A/N: I'm happy I got to update pretty quickly this time. Like I've been telling you, your reviews really do make me work faster. They encourage me. Sometimes, when I'm having writer's block, I look and read my newest reviews and smile. It always keeps me going. Anyway, thank you so much again! Please read and enjoy! Oh, and please review ;) thanks.
(23)
"Gale," I say quietly.
"Yes?" he replies swiftly.
"Check your patch."
I see his eyes float down to the patch. His eyes widen when he notices the tenth dot.
"Gale, who's number ten?"
"Annie. Beetee. Cinna. Effie. Finnick. Gale. Haymitch. Johanna. You…" he trails off and curses. "It's Leanore."
The world halts. Leanore? She's… dead? My brain questions me wildly. I cannot ask this question aloud. I feel my heartbeat rise and I try to calm myself but find I am unable to.
Gale exhales and takes in the situation. "No…" he says, taking in deep breaths. "Where's Revelyn?" he asks me.
I cannot breathe. It's like I lose my breath and my head is falling down to a bottomless pit. I get woozy and lose my footing. Luckily, Gale is able to catch me and support me to stand up.
"Katniss," he says, beginning to understand what's happening. "Did you leave Revelyn with Leanore?"
"I thought she would be safe!" I yell.
He pulls me back into the bedroom. "Be quiet!" he whispers fiercely.
I take a breath and count to ten.
"Katniss… did you leave Revelyn with Leanore?" he repeats.
"Yes," I say.
He curses again. "Well, now we have to go find her."
"Revelyn?" I ask.
Gale just nods and puts a finger to his lips, telling me to be quiet.
Together we walk out again. We both move quickly on soft feet, Gale at a slightly faster pace than me. We reach the tree entrance underground and luckily, so far, we have seen no one and no one has seen us. Gale touches the tree and it says "Voice Identification" very loudly. I bite my lip.
"Gale Hawthorne," he replies in a barely audible whisper. I wonder if the tree can hear even him.
"You're clear," it says back, at a quieter volume. I silently thank the tree for taking a hint.
We jump underground and Gale and I run for the elevator. No one is in sight underground and it's very eerie. I quickly press the button for Level Two and descend very deep down.
"Level Two: Maintenance," the elevator announces in a cheery tone. Gale and I step out of the elevator and absorb the sickening silence. The doors of the elevator close behind us and the elevator arises up to the surface, leaving us here. Nothing is moving. The glass just sits where it is, polished and clean. We hear nothing and see nothing but what is already built in on the level. The only sound is the fast beating of our hearts and the deep breathing of our lungs. The level is cold and a chill runs down my spine.
"Leanore?" I whisper quietly as Gale and I walk down the platform that leads us by the locked rooms. He opens the glass door and leaves fingerprints on it. My heart begins pounding. "Gale," I say, turning to him, my eyes wide.
"What?" he says, holding the door open for me to step through.
"Look." I point to his fingerprints on the door.
He realizes seconds later what I mean. "There aren't any others," he says, his jaw dropping.
"And I doubt the cleaning man has had a chance to clean this door since the hovercraft landed…" I say. Panic sets in. I run through the door and Gale follows me. Nervously, I bang on every door. Door 1: silence. Door 2: silence. Door 3: silence.
"Dear God, where is my daughter?!" I scream, pounding on Door 4.
All of sudden, I hear a faint murmur inside the locked room.
"Revelyn?" I call out inside.
Another sound, more desperate than the first.
"Leanore? Are you in there?"
I hear another noise.
"Gale, we need to open this door!" I call to him behind my shoulder.
"Katniss, I don't know if you can do that. I thought they locked from the inside," he replies.
"No. Come on. There's got to be a way. Maybe there's some sort of switch that deactivates the rooms and unlocks them, otherwise a helpless person stuck on the inside could never get out," I say frantically.
"Ok," he says. He turns around and searches for something on the walls. Then suddenly he stops. "Katniss," he says, "I think I found something."
I run over to him. He is in the center of this circle of locked rooms. There is a control panel and a chair there. "What is it?" I ask, coming up behind him.
He is sitting at the chair and looking at the buttons. "Well, I think that this controls the rooms. Look, there are twenty-four of them and…"
"Oh shut up! Just press number four!" I yell.
"Jeez, no reason to get angry," he replies. "I think that this button will reset the fourth room, but I can't guarantee anything. You don't know what it will do." He pauses. "It seems to easy!"
"Do we really have a choice?" I meet his eyes.
"I guess not," he answers.
I look from him to the button and back to him again. Without any build-up, I slap the button marked with the number four. All of a sudden, I hear the release of a door and I run over to it. No one comes out, so I go inside.
I'm shocked to find Finnick on the ground, tied up and gagged. Immediately, I drop down and untie the gag from around his mouth. I work it loose with my fingers and pull it off. Finnick breathes in deeply, choking a little on something stuck in his throat. He swallows deeply and pants.
Gale comes running in and faces Finnick. "What happened?" he exclaims.
I take a few steps back from Finnick to give him room to breathe. He inhales and exhales for a minute or so and then finally says, "They got in."
"Who is 'they?'" I shoot back as soon as he gets those three words out.
"The Capitol people. I don't know how." Finnick pauses. "Leanore and I got off the elevator with Revelyn and they came up from behind us. They hit me over the head and knocked me to the ground. Then they tied me up and shut me in this room." He looks over to Gale and adds, "Don't step inside. You never know when the doors can close again. In fact, Katniss, please don't stay in here. I can get up by myself."
I step out of the room and stand up next to Gale. "What happened to Leanore and Revelyn?" I ask.
"I'm not sure," Finnick answers, touching a nasty bruise on his forehead. He gets up on one knee and tries to stand up. "The last I saw was the men ushering Leanore away with Revelyn. The baby was screaming. Completely terrified!"
I feel my heart jump around in my body. It's like a motherly instinct is kicking in for the first time. I can't say I like the fact that it is telling me to run away from this place and find Revelyn, no matter what the cost or dangers. I wonder if my mother ever felt like this before.
A memory comes back to me from my youth. I am in the Meadow and my mother pulling my hand. I'm wearing an orange dress that goes down to my knees. I could swear I've seen my sister wear this exact dress. My guess is that I can't be older than six. I let go of my mother's grip and begin to skip through the fields, the grass tickling my legs with every step, brushing against the fine hairs. I'm laughing because I feel like the grass blades are individual people, reaching out to touch me, to tickle me the way my father used to do.
Then I see a dark figure ahead. My skipping stops. I see it looming. I'm not sure what it is, only that my instinct is telling me I need to run, run far away. I'm about to whimper when I turn. My mother is there. She wraps her arms around me and picks me up. She carries me back to the house at an even pace. My gray eyes begin to well with tears.
We make it back to the house and she sets me down on the floor. I feel my face flush red and the tears make my face wet. I bite my finger and my mother looks at me. She crouches down to my eye level and says, "Don't cry, Kat. It's ok now. Mommy's going to take care of you." She wraps her arms around me and the crying ceases.
How I remember this, I'm not sure. I don't even know if this memory is real or not. I don't know why it's coming back to me now at this crucial moment. But, real or not real, planned or random, this memory has taught me one thing: what's most important. I need to find Revelyn.
"Gale," I say, turning to him. "We need to go. Now."
"What about Finnick?" he replies.
"I'm sorry, Finnick," I say, looking at him struggle to stand. "I've got to find my daughter."
"Understandable," Finnick replies. "I'll join you if you wish. Just need to stop to get my trident."
"Trident?" Gale says, raising his eyebrows and looking at Finnick.
"Yes," says Finnick, getting to his feet finally. "It's my weapon of choice," he pronounces with a mischievous grin.
I roll my eyes at him and look to Gale. "Alright! Let's go." I run out of the circle of rooms, down the platform and onto the elevator, not bothering to look back and see who has joined me. Seconds later, though, I find myself in the elevator with Finnick and Gale.
"Going up, eh?" Finnick says, looking at the illuminated arrow pointed upwards.
"Not necessarily. Where should we go?" Gale asks.
I put my hand to my face and look over the names. Where would the Capitol be hiding my daughter?
Finnick presses the button for Level Nine. He ponders over Gale's question for a couple seconds then smiles. "I know where they are," he announces.
"Oh?" I say. "Where?"
The elevator doors close and we shoot up seven levels. The elevator dings, announces the level and Finnick hops out. "Stay here! I'll be right back." He runs around the corner, disappears for a few seconds, and then comes back, carrying a magnificent trident. I'd hate to be Finnick's enemy. His face is positively glowing with the excitement of his weapon. I've never seen anyone react to a weapon in such a way.
"Ok. Where are they?" Gale asks impatiently has Finnick closes the door behind him.
"Where else would they be?" Finnick grins from ear to ear. "Level One: Control Center. Powerhouse of the underground District. Controls everything that occurs below and above the surface," Finnick says glancing up. "Now come on! We've got to hurry." He presses the button for Level One and we fall down into the dark abyss of District 13.