Prologue

Why would they be doing this? What could they want from us?

Peeta had hijacked a car after we were transported to the Capitol and broke out of the underground cells. But now the hunt was on. Three SUVs were swerving erratically around traffic to get to us, but we were ahead by at least a good fifty yards. But that didn't mean they wouldn't eventually catch up to us. They had before.

Katie and Carter were strapped into back seat of the Escalade, holding on for dear life as we sped around a hairpin curve in the road. There were deafening gunshots that didn't sound very far away. We were in the mountains now. Any wrong move and we could plummet to our deaths off the side of a cliff.

No traffic obstructed our course now. Peeta hit the accelerator, anxious to put as much distance between us and the people we were being followed by. It was looking like we would escape.

Until we went through a long, dark, winding tunnel in the mountain. The exit was painfully close, the SUVs a little closer. Just as soon as we had reached the exit, pieces of the mountain rained down on the roof of the car, trapping us, and leaving us to the mercy of the people. I should've known that they would rig the mountain.

But there was even more to it than that. The whole mountain seemed to be shaking and trembling. Breathing became gradually more difficult as smoke permeated the air in the car. The temperature seemed to be rising to an incredible heat. Slowly it dawned on me. I suppose geography does have some importance after all.

This wasn't a mountain. It was a volcano.

Summary

The Hunger Games has ended . . . or so everyone thought. Katniss and Peeta have started a family together, and all seems to be well. After everything these two have gone through together, they deserve a break, right? The Universe says otherwise. A top-secret group of elected officials have decided to . . . revoke the rules once again.

Chapter One: Unwelcome Memories

Months earlier. . .

"Careful, Katie! Don't go too far!" I called out, chuckling lightly to myself as I did so. Then I looked over my shoulder at the man behind me. "Oh, Peeta," I told him. "Isn't this wonderful? There's no peace keepers, no electric fence, no worrying where our next meal is going to come from. We're so . . . so. . . ." I mulled it over in my head, searching for the right word. Then it came to me. "Peeta, we're so free."

Peeta came up beside me, gently slipping his fingers through mine. "We are free, Katniss. This is what we fought for." He paused for a few moments as we watched Katie and Carter chasing each other in a dovetail fashion. "But the best part is having you. And having these children with you. It's the best thing I've ever done in my life. . . . Katniss, I can't tell you how long I've wished for this."

I wasn't quite sure how to respond to that comment. Sad, but true, I never really noticed Peeta existing along with me when we were children. Then the whole bread incident happened, and then the most terrifying moment of my life: the Hunger Games. Even then, I wasn't sure of my feelings for Peeta. Gale was always . . . complicating things. I thought that I loved Gale, but at that time, I didn't truly understand what love meant.

But soon enough, I realized that I did have feelings for Peeta. He was my other half. We'd been through hell and back together . . . twice. He understands me more than Gale, or anyone else for that matter, ever could.

"Mama, mama! Look what I found!" Katie squealed, stirring me from my thoughts. Her sunshine yellow pleated dress twirled back and forth as she ran to pressed a single black and white feather into my outstretched palm. The pattern has always intrigued me; a deep "V" of ghostly white, lined thickly with jet black.

A mockingjay feather.

It brought back painful memories. Picking multi-colored flowers for the dead body of Rue lying peacefully behind me, the blood-curdling screams of my family emitting from the mockingjays in the Quarter Quell, and me myself being the symbol for the uprising. The mockingjay, hunted by President Snow.

"It's beautiful," I told Katie quietly. I brushed my hand along her long, raven colored hair, and asked, "Do you know what kind it is?"

Katie smiled up at me, her startlingly blue eyes sparkling just like her fathers. "It's a mockingjay feather."

I had taught her all about the birds. Stories that my father shared with me, what they look like, their habits, how you can make them sing..

All of that information, but never about the connection between me and mockingjays. Neither of my children knew anything about the uprising. Nothing about the war. Nothing about how both of their parents were right in the middle of it.

Peeta and I wanted to keep them protected as long as possible. I had the strangest feeling though, that it was the inevitable. One day, soon, we would have to tell them.

"Can I keep it?" Katie asked sweetly.

"Of course," I promised. I felt my emotions swirling uncontrollably as I continued to dwell on the past, and I was eager to get myself out of Katie's sight. "Why don't you go show your brother?" I managed to say without my voice cracking.

Katie nodded, then bolted back to her brother. Peeta sensed the change in my mood, and steped in front of me, locking his crystal blue eyes with my stormy grey ones.

"Katniss?" Peeta whispers. "Are you thinking about . . . ?"

He didn't have to finish the question. We both knew what he meant. I bit my trembling lip, and nodded, trying not to let any tears escape. Peeta rushed forward, wrapping me in a tight, secure embrace.

I've always tried to be strong, but the older I got, the harder it was to control my emotions. And at twenty-six years old, I couldn't handle it. I broke down right then and there, sobbing helplessly, letting streams of hot tears make their way down my cheeks and onto Peeta's black shirt.

"Hey, hey," Peeta whispered, attempting to calm me down. He ran his right hand up and down my back soothingly. "It's all okay, Katniss. Rue died happy, helping you. She told you to win. And you did. And Prim accomplished her dreams. She was helping on the battlefield. They're both in a better place now."

"I k-know. But I always t-think about Rue's eyes s-staring up into the sky b-blankly. And Prim's s-screams in the Quarter Q-Quell. And-" I couldn't go on. It was all too much. I let the tears fall in rivers now. After everything that I had been through, I think that I deserved to let all of this stress out.

My nightmares of the Games came rushing back into my head faster than a bolt of lightening. For the past nineteen years, I'd had nightmares every single night. Each more vivid than the last.

Peeta pulled me down to the cool ground, and positioned me in his lap. I had my arms flung around his shoulders, my head buried between his neck and shoulder. After a couple minutes, I eased myself into silence, along with the help of Peeta massaging my neck and playing with my hair.

I leaned up and dried my tears with the sleeve of my dark green turtleneck. When finished, I looked back at Peeta.

"I know that I shouldn't worry, but there's a nagging voice inside me that saying there's still people out there looking for us. People that are capable of hurting us . . . and the ones we love." I was not willing to let my own flesh and blood be forced into the massive screwed up life that Peeta and I were cursed with. I would do anything to prevent that.

"Katniss, look at me," Peeta said, holding my chin with his thumb and index finger so I was looking straight into his hypnotizing eyes, "I am not going to let anyone lay a finger on my family. If anyone comes close, I'll throw some one-hundred pound sacks of flour at them." He grinned, and I could tell that he was doing his best to lighten the mood.

"I'm sure they would run back to where they came from with their tail between their legs," I joked. Peeta always knew how to make me feel better.

"You know," he began softly. "I don't think I ever told you how beautiful you are."

That was enough to make me smile and laugh lightly. "You have, Peeta," I corrected him, rolling my eyes. " A countless number of times."

"I love you," Peeta says, planting a kiss on my forehead.

"I love you too," I answer back wholeheartedly, bringing Peeta's face closer to mine, brushing my lips against his cheek. He slowly turned his head toward mine and our lips met.

Several moments passed by, and then Peeta leaned back, his hand still caressing my hair.

"I think we better go home," he said. " Katie's lips are starting to turn blue."

I whipped around fast and spotted Katie a few yards away. Peeta was right. "Katie! Carter! It's getting cold!" I shouted to them. They came sprinting towards me as fast as they could. "Why didn't you tell me you were cold, Katie?" I chided her.

She just giggled and started chasing her younger brother some distance in front of Peeta and I.

Peeta laced his fingers through mine once more. "Look," I said, pointing with my free hand at the breathtaking sunset that lay before us. "Your favorite color," I commented. A gorgeous shade of sunset orange lay before us.

He nodded and pointed with his other hand. "And yours," he smiled, motioning towards the forest and the tips of the trees that were dark evergreen strokes on the horizon.

We both grinned, thinking about our time on the tracks on our way to the Quarter Quell. The rare moments of bliss in our disquieting childhood.

"I could spend an eternity with you, Peeta, and it still wouldn't be enough."

"I can say the same about you . . . Mrs. Mellark."

The sound of my name made my heart flutter. I was looking forward to the alone time that Peeta and I would have tonight at our home.