Chapter 2: Triumph of the Mentors
When we're not exercising, we're receiving help from Effie Trinket. She sends a package in the mail containing videotapes of most of the past Hunger Games. She's also included a list of the living Victors, divided into gender columns. ("Good old Effie!" Peeta chuckles when he sees the T-charts). I notice right away that some districts will have Reapings worse than ours. Also included in Effie's care package is an old newspaper clipping - a poll asking the Capitol citizens who will be the Victor of the Quell. Peeta, myself and Haymitch consistently rank among the favorites. Cassiope is near the middle of the pack, which I feel is a little discriminatory, due to age.
"Where should we start?" Peeta asks as he digs through the tapes.
"Why don't we start at #1?" I suggest.
"We don't have #1," Peeta explains to me. "The earliest I can find is #... 11?" He pulls out one tape and reads the scrawl along the side. "Mags Flanagan-Cohen, District 4."
I raise an eyebrow at the clearly hyphenated name, even if I can't see the type. "She was married?"
"And one of the few Victors who was," Cassiope tells us. "Good friend of mine. Wonderful old lady."
Peeta and I give her a look. How could anyone who killed in an entire arena be considered a 'wonderful old lady'? I suppose Cassiope could, but that's because we're Twelve and we're a little biased.
"Hey, Cass! I found yours!" Peeta triumphantly pulls another tape from the box. The Number of the Games is 16. The Origin of the Victor is District 12. And the Name of the Victor is Cassiope Fletch.
But when I look at my mentor, I can see she has gone pale with shock. Instantly, I want to shove the tape back in the box and smack Peeta for being so insensitive. I feel like if we did watch it, it would be a huge invasion of Cassiope's privacy. We'll have to watch Haymitch's Games, as it is a Quell and we might pick up something valuable about how they work. But all the same, I try to prolong this inevitability as I rifle through the box. 25...25...
"Is Indigo Weaver's Quell in here?"
"No," Cassiope says quietly. "He's been dead for years, died young. And Effie only sent me tapes of Victors we might have to face."
So Haymitch's Quell is the only Quell we have. Not only does that put us at a disadvantage, but the other districts as well. And it also means that, no matter whether he mentors or is Reaped, the media will pay more attention to Haymitch than usual. Attention that he doesn't want. But I go through the box for 50 anyway. When I find it, I am about to shove 16 back into the box when I hear Cassiope say quietly:
"You can watch mine, dears. It's a good place to start."
"Are you sure?" I demand.
"It was almost 60 years ago, Katniss. Past is in the past."
I already know that's a lie. It hasn't even been a full twelve months for me and Peeta, and the past is most definitely not in the past. I still have nightmares every night, and only Peeta's arms have been able to calm me down...
Yet I only shrug. "All right." The four of us gather on the couch, Peeta pops the tape in, and leaning my head on his shoulder, I lose myself in the 16th Annual Hunger Games.
The Reaping is shown first. I can tell right away that a 16-year-old Cassiope is stunningly beautiful; if she hadn't been thrown to the malice of the arena, she could have had her pick of the District for a husband, if that's what she'd wanted. When her name is called, it is actually the girl beside her who bursts into tears and pulls Cassiope in for a hug. Beside me on the couch, Haymitch watches with great interest. One word graces his lips: "Mom..."
I stare. "That's your mother?!"
"Perri. We were best friends. I went to her Toasting many years later. Markus Abernathy was a good man. A tanner by trade," Cassiope explains.
I wonder if that's how Haymitch got so good at handling knives.
"But after she suffered the miscarriage... things were never the same between us."
Haymitch whirls to her. "My mother had a miscarriage?"
"Before you were born. She didn't tell you?"
"N...no," Haymitch stammers, and it's probably the first time I've ever seen the drunk at a loss for words.
At the Chariot Parade, Cassiope is dressed in some ridiculous yellow frock. The President - not Snow, I think his last name is Cobb - makes his speech, and the tributes are whisked into the training center.
Cassiope has to wear the same yellow dress for her interview with a very young Caesar Flickerman. Jesus, how old is he? And what kind of make-up does he use to hide his age? We hear one or two questions from Cassiope, since she is going to be the Victor.
Then we're into the arena: a frozen tundra. It opens on a frozen lake with high ice walls. Cassiope explains to us that in those days, the arenas were actually walled off with tangible materials, not nearly invisible forcefields, to prevent tributes from trying to run away. Forcefields came into being once the Capitol's technology was advanced enough.
But Cassiope doesn't run away. She doesn't escape, but she doesn't try to get a weapon. The rest of the Bloodbath is predictably awful.
And Cassiope is still running several days later, through the snow. Nine tributes are left; they've largely been dropping at an alarming rate - much faster than in Peeta's and my Games. She has burrowed herself into a tree, a lot like I would have, when she encounters a boy running through the frozen underbrush. It is her district partner, Erik. He is only 13, and the butcher's son, for he holds a bloody meat cleaver, and for a moment I wonder just who he managed to attack or kill to get it dripping so.
Only now, he looks terrified, and seeing Cassiope, begs her for help. She shouldn't be doing anything of the sort this late, but she does.
And it nearly costs her. A pair of Careers - the boy from 1, Baize, and the girl from 2, Ursa, come across them. I don't know what Erik did to make them so angry, but it must have been something, for Ursa jumps on him while Baize holds Cassiope down. He's a typical Career, largely a brute and not very smart. And always thinking with his dick rather than his head. He threatens to rape Cassiope, now matter how much she kicks and screams and tries to fight him off. But she has to watch as Ursa stabs Erik to death.
Unfortunately, this action causes something to snap in Cassiope. In what must be a total accident, she pushes Baize so hard that he falls over... right into the tree she just climbed down from. Ursa, still winded from killing Erik, is not ready for the little girl from Twelve lunging at her in a blind rage. Cassiope manages to knife the girl with Ursa's own weapon, and the girl collapses to the ground, lifeless. At least, Cassiope has a weapon now. More than one weapon. She takes the knife and Erik's meat cleaver, as well as all the backpacks.
One burst of violence, and we've already hurtled down into the Top Six. Erik barely missed the Final Eight, and I have a feeling he probably did it by landing a hit, though not fatal, on Ursa's district partner. That's what got her and Baize so hopping mad. But Cassiope Fletch is still alive with the blood of two Careers on her hands.
She stumbles away with the blood streaking through the snow, crying like a little girl. But even if one of the other tributes comes across it, they daren't follow her.
A few days later, a sponsor sends Cassiope a knife, but it must be more of a reminder and less about praise. There are still six tributes left: The boy from 2, wounded from an attack likely perpetrated by Erik. The girl from 3. The boy from 4. The girl from 8. The boy from 10. And Cassiope. She returns to the Cornucopia, and finishes off the last Career by night. With none of them left living, all the other tributes will return for supplies eventually.
Not expecting an ambush.
She picks them off one by one, killing them almost with something resembling mercy. Why draw out their pain, as she slices the knife across their throats from behind? The girls from 3 and 8 come first, easy pickings. The boy from 10 goes down after that. That leaves the boy from 4 for last, but he too falls.
And, something I only now just realize, Cassiope did all of it with Ursa's knife. It had just been cleaned, somehow.
Cassiope has the crown placed on her head, and the tape ends.
Peeta and I look to her in disbelief. The kindly old woman sitting next to us killed almost one-third of the entire arena field. Seven deaths is a kill count that many Careers would only dream about.
"Well," Cassiope says blandly, as though we had just watched some innocent nature documentary. "Shall we watch the Quell?"
I notice how she says the Quell, and not a Quell. When she really meant Haymitch's Quell. It's the only one we have. I really don't want to, but the men insist, so now I fast-forward across well over three decades to the 50th Annual Hunger Games.
The District 12 Reaping is shown: more awful than usual because I remember how four have to be chosen, not two. One girl, Maysilee Donner, is very beautiful. And when she is Reaped, Peeta quietly points out to me, "I think that's your mother hugging her." And he's right. I didn't know they were friends. My mother has never mentioned a Maysilee Donner.
When Haymitch is called last of all, I can tell right away that he is something of a looker. I have never been too interested in boys, but all the same he would have turned my head.
The Chariot Parade is next. Maysilee, Haymitch and the other two who are really little ones are stuffed into one chariot like sardines in a sardine can. When the camera pans over to the crowd, I spy a much grayer Cassiope with a man and woman whom I don't recognize. Cassiope points them out to me.
"Mags. And Woof. From 8. He won the year after me."
The interviews are next. I don't know why the Training Scores aren't shown, especially for the tribute who will be Victor, but it's probably not important. Haymitch gets a few answers in, since he is going to be the Victor.
The arena is a Meadow paradise, with intoxicating beauty. But Haymitch isn't fooled. He has a backpack and is disappearing into the trees before most tributes have stepped off their pedestals.
18 tributes perish in the Bloodbath that first day. And for the remaining 30, we quickly discover that everything in the arena that doesn't come from the Cornucopia or fall from the heavens is deadly poisonous. Haymitch stubbornly continues to proceed in the same direction, not tempted by any of the wild foods or water, so he misses a good portion of the action. Four tributes are tempted by the poisonous sustenance and die; several days in, the Snow-capped mountain featured in the arena turns into a volcano, murdering another ten tributes including all but five of the Career pack.
Haymitch suddenly encounters three of these Career survivors in the woods. They are all hulking boys who look a lot bigger than him, but that doesn't faze my future mentor. Pulling his trusty knife, he takes out one of them easily - an Asian boy who takes his own sweet time dying, hands at his throat as he chokes on his own blood. The second tussles with Haymitch, and it only takes suspenseful effort on the latter's part - and a well-placed bite - to overcome him.
Then the third slams a branch into Haymitch's face and brings him down into an execution position. The last Career is about to deliver the death blow when he suddenly coughs up blood and drops to the ground.
"Watching this in real time was horrible on the nerves," Cassiope whispers to me. "I was convinced they were gonna kill him. If Maysilee hadn't shown up..."
Maysilee Donner, armed with a blow dart dipped in the arena poisons and the only other Twelve tribute still alive, emerges from the trees. "We'd live longer with two of us."
"Guess you just proved that," Haymitch concedes, and I know from experience just how much it takes for him to concede a point. "Allies?" She nods.
Only thirteen tributes, including Haymitch and Maysilee, now remain. But the District 12 tributes fight better as a team, winning fierce battles and only eating the food from the dead tributes' packs. The promised bounty of sustenance that isn't poisonous is a great motivator, and they advance far pretty quickly, well past the Final Eight. Yet, Haymitch is doggedly pursuing the same direction. And Maysilee notices. When she refuses to go further without an explanation, Haymitch only says, "Because it has to end somewhere, right? The arena can't go on forever."
By now, only five are still alive: the last living Career girl from 1, a boy from 5, a girl from 7, and Haymitch and Maysilee. Watching in real time, Cassiope must have been pretty proud, to get multiple tributes this far. After using a blowtorch to cut through some hedge groves, the District 12 tributes reach a vast expanse. It looks into a canyon. The edge of the arena.
The camera now acts schizophrenic, as if not sure whether to pull away or keep filming. Whatever has been discovered was not meant to be. Indeed, Maysilee shrugs.
"That's all there is, Haymitch. Let's go back."
"No, I'm staying here."
So Maysilee breaks it off: a controversial decision to me. "Fine. There's five of us left. I don't want it to come down to you and me." Actually, I would. Because then Twelve is at least guaranteed a win, no matter which Top Two challenger goes down.
But Haymitch merely says, "All right." And Maysilee leaves him behind.
Haymitch kicks a pebble over the side. But to his surprise, it bounces back. Curious, Haymitch tests his theory by throwing a small boulder over. When it boomerangs into his waiting fist, he begins to laugh.
A laugh only cut off by Maysilee's scream.
At first, I think Haymitch is going to find one of the other tributes. But only pink birds are flying away, having stabbed Maysilee through the neck. He holds her hand as she finally dies. I look to see the older Haymitch beside me appearing very pained.
"Have you ever wondered what would have happened if you'd stayed?"
"A question that still haunts me," he admits. "We could have picked off the rest of the field one by one, gotten a full District 12 Top Two, then battled for the crown."
District partner Top Twos are rare, like Peeta and me, but they've happened before. "And who would have won?"
His answer surprises me. "Probably Maysilee."
Later that same day, the girl from 7 is killed by carnivorous golden squirrels. The boy from 5 is hacked to death by the axe-wielding Career, leaving her and Haymitch - District 1 versus District 12 - to vie for the Crown.
The final battle is awful, but Haymitch gives as good as he gets, taking out the Career's eye.
Then she sends the axe into his chest.
Haymitch makes for his cliff, holding his stomach in. He barely makes it, collapsing so Career's axe sails over the edge of the cliff. With no weapon now, Career girl waits, hoping she can just outlast him. But what she doesn't know, and Haymitch does, is that the axe will return. And it does - right into her temple. Barely alive, Haymitch is proclaimed the Victor. A weakened version of him is given the Crown, and the tape ends.
I glance at the somewhat broken man sitting beside me. The fact that he won is remarkable. That he is from District 12 even more so. He robbed the Careers of a pretty significant win, and they'll be looking for revenge this time around, even if Haymitch isn't Reaped. Of the 8 Careers that year, three died in the volcano, but a District 12 tribute had a hand in murdering four more. I don't know what happened to the other, only that she was one of the few tributes who did not die when Haymitch and Maysilee would hunt them down.
"That stunt you pulled with the force field... you turned the arena itself into a weapon... that's almost as bad as us and the berries!" Peeta laughs.
"Almost, but not quite," Haymitch admits dryly. Then he smirks at us and leaves the room. We spin to Cassiope, eager to hear more.
"His mother Perri visited me in the Justice Building after he was Reaped. It was an awkward conversation because by that time, we were... shall we say, estranged? She asked me to save her son. I did it." She gives something between a nervous smile and a grimace. "It wasn't easy, but I did it. And Maysilee is a sore spot for both of us."
"Why?" Peeta wants to know, but that was probably the wrong thing to ask. Cassiope looks him dead in the eye.
"Haymitch considers what he did to Maysilee a betrayal. And the Merchant class resented us for her loss for many years. We've only just paid back that debt by bringing you home, Peeta." And she leaves us to ponder what she has said.