8.

The front door remained open behind Peeta as they came jogging into her house but Effie didn't comment since they would not be there long enough for it to matter. She wasn't sure where the sudden urgency was coming from but she was eager to start the ritual and dispatch the demon. The prospect of doing actual magic – powerful magic – had her blood boiling with anticipation. The familiar hum of her power was turning into a throb a little too painful to ignore.

"I will need coarse salt for the protection circle." she said, heading straight for the living-room. "There is some in the kitchen cupboard."

She kept her most magical supplies handy in one of the living-room cabinets. She would need a copper bowl, some herbs and…

"Effie." Peeta hissed through clenched teeth from the room's threshold, the panic clearly audible in his voice. The anger too.

She turned around, a frown on her face, and searched for the threat he must have perceived… There was nothing in the room. Nothing but them.

The boy's features were distorted with fury.

"Effie, I can't… I can't control it." he growled, punctuating his sentence with a powerful punch in her brand new painted wall. It chipped off some paint. "I'm just so… The anger is too powerful.. I want to…"

He wanted to hurt her. Or anyone really.

Peeta had never voiced his terror out loud but she – and she supposed Haymitch – had understood it well enough. He was scared of becoming whoever was making his life hell at home, of losing control of his temper, of being violent with people he loved…

"Peeta…" She used what she hoped to be a soothing voice. "This is all in your head…"

But was it though? Her fingers were tingling so badly… She didn't need to look to know they were glowing gold again. The insisting throbbing of her power was so powerful it was quickly becoming painful. It begged for release.

He wasn't the only one scared of hurting someone they loved.

They stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity but couldn't have been more than two seconds.

Then, Peeta lunged at her with a war cry and she lifted both hands in front of her, releasing some of her overflowing magic. The boy was propelled back but didn't remain on the floor long. He rolled back into a crouch and then stared at her long and hard, blood dripping from a gash on his forehead, his breathing visibly labored…

She thought he was going to pounce on her again but before she could do anything to prevent that, he stilled as if he couldn't get enough air inside his lungs. Next thing she knew, his eyes were rolling back and he collapsed on her living-room floor.

"Peeta!" she shouted.

At least, she tried to shout. Her own lungs rejected every breath she tried to take. She fell to her knees, her glowing palms hitting the floor with a smack. The magic was going to consume her before the fear demon could get to her. She was certain of it.

Her powers weren't throbbing anymore they were pulsing. The magic would come out one way or another. She was too fragile a receptacle for it. She couldn't control it. She couldn't contain it. She was weak, like her mother had always said. Too weak for this. The magic would destroy her and perhaps use her body like a puppet.

She felt as if she was about to explode.

She couldn't breathe.

She crawled away from Peeta, crawled all the way to the opened front door…

The only thing she could think about was that she needed to put as much space between her and her friends as possible. If she couldn't control the magic, if it lashed out… It would destroy everything around…

She rolled down the steps that lead up to her house without any grace, landing in her perfect driveway… It wasn't easier to crawl on gravel. She scratched her knees and her hands. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't breathe. Everything burned. It wasn't just her fingers that were glowing now, it was her whole body.

She managed to drag herself to the middle of the street between her house and Haymitch's and then she couldn't take it anymore.

She screamed.

When her voice went hoarse, she panted, unable to get her breath back. She rolled on her back, saw nothing but the grayish blue of the sky…

She was going to die.

The thought came with a calm sort of certainty. She was going to die. It wasn't a matter of if anymore, it was a matter of how. Clearly, the Lachnoc demon had been watching them, figured out they knew it was him, upped his game before they could take the fight to him, safe in his immaterial form…

Well… Not on her watch.

She had all this magic that would end up killing her… She dug her fingers in the concrete, felt the road break under the strength of her power… He had made her all powerful, the demon had made her all powerful… It was time to show him that it had been a mistake.

She closed her eyes and gathered all the power she held within herself, searched the Earth for more… The Hellmouth was right there, so tempting… She almost gave in, almost… She felt large veins of pure power pulse on her face, when she opened her eyelids again, her head shot backward under the surge of magic, her eyes shone gold.

She screamed again.

She had to.

It hurt so much.

The magic came out in a powerful wave and, bypassing any ritual, she forced the demon to manifest.

It appeared right there, a few feet from her. It was an ugly thing. A grey vaguely humanoid shape draped in an old dirty toga of sort.

The demon hadn't expected that, she could tell. She could breathe more easily, the fear was gone. It took all she had to roll on her knees and stand up. She wasn't steady on her feet when she outstretched both hands in the demon's direction.

"Burn." she ordered and her voice was pure command.

The magic surged again. Flames shot out of her palms, the demon was briefly engulfed in a blaze of green magical fire…

She didn't manage to maintain the spell more than a few seconds but it was enough for the cavalry to come to the rescue.

When she saw the first arrow hit his torso, she didn't bother trying to remain standing anymore.

She collapsed.

°O°O°O°O°

Katniss sucked a breath in with a gasp, too shocked to even notice it didn't hurt anymore. Her head spinning, it took her a few more seconds and a few more gulps of oxygen to realize someone had been screaming outside. Screams of pain.

Effie.

Ignoring her aching limbs and the dizziness that had yet to pass, she rushed to her bow, barely noticing Haymitch coming back up from the basement with a sword he didn't seem to have the strength to lift properly. He looked just as dazed and lost as she felt.

She ran outside just in time to see Effie shoot flames at a grey demon, magical flames too. The witch didn't look good, she was as pale as death, she had a nosebleed and she was visibly shaking even from afar.

"Shit." Haymitch spat behind her, heading straight for his fellow Watcher.

Katniss took aim and started shooting.

Her whole attention on the demon, she only noticed Effie's fall because Haymitch ran over, dragging that sword behind him like it was weighing a ton. He dragged the witch's upper body off the ground, propped her up against his chest, cupped her cheek…

Katniss kept shooting at the roaring unhappy demon.

She wasn't making much progress with the bow.

At least until flaming arrows started slipping through her fingertips.

"Stop it, for fuck's sake!" Haymitch raged at Effie. "You're gonna kill yourself!"

Katniss tried to shoot quicker so the witch wouldn't have to maintain that spell for long. It was starting to work, the disoriented – and now a little charred – demon was beginning to falter when it decided to charge.

Of course.

Katniss dove left, rolled and steadied herself in a crouch.

"Haymitch!" she shouted.

Her Watcher tossed the sword in her direction, blade up. Dangerous gamble, she couldn't help but think even as her fingers closed around the hilt. The blade lit up with magical fire as soon as she touched it.

She didn't wait to attack the demon who might have been very powerful in his immaterial plane but was clearly not a fighter. After the whole week-end of anguish, she took a lot of pleasure in chopping off his limbs.

"I said stop it!" Haymitch snapped, shaking Effie. "You're being reckless! Effie! Effie!"

Katniss didn't need to look to know what was happening, the moment she twisted the sword around for the final hit, the blade turned cold, back to its original steel. It still beheaded the Lachnoc demon without any problem.

The corpse faded to grayish blue goo that splashed on her boots. She didn't pause to reflect on it and immediately jogged over to the middle of the street where Haymitch had Effie half sprawled on his lap.

"How is she?" she asked, a worried frown on her face.

Prim came running out of the house just as Peeta staggered out from Effie's.

Haymitch didn't pay either of them any attention. His big hand was cupping the woman's nape, her blond hair in complete disarray. She had fainted at some point – most likely when the blade had stopped burning – and she really didn't look good.

"Is she breathing?" Prim immediately dropped to her knees. "You shouldn't hold her like that, her nose is bleeding. She could choke."

"She needs to go to the hospital." Haymitch replied, letting the twelve year-old adjust his hold on her. "She overdid it. I don't know…" He made a face, let go of her long enough to run a hand in his hair. "I ain't a magical expert. She could be in a fucking coma after what she just pulled. She's a fucking idiot! If she makes it, I'm gonna kill her! That was…"

"She's breathing." Prim cut him off. "Let's focus on that."

Katniss was always amazed at how good her sister was when it came to taking charge in case of medical emergency.

"She's right." she said, turning toward Peeta who was slowly making his way over, clutching his head. "We need your car."

The boy wordlessly fished his keys from his pocket and handed them over to her.

Haymitch gave him a glance over and frowned. "What happened to you?"

"She knocked me off." Peeta mumbled, blinking slowly. "What happened?"

"What happened is we won't be going to the hospital for nothing." Haymitch scoffed, slowly hauling himself – and Effie – up. "Let's go."

They all piled in Peeta's truck. Katniss almost asked Haymitch if he was certain he was in any shape to drive but she thought better of it and swallowed the question back. Peeta could barely stay awake and it would probably take her far too long to drive the car to the Village's gate so Haymitch was their best bet even if he looked like he had aged ten years in an hour.

She glanced at his shaking hands strangling the wheel and wondered how long it had been since he had last drunk, too. She couldn't remember seeing him sneaking drinks as regularly as usual.

"Her pulse is very faint." Prim whispered to her at some point.

She shouldn't have bothered keeping her voice low because it was so silent in the car, Haymitch heard anyway. He sped up so abruptly Katniss' stomach churned.

She hated hospitals.

She hated the way her friends were whisked away, Effie on a stretcher, Haymitch following close behind and Peeta coaxed to a bed by a nurse who immediately grabbed a pad to press against his bleeding forehead. She hated the way the medical staff pushed her and Prim back and asked them to stay in the waiting room until her friends were settled.

"Your father will be right back." one of the nurses kindly told them. "Your mother and your brother are in excellent hands."

It was so stupid that Katniss gaped instead of correcting her.

Prim flopped down on one of the empty chairs, not even bothering to swallow back her giggles. It wasn't that funny but Katniss slowly sat down next to her and shrugged. "I guess it makes sense to them. We all came in together."

Her sister shook her head, laughing harder. It was adrenaline, probably, a reaction to a post impending death moment. Katniss was torn between laughing with her and feeling very sorry she hadn't protected her better.

"Brother." Prim finally whispered between two chuckles.

Katniss' eyebrows shot up. "That's what gets you?"

Her sister shot her a knowing grin. "If Peeta was our brother, the way you look at him would be very very sick. Possibly illegal."

She felt herself blush, not really sure why. She nudged Prim's knee with her own. "I don't look at him."

"Sure." Prim humored her. "You don't look at him at all. Like he doesn't look at you. Just like Effie and Haymitch don't look at each other. Nobody's looking at anyone."

She rolled her eyes, a smile tugging at her lips because it was good to see Prim act so lightly despite everything. But everything was weighing heavily on her mind. "They will be okay, right?"

She was the big sister, she was supposed to be the one to offer reassurance and comfort but…

"Peeta didn't look too bad. He probably just knocked his head a little too hard." Prim commented, slipping her hand in hers. "I don't know about Effie."

She forced herself to smile for her sister's sake. "She'll be fine. She's Effie. Nothing keeps her down for long."

They didn't talk after that, they kept holding hands and watching the other people anxiously waiting for news like they were. It was several minutes before Haymitch came back.

"They kicked me out." he grumbled. "They're doing tests, she hasn't woken up yet. And they're taking the boy for a CT. They called his folks but no answer." He sat down on a chair and rubbed his face. "He should be okay, though. Mild concussion maybe."

Katniss let out a sigh of relief.

"What about Effie?" Prim asked gently. "I mean… You said she could end up in a coma… But it's because of the magic, will the doctors know how to help her?"

"Guess it's like her body's shutting down. Either it recuperates on its own or… I know a few people who could help if it comes to that maybe…" He shook his head. "I don't know. Let's just hope she wakes by herself. Might take a couple of days. Let's just hope for that."

"She'll be fine." Katniss said firmly. "She has to be."

She wouldn't accept anything less.

Ding dong the witch is dead! Oh... Or is that demon? Which one is it... Mmmm... What did you think? two chapters left in this episode!

An aside but on monday I will start posting a daemon au (from pullman's books, no knowledge necessary) with a chapter a day for the next two weeks and a half so come on board if you want! It should be titled: the sinews of thy heart (because i don't have a better idea yet).