she noticed were the red specks of blood on the pillowcase.

“Katniss, you have come. How delightful,” Coriolanus said. Actually, it took him a while to say those few words, because most of the time he was coughing.

(Indeed for the rest of the visit, whenever the old man tried to speak, he spent more time coughing than speaking.)

Coriolanus said to Katniss, “First things first. Walk over to the right side of my bed, and reach under the mattress about a meter away from the headboard. Feel around for an envelope I have hidden there. Take the envelope.”

Katniss found the document-sized envelope, but only after her left arm went almost to her shoulder under the mattress. No way would anyone have discovered this envelope accidentally!

Coriolanus told Katniss, “Don’t lose it, and don’t let anyone steal it.” Katniss stuck the envelope inside her blouse.

Now Coriolanus tried to smile like a genial host as he looked at all the newcomers. “Welcome to the Presidential Mansion.”

Effie said, “Hello, Mr. President, it’s good to see you again.” For several seconds, the sick man in the bed looked at her in puzzlement.

Then Coriolanus smiled (or tried to). “Ah, Miss Trinket. Your new look flatters you.”

Then he looked at Katniss. “Please introduce me to the two other women you brought. Pretend I never met Miss Churchill.”

Katniss presented the darker-skinned woman first. “President Snow, this is Distaff Paylor, from District Eight. She was a floor supervisor at Capitol Wool Clothing, but she will become my Chief of Staff when I become president.”

Paylor took a step forward. “Hello, Mr. President,” she said in a matter-of-fact voice. Katniss noticed that Paylor did not offer her hand to shake, nor did Paylor say It’s a pleasure to meet you.

Coriolanus’s face showed disapproval. “Distaff Paylor, from District Eight. I have heard your name before.”

Paylor stood straighter, and jutted her chin out. “Good.”

Coriolanus was silent for a second; in that second, Katniss glanced around. The Victor-bodyguards, Gamma, Effie, and Minerva all were staring at Paylor in shock; and Pietus and Hefaestus looked like they were thinking about tackling Paylor to the ground.

Then Coriolanus pasted on his genial-host smile (or tried to). “Your qualities that make you a formidable enemy also make you a valuable ally, Miss Paylor. Katniss chose well in hiring you.”

Katniss shot Peeta a quick smile of relief, then gestured toward Gamma. “President Snow, this is Gamma Churchill, who was in high school until earlier today. But I’ve hired her as my book-explainer; here in the Capitol, she will be my chief researcher. Eventually I plan to appoint her as my Minister of Education. She’s as smart as Beetee and Wiress.”

Coriolanus, amid coughing, asked Gamma, “Are you related to the husband and wife Churchills who both were killed in the mine explosion?” Katniss guessed that he remembered Gamma’s parents’ names from the list of thirty-seven killed miners because Gamma’s parents shared a name with a Victor.

Now Gamma looked surprised at the question. “They were my parents. They died when I was nine.”

“So you are an orphan? You lived at the Community Home until today?”

Katniss said, “Coriolanus, I’m confused why you are asking Gamma these questions.”

Coriolanus held up a hand with index finger up; Give me a moment. Then he said to Gamma, “Your clothes are simple, but they are unstained and they are not obviously old. By District Twelve standards, you are dressed well; by Capitol standards, you look like a servant girl on her day off. How many other outfits did you bring with you that look as good as this one?”

“Um...”

Katniss said, “I’ve bought her two head-to-toe outfits. Getting Gamma to actually accept them was like shooting a hummingbird in a windstorm.”

Gamma glared at Katniss. “Because I don’t fucking accept charity!”

Coriolanus asked Gamma, “Miss Churchill, this is important: Did you come here with only one other good outfit, or did you bring more clothing than this, but the rest is orphanage clothing?”

“One other nice outfit, but mostly orphanage clothes,” Gamma answered, her voice sounding as puzzled as Katniss felt. Katniss had no clue why Coriolanus was asking these questions.

Gamma looked at Katniss and added, “Mrs. Monescu gave me all the clothes in my dresser. It’s a rule for anyone leaving the Home, it ain’t charity. I let her keep my Reaping dress—it’s too small for me now.”

Coriolanus in his bed now looked at Katniss. “Miss Churchill will be spending much time in the National Library, in the months and years ahead. Before she goes to the National Library even briefly, I want to buy her ten head-to-toe outfits, including accessories. More than ten, if there is time enough tonight. I am being practical, Katniss.”

Gamma sputtered, “Why are you asking Katniss? Hey there, I’m the one being offered charity! And charity from...” Luckily, Gamma caught herself before she said And charity from YOU!

The sick man glared at the orphan. “Miss Churchill, your coloring marks you as from District Twelve; this will never change. Your accent is strongly District Twelve; and since Haymitch Abernathy still sounds like a coal miner after twenty-six years, I expect no better from you while I am alive. Meanwhile in the National Library, all the people who work there are Capitols—proud Capitols, I am sure—and for the first few months, you will continually need their help as you do research. But how much help will they give you when you walk in there both looking and sounding like a coal-grubber orphan? No help at all, and when you cannot complete your research because you are not respected, you harm my successor, for whom you work now. In buying you clothes, I am being practical. As for charity, I do not give charity to monkeys, I never have, and I never will!”

Gamma’s fists were clenched and her face was red, but somehow she was making herself not yell. Everyone else—even Pietus, Hefaestus, and Minerva—looked stunned.

Effie broke the silence to say nervously, “Mr. President, that was rude.”

Cashmere said to Coriolanus, “Look again at the girl you picked as your successor. Katniss has the same coloring as Gamma; Katniss has the same accent. If Gamma is a monkey, Katniss is a monkey too.”

Coriolanus snapped, “Katniss is the exception!”

Hammerhead said to Gamma, “Let him buy you clothing. Every PD he’s willing to spend on you, let him spend it. Because One, for as long as this man has been looting the districts, we district people should get some of his money back. Two, rainbows are as shallow and fixated on silly looks as district people think—trust me, rainbows are even worse than you think. No offense, Minerva and Effie. So yes, Gamma, I expect that rainbow librarians will laugh at you if they don’t approve of how you’re dressed. Three, I’ve seen you in your orphanage clothes, Gamma—and wearing those clothes in this city is worse than walking around naked.”

Coriolanus glared at Hammerhead and asked, “Are you done insulting both me and my people?”

Katniss said, “As president, your people are Capitol and district. They’re both.”

Hammerhead said to Coriolanus, “Until you declared Katniss to be your successor, I had the same hobby as Distaff Paylor.” Coriolanus’s eyes went wide. Hammerhead added, “It delights me that you never learned of this. I guess Septicus Kopf was too busy flogging Victors in his dungeon to uncover my secret.”

The outcome of this argument was that Gamma agreed to clothes-shopping in the Capitol, along with Minerva (who had Grandpa’s credit card), Effie (who knew Capitol fashions, but who also had spent much time around District Twelve orphan girls), and Distaff (who knew clothing construction).

Peeta talked Katniss into going with the others, even though he knew Katniss had no interest in clothes-shopping.

As Katniss turned to walk out of the bedroom with four other women and girls, Coriolanus said, “Enjoy your evening, Katniss. Beginning at breakfast tomorrow, I shall teach you the specifics of being president of Panem.”

****

Lots of clothes—and belts, and scarves, and jewelry—were bought for Gamma that night. But Katniss, with her own money, bought herself one item of clothing: a red-lace teddy.

Back at the Presidential Mansion, hours later, Katniss wore the teddy in the Mellarks’ assigned bedroom; this inspired Peeta to help Katniss make a baby.

Chapter Text

The next morning, in Snow’s bedroom

As soon as Katniss and Peeta (and nobody else) walked into Coriolanus’s bedroom, Coriolanus looked at Katniss and chuckled (which turned into a cough). “This—I dying of natural causes in my own bed—is not how I expected my life to end.”

Katniss replied, “Why? Did you expect some Capitol person to murder you?

“No, no. Before I discovered you were my soulmate, I expected a Rebellion to break out sometime after your stunt with the berries. And while I expected Distaff Paylor to take a big role in this Second Rebellion, I expected you, Katniss, to take up a bigger role. I have imagined you somehow sneaking into the Presidential Mansion and arrowing me as I slept in this bed. I imagined District Thirteen’s mayor hauling me to District Thirteen and executing me by firing squad, after you helped the Rebellion win. But in none of my imaginings about my death were district people peaceful, Rebellion plots had withered away, and my life did end by dying naturally instead of being killed. It is ironic, is it not, that the same young woman whom I once feared would murder me in my bed, instead has given me a longer and more peaceful life?”

****

Katniss and Peeta ate breakfast with Coriolanus in a meal so private that not even Avoxes or Snow’s bodyguards were present. If anyone wanted more food, Peeta walked to the bedroom door, opened the door, and passed on the message to the Avox waiting outside. Minutes later, when the Avox walked into the bedroom to deliver the food, Coriolanus went as silent as the Avox was, until the Avox left.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the Presidential Mansion, Distaff Paylor, Effie Trinket, and Gamma Churchill were eating breakfast with Snow’s chief of staff, office manager, and chief researcher.

The Victor-bodyguards were allowed to sleep late, a privilege that was only seldom given them.

****

A little later, at 9 a.m.

Coriolanus acted surprised when Katniss offered to help him move from his bed to his motorized wheelchair, instead of having an Avox do it. Once Coriolanus was in his wheelchair, he, Katniss, and Peeta went to the president’s grand office.

Katniss blinked when she saw the richly-decorated room for the first time.

Enough mahogany is in this room to make Effie burst out singing was Katniss’s first thought.

Behind the desk was a high-backed chair on rollers. The president pushed the chair out of the way, then moved his wheelchair behind the desk so that he could reach the computer keyboard.

Coriolanus said to Katniss, “Behind me is the president’s safe”—which was huge—“and one of the papers in your envelope tells you the combination to the safe and tells how to change the combination. My advice is, Change the combination as soon as I die.”

“Okay,” Katniss said.

“Meanwhile, in front of me is the president’s computer, which is actually more important to a spy than the safe is. Whereas a spy would need to spend time alone in my office in order to break into the safe—which Peacekeepers do not let happen—anyone with panemnet access can try to break into this computer. Never forget that nobody but you can stop your enemies from reading what’s on this computer. I have more to say about this in the envelope I gave you.”

Coriolanus laid his hands on the keyboard. “Now, let’s create an Administrator-level account for you. Katniss, you creating a password for this account will be the most important thing you do today.”

Katniss thought and thought. When it came time to type in her password, she typed: PrimPeetaAloeeveryoneelseButtercup2698.

Katniss grinned at the two men in the room as she said, “My password is the names of people I love, in the order I love them, followed by the year I was born.” She counted up the black dots. “It’s thirty-eight letters and numbers long.”

Coriolanus grinned at her. “Very good. District Three shall not find it easy to sneak into this computer after you become president.”

Katniss looked at Coriolanus with one of her eyebrows raised. “I’m not worried about District Three, I’m worried about rainbows trying to bust into this computer. My enemies are the reverse of yours.”

****

At 10 a.m.
In the ring-table meeting room of the Presidential Mansion

Katniss sat a decimeter away from Coriolanus, on his right. Peeta sat just as close to Katniss, on Katniss’s right. The other seats at the round table were filled by President Snow’s Cabinet ministers, some of whom had looked offended at seeing Katniss and Peeta in the room.

But luckily, not all of the ministers were unfriendly to the Co-Victors. Ovida Allsop, the Minister of Transportation, had given Katniss and Peeta a grandmotherly smile as she had taken her seat.

Now Ovida had just finished her report. Katniss said to Ovida, “I have a question about the Peacekeeper Roads between districts. How would they need to be upgraded, and how would repairing them change, if anyone with a car or truck could drive on them, not just Peacekeepers?”

Ovida gave Katniss a measuring look and said, “That depends on the traffic. And the traffic depends on whether the current rule about district people needing permission to go to a different district, is in place.”

“Why wouldn’t it be?” someone asked. “Districts don’t need outside agitators riling up their people.”

Both Katniss and Ovida ignored the interruption. Ovida continued, “If every time a truck that is loaded down with food and that wants to leave District Eleven, must get advanced permission from MOT, then not too many trucks will be leaving Eleven. In this case I think nothing would change, so far as the roads go. However, if this imaginary District Eleven truck can leave Eleven anytime it wants, then the game changes big-time, and we at the MOT would need to do a lot of data-gathering and computer-modeling. One thing I can tell you right now: All the roads to and from District Four would need to be widened, because people from everywhere in Panem would want to drive to Four for a vacation.”

The replacement Minister of Security asked, “Why do we need to let district people drive on those roads anyways? What happens if the Peacekeepers need to use those roads, but they can’t because district people are putt-putting along the road, sightseeing?”

The Minister of District Affairs said, “Besides, district people don’t own cars.”

Peeta said, “This is true. Why is it true?”

Katniss said, “Why should district people be allowed to drive on those roads? Besides the fact Panem is their country too, it’s because for seventy-four years, the tax on sponsor gifts when district children went into arenas, helped pay for those roads.”

A voice with a Capitol accent said, “Is this the only way you can win an argument? Everything with you district people is always ‘the Games, the Games, the Games.’ ”

Peeta said, “Sir, I understand your attitude. Effie Trinket used to complain how expensive it was that wig colors would go in and out of fashion, she actually worried about going broke, but I found it hard to feel sympathy for her. Mainly because I think wig-wearing is silly—why cover up perfectly good hair?—so Effie had a problem I knew I would never have. I understand you, it’s easy to be a heartless bastard around somebody when you know that what he’s scared might happen to him, will never happen to you.”

Katniss said to the room, “Parents in Twelve would be thrilled if clothes were cheaper because trucks came directly from Eight to Twelve without the clothes going to the Capitol. The Capitol loves to mark up the price a lot before sending the clothes to the districts.”

The Minister of the Treasury said, “Wow, that’s selfish. You would hurt the livelihood of people in the Capitol just so district people”—he sneered the words—“can get a lower price on velvet children’s pants?”

“No, I would hurt the livelihood of gougers and robbers so that district people can pay lower prices on underwear and socks. And 50-kilogram sacks of flour. And roofing tarpaper.”

The Minister of Food and Medicine said, “Here’s my worry, if suddenly we allow district people to go from anywhere to anywhere else without needing permission: What’s to stop them from sneaking into the Capitol, robbing our homes, slitting our throats in our sleep, and skedaddling back home before their crimes are discovered?”

Peeta said, “And how are these monkey thieves supposed to get to the Capitol, commit their dastardly deeds, then go home? By walking? Because among district people, only Victors can even imagine owning a car. And district parents whose children need to take out tesserae especially don’t make plans to buy a car.”

Katniss added, “Actually, if there is a problem, it goes the other way. If I open up the Peacekeeper Roads to car traffic, I need to start worrying about my sister Prim getting killed in her bed by some purple-wigged pervert who owns a car.”

Some of the ministers frowned deeply, clearly not liking Katniss’s disrespectful reference to Septicus Kopf. Katniss did not care.

After Coriolanus ended the meeting, of all the ministers who were present, only Ovida Allsop walked up to Katniss. Ovida said to Katniss, “I look forward to working with you in the future. You have exciting ideas.”

After Ovida walked out, Katniss said sarcastically to Peeta and Coriolanus, “That went well.”

****

After this, Coriolanus, Katniss, and Peeta returned to the president’s office. They spent hours going over reports that came into the president’s office. Coriolanus taught Katniss and Peeta how the reports were important, and what parts of the reports to pay special attention to.

At three in the afternoon, coughing Coriolanus told the Co-Victors, “I am tired. Let us continue this tomorrow.”

After the future president and her husband took the current president back to his bedroom, Peeta asked Katniss, “What now?”

Katniss replied, “I told Gamma this morning that when Whatzisname Dexter, Snow’s chief researcher, takes Gamma to the Panem National Library to introduce Gamma to the librarians, I want to go too. So if Whatzisname Dexter hasn’t gone home yet, let’s all four of us go to the library.”

Peeta grinned. “You know that if the National Library has illustrated books about pre-Catastrophes art, you’ll never get me to leave, right?”

****

Minutes later, just outside the Panem National Library (PNL)

The Panem National Library was twelve stories tall. Hammerhead and Cashmere had just entered through the revolving doors. Right before Lartius Dexter, Katniss, Peeta, and Gamma (and Gloss and Johanna) entered the tall building, Gamma said, “All this is books?”

It seemed to Katniss that Lartius did not know what to think about Gamma. Speaking carefully, he replied, “Yes, everything above the ground floor is books. The top four floors are pre-Catastrophes books from all over the world.”

“Wow, y’all, I am home,” Gamma said.

Lartius looked at Gamma, his face surprised.

****

A half-hour later

The PNL’s Head Librarian, Deverra Wagner, had mentioned within ten seconds of meeting Katniss that she had been personally appointed to her head-librarian position by President Snow. It was not hard at all for even Katniss, as clueless as she was, to figure out that Deverra Wagner thought Coriolanus Snow was the greatest thing to hit the Capitol since pink wigs. Now Deverra was personally leading Katniss, Peeta, and Gamma on a tour of the PNL.

The four pre-Catastrophes floors were interesting, even to Katniss and Peeta; those floors set Gamma close to drooling. The pre-Catastrophes books were not on bookshelves, they were in drawers. Each book was in an opaque plastic box (because the binding had failed in every case, so the “book” was now only loose pages). Copy machines were not to be found on those four floors, and book bags and pens had to be handed over to each floor’s librarians; but fortunately, blank paper and pencils were freely available. Also, every page of every pre-Catastrophes book had been digitally scanned, and so was available as searchable text, downloadable text, or downloadable page-images. Page-images also were viewable, on huge 1 meter-by-1 meter viewing screens.

Now Deverra Wagner was leading the District Twelve VIPs on a tour of the eighth floor, on which were found books that had been written by district authors after the Catastrophes. Needless to say, almost all of the books had been written before the Dark Days, so now were falling apart. Katniss wondered how long it would be before these books also would be put in plastic boxes—or if the Capitol-raised librarians would even bother.

As Katniss and her group were tour-guided around the eighth floor, they passed a table at which three Capitol high-schoolers—two boys and a girl—were doing homework.

Right afterward, Katniss heard—

A teenage girl’s voice said, “Hey guys, guys! Look there, that’s Katniss and Peeta! And Gloss, and Cashmere, and Johanna, and the Victor who’s named after a shark.”

One of the Capitol teen boys said, “What are they all doing here in the PNL? Is there some kind of Victor event here that I don’t know about?”

The teenage girl’s voice: “There are many things you don’t know about, Henricus.”

“Oh, Hermesia, my feelings are so hurt, I’ll—shit, PNN was saying last week that Snow hasn’t been seen in public in weeks.”

The girl said, “I suppose. So?”

Henricus’s voice said, “Don’t you see? I’ll bet Snow is close to dying, so Katniss Mellark will become president soon, so she’s in training now.”

A different male voice said, “Snow really is setting her up to take over? Even though she’s our age, and she’s district? Huh.”

The teen girl asked, “Who’s the girl with Katniss who looks Twelve-y like Katniss? Is that Primrose?”

Henricus said, “No, dummy, Primrose is blond. But whoever this girl is, she’s—”

Gamma angrily turned toward the Capitol high-schoolers. Katniss was sure that Gamma would say something creatively rude to them. But a second later, Gamma turned back to Deverra Wagner, and Gamma was smiling.

During a moment when Peeta and the Head Librarian were talking, Katniss murmured to Gamma, “I was sure you were going to rip the heads off those snobby rainbow kids. Why’d you change your mind?”

“Because they’re not snobby about us, they admire us. Well, they admire y’all. And a boy in their group is crushing on me. I’ve never had a boy like me before—it’s nice.”

Katniss frowned. “How can you say these things? You can’t read their minds.”

Gamma made the rocking-hand gesture. “This is true, but I can read their feelings.” Gamma said this as if she were speaking proven fact.

Katniss looked at Gamma in surprise.

****

Thirty-three days later: December 20, 2716

Katniss, Peeta, and Gamma all had studied like crazy, then had taken the District Twelve High School senior-level final exams. Effie had administered the tests.

If someone had needed to use the bathroom between tests, Effie had insisted that he or she be accompanied to the bathroom by a Victor-bodyguard, whose job it had been to make sure that the teenager did not pull any kind of test-cheating stunt in the bathroom.

All three Twelves had passed all of their exams—though Katniss was sure that in her case, passing had been a close thing.

Katniss had assigned Gamma to a detailed research project: How every district and the Capitol had been on the first day of the Dark Days Rebellion, how they were now, and how they had each changed during those seventy-eight years. A little over a month later, Gamma still was working on this research project; and so Katniss and Peeta saw Gamma only at meals.

Peeta, after Katniss had bribed on bended knee, had taught the Presidential Mansion baker how to make cheese buns. Minerva Snow had promptly developed an addiction to cheese buns.

Katniss had passed on Haymitch’s request to Effie that she please call him. Effie never actually told Katniss whether she and Haymitch had talked, or how often she and Haymitch talked; but Peeta had commented about how “happy and relaxed these days” Effie was.

Once when Coriolanus, Katniss, and Peeta had been having another meeting with Snow’s Cabinet, Gamma had come in briefly to drop off a road map for pre-Catastrophes North America. Gamma had been in the ring-table room for less than two minutes.

Even so, that night, Gamma had told Katniss, “Only the woman”—Ovida Allsop—“and the man with the black-dyed hair”—Leonardus Chadwick—“are on your side. Two of the men don’t know what to think about you, and the rest are scheming how they can fuck you over when you take over.” Hearing those words, Katniss had been amazed that Gamma’s impressions, after only seconds in the room, had matched Peeta’s, when Katniss believed Peeta had the best people-sense in Panem.

Katniss had learned what was in the big envelope that she had pulled out from under Coriolanus’s bed. Mainly what was in the envelope were step-by-step instructions how to do important tasks on the presidential computer.

For instance, for any room that had hidden video and audio surveillance, Katniss had learned how to divert the outputs directly to the presidential computer; and Katniss had learned how to turn off video and audio surveillance for a room or even a building. Also, it turned out that every “secure” system in Panem was wide open when the president wanted to tap into it. For instance, it had been the work of only seconds for Katniss to learn how many PDs were in Johanna Mason’s bank account.

Katniss did not say much to Coriolanus beyond vague comments about him being “evil,” but the more she learned about how he used his computer, the more disgusted with him she felt. Yes, with just a little work, she could sit at this computer and pull up coal-production figures from Twelve, going back seventy-two years, or she could sit here and fetch the figures for wool production in District Ten; but were these the only things this computer could do? No, this computer also had many ways to spy on people, especially district people. All these spy-programs were unneeded; they were evil.

All this was the state of Katniss and her presidential-transition team on December 20, 2716.

The afternoon of December 20th, 2716 was two years (and several hours) since Coriolanus had told the Co-Victors that Katniss would be the next president of Panem. This later December 20th was an ordinary day in the snow-covered Capitol. Gamma was in the Panem National Library at the time, and Katniss and Peeta were in the bathroom of their bedroom in the Presidential Mansion.

****

In the Panem National Library

Gamma was sitting at a table on the eighth floor, surrounded by papers. She was trying to sketch a “before the Dark Days versus now” map of District Four. Ten meters away, she heard a young male voice say, “It’s her, the District Twelve girl!”

Gamma glanced up, looking in the direction of the voice. She saw the same three Capitol high-schoolers whom she had seen on her first day at the library, five weeks ago.

Gamma nodded at the two Capitol boys and one Capitol girl, then Gamma returned to her work.

Seconds later, the green-wigged boy named Henricus was standing at Gamma’s table; a half-second later, the blue-wigged teen girl and the blue-wigged other teen boy had followed Henricus to Gamma’s table.

Gamma’s admirer said, “Um, hi, I’m Henricus. You’re, uh—you’re with Katniss and Peeta, right?”

Gamma said, “Yes, I am. I’m Gamma Churchill, Katniss’s chief researcher. Actually, till Katniss becomes president, I’m her only researcher.”

Henricus made introductions. He was Henricus, his sister was Hermesia, and the other boy was Segundus. They attended Rocky Mountains High School. The boys were seniors; Hermesia was a junior.

The Capitol kids knew their manners: Nobody tried to shake Gamma’s hand till she offered it—but once Gamma offered her hand, Henricus was the first to shake it. No surprise.

Hermesia asked, “So what’s Katniss like?”

Gamma replied, “She’s kind, she’s brave like you can’t imagine, she helps the helpless, and she has a will of iron if you fuck with her. She’s spooky good with a bow and arrow. She loves Peeta and he loves her; it’s beautiful to see.”

Segundus asked, “And you’re not worried she maybe can’t do the job as president?”

Gamma leaned forward and eyed the Capitol kids. “Katniss at eighteen is already more fit to be president than every grown-up I know in Twelve, and every grown-up I know in the Capitol—at least the Capitols I see on holo. I’m not even slightly worried.”

The Capitol kids were silent for a second. Then Henricus asked what Gamma was working on; Gamma told him about her “before the Dark Days, versus now” research project.

“Wow, you sound smart,” Henricus said, his eyes glowing.

Gamma secretly was grinning at the praise; but outwardly, she only shrugged. “Being smart is why Katniss hired me.”

“Um, can I ask a question?” Hermesia said. “Your clothes are nice, but why aren’t you wearing a wig? Black hair is—well, it’s boring.”

“Wow, sis,” Henricus said, “be rude to the Twelve girl, why don’t you?”

Gamma the Community Home orphan of two years ago would have screamed at this rainbow bitch in the nastiest sentences Gamma could think up. But now Gamma was working for the next president of Panem, so Gamma was feeling good. Mellow Gamma looked at Hermesia and said, almost calmly, “How very visible spectrum of you.”

“What?” Hermesia said.

Henricus laughed at his sister. “Gamma just called you a rainbow, and it went right over your head. Told you she’s smart.”

Then Henricus turned to look at Gamma, and suddenly his body was a flashing neon sign saying “NERVOUS! NERVOUS! NERVOUS!”

“Um, Gamma,” Henricus stammered, “would you like to go out with me sometime?”

****

Meanwhile
In the bathroom of the Mellarks’ bedroom in the Presidential Mansion

Katniss was puking into the toilet; Peeta was standing behind her, holding her loose hair out of the way. (Effie had persuaded Katniss not to style her hair into her default single braid, so long as Katniss was staying in the Presidential Mansion.)

When Katniss finally stood up, Peeta said worriedly, “Maybe you have a little food poisoning. Or the flu.”

Katniss said, just before she rinsed out her mouth with mouthwash, “ ‘Morning sickness’ doesn’t hit only in the morning, Peeta.”

Peeta grinned. “Wow, Katniss, you really think you could be preg—”

BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM! Minerva’s voice yelled through the hallway door, “Katniss! Peeta! Please open up!”

Katniss’s reflection looked at Peeta. “Tell Minerva I’ll be there after I brush my teeth.”

Peeta hurried out of the bathroom. After he opened the hallway door, Minerva blurted out two sentences. Peeta nodded; he and Katniss had been expecting this news for weeks.

Peeta walked back to teeth-brushing Katniss and said, “He’s called for his family. And for us.”

Less than a minute later, Peeta and Katniss stepped into the hallway. Waiting in the hallway were Minerva, looking frightened; Minerva’s man-and-woman bodyguards, looking stunned; and the Victor-bodyguards, looking serious. Katniss said to Hammerhead, “Go find Disti”—Paylor—“and Effie, and have them wait with you outside the bedroom. Gamma is at the library; leave her there.”

Hammerhead nodded and hurried away, as he talked into his shoulder-radio.

****

In Snow’s bedroom

When Minerva, Katniss, and Peeta rushed into the room, Augustus Snow and his wife Irmina was gathered around President Snow’s bed. Irmina was crying. Augustus’s face had no tear-tracks, Peeta noticed; but Peeta did notice that Augustus’s eyes were shiny with unshed tears.

President Snow was gasping for breath as if he had just run a race, and he was coughing almost nonstop. Near the bed stood a Capitol man with a stethoscope around his neck; he looked frustrated.

“Everyone is here,” Snow said (amid coughs). “Delightful.”

Peeta blurted out, “Katniss thinks she’s pregnant.”

Minerva flashed the Mellarks a smile. Minerva’s parents showed no reaction to the news. Snow tried to say something, could not, and settled for gesturing a thumb-up.

Snow said, “Katniss, when”—cough-cough-cough—“you...”

Snow’s coughing stopped. His face relaxed as he sighed.

Katniss gasped. “My leg! Ice touched it!”

The doctor ran his stethoscope over President Snow’s unmoving chest, looked at his watch, and wrote something on a clipboard. Then the doctor reached out with a hand and closed President Snow’s eyes.

Peeta said to Minerva and her parents, “I’m sorry for your loss.”

Katniss said, “Uh, yeah, me too.” Peeta recognized Katniss’s “distracted” face.

****

Minutes later
In the grand office of the president of Panem
(Formerly Snow’s office)

As Katniss spoke her vows as president, she was live on hologram all over Panem.

Ahead of time, Katniss had not asked for a holo-camera and cameraman, but Effie had figured out that Katniss would need both when the time came.

It had been centuries since a president of Panem had been required to speak a specific oath when taking office. Coriolanus Snow, Justinian Heavensbee before Snow, and several presidents before Heavensbee each had written his own oath/vow. And so had Katniss Mellark written her own presidential vow, with two years to prepare her words.

Now Katniss rested her left hand on a chiseled woodcarving of the Seal of Panem. Katniss raised her right hand. As Distaff Paylor, Effie Trinket, Aloysius Forrest, and Minerva Snow looked on, Katniss read from the paper that Peeta was holding—

“As president of Panem, I vow that every person in Panem, whether Capitol or district, whether rich or poor, will be equal before the law. I vow that no undeserving person will be oppressed, whether by me, my government, or those who are stronger and richer. No longer will I continue vengeance against the districts, and I vow that I will not begin vengeance against people of the Capitol. The president of Panem, Coriolanus Snow, designated me as his successor and he is now dead—”

Katniss now looked straight into the camera.

“I, Katniss Everdeen Mellark, am now the president of Panem.”

****

Minutes later, in District Thirteen

Col. Peter Boggs was up topside, doing calisthenics on the snowy ground with a company of men, when Junior-Lieutenant Delacroix ran up to Boggs and saluted. “Sir, President Coin orders you to Command.”

Boggs blinked; the order was completely unexpected. “Are we under attack?”

“She did not tell me why she was ordering you there, sir.”

Boggs hurried down to Command as fast as he could move.

When Boggs and Junior-Lieutenant Delacroix entered Command, President Alma Coin was standing (she usually sat). Coin was holding a sealed envelope.

“Follow me to my quarters,” Coin ordered. Without waiting for Boggs to acknowledge, Coin turned and walked toward the door.

Once the two of them were in Alma Coin’s personal quarters and the door was shut, Coin handed Boggs the envelope. “Your orders,” she said.

Inside the envelope were a sheet of text (his orders), a one-page map, and a 5-centimeter optical disk.

Boggs read his orders, looked over the map, then put everything back in the envelope. He stared down Coin and said, “As your chief military advisor, I tell you that these orders are unwise in the extreme. No disrespect, ma’am, but they’re lunacy.”

Coin’s voice calmed, which actually meant that now she was angry: “Are you refusing to carry out these orders?”

Boggs thought about saying Yes, I refuse; he truly weighed his choices. But even as he fantasized about taking a stand, he knew that Coin would just put someone else in charge.

“No,” he finally said.

Coin’s triumphant smile was small and eyeblink-brief, but Boggs saw it. Coldly she said, “Begin the operation when everyone and everything is ready, or 168 hours from now, whichever comes first.”

Col. Boggs saluted and left Coin’s quarters, all the while thinking This is not what I signed up for!

Chapter Text

On the eighth floor of the Panem National Library

Henricus Dixon had just asked Gamma Churchill for a date. Gamma had smiled at Henricus but had otherwise kept calm, giving no clue at all that this was the first time she had ever been asked out. (And by a Capitol, no less.)

“Sure, I’ll go out with you,” Gamma said.

Henricus grinned at his sister and at Segundus, then asked Gamma, “How about Friday at 5:30? We could grab something to eat, then catch a basketball game at my high-school gym. You do like basketball, right?”

Gamma said, “You play basketball outside of gym class?” Gamma did not mention to these Capitol kids that District Twelve had only one high school, and travel to high schools in other districts was forbidden, so there was no point in forming a high-school basketball team. Meanwhile, no Seam kid could afford a basketball, and Townie kids all worked for their parents after school, so had no time for group recreation.

“Yeah,” replied Henricus, clearly puzzled by Gamma’s question. “This Friday, the Rocky Mountains Knights basketball team is hosting the Heavensbee Wasps.”

“Heavensbee?” Gamma replied. “Is this Justinian Heavensbee”—the president of Panem during the Dark Days—“or Plutarch Heavensbee, the Gamemaker”?

Henricus’s sister Hermesia asked, “Why would anyone name a high school after a Gamemaker?”

Gamma replied carefully, “Because you Capitols love the Hunger Games so much. If anyplace named a school after a Gamemaker, it would be here.”

Then Gamma turned to smile at Henricus. “Sure, dinner and a high-school basketball game sounds fun. How about I meet you at the Presidential Mansion’s north-side Peacekeeper station, Friday at 5:30? It’s close to the parking lot.”

All three Capitols blinked. Segundus said, “You’re staying in the Presidential Mansion?”

“Hello?” Gamma replied, grinning. “President Snow is putting us up for free, and the food is killer.”

Just then a woman’s voice came from a speaker in the ceiling: “Attention, patrons of the Panem National Library: President Snow is dead. Katniss Mellark just has spoken her presidential vows and is now the president of Panem.”

Segundus said, “Snow is dead? It’s the end of an era.”

Gamma replied, “And Katniss is president. This is the start of a new era.”

****

Meanwhile, in the Presidential Mansion
In Snow’s—in Katniss’s grand office

Seconds earlier, Katniss had spoken her presidential vows, and the holo-camera lights had just shut off. Now, Katniss’s team of Peeta, Distaff, and Effie, and Coriolanus’s granddaughter and Chief of Staff, all looked stunned.

“Congratulations, Madam President,” said Aloysius Forrest, Snow’s Chief of Staff. His handshake was stiff.

Minerva walked up to Katniss and said seriously, “I know you will do well. Grandpa had confidence in you.”

Katniss said to Minerva, “This means a lot to me, believe me. Minerva, would you go fetch your parents and bring them here?”

“ ‘Bring them here, please,’ ” Effie corrected, though with a smile. Peeta and the Victor-bodyguards all were grinning, but Distaff Paylor shot Effie a disapproving look.

Katniss rolled her eyes. “Bring your parents here, please.”

Katniss walked Minerva to the doorway. In the hallway stood the man and woman who had been, until minutes ago, Minerva’s bodyguards. The man-bodyguard asked Katniss, “Ma’am, what do you want us to do now?”

Katniss said, “Go get all the Snow-family bodyguards and bring them here. I’ll meet with all of you bodyguards at the same time I meet with the Snow family.”

Ten minutes later, Augustus, Irmina, and Minerva Snow were sitting in comfortable chairs in the grand office. Effie sat in another comfortable chair. Distaff stood against a wall and watched everyone else. The Victor-bodyguards stood with their backs to the windows. Peeta for the moment was sitting; but since Katniss was pacing nervously, she knew that Peeta would jump up if she needed him to.

The former bodyguards walked into the grand office, with Pietus and Hefaestus in the lead. Hefaestus and Pietus made a point of removing the shoulder-radio, badge, and holstered pistol that they each was wearing, and laying the items on a side table; the other former bodyguards copied Coriolanus’s bodyguards’ actions. Katniss saw the Victor-bodyguards relax once they were the only armed men and women in the room.

Once the former bodyguards all had disarmed themselves, as a group they walked ten meters away. They stood together—none of them took seats—and looked at Katniss expectantly.

Katniss asked the former bodyguards about death benefits and their retirement. Pietus and Hefaestus, acting as spokesmen for the other former bodyguards, said that their retirement was 50 percent of their last monthly salary, and their death benefit was ten years at their last monthly salary.

(Katniss had to work hard not to scowl. Her father had done work just as dangerous as guarding a president, and had died for it, but Snow’s government had decided that Pick Everdeen’s death was worth only one month’s salary.)

Now Katniss said, “I’ll make the same promise to my bodyguards, about death benefits and retirement. As for y’all, I’ll honor Coriolanus’s promise to you about your retirements—which start now.”

Pietus, Hefaestus, and the others did not smile, thank her, or look relieved, they merely nodded.

Katniss now looked at both the former bodyguards and at the Snow family. “All of you are living in Coriolanus’s mansion, which is now my mansion. I will give each of you thirty days to move out.”

Augustus Snow sighed. “I suppose this is fair, considering I have no claim to living here anymore.”

Johanna said, “Are your feelings hurt because you’re not president now? Boo-hoo, poor baby. Buster, I don’t know you worth shit, but even I have figured out you’re a wimp. Whereas Katniss has balls when she needs them, but she’s also kind. Bottom line: Katniss deserves this, you don’t, suck it up.”

Minerva said quietly, “Ahem, Daddy? When I asked Grandpa why he didn’t pick you or me, he said the same thing: You and I are too soft.”

Minerva’s father sighed.

Minerva looked at Katniss and said, “Grandpa told me that when you needed to kill in your Games, you killed without hesitation, and this is a big reason he picked you. But Grandpa also said that if he’d shown even a quarter of the kindness to the districts that you showed that little girl from Eleven, the Rebellion would never have lifted off the ground. So another reason Grandpa picked you was because he thought maybe you’ll be better as president than he was.”

Katniss smiled at the other teen girl. “Minerva, you’re a good friend. After you move out, Peeta and I will want to invite you back here many times. Prim will too, once she’s here. Don’t be a stranger.”

Cashmere grinned at Minerva. “Please note that you’re not the president’s granddaughter anymore, so expect thorough patdowns whenever you visit.”

****

Minutes later

After the Snow family and the retired bodyguards left, Katniss called a meeting of herself, Peeta, Distaff, and Effie.

Katniss said, “Let me explain to all of you how this is going to work. Peeta is my advisor—officially he has no authority and no other duties. But Distaff and Effie, Peeta having no authority, this is officially. I absolutely trust him, and I can’t imagine Peeta ever coming to you and saying ‘Katniss said such-and-so’ when I didn’t say such-and-so or I said something different.”

Peeta smiled at Katniss and said, “I’m glad you understand I would never betray your trust.” He squeezed her hand.

Katniss resumed: “Distaff, you are Chief of Staff, which means you are queen of the Presidential Mansion. But you are not queen of the government; your authority stops at the grass outside. But within these walls, you can hire and fire and make rules. Effie as office manager works for you; but Distaff, only I can fire Effie—and I can’t imagine myself ever doing this.”

“Okay,” Distaff said, giving Effie a dubious look. Katniss had already figured out that Distaff thought Effie was a typical Capitol airhead.

Katniss said, “Effie, besides the scheduling and report-handling that you expect, I will be commissioning a new constitution to be written and I’ll be creating a new government, so lots and lots of paperwork will come through your office. Distaff and Effie, plan accordingly.”

Effie’s chin was up, her eyes were bright, and her smile was on. “I won’t disappoint you, ma’am.”

“Both of you, hire good Capitol people and good district people to do the work. Don’t worry how the district people will get here—travel restrictions are about to get junked.”

Peeta said, “Um, Katniss? How does Gamma fit in?”

Katniss said, “Distaff, Gamma works directly for me, so you can’t supervise her work or fire her; but if Gamma asks for an unscheduled meeting with me, you can tell her when and if the meeting will happen.”

Katniss looked around. “Any questions?” Silence. “Now if you’ll excuse me, Peeta and I have to polish up my first official speech as president.”

****

7 p.m. that evening, Capitol time
(9 p.m. in District 11 and District 12)

President Katniss gave her first address to the nation. But she spoke not in her grand office, nor in the news-media room, but inside the roses-greenhouse—

Cinna had dressed her—her knee-length dress was well-tailored but understated in dove-gray, with a scarlet scarf around her neck and a scarlet belt around her waist; the gold mockingjay pin was pinned to the dress. From time to time, the hemline of her dress flashed to the holo-camera, the soulmark-words (now charcoal-gray) that were on her right leg. Katniss’s hair was pulled up in an atop-the-head black bun, whose color was matched by 5-centimeter-heeled black pumps. Katniss held a notecard in her left hand.

She said, “Good evening, Panem. Many of you in the districts will not find out about my speech till much later, because it is not Mandatory Viewing in the districts. Mandatory Viewing is ended, for as long as I am president.

“I am speaking to you from the greenhouse where Coriolanus Snow used to relax by growing roses—yellow, pink, red, and even blue, but mostly white. Pollux, show them.”

The camera swept 180 degrees, showing Peeta standing two meters away from Katniss—he nodded at the camera—and a sea of roses.

Katniss resumed: “Rather than let these flowers die of neglect, I am giving most of them away. The greenhouse gardener and his assistants will transplant ten white rosebushes to Dark Days Park, so that the rosebushes surround the four bronze memorial statues there. Coriolanus Snow lost his parents at the end of the Dark Days fighting, so this seems like a suitable place for some of his roses to go. Ten more white rosebushes—those nearest to the revolving doors—will stay here in the greenhouse. When I or anyone comes in here through those revolving doors, white roses will be the first thing he sees. All of the other rosebushes in this greenhouse will be potted, taken to the grandstands that overlook Avenue of the Tributes, and given away to anyone who wants a rosebush. Bring leather gloves—these rosebushes have thorns! My only restriction about taking a rosebush is that if you want someone else to have your rosebush, you must give it away for free, just as you got it for free; I don’t allow you to sell the rosebush to anyone else for cash. The date of the rosebushes-giveaway will be announced later.”

Katniss glanced down at her notes, then again faced the camera.

“Not quite two years ago, I told you that on the day I became president, I would ban vomit cola. Today I keep that promise: I ban the making, transporting, and selling of vomit cola, beginning tomorrow.

“I have more decrees to tell you about, but before I do, let me tell you what I am thinking. Centuries ago, after survivors of the Catastrophes in the three countries of North America became the one country of Panem, the thirteen districts and the Capitol were equal. Indeed, this city was called ‘District Zero’ for a while, but the name never caught on. Anyway, back then the people of ‘District Zero’ were never intended to lord it over the rest of Panem, and the people in the districts were never meant to be little better than slaves. Panem was equal, centuries ago, and I intend to make Panem equal again.

“Here are the decrees that will make everyone equal—

“Every district now is bounded by an electrified fence, and a district resident who somehow gets past the fence is flogged.” Katniss made a crooked smile: “Assuming he or she is caught! Anyway, as of right now, this minute, those fences are to stop being electrified, and I order every fence torn down as quickly as possible. In the meantime, going over, under, or through the fence no longer is a crime; tearing the fence down is not a crime. Poaching beyond the district fence, which before today was a hanging offense—if the Peacekeepers caught you holding a weapon!—no longer is a crime. Merely owning or holding a weapon no longer is a crime.

“Beyond the fences that soon will be coming down are roads between districts, which currently are used only by Peacekeepers. No longer. I order gates and roadblocks at the edges of every district, intended to prevent district vehicles from driving on a Peacekeeper Road, to be removed. Today I allow a car or truck that is licensed in one district to travel on any road in Panem, including the Peacekeeper Roads, except where local traffic signs say ‘You aren’t allowed here.’

“District people no longer need to ask permission to travel by train, car, or truck to another district or to the Capitol. If you’ve always wanted to see the big trees in District Seven and you have the trainfare, now you can go! If you have something to sell and another district wants to buy it, drive your truck over there and sell your stuff directly to the other district.

“Belonging to a Rebellion cell no longer is a crime. Anyone’s work in the past for the Rebellion no longer is treason. People of Panem, the modern-day Rebels have many good ideas how to make Panem better, and I don’t want them choosing to not speak up because they fear arrest. Distaff Paylor, my Chief of Staff, was active in the Rebellion in District Eight; she won’t get even a wrist-slap from me.

“Speaking of making Panem better, soon I will be assembling a group of people from every district and from the Capitol, to write a constitution. A constitution is a written law that spells out the form of government and how other laws are made. Once the constitution becomes official, it is the supreme law—nobody in Panem is allowed to set the constitution aside or disobey it, and this includes the president. I’ll have more to say later on, about calling the Constitution Group.

“I also will call for another group to be assembled, to rethink Panem’s education. Right now, children in the districts are kept ignorant, except of the things they need to know to do their adult work; only in the Capitol are schoolchildren given a complete education. I don’t like this, so I will change it.

“Earlier I mentioned Dark Days Park, which is dedicated to Capitol citizens who died in the Rebellion of the Districts. I will not remove Dark Days Park, nor will I change it—other than adding white rosebushes. However, I now permit each district to erect its own memorial to district residents who died during the Dark Days Rebellion. Until today, the districts were forbidden to honor their fallen in the rebellion.

“I permit contraception (condoms and whatnot) to be sold in the districts.

“District people passing counterfeit paper PDs is no longer a crime, unless the district person passed the counterfeit money knowingly. Right now, this is the rule that Capitol citizens are held to, but district people aren’t allowed to say ‘I didn’t know it was counterfeit,’ and so they hang if they even touch counterfeit paper money. Nuh-uh, no longer.

“Similarly, right now a district person who injures a Capitol citizen automatically gets the death penalty. No longer. Instead, the penalty for anyone—district person or Capitol citizen—injuring someone else—district person or Capitol citizen—is the same as if one Capitol citizen injured another.

“Finally, I am ending the prostitution of male and female Victors. Related to this, I want to directly address Mrs. Ingram, who telephoned me an hour after I became president, demanding that I order Victor Whatzisname to keep his appointment with her. Mrs. Ingram, if you want adult fun, get it from Mr. Ingram or else find a different partner. Victor Whatzisname now is free from you and your kind.”

****

When President Katniss said, “Victor prostitution is ended,” people in the districts asked, “Is this even a problem?”

The reaction of Capitols to this decree of Katniss’s: “Fucking killjoy bitch!”

Finnick’s reaction to Katniss’s speech was to call Annie in District Four: “Annie, I’m coming home on the next train. After I’m back in Four, will you marry me?”

(Annie’s “YES!” over the telephone was so loud, it left Finnick deaf in that ear for a full minute.)

****

The next morning

President Katniss had called a meeting of Peeta, Distaff, Effie, and Gamma in her grand office.

Now Katniss said, “By now we should be hearing from people in the Capitol and the districts, what they thought of my decrees of last night. What have y’all heard?”

Distaff Paylor was grinning. “I’ve heard from the District Eight mayor and from”—Victor—“Cecilia Esterhaus. Both mentioned that there were parties in the streets in Eight last night.”

Silent Effie looked like she had to tell Peeta his fly was open.

“Effie?” Katniss prompted. “What have you heard from your Capitol friends?”

Suddenly Effie looked and talked like escort-Effie on Reaping Day. “Ma’am, Capitols liked that soon there will be a constitution that limits what you can do as president, and they were thrilled about the rosebushes-giveaway. Many people told me they would love, love, love to have some of Snow’s roses growing in their yard.”

“Uh-huh,” Katniss said. “What else did Capitol people say to you?”

“You have to understand that we Capitols—”

“Tell me straight, Effie.”

Effie dropped the “bubbly escort” act. “Many citizens”—Capitols—“have told me that you ending travel restrictions for district people means that hordes of district people—”

“Monkeys, you mean,” Gamma said.

“—will travel to the Capitol and will murder citizens in our beds. Many of those murderers will be Rebellion traitors, who should be hanged but won’t be. District people who don’t murder us in our beds will beat us up in the streets, because now they know they won’t be hanged anymore for this.”

With effort, Katniss did not roll her eyes. “Go on.”

Effie said, “Banning vomit cola means the end of great parties.”

This time Katniss did roll her eyes. “Panem somehow will survive.”

“The price of condoms and birth-control pills will shoot up,” Effie continued.

“True,” Gamma said. “Supply and demand.”

Peeta laughed. “Then it’s good that Katniss and I won’t need to buy contraception for another eight months.”

Gamma was smiling as she said, “I can’t wait eight months, I finally have a social life!” Gamma looked around and saw everyone’s puzzled looks. “I met a boy at the library. He asked me out on a date this Friday.”

“A Capitol boy asked you out,” Distaff said, her voice flat.

Effie said to Katniss, “Several of my friends asked when you would be holding an Ascension Ball, to celebrate your becoming president. President Snow had his Ascension Ball three weeks after taking office.”

Katniss thought about it and said, “We’ll hold it on my twentieth birthday,” which was a year and a half away. “By then, district people can come to the party, and hopefully I’ll have lots more to celebrate then if I have the Ball now.”

A few minutes later, after Katniss had ended the meeting, Peeta looked at Gamma. “On your first date, be sure to tell your Capitol boy that Twelves on Twelfth Avenue”—a holo-comedy from twenty-something years ago, about a District Twelve family who lived in the Capitol—“was not a documentary. Don’t be surprised if, because of that silly show, every Capitol you meet expects you to say ‘Coalfire!’ when you get excited.”

Katniss said, “Coalfire golly, Twelves don’t really talk like that?”

Katniss, Peeta, and Effie all laughed. Gamma and Distaff looked at each other and shrugged.

****

Friday night

Gamma’s date Henricus Dixon, it turned out, was a second-generation nirdus (nerd): Henricus’s father worked for the Ministry of Education, where he was in charge of middle- and high-school math textbooks for District Three. Henricus was a nirdus and Gamma was a nirda (female nerd), so their date went well.

Mostly.

Both at the restaurant where Henricus took Gamma, and at the high-school basketball game that Henricus took Gamma to afterward, everyone stared at her.

The explanation was simple, once Gamma thought about it: She was the first District Twelve girl (other than Hunger Games tributes, two Victors, and the Twelves who came to Katniss’s seventeenth birthday party) to be seen by anyone in the Capitol in seventy-six years.

****

Dawn, two days later
District Twelve

BOOM! Madge Undersee, asleep in her bedroom in the Mayor’s Mansion, was instantly awakened by a loud explosion.

Madge jumped out of bed, ran out of her bedroom, ran down the stairs, and ran out the front door—pausing only to pull on shoes and a coat. (Dawn in November in District Twelve was cold outside.)

Once Madge was outside the mansion, she saw black smoke rising and she heard men yelling. From the direction of the smoke and the distance, and from a few yelled words she overheard, Madge figured out that the Peacekeeper Barracks had blown up.

But how could such a thing happen? Did a weapons cache blow up inside the building?

Even more oddly, four Peacekeepers, instead of trying to put out their fire or to treat their injured, were sprinting toward Victors’ Village—

Madge saw the four Peacekeepers were carrying big and powerful guns.

Less than a minute later, the Peacekeepers were at Victors’ Village. Madge could not see, but she could hear, the Peacekeepers shooting their big guns.

But somebody was shooting back. And whoever that somebody was—Haymitch?—the other gun(s) did not sound like Peacekeeper guns.

The firefight lasted less than a minute.

Then came the sound that Madge would remember forever: a single shot of a not-Peacekeeper gun, pause, one shot, pause, one shot, pause, one shot.

Madge did not need to be told that now the four fighting Peacekeepers were very, very dead.

A minute later, a hovercraft rose from just beyond the fence outside Victors’ Village. By then there was enough early-morning sunlight that Madge could see the hovercraft’s color: gray.

Peacekeeper hovercraft were white only.

Once the gray hovercraft had risen above the trees and rooftops of Victors’ Village, the hovercraft rotated sideways till it was facing northeast, then it flew off northeast.

Madge murmured, “That’s a District Thirteen hovercraft. But why did it go to Victors’ Village? Nobody is there except Katniss’s family and Haymitch.”

By then, Chonn Undersee had rushed out of the Mayor’s Mansion, intending to deal with the burning Peacekeeper Barracks and the injured Peacekeepers. Madge felt free to run off to Victors’ Village.

In Victors’ Village, Madge saw four dead Peacekeepers, one of whom was Cray. Madge also saw Haymitch trying to console sobbing Aloe Everdeen.

Is Prim dead? Madge wondered.

When Madge came close to Haymitch and Aloe, Madge saw that Katniss’s mansion had bullet holes in the walls, and the front door was hanging crookedly.

Madge asked, “Prim, is she—?” Is Prim dead?

Haymitch looked at Madge and spit, “Those fuckers from Thirteen, they kidnapped Prim!”

Chapter Text

Two days later

For the two days after Prim had been taken, Katniss wanted only to hide in a broom closet and whimper. That, or to fly out to District Thirteen, pound on the door, and scream “GIVE ME MY SISTER BACK!”

But Katniss had responsibilities to the country now, so hiding in a broom closet was out. As for going to Thirteen and pounding on Alma Coin’s door, two days ago Distaff Paylor had given Katniss great advice—

“Back in Eight, I’ve had meetings with Capitol Wool Clothing management, and those meetings were almost war. Here’s what I learned the hard way: Whoever speaks first, loses. If you act anxious to make a deal, you’ll get pushed to make a deal you don’t like, then the men on the other side of the table will laugh about you. So no matter how much you want to get this done and to get your sister back, wait Thirteen out. ‘President Coin’ wants something from you too, or she wouldn’t have taken your sister. Once you start haggling, don’t give her the control.”

Taking Distaff’s advice, Katniss was acting no differently than if Prim had not been kidnapped. Right now, this meant that President Katniss, along with Peeta, were meeting with Snow’s Cabinet in the ring-table room.

Or rather, Katniss was meeting with the Cabinet until the room’s telephone rang.

There was only one reason that the switchboard would have put the call through. Peeta and Katniss exchanged glances, then Katniss made her voice be calm: “Peeta, would you answer the telephone, please?”

Peeta briefly spoke on the telephone, then said, “Katniss, you want to take this.”

Leonardus Chadwick, whose Ministry was in charge of Peacekeepers, suddenly sat up and looked attentive. While the national news had not reported Prim’s kidnapping and Katniss had not announced the kidnapping to her inherited Cabinet, the Peacekeepers’ big boss surely knew how eleven District Twelve Peacekeepers had died.

Now Katniss said into the telephone, “This is the president.”

A man’s voice said, “Ma’am, this is Junior-Lieutenant Pruitt at the north-side Peacekeeper station. There’s a woman here who says she’s here to set up a holo-chat between you and, uh, ‘President’ Coin. Of District Thirteen, ma’am.”

“Lieutenant Pruitt, don’t let her in the Presidential Mansion. I don’t want her planting bugs! Escort her to the roses-greenhouse and have her wait outside. I’ll be there soon.”

After Katniss hung up the telephone, she looked around the ring-table meeting room and said, “I have urgent personal business to take care of. We’ll resume this tomorrow morning.”

Most of the ministers hurried out. Leonardus Chadwick and Ovida Allsop hung back and said to Katniss, “Good luck.” Neither minister mentioned what the good luck was supposed to be for.

****

As soon as possible

Being outdoors in the Capitol in late November, even in daytime, felt cold. So Katniss and Peeta, and the Victor-bodyguards, all put on heavy coats and hats before they headed out to the roses-greenhouse.

When the party came to the outside of the greenhouse’s revolving door, Katniss found there two enlisted Peacekeepers who guarded a young blond woman and a pushcart full of electronics.

Seeing Katniss, the young woman (whose wool coat, wool hat, and pants all were gray) came to attention and saluted. “President Mellark, I am Soldier Leeg of District Thirteen, ordered to work with you here to arrange a holo-chat between you and President Alma Coin.”

Katniss returned the salute, then asked, “What is your first name, Miss Leeg?”

“Please call me ‘Soldier Leeg,’ ma’am.”

Katniss rolled her eyes. “I’m sure your parents did not name you ‘Soldier.’ Also, I refuse to call the woman who kidnapped my sister ‘President,’ nor will I call you ‘Soldier.’ ”

“Ma’am, I am in the army of District Thirteen, and my rank is ‘Soldier.’ President Coin ordered me to insist I be treated with respect.”

Katniss scowled. “Miss Leeg, if you and Mayor Coin both insist on playing high and mighty, then you take your toys and go back where you came from! Mayor Coin can write me a letter and you can hand it to one of the Peacekeepers.”

Leeg’s face flashed panic. “Ma’am, my name is Alma.”

“The same first name that Mayor Coin has?”

“President Coin and I both were named after Alma Leeg, the wife of heroic Pierre Leeg. Who in my case, also is my great-great-grandmother.”

Katniss looked around at the Peacekeepers and the Victor-bodyguards, then returned her look to Leeg. “Listen up, everyone: Miss Leeg is to be treated like a diplomat, mostly—she is not to be killed, injured, arrested, or held against her will.”

Leeg looked relieved—had she been worried before?

Katniss continued, “However, Miss Leeg, my people are ordered to thoroughly frisk you for weapons and to check you for hidden electronics. Only when my people are satisfied you’re not a spy or assassin will we go inside where it’s warm.”

Leeg saluted again. “Not a problem, ma’am. I’m not carrying anything I shouldn’t.”

****

Ten minutes later
Inside the warm roses-greenhouse

Everyone had needed to search for a power-outlet in the greenhouse; Katniss had not noticed before, but there were not a lot of outlets in the glass building. But once a pair of electrical plugs had been found, Leeg had assembled a two-way holoprojector setup. Now Leeg hit the “Power on” switch.

A three-dimensional image appeared: A gray wall, with an empty chair in front of it.

Leeg sat down in the chair that faced the greenhouse-camera and said, “This is Soldier Leeg in the Capitol. District Thirteen, please respond.”

This brought a clerk-type, dressed in gray, to Thirteen’s empty chair. He and Leeg briefly spoke, then the clerk left.

A minute later, a gray-dressed, gray-haired, gray-eyed woman in her forties or fifties sat in the chair and looked into the camera. Katniss saw a haughtiness in that face—a certainty that whatever this woman ordered would be obeyed without question—that Katniss did not like. The gray-haired woman demanded, “Soldier Leeg, is President Mellark there?”

“Right here, ma’am,” Leeg replied.

Leeg left the chair that faced the greenhouse’s camera. Katniss squeezed Peeta’s hand, then sat down in the chair and stared into the camera.

Katniss said nothing as she waited for Alma Coin to speak.

****

Coin said, “Mrs. Mellark, you do not deserve, and you are unqualified for, the presidency—”

Katniss said, “Where is Prim? Bring her here! I want to speak with her now.”

Coin looked offended. Katniss guessed Coin was not used to being given orders anymore. “Mrs. Mellark, you are in no position—”

Katniss, while not looking away from Coin’s image, said, “Peeta, please take hold of the plug for this thing. Be ready to yank it out of the outlet.”

Katniss heard Peeta move away from standing behind her. He said loudly enough for the microphone to pick up, “You got it, Kat.” He walked over to the dirt-surrounded electrical outlet and bent down.

“Very well,” Coin said, sounding greatly imposed on, “I will order Miss Everdeen to be brought here.” Coin then turned her head and snapped out an order.

Katniss thought, Coriolanus would have spoken the order calmly, and he would have said “please.”

Less than a minute later, Prim’s holo-image appeared. (Prim, too, was dressed in gray.) Prim had to stand close to Coin, which made the girl frown.

“Katniss!” Prim blurted.

“Prim, how are you?”

Hologram-Prim was still frowning. “Okay, mostly. They didn’t hurt me when they brought me here. But Katniss, they operated on me!”

“What?” Katniss said. Peeta’s face looked as angry as Katniss felt.

Coin said smoothly, “We gave Miss Everdeen a complete medical exam when she came here, because we knew that medical care in Twelve is poor. We found a polyp in one of her Fallopian tubes. Our surgeon removed the blockage.”

Prim shook her head. “Nobody is under the age of twenty-three here, big sister. I think they harvested half my eggs!”

Katniss glanced over at Leeg. Leeg looked twenty-three.

Meanwhile, Hologram-Coin’s face had turned cold; she ordered, “Soldier Leeg—”

Katniss looked at Peeta. “End it!”

Prim’s and Coin’s faces disappeared before Coin could finish her sentence.

****

Katniss turned in her chair until she was facing Leeg. “Is Prim right, Miss Leeg? Is nobody in District Thirteen under the age of twenty-three?”

Leeg looked uncomfortable. “Ma’am, I’m not sure I’m authorized to answer such questions. I need to talk to President Coin to clarify my orders.”

Katniss’s gut feeling was that Coin had been about to order Leeg to say nothing about whatever Thirteen’s problem was. So believing, Katniss asked Leeg, “But you aren’t ordered not to answer any of my questions, right?”

“No, ma’am,” Leeg said, still looking miserable.

“Not yet,” Johanna said, laughing. “The blond baker pulled the plug just in time!”

Peeta grinned.

Katniss said to Leeg, “Your gizmo won’t be plugged in again till I get answers—whether this takes us ten minutes or ten weeks. So I ask again: Is nobody in Thirteen under the age of twenty-three, as my sister told me?”

Seconds passed in silence.

“This is true,” Leeg said miserably.

“Why?” Katniss asked.

“There was an accident with one of our nuclear missiles. They were all over a hundred years old then; they’re even older now. Anyway, somehow nuclear stuff got into the drinking water. It sterilized everyone. We’re all sterile—can’t ever have kids.”

“You’re sterile too?”

“Yes, me and my twin sister Anna both. We both re-enlisted in the Army after our one mandatory tour, because we can never be mothers, so this is the best way we can serve our district.”

Gloss whistled. “Sucks to be you.”

Katniss asked Leeg, “Has Thirteen dug around in Prim’s ovaries and harvested her eggs?”

Leeg replied, “I don’t know if this is something they can do. But there was a man from District Ten who walked to Thirteen, and right after he got here, Coin made him masturbate into a test tube. I heard lots of jokes about it.”

Katniss scowled. “I’ve decided I don’t like Mayor Coin. Peeta, please plug the gizmo back in.”

****

When again a holographic image came from District Thirteen, only Coin was facing Katniss; Prim was gone.

Coin immediately snapped, “Soldier Leeg, report!”

Katniss answered for the blonde: “She told us everything she knew. Because she had received no orders telling her not to.” Katniss briefly smiled in triumph.

Leeg stood beside Katniss’s chair and said nervously, “Ma’am, President Mellark said she would not turn on the HGTRP till I had answered all her questions. Your orders to me were to bring about communication between you and her, so I answered her questions.”

Katniss said, “So, Mayor Coin, where are we now? You sent someone to shoot me dead, you kidnapped my sister, then you cut into her ovaries without Prim or her mother saying it was okay. Also, you invaded District Twelve and killed eleven Peacekeepers.”

“It was necessary, Mrs. Mellark,” Coin replied. “You are unfit to be president of Panem. You are a mere child in the eyes of Panem law. You would be of Reaping age now if you were not a Victor, correct? Whereas I have been president of District Thirteen for nineteen years—since before you were born.”

Hammerhead called out, “Katniss is no longer a child. Every Victor automatically becomes an emancipated minor after their Victory.”

Cashmere called out, “If Thirteen hadn’t cut and run however-many years ago, there would never have been Reapings for Katniss to be of age for. Pierre Leeg was a backstabbing coward.”

The young woman named Leeg glared at Cashmere but said nothing.

Johanna said, “Hell, Prim was Reaped. And Mayor Coin, if not for this ‘mere child’ in front of you, Prim would be in a pine box right now.”

Coin said archly, “Am I speaking with one woman who supposedly is in charge, or am I speaking to a committee? Also, I insist that you address me by my proper title, which is President.”

Katniss scowled. “President isn’t happening, Mayor Coin. Deal with it. As for me not being qualified to be president, let me remind you that I was Coriolanus Snow’s soulmate till he died. Meaning I was his ‘perfect match.’ But he and I were not even slightly a couple; the only explanation either of us ever came up with, for how I was his perfect match, was that I was meant to replace him as president of Panem. All the books I’ve read say that soulmate-pairings are never wrong—so here I am. But if you are better suited to be president, then why was a ‘mere child’ his soulmate instead of you?”

Coin said, “This is an entertaining theory. But it doesn’t change one important fact.”

“Which is?”

“I have your sister, and you want her back.”

“I will pay you a million PDs in ransom for Prim,” Katniss said.

In the greenhouse, people gasped.

Hologram-Coin looked at Katniss as if she were an idiot. “In District Thirteen, we grow or make everything ourselves. We buy nothing from the rest of Panem. So give us one PD or one million PDs, cash or coins, it won’t matter—your money will sit in our vault for a hundred years, never spent.”

“Then let the ransom be a million PDs’ worth of Paulsen’s Chocolate. I know that chocolate won’t sit untouched in your vault for a hundred years.”

Leeg perked up and smiled when Katniss said this.

But Coin smiled coldly. “Mrs. Mellark, I don’t want Capitol money, and I don’t want Capitol chocolate. What I want, what I will trade Primrose for, is your job. Declare me your successor as president of Panem, then resign, and I shall give you your sister back.”

“No,” Katniss said. “No way.”

Coin shrugged. “Resigning, or else waging war against me, are your only choices. Goodbye for now.”

Hologram-Coin’s image vanished.

Katniss looked at Leeg. “You can leave your electronics here if you wish. In any case, you can leave now, and you won’t be followed. I want you to check-in with the Mansion’s north-side Peacekeeper station tonight at seven, then beginning tomorrow, check-in with them at noon and seven. Whenever I speak to Mayor Coin again, I’ll want you here. Any questions?”

Leeg was staring at Katniss. “Ma’am, you really will let me walk out of here? I’m not under arrest?”

“Mistake,” Gloss muttered.

Katniss said to Leeg, “I told you earlier that this is how it would be, didn’t I? See you later, Miss Leeg.”

Leeg gave Katniss a perfect salute (which Katniss returned); then Leeg marched to the revolving doors and left the roses-greenhouse.

Now six Victors were the only people in the greenhouse. Katniss looked at the face of her husband and the faces of the Victor-bodyguards, as her mind raced.

****

In Command in District Thirteen

Right after Coin ended her holo-chat with President Mellark (Not president for much longer!), Coin began a holo-chat with Col. Boggs. Col. Boggs was not in District Thirteen, he still was at Thirteen’s secret base (the abandoned factory) in the Capitol.

Coin asked Boggs, “Do you think Mellark will go to war?”

Boggs was silent for a time, then said, “I doubt it. She’s a Victor, so’s her husband, and so are her bodyguards. They know that war is not glamorous. She’s District, so I’m sure she has a low opinion of Peacekeepers, whereas she has no idea how well we can fight.”

Hearing these words, Coin almost smiled.

****

Ten minutes later
In Katniss’s grand office in the Presidential Mansion

Katniss telephoned Beetee in Three, and explained an idea she had.

Then Katniss asked, “Is this possible?”

Beetee replied, “Katniss, it not only is possible, middle- and high-school students in District Three routinely pull this stunt on their teachers. Almost always the result is amusing.”

A minute later, when Katniss hung up the telephone, she was grinning.

****

Two hours later
In Command in District Thirteen

Coin wondered whether Boggs’s predictions about President Mellark were wrong. District Thirteen radar had watched a single Peacekeeper hovercraft fly uncloaked from Hovercraft Base Alpha in District Six, northwest to District Seven (routine so far)—

—but now the Peacekeeper hovercraft turned east and began to fly parallel to the District Thirteen boundary, one kilometer south of the boundary. The hovercraft is doing aerial reconnaissance on us, Coin thought.

Coin ordered, “Send up a cloaked HC to escort the hostile HC. When ours is matching the hostile’s altitude, course, and speed, have it decloak. This should give the hostile HC’s pilot something to think about.”

Somebody in Command muttered, “Their hovercraft pilot will shit a brick when our HC appears from nowhere.”

Coin nodded. A cloaked hovercraft, whether District Thirteen or Peacekeeper, was completely invisible except for a certain color of ultraviolet light, which was known as the piloting wavelength. District Thirteen knew what the Peacekeeper HCs’ piloting wavelength was, so a “cloaked” Peacekeeper hovercraft was as easily watched by District Thirteen as a Peacekeeper HC that was painted yellow. But since Thirteen’s top-secret piloting wavelength was a different ultraviolet color than what the Peacekeepers used, Peacekeeper electronics could not see a cloaked District Thirteen HC at all.

****

Hours later, in Command

The Peacekeepers had not put any other hovercraft, cloaked or uncloaked, into the air. The one Peacekeeper hovercraft flew from District Seven to District Nine to District Twelve, always staying one kilometer away from the boundary with District Thirteen. The hovercraft flew at minimum speed, which further convinced Coin that the Peacekeeper hovercraft was doing holo-reconnaissance on Thirteen.

Always the Peacekeeper hovercraft was escorted by an uncloaked District Thirteen hovercraft, just on the other side of the district boundary. When one District Thirteen hovercraft reached the end of its zone, a second Thirteen hovercraft would decloak at the beginning of the next zone; while the first Thirteen HC cloaked itself, then returned to its hidden hangar.

Coin was not much worried about Katniss Mellark ordering a holo-reconnaissance flight. What holo-reconnaissance would show would be the Thirteen soldiers’ training grounds, two blocks of simulated Capitol buildings, and many wrecked District Thirteen buildings that had been left unrepaired since the Dark Days. The real District Thirteen was underground, hidden away from enemy eyes and enemy cameras.

However, while Coin was not at all worried about what a Peacekeeper holo-reconnaissance flight would find, Coin did worry about why President Mellark had ordered such a flight to be made. What is the woman thinking? Coin wondered.

****

Two days later, 7:05 p.m.
In Command in District Thirteen

President Mellark’s holo-image was stone-faced. “You win, Coin. I’ll give up my presidency, you give up my sister.”

Coin’s own face briefly smiled.

Coin thought, My plan worked. Endanger Primrose Everdeen and her older sister turns stupid.

****

The next morning
On the ground in District Thirteen

One white Peacekeeper hovercraft landed at a designated longitude and latitude. The Peacekeepers inside the hovercraft dropped the cargo ramp, then hurried to erect a temporary shelter outside. As soon as the shelter was built, space heaters were brought inside the shelter and turned on. (Because the air outside was cold!) Outside of the temporary shelter, a microphone was set up on a microphone stand.

Inside the Peacekeeper hovercraft, Katniss and Peeta, Wiress from Three, and a Capitol physician all waited.

Ten minutes later, a gray truck drove up to the temporary shelter and Peacekeeper hovercraft; the truck stopped. From the truck, two Thirteen soldiers led gray-dressed Prim near the temporary shelter. The soldiers stopped, but Prim kept walking over ice and snow. She walked into the shelter.

Katniss, the physician, Wiress, and a female enlisted Peacekeeper (who was carrying clothing) all rushed from the hovercraft into the temporary shelter.

Katniss and Prim hugged, then Katniss told her sister to strip naked. As Prim removed a piece of gray clothing, the female Peacekeeper tossed it outside. When Prim was naked, the physician and Wiress examined Prim for Gotchas that District Thirteen might have planted on (or inside) the girl. Neither examiner found any Gotchas; Katniss breathed a sigh of relief.

Once the examinations were finished, Prim was dressed in new clothing: sky-blue coveralls, an overcoat of bright yellow (Prim’s favorite color), and black boots.

Wiress, the physician, and the female Peacekeeper walked up the cargo ramp, as Katniss and Prim stepped out of the temporary shelter. Katniss said to the two Thirteen soldiers, “Coin has kept her part of the agreement.”

Right after this, a holo-cameraman walked down the cargo ramp, walked to where he was ten meters in front of Katniss and Prim, then turned to face the sisters. Meanwhile, Peeta walked out of the hovercraft and walked over to Katniss and Prim.

Katniss did not look glamorous. The ground was icy and snowy, so Katniss was wearing brown boots to go with her forest-green pants and forest-green overcoat; Katniss’s hair was back to a single black braid on her overcoat’s right shoulder.

Showtime, Katniss thought. She squeezed Prim’s hand, and Peeta’s hand, then Katniss stepped up to the microphone.

****

Meanwhile, in Command in District Thirteen

Plutarch Heavensbee, though he was now underemployed, still was subscribing to Panem News Network. Which meant that Coin still could watch PNN (by pirating Heavensbee’s feed).

Now PNN interrupted its regular broadcast (about an unseasonal tropical storm in District Four) for an anchorman in a suit to tell viewers that President Mellark was giving an unscheduled address to Panem.

One second later, Katniss Mellark, looking for the moment like a District Twelve huntress instead of like a president, was looking into the camera. Visible in the background were the temporary shelter and a white hovercraft. Primrose and Peeta flanked the soon-to-be Mrs. Mellark, but did not speak. Prim was silently crying.

Katniss Mellark said, “For personal reasons, I resign as president of Panem. I designate a woman named Alma Coin as my successor. I leave it to her to tell you, once she arrives in the Capitol, who she is and where she came from. I will have more to say tomorrow, after Prim, Peeta, and I have returned to District Twelve.”

PNN returned to their studio, where the talking heads were saying in essence, “Holy shit, did ‘President Katniss’ just quit?”

Coin, smiling, got on the radio and told Soldier Abel, “Inform Mrs. Mellark and her party that they are cleared to leave our airspace.”

Forty-five minutes later, Coin watched live PNN coverage of Katniss and Peeta Mellark, Primrose Everdeen, and the Victor-tributes returning to Victors’ Village in District Twelve. Haymitch Abernathy and Mrs. Everdeen were waiting for the arriving people. Between Primrose’s yellow overcoat, Katniss’s dark-green overcoat, Peeta’s orange overcoat, Johanna Mason’s white overcoat, the black braid of Katniss, the blond braid of Primrose, and the blond hair of Peeta, Cashmere, and Mrs. Everdeen, the scene was a riot of color.

Judging by the live PNN coverage, everyone in Victors’ Village was sad. Coin wondered, Has Katniss Mellark realized yet, just how much she was outclassed by an experienced leader who is more than twice her age?

As everyone in Victors’ Village was holding a pity-party live on PNN, Coin was informed that the hovercraft that had arrived in District Twelve a few minutes ago, had taken off again and was headed to Hovercraft Base Beta.

Coin smiled (almost). Former president Katniss Mellark had missed her ride back to the Presidential Mansion. The next time (if ever) that Mellark was in that building, Coin would be firmly in charge of the place.

A few minutes after Coin saw sad-looking Katniss Mellark walking around in District Twelve, Coin, along with her bodyguards and most of her senior officers, was flying in a gray hovercraft that was itself headed to Hovercraft Base Beta west of the Capitol.

As the cloaked District Thirteen hovercraft flew southwest, Coin got a thought. She wrote a note to herself: “Retire the Victor-bodyguards and send them back to their home districts. Paying them now is a waste of resources.” Mentally Coin added, It will be much easier for Katniss and Peeta to have “accidents” if nobody else is around to protect them.

Chapter Text

One minute later
Aboard the cloaked District Thirteen hovercraft that was flying to the Capitol

Coin ordered, “Connect me with Col. Boggs. He’s in the Capitol.” Coin specified a radio frequency for the radioman to punch in.

When Coin heard Boggs’s voice in her headphones, she said, “Col. Boggs, espionage ops are over. Put on your uniform and go find the Minister of Peace, ASAP. Order him to give you a thorough briefing about the Peacekeepers. You are authorized to see every paper he has. Become a Peacekeepers expert ASAP, because as soon as I’m in the Presidential Mansion and I’m done with the ‘Presidential Vows’ ceremony, the real work can begin.”

“And what is the ‘real work,’ ma’am?”

“Replacing those potbellied bullies in white”—Peacekeepers—“with our people, who are in better shape and are better trained. Especially in District Twelve—those Peacekeepers in Twelve gave us hardly any fight at all. How disgraceful.”

Seconds passed in silence, then Boggs said, “Ma’am, you plan to replace all the Peacekeepers in the Mellarks’ home district with District Thirteen soldiers?”

“Yes, I do, within the next six months.” Coin did not tell Boggs that not only was she planning to have District Thirteen soldiers occupying District Twelve, but she was going to disband the Victor-bodyguards. In six months, Katniss Mellark would be dogmeat, within minutes of Coin giving the order. But this was in the future; now Coin coldly asked Boggs, “Is there a problem?”

After more seconds of silence, Boggs replied, “No, ma’am. No problem.”

****

Twenty minutes later
In the office of Leonardus Chadwick, Minister of Peace

Chadwick was sitting behind his desk, while Col. Boggs was sitting in the visitor’s chair in front of him.

“What will happen to the Peacekeepers now?” Chadwick asked Boggs.

Only by long practice did Boggs not sigh or fidget. “President Coin has not shared many of her plans with me. My guess is that soldiers from Thirteen and the Peacekeepers will be integrated together.”

With an unreadable face, Chadwick replied, “So the Peacekeepers will get to keep their jobs, their ranks, and their heartbeats? This sounds too good to be true.”

Rather than get into an argument, Boggs said, “I need to start examining what is in those filing cabinets.” He gestured to mean eight tall filing cabinets along the left-side wall.

Chadwick said, “If you just start wading through those files, you’re going to be swamped. I’ve prepared a starter file that will teach you enough to understand the basics.”

Chadwick stood up and turned around. He grasped the painting that had been hanging on the wall behind him, and set that painting aside. A wall safe was revealed. Chadwick spun the dial four times, then opened the wall-safe door.

Boggs’s right hand went to his sidearm. Chadwick could have a pistol hidden in there!

But Chadwick brought out a thick folder, not a pistol, then he locked the safe. Two-handed, Chadwick handed the folder to Boggs.

Boggs relaxed and took his right hand off his sidearm, so that he could receive the folder.

Boggs opened up the folder and began to look at it. The first three pages he saw had statistics about the Peacekeeper Corps. With his mind on his reading, Boggs only halfway heard Chadwick pull out his top desk drawer and say, “You probably want a pen to take notes with.”

Boggs, in his peripheral vision, saw Chadwick thrust his right hand forward.

Boggs looked up to take the offered pen—

—except that Chadwick was not holding a pen, he was holding a—pfft!—tranquilizer gun.

Boggs tried to stay awake, he tried.

Just before Boggs went under, he heard Chadwick say, “My president is Katniss Mellark, not your kidnapper bitch.”

****

Two-and-a-half hours later
In the Presidential Mansion

From the underground garage, Coin and her people passed through a steel door, then they found themselves in a carpeted hallway that had hidden lighting in the ceiling. A dark-skinned woman in her thirties stood ten meters inside the door, clearly waiting for the Thirteens.

“I know you,” Coin said to the woman.

Stone-faced, the woman said, “I’m Distaff Paylor, President Katniss Mellark’s Chief of Staff. I also am formerly the head of the Rebellion in District Eight. You and I spoke several times by holo-chat—back when I believed in you. Back before you ordered President Katniss to be assassinated and before you kidnapped her sister. Come on, the elevator is this way.”

Paylor walked away, down the carpeted hallway.

“Where are you going?” Coin demanded. “I didn’t dismiss you.”

Paylor turned around enough to give Coin, Lt. Jackson, and Coin’s four bodyguards a dismissive up-and-down look. “You’re surrounded by hundreds of thousands of people who aren’t brainwashed ants from Thirteen. So get used to taking shit.”

Lt. Jackson reached for her sidearm—Coin caught Jackson’s eye and shook her head. The Thirteens walked up to Paylor, who remained standing at one place in the hallway and who was looking scornfully back at them.

By now, the bodyguard who was in front of Coin and Lt. Jackson was standing less than a half-meter away from Paylor. Coin said to Paylor, “I will let you live—for now.”

Paylor smirked. “That’s because you need me—for now. But since I’m as dangerous to you as the Mellarks are, I know how this story ends and I see no point in toadying up to you. Come, your stolen office awaits.”

“Go,” Coin snapped. She decided that Paylor’s death, when it came, would not be quick.

Paylor and the Thirteens walked five meters down the hallway when a doorway opened behind them. The Thirteens all stopped and spun around to face the threat.

But the “threat” turned out to be a pretty-faced, ditzy-looking secretary who was wearing an orange-and-blue wig. In a Capitol accent as thick as District Thirteen maple syrup in winter, the secretary said, “Juliusa, come see our new president!”

A shorter secretary, who was wearing a gray-and-pink wig and clothes in three different colors, stepped into the hallway. As soon as the shorter secretary saw big guns pointed in her general direction, both her hands shot up without her being ordered to do so.

The pretty secretary looked like an airhead bimbo, and the other secretary looked like she would pee her panties if Coin said Boo! to her. Annoyed Coin said, “Soldiers, don’t shoot those two, they’re harmless. Let’s get going.”

The Thirteens turned around to face forward, and resumed their walk down the hallway. Of the six Thirteens, Coin and Lt. Jackson were in the middle of four bodyguards—one in front, one on the right, one in back, and one in the left.

The hallway ended in a wall, on which was displayed a giant map of Panem, and hallways to the left and right. Paylor called over her shoulder, “Elevator is to the right.”

Paylor came to the intersection of the hallways, took one step to the right—then dropped to the carpet. Right afterward—B-bang!—the bodyguard in front of Coin was killed by gunshots to the right.

As soon as Coin saw the waiting Peacekeepers, she ordered, “Front Attack formation. Everyone back up!”

The bodyguards beside and behind Coin moved up forward, as did Lt. Jackson, to form a human wall between Coin and the Peacekeepers. The Thirteens stepped backward into the hallway they had been almost about to leave. Guns blazed, Peacekeepers died, and Thirteens died.

Coin did not give one thought to the two ditzy Capitol secretaries who were behind her.

****

But the two women behind Alma Coin were not secretaries, nor were they ditzy, nor were they Capitols.

The last time that Coin had looked at “Juliusa,” the short woman looked timid and frightened, and her hands were raised high and were empty. But none of this was the case now.

Both “secretaries” were each holding a pistol in a two-handed grip. They grinned as together they shot Alma Coin in the back.

****

One second later

Up ahead, a male voice yelled, “CEASE FIRE! ALL THIRTEENS ARE DOWN.”

Coin’s two assassins walked toward where Coin’s corpse lay. But the two assassins paused at the hallway’s fourth door on the right; they knocked.

The door opened; Katniss, Peeta, Hammerhead, Gloss, and Justinus Poole stepped into the hallway.

Katniss wrinkled her nose. “Jeez, I can hardly breathe for the smell of gun smoke.”

Peeta, meanwhile, was hugging the assassins. “Cashmere, Johanna, you did great.”

By now, Distaff Paylor had stood up, and was grinning down at Coin’s corpse. Peeta yelled down the hallway, “DISTI, YOU WERE SO BRAVE! YOU’RE INCREDIBLE!”

Katniss looked at Peeta. “In a few minutes, Coin’s Second-In-Command will wake up from his nap. I’m going to need you and Gamma with me when he does.”

Gloss, after ending his hug of Cashmere, looked at Katniss and laughed. “That Thirteen guy will be shocked to shit to see you and Peeta here in the Presidential Mansion. After all, the Thirteen muckety-mucks believe you and Peeta are in District Twelve, getting shit-faced with Haymitch. This was a great idea you had, boss.”

Katniss grinned over at Johanna. “I would never have thought of it, Gloss, if not for Jo’s weird sense of humor.”

****

Ten minutes later
In the president’s grand office

Col. Boggs had been shot with a tranquilizer dart by the Minister of Peace. Several times since then, Boggs had partway regained consciousness, only to be tranked again.

But now Boggs found himself fully conscious and lying down. When he sat up, he discovered that he was in a room fancier than he ever could have imagined: polished wooden furniture everywhere, paintings on the walls, vases of flowers, and a carpet that was a deep, rich blue. He discovered that he had been lying on a green-leather couch.

Boggs realized then: My sidearm is missing!

“Katniss, he’s awake,” said a young woman.

Step-slap-step-slap-step-slap; Peeta Mellark, the husband of former president Katniss Mellark, now was standing in front of Boggs. Peeta smiled at Boggs and put out a hand. “Let me help you up, Mayor Boggs. Kat and you have lots to talk about.”

“Huh?” Boggs said. “Where is President Coin? Why did you call me ‘Mayor Boggs’? Why are you back in the Presidential Mansion after your wife resigned?”

To Boggs’s right, a young woman’s voice asked, “Are you sure I resigned?”

Peeta led Boggs to a visitor’s chair in front of a dark-wood desk, ornately carved, that was huge—half the size of District Thirteen’s Command. Behind the gigantic desk sat Katniss Mellark.

Katniss Mellark was grinning. “Peacekeeper General Marcus told me a few days ago, ‘All war is based upon deception.’ So I sent some deception Thirteen’s way. And Alma Coin, who thought she was so much smarter than an eighteen-year-old ‘mere child’ from District Twelve, bought the lie completely. Now Prim is free from Coin’s clutches; while Mayor Coin, and the five other Thirteens who walked into the Mansion with her, are dead.”

Boggs squeezed his eyes shut. “Lt. Jackson is dead? She was a good officer.”

“She probably was,” President Mellark said. “I’m sorry for your loss”—and the young woman actually sounded like she meant it.

But then President Mellark’s tone of voice got businesslike: “But you were her Second-In-Command when she was mayor of Thirteen, so now you are mayor of Thirteen, so you and I need to get things straight.”

“Not so fast,” Boggs said; his face looked suspicious. “Show me how President Coin was deceived so completely.”

The fourth person in the room, a young woman who shared Katniss Mellark’s coloring, grinned at the young-woman president. “Oh, I was hoping he would ask that!”

“Show him, Gamma,” President Mellark ordered.

Turning to look at Boggs, President Mellark said, “Remember, almost everything you’ll see is fake.”

****

Near the huge desk was a holoprojector. Gamma connected a cable from Katniss’s computer to the holoprojector and turned on the holoprojector. After a little typing by Gamma on Katniss’s keyboard and some mouse-clicks, the holoprojector showed a Panem News Network anchorman, frozen.

Gamma said, “I’ll show you exactly what Mayor Coin saw.” She clicked a key and the anchorman unfroze—

“We interrupt our regular programming for a special announcement. President Mellark has notified us of an unscheduled speech she will make shortly. We have no idea what the speech is about.”

Ten seconds later, the holoprojector showed Katniss Mellark, her husband, and her sister, all dressed for outdoor weather in District Thirteen in November. In the background was shown snow and ice on the ground, and maple trees.

Boggs asked, “That’s fake? That’s Thirteen, outdoors. It looks like you really were there.”

Hologram-Katniss gave a short speech in which she resigned, then named Alma Coin as her successor.

The real Katniss Mellark replied to Mayor Boggs’s question, “You’re looking at the only real holo-video in the entire trick. I didn’t mean those words, but I stood there in the cold wind and I really did say them.”

Peeta said, “She’s not kidding about the cold wind. District Thirteen in November is even colder than Twelve! You Thirteens are hardy folks.”

When the camera again showed the PNN news anchor, his first words were “Viewers, Katniss Mellark, who has been in office roughly a week, has resigned her office. I don’t know what to say! We are trying to find out more about this ‘Alma Coin’ whom Mrs. Mellark chose to succeed her as president.”

For the next forty-five minutes, the PNN anchorman did not know anything more, so he endless repeated the few facts he did know. But then he said, “The hovercraft carrying the Mellarks, Mrs. Mellark’s sister Primrose, and the Mellarks’ four Victor-bodyguards, has landed outside of District Twelve, near Victors’ Village.”

The camera view switched to a view of Victors’ Village, shot by someone standing on a high ladder outside the iron gates. Some distance away, Haymitch Abernathy and Mrs. Everdeen stood outside in wintertime coats and waited. Then Katniss, Peeta, Prim, and the four Victor-bodyguards appeared on holo, walking over from the left. The holo-camera showed much hugging and crying; on the soundtrack, the PNN anchor chattered.

Partway through the raw drama in District Twelve’s Victors’ Village, PNN reported that the hovercraft had lifted off and was headed southwest. As Hologram-Katniss was shown hugging Haymitch Abernathy, and Hologram-Peeta was shown hugging Mrs. Everdeen, all while PNN announced that the hovercraft was leaving, it was seemingly obvious that neither of the Mellarks could be headed to the Capitol on the returning hovercraft.

After a minute more of showing Mrs. Everdeen crying, and Primrose crying, and even Peeta crying, PNN coverage returned to regular news.

Katniss made a throat-slash gesture to Gamma, and the holoprojector images vanished.

Katniss said to Mayor Boggs, “We knew that Coin was getting PNN through a pirated connection. What our people did was to hack into that connection and we sent Coin a fake PNN broadcast. Gamma, show Mayor Boggs me in Thirteen again, giving that speech. Muted, please.”

As Hologram-Katniss pantomimed giving a speech beneath maple trees, real Katniss said, “Notice the colors. I’m wearing dark-green clothes and brown boots, Prim is wearing bright yellow and sky blue, Gloss’s and Cashmere’s overcoats are black, Johanna’s is white, and Hammerhead’s is blue. Prim and I have our hair in a single braid—mine’s on my right shoulder; Prim’s braid is on her left. Gamma, now please show Victors’ Village; fast-forward to when we’re all there.”

Gamma typed on the keyboard, and the scene of everybody hugging and crying in Victors’ Village came up. Katniss commented, “Everything looks the same as what Coin saw forty-five minutes earlier. Prim and I each have our hair in a braid, and colors of clothing are the same. This is why Coin was sure that I was still in Victors’ Village after the hovercraft left Twelve. Gamma, put up the T-poses.”

Now the holoprojector showed a gray background, as every one of the nine people in the Victors’ Village holo-video each slowly spun around. Each of the nine stood with arms out sideways but palms turned downward, with a blank expression on each face. Seven spinning people were dressed the same as their counterparts in the “I resign” live holo-video.

Katniss said, “The holo-video of us crying in Victors’ Village in District Twelve was made in a computer by a bunch of mischievous nirduses at District Three High School. I’m told that if they have enough holo-video of someone, they can make a figure of him or her. The kids got holo-video of my mother and Prim from when I was in the Final Eight; the other seven of us are Victors, so there was lots of recent holo-video of us. The kids made a figure of Prim at age twelve, then they did something to Prim’s figure so that it became taller and looked fourteen. Anyway, the kids made that holo-video in the computer; then when Peeta and I and the Victor-bodyguards flew to District Thirteen, we made sure to dress ourselves, and we dressed Prim, to match the figures.”

Mayor Boggs looked stunned.

Katniss continued, “Those District Three kids also faked everything that the PNN anchorman said. Gamma, show Mayor Boggs the video that Wiress sent you.”

Gamma typed, and clicked the mouse; seconds later, the holoprojector showed the PNN anchorman again.

The PNN anchorman looked into the camera and said, earnestly and with great gravitas, “Mr. Smithson, Mr. Jeffries, and the entire District Three High School faculty eat babies for breakfast. Here with more on the story is Sillynameia Jones at the Presidential Mansion...”

After Gamma stopped the holo-video, now it was Boggs who spoke: “So President Coin watched you give a ‘I resign’ speech on PNN. She let you leave Thirteen with your sister because of that speech. But it wasn’t all of Panem who saw you give that speech, only President Coin saw it. Once you left Thirteen, you never went back to Twelve, you came here to the Capitol. You came here before President Coin did, who had been tricked into thinking she was president of Panem. And once she came to the Capitol...?”

Katniss said, “Coin was treated as if she were the president of Panem—up to the moment when the Peacekeepers surprised her group. The Peacekeepers shot the other Thirteens, but two of the Victor-bodyguards, in disguise, shot Coin in the back.”

“That isn’t honorable.”

Katniss shrugged. “ ‘President’ Coin ordered me assassinated, and she killed Peacekeepers in peacetime so she could kidnap my sister. I would have shot Coin in the back if my bodyguards had allowed it.”

Then Katniss looked fiercely at the dark-skinned man in the dark-gray uniform. “Anyway, you’re lucky that Coin sent you off to question Minister Chadwick, and that you told him that you were Coin’s Second-In-Command. Otherwise, you’d be dead too.”

****

Katniss did not tell Mayor Boggs everything. She did not tell him that when she had ordered a Peacekeeper hovercraft to fly along the District Thirteen boundary, photographing the surface of Thirteen was only part of the hovercraft’s mission. Since it was a no-brainer that a Peacekeeper hovercraft this close to District Thirteen would draw cloaked District Thirteen hovercrafts, another part of the Peacekeeper hovercraft’s mission was to discover the Thirteen hovercrafts’ top-secret piloting wavelength. This the Peacekeeper HC had achieved.

So when Coin’s hovercraft had left its secret hangar in Thirteen and had flown to the Capitol, even though Coin’s HC was cloaked, the Capitol knew exactly where that HC was, during every second of its flight.

Katniss also did not tell Boggs that a Peacekeeper HC did indeed fly from District Thirteen to District Twelve, and seven people did indeed leave that hovercraft; but the seven people did not walk into Victors’ Village like the holo-video showed. Instead, the seven people boarded a second hovercraft that was waiting next to the first hovercraft—and the second hovercraft was special.

The presidential hovercraft, when uncloaked, could detect both cloaked Peacekeeper hovercraft and cloaked Thirteen hovercraft. The presidential hovercraft, when itself cloaked, used a third piloting wavelength, so nobody in North America was spotting this baby when it did not want to be spotted! Anyway, the presidential hovercraft had flown from District Twelve directly to the Presidential Mansion, where the Mellarks plus Prim plus the Victor-bodyguards had disembarked onto the Presidential Mansion’s roof.

Cashmere and Johanna had had enough time to change clothes, and to take their places, before Coin’s “undetectable” hovercraft arrived in the Capitol and demanded permission to land at Hovercraft Base Beta.

****

“...Otherwise, you’d be dead too,” Katniss said to Mayor Boggs.

“So what happens now?” Boggs asked.

“Now you are in charge of District Thirteen, and I’m told”—by Plutarch Heavensbee—“that you’re a straight-up guy. But it turns out, we each have a problem, and we each can help each other out.”

This got Boggs’s attention!

Katniss said, “Your problem is that your entire population is sterile, after the nuclear accident of however-many years ago—”

Boggs interrupted: “The survivors are sterile. Many good people died back then.”

Katniss nodded. “Got it. But right now, you have a sterility problem. You also are spending lots of time and money defending yourselves from the Capitol. As we are spending time and money defending ourselves from Thirteen. Well, the Capitol is no longer Thirteen’s enemy—now that the bitch is dead—and I think I’ve convinced the districts that they don’t need to make a Rebellion against me, so I don’t care if Thirteen and some district make a side deal. So why not declare that Thirteen and the Capitol are at peace, then act like we’re at peace?”

“ ‘Act like we’re at peace’ how?” Boggs asked.

Katniss stared into Boggs’s eyes. “Get rid of all the missiles, both Two’s and Thirteen’s. But allow on-site verification by a team of experts from the other district, to keep everybody honest.”

Once this mutual disarmament treaty was signed, Katniss offered to announce that Thirteen was not dead, only hiding, but now the Capitol was inviting Thirteen to rejoin Panem. After this announcement, if Thirteen offered good-enough rewards, people from elsewhere in Panem would emigrate to Thirteen, and Thirteen’s population problem would get fixed. Also, Thirteen now could trade openly with the rest of Panem—which meant that Soldier Leeg finally could get her chocolate!

Mayor Boggs, no dummy, signed the half-page treaty that Katniss presented to him, then Peeta signed as witness. The corpses of Coin, Jackson, and four male District Thirteen soldiers were released to Mayor Boggs, and Boggs’s sidearm was returned to him. Then the Thirteens (both living and dead) were taken to the Thirteen hovercraft at Hovercraft Base Beta, then the Thirteen hovercraft took off.

Katniss telephoned Peacekeeper General Marcus at the Mount AEterna Defensive Complex in District Two, to give him a heads-up that he would soon lose his missiles. Then Katniss gave a speech to the nation about District Thirteen.

Katniss, in her speech, showed the infamous video of District Thirteen’s smashed Justice Building (with a mockingjay flying in the upper-right corner); then Katniss showed the holo-video that had been shot recently, of the surface of Thirteen as it really was.

****

AUTHOR END NOTE: So President Coin was taken down after a bunch of smarty-pants District Three high-school students made a realistic-looking holo-video that was intended to fool her. It seems that Coin forgot an ancient saying—

Beware of geeks bearing grifts.

Yes, I’m aware that the correct plural of nirdus should be nirdi, not nirduses. But Katniss is not a Latin whiz.

Coming next: the epilogue!

Chapter Text

Not quite twenty-two years later: June 14, 2738
7:01 p.m. (one minute after Twelve’s polls closed)
Katniss’s mansion in Victors’ Village, District Twelve

It was the last Tuesday before Children’s Day (formerly Reaping Day, a.k.a. the summer solstice)—which meant that today was Election Day. And in this election, forty-year-old Katniss was running for re-election as president—

—in a manner of speaking. Under the Constitution of 2720, when Panem had held its first elections in centuries (in June of 2720), twenty-two-year-old President Katniss had been too young to run for president! So President Katniss, despite her popularity in the districts, had watched the June 2720 election as a spectator, not a tribute; and Katniss and family had left the Presidential Mansion on the first day of autumn in 2720. But on the other hand, the brand-new Constitution had not barred Katniss for life from holding the office again. As a result, older Katniss had spent the first half of 2738 campaigning to become president again.

(And just as President Katniss had campaigned for Distaff Paylor to be elected president in 2720, and to be re-elected in 2726, so twice-elected President Paylor had campaigned for Katniss’s own election as president during 2738.)

But now on Election Night 2738, Katniss Mellark, mother of four, looked around, and saw that everyone else in the living room looked nervous about the election. Katniss herself was calm, because—only Peeta knew this—Katniss was perfectly okay with losing the election. (She was running for president again to demonstrate public service to her children, not because Katniss coveted a return to power.)

Katniss, in her living room, saw that over on the couch, twenty-one-year-old Primmy Rue Mellark was talking about medicines with her aunt, Dr. Primrose Hawthorne; while Prim’s husband Rory and Rory’s brother, Judge Gale Hawthorne, watched election returns on the holoprojector. Elsewhere in the living room, the three younger Mellark children—Hayward Cory, Marjorie Euphemia, and Hannah Cashmere—were acting amazingly well-behaved for teenagers.

Under the Constitution of 2720, a candidate for president had to be at least forty years old; today Katniss was only one month older than the minimum. Severus Nickson, age fifty-eight, who was running for re-election as president, had kept saying that Katniss Mellark “lacked maturity”; and Katniss’s campaign manager (Effie Abernathy) was worried Nickson’s smear would cost Katniss the election. Katniss got the feeling that Effie was not the only one in the room who was worried.

(Of course when Katniss on the campaign trail had been asked about her “maturity,” she always had answered, “I came into office when I was eighteen, and I left when I was twenty-two; and can anyone say that I was a bad president? Heck, Nickson would not even be president now, if not for the Constitution of 2720 that I commissioned.”)

Still, it was likely that in tonight’s election, the Capitol would give more votes to Nickson (because he was a Capitol citizen too); and if Katniss scored even a hundred votes from District Thirteen, she would be shocked. So even as popular as Katniss was nowadays as a national hero, it was not a sure thing that she would return to the presidency, eighteen years after she (and Peeta, and preschooler Primmy Rue) had left the Presidential Mansion.

Speaking of Peeta—

Step-slap-step-slap. Now standing next to Katniss, Peeta casually slipped an arm around her waist. He asked in a low voice, “How are you holding up?”

Katniss grinned at him. “Any minute now will the vote-count for District Twelve be announced. I’m not too worried how Twelve’s vote will go.”

Johanna, overhearing, made an unladylike snort. “Yeah, right, like there’s any chance that Twelve would choose that rainbow Nickson over you!”

Sure enough, when Mayor Madge Hawthorne went on holo five minutes later, announcing the final results of District Twelve’s presidential and legislator votes, Katniss had received all but fifty-eight of District Twelve’s votes for president.

After the cheering and applause in the living room died down, Hayward Cory looked over at Gale and said very seriously, “Your Honor, Twelve has fifty-eight bums in it. You need to find those people and deal with them.”

The older people in the room gasped.

Gale shook his head hard. “No, Hay. We don’t do shit like that anymore. It’s why I entered the”—six-month-long—“law school and became a judge: to stop people from disappearing just because they think the ‘wrong’ thoughts.”

Katniss said, “Which proves, Hayward, that loaning Gale the money for law school was the best investment I ever made.”

Gale looked at Katniss and said, “Especially since I paid back every centidollar within seven years.”

Gamma Churchill-Dixon, formerly Minister of Education for both President Katniss and President Distaff Paylor, now turned away from her husband Henricus, in order to nod at Gale. “You’re Seam, Gale, so duh, of course you paid Katniss back in full.”

The eldest child of Haymitch and Effie, Hayden Tiberius Abernathy, walked up to Hayward and slapped him on the back. “You say bonehead sh—”

“Language!” called out Hayden’s mother from across the room.

Hayden tried again: “You say bonehead stuff sometimes, HC, but you’re still my best friend.”

****

District Twelve was the first district to have all of its votes counted, because it was the smallest district, and because it was in Panem’s most eastward time zone; but District Thirteen was the second district to count all votes, because Thirteen also was in Panem’s most eastward time zone (and because the Thirteens were inhumanly organized). Just as Katniss had expected, she received only eighty-one votes from Thirteen’s final vote-count. In Thirteen, Katniss not only received fewer votes than Severus Nickson, Katniss lost out to write-in candidate Anna Leeg.

Other than Twelve and Thirteen, only in District Eleven had the polls closed. Right now, Eleven’s vote-counts were partial. Katniss was ahead in nationwide total votes for now, but most of Panem still was voting.

****

Two hours later (9:23 p.m. in District Twelve, 7:23 p.m. in the Capitol)

Now the polls were closed in the Capitol, and in every district except for Five and Seven.

In the Capitol, only 12 percent of voting precincts had reported-in. The good news was that Katniss still was ahead nationwide in total votes; the bad news was that as the Capitol counted its votes, Katniss’s lead would slip.

In Katniss’s living room, Minerva Snow-Hall’s teenaged twin sons were flirting with the second Mellark daughter, Marjorie Euphemia, who clearly was enjoying the attention. Katniss smiled fondly.

****

Not quite an hour later (10:16 p.m. in District Twelve, 7:16 p.m. in Districts Five and Seven)

As Henricus rolled his eyes, Gamma was telling a story: “...I met Severus Nickson once, in the Capitol. Henry-Bear’s oldest sister was dating him at the time. Long story short, the two of us went to a party at the sister’s apartment; and Severus told my boyfriend right in front of me, ‘District girls are good for only one thing, and attending a party with Capitol citizens is not that thing.’ Effing rainbow, I want him to lose tonight.”

Meanwhile, according to Panem District News, District Five had 8 percent of voting-precincts reporting in; District Seven had 6 percent of voting-districts reporting in; the Capitol had 48 percent of voting-precincts counted; the number for District Four voting-precincts was 87 percent, which was close to the number for District Eleven (91 percent). The other nine districts had by now reported votes from 100 percent of their voting-districts.

Gamma, even as she had socialized, had spent the evening scribbling on a pad and punching numbers into her calculator. Now, after staring at the calculator display, Gamma breathed, “Yes! Eat shit, Nickson.”

Then Gamma told herself, “Calm down, let’s double-check these numbers.” By now, everyone in the living room was quiet.

Not quite a minute later, Gamma grinned at Katniss. “Even if every vote that is counted after now goes to Nickson, he can’t win. Katniss, you won.”

The mansion screamed.

****

Two minutes later

Katniss and Peeta, holding hands, stood on one side of the iron gates that separated Victors’ Village from the rest of District Twelve. On the other side of those gates stood many news reporters. (However, no reporter outside the gates was from “Victors Tonight”—the show had been cancelled almost twenty years ago.)

“Where are your kids?” a reporter now asked Katniss and Peeta.

Katniss scowled. “You know we don’t expose them to the whole ‘celebrity’ thing when we can avoid it. Anyway, Gamma just called the election for me—this was the cheering you just heard.”

A PDN—Panem District News—reporter sneered, “Gamma is losing her touch. PDN called the election for you a half-hour ago.”

Katniss scowled, but Peeta laughed at the PDN reporter. Peeta said, “You just showed everyone you don’t listen to your own expert. Your guy called the election when Nickson had only a 5-percent chance of winning. Gamma is more thorough—she waited till Nickson’s chance was a flat zero.”

“Has Nickson telephoned you to concede the election?”

“Not yet,” Katniss said. Grinning, she added, “But he will.”

A different reporter said, “It isn’t surprising you’ve won. Every voter over the age of thirty remembers evil President Snow, and how you, ‘President Katniss,’ were a complete change from him.”

Katniss turned her head to look at Peeta’s face, as the Mellarks silently conferred. Then Katniss looked back at the reporter. “I’m sorry, but I can’t let your words about Coriolanus slide. Coriolanus wasn’t evil, he was a non-evil man who did many evil things.”

“Great,” a different reporter muttered, “after so long as a politician, she’s learned to split hairs.”

Katniss scowled. “Not at all. I’ve met three evil people: Septicus Kopf, a Capitol citizen; Romulus Thread, a Head Peacekeeper; and Alma Coin, formerly the mayor of District Thirteen. Evil people are selfish and cruel, and they never walk away from being selfish and cruel. But when I watched Coriolanus around his granddaughter Minerva, I saw no evil in him. More than this, Coriolanus Snow listened to me and eventually he ended the Hunger Games. The districts won’t like hearing this, but at times Coriolanus was a good president—he taught me knowledge that I used when I was ‘President Katniss’; and three months from now”—after Katniss would be inaugurated—“I’ll start using this knowledge again.”

Someone outside the iron bars said, “It’s shocking that you of all people would now say that Snow wasn’t evil. Didn’t you call him this very thing, ‘evil,’ on the night you discovered he was your soulmate?”

“Oh, I did, several times that night—and several more times in telephone conversations after that night. He was fiercely prejudiced against ‘monkeys,’ never seeing any district person as a person like him, except for me and Peeta. Many of his ways to ‘keep order in Panem’ were cruel. But eventually I saw that he was unselfish—he wanted to make his granddaughter happy and he wanted to keep Panem peaceful, and I honor him now for these things.”

A reporter asked Katniss, “Do you miss him? Snow?”

“You haven’t noticed that I have a white-roses rosebush in front of my mansion?”

THE END

****

AUTHOR END NOTE: To all of you who have read this story to the end: Thank you. To those of you who skipped to the end: Hey, you’ve missed lots of good stuff (IMNSHO), so go back and read it!

This story got more readers than I expected. Had I written a story in which Katniss and Peeta were soulmates, or Haymitch and Effie, or Madge and Gale, I would have drawn readers by the thousands. But since “Katniss & Snow” is nobody’s One True Pairing, I started this story imagining a worst-case scenario of zero readers. Now at the end, I am relieved this did not happen.

I originally intended for the “soulmate” thing to be merely a plot gimmick, my way to make Katniss become president of Panem at a young age. But as I was writing chapters, I realized that the shock of Snow discovering that “the unruly Victor” was his perfect match, and Snow’s discussions with Katniss that he could not dismiss out of hand, would make the old man re-evaluate his life. I did not intend all this when I started this story; but by Snow’s death, he and Katniss have changed their implacable enmity to a mentor-protégé relationship; and Snow dies being almost a good man.

I am an old coot, and three times in my lifetime, a man became President of the United States by other than the usual means. In 1963, President John F. Kennedy was killed and Lyndon Johnson became president; in 1974, President Richard Nixon resigned the office and Gerald Ford became president; in 2001, George W. Bush took office because he was the electoral-college winner of the election, even though he was the popular-vote loser.

My point is that Lyndon Johnson and Gerald Ford took office quietly; nobody ran up to either of them yelling “You shouldn’t be president!” or “I should be president instead of you!” (As for George W. Bush, Inauguration Day 2001 had the police out in force in Washington, D.C.; the tension was palpable.) However, between Panem being the kind of place it is, and Katniss being the kind of person she is, nobody could expect Katniss’s teenage transition to the presidency to be free of drama; so I as author made sure to pack in the drama—thirty-one chapters’ worth, before this epilogue!

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