Chapter 26

(Madge POV)

"You want to come in?" Tripp asks as I turn my attention back towards him and away from the empty building.

"Sure, if you aren't busy. I was actually coming to see what you were up to and then got distracted."

"Nah, I'm not doing anything. Come on in."

I follow him inside and we sit down on his sofa. "Want to hear something very interesting?" I ask, deciding I'll get his thoughts on the whole sponsorship thing.

"Always."

"So, one of our Capitol guests told me that Katniss has the highest dollar amount of sponsorship funds of anyone in the games, most of which came from one, sole sponsor."

Surprise covers his face. "Really? That's pretty awesome. Who is it?"

"That's the best part! It was anonymous!"

"Someone anonymously gave that kind of money to Katniss?" He asks skeptically.

I nod. "Yes! Apparently, the funds were transferred from a Capitol trust account. An account that was set up 18 years ago and hadn't been touched since."

"No way! And you don't know who did it?"

"No, but I'm so curious it's practically killing me!" I confess. "It's that money that's helping her in the games."

"Who would do that? I mean, it's great and all but it doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Did Katniss have distant family or something in the Capitol?"

"No, I don't think so. She's never mentioned it and she struggled all the time to take care of her family so I would think if there'd been a wealthy relative, she'd have tried to get in touch with them a long time ago to help her family. I don't think it was a Capitol person. I mean, anyone can open a Capitol account."

"You think someone here has that kind of money?" He almost laughs.

"No. The only people I can think of who would have access to that sort of money would be someone with Capitol ties but not necessarily a Capitol citizen."

"So like your family, Victors, that sort of thing?"

"I think we can cross my family off that list. My father has never sponsored a tribute in his life. In fact, the only way I found all of this out was because I was trying to find out how much money Katniss would need for medicine and I was going to ask my father to please sponsor her." I explain as I feel a little shame on my father's behalf. He has never once wanted to sponsor a tribute, even though we've got more money than we could possibly need.

"So it could be a Victor. Haymitch you think? I mean, he's our only one."

"I don't know. He could get in a lot of trouble for that. It's against the rules to sponsor your own tribute that you're mentoring."

"But that could make sense couldn't it? Why it was given anonymously?"

He could be right. Maybe it was Haymitch. "I hadn't thought of that. You could be right. But it still doesn't make a lot of sense. Katniss doesn't mean anything to Haymitch, at least not to my knowledge. Why her? Why never anyone else? Why not Peeta?"

"Yeah, there's definitely a lot more that needs to be explained. You planning on trying to find out more about it?"

"I wish I could but I have no idea how to get any more information about it."

"Can you find out who set up that account?"

"I wouldn't even know where to begin finding that sort of information. I almost never even handle actual money myself. I just get what I want or need at the shops in town and they put it on our accounts. I don't know much about the banking system at all." I admit. As I say it, it makes me a little sick at how spoiled I sound. I know Tripp doesn't think of me as spoiled but it is a little on the ridiculous side that I really can just walk into any place in town and take whatever I want.

"I know a little but my mother would know more."

"What do you know about Capitol bank accounts?" I ask, not making the connection between cafe employee and banking.

"When the Capitol people who stay at your house eat in the cafe, they usually charge all their meals directly to their accounts. That way they don't have to pay each time they come in, we just draft it right from their account. Same way your bill gets paid each month, we take it right out of your father's account."

"So people give you an account number and you can look at the accounts? How do you do that?"

"My mother handles that part. She accesses the accounts through our computer system. If you could get your hands on that account number, I could look it up for you, find out who opened it."

"Seriously?" I ask at first and then realize there is no way I'd ever be able to get my hands that account number. "That'd be fantastic if I knew the account number. I wouldn't even know how to get it." I add as my enthusiasm falls as fast as it spiked.

"Well, if you figure out a way, I can do it for you."

"You're a pretty cool friend, you know that?" I tell him as I smile in appreciation of his willingness to help me.

He smiles back at me. "Yeah, I like to think so."

(Gale POV)

When I arrive at the viewing, I'm in a foul mood already. This whole day has been one huge annoyance. Starting with that nightmare about Madge and Marcus. Then stewing over him in my mind didn't help my mood either. And to take the cake, Mayor Undersee had really outdone himself today. In all fairness, Madge had more than warned me that he wasn't going to stop meddling in my life and our relationship but I had no idea what was coming when she said that. I was in my office, minding my own business when he comes in and asks me to help him with a project in town. I go with him and we end up at this old, empty building. Inside, he'd led me to the upstairs part of the building which was an apartment that the people who used to own the shop lived in. It's mine, he tells me. The apartment in town. Told me some nonsense about needing to eliminate some of the excess vacant property taxes the district is paying. Says I can move in right away. I don't want it. I've got about zero interest in moving to town. When I declined, he of course assumed it was a monetary issue. It wasn't. Well, it is, but that wasn't what I was thinking about. He said to consider it part of my work responsibilities. Said part of working for him was engaging creative solutions for saving the District money. Said there'd been an increase in taxes on vacant properties and it would save the district quite a bit of money if my family and I moved in and eliminated the vacancy tax problem. Said he could lease it to me, for the same rate as our Seam house, provided my mother use the downstairs, shop portion of the building as a laundry center, continuing taking in laundry. And he continually pitched the entire deal in a way that didn't allow me to turn him down. I did say it would be up to my mother and reminded him I wasn't yet an adult. He agreed to that much at least.

Now, as I walk up to the viewing, I see none other than Mayor Undersee himself speaking with my mother. He got to her before I did. I can't believe this. It's crazy. Like the man has no limits on his manipulations to get things the way he wants. And he's good at it. Real good at it. I see Madge walking up with Tripp and choose to head towards her instead of her father.

"Hi!" She greets as she waves goodbye to Tripp and beams up at me.

"Hey." I say back as I pull her to me in a hug and kiss the top of her head. The feel of her against me only mildly improves my mood. She senses my mood and pulls back.

"Are you okay? What's wrong?" She whispers.

I shake my head. "Long day. Tell you about it later."

She gives my hand a little squeeze.

We take our seats with my family. Thankfully, her father has wandered off to his own seat. I glance over at my mother but she won't look at me. She's staring straight ahead. She's pissed, I can tell. I have no idea what he's said to her, how he pitched it. But I can tell in just a glance that she's pissed. This day just keeps getting better and better.

I half expect the viewing to provide terrible news given how the rest of my day's gone but it doesn't. It's actually pretty quiet of a viewing with very little going on. Katniss, Peeta and most of the Career tributes have all been knocked out from all the tracker jacker venom they were stung with. Some tiny kid from 11 has been taking care of Katniss while she's out. Been uses some leaves on her stings and covered her with brush and branches to sort of hide her from anyone who might happen by. It's both comforting and sad to see it. Comforting to know she has someone looking out for her while she''s vulnerable. Sad because when I look at this tiny little kid, all I can think about is that she's gonna die soon. No way is she coming out of this a victor.

When it's over, I can't decide what to do. Go home and deal with the surely waiting wrath of my mother or go to dinner at Madge's and deal with her father. I glance over at my mother and she glares at me, eyebrow raised in a way that lets me know that I am absolutely coming home with her. I half nod at her to let her know I get it and then turn back to Madge.

"I gotta go home and deal with some stuff. Meet you as soon as I can?" I ask apologetically.

"Take your time. I'll see you later." She tells me, kisses my cheek lightly and then leaves towards her house. I watch her as she goes. I still don't want Marcus anywhere near her and I hate having her walk around alone, just in case. Once she's at the walkway to her house, I head home.

My mother is waiting for me just as I knew she would be. Kids are outside so I know she must be really mad. I take a deep breath in and go inside. She's pacing back and forth across the house, hand on hip.

"Were you planning to tell me that we were moving or did you really think it would be better received coming from the Mayor himself?" She demands when she sees me.

"Look, I don't know what he said to you but I never outright agreed to anything."

"Oh well, in that case allow me to fill you in. Mayor Undersee has decided the town needs a laundry center and has decided, based upon high recommendations, that I am the person to fulfill that need. He's spoken with you and shown you the building where our family can live and work in the convenience of town for the same rate as we currently pay here provided I continue offering laundry services."

"He did show me the building and the apartment and he did say he wanted you to have a laundry center. I told him it wasn't my decision, that I'd have to talk to you about it."

"Gale, I worry about how quickly things seem to be changing for you just because of the interest you've taken in Madge Undersee. First the job in town, then a slew of expensive new clothes and shoes and now an apartment and job for me too? That's an awful lot to be riding on a teenage romance."

I rub my hands over my face. I can't explain it to her, not really. "I know it's a lot but they're not terrible things. And you can still say no about moving to town."

"We most certainly cannot say no! When the Mayor comes to you personally and presents this sort of offer, you aren't able to say no. What would I say? Hmmm? I can't tell him that I have no desire to be owned by the Capitol. I can't tell him that I think it's some sort of ploy to get you in town so that his daughter doesn't have to date a Seam boy. Nothing I could possibly argue would be a legitimate enough reason to turn down the offer. It's a done deal. We move in tomorrow."

"Ma, if you can't find a way to say no to him, what makes you think I had any control?" I point out. I know she's mad. I am too, but I feel like she's more mad at me than at him and this isn't entirely my fault.

"I just don't know what will happen when this romance fizzles out between you two. And that's more than a little unsettling."

"We aren't fizzling out. And if we do, then what? We move back here and I go back to hunting and trading. We won't lose anything we had before all this."

"I pray it would be so simple."

"Ma, c'mon. Look, if it's a done deal let's just try to focus on the positive aspects."

"And what would those be?"

"Indoor plumbing and electric for starters. It'll be good for the kids and it'll make doing all the laundry a lot easier, especially in the winter." I try, hoping these sliver of silver linings will take the sting out of her anger.

"Gale, please be careful. Don't do anything to hurt that girl and don't do anything to cross that man."

"I won't." I assure her. I can tell she's calming down but will need a lot more time to fully relax.

She goes and starts fixing dinner and I quietly slip out. All I want now is to go find Madge and escape this day.