Author's Note: I think this will explain what Ariana thinks of their idea...
thanks go out to my reviewers JB, Miri Penn, KL10X , Wild and HL98
Chapter 9
007 I am not
Take down the capital?
"I'm just sixteen? How can I take down the capital" I reply, this is getting more ludicrous by the minute, I try and fail at understanding their logic, clearly they have eaten or drank something to mess with their common sense.
"Well we aren't going to send you there right away" Plutarch laughs, "what you will be doing is gathering intel, from the capital"
I look from Plutarch to Makenzie to Maverick. The only person mirroring how I feel is my friend who has more or less come back from the dead. Confused and a bit scared.
"You want me to go into the lions den?" I look at Plutarch
He chuckles, "not right away! Of course not! You need some training up, plus there is some work on creating a pseudo identity for you"
This does not sit well with me and with my head pounding my gut reeling I lay back down.
"We'll let you rest" Makenzie says, "it's a lot to take in"
The good doctor steers Plutarch out who looks to be upset at my reluctance leaving Maverick and I alone.
I lay on my back covering my face with my hands willing my foggy mind to focus.
"Hey" he says touching me as if I would shatter, and to be honest that would be a relief- to just show physically how I feel emotionally, "talk to me"
"I feel I lost my mind" I say, "they want me to be a spy? To infiltrate a place I despise and am horrified by"
"I wish I could understand what you went thru Ari, but I can't" he sighs, "all I can say is you're not alone right now"
We are silent for a while and I finally relax a bit and rest my arm on the pillows as I lay on my side and look at him.
"I had nightmares for the longest time" I say to him, "of you and the others and President Snow threatening my family"
"Your brother?"
"More than him, I made friends, your parents and a family in district twelve, Snow hated me I was almost raped the year after my games"
He reacts much like I would expect, he reaches for my hand and gives it the gentlest of squeezes, "he didn't did he?"
I shake my head, "I slammed my foot into the guy's instep and ran for the bathroom, called Hellen and Tracker- my mentors- they came to get me"
He reaches forward and brushes the hair from my face, then seeing as he was having a hard time rolled closer and put the brakes on his chair.
"I'm so sorry Mav" I whimper, "I never wanted anything like this to happen!"
He shushes me, "Ari I am alive, just..."
"Skinny" I say
"Very observant" he mutters, "I...guess I was a hard patient for them"
"But if I had known" I say
He just chuckles, "if you knew and they knew while I was in the arena they would have forced you to kill me" he touches my face so gently, "I'm here, and I'm fine. You just have to rest and get better"
"Seneca is in the capital" I tell him, now that I have started it's hard to stop, he nods, "and Peeta Mellark he's just a kid Mav, just a boy and he's still in the running for the games, and Tracer lost a boy she could have had a life with in front of her, like you left me, and I knew if I stayed her, Peet, Sen and Tracker would be in trouble and..." I start crying and he looks so concerned, "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry "
He hushes me, takes off the brakes of his chair, races to the other side and gently pulls me into his lap. An alarm goes off as the lead to the heart monitor has pulled off. Makenzie comes in with a worried Plutarch.
"What's wrong?" Makenzie says trying to coax an answer from me
"It all caught up with her" Maverick explains, "don't worry I got her"
