Welcome back everybody! Time to see how our protagonists are doing once again. What else will happen now that Nessa and her allies are back on camera? We'll find out soon enough ;)

Note: This chapter, like a few others, contains references to most of the "Freaky Friday" movies, none of which I own. All credit goes to each of their respective creators.

Consequences Of The Switches

As she and Geolo made their way through the forest and to the Cornucopia, Foxface did her best to focus on her secret fear of their next target: the male tribute from District 11. It was all she could do to maintain her fearful expression, so that anyone watching the Games—especially Clove—would think the seemingly weak District 3 male had succeeded in kidnapping her. Yet unbeknownst to even Geolo, her fear of the next tribute to hear about the evacuation plan wasn't the only thing going through her mind.

Foxface was annoyed with herself. She hadn't admitted it, but Sonia had been right; well, half right. She'd been wrong about her being superficial, but right about one thing. Now that Geolo was in the picture, she did feel a little better about Nessa's escape plan. Even though she still doubted it would succeed, there was now a part of her that actually wanted to have faith in it! All because despite her reluctance towards trusting others, she did feel a sense of security around Geolo. She hadn't understood why at first, but after Sonia had pointed it out, she now knew. It was because she and him had similar intelligence levels, which kept awakening a rather peculiar side of her. The feeling that he was one person she could relate to, which despite its softness, had never been strong enough for her to consider him an ally under circumstances besides the current ones. She'd briefly felt the same with his district partner, Tally, but after she was slaughtered in the bloodbath and taken out of the picture, Geolo had become the other side of her's main focus.

Having someone you felt you could relate to did make a tough experience (whether it was being a Hunger Games tribute to begin with or being stuck with someone as oblivious and childish as Nessa) somewhat better, but Foxface wouldn't have taken her chances with Geolo if it hadn't been for her leg injury. If Nessa hadn't swapped bodies with one of the tribute sponsor gatherers and ruined her chances of surviving alone, then she could have just forgotten about her unnecessary thoughts and gone her own way. But the body switch happened, and now here she was, her conflicting thoughts stronger than ever.

Back in the training centre, Foxface had made her plans clear to herself. Survive alone, without letting anyone know too much information about her and her methods, or letting herself even look up to any of the other tributes and thereby risk being double-crossed. Basically she'd done more observing and eavesdropping than actual training, making sure it was to a greater extent than the other tributes who'd had the cautiousness to hide their true talents. She had never understood why she'd received occasional and almost irresistible temptations to study Geolo and Tally more often than the rest of her surroundings—sure, they had large smarts in common and she couldn't help admiring that fact, but in Panem, nobody could be trusted.

It couldn't be simpler. President Snow would spend one minute promising that the Capitol provided the greater good for all the districts. And yet for some reason, one of the things the Capitol did was sending minors to the Hunger Games every year, regardless of their strengths and survival experience. Foxface's first grade teacher had promised her that she admired her exceptionally profound smarts and interest in learning, and that she'd be welcome at school no matter what—yet when her classmates spent the entire year mocking her because of her freckles and red hair, the teacher had only giggled along with them. Even her own relatives couldn't be trusted; every year they promised they'd make her birthday or any holiday she acknowledged fun, but once the special days came, the memories of their promises always seemed to slip away without a trace.

Finch/Foxface had been eight years old when she'd come to accept that her life would never feature any happiness, freedom, or trust. That every time she thought she'd have a good day for once, someone would always find a way to ultimately betray her. So, after her eighth birthday had gone unnoticed like the rest, she'd lost all faith that someday she would meet someone who wouldn't let her down so hard. She'd become outright antisocial, started evading every person who tried to open up to her, and convinced herself that the reason she was doing this was because the less noticed she was, the smaller the chances were that she'd have to suffer in any way. Most importantly, she'd created a vital rule that had stuck with her ever since: never trust anyone, or else.

The rule was fine by her, but after Foxface was reaped into the 74th Hunger Games and found herself in the presence of two seemingly relatable citizens from the intelligent District 3, her longing to be able to trust people again had started coming back to her. It was sleepier because it had been pushed away for so long, so she hadn't understood her reluctant admiration towards Geolo and Tally until Sonia's whispered outburst. She wasn't supposed to long for a true friend now—Panem was a nation filled with nothing but lies and distrust, and if anyone ever called someone out on it, they'd be tortured physically or mentally to the greatest extents in existence. Foxface knew this, and yet despite her fear of torture and death, her secretive personality, and her acceptance that you could never trust anyone or truly escape the Capitol's wrath, her old hopes were starting to come back to her! Did that side of her not understand that it was pointless to long for a day where she wouldn't have to feel lonely? Every part of her knew she had to face it. Hope for the better was useless in Panem.

The whole story with Nessa's hopes to escape the arena wasn't helping either. President Snow and his troops always found one way or another to sabotage any escape attempts—Juniper Berryharvest had just been extremely lucky. Foxface had only agreed to help Nessa rally up the other non-Careers because it was the only way she could survive after getting such a huge injury. She knew there was no way the escape plan could possibly work, even if they'd gotten so far already. Sooner or later something would go horribly wrong, someone would betray Nessa's team, and once again, the distrustful Capitol would win. And yet regardless of that, Foxface's long-abandoned hope for a better life and true friendship was trying to overtake her. Partly because of the tiny nostalgia triggered by her reluctant admiration towards the District 3 tributes, and partly because deep down, she still wanted to stop living the awful life she was used to. Even though hoping for such things was utterly pointless.

Nessa simply does not understand that no one can be trusted here, the furtive tribute thought, making sure what she was now thinking about didn't show on her face. Which makes sense because she doesn't live in Panem. But she could never understand that, even if I did trust her enough to explain how I realized it. She just does not realize that in some places, like this continent, happy endings never happen!

It was true; the two of them couldn't be more different. Foxface had established a distrustful personality to avoid her fears and any feelings of betrayal, and Nessa was pretty much the exact opposite of her. She was cheerful, ambitious, and even never hesitated to skip, or sing. She also had no experience whatsoever with violence and betrayals, which made helping her understand what the Hunger Games were all about the hardest task in the world. Having to rely on someone like her to survive was quite a hassle; but like she'd had no choice but to put up with her family's neglect, her old classmates' mockery, and the Capitol's reign of terror and dishonesty, she had no choice but to tolerate her alliances with Nessa, Sonia, and Geolo, while resisting any temptations to trust or admire them. And soon, she'd have to do the same with the tributes from Districts 12 and 11. She had to face facts—she had been destined to suffer with no control over her life from the beginning.

Eventually Foxface and Geolo arrived at the edge of the forest, where the latter dragged her towards the Cornucopia. She gulped, hoping his apparent kidnapping truly was just an act; that she wouldn't have to really scold herself for trusting him later on, even if she was only trusting him because it was her only option. That he wouldn't betray her like everyone she'd known back in District 5 had.

The Cornucopia looked so different now that all the weapons and backpacks were gone. Now there was only what looked like hundreds of food scattered around the area, mainly fruits and vegetables. Even though she knew some of the food stash was in Geolo, Peeta, and the Careers' backpacks, there was so much of it in sight that Foxface decided it would have been more than enough to feed all 24 tributes.

Now that settled it. She'd already known the Careers had special fighting academies back in their districts, but this confirmed that those spoiled tributes really did have an unfair advantage in the Games. Was that just because Districts 1 and 2 were wealthier and happened to be responsible for building the fancy things that kept the Capitol rich in beauty and metal materials? Or did the Capitol just want to make the Games more interesting by deliberately placing obvious champions with obvious weaklings? Without even considering the fact that the champions could turn out to be dumb enough to lose and the weaklings could turn out to be smart enough to win? No wonder Geolo didn't have much confidence in himself, despite his awareness that he was one of the smartest tributes here.

"Okay," said Geolo, still acting vicious so their viewers wouldn't suspect anything, "you'd better have a strong shovel in that backpack. All I've got is food and this spear, which I can only effectively use to kill."

"I do not," Foxface replied, which really was true. The reason why she was scared at the moment was the false part.

"Too bad," scoffed Geolo, "because we need a strong shovel to dig out those land mines. Then I can reactivate them and set up a trap."

And somehow give one of the mines to Nessa and Sonia so they can use it on the hovercraft once we hear the next cannon, thought Foxface. She then realized that would be a tough task too. How were they going to crash the hovercraft and defeat the Peacekeepers without at least two cameras seeing them? Even if Geolo snuck one of the land mines to Nessa and Sonia when Peeta and the Careers were busy hunting for Katniss, Clove would still see what they were doing and report it to Cato immediately. There had to be some other way.

Wait a minute…without cameras! If they could somehow make the hovercraft crash-land in the ditch, then they could deal with the Peacekeepers without the cameras catching any footage of it! But since the cameras would likely catch the land mine being thrown at the hovercraft either way, they would have to make the part about it hitting the vehicle look like an accident. It was such a detailed plan, but since she and Geolo couldn't spread the word to their other allies without exposing the fact that she hadn't really been taken hostage, Foxface could only hope Sonia knew enough information about how the Games worked to come up with the same plan herself. Or that Katniss or the girl from 11 would do the same when and if they were recruited into their team.

Alright, perhaps Sonia wasn't as idiotic as she'd originally thought. She may have made such a rookie mistake before the dawn of Day 2, but when it came to helping plan out how they'd escape the arena (if the plan really would be successful) and using her sewing talents to build water flasks and a bandage…she wasn't so bad. Still, that didn't mean Foxface was going to get her hopes up too high, or apologize for calling Sonia an idiot if they managed to reunite. There was still a chance that girl would betray them at the last minute, especially since the two of them didn't get along. Really, anyone could betray the team, but in her opinion at least, the strawberry blonde from District 8 seemed pretty likely to do it.

Geolo let out a fake groan. "I guess we'll have to wait for the Careers to come back and give us a shovel then."

As if on cue, Cato emerged from within the forest at that moment and walked over, carrying two backpacks that both looked heavy. Once he got to the Cornucopia, he set both backpacks down and opened one of them. As he did, he noticed Foxface and narrowed his eyes. "What's she doing here?"

Geolo smiled nervously. "Hostage. Really lucky hostage. She was easy to capture because of her leg. But I did it. Tricked her two allies, one of whom is Clove's replacement, into knocking themselves unconscious. After that she was fair game." He looked around. "Hey, where's the rest of the pack?"

"Glimmer, Marvel, and Lover Boy stayed behind to guard Fire Girl," Cato replied. "I just came here because I realized you'd need something to dig out the mines. Can I trust you alone with the shovel in here?"

"Yes you can. I'd do anything for you. You are destined to win after all."

Cato nodded, acknowledging the compliment but not smiling. "You'd better mean that. 'Cause if you don't, you're dead meat."

"What about my hostage?"

"Either way, she won't be. Not yet. Just make sure she doesn't escape. In case that clueless lady and whoever her second ally is come looking for their helpless friend, the One tributes and I need to be ready to finish them off first. Then we'll kill her, after we extinguish Fire Girl."

Geolo nodded. "Seems like a good plan."

"Of course it's a good plan, genius. Like you said, I'm destined to win." With that, Cato took a sturdy-looking shovel out of the unzipped backpack and gave it to Geolo. Then he zipped the backpack up again, and took it and the other backpack back into the forest.

Typical overconfidence, Foxface thought. Yes, the Careers undoubtedly had unfair advantages. They were spoiled rotten! Cato had no idea how much he was underestimating any of the other tributes, especially her. If Sonia and Nessa succeeded in pulling off that sneak attack, she had to admit it would be interesting to see how the remaining Careers (if there would be any left, which there probably would be) reacted to it. If losing one of their own to two seemingly hopeless opponents wouldn't be a wake-up call, she didn't know what would be.

With some difficulty, Geolo shoved the shovel's head into the grass in front of one of the pedestals, strained, and eventually managed to catapult a handful of grass and some dirt into the air and several feet behind him. Two more digs, and a shiny but dirty metal device was unearthed. For a moment he smiled in satisfaction, but then he turned to Foxface with a fake glare and ordered, "Don't just lie there! Claw at the ground! See what you can do to help this go faster."

Foxface sighed, but nodded. She then removed her own backpack, unzipped it, and pulled out the flask Sonia had built for her. It was made entirely out of sticks along with the incredibly effective lid she'd also created, held together by sticky honey, which she'd gathered from a jar that was also in the furtive tribute's backpack. The flask was still half full of water that she wanted to preserve, but its lid would have to come off and be dismantled. Sticks weren't the sharpest or strongest material, but they were now the closest thing Foxface had to a weapon.

Standing the flask up against her backpack so it wouldn't tip over, she removed the container's lid and strained, trying to dismantle it—which wasn't easy because of honey, and the way Sonia had arranged the twigs. Soon her strains became so hard that she had to put pressure on her legs, and instantly she stopped pulling as the pain of her injuries returned. It was stronger than it had been the last few times she'd felt it, and as she waited for the hurting to cease, she swallowed hard. That was another thing she was worried about; it had been two days since she'd gotten that scrape. Sometimes infections happened if an injury was left without ointment for that long…

After a concerning ten seconds, the pain lessened, and Foxface decided to claw at the ground with the flask lid without dismantling it first. It was simply no use; Sonia had arranged and glued it too well, and she couldn't ask Geolo to help her dismantle it because he was busy using the shovel. They had to dig up and reactivate the land mines as quickly as possible so they'd have more time to locate District 11's male tribute and figure out how to "accidentally" propel one of the mines toward the hovercraft once it came.

The boy from 11. Gulp. Being just as reluctant towards alliances as she was, he'd be impossible to reason with. Even if Nessa and Sonia would be able to help her and Geolo talk to him, Foxface knew he likely wouldn't listen to any of them. He could even kill them if he thought that's what was best, which she was terrified of having to experience. Nope—as much as Nessa thought they'd prevail, there really was no way they'd ever make it out of the arena all together.

For Clove, Day Three of the Hunger Games was quite entertaining. Geolo somehow succeeding in kidnapping Foxface and using her to booby-trap the Cornucopia faster, Fire Girl getting stuck in a tree guarded by Cato, Lover Boy, and the tributes from 1, her own replacement and the girl from 8 hiding near that area and gossiping inaudibly, seemingly forming an alliance with the girl from 11…it was perfect. Well, for the other Careers. She couldn't say it was really perfect as long as she was stuck outside the arena.

Aside from that, there were good news and bad news. The good news was that she'd succeeded in getting her message to Cato yesterday, and he'd told Glimmer, Marvel, and their non-Career allies what it said in front of the cameras. When her mentor, the famous sharp-teethed Enobaria, had visited the District 2 tribute residence to check on her this morning, she'd said the Capitol residents had watched Cato's discovery live. They were now upset that the so-called Quarter Quell twist had only been a coverup to hide an accidental launch mistake, and several Hunger Games staff including Caesar Flickerman were still trying to figure out how to deal with their audience. Having them lose interest in the Games was one thing, she'd said, but having them feel betrayed because they made a seemingly impossible mistake and lied about it was something no one had ever thought would happen.

"Serves them right," Clove had said, pleased with her work. "Now they'll really have no choice but to put me in the arena."

"Don't get your hopes up yet," her mentor had warned, preparing to issue the bad news to her. "The Game Makers are pretty big on the phrase 'the show must go on.' That was why they made up the story about the Quell twist. I can put up a fight in your honour if I have to, but the odds may not be as in our favour as you think."

"Just promise me you'll do everything you can to get me in that arena, okay? And if he's out of the authorities' custody, tell Brutus to do the same."

"He's not out though. Mentors don't get away with trying to kill physically weaker mentors during the tribute parade, even if they're Career mentors and they're just doing it to help their own tribute win."

That comment hadn't helped at all. Because Brutus, who was originally supposed to be Cato's mentor, had ferociously attacked and nearly killed one of the mentors from District 6 shortly after arriving in the Capitol for the 74th Hunger Games, Enobaria had had to mentor both of this year's tributes from 2 simultaneously. As for Brutus, unable to see or hear any information about how his tributes were doing in the arena, he was sentenced to serve time until the Games were over. Clove had hoped he'd be released early because of the launch mistake, as an apology for being so unfair to her, but apparently he wouldn't be for a while. Which meant Enobaria still had to work twice as hard at her job.

Yet regardless of the Brutus problem, Clove's mentor had promised her that she would do whatever it took to make her true voice be heard. She agreed that the Capitol's refusal to let her into the arena despite everyone having expected her was an injustice, and she'd taken it upon herself to not only communicate with Cato's sponsors, but also encourage them that Clove's absence hadn't been intentional. Which they'd eventually believed, because Enobaria had also helped Clove get her note to Cato into the arena.

"I even asked around to see if anyone recognized the woman who replaced you," Enobaria had said, "before you confirmed the body switch. A woman who wanted to sponsor that 12 girl you're angry at said the so-called model for your 'mannequin' was the District 12 escort, Effie Trinket."

So that explained why Lover Boy had recognized the woman. She was supposed to be among his sponsor gatherers. But if the real Effie was an escort and not a stylist, why had Rani believed the person now in her body when she'd said she was a stylist that slept in? By the way, speaking of Rani, she still hadn't returned from President Snow's residence. It was now the afternoon of Day 3, and Enobaria had said she, the other District 2 stylist, and the District 2 escort all hadn't seen her since right after she'd tried to reason with the Game Makers. Now Clove was starting to doubt that her stylist was ever coming back. President Snow must have refused to do anything about the last-minute tribute change, and Rani had either run away or been apprehended and sentenced to death by the Peacekeepers. Nobody knew for sure.

Now Clove was once again alone in the District 2 tribute living room, with nothing to do but watch the Hunger Games on live TV and practice her knife-throwing talents with knives she'd previously found and saved during meals. She hoped Enobaria or her escort and Cato's stylist would return soon with good news; preferably news that she was about to be transported into the arena. She'd been waiting long enough—supervising the TV, keeping the outfit she was supposed to wear in the arena next to her at all times just in case…she had to be let into the arena sooner or later!

Two hours passed, and Enobaria finally returned. There were bruise marks on her arms and a cut on her forehead, and her hair was a mess. Clearly, she'd meant it when she had said she would put up a fight in her tribute's honour if she had to.

Clove perked up at the sight of her mentor. "Did your fight pay off?"

Enobaria bared her teeth for a moment, and Clove saw their ends were covered in blood. Then her mentor replied, "It got enough attention to make President Snow himself intervene. He said he'd send the entire Peacekeeper force to detain me if I didn't tell you to stop sending information to Cato and the Ones through the sponsors. Says it's a form of cheating that would have consequences I wouldn't like, and I asked. He told Rani to back off too, but he didn't threaten to send any authorities after her. Probably because she spoke to him first and she doesn't know how to fight with arms, legs, or teeth."

"So that means she ran away because she didn't want me to stab her," decided Clove. She narrowed her eyes. "Well Enobaria, if even you can't get through to Snow, I'm going to talk to him myself. He might understand how desperate I am if I use the direct approach."

"I wouldn't suggest you do that, Clove. After all we've been through so far, his next idea could be forcing both of us to 'accidentally' choke on nightlock. He did remind me that the Game Makers offered to let you take part in the real third Quarter Quell if Fake Effie dies, and not accepting a deal like that might reflect badly on District 2's loyalty to the Capitol. He even said that if you think about it, you'll still have a strong role in the 74th Games, especially if Cato finishes her off. Your absence is what's really pushing him forward, as you've seen onscreen. If you want to do something as payback, your best option is to track down the fairy that made Effie switch bodies with a weirdo. Because technically, if it hadn't been for that switch, the tribute switch wouldn't have happened."

Clove considered this. Enobaria had a point; Wish-Trish technically was to blame for her being replaced at the last minute. She was pretty sure real escorts wouldn't have even considered doing what her replacement had done, since they knew what they were supposed to do during the Games and that the lives of their own tributes were somewhat in their hands. She never would have been replaced if the body switch hadn't happened first…still, that didn't mean she wasn't going to get her revenge on everyone else. Whoever was in Effie's body for replacing her and being such an obstacle for the other Careers, and Rani for chickening out instead of persevering regardless of the consequences.

"Fine," Clove finally said. "But in case President Snow changes his mind and decides to let me in while we're looking for her, make sure you stay in touch with the rest of Cato's sponsor gatherers."

"That I can do," reassured Enobaria. "With the truth about the District 2 tribute change out, the Capitol's probably going to be deep in thought about how they're going to handle everything now. If we go out in public, then they can't give us the death sentence or something without losing anyone's respect."

Clove smiled. "Good. Who knows…maybe I'll even force that little creature to return my special generations-old dagger before I stab her."

"Feel free," laughed Enobaria. "It's your dagger and your victim. I'll just be there to watch, and bite anyone who tries to interfere with your payback."

Golias, Bongo, and Effie were relieved when Objectiva flew out of the District 1 hospital alone, thirty minutes after she'd entered it.

"How's Wish-Trish?" Golias asked.

Objectiva sniffled. "She is still unconscious. Luckily, once I pretended I had your scenery layout-changing abilities, the medics agreed to heal her without capturing either of us for personal gain. Sadly, they say it will take at least until tomorrow to heal her, especially since she's their first-ever fairy patient."

"And what they can't heal her?" Effie asked. "What will we do then?"

"If Wish-Trish cannot be saved, we will have to temporarily leave Panem and find the special objects I transferred my power to," said Objectiva. "We will decide which of them will be the best choice, then we will bring them back to Panem. Once we do, we will find Nessa and work the objects' magic." She swallowed hard. "In case that is what we will have to do, we should consider our object choices now."

"I say we choose whatever's closest to Panem," Effie said immediately.

"It is not that simple, Effie," insisted Objectiva. "The good news is that we won't even have to worry about which objects are closest, since most of them are in all the cities within the island I sent the Knife Witch's dagger to. But because of exactly what the magical objects are, the ways they swap and unswap their victims all have their differences."

Bongo rolled his eyes. "Sure sure sure. How different could making people switch bodies be?"

"Very different, as I am about to explain to you," declared Objectiva. "First of all, the enchanted green talismans function most similarly to Wish-Trish's abilities. Their victims must wear them around their necks as they wish to be swapped or swapped back to normal, and then they trade bodies! The first swap they cause can be made permanent if not reversed by the soonest sunset. Yet there is a problem. Only two of these talismans are on the island, and they are both already owned by a family that recently discovered their ability. The rest of the talismans are in China, in that relic shop I mentioned."

Golias frowned, tooting his trunk. "I'm not sure we'll have enough time to go all the way to China..."

"Luckily," chimed Objectiva, "the rest of the magical objects are located on the island as well. We cannot use the hourglasses because they were accidentally stripped of their power when their last victims broke one of them. But the fortune cookies of one of the island's Chinese restaurants could work."

Effie smiled. "Will Nessa and I simply have to eat them?"

"No. We will just have to go to the right restaurant, acquire two cookies, and bring them to Nessa. You and her will have to each privately read the fortunes aloud. You will then feel an intense earthquake that nobody else will feel, and the next morning, you will wake up in each other's bodies. Although…showing selfless displays of love for each other could accidentally send you back into each other's bodies again, so perhaps the cookies aren't the best choice…"

"Well, I can assure you that we're not stealing from an innocent family or going all the way to China," affirmed Effie. "So that just leaves us with this Knife Witch's dagger."

Objectiva gasped in horror. "Did you not hear my description of its functions?! If we use the dagger to undo the body swap, Nessa could be traumatized for life! Maybe you as well!"

"Traumatized?" Golias asked. "Oh, I don't think I like the sound of that…"

"You wouldn't," said Objectiva. "I am not even going to describe the functions to you. They are that scary. Besides, acquiring the dagger could require stealing as well, in a more serious way! Ever since the uprising that took place when its latest victims used it, the dagger has been locked away in the victims' city's police station! Either there or their city's museum, where I believe the dagger was stolen from. I cannot quite remember which…but either way we would have to steal it from people in such high positions!"

Effie sighed. "Alright…perhaps that family's talismans really are the backup solution."

"They are the only backup solution," clarified Objectiva. "And if Wish-Trish cannot be cured, we will have no choice but to go to the island and gather the family's talismans."

Oh my word. Will Wish-Trish be healed, or will Effie once again have to leave Panem? And what will become of Clove and everyone still in the arena? Be prepared, for the chapter coming up next will feature quite a bit of drama…