The day after the meeting with Mercury Aerolous is a Saturday. I don't have much to do in weekends so I sleep in. Well, actually lie on the bed pretending to sleep. I hear Marlin's mattress creak and a quiet hum of the shower.
I smile. Good boy. He actually got up without me.
The shower stops and the smell of soap drifts to the room. I peek out of my blanket and see that he is already dressed in his usual grey shirts, but he grabs a gardener hat and put that on.
Where did he get that?
"Marlin, where are you going?" I ask.
He stops in surprise. "I though you were still asleep."
I throw off my covers and look straight into Marlin's eyes. "I wasn't. Where are you going?" I repeat.
"To Flyer's," he says. He wears a look of guilt.
"Really? Not another prank?"
"No, I'm pretty sure not."
"Where'd you get the hat?"
"The Greenhouse Unit."
"Borrowed or stolen?"
"I-I-I-" he stammers.
I smirk. "Stolen, then. Give it to me."
Marlin tried to protest. I stand and grab the hat. His face morphs into a pout. I smile, hoping it didn't look sympathetic. "You're dismissed."
He sticks out his tongue and left the compartment. I hide the hat under my mattress and resolve to take it to the Gardeners tommorrow. Just then, I hear erratic knocking on my door.
What now?
I drag myself to my feet and open the door. Zee burst in, practiacally screaming.
"They've bombed Twelve! ROOBA! They've friggin bombed my hometown!"
I'm knocked on to the floor and land painfully on my butt.
"Who?" I ask.
"The Capitol! Only around four hundred survived! DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS?"
"Um-"
"The Capitol has declared war on the Rebels! Us!" she says, not letting me talk.
I'm shocked. The rumours are true. The reasons why Coin set up more war-related classes. Kids fifteen and older go to the army. I'm fifteen.
"How do you know?" I ask.
"A horde of District Twelve survivors were just granted safe passage. Come on! A group's taking a tour! Let's go see."
I can tell she's desperate and a little dreading it. She wants to see if the people she knew made it out in time. I take off my pajamas and quickly put on my clothes. I run out and follow Zee through the winding hallways of District Thirteen.
We turn on a corner and is faced with a group of people who look exactly like Zee. They have dark hair, grey eyes and olive skin. I see Zee searching each face to see if anyone looks familiar.
They don't.
Zee chocked on a tiny sob. Zee never cries. She doesn't sniff. She doesn't whimper. She sure as heck doesn't sob.
She gets over it quickly. She puts on a smile and waves at the crowd, as though congratulating them for their escape. The District 12 refugees are unbelivably thin, their eyes wide with fear. Their clothes and faces are ripped and covered with soot. Most childern are clutching their mothers. I can see only two blonde haired people. One a kid and one her mother. They look familiar. I realize that they are the Everdeens. Holding the girl's other hand is a tall handsome boy. He looked tired and pained, his fingers scarred and bloody. I know him from the Hunger Games videos. He's Gale Hawthorne. Katniss Everdeen's cousin.
They must be on their way to one of the hospital units. I'm surprised to see a number of famous people. What if this group was all that survived?
I'd rather not think of that. Zee and I share a few words of comfort to several people and walk away to the canteen. Zee is silent. She had been brought up in District 12 as an orphan. When she was young, her brother had been caught hunting in the forest and her dad died in a mining accident. Her mom disappeared for unknown reasons, though Zee had hinted that it was maybe because she hated her. She ran away when her friend got reaped. Cora something or the other. She didn't make it. Zee's a lonely person, but a brilliant one at that. I am happy to be her friend. Her time in District 12 has been a tragic one, though I'm not sure she likes District 13. A bit like me but for other reasons.
We grab our trays and sit in our assigned table. Marlin, Flyer and her family are already there. We strike up an idle conversation about the District 12 refugees. We finish early and my stomach is still growling. We get up to put our trays away.
I see Horus standing around the trash can. He keeps shifting his weight from each foot and occasionally runs a hand through his hair. He looks agitated.
"Hey, Horus. What's up? You look a bit pale," I joke.
He turns to me and says omniously, "I met Mercury Aerolous."
My eyes widen. "What did he tell you?"
"He told me that he told me the same things he told you."
I have to ask him to repeat the sentence again. He does and Zee is looking at us with confusion written all over her face.
"Dude, what is he talking about?"
I weigh out the consequences of telling her ter truth versus lying. Lying would be very bad. Truth... what could go wrong?
"Remember when I said that I wanted to go back to class yesterday? To get my homework?" I ask.
"Yeah."
"Well, some crazy dude assaulted me. Called himself Mercury Aerolous. Told me some stuff about-"
Horus interupts me. "There he is!" He's pointing at a door which says, "Employees only". Sure enough, I see Mercury smiling at us. He had bleached his hair so it is blonde, is using green eye contacts and traded his trench coat for a cook uniform. He even found a way to somehow get a schedule printed in his arm. All these changes to his appearance and I can still tell that he is Mercury because of his toothy grin that gives him a boyish quality.
"Who are you?" Zee says.
Mercury's eyes dart around, as if he didn't want to get caught talking to us.
"Your friends know. I'm Mercury, but today, I'm officially Ferran Baxter."
"What?" I ask. "What is that supposed to mean?"
He doesn't answer but disappears into the kitchen, with a little flick of his hand. He wants us to follow him? Again? Does he think I'd fall for that trick again? I start to walk away from this ridiculous charade but Zee actually steps in the door.
"Zee, you honestly want to follow this spaz?" I say.
"Well, yeah. He looks kinda interesting, you know?"
No, I don't know. He's a guy who changes his identity every other day, sometimes dresses up like an old man and claims he comes from a far away country. He's not interesting.
Unfortunately, Horus thinks so too and steps into the kitchen. I give in and follow them. At least something interesting and worth laughing at will come.
'Ferran Baxter' had seated himself in a kitchen counter. I have only had a glimpse of the kitchen but when I am actually in it, I see that there's a labyrinth of stoves and ovens and countless of cooks. This is where all the food in District 13 is made. I hope the angry cook yesterday isn't here. It would be bad. Very bad.
"Hey. What's up, Miss?" Mercury says to Zee. "I haven't introduced myself properly. I am Mercury Aerolous and I come from New Brooklyn."
Wow. That was straightforward.
I look at Zee to see her expression. She was calm.
"Yeah, and I'm the president of District 13."
Okay she isn't.
"Hey Horse," Mercury says to Horus.
"It's Horus."
"Of course. Thought about what I said, Horse?" Mercury says with a grin.
Horus nods and Mercury's eyes lit up. "And?"
Horus opens his mouth to say something but I interrupt. "Okay, Aerolous. I'm sick of all this."
"Of all what?" He sure knows how to get into people's skin.
"Of all this," I wave my arms wildly, searching for the right words. "Secresy, hiding and nonsense."
"What nonsense? All I say is true," Mercury says. "Do I look like a liar?"
"Well, you dress up as different people everyday and change your identity all the time. Frankly, yes. You do look like a liar."
Mercury just laughs, which gives me another reason for wishing to be able to slit his throat.
"I have reasons for picking you four. Zee Kavish, Rooba Coin, Marlin Coin and Horse," Mercury says. Horus looks feral but doesn't interrupt. "You're all unhappy. Rooba, your brother and you have a terrible mother. Horse, I know your story. I also know your future." Horus flinches and I am instantly curious. I open my mouth to try and pry him but decide against it. "Zee. I'm sorry about your family." He looks genuinely sad for her. Zee drops her gaze.
"I'm sorry, what?" Horus says. "Pick us for what?"
"For the Evacuation," Mercury says, as though it cleared everything up..
"And what, exactly, is the Evacuation?" Horus asks.
"It's a kind of initiation New Brooklyners can take part in when they reach the age of sixteen. They get sent to District 13 and, you know, evacuate people. At least four of them to be exact. Four people that can be easily convinced that New Brooklyn is real. So naturally, I chose you guys."
I look at the others to see if they were laughing but Zee actually has a thoughtful expression and Horus has the exact same look.
"What's New Brooklyn like?" Zee asks.
Mercury smiles, happy to have found a break-through. "Well, there's nothing special about it, only that the people have freedom. The Evacuation? Totally optional. Everyone can come and go as they please. So, technically, it's not bloody Panem."
Horus snickers, but instead of a mocking tone, he actually sounds wistful. "Sound nice."
"Oh, it is! Ancient people used to build tall buildings and huge bridges, back when they haven't ran out of gas and haven't found Tarmo. Dead York, right beside New Brooklyn is flooded from the ancient disasters, but you can still see the billions of buildings coming out of the water. Oh and get this. There's sunlight." He chuckles at his own joke.
I must admit, that sounds pretty neat. Floating buildings and bridges? Cool. We are all silent for a while.
"So, why did you sign up for the Evacuation?" Zee asks.
Mercury frowns. "That's a really good question." He shrugs. "Maybe I just want an adventure? I don't know what's going on in this brain of mine." He laughs nervously.
Suddenly, Marlin comes in hollering, "Hey, Roo! Can I..." He stops when he catches a glimpse of Mercury. "Hey! Who's that?"
Way to go, Chamberlain. He's probably going to start and corrupt Marlin brain with endless fantasies. I don't want him to get sucked into this horribly appealing fantasy. The kid's easily swayed. He'll probably pack his bags the first time Mercury opens his mouth.
"He's..." I trail off. I wasn't sure what to call him. Friend? Enemy? Stalker?
"I can introduce myself," Mercury says. "I'm Mercury Aerolous, loyal citizen of New Brooklyn and Evacuator."
There he goes again. My predictions comes true as Marlin says, "Sweet. Where is it?"
"Up North, next to Dead York, edge of the Atlantic-"
"Rubbish. Absolute rubbish," I walk away and Marlin, bless him, follows me.
We go back to our compartment in time for Reflection.
Usually we have nothing to talk about. I mean, come on, one specific hour for socializing? Huh. Overly militaristic people.
Today was different. Marlin starts prattling away about Mercury. How did I find him? Who was he? Have I been to New Brooklyn? Good grief, he's like a radio with an invisible pause button.
"Look, Marlin. I have absolutely no idea who the guy is. He just locked me into a closet and tried to tell me about New Brooklyn." I make quotations over the words 'New Brooklyn.'
"Alright," he says a bit suspiciously.
We talk a bit about our day which isn't very interesting and by the time Reflection is over, it is bedtime. I crawl into the bed and stare to the wall, wondering what would happen if I said yes to Mercury.
That night I dreamed of a place where buildings came about of the sea.
Author's Note:
Short, I know. I'll make it up.
There shall be romance! At this early stage, you shouldn't be able to figure out which people I'm going to make fall in love with each other. My friend made me do it, so I might not be Stephanie Meyer, but I'm trying my hand in this.
Next, why have you people not reviewed my last chapter? Goodness, not a single review! Am I losing my touch? Could the great Skyclaw lose her touch? No! Please prevent this by reviewing.