Oh NO.

I've almost caught up to the point where I dropped off writing at… uh oh. Better get cracking or I'll be working at a pace of one chapter a day… Well, now you know why I needed Cinna to be alive. YAYZ.

Chapter Nine

The television flickers as it displays President Paylor, her hair tied messily back in a ponytail. Her face is white, as if anticipating the courage it will take to announce the cruel Capitol Games.

"Ladies and gentlemen," she starts out, "Years and years ago, we are all aware of the rebellion Katniss Everdeen, our Mockingjay, took on to save Panem from the horror they called 'The Hunger Games'. Every year, in punishment of the rebellion the districts took up upon in the Dark Days, the Capitol forced one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to the Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.

"The threat of the Games was finally ended when the rebellion succeeded. However, at the end, a decision was made by the late Alma Coin, president of District Thirteen.

"The idea was to have all the children of those in power in the Capitol - such as Caesar Flickerman, or the Gamemakers, or Claudius Templesmith, or even President Coriolanus Snow himself. She asked the seven victors who survived the rebellion to take a vote.

"The victors were promised that no information will be revealed to the public society. However, we must reveal the outcome. Of course, this outcome was released dozens of years ago, but I shall say it once more."

I know who voted for what, I think darkly in my mind. Johanna Mason, Enobaria, Katniss Everdeen and Haymitch Abernathy voted yes. The rest voted no.

In my mind, the events of the voting takes place. I imagine the table where Peeta had banged his fist on; the rose Katniss had glared at; the chair that held the paunchy Haymitch Abernathy; Annie's sad eyes, remembering her dead husband Finnick, and Johanna's and Enobaria's, who had no one left to love. The scene must've been disastrous as the victors fought against each other for their own opinions. Friends turned against friends, might've hated each other in the distant future. The decision changed the future of all of Panem from the outcome...

"The Games were in favor."

My thoughts echo against Paylor's words.

"Now, we finally have a complete set of tributes. Some are older than we like, but we have all the tributes, the children of those in power, at last."

It's all wrong, I think softly in my mind. All of it. It would've made sense to put the actual ones in power in the Games, but why their children? They did nothing wrong - Angel was only a toddler when they took her. Who knows how many other children they took, stolen from their homes?

I take a shaky breath. My mother doesn't look any better, but she's still my mother. I think of Angel, an orphan, her mother dead and gone. She has no one left. No one but me.

I can't go and rescue her. She must know that. It would be suicide. I can only watch hopelessly as Paylor lists all the tributes who will be participating. One by one, their names flash past me, accompanied by a head shot. Klaus Templesmith, son of Claudius Templsmith. Julius Flickerman, son of Caesar Flickerman. The list goes on and on.

Twenty-one, twenty-two... I count in my head. Twenty-three...

Angel's picture appears last, the corners of her mouth torn down in a frown. I can only stare at her picture in the ten seconds it appears in. President Snow's granddaughter looks worse than she ever was.

Paylor appears one more time. "Also, this Hunger Games will be held in the same tradition as the previous ones. However, the Gamemakers, interviewers, et cetera, will all be by the rebels in power."

She hesitates, as if considering whether to say it or not, but says it anyways.

"We are in need of stylists."

Before her words have finished echoing along the living room, I've scrambled off the couch and out the door. Stylists. This is the perfect opportunity. Stylists get the best of things - perhaps even maps of the facility. A plan forms in my head; I can still get those tributes out. I feel a smile spreading across my face as I bound across the streets of District Four, looking for the person who can make my wishes come true.

"Cinna!"

Yawn. I'm t-t-tired… Should be getting to bed… might not update tomorrow. I'm drowning in homework.