Chapter 44

We meet Haymitch at the train station, who happened to be escorted by none other than Effie Trinket instead of Gale. He sits on his baggage with a scowl while Effie scuttles around nervously beside him. She's holding her damn clipboard. With a schedule attached to it, no doubt.

When Peeta and I come into view, she brightens immediately and rushes over, her ridiculously tall high-heel shoes clicking furiously against the concrete. Peeta puts down his bags and gives Effie a warm welcoming hug.

"Peeta! Katniss, its so nice to see you both!" She pulls away from Peeta to give me a hug as well. Its brief, but I still feel only warmth towards Effie nonetheless.

"Its good to see you, too, Effie," Peeta says as he steps forward to wrap an arm around my shoulders. "What are you doing here in District 12?"

"I can answer that," Haymitch growls from where he sits. His eyes are cold as he glares at Effie, shocking me. "She's here to keep you here. You're not getting on that train."

I flick my gaze over to the Capitol woman, wondering if its true, but her guilty expression says it all.

"Is it true?" Peeta asks, disbelief in his voice.

"Does it look like she's lying?" I turn on Peeta, my frustrations about the Capitol returning and unfortunately laying waste to Peeta. "How could you be so oblivious? She's obviously another pawn of the Capitol sent here to control us to do their-"

"Enough!" Haymitch snaps at me, but I whip around and match his harsh tone.

"No! I've had enough of these games! All of them!"
"Katniss, dear," Effie interrupts quietly, which stops both me and Haymitch from leaping for each other's throats.

"You're confined to District 12 by orders of the Capitol."

At that moment, I feel like a trapped animal, surrounded by hunters. Or perhaps one of those rabbits caught in one of Gale's snares. All I know is that I feel nothing but adrenaline and shock.

"We're going to 4." Peeta's voice is rigid, as if he's trying to soothe everyone's tense nerves. "Annie is expecting us."

"You can go, Peeta." Effie sounds tired, as if she doesn't want to do this as much as I don't want her to. "Its just Katniss who must remain here in 12."

"Why?" Peeta's voice grows a little. Anyone can tell that the combination of his confusion and just plain being upset is having an effect on his emotions. "Because she did everything she was supposed to do? Because she's a hero-"
"She's a tried criminal, Peeta," Effie explains quietly, even though I've heard this explanation before. "Shooting Coin has resulted in her sentence of remaining in 12 until further orders are given."

"This is ridiculous!" Peeta's hands clench into fists as his arm slips away from my shoulder. "You can't seriously be trying to keep her here! She's done nothing wrong! If she hadn't shot Coin, we would all be right back where we were, reaping children and staying as poor of a District as we were when Snow was alive."
"That may be true," Haymitch snaps, "but like it or not, the girl stays."

"I'm not staying. I have to go see Annie," I insist.

Effie looks flustered. "Katniss, dear, I can't do anything about it-"

"What's going on here?"

Haymitch sneers as Cinna approaches, Brita by his side. "Well, looks like the gang is all here," he snorts, but Cinna ignores him.

"Oh, thank goodness you're here, Cinna." Effie sounds flustered. "You see, Katniss can't leave the District."

"Because of her sentence?"

"Of course! Oh, I'm so glad you understand!" She then proceeds to throw her arms around Cinna, which is followed shortly by a narrow-eyed glare from Brita.

"Are you insane? She has done nothing wrong," Brita says quietly, but Effie only pulls away from Cinna, straightening her dress.

"I'm not in charge of these orders," Effie clarifies. Cinna looks over at her. "Then you should be," he responds crisply. "Your organization skills and judgment could be put to good use in the Capitol. Do you believe that after all you've done, you haven't been recognized?" He shakes his head and turns to Brita. "Can I use your phone please?"

She nods and reaches into a leather satchel hanging at her waist, pulling out a small radio-like device. "Its a cell phone," she explains at my puzzled expression. "Its like the phone in your house, but we can use it anywhere we please."

Cinna quickly tells her the number as she punches it in for him, then proceeds to hold it up to his ear.

Peeta is pacing a few feet away, resembling a caged animal who is nothing but trapped. He meets my gaze momentarily when he glances up for a moment then beckons me over to him.

He takes my hands as I approach. "You're getting on that train," he promises quietly, but I shake my head.

"Peeta, we can't provoke the government anymore. What if its seen as an act of rebellion? Again? We're obviously prime suspects if something were to happen-"

"Nothing's going to happen, Katniss," Peeta argues gently. "We deserve to fly under the radar. We're still people all the same."

"I just don't think its a good idea to pull off another stunt and attract publicity," I whisper quickly to him. Peeta looks puzzled. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that I don't want people to be involved with us," I explain. I look off to the side at the steam hissing from the train. I don't know what to think now that Peeta wants to defy the Capitol and just head off to District 4.

Its true. I do want to go see Annie and I feel like I would be letting Finnick down by remaining here in 12. However, haven't I already caused enough trouble as is? I'm done with the games and I'm certainly done with trouble because it brings me nothing but despair and sorrow.

"This isn't the Katniss I know," Peeta murmurs, surprising me. His eyes are hard, but they aren't angry. They're disappointed. "What is this? This isn't you! Rolling over and submitting like some kicked puppy? Letting yourself get pushed around like some sort of scum that's not worth-"

"Because I am some sort of scum that's not worth it," I spit back at him, my frustration boiling over. "I grew up in the Seam, remember? Or was it all just a bad dream that every night my family went hungry? That people collapsed out of starvation? Died in the mines?"

He's looking at me with pain in his eyes now, but I'm too out of it to care. I was beyond that point ever since I was pulled into that damn rebellion and now I'm paying the price ten times over.

"I didn't ask for any of this, Peeta! In fact, if the Games never happened, I probably would've lived a very very different life than the one I'm living in now! And maybe I'd still have the people and things around me that I truly cared about!"

He flinches as if I had struck him.

A hand touches my shoulder distracting me from Peeta's hurt expression. Brita looks at me with a raised eyebrow but says nothing except, "There's someone on the phone for you."

Her extended hand holds the phone out as I take it. I press the cold metal device up to my ear. "Hello?"

"Ms. Everdeen? Its Paylor." Paylor's voice comes out tiredly.

"Er, hi." I mentally make a note to work on my phone conversation skills.

"Cinna called. He says you wish to travel to District 4?"

"Yes, that's correct." I say.

"You're legally confined to District 12-"

"I need to go," I insist desperately. "You don't understand how much this means to me. Don't you want to pay back the debt we all owe to Finnick Odair?"

She's silent and I take it as a cue to continue. "He was prostituted by the Capitol! He did it to save Annie and his unborn child! He gave up his future, not just for me but for everyone else who was part of that damn rebelliion! Don't you understand how much we owe it to him to care for Annie and Finn in 4?"

"You can't go back to 4, Katniss," Paylor sighs after a long moment.

"Why not? Give me one good reason why not," I demand harshly.

Paylor hesitates. The phone in my hand suddenly feels cold and heavy.

"Because we found Mr. Odair."