Hey readers! I'm back once more. We left off on such an emotional cliffhanger last time…can the remaining rebels avoid losing any more of their own? Now's the time to see for ourselves.
Lili's Double Dilemma
All the mentors in the inflatable raft punched, kicked, and threw themselves against the dome, but nothing they did succeeded in breaking even part of it. This wasn't good—in just a matter of seconds, they would be inside the Peacekeepers' hovercraft! Which probably had some kind of trap that would be sure to overpower even the members of their team who had magical abilities; or else they would have been seen as a threat so big, the authorities wouldn't have even bothered to even try capturing them.
"It's no use," Golias said after a few seconds. "We have to try something else."
"Well then hurry up and tell us what to do!" Johanna shrilled. "We've still gotta find the other mentors on our team and get them out of the flood! The Fours'll probably be fine, since swimming's their life, but who knows if the Threes can handle it just as well?"
They were now only three seconds away from entering the hovercraft. Quickly, everyone examined their surroundings, hoping that would help spark up some ideas. Thankfully, almost instantly, Haymitch instructed, "When I say go, everyone jump. Together."
All of his companions obeyed him once he gave the signal, and as a result, just in time, once their feet touched back down on its floor, the raft was wrenched apart from the dome and sent falling back into the water. It probably never would have worked if Golias hadn't been with them, since he was significantly heavier than the rest of the team…in fact, that was probably why Haymitch's plan ended up working a bit differently than the group had hoped. Once the raft separated from the dome, the center of it (the area Golias was standing in) dipped, causing the raft's left and right sides to spring upward and therefore send everyone else in it flying into the air.
While Golias and the raft quickly found their way back into the water, where they sank for just a second before resurfacing and starting to drift forward again, his teammates briefly went back under the dome, then flew back downward. However, because of the raft starting to move again despite Golias's attempts to stop it, only Johanna managed to land back inside the raft. Everyone else could only land right behind it, in the water—which was alright for the mentors, since they were all able to swim due to the memory of watching how Annie won her Hunger Games being fresh in their minds. Unfortunately, this advantage didn't help Effie, because if there was one thing her walking-on-all-fours lessons hadn't prepared her for, it was swimming in Nessa's body.
She couldn't say she blamed Golias, or even Bongo; none of them could have known that sooner or later they'd be dealing with such a large flood. But it was still terrifying for her, flailing all of her legs about and just barely managing to keep her head above the water's surface. The fact that she also had to focus on her long neck and make sure it didn't tip the wrong way didn't make things any easier either.
Luckily, she only had to more-or-less tread water for about two seconds before Haymitch came to her rescue and wrapped one of her arms around his chest. He then used his other arm and both of his legs to make his way back toward the raft, which Seeder was already climbing into. As for Yuri and Lili, they simply remained in the places where they had landed—Cecelia's shoulders—waiting for her to lift them into the raft once everyone else was in.
"Hey," Lili suddenly remarked, peering upward, "who's that?"
"Who's who?" Golias asked. He and the mentors whirled around so they could see where she was looking; just in time to see a tall figure, seemingly having popped up from out of nowhere, fly through the air and land on top of the Peacekeepers' hovercraft. Once the figure landed, they let out a grunt that Haymitch and Effie instantly recognized, this time simultaneously. The person in question was Katniss. But why in the world was she trying to confront the spiteful soldiers, presumably to rescue the rocket's passengers, by herself?! No backpack, no weapons, no company…
Suddenly the Peacekeepers' hovercraft once again lowered its claw, which was now sans the raft's dome. "Go, go!" Johanna quickly ordered. Seeder, who was by now back in the raft, then helped Haymitch lift himself and Effie into the inflatable, while Johanna and Golias started doing all they could to help the raft move forward faster than it was. Cecelia helped too, by clasping the raft's back edge and kicking them forward, with the remainder of the kids now sitting on her back as she positioned it horizontally.
Inside their hovercraft, Nessa and by this point all of her companions except Foxface were crowded around the windshield, anxiously watching the scene just below them. The Peacekeepers' hovercraft's claw was getting closer and closer to the raft's passengers, and despite their attempts to get away from it, everyone could see it was only a matter of time before Cecelia, Yuri, and Lili would join Matt, Iris, and Daisy. As for Katniss, she had just landed on the vehicle's roof and was now carefully crawling toward its windshield. In only seconds, one way or another, she was going to find her way into that hovercraft, and the wellbeing of its passengers' current prisoners would be in her hands.
Geolo gulped and quickly dried his eyes and cheeks. Since he couldn't damage the claw in any way without risking putting his team or the other in harm's path, there was only one way to prevent anyone else down there from being captured next. And it probably wasn't going to be easy for the other team of rebels. But he had to do it, or else.
"Okay," the tribute from 3 shakily instructed, "I uh…I need every single one of you back in the cargo bay with Fox, again. I'm about to do something crazy, and it's best if you don't know what it is until it's all over."
Albeit reluctantly, everyone in the pilot's cabin with him returned to the cargo bay. Nobody said anything, but most of the group were basically praying that Katniss would succeed in preventing any harm from coming to the captured children, while also staying clear of any torture herself. And Clove, well, she didn't care what happened to her arch enemy as long as the Peacekeepers didn't kill her. They could torture her all they wanted, but she wanted to be the one who would do the killing part. Show the entire city that they'd bet on the wrong teenage girl. Honestly, for Fire Girl to throw everything away like that just to save some kids' lives (even if there was a chance that the Peacekeepers wouldn't be shallow enough to buy her story) was…awesome! The less sucking up she had to do, the easier her mission would be; especially if it meant figuratively dropping some heavy weight.
When everyone was strapped in once again, Geolo steered their hovercraft ahead of the other one, until he was certain that he had positioned his team directly in front of (but still above) the raft. Then he reached for the button that controlled the vehicle's ladder, while simultaneously making the contraption visible again. It was risky doing the latter, but then again, it was the only way to ensure that his plan would work. He could only hope the other rebel team would do their part without needing to be told to first, since he didn't want anyone else on his own team to risk being captured after everything that had happened so far…
Luckily, once the hijacked hovercraft was visible and the ladder was close enough to the other rebel team, Golias noticed it right away and walked toward it. He then wrapped his trunk around the rung at the very bottom, and even while he did, Geolo swiftly typed into a small computer attached to the control panel. It was the (according to his mother and many other adults back in District 3) one and only part of a hovercraft's system that was rarely, if ever, used: the emergency option selector and activator, which was built specifically in case a hovercraft was in the kind of danger that was seemingly impossible to get out of. Whenever that kind of situation happened, all you had to do was search through a not-too-long list of emergency functions, and then press the area with the name of the function you wanted to activate. In this case, that needed function was the one at the top of the list: the hyperdrive on/off switch.
Just as the Peacekeepers' hovercraft claw was about to grab Cecelia and the remainder of the kids, Geolo activated the hijacked hovercraft's hyperdrive, and was immediately pushed back in his seat as his vehicle surged forward at what was probably twice as fast as a cheetah—the experience was too overwhelming for him to really calculate how fast they were going and see if that was the case. He then grasped the steering wheel with both hands as tightly as he could so he could try to avoid crashing into anything, but because of the vehicle's extremely fast speed, he couldn't avoid all the obstacles before it was too late. The hijacked hovercraft ended up scraping against six of the rock towers that now resided in the Capitol, and it was a miracle that it still managed to remain intact.
Outside the hovercraft, Golias managed to hold onto the ladder and use his feet to keep himself from falling off the raft at the same time, but that didn't mean the scenario was any better for him. He was absolutely terrified of really really fast rides! He was only really enduring this one because it looked like Nessa and her tribute friends were trying to help get him and his companions away from the bad men, and he had to keep reminding himself of that as he screamed in terror, his ears sticking out behind him as they zoomed through the water.
He wasn't the only one who was scared of going this fast though. Effie was screaming in peril too, partly also because she didn't have any hands, which meant she couldn't hold onto the raft or anyone else on it. So, to keep her from falling off, Haymitch had to use one hand to hold her by her chest and keep his other hand attached to one of the elephant's feet. As for Seeder and Cecelia, they managed to stay calm for the most part, and to hold onto the raft tightly enough to stay on it. Johanna, however, could only do the latter, and nobody could tell if it was because she was scared too or because Golias's ears kept accidentally brushing against her face. As for Yuri, who actually liked fast rides, he was the only one out of the group that found pleasure in what they were doing and laughed for pretty much the whole experience. He didn't let that negatively affect his tight grip on the back of Cecelia's shirt though.
Really, it was a tense experience for everyone besides Yuri, including Lili. But unfortunately, it wasn't because of the fast ride. As soon as it had started, the poor girl had been more unprepared than the others and, not managing to tighten her grip in time, had slipped off of Cecelia the moment she was pulled forward—right into the water below them. And since everyone else in her group had been too busy screaming or listening to two of their own screaming, not even Yuri had noticed her falling or her absence.
Once she fell in, Lili waved her arms around the water like crazy. She'd never been in water without her feet touching the ground before, whether it was the smooth floor of Yuri's wading pool or the sand from the beach! It was a scary feeling; why weren't her friends coming back to save her? "HELP!" she screamed, trying to get their attention in case they just hadn't heard her fall. "GUYS, IT'S ME, LILI! COME BACK!"
No response…at least, not from her friends. As soon as she yelled for her friends to come back, the claw from the Peacekeepers' hovercraft grabbed her by one of the straps of her overalls and slowly lifted her into the vehicle. The next thing she knew, she was in a dark room, and a Peacekeeper was pulling her out of the claw's grasp.
Fear shot up the girl's spine. She'd just been taken away by Peacekeepers! The mean men who were always trying to make things harder for her District 11 friends! The men who wanted to hurt anyone who tried to break the silly food rules…what was going to happen to her now?
The Peacekeeper who had Lili immediately brought her into the next room in the vehicle, where several more Peacekeepers were waiting for them while simultaneously guarding three more people who had been taken prisoner. Matt, Iris, and Daisy! Fern, Astilbo, and Toolip weren't there though…did they get out of the rocket at some point before it was taken away? After she and Yuri had?
"Got another one," said the first Peacekeeper. He let go of Lili, and she rushed toward her present friends.
"Lili!" Matt exclaimed with worry. He hugged her as soon as she came near him. "They got you too?"
Although she was clearly scared of the Peacekeepers, Iris narrowed her eyes a little. "You didn't take the rest of my siblings too, did you? Because I mean it, if you did—"
"Can it, kid," growled a second Peacekeeper. "You know what happens to rebels around here?"
Daisy swiftly shook her head, also afraid. "Don't do anything to my sister, or Matt and Lili. She doesn't deserve it at all! And they may have tried to throw m…other people…under the wheelbarrow, but they're nation outsiders! They're only here because the lady who switched bodies with—"
"They're rebels all the same!" a third Peacekeeper barked. "Whether they're from Panem or not, they've still committed treason, as have you."
"What's committing treason?" Lili asked. "You can't put me in a timeout box for doing something I don't even know about!"
The first Peacekeeper let out a cocky chortle. "Oh, but we can. And there's nothing you can do about it. Blowing your whistle, which I see you don't have with you, in people's faces might work on your so-called best friend, but it won't work on us."
Lili gasped (as did Matt). "How did you know what happened when I tried to play Croquet with my friends?"
Before any of the Peacekeepers could answer her question, yet another one called out to them from another room, "Hey men, get a load of this! Solid proof that we really do need to start telling Districts 3 and 6 to put rebel-capturing systems on top of our hovercrafts instead of just at the bottoms!"
"Fine," groaned the first Peacekeeper, "I'll talk to the president about your opinion. Now where is the solid proof in question?"
"Right here," said the Peacekeeper who wasn't in the room. He then came into view, and Lili stiffened as she recognized the teenager he had his arms wrapped around the belly of. It was the same teenage girl who had tried to help her and Yuri get away from the Peacekeepers earlier! The one who'd had those arrows with her…Katniss, Lili was pretty sure her name was…except now the arrows were gone, leaving her with no way to protect herself.
The second Peacekeeper frowned at the sight before him. "You," he snarled.
"Don't hurt them," Katniss densely ordered. "I have much, much more capabilities than you realize."
The first Peacekeeper glared at her. "Nice try, Girl On Fire. After two of those kids over there showed our colleagues in District 11 they can use magic to turn a dysfunctional house into a perfectly functional rocket ship, it's obvious who's the bigger threat here."
"It isn't as obvious as you'd assume," said Katniss. "The truth is, everything these kids did…I did. They aren't the ones with magic in them. I am, and mine can work from any distance."
Lili (the tribute's true intentions not clicking with her right away) would have scolded Katniss for lying, if Iris hadn't quickly scooted in front of her, turned to face her, and whispered "shhh," so quietly that the Peacekeepers didn't hear it. She wasn't keen on increasing one of her oldest sister's allies' chances of facing torture, but if she was deliberately trying to trick these mean men into not at all harming her, Daisy, and two kids that were around Toolip's age, well…she couldn't bring herself to stop her. This was the first time someone outside of District 11 was willing to go this far to protect someone so young, let alone someone she was fond of, and she didn't want her parents, who were already in discomfort to begin with, to be faced with the sadness of losing even one of their children. Then there was the unfairness regarding the Peacekeepers even considering hurting Matt and Lili, who weren't even from Panem to begin with…really, the less captives who got hurt, the better. No matter how hard it was for her to think these thoughts.
"Is what you claim true?" growled the Peacekeeper holding Katniss.
"Yes," she said, slightly nervous but still sounding quite dense. "Which means I created the rocket ship. I was the one who got them this far. And if you or anyone else even think about harming any of them, in any way, I will stop you. And you will be the ones to suffer, in ways you never thought were possible. You can hurt me, or put me to sleep, even forever. But I will still protect them, because that's just how well my magic works. Nothing, absolutely nothing, is capable of deactivating it."
The second Peacekeeper shook his head in disbelief, and then turned to his present teammates. "Is she going bonkers because she lost her district partner after he professed his love, or is she serious?"
"I cannot answer that question, Denise," replied the first Peacekeeper, sighing reluctantly. "None of us can. Though we mustn't take any chances in case she is right…the only thing we can do is temporarily abort the remainder of our mission to capture the rebels around Panem and bring these ones into the Capitol's prison. Just long enough to experiment on Miss Everdeen with everything we and the staff there have until we can figure out whether or not her statement is true."
"Oh," said Matt. "Um…but what's gonna happen to us until you know?"
"You'll be placed in a different cell," answered the first Peacekeeper. "Aside from that, nothing…but we can all assure you, if our results tell us your tribute friend is lying, you will not like the consequences. And nor will she."
It felt like forever, but eventually Geolo managed to get the remainder of both rebel teams to a safe place in the outskirts of the Capitol—where the flood waters couldn't quite make it. It was the one and only place where he knew no member of the authorities would ever think to look for them: just outside the arena where the 74th Hunger Games had taken place. Luckily, just as he'd theorized and hoped, the arena was deserted. No hovercrafts, vans, or people in sight.
It wasn't until they arrived there that Geolo deactivated the hijacked hovercraft's hyperdrive system. Then he surveyed the area with the help of Golias and his team, and when it became clear that no one had followed them here, Geolo had Rue instruct Golias to let go of the ladder just before he retracted it. After that, he parked the hovercraft on the ground and arranged for himself, Nessa, Rue, Thresh, and (just so she wouldn't be left alone with Rue's present siblings and Foxface) Clove to go outside once he turned off the engine. That way they'd be able to talk to the other rebel team and make arrangements regarding what each of their groups would do next, since they wouldn't be able to permanently merge into one team due to the arena evacuees being unable to bring Golias into their hovercraft.
The hovercraft's ladder had just been retracted by the time Yuri realized Lili was missing, and when nobody was able to find her, Haymitch came to the conclusion that she must have been snatched by the claw when they weren't looking—which of course deeply worried Yuri and Golias.
"That's likely what happened, but why wasn't the hovercraft that captured the kids' rocket able to catch up to us?" Seeder inquired. "If the evacuees' hovercraft can go into hyperdrive, that one should be able to as well."
Haymitch pensively gazed at the city. "They obviously let us go on purpose. Can't say I know why, but hopefully everyone Nessa busted out can narrow it down."
Before everyone knew it, the hovercraft was parked, and half of its current passengers were rushing out of it. Nessa led the way of course, more than excited to reunite with her present friends from home. In fact, while the tributes behind her walked, she ran, her arms outstretched.
"Golias! Yuri!" she cheered, so happy that, for the moment, she didn't notice her best friend's absence.
"Nessa!" Golias joyfully shouted, instantly recognizing her from the live arena footage he'd seen earlier. He then rushed towards her too, with an equally excited Yuri not far behind him. They'd both missed her so much, and more than anything they wanted to make sure she was okay.
Once they reached each other, Golias wrapped his trunk around Nessa's waist and held her against his cheek, while she hugged him; something she hadn't been able to do in her own body due to it not having arms. Alright, it was official. Because of this moment, having arms was now her favourite part about being in Effie's body. Being able to give and receive hugs instead of only being able to receive them just felt so nice!
"Ooh I missed you so much!" Golias exclaimed. "I'm so glad we got to talk to you before those mean men did!"
"I missed you too, Golias. So so so much!" For a moment, Nessa felt as though she was back in that beautiful dream she'd had right before rescuing Sonia from the Careers. The scenery was different and so was the temperature, but otherwise it was exactly the same. Her and Golias, together again…
"Did you miss me too?" Yuri asked.
Nessa jumped a little, and then Golias released her so Yuri could hug her next. Oh well…she was truly happy to see both of them. So she said, "Of course I did," before they shared a hug as well. Two seconds later they released each other, and Nessa looked around, her happiness suddenly making way for confusion. "Wait…where's Lili? Wasn't she just with you?"
After Golias stiffened nervously and stuttered a little, Yuri sighed sadly and admitted, "Not anymore. Lili, um…well…the Peacekeepers took her. They took Matt too."
Nessa gasped in horror, her mouth dropping open. "They took Lili?! But she was standing right next to you!"
"We…we know," said Golias, now looking sad as well. "But then your giant flying thing wanted us to grab its ladder, and it started going really really fast, and when it did we were too scared to know what was going on."
"Not me," Yuri told him. "I liked the fast ride! Remember?"
"Oh yeah…but, uh…um…" Golias tooted his trunk, "maybe you liked it a little too much." He then noticed Nessa's eyes had become filled with tears of sadness, and said, "Oh no, Nessa…I'm so sorry! We didn't mean to get Lili taken away by the Peacekeepers! It just…happened! We didn't even know until we got here."
Nessa sniffled, trying her hardest not to start crying. "How could you not know she wasn't with you? She was right there!"
"We were just going so fast," Yuri said, trying unsuccessfully to console her. "Golias was screaming 'cause he doesn't like really really fast rides, and Effie was screaming too. Everyone was scared except for me, and I was so busy liking the ride I didn't even see Lili wasn't there. When we saw she was missing, it was too late to do something about it. We didn't mean to let them take her. We really didn't."
Unable to help it, Nessa fell to her knees and let the top half of her body sag close to the ground, finally letting her tears flow down her cheeks. She wanted to tell her two friends that she wasn't mad at them, that she trusted that the whole thing was an accident, because it was the truth; that was how she felt. But at the same time, saying that might be disloyal to her best friend. And this was the worst time to be disloyal! Lili had been taken by the Peacekeepers! She was in very deep trouble, but she was not going to blame Yuri and Golias for it. She herself was really the one to blame, for wishing herself into Effie's body and causing her friends to even go to Panem…but then again, if she hadn't done that, who knew what would have happened to the Hunger Games tributes that had become friends of hers now too?
Golias softly guided Nessa into another embrace, this time to comfort her, but she barely noticed; nor did she notice Yuri helping his best friend comfort her less than a second later. She wanted to blame herself for Lili getting taken away by the Peacekeepers, but it was hard to do that when her switching bodies with Effie had also affected the tributes in a good way. She didn't want to be disloyal to Lili, but she also knew she couldn't be disloyal to the tributes either…
"Nessa?"
Nessa looked up, and saw Rue was now standing next to her. Based on her expression, it was clear that she'd heard enough of her conversation to know why she was crying—or at least, the part about Lili being taken away by the Peacekeepers.
Sighing, Rue gently placed her hand on Nessa's shoulder, feeling bad for her. "I'm sorry about your friend. But…this had to be part of the reason why Katniss wanted to let herself get captured. In case the same thing happened to anyone else. As long as she's with the Peacekeepers, nothing bad will happen to Lili. She's going to be okay."
Nessa sniffled. "She…she will?"
Rue nodded, but with some reluctance. "I don't want Katniss to get hurt. And I know you don't either. But—"
"Wait a minute," said Yuri. "Katniss wanted the Peacekeepers to capture her?"
Before Rue could reply, Haymitch stepped into view, and said, "Okay. I think it's time we started getting our stories straight. And uh…by the way, Cecelia, you might want to do a head count."
"What do you mean?" Cecelia asked, stepping into view herself.
Recognizing her, Geolo gulped, half in worry and half in sadness. "You're…you're Sonia's mentor…right?"
The Peacekeepers' hovercraft landed in front of the Capitol's prison building, and the spiteful men wasted no time in escorting their captives out of the vehicle and into their destination. They'd already contacted the guards and other Peacekeepers and told them Katniss's story, so everyone at the prison was aware of what they were supposed to do: spare the kids until they knew whether or not the Girl On Fire was telling the truth.
After a brief conversation with the prison building's receptionist, two of the Peacekeepers brought Katniss through a hallway, blocked only by a door that had a sign on it, which read, Prisoners Who Require Extreme Action This Way Only. The rest of the troop, meanwhile, were joined by a guard before gently escorting Matt, Lili, Iris, and Daisy down a different hallway, where they eventually stopped in front of a door that had a different sign attached to it, reading Cell 30.
The guard used a key to unlock the door, which he then opened. Next, he stepped back, and allowed the Peacekeepers to shove the kids into the cell, which was closed and locked again once they made it inside.
As they listened to the guard and the Peacekeepers walk away, Lili narrowed her eyes a little. "They could have just let us walk in here too. Who do they think we are?"
"How can you find it in your heart to say that?" Daisy exclaimed. "We've just been arrested! We're prisoners! Aren't you scared?"
"Of course I'm scared!" Lili said, though she softened a bit after those words came out. "But just because we're prisoners doesn't mean we can't calm down a little. Now that those mean old men are gone—"
"Shhh!" hissed Iris. "This is a prison, so there's bound to be cameras in here! If the staff here hears us saying mean things about them, they could hurt us behind Katniss's back!"
Upon hearing that comment, Lili realized her point and quieted down. She then whispered, "Sorry…but Daisy, did you understand what I said?"
Daisy sighed and nodded, but she didn't say anything. There was an awkward moment of silence, and then Matt jumped. "Uh, guys? I don't think we're the only prisoners in here."
"We aren't?" Lili asked, surprised.
"Yeah," said Matt, "look." He pointed to something in front of them.
The girls looked where he was pointing and then (though none of them admitted it) instantly felt embarrassed. They'd been in the cell long enough to have noticed the the layout of it by now, and yet they hadn't until this very moment. Okay, for a prison cell, the room actually looked...kind of nice. Not rusty, dull, and grey like Lili had expected, but white, smooth, and well-nourished. There was even a big TV attached to the wall on the kids' right, but it was currently off and it didn't look there was any way to control it in any way. As for the area directly in front of them, it remained completely bare, except for an empty grey mattress on the floor that actually looked pretty comfortable. There was a mattress on the left side of the cell too, except unlike the other one, there was someone lying down in it. A teenage boy with ruffled blonde hair, and a thick white bandage covering half of his face; making it impossible to see his left eye and cheek. Though the kids couldn't tell if he had any more booboos too, because with the exception of his head, all of his body was completely hidden under a gold blanket.
The boy's visible eye was closed, and he didn't seem to be aware of the kids' presence, so Iris whispered, "He must be asleep."
Lili nodded, and then furrowed her brow. "Did…did I see him before? He looks kind of…"
"Yeah, I think I know him from somewhere too," agreed Matt. "But I can't remember where…"
Daisy crept up to the boy and studied his face. Almost immediately, she staggered backward, covered her mouth, and let out a muffled gasp. "It's him…" she whispered, "…oh no…oh no…"
"What's wrong?" Lili asked. "Who is he?"
"The boy tribute from District 12," said Daisy. "I think his name's Peeta. He was one of the tributes Nessa was trying to break out of the arena…but…I guess the Peacekeepers got him too. And those bandages…who knows what caused those to get wrapped around him."
Matt could only keep his fingers crossed that the booboos this poor tribute had received weren't too serious, and that he'd just gotten them from a soccer accident. A lot of stuff could happen in soccer…and in all the other sports that existed too. Maybe he'd just been trying to headbutt the ball and ended up hitting his head with it too hard. Maybe that was all it was. Hopefully that was all it was.
"I think we should let him sleep," said Lili. "He might get better faster that way."
"I agree with you," replied Iris, "but then what should we do? I mean, if we weren't in trouble…I have to admit, being in here would be kind of…boring."
Matt, Lili, and Daisy started to object, but then the realization that they were probably going to be stuck in this room for a while with nothing to do to pass the time—not even using Matt and Lili's magic to entertain themselves, for if they did that they'd expose Katniss's lie—kicked in. They didn't want to admit it, but Iris was right. As long as they weren't focused on being scared of the situation they were in, the only other emotion they could really feel was another unpleasant one: boredom. Oh man…what could they do together until they found some way out of this cell?
As if sensing their already-blooming boredom, the TV suddenly turned on by itself and began to play some music as a gold-coloured symbol that looked like a bird of some kind appeared on it, accompanied by a dark blue background.
"Look!" Matt pointed out. "A show's starting!"
"I know," smiled Lili, intrigued. She came to sit next to him as he settled down in front of the mattress Peeta was in, as did Iris and Daisy, who introduced the image on the TV as the symbol of Panem, and the music as Panem's national anthem.
In a second the national anthem stopped, and the background disappeared, making way for a video set in what appeared to be a large grassy outdoor space, with a forest visible in the distance. Underneath the spectacle, you could see a caption written in white text, which Daisy soon read aloud due to Lili telling her that she didn't know how to read yet: "NOT LIVE; SAVED FOOTAGE FROM THE 74TH HUNGER GAMES."
There were some gentle forest sounds and an occasional burping noise playing in the background as the video continued, but its main focus was on a tall metallic structure built in the middle of the grassy area. Two people were lying down on top of it, in silence. The first was a teenage girl with fair skin, freckles on her face, and orange hair that was worn in braids, each of which were shaped in a way that reminded Matt of his best friend Bongo's ears. She was wearing a light green shirt, a black jacket, a brown belt, tawny trousers, and black boots, and Lili was surprised when she noticed a bunch of leaves and twigs wrapped around one of the girl's legs with string. Almost like some sort of big bandage…meanwhile, the second person was also quite a sight. She was a woman who had a lot of smudged makeup on her face, and was wearing a red swirly shoulder cover, a blue top with a honey-coloured sash around it, a dark purple skirt with some light-coloured strands of hair wrapped around it, and a taller pair of black boots than the girl's.
Three seconds passed, and then the teenage girl asked the woman, "How did you push through the food gathering and throwing? Well, what I mean is, you come from a place that only involves fun and yet…you managed to keep up the routine just now for that long as though you were used to aching arms."
In response, the woman sighed sadly. "Well…" she said, "…when your best friend tells you to push a heavy stool around so many times, or blows a really loud whistle in your face because you broke a game rule…you do get kind of used to it."
"What?" the teenager replied, surprised.
Lili gasped. "What kind of best friend would do such a thing?"
"Yeah," said Matt, "that's not what best friends are supposed to do!"
Back in the video, the woman was asking, "What what?"
"She is your best friend," the teenage girl told her, "even someone you live with, and that is how she treats you?"
"Well," said the woman, "Lili can be a little bossy sometimes, but—"
"A little bossy? Nessa, I have never had a best friend before, but I know how to tell when someone is not friendly."
Lili gasped in shock. That woman was Nessa, in Effie's body?! Why did she just tell that girl that she'd…then Lili realized what she had to be talking about. She did remember getting in Nessa's face and blowing her whistle after she'd said "but" during their attempted Croquet game, and she did remember asking her to push her stool (her special spot) around the day they were trying to admire the inhabitants of a giant fish tank. But Lili hadn't done anything wrong by doing those things! She was just calling her best friend out for not following the game rules and asking her to push her stool to the spots she knew contained more beautiful fish!
"But Lili is friendly!" Nessa assured the teenager. "Sometimes it's hard to be with her, but she can also be nice to us! She reads me stories, she lets me have tea parties with her, she always likes it when we share our things…"
Unconvinced, the girl said, "Those are good deeds, but…sadly, where I come from, many people will perform good deeds just so others will be their servants and nothing more than that. It is only when someone truly listens to your thoughts, feelings, and opinions, rather than their own, and acknowledges them that they are proving themselves to be true friends. And honestly, if it hadn't been for you, I never would have learned how true friendship works."
Then there seemed to be some kind of time skip in the video, based on the fact that some of the background noises in it seemed to suddenly be cut off for a millisecond at that particular scene, but Lili was too taken aback by the conversation she was watching to realize it. All she knew was that right after she saw the orange-haired saying "true friendship works," she saw Nessa looking up at the sky above her, her expression making her thoughts clear: she was doubting her friendship with her own best friend! Then she watched as Nessa turned to look at the orange-haired girl, and then smiled at her and held her hand; a gesture that was soon returned by her companion.
The video stopped, and the TV turned off again. The kids could only sit there, in a stunned silence. However, in Lili's case, stunned wasn't the only emotion involved in the silence. Did she hear and see that right? Had Nessa really just said her own best friend was hard to be with? Was she really starting to wonder if she was a bad friend? That wasn't something the giraffe would do at all! She was always so glad to have her as a best friend! How could she say or think these things? How dare she!
Lili's stunned expression morphed into an intense glare, and she clenched her fists. Noticing this, Matt quickly said, "Uh, Lili, maybe Nessa just misses you. Maybe that's really why she was sad."
"No. It. Isn't," grunted Lili. "Nessa would never say those things about me! That girl she's with is just trying to trick her into not liking me anymore 'cause she wants her to be her best friend instead of mine!"
"Are you sure about that?" Iris said, hesitantly. "We've seen that girl she was with. She wouldn't steal anybody's best friend even if someone forced her to."
Daisy agreed. "If anything, I'd say Nessa was the one who got through to her."
"But—" Lili tried to object.
"Plus Nessa's right," admitted Matt. "Lili…you are kind of hard to be with sometimes. Even without your whistle! You tell us what to do a lot, and—"
"That's because I know all the rules about how to do stuff!" Lili retorted. "And no one knows that better than Nessa does. She loves being my best friend! She would never say those silly things."
Iris still looked unsure, as did her sister. "Just because she's your best friend doesn't mean she can't wonder if you and her were really meant to be together. Friendships aren't perfect."
"Maybe," insisted Lili, "but you don't know her like I do! Nessa is my best friend, and she's supposed to always be happy about it! Not sad." She then clenched her fists even tighter and stated, "I don't know that girl teenager's name, or why Nessa likes her so much, but I am not gonna let her take away my best friend."
Realizing they wouldn't be able to talk her out of her theories, Matt, Iris, and Daisy fell silent again and exchanged nervous glances. As for Peeta, who had been roused by the national anthem but was too tired to say anything, he was worried. Foxface hadn't opened up to him at all, but he had suspected she'd opened up to Nessa after watching the way the two of them spent time together after the mutt incident. And now that he'd seen how nicely she'd apparently treated her while they had been separated from the rest of the team…well, that confirmed there was a good side to her, making the empathy he felt towards her undeniable.
There was another undeniable thing too though. If the Peacekeepers and President Snow didn't succeed in punishing Foxface for doing something at least one person unjustly deemed upsetting, then Nessa's best friend certainly would. Which was probably why the guards had made sure the TV played that video, now that he thought about it; to deliberately trigger discord amongst the rebels in case someone was able to rescue the kids. Discord that, should such a drastic rescue take place, would be sure to sabotage the rebels and make it easier for them to be captured again.
Oh man. The rebel teams have finally officially come together, but there's still so much drama going on! Especially with Lili…who knows what will happen next! To be continued…in the next chapter :)