A/N: I do not own the Hunger Game Trilogy or The show Secret Circle.
Hey guys! Sorry for the wait. I had actually started this but never got around to finishing it and there was some drama in my life, yada yada yada... so I hope you enjoy, and feel free to PM me with any thought on the story, it is very welcome. I'm also going to be going back through at some point to fix my mistakes (once again, all mine) so look out for those. :-)
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-RC
"Hey!" Bubbly Delly Cartwright yells at Katniss, overjoyed. "I didn't think you'd show." She laughs to the brunette, eager for her company.
"Why didn't you think I'd come? I told you I would." She smiles softly at the seemingly lonely girl in front of her.
"I figured Johanna turned you against me."
"Jo turned me against Jo." She states and turns to see what the friendly blonde had been doing on the docks. She looks up at the loud giggle erupting from her. Her eyebrows raise, thinking her comment hadn't been that funny but that's just how Delly is. Passionate, almost over-stimulated. So, she laughs right along, happy to have normal company. "Alright," she says, after the girl has calmed down, "what do you need me to do?"
"Well, I need to sell tickets for the raffle. Simple." She states with that tone that is undeniably the girliest thing Katniss has ever heard.
"Simple is exactly what I need today." They share a smile and begin their 'simple' task.
Madge walks into Mellark's in search of one person, but finding another. "Katniss!" she calls, and the girl, visibly takes a deep breath and turns, exasperated. "Peeta told me you guys practiced last night." She scowls to the floor and sighs.
"I guess you could call it that." She remarks sourly and then turns back to the clipboard in hand, looking at the amount of raffles she's sold.
"How'd you get roped into volunteering?" Madge laughs.
"I came for the distraction." She says dryly.
The pretty blonde looks at her curiously, "Well, I'd be happy to help you sometime if you like… practice, I mean." Her words are hesitant, waiting for the girl to have some resemblance to the one she'd grown accustomed to. "The thing is Katniss, we need you." The blank expression on her companion's face quickly morphs. "We can't be a circle without you."
"I'm sorry." She says shortly, with no hint of remorse. "But, no. I refuse." She states simply. "You're gonna have to find someone else."
"Wait, wait, wait- Katniss, there is no one else. I thought you understood-" She's baffled.
"No, I don't understand. Any of this." She snaps. "Everything you say is ludacris! And I'm supposed to just blindly agree?" Her voice raises.
"I know it's a lot to accept-" Madge starts calmly. Truth be told, she should've known that just pushing this on someone would cause them to snap at some point.
"You're right. It's too much to accept." Katniss replies flatly. "I can't do this." She boldly says..
"I know you're scared-"
"Damn right I'm scared." Her eyes get a glint in them, it worries the blonde. "Who wouldn't be? Look, I have a feeling and then something explodes!"
"Which is why we need to bind the circle."
"No, I'm sorry but I don't think I can help you." She walks out of Mellark's on that note and Madge can't stop her. When she's in this state, something about her is different, the fire in her eyes. It scares her. She scares her.
He watches his granddaughter's friend argue with a girl when he see's it. The spark. There's something more behind the brunette. He hasn't seen it in years. But she looks just like him… he thinks. Boggs turns his head back to the blonde. It clicks. Seneca's daughter. What would those two be talking about. Especially so heatedly. They don't notice his stares. He has an epiphany. Quickly paying, he follows the girl- must be an Abernathy- and trails her around the pier, watching her do the mundane task of selling raffle tickets. She looks so normal, perfectly so. Despite looking so unapproachable before, her entire demeanor has changed. She's smiling, she's friendly. Her face is quite pretty when she's happy. It continues like this for quite some time until he gets distracted again and loses her.
"Hey, Katniss." He says, surprised and- if he must admit- nervous. After what Seneca told him, his thoughts have been going haywire. It's not that he doesn't want to see her, he just doesn't want to make a mistake and get himself killed. "How are you doing?" As much as he doesn't want to talk to her, he can't resist. She looks so much like her mother… his heart aches. Her features, despite having his coloring, she just… god, he is hopelessly in love with a dead woman and it hurts.
"So, Mr. Mellark… um, the other night, you were telling me about my mom." She smiles, both politely and awkwardly. She stares at the man in front of her and has a realization. Her step-father. He looked a lot like her step-father. She shakes the thought away, but it's a bit more noticeable now. If she was told they were siblings, she'd agree without a second thought on the matter.
He laughs and she tries not to show it, but she's a little freaked about the whole thing. Maybe her mother did love this man, maybe she tried to replace him with Prim's dad… god that'd be creepy. "You caught me drinking." He smiles brightly. She raises his eyebrows at the drink, so clearly right in his hand. He's drinking now, so what's the difference? "I apologize if I said anything inappropriate."
She shakes her head at him quickly, dismissing the statement, "No… but you did say our families were aligned. Actually, we had this conversation like a couple of days ago… do you remember?"
He lies, "No."
"Oh, well I was just wondering, what you meant by that. It's just…" She trails off, not really willing to admit how his son is the reason she's here.
"Well, it's silly really," He doesn't think it's actually silly, he believes it wholeheartedly, "just some astrological lore about how our families are on some collision course of destiny… nonsense." He is curious by her deflated demeanor after he says that, "I've never really believed in astrology." he sighs.
"Me either." Her lips quirk up sadly. It intrigues him.
"To be honest," he begins, he can't help it, "I just know, whenever I was around your mother, I'd just get this feeling…" her eyes light up more and more with his words. "It was impossible to ignore. All she had to do was smile, just the right way… and it caused such a reaction in me, I can't describe it." He screwed up, he shouldn't have told her that. He adds, "Like I said, silly." but he knows that's not going to erase the look in her eyes, the hope. And, even if he doesn't know what it means for her, he knows it can't be good.
"Uh, no. Not at all." Her smile lights up the room then, as she scurries away.
He is able to get through the crowd, surprisingly well. It's only when his eyes land on her, doing magic, that he scampers away. He runs straight to her mother. He knew something was amiss. Even if she was concealed, he knew what he saw. Her and the other two were talking about binding and joking around about the very serious matter.
This couldn't happen. Not again.
Coin smiles at the man and completely ignores his face, very distraught face, "Hey, Boggs." She smiles and he doesn't want any of her fake expressions. He always has trouble differentiating her lies from truths. "Enjoying yourself?"
He scowls down at her, "Bryan Mellark told me that Seneca Undersee performed a Signa spell on him last night."
Her entire facade drops but the lies still easily slips from her mouth, second nature. "That's impossible." She knows it isn't, but she didn't know that her 'partner in crime' was so stupid. "I don't believe it." She began to shift the blame off Seneca, no matter how much she wanted to punch him at the moment, "Bryan's not exactly a reliable source." inside she's boiling. "He's an alcoholic." Stating the obvious, she chastises, "And Seneca has no power, you made sure of that."
"I'd be inclined to agree had I not witnessed it."
"Boggs, what are you talking about? No one's practicing." She's panicking inside, he can't know.
"The children, Alma. Their circle. I've seen them." Well, they're done for. The entire plan, screwed up by an Elder, of course. "Your own daughter is one of them." Even worse!
"Jo?" She acts distressed and surprised.
"With the Abernathy girl in town, they have a full circle. They can awaken their full potential. We have to stop them."
"They don't know anything, I'm around them all the time, if-" he cuts her off.
"I'll take care of it. What happened to your circle can never happen again." He begins to leave the distressed mother.
"Boggs, wait!" She calls. "Look, we've had our differences, I know…" she sighs, "but, I loved your son and I'm not going to let anything happen to Jo." She hasn't been this honest the entire conversation, "Please, let me help. Tell me what I can do."
"Hey." She rolls her eyes and sighs. "So, I've been nominated to come over here and convince you to bind the circle."
She turns to him, smiling sarcastically, and looks behind her at Madge, looking a bit afraid. "Yeah." She drones, ignoring him again.
He feels completely awkward. She won't look at him, she only sort of acknowledges his presence. He feels lost. "Yeah, she told me she struck out." They sit together on the bench, looking out at the water in silence.
"What did you tell her about last night? She's under the impression we worked on magic." She snarls. He didn't understand why she was angry now. Her mood is getting on his nerves too.
"Nothing, just that I tried to convince you with magic, that's all."
She huffs and mutters under her breath, "Saving your own ass, you mean." Unfortunately, he hears her.
"What did you want me to say? She knew I stayed behind to talk to you."
"Nothing. I don't know what I want." She whisper-yells.
"Then why are you angry at me?!" He counters.
"Because!" Childish, Katniss, childish...
"Well, how do I fix this? You are either awkward around me or angry!"
"Nothing." She changes the subject but her tone remains deadly. "Anyway, the binding, no more floating water or exploding experiments?" He nods stiffly.
"Fine. I'll do it."