10
Prim felt slightly guilty about her white lie but the moment they got out of the bus and started spreading around the meadow in small groups to find a good spot, she began to relax a little.
The reason she hadn't told Haymitch or Katniss where the field trip was taking place was because she knew they would have forbidden her to go. But what was the alternative? Staying home in her room and waiting for the end of the world to come? It had been coming for weeks and didn't seem in any hurry to actually happen so… She might as well enjoy the world while it was still there.
"Relax, Prim." Rory teased, tugging on her wrist so she would sit down next to him. "It's just an eclipse. It's gonna be boring."
She snorted and obliged him by sitting next to him, propping her notebook open on her thigh, ready to take notes. Rory didn't bother with a notebook or notes. He was a nice boy – and a good friend – but he fancied himself a bit of a rebel – or at least he pretended to be.
"Do you have the glasses?" she asked him because the teachers kept repeating they needed to make sure they had them at the ready. Looking straight at the eclipse without them could be dangerous for their eyes. Hers were already propped on her head, ready to be slid in place when needed. She was determined to get a good grade on this assignment.
Not that anyone at home would care but…
"Right here." he said, slipping them out of his pocket and fiddling with them. "So… You want to grab a burger at Sae's after?"
"I can't…" she said reluctantly. "Haymitch wants me home right after school."
She averted her eyes and pretended to follow the teacher's lecture – the woman was shouting in vain because everyone was chatting and talking between themselves instead of listening. She forced herself not to glance at the dead tree that had once been struck by lightning, knowing what lay beneath. It sent a thrill down her spine to be so close to danger – without actually being in danger –and she wondered if that was what Katniss felt when she strode around at night dispatching vampires.
Her sister was much braver than she was. Prim would have never found the strength to do that. She would have been too scared.
But she was a bit proud of herself right then for conquering her fears. There she was, sitting right next to the Hellmouth nobody else around her had any clue about, and she wasn't scared. Why would she be? It was daylight, she was lost in the middle of three classes of children of various ages and she was perfectly safe.
"You know…" Rory hesitated. "Gale doesn't like your guardian much. Mom says he seems alright but…"
"Haymitch is the best." she cut him off with a frown. She shot him something that wasn't quite a glare but it was close. "He's protective, that's all."
And he had reasons to be.
And it made another pang of guilt throb right through her because she knew that, directly or not, she had defied his instructions: don't be stupid and make sure you're safe at all times.
Coming on the Hellmouth without him, Effie or her sister was stupid.
But she was safe, wasn't she?
She was in a crowd, she would have a good time, and she had hidden weapons in her bag and in her shoe if she needed them…
What could go wrong?
°O°O°O°O°
Peeta was driving so fast he could barely control the car's trajectory.
They were too far away.
They were too far away and the sky was slowly turning a sick reddish color and he could still glimpse the bike in the far distance, hopelessly distancing him but not enough to make a real difference…
Next to him, Effie was clutching the handle over the passenger door, her jaw clenched as if she was trying to control a burst of nausea. She looked pale. Too pale.
Peeta refused to think about all the blood. He refused to think about what could have happened because then he would get angry at the warlock again and the warlock was currently sitting behind him on the backseat, exuding so much raw magic that even he was feeling it.
As for Madge, she looked scared but determined, her glossy blond hair pulled up in a hasty ponytail. She was gripping a stake that looked utterly out of place in her hands…
They were ready for battle and they were all aware they might be driving to their death.
His phone started ringing and he swore, fishing it out of his pocket and almost sending them all off the road because he was going too fast for that sort of antics. He swerved right back in the middle of the road, ignoring Effie's disapproving cluck of her tongue.
The witch snatched the phone from his hand and answered, putting the caller on speaker so Peeta could hear.
"Gale." he greeted because it had been the default ringtone when all his friends had an actual personalized song programmed. Who else but Gale could call him at this time?
"Yeah." the boy confirmed. "I've tried calling Katniss, she ain't answering."
"She is on the bike with Haymitch." Effie answered. "Are you…"
"I'm behind you. I think." Gale cut her off.
Peeta glanced in the rear-view mirror – something he hadn't done in far too long because he was a little scared a police car would be chasing after him given how fast he was going – and saw what could have been headlights far behind him. The headlights blinked twice.
"I see you." Peeta confirmed. "Where did you find the car?"
When Katniss had called him, he had been at school and she had told him they couldn't waste time picking him up. Madge had offered to borrow Effie's car and do it but Effie's car, as it turned out, had refused to start. They couldn't tell what was wrong with it, nothing mechanical that Haymitch could see at first glance but he hadn't been willing to waste more time checking it out.
'Cursed'Cinna had said. 'Someone really don't want you to risk your life fighting that Reaping.'
Effie hadn't even gotten angry, which had told everyone just how badly she must have been feeling.
"Stole it." Gale explained. "It's Heavensbee's. Fastest I could find."
And, true to his word, the car behind them easily ate the distance. Soon they could see it was a slick black sport car that Peeta couldn't picture their principal driving.
"Don't follow us too close." Effie cautioned. "If either you or Peeta loses control…"
"Then go faster." Gale ordered. "I want to make sure my brother is safe."
"I'm going as fast as I can." Peeta grumbled. Any faster and he was sure he would kill them all before they even reached Capitol Hotel. Those narrow roads in the woods weren't made for speed driving.
"We need to tell him about the plan." Madge reminded him.
"Right." Peeta said and he let Effie do just that but, privately, all he was thinking was that Gale had never been able to respect a plan before and that he didn't see that changing that day of all days. "Do you have your bow?"
"Please." the other boy scoffed as if it was the stupidest question ever.
Peeta took a deep breath, held it for a moment and then let it out slowly.
Effie shot him a commiserating look.
At least, he wasn't the only one who doubted Gale.
°O°O°O°O°
The sky was slowly turning a sick reddish color that had Prim shifting uncomfortably in her spot. She had never been afraid of the dark, not really – at least not before she had been kidnapped by vampires – but she was hyper aware of the fact that, soon, it would be pitch black and…
"My brother keeps calling." Rory grumbled with annoyance, hiding his phone in his bag to better reject the call without alerting the adults who were patrolling around them, still lecturing about eclipses and the sun and… "It's like he forgot I'm in class or something…"
She jotted a few notes down, the dread in her stomach increasing another notch.
She managed to ignore it two more minutes before giving in to that strange feeling. She reached inside her own bag, discreetly checking her own phone. She had to wait for it to power up because she always turned it off when she was in class – like everyone was supposed to do – and since it was a very old model it always took a while for it to light up and… She had two missed calls from Effie, three from Katniss, one from Peeta and six from Madge…
The dread and the guilt blended into something that she could only call survival instinct.
"We need to get out of here." she whispered, dropping her notebook.
Rory looked at her as if she had grown a second head. "You want to skip? Now?"
She was already standing up, her breathing coming much too quick because she was starting to panic. How was she supposed to convince everyone to go back to the busses and leave? The teacher was looking at her, everyone was looking at her, curious and maybe a little relieved by the interruption.
"Primrose? Is everything alright?" the teacher asked with a touch of concern.
Because Prim was a good kid, she was at the top of her class and she never caused problems. She would never stand up in the middle of a class or a field trip unless she wasn't feeling well or…
Prim opened and closed her mouth, aware that nothing she could say would prompt anyone to move. What could she say?
Katniss would know.
She caught sight of a movement from the corner of her eyes and she turned to the hotel that stood in the distance just in time to see someone confidently stroll out.
The figure was cloaked and the hood hid her face but she could tell it was a woman by the way she moved.
A witch, she was ready to bet.
"Primrose?" the teacher asked again, now more irritated than concerned.
She was out of time.
°O°O°O°O°
The bike raced through the windy dirt roads so fast Katniss wasn't sure how Haymitch was controlling it. It was all she could do to cling to his back, regularly bumping her chin against the pommel of the sword that hung between his shoulder blades. The speed was such that she was certain that if she loosened her grip even slightly, her body would slide backward and she would fall.
She hadn't properly checked her quiver and the strap was digging painfully in her neck.
She could barely glimpse anything but even behind the thick protective visor of the helmet she could see the sky was turning darker. A reddish sort of darkness.
Haymitch suddenly leaned forward and Katniss followed the movement because it was that or getting whisked off. They were almost bent in two over the bike and she didn't understand what he was doing until the bike lurched even faster.
She hadn't thought it was possible.
It seemed impossibly dangerous because there was no way he was fully controlling their mad dash.
But she knew why he was taking the risk…
They were out of time.
*cue to Highway To Hell playing in the background* (sorry i just had a flashback of finnick dying to that song in the zombie au XD oooopsie)
Soooooo... Prim is in trouuuuuuble. Will they get there in time? Will it end badly? Is Portia alright? WHO KNOWS.
Well, me... Me I know HAHAHHA
Tell me your thoughts! (and if you have prognocstics about who lives and dies!)