"Eye of the mockingjay? But it didn't exist yet! And the Dark Days were quite far away!" I blurt out, confused. "Maybe it's just a metaphor that he hit upon." says Peeta. Just then, Haymitch comes in. He's not holding a bottle of booze this time. It's an ice cream cone. "Hey, guess what I found. A statue of the mockingjay! It's near Paylor's office. And besides, you should see the coffee machine she has there. Awesome, with ten types of spouts and powders!" he sputters. "You can even put ice cream in your morning joe!" Paylor's face colors. "You got to my coffee machine?!" she sputters. "It was a gift from Bettee at a fundraising dinner for the Avoxes." I look closer at the ice cream in my drunken mentor's hand. "Did it come from the coffee machine?" "Exactly, sweetheart!" declares Haymitch and guffaws. Paylor turns purple with rage and I think I can understand her.
Peeta jumps in just in time before Paylor can stuff Haymitch in her coffee machine to be blended into hot black liquid, except with traces of blood. "Excuse me, I think we have something interesting here." He holds up the document. Paylor looks at it briefly and brightens up. "A shield...covering Panem. If this were true, then..." She pauses for a moment and then she looks worried. "Then we must warn Gale about the shield then! If not, they'll be crashing with a bang! Peeta, how wide is the shield?" Peeta's face loses some of its color as he peers at the document once more. "It didn't say anything!" he blurts out. I am absolutely horrified. Gale smashing into an unseen shield? Maybe it's the same kind as the one I blew apart in the Hunger Games. With the help of a lightning bolt, Bettee's wire and an arrow. "Have they already gone?" I ask nervously. "Yes, on the expeditionary sea craft The Monitor from District 4. We have to alert him on radio to warn him of the danger!" Paylor says grimly. "Come with me."
Haymitch is whisked off to the washroom to be sobered up with a bucket of cold water while we two find ourselves being led to a nondescript room not far from the trapdoor room. We find none other than Bettee and Johanna, working the radio and communications set. "Hello, Katniss. It's a long time. President Paylor, is there a problem?" he inquires, upon seeing her distress. She shakes her head and briefly tells him everything that we presently know. Without a moment's hesitation, Johanna issues a warning to Gale's boat, which is over the seas about fifty miles from the nearest District 4 port. At first, there is silence. Then Johanna silently hands me a pair of headphones. I put them on and I am relieved to here Gale's voice, alive and happy. "You stopped in time?" I ask. "Yeah. I don't see anything, but clear skies and the never ending water." This makes him so adventurous to me that I have to stifle a giggle. "Maybe we should see whether this shield can be penetrated with arrows and lightning." Bettee says. "The technology involved here is relatively more primitive than the present level. Let's give it a try."
Two hours later, Bettee, Paylor and Gale are discussing ways to cut through the shield and how to head out to the unknown. Johanna's got some food for us. Some muffins (I prefer cheese buns), fruit and some coffee (Not from Paylor's machine as Haymitch screwed it up. He's now hiding somewhere in this place from Paylor's wrath.) I don't realise that I'm actually starving after all this suspense. I take a big bite from a brown muffin. Sweet, charcoal-flavored and a little coarse. Then something hits me. I turn to Peeta, who is about to put a bright red strawberry in his mouth. "Peeta, remember Haymitch talking about a mockingjay statue near Paylor's office?" I don't expect anyone else to hear me, but four pairs of eyes including Peeta's turn to me. "Statue?" they all say together. "What did you say?" Gale says over the radio.
It takes five seconds for us to drop everything, with Johanna grabbing a portable radio to talk with Gale and make a run for the statue.