PART TWO: The Sea Glass Games
The Room - Day Six
Nothing happens on the screen for the rest of the night. I go back to sleep and when I wake up Johanna is curled up on the floor next to me, staring at nothing. Mags has dozed off in her chair. It's already morning time; there's no telling how long she let me sleep in.
Johanna looks up at me when I sit up on my elbows, rubbing sleep from my eyes and drool from my chin. Ew. I see the ghost of her signature sarcastic smirk tug at the corners of her mouth, but it doesn't reach her eyes. "Morning, handsome," she says quietly.
"What time is it?"
"Six. Mags's only been asleep for a few minutes."
I sit up and stretch. Johanna gets off the ground and hands me a cup of cold coffee. I take it gratefully and down it in one gulp, making a face when I realize that it's black. Johanna doesn't even laugh at my goofy expression.
Solemnly I place the empty cup on the top of the desk. Johanna must have really been counting on Zona winning this year. I don't blame her; the girl was tough. Like her mentor.
I hold out my arms for an embrace. "I'm sorry, Jo."
Johanna gives me an incredulous look and shoves my hands away. "I don't need you to coddle me, Finnick. I'm not one of your pathetic Capitol whores looking for solace after a break up."
That's harsh, even for her. But she seems to find a little bit of comfort in verbal abuse, so she draws herself up to her full height (which isn't that impressive) and continues. "I don't need you to hold me and tell me that everything's okay. I don't need a pat on the head. I don't need you for anything. I'm Johanna Mason, damn it! I don't need anyone! Certainly not President Pimp's pet prostitute."
The cubicle is deathly silent except for the voices of Annie and Quincy traveling through the speakers as they continue their trek to the other side of the lake. Johanna's yelling woke up Mags; she stares at us anxiously, waiting to see what I will do. Honestly, I haven't wanted to hit anyone so much since I punched Nath. My fists are clenched, and so are Johanna's. I know that one wrong word from either of us could ignite a fight. So I measure my words carefully, choking a lot back. Because it's Johanna and I know that she pushes people away when she gets hurt. Because it's Johanna, and all she really wants right now is a friend. Only because it's Johanna.
"Are you done?" I say.
"No," she huffs. "No, no I'm not." Her face gets all pinched and red as she tries to hold back the tears pooling in her eyes. Then, finally, she gives an explosive sob and tackles me, squeezing the breath out of me with her strong grip. On the screen, Annie and Quincy make it to the lake. They gaze at it in wonder for a long while, then Annie, too, bursts into tears.
Johanna lets go of me and roughly wipes her face with the back of her wrist, looking agitated. She looks at the screen, then back at me, and hits me hard in the gut. "Send something to get that girl to stop blubbering like a baby," she snaps, scowling. With that she turns and walks out of the room in a dignified manner, as though nothing at all had transpired. I know that I will not see her again until the next Hunger Games.
We have enough funds to send the Crestas a loaf of crispy seaweed-green bread from District Four and fish. The looks on their faces when they see the silver parachutes is priceless. They decide to relax a little and have a feast, eating all of the fish and most of the bread. Then they strip down to their underwear and swim in the lake, splashing and playing and having a good time. It brings a smile to my face to see them enjoying themselves in the arena, and apparently Panem likes the light mood too, because the numbers start moving up even more.
They wash their clothes and bodies and Annie falls asleep under the shade of a tree, snoozing away the effects of the berries she had to consume in order to stay up and watch over Quincy. During this time Quincy inspects his hand, his face pale under his tanned skin. It's causing him obvious pain, but he's doing his best not to show it in front of Annie.
A cannon booms. Mags looks over at the screen, and by the look on her face I know it's Evee. I wonder how she died. I hope that it was something quick. I really, really hope so.
Annie wakes up soon after that. Quincy tells her of the cannon and they agree to continue on until nightfall. They don't stop until it's too black to see anything. They enter a small clearing and Quincy stops, resting against the trunk of a huge tree. "I can barely see anything. We'll rest here and continue tomorrow."
"Okay," Annie says, depositing her stuff on the ground and assessing the big tree. "I just want to see where we are."
"Annie, don't - "
But Annie's agility has grown a lot over the past few days, and she's halfway up the tree before Quincy can even finish his sentence. He shakes his head and puts down his stuff, sitting down against the trunk of the tree. Annie makes it almost to the top and sits down on a branch, swinging her legs over the side. They both jump violently when the Capitol anthem starts and the faces for that day pop into the sky, but for different reasons. Annie jumps because she was startled by the music. Quincy jumps because he sees a figure emerging from the trees.
He grabs his knife as Arthor steps into the faint light of the stars. "Hello, Quincy," Arthor sneers, his own small sword flashing threateningly. "Long time no see. Where's Annie? Did she ditch you once she realized that you weren't going to be waking up for a while?"
Quincy glowers at him with pure hatred. "You're going to pay for that. Annie could be dead for all I know, and it's because of you. I swear if I see her face up in the sky tonight, I'm going to gut you like a fish."
Feigning ignorance is a smart move on Quincy's part. It will serve the dual purpose of keeping Annie safe and, if she does appear, having the element of surprise. Arthor seems to believe him, too, because he says, "I thought I heard a girl screaming earlier, but if she's dead then I didn't kill her." Arthor smiles cruelly. I can see Annie climbing down the tree, swinging from branch to branch in a frantic hurry. Can she hear them talking? "If you ask me, she deserves it. Think about it, Quincy: she ditched both of us in the cave to save her own skin. She put up a good front, blabbing on and on about saving you, but in the end she was just as selfish as the rest of us."
"Shut up!" Quincy growls, launching himself at Arthor.
The ground shakes and Quincy drops to his knees, scurrying up just as Arthor is drawing his sword. They glare at each other with cold hatred and begin staggering around each other, sizing the other up.
Annie looses her grip on the tree and for a horrible second I think she's going to fall twenty feet, but she latches onto another branch about halfway down. I know she can see her brother and their nemesis. She looks worried and helpless.
On the other screen, Arthor lunges at Quincy and they begin slashing at each other with a ferocity that is personal and intimate. These Games have gotten to their heads.
Annie screams, but she is barely heard over the rumbling of the earthquake and the snapping of the wood from her tree. It's falling over, collapsing with her in it. She can do nothing but hold on for dear life. The camera goes fuzzy as the tree knocks it loose from whatever location it was in. I can't see her anymore.
Quincy and Arthor exchange numerous blows. Quincy seems to be gaining the upper hand, pushing Arthor back toward the tree line. It's hard to tell with gracelessness of their dance. The earthquake keeps everything shrouded in mystery. Suspenseful. Just what the Capitol wants.
Annie's cannon hasn't gone off yet. She must still be alive, right? Right?
Quincy and Arthor continue to duel. Suddenly the earthquake comes to a stop and Arthor's sword swings up. I know what's going to happen before it does, but I can't do anything to stop it. Arthor was backing up on purpose so he was on an incline. So he was above Quincy.
So he could sever Quincy's neck with ease.
Mags covers her mouth in horror as Arthor's blade slices through Quincy's neck and his head falls to the ground, his body collapsing soon after. The head rolls down the incline like a beach ball.
There is a person standing at the bottom who I didn't notice there before. Someone who successfully clawed her way out of the tree branches. The head rolls and rolls until it comes to a stop right at her feet. She looks down on it for a second, still as a statue. Quincy's cannon goes off. I don't have to look at the screen.
When Annie looks back up at Arthor, she doesn't look like Annie anymore.
Her face is twisted with the wrath and hatred of a thousand burning Hells, her eyes two pools of green infernos. Her cry echoes in the night, a sound that makes me want to cover my ears with my hands and shut my eyes. It is somewhere between sorrow and rage.
Then with an speed I didn't know she possessed, Annie sprints across the clearing and tackles Arthor. They fall to the ground, kicking and biting and scratching. As I watch, grotesquely transfixed, I realize that it is the fight of someone who has nothing to lose.
Annie wretches the sword out of Arthor's hands and she stabs in the chest, in the neck, in the face; anywhere she can cut him she does, screaming all the while. She stabs and stabs until tears run down her cheeks and her arms give out from exhaustion, even after he is surely dead.
Slowly she calms down and she lets go of the hilt, looking slightly confused. She stares at her hands and all around her where Arthor's blood is pooled. Then she holds the hands up to her face, glances down again and Arthor's mutilated remains, and screams with so much fear and horror that it sends chills down my spine. Annie scrambles away from the body and starts to run away in a state of hysteria.
She runs for nearly an hour, runs at full speed without tiring, paying no heed to where she's going. When the cameras close-up on her terrified face, Mags lets out a little noise and places her head on my shoulder. I hold her while we watch Annie run. There is nothing we can do for her now.
We finally think she's calmed down when she trips on a tree root and stays there on the ground, looking up at the sky. She is far from okay, but at least now we might be able to send her something, anything, that might help her survive for just a little longer.
A storm rolls in. It begins to rain, but Annie doesn't seem to mind. In fact, a small smile tugs at the corner of her lips as the raindrops fall on her skin and wash away Arthor's blood.
Then the thunder cracks.
Annie screams and rolls over on her side, covering her ears. She gets up and starts running again. Eventually she comes across a cave, one near the gushing dams from the lake. She runs into the cave and curls up inside, hugging her knees to her chest and sobbing.
She doesn't move from that spot for the rest of the night.
RIP: Evee, Quincy, and Arthor.
Recap: Opal and Annie are still alive.
So, a very dramatic chapter. I did my best to write about Annie's hysteria from Finnick's POV, but I personally think that I did a lot better writing it from Annie's in Sea Glass. There's a lot running through her head that you miss from Finnick's perspective.
And I know that Johanna's meltdown will probably upset some people, but I thought it was necessary. She is the newest mentor, and it makes sense that she'd be a little upset over her tributes' deaths. Knowing Johanna, her sorrow would probably expressed in that way.
President Pimp's pet prostitute. Try saying that five times fast.
As always, let me know your thoughts.
