Over the next two years things get slightly better. Annie is still recovering in her own way and in most situations she's functional on her own as long as no one mentions her trigger words. Over the course of the years I never once dare to double cross Snow again, I do my rounds like he wants me to. During the Games I've also been having more fun since Johanna Mason has managed to wedge into Haymitch and Chaff's drinking circle making all four of us closer.
Even the Games threaten to be exciting this year since Selkirk, the 23rd Hunger Games victor, is having me teach his granddaughter for the next Reaping. The old sea captain is grayed and arthritic at this point, and he's also managed to lose all his teeth due to the wad of tobacco he chews on so there's not much contribution on his part. But his granddaughter at least is nicer to look at and not a bad student. She's around eighteen and ready to live up to her family name.
We practice throwing spears in the water, we jog in the mornings, and I teach her what I know of foliage in the Games. No one knows what the arena will be this year, but it's fun to have a Career. She's not a bad girl either and she has the typical District Four physique and face. Annie likes her and I make sure to feed her on a specific diet of meats, vegetables and grains.
By the time the Reaping for the 74th Hunger Games rolls around, I know what to expect when she volunteers. It's even nicer too when a small twelve year old is chosen for the boys. This means I won't have any moral dilemmas to figure out when I'm planning out who gets the sponsors.
The two kids stare at Mags and I when we're on the train, and there's not much I want to say. It would be awkward going into full conversation with Somerly and not Armon. So we just stare. Eventually someone wheels coffee out and I take some, pouring a cup for Mags as well. Jokingly I throw the girl a sugar cube only to have her furrow her brows in confusion.
I know it's bad that all I want to do is get there, watch some kids die and leave... but that's really what I want. Annie and I are heading back to that peace we once had and it's such fragile process I don't want to ruin it. Thomps isn't a fan of our tributes though I do see him fawning over Somerly a bit more than Armon.
There's no strategy for the boy, and after years of sending sixteen kids to their death and only having one return my level of effort has significantly decreased. I halfheartedly tell him not to run for the Cornucopia or eat anything unfamiliar but I'm not really convincing myself at this point. Somerly already knows that the strategy on my part will be getting her in with the Careers but that's not too big of a deal... so we all, really, just go through the motions.
Even Noqall, who is always excited about something, doesn't really bother with them and instead gives them boring wave outfits to wear at the parade to which they receive lackluster support from. Back in the hotel as they finish their meals I start watching recaps of the Reaping. Not to see the competition but really to watch my friends interact with their tributes.
Cashmere waves proudly as her Careers are announced in District One. The girl is a spitting image of herself and she smiles widely in pictures with her. District Two shows Enobaria and several other of their bloodthirsty mentors cheering with their volunteered tributes. Looks like the Career pack is on this year. A mousy boy is called for Three and Beetee's only response is to fix his glasses. In Four there's no real reaction, we get a volunteer just like the first two Districts. Four is unsettled, no one is happy with the Games and I hear the talk every now and again but pretend to ignore it.
The other faces scroll by but at the end of it all there is something unique. I pause at District Twelve where the tributes they presented received an odd roar of applause this year at the parade. Their costumes went up in flames. I watch the tapes closely and smile as Haymitch falls drunk on the stage. Effie is their escort gotten her job, she must have gotten it a year or two ago since she is a little new to the microphone.
She places her hand in the jar and calls out a little girl, the fourth twelve year old for these Games. And then something extraordinary happens. Someone, in little District Twelve of all places volunteers, a strong but shaky voice belonging to a sixteen year old girl. She cries out for her sister and takes her place in the death match instead. It's kind of heart-wrenching to watch, like when Annie and her brother were called, only I don't know these people. But even if you don't know them you can read the pain in their faces as another family is torn apart.
"Katniss Everdeen has volunteered as tribute, ladies and gentleman," That name sticks... I don't know why since no one from her District ever wins but for some reason I feel like it's time to put an eye on Twelve and see how this goes over for Haymitch. Effie calls out a confused boy next and no one else volunteers though it's clear the kid has family. This will be an interesting year.
I coach Somerly briefly and by the time they do their training scores I really know what I'm working with. She gets an eight he gets a four. There will be no District alliance this year. The only words we share on the couch is a small conversation of me explaining that she's in One and Two's alliance and she will need to help at the Bloodbath. The boy makes no comment that he hasn't been included because we're not going to coat things at this point. No one wants to be lied to.
The rest of the scores play by and Chaff and Haymitch actually have an interesting batch this year. Chaff's boy, who looks ready to tear off the limbs of anyone in his way, receives a ten while his young districtmate manages a seven. But once again it's Twelve that takes the cake, the boy comes in with an eight and the girl with an eleven – an incredible eleven. If you didn't know you'd think she was a Career.
At the interviews she's the only one I watch, this "Girl on Fire" who Haymitch is pairing off with her districtmate. She holds herself up high for someone from such a sad District and she is almost unreadable. But where she's the strong one her partner is the charismatic one. Peeta, if I recall his name correctly, comes out and drops a good one on the audience – that he loves Katniss. I get a kick out of this, because this is a show... after Johanna no one has really put an audience through a loop like this.
Luckily the days are passing quickly and on the last one where I heartlessly say goodbye to my tributes I go to see Haymitch in the bar, but something in his eyes looks different and I notice the lack of a bottle in his hands.
"No drink?" I ask, pulling up a chair.
He grins at me, "I think this is it."
And I fully understand why he hasn't been drinking – he's going to keep her alive. People sometimes enter these Games looking like a victor and she has that look. Enobaria, Cashmere, Gloss, me. We have a look that people can bet on, talents you can stand behind, personalities that work, but we also have something in common that the Girl on Fire doesn't, for the most part we're all Careers. Though if she wanted to, I'm positive they could align her with any of the pacts.
I head into my TV room where Mags eats her lunch. We both share a collected sigh as I throw my feet on the table and spin around in my chair waiting for things to start. I turn and catch Cashmere looking at me with a grin.
"Back to the good ol' Career alliance this year, huh?" I joke.
She laughs, "Yep, you, me, and lovely Miss Enobaria..." she takes a seat near me and starts playing with my shirt, "I just adore the little girl from my District, you know?"
I chuckle because it's so obvious, "Well, she looks like you."
"Exactly," she catches my sarcasm and changes tunes, "Yea, you can laugh but I bet if they could find a boy who looked like you, you'd be jumping around, too," she looks off into the distance, "We've been training them both for a year now, no need to really reenforce anything this year."
"Lucky you. And Enobaria?"
"Oh yeah, they're both good ones, the boy volunteered. Eighteen and ready to go just like they like them. The girl is pretty nasty with her knives too."
"What did you think about Twelve this year?"
She closes her eyes to think for a moment, "Well, I'll always be rooting for another victor in One," she cocks her head towards me because she knows what I'm about to say, "And yes I want Glimmer to win... but it was exciting seeing Twelve up there like that, and Haymitch sober," she snorts, "that's an achievement all on it's own."
"Yeah, that's what everyone is saying," I lean back as the countdown starts, "Well, doubt I'll see you later, since you'll still be here and I really doubt my kids are going far."
She pats my shoulder, "Always next year."
I roll my eyes with a smile, "Oh yeah, can't wait to mentor for the Quell next year! Haymitch is a living advertisement for those..."
The whole thing gets me thinking... that this "Girl on Fire" can create a spark like Haymitch has been hinting at all these years. To think the Districts would rebel is ludicrous though. Maybe one, but not all of them. Still, the fire display, the volunteering for some too young. It makes you think. And it does because for a moment I'm not in the Capitol against my will mentoring hopeless cases, no, I'm in the water with Annie. Her finger is wrapped in a golden band and we splash each other in the waves, holding the small hands of a little child, I don't know if it's a boy or girl but it's definitely a child. And this is what I want for my life. I would throw my life at the chance to achieve that, and if I need to throw my life at Katniss Everdeen, I'll do it.
My happy thoughts are interrupted by cannons and I practically fall out of my chair. Already Armon has ignored my advice and is running into the Cornucopia like it's the most normal thing in the world. The Bloodbath ensues and Somerly joins in with the killing of several tributes, the Career pack is deadly this year. I watch for specific people, catching Chaff's boy, Thresh, taking off where no one follows him, Peeta, the boy from Haymitch, heading right into the woods.
Armon is still crawling around in the madness of the Bloodbath and even Mags rolls her eyes, I guess she has been doing this long enough to not feel at all sorry for those who don't follow her direction. I cringe, though, as the little boy stands up to leave with an ax in his hand only for a sword to slash him through his chest. Separating his legs from his torso, his eyes go still just like that.
I meant to look for Katniss but I failed to spot her amidst my own tributes doing things. The Careers start to gather and I figure the girl from Twelve must have run off to the safety of the woods.
This is usually the point where Haymitch and Chaff come into my room with booze, planning on picking up Johanna on the way. But not this time. Both of them still have their tributes, Johanna only has one and I only have one. I spin around in my chair and look up to the metallic ceiling. Mags points out that Peeta is now telling the Careers that he can help them find Katniss. It seems odd and I can only watch Somerly play with something in her teeth as the others become engrossed by Peeta's story.
It gets boring, especially because this year I've been extra apathetic. Thresh continues to stay in his field, Katniss continues to hide and look for water, and the others continue to hunt. Nothing exciting is happening and just like a Gamemaker I know I'm itching with boredom, waiting for drama and action. I head out into the Sponsors room, looking for some type of conversation that can entertain and I find just what I need, little Bex siting in a large chair with an exquisite gown wrapped around her.
"Well don't you look fancy?" I eye her curiously because she usually doesn't dress like this, she's decked in diamonds and jewels that would befit any of the regular women here. But she still keeps her old charm, the bow and glasses stick out like usual.
"I have money now Finn. Big money," Her eyes light up as she smiles, I'm still trying to figure out why she's talking in a funny accent, like she's trying to mimic the over-dramatic ones of the people around us. She extravagantly takes a sip from her wine, making sure her pinky is pointed, then she rolls her eyes with a snort.
"And why, all of a sudden, are things looking so highly for you?"
"Finnick, can't I have my own secrets?" She flashes a diamond bracelet in my face and smiles.
"Wonderful," I nod in an unamused voice.
She looks away for a minute, to search for something off in the distance, "We both have come a long way, haven't we? From children to adults, the things we have seen," She brushes my hair and motions for me to sit by her, "How's Annie?"
"Alright I guess, she's been getting better, but the attacks still come to her. I just... it's hard, because half the time she's happy Annie and if you say one thing that's wrong it's sad Annie. She's tried to kill herself, and every instance it terrifies me. Maybe I should let her, but I know I couldn't do that even if I promised it," I look at Bex's pained face, "All your victors go through hell after they win. Winning is a joke."
"Well, keep your chin up, Finnick. Times are changing, Eight is lighting a fire right now."
I look at her, is she trying to send some type of message to me? Even if she is I can't interpret it and how can someone like her possibly know anything about things changing? There must be people other than victors and the Districts who are fed up... but a Capitol Girl who literally bleeds money, I doubt she could be involved, even if she does know everything about everyone.
"Finnick, if you don't mind, I should get back to daddy. He is always asking me about what people are saying and how people are reacting to the Games. You know who I'm betting on?"
"The Girl on Fire?" It's a lucky guess and she nods on her way out.
Thank you for the support!