I'm trying to update a little faster than once a week. I realize this actually makes it harder for some people to keep up and review as much, so I want to really thank those who are still taking the time to review every chapter. You are my motivators.
Enjoy.
Date: Year 16, August, return to Creneis.
"Four won," Cereus grinned, pulling her into a tight hug.
Mags buried herself in his embrace. It was so good to be home.
"You've heard enough from me about Tang –"
"Never mind that: we'll go on the Victory Tour," an enthused Cereus replied. "You'll finally get to meet my parents."
Mags' eyes flew open. It hadn't even crossed her mind. She beamed, giddy at the thought. Peacekeepers were allowed home a week every year, but district borders were closed to everyone else. Maybe she'd also see Valerian again, she owed him more than he knew.
"I'll be looking forward to that. It seems I owe Tang a favor," she said, pushing herself on tiptoes to kiss him.
"Where is the big guy?" Marquise asked as Mags turned to greet her mother and Esperanza.
"Lycorias," she replied. "It's closest to his home and he's got no intention to be part of FLASH anymore." Mags lowered her eyes. "I didn't fight too hard to have him as a neighbor," she admitted.
Galene's victor village had been pillaged and burned to the ground by a mob shortly after the second Games and Orithyia's had been swept away by a tornado four years before. Both had yet to be rebuilt and Mags doubted they would ever be.
"You're afraid he'll harm them?" her mother asked. "Does he still hate his relatives as fiercely as - ?"
Mags' lips twisted. Oh yes. Tang's father had been his hero, the one person who had assured him he was better than all the people who had hated him. Discovering that the man had used him, that he'd based his self-esteem on a lie… Tang was a rotten person, but Mags could understand his fury.
"I told him to give his family a token bit of money," she said, her arms slumping to her sides in defeat, "to break free from his father once and for all and go on with his life."
"That's way too mature and unsatisfying advice," Cereus replied grimly. "He wants them destroyed."
"Yes and now he has the money and the power to," Mags said, a shadow crossing her face. "I have his phone number. I'll have to keep an eye on him."
"There's always a reason to go to Lycorias. Don't worry." Cereus' warm brown eyes turned piercing. "Now tell me everything."
"The fun bits, the horrible ones can wait until the two of you are alone," Marquise intervened.
Mags chuckled. She grasped Cereus' hand, "You should have seen Glynn's wedding," she began. "You'll see it, I have the records, but -"
Date: Year 17, January.
Outrage spiked through Mags. "He's a liar," she exclaimed. "And the peacekeepers patrolling the area are either blind or sell-outs. How could they have reported nothing?"
"Who is?" Cereus said, flanking her with Legend. "Who's the letter from?"
"Ajax. I asked him to investigate since things didn't add up. Tang organized a paid militia to paralyze production in his village. Why? Because then he can make them beg for food," Mags said, appalled. "Except that particular village is the only one with the right waters for some therapeutic algae the Capitol likes. The production of algae last month was zero," Mags ground out. "He isn't just a spiteful bully, he's playing with fire."
An immature vengeful sixteen year old given a huge pile of money and left to his own devices. Mags had been an idiot to think phone calls would allow her to control the situation.
"When are we leaving?" Cereus said, taking the letter from her to read it through.
Sometimes Mags swore he could read her mind.
"Tomorrow, I'll call him as soon as we're in Lycorias but not before."
Date: Year 17, January, the next day.
"You liar," Mags accused, her face tight.
Tang respected strength, she'd give him strength. Leaving the rest of the guard outside, she strode in with Marquise and Cereus.
"You would have stopped me," Tang shot back, crossing his arms across his chest.
No kidding. "You're threatening production," Mags said, wondering how he could feel so untouchable. "Even victors cannot afford to anger the Capitol."
Tang groaned. "Fine, I'll allow them go back to work. That should calm them. Achlys needs to get laid."
Mags winced as she was briefly reminded of Rye. That didn't bode well.
"She and her husband are actually very close," she said mildly.
"Proof that life is bloody unfair," the sixteen year old said in disgust. "Can't you tell someone I don't need peacekeepers around me all the frigging time?"
Mags crossed her arms, annoyed by his tone. "I'm not a wishing well," she said. I'll help you, but only if you control yourself. This has gone on long enough."
The boy was young, he'd suffered from been rejected even if he'd done little not to be, and he'd been through the Games, but Mags' compassion didn't extend so far as to give him the right to ruin other people's lives.
Tang flushed red. "They'd never have treated me like that had they known I'd become powerful. There's been no murder or crimes, Mags," he said defensively. "I give them more food than they usually earn, I just want them to beg. They deserve it!"
Mags schooled her expression. This was going to be a long day.
Date: Year 17, February.
Mags froze when she glimpsed her mother in the kitchen, having tea with the elegant Mr. Medes, papers invading the table but their expressions quite relaxed.
She glared at Cereus when he made a move to greet them. Silently taking the envelope lying on the table, Mags grabbed Cereus' arm and forced him to go upstairs with her, unnoticed, before he even had the chance to take off his coat.
"What did I do?" Her startled boyfriend said.
"Nothing, just..." Mags took a deep breath. She was overreacting. "Nothing, it's nothing, but if it was..."
Cereus eyed her curiously.
Mags sighed. "Mama has been keeping herself isolated from male attention ever since Dad died," she explained. "It has been fifteen years, Cereus. If there's the slightest chance she's opening up again and... It's probably nothing and I'm sure they're talking about work, but..."
"But Caspian's dad's a widower and if we say anything nothing's going to happen, and maybe an honest friendship will be ruined, because Angelites will subconsciously shut down," Cereus finished.
"Read my mind," Mags said embracing him. She hadn't realized just how much her mother's solitude still worried her before now.
The smile Cereus had put back on her face fell when she opened the letter.
Mags,
Teach Tang Netter to read and write. I cannot imagine any other reason he would ignore our warning letter.
Her High Mightiness E. Achlys, President of Panem and Protector of its People.
The Capitol crest seemed to glare right at her.
Mags couldn't believe this.
"Wonderful," she ground out. "The victory tour's barely over and he's already made her mad."
And what letter? What had he done now? Mags was going to kill him.
Cereus wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "Don't kill him, Mags."
Mags scowled at her annoyingly sharp boyfriend. "I'm a victor, I do what I want," she replied snappishly. "The moron."
Her scowl fell slightly when Cereus forced her chin up and kissed her. "Don't give yourself an ulcer. I'll pack our bags for Lycorias."
Yippee.
Date: Year 17, February, Lycorias.
Mags started when she heard feminine laughter.
"Nautia's watching TV," Tang said, lightening at the sound. "She'd never be with me if I didn't have the house and everything," he said with a rueful grin, "but the happiness is just as real."
"They're too stupid to see the golden heart you've got beneath that armor," a striking brown-haired girl in a pretty -and definitely shipped over with Tang's new money- dress said as she came to join them. "I'm glad I got to you first."
"That's my babe," Tang said, snaking his arm around the girl's waist and planting a kiss on her full lips. "She's been living here two weeks."
He'd not even smiled like that when Mags had said was volunteer material.
Mags smiled back. Even had money been that girl's greatest motivator, if someone could bring Tang sanity and curb his anger, then Mags would love her too.
Unfortunately, she had bad news. "Tang, I got a letter from the President," she said sternly. "make an effort and keep her happy."
Anger flashed on Tang's face, but the fearful look on his girlfriend's face seem to wash it away. "Can you help me with the writing?" He said, clearly unhappy but miraculously cooperating. "I want my father squatting on the ships with the lowest of the low. I need that militia. I swear I'll cut their pay if they cause problems again."
Mags clenched her teeth. Circe, he was obsessed. "Can't you work that out with the peacekeepers there and disband the militia?" She said patiently.
She'd learned the hard way when he'd come to FLASH that appealing to his morality when his father was concerned was useless.
Tang's nose wrinkled at the suggestion. Then he laughed. "Ha, that'll serve him right. Yeah, I'll do that, baby," he told Nautia with a grin. He reddened when he saw Mags' disapproving expression. "He treated me like less than human. I'm just making him do what poorer folk have been doing for generations. I'm being generous here," he growled, his voice rising.
"I know, I'm glad you'll never lower yourself to his level. You're the better man, Tang." Mags said, forcing her voice to be calm. Patience, she would need a lot of patience. She couldn't rely on second hand information on what was happening in Tang's village anymore. Tang's father had brought it upon him and indeed Tang's humiliating punishment wouldn't kill him, but she wouldn't let that vengeful boy make the other two hundred inhabitants his slaves.
Cereus squeezed her hand.
"Is there a way to address peacekeepers to get them to do that, Sir?" Tang asked Cereus with a sort of stilted politeness that revealed he still wasn't sure how to treat the peacekeeper.
"While we're here, I can take care of it," Cereus assured him.
Mags flashed him a small smile. At least that would be done well.
"I'll want to see," Tang demanded. "I'll want to be sure they're making him work. I'll go there," the teenager vowed, his eyes alight with hate. He then sighed. "I'd better get my brother here too. He's little, it's kinda unfair to blame him too. Father will turn him against me, better get him out of there fast."
Slightly stunned, Mags latched onto the occasion to build on that morsel of family love. "Your other siblings, your mother?" She tentatively asked.
Maybe, ever so slowly, they'd turn Tang into a decent human being.
"They've got a life. I don't want to see them again," Tang said with a scowl. "My mother chose her side long ago. Whatever I do to him will be enough to punish her."
Mags nodded, but she hadn't forgotten why she had come. "Tang, were you sent a warning letter just because of the militia?"
The victor's mutinous expression said a lot.
"I punched a peacekeeper," he admitted, his lips twisting into a snarl as he balled his fists. "He mouthed off and wouldn't leave me alone. He deserved it."
"I'll drop a word to the Lieutenant," Cereus said while Mags gaped in dismay.
Tang Netter was suicidal.
Date: Year 17, May.
Mags stared.
Dr. Alexanders had told her it was highly unlikely for another year but the tests didn't lie. Not twice in a row.
"I'm pregnant," she whispered, awe and panic tingeing her words. Pregnant, how about that?
Cereus' lips parted in shock when she told him. "How?" he mouthed.
Mags raised her eyebrows and gave him a half-amused glare. "When a man and a woman love each other very much…"
Cereus glared right back, a flush creeping on his cheeks. "I know that." He cleared his throat. "Err, okay, I'd love having a kid, your kid especially, but your health –," Cereus swallowed, "of course it's your choice, but if you're worried about me, I-"
Mags rolled her eyes, a smile now on her lips, a part of her melted every time Cereus was flustered and started rambling. Of course she would keep the child, no matter her earlier hesitation. She was twenty six, as safe as she could be, in a wonderful relationship and able to offer any child the best of District Four. The problem lay in the medicine she took.
"Oh, oh." Cereus cleared his throat and brushed down his shirt solemnly. He fell on one knee next to Mags. "Mags Abalone, will you marry me?"
Mags stared in wide-eyed shock before bursting into gales of irrepressible laughter. He thought she was angry at him because he'd gotten her pregnant out of wedlock? Oh that was priceless. She managed to control herself enough to see Cereus' stricken expression.
"Yes, I'll marry you," she gasped between chuckles, "but that's not the point."
Cereus grinned like a boy, a happy flush blooming on his cheeks, "then what is it, my beautiful future wife?"
"My meds, they're not quite compatible with a baby yet," Mags said, her lips thinning into a tight line. There was no time to waste. "I have to go to the Capitol to see what we can do."
"I'll propose in a better way soon, I should have asked you last year anyway," Cereus said with an apologetic grin.
Mags planted a soft kiss on his lips. "Yes, you should have."
But she could have asked too, after all, instead of being afraid to hope things could last forever.
Date: Year 17, June. Seven weeks along.
Mags was gripping the tree trunk so hard her hands screamed in protest.
She had needed to get out of the house, to get some air.
How could she have?
How could she have though to bring a child into this world when her own life hung to a thread.
"Mags, what's wrong?"
"I'm so selfish. I wanted to pretend we were and could have a family, but I could never protect –"
So many things to do, so many dangers. She couldn't even bear to finish the sentence.
Cereus grasped her shoulders. "Love, Esperanza would never have been born had your parents been too scared to give it a chance."
"I think she was just as much an accident as this future bundle of joy will be," Mags replied tartly. She grasped Cereus' arms, her green eyes wide in fear."Will we send him or her to school knowing anyone could take him hostage? What will she think when she'll be old enough to understand what the Games mean and what I had to do to win?" Her breath hitched. "We'll have to lie for years to our own child to protect him and us, and what if he doesn't share our opinions, what if we have to cut him out from our family for the rebellion? What if she falls sick when a fight erupts? Will I have to choose between my family and my country?"
"I'm not planning on dying anytime soon, Precioza," her mother intervened in light tones. "I'm very competent at staying at home with a child when the rest of the family is out fighting a war."
Mags found herself burst into tears at the reply. She wiped her eyes, unable to believe she was being so emotional.
"Look at me, I'm useless like this," she said. She was so tired all the time. "I can't be both a mum and a fighter."
He mother looked quite prepared to spank her, but Mags wasn't Angelites Abalone. She couldn't make the same sacrifices. "I don't want the rebellion so bad that I'd accept to see you go alone," she said, clutching Cereus' hand.
And maybe die. Cereus couldn't die.
"Love, the rebellion isn't going to happen before the kid's eighteen at least," Cereus said. "Glynn's taking her own good time with the avoxes."
Mags' breath hitched again, except her sobs were mingled with laughter. "True," she said, torn between relief and exhaustion at the thought. "I'm a right mess."
"Hormones, you're still the most lovable woman I know," Cereus said softly, poking her barely swollen stomach.
Mags scowled at it. How could something so tiny affect her like this?
"You think Glynn could find me a hormone inhibitor?" She said, only half joking. She couldn't risk anyone but family to see her like this.
"Don't you dare," her mother said, her smile gone and her dark eyes suddenly blazing.
Mags cringed at seeing such her anger directed at her.
"You'll deal with a few weeks of mood swings like every other woman in Panem without resorting to their dehumanizing filth," Angelites ordered. "You are not diminished by a slight loss of self-control."
Mags swallowed, feeling like a four year old.
Circe, she was crying again.
Date: Year 17, July.
"When will I be allowed to notice your girlfriend hides whenever I appear?" Mags said with a smile.
"She's shy and very sensitive. Half the reason I'm dating her," Marlin said with a happy smile. "If it gets really serious, you'll meet her anyway."
"I do hope so. Now why did Marquise tell me I had to speak to you? What have you two been plotting, Marlin?"
"She just feels you haven't been listening to her enough." Marlin nervously crossed his arms. "Mags, Tang's dangerous, don't let him drag you down with him."
Mags rolled her eyes. "He's not dangerous, he's just a little vindictive. He's growing more mature and careful, Nautia's done him a lot of good."
She was amazed actually. Not only had Tang assured her it was all going smoothly, but Ajax, who seemed bent on becoming Sergeant-Major in Lycorias before he turned thirty-five, had confirmed.
"I hate to say this," Marlin said. "but Narissa was 'just a little greedy' too."
Mags bristled, her eyes narrowing in hurt. Marlin was the last person she'd have expected to pull such a low blow. "And in the end, she did the right thing."
Marlin pulled a face. "Please tell me your belief that people change isn't based on your experience with Narissa," he begged.
"Well it was a striking example," Mags said, now defensive. Why did Marlin look so distressed by the idea?
Marlin's face darkened. He locked gaze with her, his eyes more serious and somber than she had ever seen. "Mags, she never committed suicide."
Mags stopped in her tracks. "What?"
They'd found Narissa at the market, she'd put an end to her days before she could be questioned for diverting funds. How -
"I left the room, remember," Marlin said, his voice trembling slightly. "I left because you were going through so much and doing so much already that I refused to let Kyle's fate be your responsibility. I went to see Marquise, and then I took Kyle, the twins and Irvette apart."
"For what?" Mags said, the images of that dreadful day mixing in her mind. "Marquise -"
"There had to be an execution, the crime was too big. With Narissa dead, the case was closed and everyone else lived. Alaric ki -, "Marlin stuttered, he shut his eyes briefly but the damage was done. "Marquise and him framed it as a suicide." Marlin swallowed, too guilty to meet her gaze. "Nobody checked."
"No, I didn't," Mags agreed after a stunned pause, "because I trusted the two of you."
Marlin and Marquise… She couldn't believe it.
"You loved Kyle. You killed to save many times, Mags, but with Kyle involved, it could have broken you," Marlin said, his voice rising. "Remember how you were the month after he was gone? Blaming yourself, stopping your meds? I couldn't let you be responsible for that!"
Mags shrugged his hand off her shoulder. They'd -. It wouldn't sink in.
"Of all the people I know," she whispered, "I never expected you to kill for what you believed was my sake, Marlin."
Her world was crumbling. Marlin, her last childhood friend, the innocent one. His attitude after Kyle's departure made so much more sense now. Marlin, who she'd dragged into this madness.
How long had he lived with that secret?
"Why didn't you tell me the truth earlier?" She exclaimed. "Look at me," she said. Marlin, of all people. "Did you just have Marquise to talk to?"
"Glynn knows. No one else, aside maybe Legend or Falx."
A spike of anger shot through Mags. Glynn, of course Glynn knew. Mixed feeling left a bitter taste in her mouth. They had protected her and she was touched that they had, for even years later, she remembered the relief she had felt at Narissa's death.
They had lied to her.
Yet she kept more secrets from Marlin than he ever would from her.
They had killed a woman and lied to her.
Mags swallowed, her hand instinctively dropping to her stomach. "I'll probably come back to hug you after I've discussed this with Mama and Cereus," she said, her throat constricting.
Date: Year 17, Late July. 11 weeks along.
"But why?" Mags said, perilously close to whining. It was so confusing already, not knowing what pronouns to use all the time.
"Because you allow yourself few enough surprises in life that I think we should leave the gender of the baby be one. It's not like you'll prepare any differently for a boy or a girl."
"But –" Mags glowered but Cereus just smiled at her. "Fine," she said, "but you give me a first pick of names, and I'm not naming them after dead friends or family members unless it's three generations back," she warned.
She wasn't having any Constantines, Fifes or Jaspers. The child didn't need additional issues.
"You don't know what you'll name your kids?" Cereus' smile grew teasing. "What kind of girl are you?" he said, wrapping his arms around her waist.
"You think I had time to think about that? Mind you, Esperanza probably already knows her grandchildren's names. She might lend you a couple," Mags said wryly.
Year 17: August, Reaping Day.
"I refuse volunteers."
What!
"What's that supposed to mean, Genna?" Tang bellowed.
Mags, who'd started in fear at the shout, turned to stare at him. They knew each other?
"I'm going in the Hunger Games," the young woman repeated, her lips trembling. "You can't prevent me from doing that."
Mags narrowed her eyes when she saw Tang roughly grab the girl's arm. Was he the reason she was volunteering? Had he done something to her, enough to make her volunteer?
She moved in to intervene.
"How can you do that to Nautia, you bitch?" Tang hissed. "Get off the damn stage."
The terrible suspicion fled as quickly as it had come. Tang's astonishment seemed genuine and Mags trusted him to do his best by Nautia. It was probably the only thing she trusted him with.
"The rules state -" Lucian began with a glower.
"Fuck the rules, there's a volunteer itching to get on," Tang shouted, gesturing at the outraged eighteen-year-old blocked by peacekeepers.
"Tang, enough." Mags said, grabbing his shirt and yanking him away from Lucian.
He was quite capable of punching the escort for all Panem to see.
The young man wiped his brow, anguish clear in his eyes. "I have to bring her back," he moaned.
"Who is she?" Mags said, stealing another glance at the ashen black-haired girl.
"Nautia's best friend and trust me, my kid brother would have a bigger chance." Tang cursed again. "She's gone mental."
Date: Year 17, August, Train Rides.
"What about him? Find his weakness," Tang urged.
He'd been going over the other districts' reapings with Genna for hours, cramming strategies into the upset girl's mind as if it would save her life.
Mags had almost finished the sugar cube box and night had yet to fall. She met Dylan's eyes and saw the same resignation in the volunteer's eyes. She repressed a sigh. At least Dylan wasn't making a fuss.
"Come on, Genna, it's obvious that boy can't run. He was winded when he got on stage. No how do you get him?" Tang replied, almost shouting at the girl.
He was oblivious to Genna's wince at the thought of killing the poor boy from Six.
"Good luck with that," Lucian snidely said.
Mags shot to her feet when Tang's chair cluttered to the ground.
The younger victor had Lucian by the collar and shoved him against the train wall.
"You think you're better than me?" He screamed.
"You wouldn't dare," Lucian said, his voice coming out as a strangled yelp.
"What do I risk when medicine gets you all fixed up in a whiff? The pain you'll feel right now, though, will be very very real."
"Don't punch him," Mags snapped.
Tang tensed further. "Why?"
Because such violence was wrong, because Tang would just put himself in danger and this was just pointless, but these arguments Tang wouldn't understand.
He understood authority, so she made this about herself. "Because I don't enjoy seeing people get punched," Mags said.
Her heart gave a twinge when she saw Tang's hold loosen slightly, because she knew that deep down, the foolish boy cared enough to please her.
"Yeah, guess you're ugly enough as it is, Lucy," Tang spat. "Lucky the lady's got her sensibilities." He turned to Mags. "Tell him to keep his fat mouth shut."
Mags gave Lucian a tight smile. The man looked under shock. "Please keep your thoughts to yourself, Lucian," she said.
As Tang dragged Genna into a side room, Mags shared another weighted look with Dylan. The poor trained boy looked like he'd rather face the arena than another day in their crowded wagon.
Date: 17th Hunger Games, Interview night.
"A three? how can you be so pathetic as to get a bloody three?" Tang screamed, his face almost purple.
Something seemed to snap in Genna. She'd weathered days of verbal abuse from a frantic Tang in silence, but now her hand shot out.
The slap resonated in the spacious quarters. Mags winced.
"It's your fault I was reaped," Genna snarled, breathing hard. "They told me they'd murder my whole family if I refused to stay on stage. Because of something you did! What did you do, Tang? Punch an officer this time? Try to blackmail someone because you can't get over your daddy issues? Nautia will dump you, because I swear, you can't make me not tell everyone at the interviews now! I hate you," she screamed.
Mags had the girl by the arm and pushed her outside before Tang could kill her. Mentioning Nautia had sparked a menacing light in his eyes, one Mags had hoped never to see again.
Dylan and Lucian had the sense to vanish.
"Tang, what the hell?" She asked, pointing at the sofa. He'd better sit down and behave.
She didn't lower her gaze until he moved.
"They don't respect me, they don't listen," Tang said through clenched teeth, the veins on his neck bulging. "They think they're better, they're not like that with you!"
"They were when I was your age," Mags said in soft tones. She wondered now how she could not have seen how deep his sense of entitlement ran. He'd really thought that winning the Hunger Games would make him king in District Four. She'd known how desperate he had been for recognition and yet she'd failed to see this. A ball of guilt lodged itself in her throat.
Tang blinked, as if the thought had never occurred to him. He took a deep breath
"I got sassy with Major Craig," he said, his voice lower but his eyes crazed. "That's all I did. Got ahead of myself when he pushed me around. I threatened him, okay?" He spat, slamming his fist into the armrest hard enough to make a dent. "But I didn't go through with it. They're killing Genna, for that?"
Mags felt tears misting up her vision. She brought her hand to her face, realizing Marlin had been right. She'd been so emotional about her pregnancy that she hadn't been able to see just how unprepared to a victor's life this rough village boy was.
He'd threatened the second highest ranking officer of Lycorias.
"Mags?" Tang said, deflating slightly upon seeing her distress.
"I need to think," she said, glad her voice was still steady. "Leave me with Genna, I'll make sure she doesn't say anything during the interviews."
"Thanks," Tang muttered after a pause, his reddened eyes on the ground. "She shouldn't be part of this. Madam President knows where it hurts. Even the Devil found someone to love her."
Mags swallowed. The poor boy was so young.
Mags would never know why she had decided to get up that night. She'd say it was because she wasn't accustomed to have another victor in her quarters, or that she often failed to sleep well in the Capitol.
Truth was, she had woken up with a sense of chilling dread she had never experienced. It was as if she was standing in a room about to collapse, her every instinct screaming move.
She was an adult and a victor, she had her instincts under control. Genna, sweet, docile Genna who had played her part during the interviews, was sleeping soundly and so was Dylan, the calm and cheerful tribute who hid such a terrible addiction only victory would satiate his cravings.
Silent, the quarters were so blessedly silent.
Mags stilled.
Silence. Tang snored. He snored all the louder when he was upset.
Slowly, fighting against that gripping anxiety she couldn't explain, she opened Tang's door.
Mags inhaled sharply.
Empty. His bed hadn't even been undone.
Her fear hardened into sharp-toothed dread. Mags could almost hear a ticking clock. She was such a fool.
Barely taking the time to slip on her dress, she ran.
The surveillance department was manned by sluggish, bored fools who had been blind to what had gone on right before their eyes.
Two hours before, Tang had snuck into the avox wing, covered his face and exited unbothered, clad in an avox suit and carrying a backpack. A backpack in which were stuffed his clothes and a frightening amount of kitchen knives.
Mags frowned. That wasn't the direction he'd taken if he'd been seeking Achlys. She'd been so certain he'd -.
Tang wouldn't just leave. He didn't run away. No, Tang made people pay.
Her hands trembling, Mags demanded to see an airborne picture of the surroundings.
She blanched when she saw it. They'd passed in front of it after the Chariot Rides.
The President's mansion.
"She and her husband are actually very close."
"Proof that life is unfair," the sixteen year old said in disgust.
"Madam President knows where it hurts. Even the Devil found someone to love her."
Tang wanted his enemies alive, he wanted them destroyed.
The mansion's tall walls were no obstacle to a trained tribute. He had an hour on her.
Mags removed her shoes and started running in the brightly-lit Capitol city streets.
Her body was quick to remind her she wasn't seventeen anymore, that she was pregnant. Fighting the urge to wheeze, Mags laughed when two Homeguard tried to stop her at the mansion's gate.
Incompetent fools.
"There's going to be a murder in that house if you don't let me in," she said. "I'm not the one you should be arresting and I'm unarmed," she pointed out, making a great show of opening her arms.
The only lit window was on the second floor. Tang wouldn't need a weapon.
Mags broke into a sprint, ignoring her burning sides and straining muscles. She vowed to train alongside her students a little more often.
She ran like she hadn't run in years, small pebbles and twigs digging painfully into the soles of her feet.
Why are you running? A voice whispered in her mind. Why would you protect that man?
A furious, grieving Evadne Achlys would not make Panem a better place. District Four would pay a hundredfold for that one murder.
Because as hypocritical as it was, Mags couldn't let Tang kill a man without stopping him. Not like that, not when she could act.
Tears streamed down her cheeks. Tang, you foolish child.
She could hear the house guards running across the garden, over a hundred yards behind her.
Barely a handful of guards… And Tang had gotten through uncaught. Mags couldn't believe the President didn't have a mutt-guard or two.
The windows on the first floor were all open, doubtless to evacuate some of the stifling summer heat.
Muttering about delusions of safety, Mags climbed in. She grasped a metal rod next to the marble chimney and rushed as silently as possible past richly furnished spacious rooms and up two flights of stairs, towards the light.
The door was wide open. She recognized the cane that had been kicked across the corridor from Glynn's wedding.
A voice. Tang was speaking.
" - so superior now, eh?"
Thank the light that the boy was long-winded when the offense was personal. She'd never had stopped him in time had he behaved in the same grim methodical manner as he had in the arena.
"I'll talk to Eva, boy. Nothing's done," Lucius' said in his vibrant slow tones. Mags was impressed not to hear fear. "We'll revoke the reaping, I swear to you."
"You people think you have power," Tang was saying, his whole body shaking with hate. "You thought to threaten me. I'll show you who has power," he said, crouching menacingly next to the man, the knife in his hand slick with blood.
The younger victor's back was to Mags. He stank of fresh blood, lots of it. Mags almost gagged.
She took a step forward, finally seeing the upturned master bedroom. Porcelain shards and broken portraits littered the floor all around a sprawled elderly man.
On the floor in his silk pajamas, a trail of blood running down his chin and his pale blue eyes betraying the fear his voice would not show, there was nothing grand about Lucius Achlys.
Tang spun round.
He lowered his knife in surprise as he recognized her.
The gesture of trust hurt Mags more than if Tang had stabbed her.
She brought the bar down. The eighteen-year-old fell. She brought it down again, and Tang Netter moved no more.
Alive, the Capitol would have tortured every last drop of sanity from him to punish him for his crime.
Her eyes wide in horror, the rod fell from her hands and her hands fell to her swollen stomach, as if to shield the unborn life from the evils of the world.
Frozen in place, Mags couldn't tear her eyes from her former student's face, his lips twisted into a silent scream.
She was a wretched human being. Already in Creneis, she'd had all the elements. She should have predicted… Instead, she'd hidden behind false excuses, blinding herself to the danger Tang had put himself in, because it was easier.
The guards arrived, useless and late. They helped Lucius up. They didn't dare come close to the shivering victor crouched over the corpse.
Lucius spoke. "Mags, are you alright?"
Mags' trembling hand closed Tang's lifeless dark eyes.
The boy had been hate and fire, but he'd fought and survived in the one way he'd found. He'd won and he'd loved. He'd have learned in time, he was just a boy, but Achlys cared little for that. She destroyed what she could not mold.
And Mags had killed Tang, the young man she had mentored, the one who had come back victorious, to save that monster's husband.
Why? Had she not come, could Tang have succeeded and escaped?
After all, he'd already done the impossible by getting so close.
Mags closed her shimmering eyes, fury sizzling down her tense limbs. If she stood up, she would kill another man.
The arm around her stomach tightened. She wouldn't be that type of victor. The one who went mad. Cereus and their child deserved better.
The sound of a hovercraft had her look up.
"What happened!"
Any other day, Mags would have been elated to hear the sheer fear in Evadne Achlys' tone, but the price had been too high.
"The lad from Four, he wanted me dead. Mags stopped him," Lucius said, his breath still short. "We're going to have a talk, Eva."
Yes, why don't you tell your darling wife to stop killing people as lessons?
The white-haired woman grabbed her husband's shoulder, her red mouth twisted into a horrified snarl as she gazed upon Tang's lifeless body. "How did he get in?"
It doesn't feel so good when it gets personal, does it, Achlys?
"We found the dog's body, Ma'am. We never heard it bark. There was a knife right in his throat."
"Are you alright, young lady?" Lucius asked Mags, bending as far as his age permitted.
The soft-spoken words barely pierced through the storm of fury and guilt. "I trained him. I made this -, this was my fault."
She'd trained tributes, not victors. Tang hadn't been prepared, he couldn't have known. And now she'd succeeded in killing every tribute she'd trained and mentored.
Just like the plan. A cruel voice pointed out.
Except Genna should have been safe. Tang should have earned the right to be safe. Nautia shouldn't have to bury two of her loved ones because Mags had been blind.
This was her fault.
Clutching her stomach and shivering, Mags broke into sobs.
"Did he hurt you?"
When the man gestured too close to Mags' stomach, which she was still clutching for dear life. She slapped his hand away, not baring the thought of him touching her.
She then breathed in and stood up. "I'm unhurt. I'm just pregnant," she said tightly.
Lucius straightened in surprise. "Then why are you here?"
Mags stared. Had old age addled his mind? "He would have killed you, Sir."
"I meant in the Capitol. You should be at home."
The man was earnest. He really thought -
Mags almost laughed. "Even nine months pregnant, I'd remain among the victors most fit to mentor," she said, failing to control the harshness in her tone.
A fit mentor. Mags could feel tears rising in her eyes again. What a joke. A murderous joke.
"Please," she quickly added, "I am upset, I am exhausted. Just let me take him back to Four, bury him as any human being deserves and I'll leave you two to rethink your security."
"Mags, he will have died taking an illicit substance," Achlys said in warning tones, her golden eyes blazing. "Who is aware of this?"
Of course, they couldn't have Panem know a victor managed to break into their house.
"Security of mentor's tower knows he left taking the fourth avenue," Mags said with a tight smile. "That's all."
"Genna ?"
Mags had never been so close to hitting the President. Only the knowledge the woman's cruelty was born of the fear of losing her husband rather than cold political calculations kept Mags' temper in check.
"She's not that clever," Mags replied coolly. It's not like she'll win, she almost spat. "Are you alright, Sir?" She asked, maybe a little too pointedly, turning to the shaken white-haired man leaning against his cane.
She'd never let them forget that he owed her his life.
"The hovercraft will give you a lift," Lucius said, compassion obvious in his blue eyes.
How could he presume to care when he had married that woman?
Leaving, Mags made sure the geography of the Achlys household was etched into her memory. It could come in useful.
Date: Year 17, August, return to Lycorias.
"What do you mean, overdose?" Nautia exclaimed, tears filling her eyes.
"Capitol sells much more powerful stuff," Mags lied through clenched teeth. "I didn't think to check until it was too late."
She'd been too late. That much was truth.
"It was your job! Tang, Genna…" Nautia's shoulders began to shake. "What am I going to do now? They'll shut down the house, I don't suppose they'll leave his brother or me anything," she said in strangle tones. "Tang… He was going so much better. You… They killed him."
"I'm so sorry," Mags whispered, cradling the sobbing young woman into her arms.
Date: Year 17, early September.
Nautia refused her offer to come to Creneis. She had no close family, so despite the pit feeling in her stomach, Mags let the young woman make her choice.
Two of the five houses of Lycorias' victor village had been burned to ashes before the peacekeepers caught Tang's girlfriend.
Another death.
Mags gazed at the ocean, her eyes unseeing as she struggled to breathe.
"Of course you could have done more for him," Cereus said. "At the cost of Creneis Town, of all those trainees who will reach adulthood, at the cost of time spent with me and your family," he stressed, holding her tightly. "And with a greater risk to you with every revelation you would have made. He never cared for his life, he defied the Capitol and you very well know that by then it's much too late."
Yes, she knew. She marveled that whatever she did Cereus still could stand being so close to her.
"The next victor will come to live here, no matter their wishes," Mags decreed.
Date: Year 18, January.
A baby boy. Larimar.
Weary and elated, Mags eyed the tiny little creature on her chest, panic creasing her brow.
A boy. What did she know about little boys? And they hadn't told her newborns could have hair.
Such fluffy hair of the lightest brown and gray misty eyes that would doubtless turn green. Mags giggled as she remembered Cereus' reaction when he'd learned she was half from One.
This baby looked almost all One, although that furrowed brow was definitely Abalone.
"You need to find a way to come to One or my parents will have a fit," Cereus said, beaming as he gently poked his sleeping son. "If you can't, I'll have to steal him during my next leave."
Mags growled at the thought, her hand gently tightening over the newborn. Love of her life or not, Cereus wasn't taking her baby to another District without her.
"We also need to figure out how the wedding's going to work," she said wearily. She then grinned. "A child out of wedlock, I should be ashamed."
"Here comes Grandmama," Cereus cheerfully said as Angelites pushed the curtains aside, a huge smile on her lips.
Mags swallowed. Circe, she was a mother now.
Larimar is a blue-colored sea jewel (see how clever I'm at mixing luxury and the sea? *wink*). It's also technically a girl's name (which is given approx. 4 times a year in the US, so those aren't very relevant statistics) but it didn't sound girly to me and, in Panem, fierce victors are called Gloss, so there you go. lol.
Tang: a lesson to why giving traumatized, angry teenagers piles of money and no psychological help is a stupid idea. He beat the arena with everyone believing it impossible, why would he believe the Capitol would do more than scold him for what he did? RIP.
Please review.^^.
Next chapter: we'll bounce forward a few years.