Hey all! So I've been on vacation and I feel really bad for not updating. So, here it goes!
Jane POV:
My head hurts. It fucking hurts like hell. From my hunters instincts that I don't use very often, I can tell immediately that this is not a good place to be. Wherever it is this place is located.
I open my eyes expecting light to hit me. But it doesn't, it's complete blackness. Am I blind?
Moving from my sitting position slumped against a concrete wall, I move to standing and put my arms out in front of me so that I don't run into anything. After about eight steps my hands hit another concrete wall. After some more careful moving around, I determine that I'm in about a ten by ten foot concrete cell. Only, I haven't found a door.
In this dinky cell there is nothing but a drain in the middle of the floor. I groan in frustration.
"Did you hear that?" A trembling whisper takes me by surprise.
"Yea. I heard it. Sounded like a girl." A calmer whisper says.
Am I going mad? "Hello?!" I yell out.
"Shh!" The trembling voice says. "Don't yell. You'll attract the guards." It whispers.
The voice sounds like it's coming from above me. "Alright." I whisper. "Where am I?"
"We don't know." Says trembling voice.
"Probably somewhere in the District 2 or the Capitol in an underground prison." The calmer voice says.
"Who are you two?" I ask.
The trembling voice pipes up. "Techna, District 3."
"Aragon. District 2." The calmer voice says. "What about you?"
"Janelle. District 12." I say.
"Janelle Hawthorne? Johanna's daughter." Aragon says.
"The one and only." I reply.
"Our theory was right, then. They're collecting us." Aragon says sadly.
"What do you mean collecting us? And who is us exactly? I've never met you two before."
"But our parents have met." A new voice answers. A woman's voice. A woman older than Finn by about ten years.
"'Bout time you spoke up Cynthia. I was beginning to think you escaped and left us." Aragon jokes to the woman Cynthia.
Suddenly I begin to piece it together. "Cynthia, District 8 right?" I ask.
"Little Mason figured it out." Cynthia says to no one in particular.
"Little Mason? Is that what people are calling me?"
"Most yea. I mean, you do look just like her."
"So I've heard. How many of us do they have?"
"We're not sure. We only heard the guards talking about hitting 12 last."
"So, just one of us from each district?" I ask.
"No. Their plan, is to snag one child from each victor." I suck in a breath. Peyton.
"I was afraid you'd say that. Who's kids are you?"
"I'm Beetee's daughter." Techna says.
"Lyme's son." Aragon chimes.
"Cecilia's oldest. You probably saw me at her reaping of the 3rd Quarter Quell hugging her knees begging her not to go." Cynthia says calmly.
Aragon joins the conversation again. "You've got the Star Crossed Lover's still in 12 right?"
"Yea. The Mellarks are our next door neighbors."
"Did you see anything before they fed you the juice? You know, they yellow liquid that makes you black out. Was there a Mellark kid with you?"
"Yea. Peyton Mellark, he's my age."
Cynthia sighs. "Then they probably have him somewhere."
"What about the mentor Haymitch? He ever have any kids?"
I laugh at that mentally. Haymitch has always been a sort of a second father to Mr. and Mrs. Mellark. But never reproduced. "No."
"Then that should be about everyone. You don't have any other victor's in your district right?" Shit! Maggie and Finn. I hope both of them are okay. "Hey. Mason!" Aragon says.
"It's Hawthorne. And actually we do have more victors in 12. Two victors actually."
"Any of them have kids?"
"They have kids together. Two kids."
"Which victors are you talking about?" Techna pops in.
"Finnick and Annie Odair." I say.
No one speaks. I can hear my own heart beat pounding in my brain, which still hurts.
"That's not possible. Finnick Odair died a few months before his first child was born. There's no way he can have two." Aragon says astonished.
"We thought he was dead too. Annie thought so. So did Finnick Jr. But one night, he shows up. He'd been held prisoner in the Capitol and just found. He came to 12 because my mom convinced Annie to move there to be near friends who loved her. After a few months Annie was pregnant with their daughter Maggie."
"But, that doesn't seem right. He was dead, he is dead. They must have given you too much juice."
"Nope. It's true." A very familiar voice comes into the conversation.
"Finn!" I almost yell. "Finn I'm so glad you're here. Well, not glad you're here, but rather you than Maggie." I pause. "Sorry, that sounded kind of harsh."
"It's alright. I'd rather them whoever they are have me rather than Maggie too." His voice is sad.
"Finnick Jr. Odair. Here in the flesh." Cynthia says calmly. "When were you planning on joining the conversation?"
"Please call me Finn." Finn says in a flirty voice. "I actually woke up just as you were asking Jane if Haymitch had any kids of his own. That would be funny as hell."
"But you're okay right?" I ask him.
"Overall yea, but I have this god awful headache and I must be still high on whatever they gave me cause my hands, gotta tell ya they look like fish right now and I'm hungry."
"You can see your hands?" I ask.
"Yea… why wouldn't I?"
"I mean you have a light in your room."
"Well, no, but there is a light outside my cell. I've got this tiny little window that I can see through into the hallway."
"Everyone has that." Aragon says.
"I don't." I say.
There's a pause. "What does the cell look like?" Cynthia asks seriously.
"I don't really know. From what I determined I'm in a small cell made of concrete, its pitch black, I can't find a door, and there's a small drain at the bottom."
"The door is at the top." Cynthia says.
"You mean the ceiling?"
"Ya. As for the drain, you're on your own with that one."
"So, why is my cell different from everyone else's?"
There's another pause. I sigh. "Damn Isis."
"Isis?" Cynthia asks. "Who's Isis?"
"She's the girl who gave me the yellow stuff. She lived in District 2 for a while then she moved to my district."
"Was there a boy with her? Dark brown hair and cloudy brown eyes?"
"Yea, Damon she said his name was. He's her cousin."
Cynthia snorts.
"Cousin my ass." Aragon says. "Those two are brother and sister. They don't look much alike, but they are. I know who you're talking about now. To you their Isis and Damon. To me, they're Athena and Roark. To Techna they're Cleo and Bayne. And to Cyn-"
"To me they're Eden and Nelson." Cynthia finishes. "They have different names for each district. We don't know how many districts they've been to, but they've been to a lot. They're Capitol born freaks."
"I thought they were from District 2."
"You would be wrong." Aragon says. "I'd know if they were from my district, and they're definitely not."
Not from District 2? Capitol born freaks? "Cynthia, what do you mean they're Capitol born freaks?"
"You didn't recognize them?"
"I thought Damon looked a bit familiar, but I couldn't place him. Isis I've known for a while, but I never really thought that much about it."
"Their biological parents are dead. They were born from an incubation device before the Capitol was run down by our parents. Corisa and Emmett are their real names. They were actually taken from their mother's uterus when she was one week along."
"One week? How's that even possible?"
"The Capitol has many achievements in science. I wouldn't question it too much because it will make your brain melt."
"Why were they taken so young and under-developed?" Finn asks. I'd completely forgotten he was here.
"They had to; their mother was going to die. Well, they didn't know for sure if she'd die, but on the off chance that she did."
Realization washes over me. "Their mother was in the Hunger Games. Their father was too, wasn't he?"
"Give the girl a gold star. Now can she guess who the unlucky parents of our gracious hosts are?" Cynthia asks in a forced enthusiastic tone.
"Cato and Clove."
Pause. "Little Mason is smarter than we've given her credit for."
"But that would mean they're older than me." Finn says.
"Normally it would. But because they were incubation babies in the Capitol, Snow wanted to give them extra time to develop in the way he thought fit."
Snow was in on this. Of course. "Why did Snow want them?"
"He saw how strong Cato was, and how sly and precise Clove was, so he forced them to reproduce then took their baby, well, babies and experimented on them. Resulting in Corisa and Emmett."
"The only question I still have is why were there two of them?"
"There was supposed to be one. Remember when I said experiments? One experiment went wrong and they separated, leaving Corisa with her father's looks but her mother's skill. And Emmett with his mother's looks and his father's strength."
"Shhh!" Techna suddenly whispered. "Someone's coming!"
A door opened somewhere above me. I wasn't entirely sure where. There were footsteps. Loud thumping ones. And some other noise that sounded like someone being dragged. There was the opening of a door. A thump. A boy's moan. A throaty laugh. A cell door closing followed by a sound of a switch being turned. Then the footsteps went off.
What's the switch for?
I got my answer, when my room began to flood with water.