PROLOGUE

"Effie, where the hell did you put my—oh—never mind, found it!" Haymitch called out to his live-in girlfriend, wondering where his misplaced bottle of whiskey was. "Effie?" he shouted as he twisted the cap off. He took a swig straight from the bottle and wandered into their bedroom; she sat on the bed, drawing maniacally. "What is it?"

"They're here," she said distractedly, her focus remaining on the pad of paper in her hands.

"Who's here?"

She abruptly stopped drawing and stared at him, arching an eyebrow. "Division."

"What, here in 12? Why?" he asked, suddenly gripped with concern and fear.

"I don't know why exactly, but I'm guessing it has something to do with these two," she said, holding up her drawing. It was of a young girl and a woman, presumably her mother, being hauled off by Division agents.

"Is that—"

"The Everdeens," she said, gazing at the drawing.

"Has this already happened?"

"It's about to."

"Should we do something?" he asked.

"We can't," she said, flipping to another page in her sketch book and showing it to him. It was a drawing of the two of them, dead.

"They'll kill us if we try," he said with a defeated sigh.

"I've been seeing it all afternoon; always the same. They want those two for something, and they're willing to kill anyone who gets in their way."

"Well, in that case," Haymitch said, taking her hand and pulling her up, "We need to take precautions." He walked into the living room and waved his arms, causing the curtains to cover all the windows, blocking out all light. He waved his hand toward the door, and the four separate locks on it slid into place. "Better if it seems we're not here."

"What about the third Everdeen girl? The older one?" Effie asked, staring at her drawings. "I keep seeing the mother and the young one, but not her. What's to become of her?"

"Far as I'm concerned, you not seeing her is a good thing. Means she's out of danger."

"Not necessarily," she said, wrinkling her nose. "I wish I could see what it is they're after."

"It's better if we don't know," Haymitch reasoned.

"I suppose." They spent the next few hours in seclusion, until Effie's visions subsided. "We should find her," Effie told him. "We should make sure she's all right."

"Her family was taken; I highly doubt she's all right," Haymitch said gruffly.

"Don't get snippy with me, Haymitch Abernathy, I'm not the one who took them," she said sharply. "But since we know about it, I feel that it's our duty to—"

"We should stay the hell out of it, is what we should do," he argued. "Unfortunately, I know you too well." He sighed, "All right, we'll go check on her," he finally consented.

"Anything you'd like to say to me first?"

"You've got too soft a heart," he said, leaning in and kissing her cheek, "But you're right."

"That's better," she said with a smile. "Let's go, then."