Binah
Slipping off the train is easier than sneaking on. Lumas rolls a coin across the ground and, while the guard stops to pick it up, we step out of the carriage and vanish into the District 3 crowd.
It feels strange, being home again and seeing all those concrete buildings and factories. The route from the station to Victor's Village is so familiar. The others let me lead the way. Fawkes looks around, wide-eyed, trying to figure out how much his district has changed since he died.
Victor's Village is deserted. Wiress and Beetee both decided to stay in District 13 for a bit so there's nobody there to see me walk up to Ramona's house and unlock the door with the spare key she'd given me.
The moment I step inside, memories overwhelm me. Memories of sitting on Ramona's sofa with a too-strong cup of mint tea and the knowledge that both my parents were dead.
"I can't believe I'm in Victor's Village!" Fawkes says, awestruck.
"Your girlfriend is a victor," Lumas points out.
Fawkes looks at me, eyes sparkling, and I realise that I really love him. All the things I used to find annoying about him, I've just learned to adore.
"Where do we search first?" he asks. "I'm thinking the bedroom."
"Why there?" Lumas asks.
"It's probably where she's been hiding her plans half her life."
Lumas nods. "Makes sense."
I lead the way to Ramona's bedroom. I've only been inside once or twice. I mostly came around to Ramona's house to discuss rebellion downstairs. It's incredibly neat. There are shelves and shelves of notebooks.
"Don't turn on the lights," Lumas says. "Don't open the blinds. They'll know we're here."
Fawkes studies the shelves of notebooks and frowns. "Is there anything in particular we're looking for? Did Ramona give any hint of a backup plan before the Quell?"
I rack my brain, searching for an answer. I find one.
"She did once ask me to organise a stockpile of resources in District 7," I say. "I had to get a few delivery people to put things in a little shed near Victor's Village - I remember specifically winter clothes. I didn't think much of it at the time but it seems pretty important now."
"It does," Fawkes says. "Now we know what to find but not where to look for it."
We start searching through the room. Fawkes and I decide to look at the bookshelf while Lumas looks through Ramona's other belongings.
"Why does Ramona have five boxes full of perfume?" Lumas asks.
"Why don't you?" Fawkes asks. "Perfume is cool."
"Most of the bottles are full of poison," I say.
"That's even cooler!" Fawkes cries.
"Hold on," Lumas opens a box and carries it over. "I think I've found something."
Inside the box is another box, made of metal with a keypad on the top. I recognise it instantly.
"I gave that to Ramona for her birthday. It fills with ink if you type the wrong code."
"Well, that means we can't use trial and error," Fawkes says.
"What kind of code would she use?" Lumas asks. "Someone's name?"
"That's too obvious," Fawkes says. "I don't know Ramona very well but I know she overthinks everything," he pauses. "What does she smell like?"
"What does that have to do with anything?" I ask.
"If she's keeping her secret in a perfume box, maybe the code has something to do with her favourite type of perfume," Fawkes explains. "It's the perfect clue. She can be found but only by someone who knows her well."
"That's genius!" I cry. Then I try to remember what Ramona smelled like and I draw a blank. "I don't know."
"It's mint," Lumas says, quietly.
"Mint?" Fawkes asks.
Lumas nods. Then he hands the box to me. "You type it, Binah."
I understand why he wants me to do it. It feels reassuring having the code typed in by a hacker, even if we all know it. I type in the code and press the enter key.
The box clicks open.
Lumas pulls the book out of the box. It's small but it's thick with writing. "There's so much… We can't read it all here."
We tidy Ramona's room as much as we can before walking out. I can feel my sense of hope growing. We have a chance to find Ramona - as long as she wasn't recaptured or killed in the bombing.
My hope doesn't last.
There's an ominous clicking noise as I open the front door. I realise what it is immediately. A bomb.
"Fawkes, run!" I cry.
Then the world explodes.
Lumas
The force of the explosion knocks me to the ground. For a moment, I lie there, in shock.
Then the ringing in my ears is replaced by screams. It takes me a second to realise it's Fawkes screaming for Binah.
By the time I realise that I need to act, something muffles his screams.
I struggle to my feet to see a dark-haired woman pressing a cloth over Fawkes' face. Binah lies on the ground nearby, half buried under the rubble. She's not moving.
"Hey," I cry. "Let him go!"
The woman turns to look at me with dark, vicious eyes. I recognise her as Coco Montclaire, one of the most loyal victors to the Capitol. She somehow managed to slip under our radar when it came to imprisoning pro-Capitol victors. She claimed that she was forced to do everything by Snow and she managed to escape punishment.
Despite the evidence that she tortured Ramona's parents to death.
"Back off, Taffeta," Coco says. "I didn't come here for you."
I look at Fawkes. He's desperately trying to break free of Coco's grip but he looks like he's growing weaker by the second. His eyes are wide with panic, pleading for help. Then they close. His body goes limp in Coco's arms.
"If you came here for Fawkes, you came here for me," I say.
Coco doesn't reply. She slings Fawkes' unconscious body over her shoulder and she runs.
I try to chase after her but I stumble. I'm still a little shaky over the explosion. Coco races ahead of me, through Ramona's garden. There's a van waiting for her. She tosses Fawkes into the back and closes the door behind her.
I still chase the van. I chase the van until it's long out of sight. I chase the van until I remember that I left Binah unconscious in the rubble.
Failure burns within me. I'd made it my duty to protect Fawkes because he was the only one who could bring about the Panem I wanted. I'd failed.
I start walking back to Victor's Village but I soon get lost in the tangled maze of District 3's streets. I realise that it's probably too late to help Binah. Either she's dead, she's in hospital or Coin has her.
So I find myself in a situation I'd been in countless times as a child, curled up in some back alley, feeling worthless.
But then I remember the things I took from Ramona's room.
I found a necklace with a tiny green bottle of mint perfume on a chain. I thought Ramona would like it if I gave it to her when I found her, just in case she never got the chance to come back to her room. I also have her book.
I flick through the pages and, slowly, begin to realise what she's planning.
It's worse than I thought.
Just when Binah, Lumas and Fawkes were getting somewhere, Coco has to sweep in and ruin things. She rigged that explosion so she could kidnap Fawkes and she succeeded. Now the trio are all separated. Fawkes is being taken to the Capitol, Binah is injured and Lumas is continuing the search for Ramona on his own.
