25

Although the journey to President Snow's mansion has cost the lives of many friends, seeing Gale cut down by Capitol forces makes my blood boil. I know I should be sad. This should feel the same way it did when Rue was impaled, or when Mags rushed into the poison fog, or when Finnick was torn apart by the mutts that had been chasing me. I know I should be thinking only of Gale. He always had my back, but right now I can only think of the satisfaction I will feel when one of my arrows pierces the sickly heart of President Snow.

Perhaps it's the scent of roses that fills the mansion, or perhaps the sound of the mutt pursuing me, or perhaps seeing Gale die made something inside me snap, but it is more than the icy weather seeping into the door of the mansion that makes me feel cold inside.

"Katniss!" comes a hiss from behind me. I whirl around and pin one of its clawed paws to the hardwood floor with an arrow. After a brief moment, the incendiary tip burns the flesh of the mutt and its leg burns off. Though the mutt does not seem to be affected by pain, its balance is thrown off, and its attempt to run at me results in a clumsy stumble onto the floor.

I rush up a large staircase that spirals up. The padded carpet on each step is covered with red and white roses. I look carefully trying to visually uncover any traps or spot personal guards, but the mansion is curiously empty. If I were not so filled with rage, I might stop to think about what reason President Snow might have for not having guards or traps everywhere. There is no way he would rely solely on his human shield of children for protection.

I clench my teeth as I rush up the stairs. I point the arrow that rests in my bowstring as I look all around me for potential targets. Finally the top of the stairs lead to a large greenhouse in the interior of the mansion. There are hedges filled with rose bushes inside, and I know instinctively that this is where Snow will be.

As I open the thick transparent doors that lead inside, the warm humid air almost stuns me. It is just like the sick hot feeling in the arena where the Quell was held. I quickly brush the sensation away as I carefully walk down to the lawn covered floor. I scan the area for threats before removing my coat and wiping the thick layer of makeup that Tigris had applied off of my face. I feel lighter and I move more nimbly. The hedges zigzag forcing me to walk further in the nauseating smell of the roses, but I press on as the scent of blood begins to mix with the nearly overpowering perfume of the flowers.

My ears strain to hear anything that might hinder my progress. It is ominously quiet. There are no birds or insects in this greenhouse. I quiet the sound of my breathing as I move, just as I always did with Gale as we hunted in the woods outside district 12. The seemingly endless rows of hedges take the edge off of my anger, and suddenly the emotions that I should have felt when Gale slumped down now land on me like a tangible weight. I stifle the urge to choke and sob as a tear wells up in my eyes and rolls down my cheek.

Hundreds of memories flood my mind. I remember when we first met, and he had been so suspicious of me inspecting his snares. I remember him helping me set my own snares in the woods. I remember feeling impatient with him when I was showing him how to use a bow. The quiet that lingers in the air reminds me of the quiet times we sat together fishing in ponds in the woods.

I blink the tears out of my eyes and force myself to turn, determined to avoid any traps that President Snow might have put in his personal rose garden. I walk forward again, but quickly lose myself in memories.

I remember being wrapped in his strong arms, and feeling his warmth as we kissed. I had loved him, and the pain of seeing him cut down by Peacekeepers was now more excruciating than seeing him bound to the whipping post at the hands of Thread in district 12.

I remember his angry tirades in the woods, and I remember thinking how pointless it was. I would never have imagined then that we would fight our way into the president's mansion. He should be here with me! How dare they cut him down! How dare they take him from me!

Anger again stems the flow of tears. I again clench my teeth and press on. I remember President Snow's snake-like eyes in my home in district 12 as he threatened my "cousin" as he called Gale, even though he knew the truth. My feet move quickly toward the other end of the greenhouse.

Suddenly the sound of rustling hedges causes me to come to a halt and whirl about. I see rose leaves flying into the air as something is crawling through the thorny barriers toward me.

"Katniss!" comes the familiar hiss of the mutt. Just as the mutts that cast themselves into the toxic waste underground in an effort to tear me apart, this now three-legged monstrosity was ignoring the thorns that must be shredding its thick skin as it pulls itself toward me. I can only mark its progress by watching the hedges shake.

Now that they had taken Gale from me, I realize there is not one that has my back. It is up to me to make Snow pay. I run back and forth through the hedges. I turn to see the mutt is gaining because it is not zigzagging. It seems to be gaining speed as it catches my scent, obviously having adjusted to moving with three legs. I turn the opposite direction and realize there are only a few more rows.

Suddenly a sick tangled feeling knots up in my stomach as I wonder whether I was mistaken to assume Snow would be here. With no guards and no traps, I now question whether my entire effort to hunt down the President might have been aimed incorrectly. All of the friends I had lost to get here come rushing back to my memory as I run. Especially Gale… the sight of his slashed skin, the sticky blood oozing out of his neck, the puffs of breath that suddenly stopped coming out of his mouth when he slumped to the ground…

I rush faster now. My strides lengthen as I turn down the last row of hedges. The rustling of rose leaves and the hissing of my seemingly undying pursuer feels almost on top of me. At any moment, I will see its disturbing human eyes staring into my own.

I rush around the last obstacle and see President Snow smiling with his puffy lips in some sort of control booth. Off to the side of the greenhouse is the large box I saw the hovercraft drop off. I pull up my bow almost unconsciously and point an arrow at Snow's head when suddenly something makes me stop: a slight discoloration in the shape of a diamond just a few feet between where President Snow stands and where I am poised to strike.

The rustling of the hedges stops as the mutt leaps toward me. I rush toward President Snow. He smiles wider, but does not move… and why should he? There is a force field that protects him. He wants to observe. He wants to watch me die. The mutt leaps onto me. I roll onto my back and kick it up in the air. Its momentum carries it toward Snow when the force field zaps the mutt and hurls it back. I rush toward it and pull out one of my knives, cutting off its head. It stops moving almost immediately. I breathe heavily as I turn to Snow who is slowly and dramatically clapping his hands.

"Well done Miss Everdeen!" he says. His voice is carried through speakers throughout the greenhouse. "I didn't think you could actually hear the force field… it feels good to know that I was justified in having those responsible for your augmented hearing killed!"

"Justified!?" I shout. His use of the word prompts me to draw and explosive arrow and fire it at the weakness in the field. The force field flickers with the blast, but remains intact. President Snow laughs.

"Oh no…" he chides. "There is no lightning to harness in my greenhouse… I am beyond your reach." I breathe slowly and look around. There must be a way. I look carefully at the lit panels that surround him behind the force field. He has not touched any of them yet, so it is possible he might have traps or weapons in the room that he can activate, but I am mostly worried that he might have a mechanism that allows him to escape. I cannot let him escape when he is so close. I remember the rebel forces closing in on the mansion.

"Your empire is reduced to this mansion President," I say feigning confidence. "The Capitol is nearly defeated, and I have only to wait until power is cut to your force field." Snow frowns. It is the first time I have seen genuine frustration in his eyes. It fills me with exhilaration.

"Yes Mockingjay…" he confesses. "It is true that my defeat is inevitable." His eyes seem to narrow as he looks into mine. I feel an awful chill run down my spine, in spite of his admission. "I spent so much time thinking that I could make you my pawn. You are not the first tribute to do something I found disagreeable you know… but you are the first one that she was able to use."

She? I had thought the power struggle in Panem was between the people and President Snow. Had I missed another player in his game? Suddenly I realized to whom he was referring. I had been so focused on my desire to kill Snow, so affected by the ferocity of the mutts and the pods and the Peacekeepers in the Capitol, so stunned by the death of Gale, that I had completely forgotten about President Coin.

She had been controlling, and she did not like that my cooperation had come at a price. Although I had not immediately seen it behind her frank and stoic appearance, it was obvious even to loyal soldiers from 13 that she disliked me. Boggs had believed that Coin had sent Peeta into our star squad hoping the tracker jacker madness would cause him to kill me for her, and in spite of Peeta's progress I agreed with him.

"Your stunt with the berries had perfect timing, and she knew it," continued Snow. "I knew it too… and I accounted for it. The Quarter Quell was the perfect method to kill you without making you a martyr… both you and Peeta Mellark. I was so determined to have a single victor in the seventy-fourth hunger games… to put you and by extension all the districts in line."

His voice seems different as the words fall from his disgusting puffy lips. There is a trace of something I never expected to hear from the tyrant of Panem: regret. Of course he did not regret the murders, or the perversions, or the abuses that he had inflicted on the people he was supposed to have protected, but the tone in his voice almost generates a hint of pity inside of me.

"In fact, I was so determined," starts Snow as he walks to a panel in his control cove. "…that I named having a victor as a term of my surrender…" I tilt my head in confusion. What is he saying? He presses a button and suddenly a muffled noise comes from the large metal box to my left. I had completely forgotten about the special delivery that the Capitol hovercraft had made to the mansion. I point an arrow toward the box as I listen carefully to the noise that is being repeated. It is a whisper. President Snow is manipulating screens and buttons in his cove as the whisper becomes more intense. I freeze as I perceive what is being said.

"Katniss!... Katniss!" The voice, though muffled, clearly belongs to Peeta.

I whirl back to President Snow. He is furiously pressing buttons. I become aware of the cameras that are being lowered throughout the greenhouse. The hum of machines and power suddenly amplifies and a large golden cornucopia is lifted from beneath the floor into the center of the greenhouse. I whirl back in horror to see President Snow making his last preparations.

"President Coin would not have done this!" I shout. "You're lying! You're trying to manipulate me! I saw the Capitol seal on the hovercraft!" It almost sounds like he is hissing as he chuckles.

"Are you so blind to the obvious?" asks Snow. "If I was truly in control of a hovercraft, I would have used it to escape. Of course Coin was in on it. Did you think her stoic exterior hid altruistic motives? Did you think your rebellion was going to change Panem into a land of freedom? She is no better than I am…"

I open my mouth to object, but nothing comes out. I want to tell him that he is wrong. I want to tell him that while I may not be a fan of Coin, she is far better than he is. I want to tell him that the people of Panem will be free, and that the age of the hunger games is over. Instead I consider the hovercraft that delivered Peeta to the Presidential mansion. Why did he not escape? Why did he stay? Was inflicting more pain on me more important than his own survival? No, that could not be true. He truly had regret in his voice when he admitted he had lost. He regretted a course of action that was leading to his death. He had worked so hard to be a survivor. It was almost as if he was a tribute: willing to do anything to anyone in his desperation to keep living.

Could Coin have found Peeta? While I was sneaking toward the Mansion, and nearly getting killed with Gale, could she have been negotiating terms of surrender? How could they have planned that I would make it through all of the defenses into the mansion? Maybe they were betting on me, just like Cinna had… and in the end, I am just a pawn. I have become just a piece in a larger game… a condition for surrender…

"And besides," says Snow. "I thought we had agreed not to lie to each other…"

We had agreed. The memory of him sitting in my home in district 12 immediately comes to my mind. He was so matter-of-fact. He was so open about his plans for me on the victory train. In fact, now that I think about it, I can see a similarity in Coin's down-to-business attitude. In the contract I had made with her to be her Mockingjay in exchange for immunity for the victors of the hunger games, she had been very straightforward about the terms, and even implied threats if I broke my contract with her.

"It doesn't matter at this point if you believe me," says Snow at last. "You will provide me with the entertainment you owe me… the long overdue conclusion to the 74th hunger games!" He presses a button and the metal box opens up.

Peeta turns toward me and angrily furrows his brow.

"Katniss!" he hisses.

What choice do I have? I rush toward the cornucopia.