Primrose stumbled to a stop before a wall of fire. The fire spread far and unimaginably tall across the plains. A concerned Mother stepped forward and held her by the shoulders, as Prim hauled in painfully deep breaths.

Moments ago, she had been holding her daughter in her arms. Now…

"What has happened here?" she breathed. "Are there… are there people in there?"

"We cannot know, but if they are, they must be dead by now. How can we stop it?"

Prim eyed the fire fearfully. She touched the bracelet on her wrist, wishing she had her godwell finished. Regretfully she turned to the women around her.

"Evacuate nearby homes. Move your livestock. Gather water. We cannot wait for the soldiers. We must take action ourselves."

As those who were able went off to accomplish their tasks, Prim turned back to the fire.

"Oh, Katniss," she whispered. "Do not fail us."

Katniss stood as motionlessly as she could.

Darius was only a few paces in front of her. He seemed to be a mere shimmer of himself. There was power radiating from him that she had never seen him wield before.

He was concentrating. His body was shaking with the effort. He held the flames back enough so that the dome of fire around them remained from spreading across Panem, but he was also managing to contain another smaller version of the dome about a single being.

Except, even Katniss could see that he was failing.

Poseidon lashed out, sending the flames towards Darius.

Darius fell to his knees.

Katniss jerked forward, meaning to aid him, but another woman came forward and hauled him to his feet. The woman was tall, long-legged, and as red haired as he, with a face resembling a fox. Just as quickly as she had come forward, she darted away, circling, eyes rapt upon Darius.

Thresh and Annie were among those that stood closest to the almost contained Poseidon.

Thresh had his hands extended towards him, as though to help, but Katniss was not quite sure what he was doing.

Annie was on her knees, crying, and she flinched every time Poseidon lashed out.

Katniss' thoughts raced. She wanted to help, to protect Darius and Panem, and Annie, but she felt frozen. She had been moments away from creating the power source she would need to help – but, no… even if she had been successful in making her power source, to wield her power with any finesse or skill, it would have taken weeks if not months.

A man, an Enlightened, started to approach her. The man was paunchy, with chin length blonde hair laced here and there with silver strands, and a short-cropped beard similarly speckled. His pale blue eyes displayed none of his intentions.

Suddenly, Rue appeared beside the paunchy man. She grabbed his arm and shook her head. "I will handle her, Haymitch," Katniss heard her say. She rushed to Katniss instead, leaving the man behind.

Katniss greeted her with relief. "What is happening?"

"A problem... that we hope to contain," said Rue. She tugged at Katniss' arm. "We need to get you out of here. We do not want you to be caught in any crossfire."

"I am not going anywhere. You cannot whisk me away to safety when I see plainly that Poseidon threatens this land."

"There's nothing you can do, Katniss."

"How do you know?" Katniss challenged. "Because I am mortal?"

"It's a complicated problem that has no easy solution. We have been fighting with Poseidon for –"

"Thresh cannot best him?" Katniss asked.

"No."

"Why not? All of you combined cannot kill him?"

"We can, but it would be at a great loss."

"What do you mean?"

Rue sighed, the sound shuddering through her tiny body and sounding ten times her age. "Annie."

"Annie?"

"Annie tried to best him, but Poseidon is clever. He was dying. His power was going to her. He improvised."

"Improvised how?"

"A loophole. He made quick work... of making a new power source."

"Can't you simply destroy the power source?"

"Yes."

"Do that!"

"You wish us to kill Annie?"

Katniss frowned. "Annie is his power source?"

"Annie is his power source, and he is hers. It is a doomed system. Kill one and the other dies."

"He will not be... subdued? You will not make a friend of him, then?"

"He will not befriend us. We are the rebels. The ones that have killed his brethren."

Katniss turned her head back to the action. It was becoming increasingly clear that Darius would not hold on much longer. The fox-faced woman was now supporting him entirely with her shoulder.

"What does he want?" Katniss asked, softly now.

"To make as much trouble as he can. To force our hands and make us kill him and one of our own."

"Why?"

"He wants to make a point. He wants us to know we are no better than he and his own. They fought and killed amongst themselves and he wants us to see that we are no less savage... that we are uncivilized. That we are no more 'enlightened' than the Olympians."

Katniss thought of Clove then, of how Clove was willing to kill amongst their numbers, of how she is exactly what Poseidon was trying to prove but declined to mention it.

Instead, she said, "Thresh refuses to harm Annie?"

"As of yet."

In union, Darius and Annie cried out. Darius collapsed into Foxface's arms, and with him the fire about Poseidon vanished, and the dome of fire surrounding the meadow flared ravenously outward.

Poseidon's grin was a gleam of white teeth in his pale face. He strutted forward. Foxface paddled backward, dragging Darius with her, and the frantic look in her eyes drew another Enlightened forward.

The Enlightened was male, blonde, handsome, and clothed like a fine Greek soldier. He squared up to Poseidon and Annie called out a wordless warning. The man ignored her.

"Gloss is a bravado fool," Rue murmured. "I must see to Darius."

Katniss watched Rue aid Foxface in dragging Darius aside. Another Enlightened joined them, a woman, and they all crouched around him. She felt a slight inclination to go to him, but, again, she felt frozen in place. She simply watched anxiously as Poseidon, without even touching him, brought Gloss to his knees.

Annie crawled shakily towards Gloss.

Thresh moved without Katniss registering it. It was as if he had not moved at all. One moment he was standing away, and the next he had Poseidon in a hold. Thresh had his arms wrapped around Poseidon's chest and shoulders. The two large men grappled. Annie reached the weakened Gloss and pulled him behind her.

Rue streaked across the meadow to them, leaving Darius in Foxface's care.

A blonde woman resembling Gloss, too, came forward.

Rue placed two hands on Poseidon's arm that was not striking out at Thresh's face. Again, Katniss seemed to miss a moment in time. One moment Rue was reaching up and over at the Olympian, and the next she was being backhanded by him, flying back several feet before she hit the ground.

Katniss drew in a sharp displeased breath.

The blonde woman was shouting, patting at Gloss' face.

Something touched Katniss' arm; warm. She jerked away on instinct and turned.

Unbeknownst her, the fire walls of the dome had been closing in. A moment of unease touched her, until the flames continued crawling over her, and she stumbled forward.

Rue was back on her feet, blood smearing her face. Thresh stepped in front of her and took a blow from Poseidon that threatened to off-seat him but Thresh retaliated with an equal force.

Poseidon's nose warbled and bled, then he laughed uproariously when Thresh stalled mid-air with the second hit. Annie howled along with Poseidon and clutched her own face.

Katniss felt helpless, and her feet drew her to where Darius lay. He was unmoving – unbreathing – and something tight made it impossible to breathe. "Is he...?"

"He will recover," said Foxface. She did not even glance at him or Katniss. Her eyes were rapt on those battling.

"Gloss will recover, too."

Katniss snapped her head back to see who had spoken. It was a man, older, with the strangest spectacles that Katniss had ever seen perched on his nose. His eyes, however, behind them, were dark and intelligent and tugged at her.

"Beetee," he greeted her, holding out a hand. She stared at it.

Shaking hands with gods, she thought. Once, I might not even have dreamed it.

She took his hand, momentarily. There was no proper shake, but he squeezed her palm kindly.

The paunchy man came jogging over, sweating. His clothes were smoking in places, soot smeared along his exposed flesh. His hands were raw, newly healed, and he was scowling.

"Beetee, we need you."

Beetee glanced back at Katniss, something in his face, but he nodded and followed the man away.

Katniss watched them join the remaining Enlightened. Delly was with them, her arms outstretched and overhead, directed at the closing-in flames. They all stood in a similar position, working in union.

"Won't you help them?" Katniss asked of Foxface.

"I cannot."

"Why not?"

"The fire is..." Foxface glanced over at Katniss for the first time. "I have no influence there."

"What do you here?"

"I am back up. I swoop in once it looks as though they'll fall." She gestured to the fighting.

Gloss was being dragged toward them by the blonde woman. Foxface rose in a movement that Katniss missed, and she raced forward, grabbing Gloss by the legs, and laying him beside Darius.

"He will not wake," the blonde woman fretted.

"He's nearly died," Foxface said, none too gently. "It will take time before his godwell reverses this kind of damage."

"Is Darius dead?" Katniss murmured.

"No, he's stronger than you think. His godwell is stronger than Gloss'. He will recover faster, and the damage is not as great."

"Cashmere!" The blonde woman lifted her face. Delly was waving her over. "We need you!"

Indeed, it looked as though they did. Despite the combined efforts of the Enlightened the walls of the dome were still advancing forward.

Cashmere pressed a kiss to Gloss' forehead and joined them.

Katniss had nothing to do but push a sweaty fringe of hair from her face and watch the fight.

Thresh and Rue danced around Poseidon. Annie was unmoving, still clutching her face and rocking back and forth.

"He takes all the healing power," murmured Foxface, and Katniss jumped, but the goddess continued on: "She feels all the pain that's dealt, so Thresh and Rue are at a loss of what to do."

"There is no way to contain him?"

"Cages do not hold gods."

"Trap him in a mortal body, like –"

"Even if Thresh knew how to do that, it might cut Annie off from the power, too."

"Would he not rather have her alive and free of torment, but powerless?"

Foxface did not reply to that question. Perhaps she did not know, or she knew and did not want to say.

Poseidon reached out, grasping Rue by her throat, and pulling her off her feet. Katniss found herself standing again, desperately wishing she could do something. Thresh tore at the man's hold, and Annie keened, while Poseidon grinned.

The heartless bastard, Katniss thought, anger thudding through her veins. Annie and Rue, the two most delicate beings she had laid eyes on, tormented before her eyes.

A range of shouting erupted at her back. She turned on her toes, expecting the fire to be closer.

It was, certainly, but that was not why the Enlightened were shouting warnings.

Just when she thought nothing could get worse, Peeta came stumbling out of the flames.

Witnesses swarmed the site, Trojan and Panem alike.

Finnick, Marvel, and Deimas, and a score of other Trojans did not seem so badly affected by the blanket of gloom that overlay the Panem witnesses. Many of the Mothers stood frozen, predictably appalled at the sight of their precious land set afire.

The Trojans were used to it, with their drier climates and forest fires.

Peeta, their leader, representative, and increasingly their god, would not fail them.

They all turned to him the moment he arrived.

Peeta stood to one side of the flames, face taunt and unreadable, peering into the great inferno as if he could see meanings within it. Wearing only a pristine white hip wrap and a single gold band of kingship, he looked all anyone would want in a leader. Even Clove dimmed beside him.

"What caused this?" Peeta called, loud enough to carry. He turned to his advisers.

None had an answer save for Finnick, who gestured toward a pale-faced Cinna.

"Well?" Clove said, narrowing her eyes at the man. "What of this do you know, Cinna?"

Cinna opened his mouth to respond, but he was cut off by a despairing cry.

"How could this happen! The new magic was supposed to protect us!"

Many echoed the sentiment and worry etched across Peeta's face.

"Hush," Clove said, then glared at the surrounding citizens. "Go! Find water! Put this to rest!"

Some stirred themselves to the task, even though there were plenty who labored away with pails already, and, when Cinna moved to do thus, Clove snatched him by an arm.

"Tell me, in what manner has this fire come to be? Did you see anyone? A man... red-haired, perhaps?"

Cinna's mouth opened, then closed, and his eyes flickered uncertainly at the flames. "Katniss –"

"Katniss!" Clove seized upon the name. "She has done this?"

"No, no..."

"What of Katniss?" Peeta jumped in, his face worried. "I can scarcely sense her."

Cinna deflated slightly. "You can't?" He cast another look to the fire. "Dario..."

"Dario?" said Marvel. "Our old house guard?"

Cinna nodded.

Clove frowned. "I do not know any Dario," she said.

"I knew him," said Peeta, still confused. "Are you saying he did it? Or Katniss?"

"He..." Cinna once more turned to look –

Clove grabbed his face in her hands and ripped his gaze back to hers, such as she used to whenever talking to Twill. "Spit it out," she said. "Describe this Dario to me. Is he red-haired? Crippled?"

"Aye."

Clove threw her head back and cursed profusely.

"What?" Peeta inquired, glancing over at his equally bewildered advisers.

"How could I have been so careless? Leaving you – Katniss! – open to any contact with them?" Clove shook her head and turned to face the supernatural fire spreading across the meadowlands. "Peeta, you fool. All of you, fools! A cripple guard? Fools!"

"Is he not what he seems?" asked Finnick.

"He is all that he seems: devious and sly." She gestured to the fire. "He is an Enlightened."

"Enlightened?" Peeta asked, his voice strained. "In my household..." Through the single band Clove had managed to place on him, she could sense his upset, along with a swell of betrayal, and, ludicrously, an onslaught of jealousy as scattered images of Katniss and Dario played through his mind. "How long…"

"She's betrayed you," Clove said, softly at first, then wheeling. "You see it don't you? Here you thought to fear Gale, her childhood lover, but her true lover has been under the same roof as you for months!"

Peeta shook his head, not believing a bit –

Clove tightened her fists and the single band's influence.

As the two stared at each other, Finnick laughed gruffly. "That's ridiculous. Dario –"

"Silence!" Clove snarled at him, and when Finnick dared to look affronted, she went on to narrow her eyes and point an accusing finger at him. "Is that jealousy in you, Finnick? Are you, too, her lover?"

Peeta looked to Finnick with disbelieving eyes. "Finnick..."

"What?" He was as unamused as Finnick got and angry, too. "Don't pull me into your games, woman."

"Look at him, growing defensive," murmured Clove to Peeta.

"She's lost her wits, Peeta. I would never. I would never touch Katniss like that. You know me."

Clove shook her head and said, "You know Katniss, too, Peeta. You know her betraying ways."

"Stop this at once," Finnick said sternly.

Deimas stepped forward and placed a hand on Peeta's shoulder, forcefully turning his gaze from Finnick's face. "This is not even the problem of the time, my prince," he said. "The fire..."

"...is no doubt Darius and Katniss' attempt to get at Peeta and I," said Clove.

"She's in there, now," Peeta spoke for the first time, seeming to reawaken, his eyes riveted on the flames. "I can sense her in there. It's faint, though. I don't understand how... or why..."

Cinna nodded. "I saw her in there… with..."

"In the fire? It will kill her," said Marvel, speaking as the others furrowed their brows.

Cinna looked uncertainly between them all. "Prim…"

"Is Prim in there as well?" exclaimed Finnick. "What madness is this? They will burn!"

"No, the sister, Primrose has returned to her hut. She could not stand the sight," said a nearby Mother.

"And leave her sister to burn?" said Marvel.

As the group contemplated the impossibility of it all, Clove's mind spun with possibility.

Finally, she folded her lips together and rested a hand on Peeta's elbow. Another band appeared there, but it seemed Peeta's uncertainty prevented him from reacting. "I sense her now, too," said Clove. "She is in there. Darius as well..." She turned her eyes to him, flat and hard. "Kill them. End them."

For one horrible second Finnick, Marvel, Cinna, and Deimas stood and watched Peeta's face, waiting for him to refuse, anticipating the rip of his arm from her touch. Instead, the moments ticked by as Peeta stared unwaveringly into Clove's eyes.

"Aye. It is as you wish it."

"Peeta!" Finnick cried in dismay. "This is Katniss we are talking of. She is a good woman!"

Peeta opened his mouth to respond, but Clove cut in. "Burning this land is good?"

"It was not her," said Cinna, but he choked halfway through the sentence, and Clove took a threatening step in his direction.

"Katniss –" He started coughing, hard and thin. "Sto – op…"

He fell to his knees, clutching his throat, as his face changed from white to purple.

Deimas crouched at his side, concerned. "What is it? What ails you? Cinna? Is it the smoke?"

Cinna shook his head and reached out one hand to point an accusing finger at Clove.

Deimas started.

"Witch!" he spat, slinging an arm around Cinna's shoulders. "Stop this! Do not kill this innocent man."

"Peeta," Finnick snapped. "Peeta?" Peeta did not move. "Peeta!"

"Ignore him," said Clove, turning on her toes, as Cinna lowered himself closer to the ground. He was on his elbows now, his chest shaking and his entire body seizing, keening for air. "Do as I told you."

"Now? Within the flames?" Peeta asked.

For a moment, he appeared confused, but she touched his bicep and when she lifted it, multiple gold bands appeared on all of his limbs. "Wrap your gifts tight around you and it will be fine," she said.

"All will be fine," he said, softly, and Clove beamed as she watched him disappear into the flames.

Smoke was gathering within the rapidly shrinking dome of fire.

Peeta walked through the flames and smoke, his eyes unwaveringly trained upon me.

For one blessed moment I hoped he would be blue-eyed and helpful.

I took two steps towards him.

I did not take heed to the way Foxface got to her feet and backed away as he approached. I did not understand why the other Enlightened had been so dismayed to see him and had scrambled out of his path, abandoning their posts at the fire. I did not understand until he was right in front of me and he hit me.

Hard.

Enough to throw me off my feet.

I pushed myself up on an elbow, dizzy.

I could only blink up at him in surprise for a few moments, stunned. Then he reached for me again and my survival instinct kicked in and I rolled away, getting to my knees.

As I got to my feet, face throbbing, I noticed the bands.

"Peeta! Peeta, listen to me! This isn't you." I was trembling, but I did not want to admit it. "This isn't you. Whatever Clove told you... snap out of this!"

He moved as if to grab me, so I threw myself further away from him, stumbling backward, closer to the original battle, but deftly avoided his grasp.

It did not matter that I was well away. He had other targets. The moment I tumbled out of reach, he rounded on the unconscious Darius. From his sheathe, Peeta drew a sword. I missed that, somehow, just like Thresh and Poseidon. Either he moved too fast or with too much power. I missed the moment he drew it, but I did not miss the glint of metal that swept in a vicious arc across Darius' throat.

Someone, another Enlightened, shouted. Whether in anger or fear, I could not tell.

I could not hear much over my own shouting.

Darius' body convulsed, blood spurting over him in a hot, sticky flood.

I scrambled forward again, one tiny part of my mind knowing it was far too late to pull Peeta back to himself, but the larger part desperately believing that I could still make a difference.

Peeta lifted the blood covered blade, raised his eyes to me, and took one step forward.

I stared at him, knowing he was intent on killing me.

Hundreds of emotions hit me. Terror was a sweat on my skin. Underneath it was a sadness, a pity for him, and a hatred for Clove so strong I would become physically sick if I did not do something about it.

He spoke to me, raging: "Whore! I have always known this!"

I could not take my eyes from the sword in his hand.

Behind me, Rue was shouting, and Poseidon was laughing.

"I have had enough of you and your treacherous, whorish ways!" Peeta screamed at me — gods, I had never heard him so loud, so raging! I could not wrap my head around the anger Clove had instilled in him. "You have never been a wife to me," he continued. "You were a whore in your king's court, and –"

"I was a virgin when you took me, you know that!" I said, stung into speech.

"Whore's tricks for all I know. Who else have you taken behind my back? Marvel? Finnick? Cinna? Is Achates mine, or a hybrid of all the men you've had crawl between your legs?"

I clutched my stinging face. Annie was screaming, still, almost as if to shut out his loathsome words.

Oh, Seeder, where did I go wrong?

At that moment, I believed what Coriolanus had told me. I had no other choice, but to do what Coriolanus wanted, to take his offer. With that knowledge, I think I would have provoked Peeta into a greater rage so that he would mercifully batter me to death, had not at that moment the situation exploded into a worse disaster than that which already gripped it.

Haymitch, out of nowhere, punched Peeta in the side of his face.

As he stumbled, surprised by the blow, Cashmere and Delly grabbed Peeta's arms in a grip that pushed him to his knees. Beetee threw himself to my side. Foxface sank down beside Darius.

Haymitch ripped the sword from Peeta's hands and threw it an amazing distance.

Then there was Poseidon, smirking, standing in the midst of us all.

Thresh and Rue were just reaching the new gathering, aghast. Poseidon eyed the blood-covered Darius, then smiled down on the kneeling Peeta, who had started throwing himself around, trying to escape his binds.

"See," Poseidon said, his voice deep, like the crash of waves on cliffs. "You are no better."

Poseidon turned his head. Another figure approached our gathering. Clove, face red and furious, marched towards Thresh.

"What is the meaning of all this?" shouted Clove. She tilted her head indignantly, overlooking the other Enlightened as if they were ruffians who had been caught trespassing. "Release Peeta, this instant!"

Poseidon chuckled.

Thresh opened his mouth to speak.

I think I screamed. I am not sure. All I can remember in that instant was the shrieking, shocking many into stunned silence and making Peeta sink momentarily to his haunches.

I took a step forward.

Beetee grabbed at my wrist, but I ripped my hand away from his touch.

I took another step forward, everyone watching me, not knowing what went on in my head, or why my eyes were fixed on Clove. Inside of me I got that strange sense again, of feeling an emotion that was not truly mine; but it was not from Peeta this time, for he wore the bands and they dulled his true connection to me. It was from Coriolanus. He was seething with victorious joy.

He knew what I would do – as he'd swore up and down to me I would do it, eventually.

My right hand slipped into my robe, into the pocket that ran down its right seam.

Then, with neither Darius awake nor Prim near to realize what went on, to hold me back from doing what Coriolanus had told me was destined, I lunged at Clove.

Mid-lunge I drew from my robe the knife; wickedly sharp, with its curiously twisted bone handle.

I felt Thresh's bruising hands on my side and Rue's attempt of grabbing my shoulder. Even Peeta regained himself enough to know what I meant to do – his horrified face showed that plenty. Except, what he and all the others failed to realize, was that this action would not just kill Clove, it would release Coriolanus. Perhaps a greater villain than Clove ever was.

Clove, with what little time she had to react, twisted away, giving me a shoulder.

I slapped my free hand onto this shoulder, and as Clove's head whipped about, her eyes both eager and startled, with my knifed hand I sank Coriolanus' blade to its hilt into the base of Clove's neck.