2.
If it was a prank, it wasn't one that had been made public yet.
Katniss had been waiting for the laughter and the mocking comments ever since she had put a foot at the school that morning but so far, nobody had said anything. First period had been boring like Math always was and she felt like she was suffocating. Her whole body felt too tight for her, coiled. Her skin was tingling with an odd sixth sense that told her doom was impending.
"Hey."
She almost jumped out of her skin and slammed the boy who had startled her right against the row of lockers.
Gale stared at her with wide eyes. Either at the unexpected violence or because she had lifted him up a few inches in the air without breaking a sweat.
She dropped him and stepped back with wide eyes of her own.
"Okay…" her best friend said slowly. "Wanna explain?"
She licked her lips and averted her eyes, hiding behind the curtain of her hair. She usually tied it up in an utilitarian braid but, that day, she had felt the need for some additional cover. "Sorry. I'm jumpy today."
"Right." Gale frowned. "So… Your sister texted my brother and Rory texted me. The word on the street is that you are being weird since last night…"
"Prim should mind her business." Katniss grumbled. "I'm fine."
She headed down the corridor toward her next class, not entirely surprised when Gale followed her.
"She's just worried about you." he pointed out. "And it's not like you to be so jumpy you pin me to a locker, Catnip. Did something happen?"
She hesitated. She told Gale everything. Or almost everything, at least. Gale understood her like nobody else ever would. His father was dead too and he, too, was struggling to help his mother raise his two brothers and his baby sister. Like her, he hadn't always been on the good side of the law and he was the one who had actually taught her how to poach in the woods. And, to top it off, he was also on the archery team. Gale Hawthorne was her best friend and she was sure that if she told him about the weird night she had had, he would find an explanation that was a little more rational than vampires are a real thing.
Before she could say anymore, the bell rang and she made a face because she couldn't afford to be late again. If she got kicked out of school, social services would poke their nose in her mother's business again and Katniss had barely managed to convince them Aster was fit to take care of her and Prim last time.
"I'll tell you later." she promised.
"You better." He smiled. "See you at practice."
She rushed to the History classroom and almost flung herself at her usual seat but students were still chatting between themselves despite her late entrance. There were excited whispers around and she caught words like "retired" and "surprise" and "new teacher" floating around. She didn't pay it any attention, she fished her old battered phone from her bag and groaned when she realized she had forgotten to charge it again.
It wasn't a fancy model like all the smartphones all the wealthy kids had. It was a very basic model. All it could do was call and send text. It still had actual keys instead of a touch screen. It suited her needs just fine though. She only used it for emergencies. She had nobody to call and nobody to text beside Gale who she saw every day at school and who didn't live that far away from her home that she couldn't make the trip in ten minutes if she really needed something.
Because she was busy laboriously tapping a text to Prim asking her not to disclose her private business to any Hawthorne boy, she missed the new teacher's arrival. She didn't, however, miss the hush that fell on the classroom or the characteristic squeaky sound of the pen on the whiteboard.
The man's back was to the room. He was wearing a blue suit as far as she could tell and his handwriting was atrocious.
She was too busy trying to decipher his name to look at him yet.
Haymitch Abernathy
The feeling of dread was back and, when she finally looked at the man, she wasn't entirely surprised to find the stranger from the previous night smirking right at her.
"Let's cut to the chase…" He was addressing the class but it felt as if he was talking to her specifically and she found herself scowling. She didn't like getting played like this. "You don't want to be here and I hate teaching so we're in good company. Let's try to make our time together bearable. You don't bother me, I don't bother you. Seems fair?"
It earned him a few laughs.
Katniss just glared.
For someone who claimed to hate teaching, he wasn't a terrible teacher. He seemed to know his subject at least. That wasn't always a given with teachers in a town as small and as poor as the Seam.
Still, she was the first one to rush out of the room when the bell rang.
The day dragged on. She was a little afraid Abernathy would try to corner her somewhere but, true to his statement, he didn't seem willing to bother her. She supposed that meant she should go to him first. Fat chance of that.
She didn't need his help because none of it was true.
When Gale asked her again at practice what had bothered her so much that morning, she told him it was nothing and, this time, she meant it. She went back to the woods with him after school and they managed to catch a few squirrels.
They didn't meet any weird people.
Nothing odd happened.
She blamed hunger for the whole thing and vowed not to hunt on an empty stomach again.
She was almost happy when she went to school the next day – as happy as you could be when the fridge and the cupboards were empty and bills were piling on the wobbly table. She was relieved it had all been in her head, truth be told. It was the only reason she didn't immediately scowl and turned Mellark away when he casually asked if she wanted what was left of his chocolate cake because he had packed too much.
It wasn't the first time he had cornered her in the Biology classroom before the lesson started with offers of food. Prim loved chocolate cake and she was in a good mood so she thanked him and made sure it was carefully wrapped in the paper napkin before placing it in her bag. He looked surprised and a little hopeful and he must have taken that as a tacit permission to sit because next thing she knew, he was on the stool next to hers.
That was Madge's seat and Katniss looked at the classroom's door with panic, hoping the blond girl would hurry and show up. Madge wasn't really a friend because they didn't hang out outside of school but they had been Biology partners since forever and they had eaten lunch together a few times. Madge was alright. She knew how to deal with Madge.
She didn't know how to deal with Peeta Mellark who was king of the jocks and captain of the wrestling team.
To be fair, Mellark had always been nice to her. They had been in the same class for as long as she could remember and he was a shy kid despite his popularity. She didn't think he had a mean bone in his body. But he was rich and they didn't belong in the same world and Katniss was naturally weary of anyone who didn't have to sweat and bleed to get their next meal.
Today, he looked unusually gloomy.
And, now that she was paying attention, so did the rest of the popular clique. Was Glimmer crying?
"What's wrong?" she asked, nodding at his friends who all looked a mix of worried and depressed. That was as unusual as it got. They were always happy, shallow and haughty.
"You didn't hear?" he said, sounding sad too. "Cato and Clove disappeared."
The name of the girl she had set on fire was like a stab in the chest. She had done her best to repress the whole thing, not to think about why Clove hadn't been around since that night. Her absence didn't fit with the rational explanations she had settled on.
"Three days ago." he continued when she didn't say anything. "The police think they ran away together but… It's just not like them. And they didn't take any clothes or anything… It's so weird…"
"Right. Weird." she repeated flatly.
He forced a small smile that didn't reach his eyes. "I just hope they're alright…"
"Yeah." she said and she wondered if she imagined how strangled it sounded.
"Your partner's here… I'll…" He pointed out to his usual seat, a little hesitant and she nodded, already catching Madge's eyes who was doing her own brand of hesitation at finding her seat taken. "Katniss?" He placed her hand on her wrist and she automatically snatched it away. He looked hurt for a second but then it was gone and his face was entirely too serious. "I know you often go to the woods on your own… Be careful, alright? I heard weird things are happening over there."
"Thanks for the cake." she mumbled.
Well, she thought, ignoring Madge's awkward questions about what Peeta Mellark wanted with her… Shit.
°O°O°O°O°
Haymitch wasn't surprised to find the girl on his classroom's threshold at the end of the day.
He considered her as she studied him, dislike written all over her face. She didn't look like much, his new Slayer… She was underweight. Underfed, he corrected himself. Her features were striking and she could have been pretty if she hadn't looked so famished, her skin was olive brown, her long black hair was tied back in a braid – which was good because he hated having to tell girls to tie their fucking hair up because it wouldn't help to be pretty once they were dead… Her eyes were grey, a shade lighter than his. For as small and thin as she was, she looked strong though and that, he decided, was good.
"Thought we had an agreement, sweetheart. Don't bother me, I won't bother you." he mocked.
She didn't answer. She kept watching him with wariness and disgust and maybe a little bit of fear. All of which was fair as far as he was concerned.
He started packing up. Books in the bag, homework tossed in the desk drawer for him to grade later or never, the flask he had resisted the urge of touching for most of the day back in his pocket… Fuck but he hated teaching. He couldn't believe he was back to doing that.
He didn't pay her attention because it wasn't how it was going to be. He didn't dance to her tune, she danced to his. At least, that was how it was supposed to work anyway.
He could already tell this one would be difficult.
Wouldn't save her in the long run though.
"There's a boy missing." she said eventually, when it became clear he wouldn't speak first.
She stepped inside the classroom and closed the door behind her. She didn't wander closer though, she stayed within reach of the door and as far away from the desk he was standing at as she could. Skittish, he noted.
"And?" he asked in a bored tone.
She didn't like that.
He wondered if the scowl was her natural expression or if it was especially for him.
"And he's Clove's boyfriend." she added as if it was obvious and he was being obtuse on purpose. "The girl who chewed on your neck."
He touched the wound by reflex. It was healing without problems but it would leave a scar. By his last count, it was his fourth vampire bite.
"And?" he insisted, dragging the question out.
"And maybe he's… like her." she snapped. "You have to do something."
He burst out laughing. A rough bitter laugh that made her even more weary of him, he could tell. That or he was starting to piss her off.
"I don't have to do shit." he countered. "I'm not the Slayer."
She glared. "The Chosen One thing is bullshit."
"Don't need to convince me of that, trust me." he snorted. "But if you think the vampire thing is bullshit, you don't need me, then, yeah? Can't have it both ways, sweetheart." He watched her for a second and then leaned against the side of the desk, folding his arms in front of his chest. "Tell me, if you weren't out looking for vampires, what were you doing with a bow in the woods at night?"
"I was hunting." she answered as if it that made the least bit of sense in that day and age.
Though, if the looks of her was anything to go by, it actually made some sense.
"Hungry?" he asked, coming to a split decision. "There's a diner not too far away. Good food."
"I've got archery practice." she countered.
At least, it's not a cheerleader this time, he mused.
"Your call." He shrugged. "Let's hope your missing boy doesn't chew on anyone tonight…"
He left the classroom without looking back.
He was out of the building by the time she caught up with him, her bow and quiver slung over one shoulder and her school bag over the other one.
"You're an asshole." she commented. "People could die. You don't care at all?"
"People die all the time." he replied. "You're gonna die."
She flinched and he might have felt a tiny bit sorry if that part of him had still been operational. But it wasn't. He had turned it off a long time ago. He couldn't, wouldn't care. She would die. They all did. There was nothing he could do about it and he didn't believe in lying to his charges. If they listened to him, they might live that little bit longer. If not…
Somehow, he didn't think Katniss Everdeen would be the kind of Slayers who listened.
"Asshole." she repeated under her breath.
Despite himself, he smirked. At least, she had spunk. He hated it when they were meek and compliant. Watcher-raised slayers were always like that. Obedient. Good soldiers but no personalities, no room for adaptation. Eventually, that got them killed. He had refused to take up a Potential when he had been asked. He specialized in rogue slayers.
The Council of Watchers – or, as he had once heard William The Bloody say The Council of Wankers – made a point of collecting girls who could be called and placing them in a Watcher's care as young as possible. It wasn't a fail-proof system though. Potentials hoped and prayed to be chosen but for a hundred of them, only one was picked, and sometimes, the girl who was called hadn't been detected or found in time to be brought up properly. The Council called it a rogue, he called it a victor.
He worked well enough with them.
Better than with the brainwashed ones, in any case.
The diner was nothing to sing about. It was decrepit, like almost everything else in this town, and there was grease everywhere – he had never found out if that was why the owner had named it Greasy Sae's – but the food was decent and it hadn't changed since the last time he had been there, decades ago. Anywhere else at that time of day, the place would have been crowded with teenagers but it was mostly deserted except for a few patrons sitting at the counter.
Either there was another newer place to get burgers somewhere he hadn't found yet or people knew not to linger outside after dark. Slayers were called where they were most needed so he would bet on the latter.
Some Watchers actually brought their Potentials to hot zones in hope that it would trick fate into turning them into the Slayer. Usually, it only meant more dead girls before they even reached puberty.
And if they weren't chosen by the time they turned eighteen they were either hired to work for the Council as operatives or researchers or tossed on the streets without the means to do anything of themselves. You couldn't raise a kid without getting attached, of course, but that wasn't well seen by the higher ups and it wasn't advised to keep in touch with a Potential who wasn't a Potential anymore. Things had to be professional, after all. Detached. Neutral. For tweed, Queen and country. Fucking British.
"Katniss?" one of the waitresses asked uncertainly, once they had grabbed one of the booths in the corner. The discreet ones.
It occurred to him that it might look weird for a forty year-old teacher to be seen at a diner with a sixteen year-old student. Rumors would be rampant if he wasn't careful.
"Hello, Hazelle." the kid answered in a casual voice. Either because she didn't get why her friend looked worried to see her with a much older man or because she didn't care at all. "Can I have two cheeseburgers with fries to go? He's paying."
She added the last part both defensively and aggressively. The defensiveness was for the waitress and to the implication she didn't have the means to pay. The aggressiveness was for his sake, he figured, to let him know she was in charge.
It amused him. She amused him. She barely reached his shoulder and she looked like a draft could knock her over but she was so full of anger that he started thinking maybe she had what it took.
It was a dangerous road, of course. It led to hope. And hope led to heartbreak.
He turned his most charming smile toward the waitress – a smile that hopefully said I am not a pervert who preys on little girls – and the woman relaxed a little but not by much. "What she said plus two cheeseburgers and fries for us to eat here, please. And a beer. You want something to drink?"
She looked taken aback by the lack of resistance on the bill front and, if possible, even more cautious than before. "Coke."
And the weariness triggered the waitress' warning bells again.
He would need to teach her to be a little more covert.
"Is Sae around?" he asked casually, because he knew the familiar name would go a long way into making himself look like less of a stranger.
"No, she's rarely in anymore." the waitress frowned. "You know her?"
"Yeah, for a long time. I was born here, actually. Went away, came back a few years later, went away again…" He outstretched a hand in introduction. "Name's Haymitch. I'm the new History teacher at Seam High. And I ain't trying to seduce the kid or something… I'm a family friend. Came to help."
"Ah." she exclaimed in a deep relieved breath with a guilty look for Katniss. "That makes sense with Aster's troubles…" He had meant tutoring because that was his usual cover story and now he was intrigued. What kind of troubles? She shook his hand. "Nice to meet you, Haymitch. I'm Hazelle Hawthorne. My oldest son is taking History. Gale?"
He winced. "Only my second day, sorry… I don't know all the kids yet."
"No problem." She laughed. "It's probably a good thing you didn't notice him. Let me know if he gives you troubles."
She left to place their order and he waited until he was sure she couldn't overhear before turning his attention back to Katniss who was studying him as if she couldn't believe him.
"You lied to her." she accused.
"Want me to get up on the table and shout to the world that you're the Slayer and I'm your Watcher?" he snorted. "That would go down well."
"Maybe we should." she retorted "Those things the other night… They could have killed us."
"They're demons." he clarified. "Subclass but demons. And, yeah, they could have killed us. But you go shout around about vampires and you're gonna find yourself locked up in a loony bin before you can say Slayer." He shook his head. "Rule number two is… the whole thing is secret."
"What's rule number one?" she countered.
"Survive." he deadpanned.
He chose the word on purpose. Not don't die or stay alive but survive. It was different. Surviving was harder.
She pondered that a moment and then sulked a little. "I meant you lied about being from around here."
It was his turn to ponder that for a moment. He decided on the truth because… why not? "Didn't lie. I left for good a while ago though." Hazelle came back with their drinks and he waited until after she had assured them their orders were coming before addressing Katniss again. "What's with the food? You're stocking up or you're feeding an army?"
She took a sip of her soda and at the way she closed her eyes for a fraction of second after the first taste, he simply knew it was a luxury she hadn't afforded herself in a long time. It wasn't that surprising, he supposed, given the worn out clothes and the malnourished look.
He didn't expect a straight answer so he wasn't disappointed when he didn't get one.
"This Slayer thing…" she ventured after a moment. "It's like a job?"
"More like a calling." He waved his hand in the air a little angrily. "You can say no to a job, you can't say no to destiny when it comes knocking."
"I meant: does it pay?" she clarified.
Again, he found himself laughing. And that surprised him. He couldn't remember the last time he had laughed before that day.
Johanna maybe.
Katniss was the first one who had ever asked that though.
"You could stop laughing every time I ask a question, you know." she sulked, sliding down her seat and folding her arms in front of her chest like a petulant child.
Ah, fuck. She was one of those he was going to like. He could already tell.
That was bad.
"If you need money we can work something out." he offered because he had too much of it anyway. Watchers were well paid. To keep their mouth shut and follow orders, mostly.
"I don't take charity." she snarled. "If it ain't paid, I'm not interested. I need a job, not a calling."
"Then why don't you already have one?" he asked, honestly curious. Poaching in the woods couldn't keep her fed.
"Because people know I've been arrested for stealing before." she grumbled. "They won't hire me."
She had a past with the police. That might become a problem. Slayers often found themselves in the middle of troubles. He would have to make sure she never got caught.
Hazelle came back with their food and he thanked her while Katniss pounced on the burger. She tried not to be obvious about it but it was glaring to him. He wondered when she had last eaten a proper meal.
He tried another angle. "Why do you need the money?"
He told himself he was getting to know her because it would help him prepare her for the mission. Not because he cared for her as a person.
She was already dead and he needed to remember that.
They were always already dead when they came to him. They just didn't know it yet.
Half the cheeseburger was gone already and she washed it out with two greedy gulps of soda.
He had yet to touch his beer or the food.
"My sister. I take care of her." she explained a little reluctantly.
That explained the burgers to go.
"Your parents don't?" he probed carefully.
The Council hadn't told him much about her. They never did. Slayers who activated in the wild were always a bit of mysteries – unplanned elements. They had given him a name, a place – and how fucking thrilled he had been to find himself back there – and a school picture that was two years out of date.
"My dad's dead." she snapped. Barked. As if he should have known or guessed or… "Mom's… Mom never got over it. I take care of Prim."
It would make it easier in a way. Parents could be difficult to reason with.
Still…
One parent dead and the other out of the picture, a sibling to support…
Too familiar.
He dipped one of the French fries in his glass of beer, ignoring her disgusted glance, before popping it in his mouth. "I can help with the money."
She glared. "I don't…"
"It's not charity." he cut her off. "I'm your Watcher."
She watched him dip another fry in his beer. She was eating more slowly now, either because she felt sick from having gulped so much down or because she wanted to savor it.
"Because I'm the Chosen One." she scoffed. "That still sounds crazy."
"I know." he offered because he did. It never got any less weird.
"I'm not special." she insisted.
"I know." he repeated. Another Watcher might have claimed she was special, that she was chosen, and destiny and prophecy and honor, yada yada yada… The truth of it was the girls were always ordinary girls up until the previous one died. It didn't help to sugarcoat it.
"Well, thanks." she remarked. She sounded less hostile and he felt his lips twitch so he busied himself by taking a bite of his cheeseburger. He wouldn't care. Not this time. She munched on a fry, watching him. "What's a Watcher?"
"A mentor." he explained. "When a Slayer dies and another is activated the Council sends her a Watcher. Sometimes it's the same person, sometimes not. Depends of the new Slayer's needs." He took a mouthful of beer. It tasted better with the fries. "I'm gonna train you: teach you to fight, teach you about demons, teach you how to use different weapons… That kind of things. Also, you're gonna love that part… I'm gonna tell you where to go and what to do and you're gonna report to me. Basically, I'm your boss."
She snorted.
Yeah… He hadn't thought it would be that easy either.
"Is Watcher a job or were you called by fate too?" she mocked.
"A bit of both." he chuckled bitterly. "But I'm being paid so I'm gonna say it's a job. You should eat before it gets cold."
She tossed him an odd look but finished her cheeseburger. Then, of course, she asked the question he knew had been coming from the start of the conversation. "How many Slayers did you know?"
He took another sip of beer, if only to make sure his voice would still be steady when he would speak. "Know? Seven. But I trained five if that's what you want to know. I started when I was nineteen and I'm forty now so I'm gonna let you do the math as far as a Slayer's life expectancy goes…"
She was staring at him but he didn't look at her, he focused on eating his fries.
"So… The last Slayer… The one before me… You trained her?" she asked in a tone that wanted to be steady and was anything but.
"No." he denied. "Last one was somewhere in Africa, I think. The one before her was mine, though. She was in Los Angeles. Nice weather, nasty demons. A Selkie drowned her. It was a mercy, really. She had gone mad."
Annie had been too soft for this life.
He had never understood why she had been called in the first place. Too soft. He had known it from the start. One horror too many and she had started slipping into trances he couldn't shake her out of. The Council had figured it out eventually, had sent a Watcher in training to assist him – a spy – the joke had been on them when instead of turning her in, Finnick had fallen in love with the broken girl. They had managed to keep her alive for a few months longer between the two of them.
Then, of course, she had followed that Selkie into the ocean and they had never known if the demon had tricked her or if she had just wanted it all to end.
'Death is my gift' she had whispered to him more than once and he hadn't understood, not until he had found her floating body, not until he had been forced to restrain a yelling Finnick…
"Annie Cresta." he added as an afterthought.
Her name figured in the Chronicles, of course, but he doubted anyone would read the journal he had kept about her. First because he had been told more than once than his records were awful and then because she hadn't been one of the great ones. She had lasted a year. It wasn't bad, more than most recently, but she hadn't done anything noteworthy. She had just lost her sanity.
Girls and girls and girls sent to the slaughterhouse…
"How long will I last?" Katniss asked.
The question slapped him back to the present and he forced himself to focus, to ignore the burning need to take a sip of the hard liquor hiding in his pocket. He couldn't afford to get drunk when he had a Slayer to mentor.
He had no good answer to offer though and the longer he remained silent the clearer it became that the silence was the answer.
She wasn't the first one to ask him that. He could remember another girl, with honey blond hair and bright blue eyes asking him the very same thing in that very same dinner. In hindsight, he should have brought Katniss elsewhere.
"I have a sister." she hissed between her teeth. Her eyes were shiny but the tears never made it through. "I'm all she has. I can't…"
"If it comes down to that, when it comes down to that… I'll make sure the kid's taken care of." he promised. That was the only thing he could do. He couldn't promise to save her, but the sister he could see to. "I had a younger brother. I know what that's like."
Their eyes met and something passed between them, then.
An understanding.
They weren't so much different when it came down to it, it seemed.
And thus the Slayer found her Watcher! And Peeta, Gale and Madge all appear! Did you like it? I hope you did! Let me know!