Effie was released from the hospital the night before Snow's execution was to be carried out. She felt awful, and certainly didn't want to have to get dressed up and made up as an escort in the morning.
Haymitch hadn't been to see her in a couple of days; he was too drunk to even try to visit. Plutarch walked her back into her room, not even bothering to try to make conversation until they got there.
"Effie, I'll be by in the morning to make sure you're up. I know you don't want to do this, but please do the best you can. There's still hope, you know."
"Hope for what? Face it, Plutarch, as soon as Coin is president, my life is over. Thank you for trying, though. I appreciate it."
Effie turned the doorknob and walked inside; Plutarch followed her and said,
"I'm not giving up on you. Try to get some sleep."
Effie had to give the man credit for one thing: he was persistent.
"Effie," said Katniss.
"Hello, Katniss," Effie said, standing up and kissing Katniss on the cheek, trying to be as much like herself as possible. "Let's get you ready, shall we?"
Katniss couldn't help but notice that Effie's eyes had a vacant look to them.
"Effie, are you okay?" Katniss asked.
"I'm fine, dear; just fine," Effie responded. Katniss knew that that was the answer she gave when she really wasn't "just fine," but now was not the time to ask what was going on.
Once Effie finished with Katniss, she said, "Well, we have another big, big, big day ahead of us! I'm going to pop over and check on the arrangements and I'll see you out there."
"Okay," Katniss replied, trying to suppress any worries she had about Effie.
Gale came in and said "You know, Plutarch and Haymitch had a hard time keeping her alive."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Katniss asked.
"Nothing, just… now isn't the right time. Katniss… make sure Coin doesn't hurt her, alright? Effie's really not so bad."
Katniss didn't respond to Gale, but she made a note to make sure that Coin didn't kill her. Effie didn't deserve that.
After letting Gale and Katniss talk for a few minutes, Effie came back and said, "There's one last meeting planned before the execution," and led her into the conference room, closing the door behind her without another sound.