Chapter 6:

"Goodbye," Madge said, her voice hollow. The door closed heavily behind her; a sharp sound told them that it had been locked. Madge was in there alone now and would stay that way until Cinna arrived later to make the finishing touches to her outfit.

Katniss stood on the other side of the door. Frowning she turned and walked away. Peeta was at her side. It was time, finally, for the Hunger Games to begin. The breakfast that morning had been a short one; they had their last tactic meeting, but there was not much left to be said. Madge was as prepared as she could be and was too nervous to listen to any last minute advice.

Katniss turned a corner, neither she nor Peeta spoke. It was just after eight in the morning, and the citizens of the Capitol were just now waking up. The games would not start for another two hours. They reached the outer doors and went through. The glaring sunlight made her flinch; she put her hand up towards the sun, shielding her eyes. Luckily, they did not have to walk far; a big black car was waiting for them at the bottom of the steps.

"Are you coming?" Peeta asked, standing a few feet below her. "Yes," Katniss said, and moved towards him.

The streets were empty as they drove, no cars on the road. They passed the training centre and she barely glanced at it. They were not going back there.

"You are going to break it," Peeta said. His voice brought her mind back to the present.

"What?" she asked.

"The pin." He gestured to her hand.

The Mockingjay pin. She had forgotten about it. She wanted to give it back to Madge, to have her wear it in the arena, but for some reason, she had refused it.

"She wouldn't take it back," Katniss said, and threw it up in the air. Peeta caught it, and brought it up to his eyes to get a closer look.

"It's yours, she gave it to you. I don't really blame her for refusing it," he said, and gave it back to her.

"Why?"

"You wore it into the arena, if she did the same, then people would start to talk." He paused, "and that can be a good thing, but…"

"She can't take the chance," Katniss said as it dawned on her. Peeta nodded.

Katniss twisted the pin around in her hand, it had been with her through the Hunger Games. This was the second time she had tried to give it away, the first time had not gone any better. Some part of her was glad that Madge had refused it as it reminded her of Rue, this pin had been the reason Rue had trusted her.

Katniss brought it up to just above her right breast and pinned it firmly. Her outfit was simple, more fitting for a day in the woods than a Hunger Games celebration. She would remind them all of who she was, and what she had done to get here.

"What are we going to do after this?" he asked quietly.

She looked at him. "Go home, sleep."

"I mean after the games," he said.

She shrugged. "I don't know—go back home, live."

"Do you know the reason why I came over to your house so soon after the Victory Tour?" he asked.

Katniss shook her head.

"I couldn't bear any more time alone. I don't have anything back there Katniss." His eyes were glazed over. He did not look at her and instead stared straight ahead.

"I'm sure you could…" Katniss said.

"Nothing."

She hesitated.

"My parents don't want me staying with them in the bakery, they don't really want me helping, and my brothers are doing their own thing."

"Why not?"

He turned to her, and their eyes met.

"They're scared," he said. "They haven't said anything about it, but I can see it clear as day. Everything they do moves them further away from me."

Katniss frowned. "What about the reaping? I saw you stand together—"

"My father, he tries… But it's splitting my family apart." He took a deep breath. "It's all I'm good at you know. Baking and decorating, it's all I have ever known."

"Then do it on your own," she said firmly.

He shook his head." Compete with my family? I could never do that."

She hesitated, why would he care? They had abandoned him. Katniss glanced at the peacekeeper in the front seat, he was listening to everything they were saying. Peeta did not seem to mind.

"Give it away then, don't sell it. Give it to the people who need it."

Peeta sighed and covered his face with his hands. "But who do I give it to? How do I find the people who really need it?"

Katniss glared at him. "Try the people who are face down in the dirt, sick and exhausted," she said.

He winced. "That was not what I meant—"

"I know…" She sighed. "This place…The Capitol…I hate it," she said bluntly.

He nodded wearily and closed his eyes.

Neither of them spoke after that, and a few minutes later they stopped at the main headquarters of the Hunger Games.

There was a crowd forming outside it, sitting in clusters on the wide staircase leading up to it. The building itself was massive, even to Capitol standards. There were twelve screens plastered to the side of it, each showing a tribute. They were sorted by districts, which left Madge at the very end. Katniss smiled when she saw her. There was no trace of a smile on Madge's face, and her blue eyes stared down at Katniss defiantly.

They reached the top of the stairs and entered the building through two huge blue doors. They walked a few steps before they were stopped by approaching Peacekeepers.

"Stop. Name?"

"Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark," Katniss said.

The man studied her face, then he glanced over at Peeta.

"You can go on."

"Thank you," Peeta said. They moved past the peacekeeper and through a door behind him. Their guards had stopped at the entrance so they walked alone.

They entered an enormous room, many stories tall; they could fit her house ten times over in here. Even so it was overcrowded with people. Katniss noticed several men and women wearing black and violet. She even saw a woman wearing a red dress identical to the one she had worn to her first interview with Caesar. Could it catch fire too? They entered the crowd and tried to manoeuvre through it while still being on the lookout for Effie or Haymitch. Peeta walked in front and used his superior strength to slowly make his way forwards.

"Excuse me," a man to her left said as he was pushed aside. He glared at her, she glared back and he flinched. They moved further into the room, and soon reached the middle. They now stood directly beneath a large golden chandelier.

"Watch out," A woman said. Katniss's automatically moved to the side, avoiding her. Her attention had been elsewhere and they had almost collided.

Katniss rolled her eyes and walked past her. Out of the corner of her eye she saw something that made her stop. The woman was wearing a Mockingjay pin.

"Where did you get that?" Katniss asked roughly.

The woman raised her eyebrows, then glanced down to the pin. She touched it gingerly.

"I got it specially made, is it not perfect?" Her Capitol accent was pronounced.

"It is…" Katniss trailed off; it was identical to her own.

The woman leaned closer to Katniss. "Wait a minute, you are Katniss Everdeen!" she exclaimed. Katniss winced, any minute now the rest of the crowd would notice them, and there would be chaos.

"No, I'm not," Katniss said, and walked away briskly. She saw Peeta further along, he was standing beside Effie.

"There you are, follow me. This place is not for us, not yet," Effie said. She moved to the wall on their right, and up the staircase at the end. Katniss cast a glance down at the people below as she ascended, they were smiling and laughing. Nearly everyone had a glass of some turbid fluid in hand.

A man stared at her; he had red lines running down from his eyes. Tears of blood. He waved at her and smiled widely. Katniss scowled at him. The man stopped smiling. Peeta nudged her with his elbow and she raised her left eyebrow at him.

They entered an empty corridor. There were only doors on one side.

The doors were numbered from one to twelve. "Over here," Effie said. She walked over to the door on the very end, the one numbered twelve and knocked twice. The door swung open and they walked inside.

"About time," Haymitch said. He was the only person in the room. Katniss's eyes scanned the room; it was not very big, but the four of them had no problem moving around in it. There were two sofas at one end, against the wall. There was a glass table in front of the left sofa, but other than that, there was nothing that caught her attention.

Katniss walked over to the left sofa and sat down lightly. "So, this is where we will be staying?"

"Yep," Haymitch said, holding a small object. He raised his arm, and pointed it towards the wall. Nothing happened. He swore. "Why won't it work?" He shook it a few times, then he brought it up to his ear and shook it again. It made no sound.

"What are you doing?" Peeta asked.

"Trying to get it to work." Haymitch said through gritted teeth.

"Give it to me," Effie said. She had remained standing by the door, and now moved to stand beside Haymitch by the opposing wall. Effie held her hand out expectantly.

"I know it was something like this," Haymitch muttered and shook the remote in the direction of the wall.

"You are breaking it," Effie said and reached for it.

"Maybe like this?" he said loudly. He turned his back to Effie. Katniss rolled her eyes.

Peeta snatched the object from Haymitch's grasp, and handed it to Effie. She headed towards the sofas. Up close Katniss could see that it was a controller of some sort, it had numbers from zero to nine on the top half, like the TV controller back in District Twelve. The bottom part however, was different; it was a shade lighter in colour than the rest, and looked to have a protective cover over it.

"Hey, I was using that," Haymitch said. His lips formed a thin line and he narrowed his eyes.

"No, you weren't," Effie said and shook her head. She pointed the controller towards the table and pressed the big red button on top.

Nothing happened.

Then suddenly, the table changed colour. It flashed red, then went back to being transparent, then it flashed red again. It did this a few times before it settled on a light green colour.

Peeta walked over and sat down on the couch to Katniss's right. Katniss leaned forwards and reached out with her hand. She touched the table gently, then drew back as a shimmer passed across the screen. Her eyes widened, and she did it again, with the same result.

"What is this?" Katniss asked as she put the palm of her hand against the table.

"It's a table tablet, it registers your touch and allows you to control things using the table," Effie said.

As soon as she withdrew her hand Peeta put his own palm against the table with the same result.

"Nothing is happening," Haymitch said.

"It's not working yet. Be patient," Effie said frowning.

The colour flickered and became dark blue instead.

"Ah, here we go," Effie said. Letters appeared on the screen and a woman spoke.

"Welcome to the third Quarter Quell!"

The room was suddenly very bright, as the opposite wall started glowing dark blue, the same colour as the table. Effie moved her hands over the table and started touching different parts of it. The blue screen on the wall changed into a map.

"Is that-?" Peeta asked.

"Yes, that's the Arena," Haymitch said.

Katniss got up and moved closer to the wall; Effie sat down on the sofa and continued to fiddle with the tablet.

"What is it?" Katniss asked.

"It's an island," Peeta said.

"Yes, I saw that. I mean this part in the middle. Where it says start," Katniss said. She pointed to the middle, it was a round black circle; the word start could be read in red letters.

"I don't know, I have never seen anything like it before," Haymitch said. "Zoom in here," he said, and pointed to the circle.

A few seconds later, the map changed as the middle part was enlarged.

"Thanks," he said absentmindedly.

Unfortunately, zooming in did nothing to help them, as the black circle remained the same, it just got bigger.

"Maybe they just want to keep us in the dark until the start," Peeta suggested.

"No, I don't think so. They don't gain anything from that. It's already out of our hands; we can't influence anything." Haymitch said and scratched his greying beard. "There is something more to this." He shrugged." At least we don't have to wait for long," he said and walked over to sit beside Effie on the sofa.

Katniss glanced over at the clock beside the door, nine fifty-five, only five minutes left. "Could you zoom out again?" she asked. She wanted to get another look at the entire map.

"Of course," Effie said.

"So, this half is a forest, and this other half is…"

"It looks like buildings. A city?" Peeta asked hesitantly.

"Probably some abandoned project, now used for amusement," Haymitch said.

Katniss did not move until she had memorized the entire map. One and a half minutes remained when she finally sat alongside Peeta on the second sofa.

The screen changed again, it was now pitch black. Effie's fingers flew over the tablet.

"It's finally here, the Seventy-fifth Hunger Games." A man's voice boomed into the room, Katniss recognized it as Claudius Templesmith, the announcer of the Hunger Games. The screen changed, and three faces became visible. Claudius Templesmith was on the left; she did not recognize the two others.

"I am joined here in the studio by two previous victors. They have been kind enough to grace us with their presence, the amazing Gloss and the breathtakingly beautiful Enobaria.

"Gloss, what do you think of this year's tributes?" Claudius asked.

"I think it's going to be a good year, hopefully worthy of the third Quarter Quell." He said, his voice formal.

Enobaria huffed.

"What about you Enobaria? Do you have any favourites?" Claudius asked.

"District Two, she's going to win," she said. While Gloss's voice had been clear and respectful, Enobaria seemed to have more trouble getting her words out. Her face made a grimace whenever she spoke.

"She is certainly one of the favourites." A new picture appeared on the screen, a dark haired girl. "Wren Hayes, seventeen years old and 5'10. She received a ten in training; the best out of everyone."

Then the camera was back to Claudius, who stared directly at it. "Now, there is only thirty seconds left, so we will return to the tributes as they prepare themselves to begin."

The screen became dark again, but this time there was some light flickering in the distance. Effie let out a huff of annoyance. Her fingers danced over the tablet. Then the screen colour changed to light green, and Effie sat back and let out a breath.

With night vision turned on, Katniss could finally see the tributes.

"They are under ground," Haymitch said.

The twelve tributes were standing on platforms surrounding the only light source in the room. A stage. Katniss was willing to bet that this was where the weapons and supplies were.

"Ten!"

"Nine!"

"Eight!"

Claudius had started the countdown. Katniss leaned forwards, only touching the sofa slightly. Her eyes scanned after Madge.

"There!" Peeta said, and pointed to a figure in the far back. She squinted, and finally saw her. Madge was standing on the balls of her feet, her clenched fists were held tensely down at her sides; her head moved from left to right.

"Seven!"

"Six!"

"Five!"

"She can't see anything," Katniss said, realizing what the movement meant.

"This is dangerous," Haymitch said, his eyes were wide open and he was also sitting on the edge of the sofa. Madge faced the stage.

"She has to go the other way," Peeta said.

"Four!"

"Three!"

"Two!"

Katniss gritted her teeth, and fumbled around for Peeta's hand. She grabbed it tightly.

"One!"

She held her breath.

"GO!" Claudius screamed. The Hunger Games started.

Katniss's eyes were fixed on Madge.

Madge moved backwards immediately, and did not stop until her back rested against the wall. Then she turned away from the stage, and walked in the other direction. Many of the other tributes did the same thing, but not all of them. As soon as Claudius had started the games, at least four of the tributes had sprinted towards the light.

Katniss recognized them as the tributes from district One, Two, Four and ten.

"That's one of Madge's friends," Peeta said.

"Gaius. What's he doing?" Katniss asked.

"He's going to get himself killed," Haymitch said.

Katniss's eyes went back to Madge.

She walked along the wall, away from the light. She moved hesitantly and quietly, and kept one hand on the wall as she moved. She stopped every few steps, listened, and then started to move again.

She reached the end of the wall, and her hand groped in the air, searching for contact. Eventually she turned the corner, and stood at the entrance of one of the many hallways that led away from the area. Madge turned around and Katniss saw her frown as her eyes searched through the darkness.

"She's looking for her friends," Peeta said.

Katniss bit her lip. "She can't wait for them."

"The first casualty is a fact!" Claudius voice boomed.

The camera angle changed, and Katniss lost sight of Madge. They were now watching the stage; the light gave them a much clearer image. There was a boy and a girl, the girl was standing over the boy. She had a knife in hand, blood was dripping from it. It was the girl from District Two, she turned both ways, then snatched a backpack from the ground and sprinted out into the darkness, directly towards Madge.

The camera zoomed in on the boy. He was on his back, blood was gushing from a wound in his neck. His mouth was open and his eyes wide; he had not seen it coming. He was from District One. One dead, eleven left.

"Hah!" Enobaria said. "I told you."

"Yes, you did." Claudius said and laughed.

Katniss swallowed thickly. "It really is going to be different this year," She said weakly.

Peeta nodded.

Then the camera angle changed, and they were following two boys, from Districts Eight and Nine, as they were crawling through a narrow tunnel.

Katniss frowned, she wanted them to go back to Madge.

"Go to Madge's camera," Haymitch said.

The camera changed, first to the boy from district Six, then to the girl from District Four, and after a few more jumps they finally found Madge. She was running.

"Turn the camera around," Katniss shouted.

"I can't," Effie said with a shaky voice.

Katniss swore and clenched Peeta's hand tightly.

Madge turned the corner, there was only one way to run, for her and for whatever was chasing her. They could hear two sets of footsteps.

"What do we have here?" Claudius asked.

"It looks like we don't have to wait long for our second death," Enobaria said, sounding giddy.

"Don't speak too soon; this place is a labyrinth. There will be plenty of places to hide," Gloss said.

"Doesn't matter; when Wren has gotten sight of her prey, they won't escape." Enobaria said confidently.

Katniss clenched her other hand too, this one grasping air. Wren was the girl from District Two.

"Run, run, run!" She said, each word louder than the previous.

It was still pitch black; there would be places to hide.

The hallway split into three.

"Go left," Peeta mumbled.

Madge did not slow down as she reached the junction, but headed straight to the right.

Peeta made a face.

The camera angle changed, it was much closer now, and with audio. Madge had stopped a few feet into the hallway and sat crouched against the wall, her breathing laboured.

"Go back to the other camera," Haymitch demanded.

They saw Wren, her head swung from left to right. The camera zoomed in on her face, she was frowning. She grabbed her bag and rummaged through it. Katniss froze. If she had night vision goggles in there, it would be over in a second. Madge had nothing to defend herself with, and the girl had already shown herself to be ruthless.

"Only half the backpacks are equipped with night vision goggles, did she grab the right one?" Claudius asked. After a few more seconds Wren gave up, and closed the bag again. "That is too bad," Claudius said and sighed loudly. "She still has a one in three chance of choosing the right path. Can she do it? Or will the tribute from District Twelve, Madge, live to see another day?" He spoke rapidly.

Katniss scowled. "Just wait," she muttered.

Madge had started to crawl away, and was now thirty feet from the junction.

Wren took the middle corridor, much to the disappointment of the commentators. Katniss took a deep breath; Madge was safe for now.

"Show the map," Haymitch said.

A few seconds later a map covered the screen, it was different from the one they had seen earlier. This was a map of the labyrinth, with numbered dots that gave away each tribute's position. The Number One dot was grey, the others red.

Katniss found Madge's quickly; she was moving away from everyone else. Katniss's eyes traced the hallway Madge was in, it went to the edge of the map and disappeared.

"I will figure this out," Haymitch said and turned towards them. "You two have to go down and talk to the people downstairs."

"I'm staying here," Katniss said.

"No," he said harshly. She narrowed her eyes at him.

"What are you going to do here? The only good thing you can do right now is to talk to sponsors."

"What are we going to tell them? She hasn't done anything yet," Peeta said.

"Wrong. She lived." Haymitch said, and ran a hand through his blonde hair. "Tell them about her, only small titbits of information, enough to get them interested."

Effie stood up. "Come along," she said and moved towards the door. Reluctantly, Katniss got up and followed after her. Peeta released her hand, and she massaged it gently, trying to get blood circulation going again.

"Remember, be polite," Effie said. She reached up with her hands, and dragged Katniss's cheeks up into a smile. Katniss slapped her hands away and glowered at her.

"Smile, show those pretty teeth."

Katniss made a face. Effie flinched. "Was that really necessary?" she asked.

"Yes." Katniss said.

Effie huffed. Katniss strode past her and began down the staircase. Her eyes ran over the crowd below, searching for the person with the most extravagant outfit.

"Over there," Peeta said as he joined her. He gestured to a couple who stood in the middle of the room, they were surrounded by people, yet the couple were unmistakably standing alone. Separate from the rest for some reason Katniss did not know.

Katniss nodded and together they made their way down towards the couple.

"Hi," Katniss said.

The couple turned around to look at her.

"That's a very nice dress you are wearing, the green really brings out your eyes," Peeta said.

"Thank you," the woman said.

The man squinted, then his eyes widened. "I told you," he said smirking at his companion.

"You did," she said. "What are you two doing here? I would think that you have more pressing matters to attend to?"

"No, someone else is doing it," Katniss said.

"How lovely of them," the woman said and smiled. "My name is Laurel Pyrmont, and this is Crucis."

"Nice to meet you," Peeta said.

"I bet," Crucis said. His eyes were that of a snake.

"So, what do you want from us?" Laurel asked.

"We just wanted to say hello," Peeta said.

"Don't lie," Laurel said. She ran a flawless white hand through her long blonde hair. "There are hundreds of people here, why did you come to us?"

Peeta hesitated. "Did someone say anything?" Laurel asked.

"No," Katniss said hastily.

"That was what I was afraid of," Laurel said and clicked her tongue.

Katniss glanced at Peeta; he furrowed his brow. "I don't think I understand," Peeta said with an uncertain smile.

"I bet you don't," Crucis said. His thin white lips barely moved as he spoke. "We are not here to bet or sponsor. I am here to be closer to it all." He shrugged. "Maybe even go and see a corpse."

"Do you want to go now? To see the body, we should go before it starts to rot." Crucis asked Laurel.

"Yes," Laurel said and leaned forwards. "You are always so much nicer when you're dead." She smirked.

"Us?" Katniss asked.

Laurel's smirk widened. She put one hand on Katniss left shoulder and the other on Peeta's right shoulder and stopped between them. "You know, I wanted you both to die. You are not victor material," she whispered.

Katniss eyes widened, then narrowed and she turned towards Laurel. "I'm always happy to disappoint."

"No doubt," Crucis said. He laughed.

Katniss stared at their backs until they had disappeared from view.

"I have to go," she said. There were too many people here, she had trouble breathing.

"What? You can't," Peeta said.

"You don't need me here." He had to understand, she could not stay any longer. She had to go.

"That's not true."

"It is."

"You're abandoning her," he said.

"Don't you dare! I would do anything to help her survive," she almost shouted. People around them were starting to notice and gave them a wide berth.

"You are," he said." You are abandoning me," he added softly.

"I need to be alone." She said weakly.

"I need you here."

"I can't." She walked away.

"Wait," he said.

She halted, her back to him. She hesitated, but walked on. This was the right thing to do.

He shouted after her, but she was already too far gone to hear the words.

She walked back to room twelve, keeping her head down and not looking anyone in the eye. Once she reached the corridor, it seemed gloomy and colourless.

"Back so soon?" Haymitch asked snidely as she entered the room.

Katniss sneered at him. She did not walk over to the sofa, but instead stood with her back against the door. Madge was still in the labyrinth. She walked slowly, carefully, towards what Katniss assumed was an exit.

"She is doing well," Katniss said.

"For now," Haymitch said.

"How do you do it? For twenty five years…"

He sighed. "I didn't, most of them walked to their death without my help."

"I can't do that," Katniss said. Her eyes brimmed with tears.

"I know."

"Then how?"

"Peeta. He will help you through it," he said. Katniss cringed.

Haymitch laughed. "Go. You will know what to do."

She left the room, the door closed softly behind her. He was wrong, she did not know what to do.

When she returned to the party she saw Peeta and Effie standing together, they were surrounded by people. Katniss made her way over, and did not stop until she was standing directly in front of Peeta.

His eyes widened as he saw her, but instead of smiling to her he turned away and smiled at someone else instead.

Katniss stared at Peeta. His face was manlier than she remembered it; his ashy blond hair framed it perfectly. But his eyes were not focused on her; he was looking away, at someone else. She grabbed his face and turned it towards her. His cheeks were soft, there was no trace of stubble. His blue eyes finally met her grey.

She kissed him.