XXIV

…

I don't bother when I hear Haymitch's heavy footsteps patter into the hall. Instead of turning and reading his expression as I have come accustomed to, figuring out what was wrong before the words could even leave his mouth, I just continue what I am doing. This time I don't have to turn and read the face his face holds as I know this time I am what's wrong and there is nothing he can say to make the right.

"Where are you headed, boy?"

I don't bother to answer. The question is rhetorical, he knows where I'm going and what I'm doing; Gale no doubt had told him all he knew which was enough. Instead, I strap my bag over my shoulder after being sure all the supplies I needed were packed: clothes, food, water, knifes, etc., etc.

"You're going to get yourself killed."

I slip the knit hat I had taken from somewhere in the back of Katniss's closet over my head, it was her hat. "Wouldn't be the first time."

"Boy." He warns, but I don't let him finish whatever life lessons he had planned to spill to me.

I shake my head.

"This isn't a joke." He tells me like a father might tell his child.

I look to him in all seriousness. "I never said it was."

"This is your life were talking about."

I shake my head. "This is her life were talking about." I tell him, throwing his own words back in his face. "I'm not going to let her die out there."

"Die? Who said anything about dying? How did you jump to death so of a sudden?"

I shake my head, annoyed of his mockery.

"Die? Where," he presses, mocking me. "Safe and sound in the Tribute Building or the President's Mansion? Surrounded my hundreds of Peacekeepers and other Capitol staff? By who, her sponsors or by her fan club of Capitol children?"

I give him a stern look. "You know what I mean, old man. He isn't pampering her. He isn't taking her out for dinner or out ballroom dancing with the rich and famous. He's breaking her down, grinding her down till there is nothing left. He's killing her slowly, like he does with all of us."

"What you think Snow's going to do, slaughter before everyone's eyes? Hang her in the Capitol square? Have her chained up for all of Panem to see?" He asks me as if I am stupid. "Do you really think Snow would do that, kill the leader of what is becoming known as a 'rebellion' by some? Do you really think he's that stupid; that just make his problems even worse, you know?"

"Mitch," I grit my teeth, feeling the anger within me begin to boil.

"No, boy," he tells me. "You just going to go there and make it worse on her, make it worse for yourself."

"Don't you-"

He cuts me off. "Boy."

"So you're going to stand by and watch him destroy her?"

He shakes his head, taking a drinking from his glass. "I'm going to play by the rules for once."

"He's going to destroy her, end her."

He grunts. "Like he hasn't already. Look around, boy. We've all been stripped of what we once had. I had my family taken like Johanna and Finnick got his girl turned crazy along with any and all self-dignity he has for himself. Hell, you were partially stripped of your identity like all you 2 tributes.

She's the same as us, just a little worse.

She doesn't have any blood anymore, her sister was murder and so was her mother. The boy who saved her life was carved apart before her eyes. She had the lives of fourteen children on her hands. He's been degrading her before he's even known she was a threat."

He pauses, shaking his head a moment before continuing.

"All she's got are those people," he says pointing into the other room where all the Hawthorne's except Gale sit. "They are all she's got and they are all she cares for anymore. And she's trying to keep them alive at any coast, her life if she most. Without them she's got no dignity. So Snows going to push and shove her around, degrading her bit by bit till she snaps and they're six feet under."

"And you're going to stand by and let her become the next Finnick Odair? Let him do that to her?"

He doesn't respond.

"Are you going to let him kill your only success, your only tribute, your family?"

Again he doesn't respond yet takes another drink from his glass. Yes.

I shake my head, disgusted.

"Sometimes you don't push back; you don't step over the line even when you should because it's better that way, for everyone. So do what you know, boy. Play the game by the rules like you did before Katniss stepped into the spotlight. Turn your back to it all and go back to 2."

Again, I shake my head.

"You're going to make this worse of her."

…

I wait till the Peacekeepers are out of sight and all the crates and packages are loaded into the compartment I have picked to inhabit for the next unknown number of unruly hours. The night's darkness helps, but as I step within the metal fortes of the train I don't expect it to be so easy.

I slip onto the train without being seen, like the ghost I was trained to be.

I take cover behind a few large crates that are stocked with the train compartment. The space where I sit is small and uncomfortable yet it doesn't matter as long as I am hidden and aboard. And following cart checks I remain well-hidden, going unseen by the Peacekeepers and other Capitol staff.

Then, in a matter of time the train jerks to life, speeding down the rails toward the Capitol.

…

Boggs was at the train station waiting. He was there just as he said he would be. He was off to the side, going unseen by the Peacekeepers and Capitol passersby. A miracle really, at least in my eyes that he was so easily obscure to the eyes of the Capitulates.

He was… normal.

Well, that was in appearance at least. He was a man that could possible go unseen in any district, but here in the Capitol with the worn skin due to age, close cropped gray hair, and naturally light blue eyes, so ordinary and bland, he stuck out like a sore thumb. His incredible posture was the only thing to make one think twice about his stature in society.

The moment his eyes find me, he pulls me into the darkness beside him.

I don't say word, no words of warm welcome or immediate questions about whether or not he had learned anything about Katniss yet. He doesn't say a word either, no welcome nor any reflection on the knowledge he has gained since I called a little over twenty-four hours ago. Instead, he hands me a fur coat, one an average Capitol man might find himself wearing on a night like tonight.

I put on the coat, no questions asked.

Then, with the coat on he pulls the knit hat from my head and shoves it inside one of the coat's many pockets. He looks me head to toe and after a long moment nods in approval. And then, without a word he heads for the station's exit and I follow him.

We move slow, perfectly blending in. we stay to the sides and don't draw attention toward ourselves. We weave our way through the groups of Capitol citizens, making our way from the station onto the streets and down toward the outskirts of the city where Boggs lives.

Even after entering the building in which Boggs lives, not a word is spoken. The doorman doesn't say a word to us nor does he seem to recognize who I am. And so, we stand in silence and wait for the elevator to reach the lobby floor and escort up to the penthouse. By the time it does, it is longer than I wish and makes me grateful as the moment we step into the penthouse Boggs puts the place on lock down, enabling the elevator from coming up to the floor unless authorized by Boggs and viewing to make sure his cameras are adjusted accordingly and working.

When all is clear he gives me a small nod and I reluctantly strip out of the Capitol fur coat, feeling like myself again.

"Anything to drink? Eat?" He offers.

I shake my head and he nods, going into the kitchen area anyway and pouring himself a glass of blue liquid that I can only assume is some fancy, Capitol liquor.

"You got here fast." He states.

I nod. "Capitol trains move fast."

He smiles a little, shaking his head. "Surprised you made it on without being caught."

"You think I'm that bad? You know I survived the Hunger Games?"

"Hunger Games or not," he tells me, "Since that girl has arrived Snow has had this place on lock and key. Everyone possible and anything possible is being monitored."

"And you," I ask, raising my eyebrows in suspicion.

"I don't exist anymore, Cato. You know that."

And I do, but exiting or not, Snow no doubt knows of Boggs's presence in his city.

"As far as the Capitol is concerned, I am a business man that deals with trade with District 1, running underground diamond deals that the government, that Snow over looks for the sake of making a few extra dollars on the side."

"How can Snow deal with that?" I ask.

He raises his eyebrows at me. "What that I am a District 13 rebel or that I am running underground diamond deal?"

"What do you think?"

He snorts. "I'm not a District 13 rebel that is causing him any problems. In his mind, I am more supportive of him than Coin and that is all he really cares about… plus the fact that I'm adding a little cash to the bank count of his."

I nod.

"Homes and Mitchell are on his good side, too."

"And Jackson," I ask.

"And Jackson." He confirms.

I nod again and for a moment we fall silent. But as my eyes skim across the skyline, only to fall upon the training center I know there is no time to waste.

"What do you know?"

He finishes off his drink. "She has two choices-"