2

Haymitch's attention was divided between the book he was skimming through – angled away from the kid sitting at his side so she wouldn't see the gorish illustrations – and Prim's math homework. The girl was smart and self-reliant, she barely needed any help but she asked a question from time to time and he tried to explain to the best of his memories. They were alone in the library and it was quiet and strangely pleasant even though if you had told Haymitch a month earlier than he would end up playing father figure to a twelve year-old, he would have run away so fast he would be halfway across China by then.

He could hear the floorboards crick somewhere in the house where Effie was no doubt pacing as she tried to get through to the Council. He had heard the vague echo of her voice twice already and he had the feeling it wasn't going well.

He glanced at the clock one more time and then went back to reading, hoping for a mention of a Reaping, whatever it was.

Finally, the front door opened and he straightened, the tense knot between his shoulder blades loosening.

"You're late!" he barked. The kids should have been there half an hour earlier and he had regretted not waiting for them on the parking lot instead of going straight home on his bike. He had expected them five to ten minutes after him not thirty minutes.

"Yeah, well…" Katniss' voice snapped back from the corridor and at her tone alone he knew she was in one of her moods. "Peeta skipped Biology and we couldn't find him anywhere so we didn't have a ride."

The use of that we made him frown with foreboding and he stared at the door, waiting for them – whoever they were to appear – fervently hoping she hadn't been stupid enough to bring Hawthorne back so soon. Prim looked up too, clearly more interested by this than by her homework.

Katniss strode into the room without even a glance for him, going straight to ruffle Prim's hair. "How was school, little duck?"

He didn't hear the kid's answer because a blond girl had tentatively paused on the threshold, looking around with the same awe everyone always showed when first seeing the old-fashioned library.

For a second, Haymitch's breath remained stuck in his throat and he couldn't breathe. It's a ghost again, he thought and then he remembered and he caught the differences – the shape of her chin, the angle of her nose…

Not Maysilee.

Not Maysilee.

Not Maysilee, he told himself over and over again firmly, ears ringing.

"Are you listening?" Katniss grumbled, shaking his shoulder and breaking through the strange spell that had fallen on him.

He stopped staring at the poor girl, cleared his throat, rubbed his eyes. "What?"

He sounded gruff and annoyed, he knew, but that was the best he could do under the circumstances.

He had become an expert at avoiding that kid. He glimpsed her in the corridors sometimes, saw her crossing the courtyard with Katniss, drove by her on his bike in the streets near Peeta's place… He had learned to ignore her like he ignored the ghosts he sometimes dreamed about. It was the only way to cope. The only way to…

"I want to help with the researching." Madge said, nervous and a little shy. "If it's alright with you, Mr Abernathy."

It wasn't like anyone had asked him if it was alright before bringing her to the house, he almost retorted. He did glare at Katniss because she was putting him in a difficult position, like always. First off, he didn't like the thought of more teenagers involved. Second, he liked the thought of having to deal with Madge in this house even less – his first Slayer's memory was everywhere in this house. Third, he couldn't even send her away because Maysilee would have kicked his ass all the way to Sunday for treating her niece badly when she wanted to help and he could still see her ghost if he closed his eyes, could still…

"Sure." he forced himself to say, forced himself to smile even though it probably looked more like a cringe. "Grab a book."

Madge was watching him with a little too much understanding. "Are you sure? It's okay if… Some days, my mom can't look at me either."

That sounded wrong and it was clearly a sore point for the girl.

He took a deep breath, told his brain to think rational thoughts. She wasn't Maysilee reincarnated. She was just an innocent girl who happened to look a lot like her dead aunt, like his dead Slayer. It was painful for him to be in her presence but no more painful than it was to be back in the Seam or to live in a house he had hoped to never see again.

"Sit down, sweetheart." he insisted, a little less gruff.

She flashed him a quick shy smile that somehow reminded him more of Prim than of Maysilee. It wasn't enough to make him relax again but it was a start.

He waited until she had settled down and grabbed one of the books to frown at Katniss. The girl was redoing her ponytail, sitting cross-legged on a chair, a book already open on the table in front of her. She was scowling at the ancient volume. Research wasn't her favorite hobby.

"Where's the boy, then?" he asked.

It wasn't like Peeta not to show up when they needed all hands on deck.

"He had to take a shift at the bakery and cannot join us today." Effie announced, reentering the room. "He just texted me." She took stock of who was sitting there and hid her surprise a lot better than Haymitch had done. "Hello, Madge dear."

The hand that brushed against his shoulder on the way to her seat wasn't an accident, Haymitch decided and he felt both touched and annoyed by the fact she felt she ought to offer comfort.

"You're kidding me?" Katniss scoffed.

Effie froze for a second and then frowned at her, clearly puzzled. "I am afraid not. Why?"

"Did you have a fight with Peeta?" Prim asked, not quite pleased by that prospect.

Katniss' grey eyes found his and Haymitch held her stare long enough to guess she was burning to tell him something, something huge and important. And he had a hutch what it was.

"If you know something, sweetheart, you should say." he offered slowly, carefully. "'Cause until Effie and I are told something, legally we can't do shit."

The witch never slouched but, somehow, she managed to sit even straighter. "Katniss, darling, you can tell us anything."

In the corner of his eye, he saw Prim and Madge exchange a puzzled but worried look. Tension built up in the room like a cloud and he was certain, so certain she would come clean… He was sure Effie was ready to bolt and rush to the bakery to retrieve the boy. He was certainly ready to place a call to Heavensbee as soon as she had said the word – he had already done the legwork on that front, reporting his suspicions even though he knew that without any proof there was nothing the principal could do – so the man could call whoever needed to be called.

However, in the end, Katniss averted her gaze and glared at the open book.

"I don't know anything." she muttered.

She was the worst liar he had ever met.

"Katniss." he insisted.

"Are we doing research or what?" she shot back, tossing him an angry look.

He desisted only because he glimpsed the shine of tears in her eyes.

He clenched his jaw but turned to Effie who looked thundering. He realized that, maybe, the air wasn't so thick because of the tension and he reached for her hand, covering it just long enough that she blinked and let out a deep breath. There was a barely audible pop and they all could breathe more easily again.

He hoped he was the only one to catch the flash of panic on her face.

"What did they say?" he asked, taking his hand back and aiming for neutral since her magic was back under control.

"Caesar is certain he read about a Reaping somewhere but he could not remember where." she announced.

"Like me, then." he groaned.

"He is pretty sure it is a dark ritual though." she amended. "So he urges us to look in that direction. He, Finnick and Mags are also looking."

Mags shouldn't have been doing anything strenuous but he knew better than try to police the old lady. Good luck to Finnick getting her to keep decent hours.

"And?" he pressed when she didn't add anything else. "What did Coin have to say? You talked to her, yeah?"

She clearly hesitated, her gaze sweeping over the three girls sitting at the table staring at her and waiting for her answer. She pursed her lips, discreetly wiggled her fingers…

He caught the pale glow of a golden halo under the table…

'The rest would be better left discussed between you and me.'

The words echoed directly in his head and he abruptly recoiled, reacting before he registered it was her voice, almost falling over his chair in the process. He managed to steady himself at the last possible second – and because Prim had reached out to grab the back of his chair.

"The fuck?!" he spat, glaring at the witch.

She winced. "It's a spell I have been working on… I thought it might be quite useful on patrol."

"What are you talking about?" Katniss scowled.

Haymitch ignored her, still furious because of the scare the witch had just given him. "Might be. But maybe a little warning next time?"

Effie pursed her lips harder. "If you insist."

"What are you talking about?" their Slayer repeated, obviously getting fed-up with their antics.

"Never mind." he dismissed. "Leave that book. If it's a ritual, you won't find anything in there anyway, try that one." He checked and passed books around, taking one back from Prim when she eagerly reached for the pile. "Homework." he reminded her, standing up. "I'm gonna get coffee."

"Tea for me, please." Effie hummed.

"Coke." Katniss grumbled.

"Can I have some orange juice?" Prim added with a beaming smile he couldn't say no to.

"What am I?" he scowled. "Your waiter?" He shook his head and jutted his chin at Madge. "Want anything?"

"Oh, a coke is alright. Thank you." she replied, still sounding nervous and shy. Which was on him and his attitude, he supposed.

If only she didn't look so much like Maysilee, he lamented as he made his way to the kitchen.

'Is it more convenient now?' Effie's voice echoed in his head again.

Because he had half-been expecting her to try again, he didn't startle but it was a close thing.

He placed the electric kettle under the tap and filled it up, not quite sure how he was supposed to answer her… He cleared his throat. "How do I…"

'Just think of me and answer. The spell will do the rest.' she supplied.

It asked for some focus and he wasn't sure he would have managed it if he hadn't had some notions of magic.

'Can you read my thoughts? Are you in my head?' he asked, flicking the switch that would turn the electric kettle on. He didn't like the idea of it. He didn't like the idea of anyone poking around his head, not even her whom he trusted.

'No. It does not work like that.' she assured him. 'Think of it as a magical walkie-talkie. You need to be within range and it is actually power consuming so I will not be able to keep the spell on for long.'

It wasn't as reassuring as she probably wanted it to be.

'What did Coin say you don't want to say in front of the kids?'

He opened the fridge and fixed the girls' drinks, trying not to let himself get distracted by thoughts of Peeta who, by all rights, should have been in the library with the others. He hoped the boy was alright because if anything happened to him… The whole thing was frustrating and, more than once in the last few weeks, he had been forced to stop himself from just storming into the bakery and beat his father up to give him a taste of his own medicine.

'She wants Katniss to go after the Careers now.' Effie said, her tone so cold it sent shivers down Haymitch's spine. Or maybe it was what she was saying. 'I told her you would have objections, she told me that if you were not willing to follow orders from the Council, I should consider myself in charge.' She stopped, clearly hesitated and then soldiered on. 'I told her I objected. She said that if I was too soft-hearted to see my assignment through a replacement could be arranged.'

He bundled his hands into fists and resisted the urge to toss the glasses full of soda and juice at the wall.

Somehow, he had always known they would come to this.

'So you're gonna order the girl to go to her death, then?' he asked bitterly.

Not that he would let her, of course, but…

'Now, you are being offensive.' Her tone was sharp and he couldn't hear it like that but he was pretty sure she had just huffed. 'I told her I would do what she asked. I believe we are going on patrol later anyway, are we not? Well, if she believes we are looking for the Careers so Katniss can take her chances now… A little white lie does not hurt.'

He felt a surge of gratefulness that Effie got assigned to them and not another mindless Council drone. Watchers with a conscience were harder to find than one might think in an organization that was supposed to be on the side of good.

'Why does she want her dead?' he asked next.

It took almost a whole minute for Effie to answer. He finished fixing their drinks and had given up on waiting, musing that she didn't have a good explanation or that she couldn't sustain the magical connection anymore, when her voice finally echoed in his head a final time.

'President Coin hates rogue Slayers.' she said. 'She also hates everything that challenges her authority. I would say both you and Katniss fall into that last category. Perhaps this is simply politics."

With that last word, he felt the spell break, the tingles of her magic, now so familiar, faded away.

It was risking a lot for politics.

If Snow rose…

He generously spiked his coffee and carried everything back to the silent library where everyone was reading. Katniss shot him a suspicious glance but he simply lifted his eyebrows in an innocent question and she scoffed and went back to her book.

He waited until he was sure none of the girls would catch it to share a look with Effie.

They certainly had their work cut out for them…

Sooooo politcis are in play... How long can Katniss keep Peeta's secret? Madge is in the place... What do you think?