Sorry about the mistake before- when I said District 8, I meant District 11.
Summer Snow
"In the caves?"
"Y-yes" stuttered the assistant. She bit her lip, unsure what the implication on caves meant. Was he angry, or confused, or incredulous or happy? She looked down at her hands, settled in her lap and reshuffled her papers as if looking for something. He said nothing more. She glanced up to see him deep in thought. She looked back down, sweat breaking out on her forehead as the panic erupted, choking her up, making it seem impossible to breathe….
The assistant passed out, flopping sideways off her chair and onto the floor.
"Hmmm" mused President Snow coming out of his daze. He stood up and walked around his desk, stepping over the unconscious girl without so much as looking at her. He walked over to his window and looked out, surveying what of the Capitol he could see.
"The caves…" His tone was not so expressionless this time, but infused with pleasure. He turned back around and looked at his assistant. She had been his seventh in three weeks. He frowned, and then left the room.
"So what do you want to achieve in your life?"
The girl sighed. She wanted power, riches and fame, but she couldn't say that to the interviewer. She raised her eyebrows sarcastically, hoping that the old man questioning her would understand.
"I want to serve my country" she told him slowly, as if reciting an almost-forgotten nursery rhyme "and keep it great." She smiled briefly, one flash of perfect, white, pointed teeth. The man looked slightly scared.
"Thank you, …?"
"Devany. My name is Devany." And with another flash of a smile she stood up and left, before he even had a chance to dismiss her.
"So…..Devany." The President surveyed her through narrowed eyes. She narrowed her eyes back at him, across the table.
"You think you have what it takes to be my assistant?" He seemed quite entranced, looking into her soft violet eyes. Finally she spoke, breaking his gaze.
"Obviously." She raised her eyebrows. "Or I wouldn't be here."
He nodded in acknowledgement. Her doll-like stature looked even less hard-wearing than her predecessor, who had been full of blue eyes and blonde hair, but her features contradicted it in a way that was almost clashing. Her striking were violently catlike in shape, making her constantly look about to strike down some helpless prey. Her deathly pale, wrinkleless skin was framed by a thick mane of dark brown hair that seemed to move on its own. He would never stop marvelling the accomplishments of the beauty industry, even if so many of their creations were completely ghastly. He sighed. She was perfect.
"You have the job." He whispered, then left the table. Devany stared after him, her usually expressionless eyes brightening with malice.
"Katniss Everdeen." Were the first words Devany spoke in his office. She shooed her escort out of the room.
"You let her escape?" Her voice twisted up into a shriek at the end of her sentence. For the first time in his life, he felt weak. How stupid. He barely knew the girl.
"We don't know that for sure." He told her sheepishly.
"Yes we do! I suppose you haven't even checked the surveillance of the explosion?" She glared at him. "We have proof! She got away! As did her little boyfriend! And the other boy!"
"What!?!" The President sat up, startled. "Which other boy?"
"The boy from the games. The other half of the 'star-crossed lovers' act." She threw him a disgusted look. The President exhaled loudly. This would have caused any other member of staff complete, all-consuming terror, but Devany just stood over him, watching him with a disdainful look on her face. She bent down and whispered menacingly in his ear.
"The one thing you get right you don't even do properly." She cocked her head to the side. "Are you becoming a failure? Losing that drive that made you President in the first place?" She straightened up and strode out of the room. The President groaned and slumped down on his desk in defeat.
"And what do you propose to do for the Games?" Devany was back. Yet again, the President was being ridiculed. He groaned again.
"Do what we have always done. Punish the people." Devany went silent. The President watched her slowly turn around. She was furious.
"Is this really the most powerful man in Panem? A blithering idiot? We can't carry on with the Games how they were because a) it's the Quarter Quell and b) The entire country is in uproar!" She screamed her last words. "So, I'll ask again. What do you propose to do for the Games?" The President did not know what to say. He had really been too busy plotting the downfall of Katniss Everdeen and firing assistants to do anything. He had assumed that, in the light of the uproar, they wouldn't take place. He told Devany this and she pulled an expression that clearly said she wanted to bang her head- and his- against a wall.
"If you don't have the Games, then the lesser-rebelling districts will know that you leadership is breaking down and that there is no hope for the…more distinguished people of the Capitol, and that we will all one day end up living in squalor." She paused. "And it will be your fault."
"What do I propose?" Devany acted surprised, and flattered, that he had asked her. After four days of watching him struggle with the Hunger Games, the President knew she was expecting this. She saw everything. She knew everything. Whilst this my make her a powerful ally, it also made her very annoying. She also made him feel exceptionally weak, like when his father had beaten him as a child. He did not want to go back to that situation. She also belittled all the work he had done on the Everdeen child. He had threatened and blackmailed her quite well, he thought, until Devany pointed out that she had escaped. She would never have let that happen, she claimed. She was always prepared. She'd probably come up with an idea days ago. The President sighed.
"We use criminals. Those who have sinned will face the consequences. Oh, and in case you're wondering, by 'criminals' I mean the people you managed to catch whilst they were rebelling. Every district's got one. Or thirty." She allowed herself one smug, scheming smile. "And, if you catch her, Katniss Everdeen would be eligible for it. Providing you can manage that." Her expression turned sour. They were sitting in the vast Dining Hall, as Devany had insisted. She had told him that he mustn't be cowering in his office, hiding from Panem, but he must be out, and fighting on the front line. Or at least look like it, she had added.
"Of course we can." He tried to sound confident. "We know where she is. In the District eleven caves."
"Hmm." She didn't sound convinced.
"And we always have Roscoe." He reminded her hopefully.
"We have Roscoe." She repeated, sounding thoroughly unenthusiastic.