"Katniss, it's your mom," Peeta tells me before handing over the phone.
"Hello, dear. How have you been?" inquires the tinny voice of my mother.
"Fine, just getting settled in." Peeta and I moved back to the rebuilt District 12 about a month ago and there are still boxes lying around our house in Victor's Village. "How are you?"
"Oh, I'm doing great, we just uncovered something that I think you might want to see," she gushes. Mom's been helping clean up the Capitol and healing the injured Capitolites who are still recovering from the war that was almost a year ago. She helps search through the rubble of houses to find lost possessions and such. She's great at it.
After the war we started rebuilding everything, from the destroyed Districts (including 13) to our rocky relationship. I can honestly say that it's great to have her back in my life.
"Really? What is it?"
"I think you'd better come and see it for yourself."
I motion Peeta over. "Maybe it's time for a vacation," I suggest.
He perks up. "Where to?"
"The Capitol."
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" he asks me for the millionth time.
"Yes, I'm absolutely positive! Mom wants us to see something so we better go see it."
"Okay, okay," he says, arms raised in surrender.
"The train to the Capitol will be leaving in 5 minutes. Please board now." announces the speakers everywhere in the train station.
"Guess we better get going," Peeta says, grabbing both our suitcases.
"Mom? Yeah, it's me. We're at your apartment," I say into the phone, looking around at her temporary home.
"Oh, no no no, you need to go right to the Restoration Center!"
"Where's that?"
"Go downtown and take a left at the aquarium. Keep straight until you see the park, then go right. If you see the giant dome, that's where you're going. See you soon!"
"Alright, bye." I hang up and drop my bag onto the couch. It'll have to go there until Mom tells me where we're sleeping.
"We have to go to the Restoration Center," I tell Peeta, making a face.
"Okay, we better go then," he smiles. He loves to do anything as long as it involves doing it with me.
We leave the apartment, lock it up, and head to downtown Capitol. I follow the directions and we end up in front of a building with a giant dome for a roof after about twenty minutes. We head inside, where it's more impressive than the outside. Giant arching windows, huge balconies, the whole grandeur theme.
Peeta walks to the receptionist desk and I follow. "Hello, we're here to see Mrs. Everdeen?"
"Head straight down the first hallway on your left, take another left at the end of that, and she's the third door on the right." The receptionist smiles and tilts her head as we thank her for the directions. "You're her daughter, right? Katniss? I've heard lots of great things about you."
"That would be me," I grin.
"Well, I'm glad to see you finally safe." she answers genuinely.
We thank her again and find Mom's office.
"Knock, knock," Peeta says, rapping his knuckles against the doorframe. The door is ajar, and jazzy music is playing. I've heard it before. I think it's by Jason Mraz or something? Music has gotten pretty popular recently, with thousands of songs being recorded every month. People actually have free time to discover hidden talents now that they aren't forced into basically free labor.
No one answers so we walk inside. After a few minutes, we hear faint singing from a back room.
"We gonna, party, carumba, fiesta, forever, all night loooong! Aaay, all night loooong, all night." She suddenly stops singing when she walks into the room, a surprised look on her face.
"Oh good, you're here! Welcome to my current office." She smiles and I can tell she loves it here. There are cardboard boxes everywhere and each one is filled to the brim with miscellaneous items, all covered in soot from the bombings. Her desk is filled with papers about an inch thick, and there are random items everywhere. A tie on the fan, safety goggles in the sink... it's all a bit strange.
"Well, let me go find what we discovered for you." she says after a moment, and disappears into the back room again, humming a vibrant tune.
Peeta and I uncover some chairs and sit down, relaxing our legs from the long walk. The chairs are next to each other, so Peeta puts his arm around my shoulders. "Are you excited?" he whispers, lips brushing my ear, making me shiver. I nod in anticipation of what we might find.
Finally, mom comes back with what looks like a drycleaner's bag.
"Here," she says, thrusting the bag into my arms, "open it."
I carefully hand the coat hanger to Peeta, and start to pull the bag up.
"Wait," he interrupts. "Close your eyes, let me open it for you." I nod and move my hands to over my eyes, letting the bag drop. A few moments later, he tells me to open my eyes.
When I do, I am shocked beyond belief.
It's my original Girl on Fire dress.