HAYMITCH POV -75th Hunger Games
I got the encrypted message from Plutarch, he wanted me to go to the training room. Apparently, from his message, there was something I had to see for myself. Normally, mentors weren't supposed to go there, but there was no explicit rule against it. In case some guard stopped me I just had to pretend to be more drunk than I already was now. No one would pay much attention to a disoriented drunk anyway.
Arriving in the room I see that all the tributes are together finishing lunch, the camaraderie between everyone was noticeable. Peeta told me that they did the same thing yesterday, bringing the tables together to be together. This "innocent" friendship must be bothering quite a few gamemakers. However, I doubted that this was what Putarch meant by his message.
"If I had known that here you were having a party, I would have gone down earlier. Where is the good wine?" I blurted out laughing as soon as I approached the table. Those who heard me burst out laughing. The others ignored me, they were used to seeing me drunk.
"Haymitch, what a surprise to see you here!" Chaff greeted me with cheerful suspicion. He wasn't stupid, he knew I had to have a good reason to be risking coming here.
"I heard that today's buffet was to die for and I came to check it out" I said laughing
" You're late and there's almost nothing left" Finnick answered me laughing and followed my farce. He was more than aware that the gamemakers were watching us. I "wobbled" to the table and landed on the empty chair next to Katniss.
" I think you should go, Haymitch. You could get us all in trouble" Katniss barked at me furiously. If only I could be honest with her, but I couldn't put her in danger like that.
"You know sweetheart, you are spoiling the party. Why don't you go and get me some of that delicious duck you're eating".
"I'm coming" Peeta said. Always so considerate
"Peeta NO" Katniss scolded.
"After eating he will leave, right Haymitch?" the boy said to me in a serious tone. I just laughed and ignored it.
I had been eating as slowly as possible for 10 minutes to kill time and nothing was happening. I was wondering if I had understood Plutarch's message correctly. I had no way of knowing, since his back was turned, talking animatedly with the other gamemakers. I stretched out to catch an empty glass and pour some liquor that I had kept in my jacket, the uncertainty was killing me. Katniss and Peeta just shot me angry looks and hurried me to finish. The allied tributes were giving me questioning looks. They knew something was up but they didn't know what it was, and damn it! I did not know it either. Another 10 minutes passed, when I saw her coming. Leila. More grown up since the last time I saw her.
In the 8 years since she won her games, I had only seen her in person 4 times. The first time it was on her victory tour in the 12th district, this meeting was engraved in my memory, it had managed to disturb me for a long time. The second was in her first year as a mentor, it was a brief exchange of glances, nothing more. The third and fourth, sitting a few seats away at the tribute's victory ceremony about 4 years ago. Since that meeting in the 12th district, we never spoke again, the times we met somewhere she would avoid me, but sometimes I would catch her looking at me before looking away from me quickly.
Leila was an exception to the rule when it came to victors. Because she was the golden girl of the capitol, she had been assigned two peacekeepers for her personal protection, wherever she went, so did they. According to rumors, on her victory tour in the 5th district someone tried to attack her, since her safety worried the people of the capitol so much, President Snow decided to intervene by granting her personal protection, this earned him even more sympathy from his people, to the "benevolent" president. However, I did not believe that version for a second. Also, being everyone's favorite brought her "advantages" like, they did not force her to attend and watch the games from the victors' room. She had no obligation to get sponsors for her tributes, or to help them in any way. The latter earned her the grudge from her district mates among other mentors. They had her so pampered in the Capitol that they even allowed her, on certain occasions, to share the screen with Caesar Flickerman every time the games start, her comments always made the capitol laugh, but in reality her words were horrible and humiliating for the tributes and their families. Also, since she volunteered instead of Cecelia, who was now the mother of 3 little ones, she had managed to increase her popularity, if that was possible. Yes, the girl was well loved outside these walls but within these, she was hated.
Here she came, approaching with a firm step in our direction, followed by two of her bodyguards. Everyone in the room became tense and attentive with their presence. Leila came with a serious expression without looking at anyone in particular, her companions looked rather amused with what they were causing in the room. She came up behind Katniss and reached up to take a glass from the middle of the table with one hand and with the other! Zaz! She plunged a knife into the table, if it hadn't been for Katniss's quick reflexes, she would have cut off her hand. We all froze for a second.
-Be careful little bird, without wings you won't be able to fly very far" Leila told Katniss in a mocking tone. Her bodyguards guffawed. The stupor in which her action left us ended and we all got up almost at the same time from our seats, looking in the direction of Leila.
"outrageous! attacking another tribute in training period is against the rules of the Games" Woof yelled angrily, addressing the gamemakers "are you going to let it happen?" I saw the rage taking over Katniss and gave Peeta a warning look as well, to hold her back before she decided to strike back at Leila. This was probably just what she wanted to provoke. The girl just looked at Katniss with a mocking air, without saying a word. For a brief moment she looked at me but she looked back at Katniss quickly.
"In the Capitol we respect the laws, Woof, and from what I observed Miss Everdeen is in perfect condition, or am I wrong?" Plutarch intervened in a serious tone. The attention of all the gamemakers was on us. I had to bite my tongue not to answer a couple of expletives, but I couldn't let them throw me out of here, not yet. No one else dared to intervene, no one wanted to risk getting into trouble and failing with the plan. Plutarch continued "We thank you for finally enlightening us with your presence, Leila" Leila held Katniss's gaze for a moment longer, and moved closer to the platform where the gamemakers were, offering them a good view. She was wearing skintight pants and a top that barely covered her breasts, and I had to admit it, the brat was quite a beauty.
"I was taking a pleasant nap when they informed me that I had to come" she replied in a childish tone, making a pout. Yes, all the eyes of the gamemakers were focused only on her. I saw in their eyes how they devoured her in their mind.
"Well, the training sessions are mandatory Leila, I want you to be here at least two hours a day" Plutarch replied
"I didn't know it was mandatory to come, I thought these practices were for useless people like all of them" she said, pointing at all of us. The gamemakers let out a laugh. I saw the discontent in all the tributes, this was humiliating.
"It's mandatory anyway. Some of my colleagues are new and don't know you and in order to rate you we have to see you, understood Leila?"
"and what would you like to see from me?" Leila responded flirtatiously, which earned her more laughs and approving looks from them.
"We've been lucky enough to see some of your teammates' abilities in combat, how about you show us something like that?"
"Of course, with pleasure" she replied with a giggle, heading to the simulation room. Then I saw it, Plutarch gave me a look pointing at the girl with her eyes. It was her that he wanted to show me.
"Well why don't we go enjoy the show too?" I said lazily. Katniss and Peeta were still furious about what had happened, and it was no wonder, but I couldn't stay here to comfort Katniss's wounded ego, they had to see what Plutarch wanted to show us. I wasn't the only curious one, all of us without exception came to see the demonstration that Leila was about to perform.
"Would you like me to use a special weapon?" Leila asked the gamemakers in a honeyed tone.
"Whatever you want, honey, you never disappoint in anything you do" answered a gamemaker whose name I didn't know. The other colleagues laughed at the comment. Leila just laughed and settled on a spear and two knives, one curved and one straight. The girl was reminiscing about old times apparently. She approached the simulation monitor and began to give him instructions in his ear, he just denied it and seemed nervous, the girl kept insisting on something. Until an approving look from Plutarch convinced him to do as Leila asked.
She stood in the middle of the room, the spear at her back and a knife in each hand. The show started. At different distances and scattered throughout the room, 23 human forms appeared, quite recognizable. They were all a golden copy of each of the participants of this year's games. Interesting. The girl wanted to show each of her rivals how she was going to kill them. However, that was not the most impressive, but the 23 forms attacked her at the same time and one by one, she dodged them and "killed" them by stabbing them, decapitating them, mutating them etc. It was chillingly impressive to see her prowess. She hadn't wasted any time, she had trained herself and very well. Chaff and I exchanged worried glances, she was going to be an obstacle to our plans. When we thought she had finished her show, one last figure appeared. A small, curly-haired figure with arms stretched out in Katniss's direction. It was the little Rue from district 11. A shocked gasp filled the room. Leila, looking Katniss in the eye with an evil smile, came up behind "Rue" and impaled her with her spear.
"I'm going to kill her!" Katniss yelled with tears in her eyes. Peeta was trying to calm her down, leading her away from the entrance to the simulation room. I went over to help him push her away.
"I think I forgot to do something else" Leila said between laughs and raised three fingers of her left hand and whistled the same melody that Rue and Katniss used as a signal, in the previous games. She then laughed out loud, the gamemakers joined her, approving of her horrible joke. This generated further outrage among the tributes, Chaff and Seeder were burning with rage. She crossed the line, she had to be the first to die. As she left the room, her bodyguards began to come towards us to create a space between her and the tributes.
"Do you think killing innocents is fun?" Katniss snapped at her angrily, trying to break free of our grasp.
"It's hilarious. But why do you judge little bird, you use them as a shield to save your skin, that's even worse" she answered mockingly and before Katniss could answer she continued "why don't you admit to Chaff and Seeder that you only used the little brat to generate pity since you were so pathetic alone, you needed to use someone else and once they killed her you decided to turn to someone more naive" she finished looking at Peeta.
"I'll kill you" Katniss sentenced with all the hate in her voice. Leila laughed. The tension was felt throughout the room. I felt Katniss tremble with rage, and she wasn't the only one, many were sending daggers with their eyes at Leila, if it weren't for the bigger plans we had, more than one would have jumped on her.
"You can try but first how many of your friends will you sacrifice to save yourself?"
"I'm not the one who hides behind those peacekeepers"
"I'm here little bird, come closer" Leila said moving away from her escorts and staying within everyone's reach "or are you afraid?"
"Calm down, sweetheart. You don't see that she is provoking you, if you attack her this will bring consequences for everyone" I tried to reason
"Haymitch is right Katniss, the gamemakers are watching everything, don't give them that pleasure" Finnick intervened next to me. Leila looked at her mockingly.
"That's enough Leila, leave her alone" Peeta snapped furiously.
"Answer me something handsome, when I kill you, do you think your pretty bird will cry for you or will she feel relieved to take a huge weight off her shoulders?"
"Shut up, that's not your problem"
"It's true, it's not my problem, but I think the people of Panem should know the truth. I wonder what they'd think of her once they found out she's only using you. I bet that the public would be very interested to know that this little bird already has someone else warming up her nest at home" Katniss, Peeta and I tensed. she knew it. She had information that only President Snow knew. "Tell me Peeta, what does it feel like to risk your skin for someone who is not going to do the same for you, she cares so little for you that she is wishing you would die so she can go back to that someone, more handsome perhaps and definitely better in her eyes than you will ever be. No one will blame you if you decide to stab her in the back, after all you don't owe her anything. Think about it handsome" Leila finished with a triumphant smile, winking at Peeta. Yes, that had to hurt him, I knew how much he loved Katniss and how little she reciprocated.
"Leila, the two hours have passed, you can go if you want" Plutarch finally intervened. The disappointed face of the other gamemakers was noted, they were enjoying this confrontation like never before.
"See you tomorrow, cuties" Leila told them, blowing them a kiss, and leaving. They all laughed and then went back to their business as before. Plutarch held my gaze for a moment longer, before joining his own.
I understood the situation. It wasn't an accident or coincidence that Leila was here, Snow had her here specifically to go after Katniss and Peeta. She would first seek to destabilize them, perhaps try to break the fragile trust they had. It was obvious that the brat knew how to hit them where it hurt the most. Then her objective would be to kill them once they were in the arena. She had shown her prowess on the battlefield and that's what scared me the most. She was not good, she was excellent at what she did and quite possibly she had been trained by the capitol itself to face this arena. This changed everything, actually made everything worse. How many of my friends would have to sacrifice themselves if we were to get Katniss and Peeta out of the arena alive. FUCK!