Prologue

The blade flew right through a curl. She fell back and screamed. She slapped her hand over her mouth to muffle the scream and hid as quickly as she could. Another blade came out of nowhere and she felt that one end up in her throat. She couldn't breathe.

Effie Trinket woke up with a shock. She took deep breaths to calm herself down as she searched the other side of her bed for the warm body that was supposed to protect her from her own nightmares. The bed was cold. She stood up and corrected her wig. She picked up her compartment phone and dialed a number.

"Good morning." She said sweetly, as if talking to a child. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah?" She said after a response. "What did you have for breakfast?"

"Good girl. And Rubin?" She smiled and rolled her eyes. "Okay. I'll talk to grandma about that, okay? Can you give her the phone?" Effie listened and then sighed. "Mommy will be home soon, okay? Haybre, you know mommy has to do this." Effie took another calming breath. "I don't know. I'll let him call you, okay? Thank you, Sweetheart."

"Mom, please don't allow Rubin to eat sweets before breakfast. He's 6 years old. He still needs his teeth." Effie rolled her eyes and suppressed a sigh. "No I'm not going to give a six year old false teeth. Not the ten year old either. I don't care if it's normal. They're my kids."

"I know. Thank you." Effie hung up the phone with a deep sigh. Warm hands slid around her waist and a warm embrace calmed her down. She turned around and kissed his lips.

"You smell like a brothel, Haymitch." Effie complained.