Mockingjay

"Come and see," he says, waving me over to a computer screen.

This is what they"ve been doing. Taking the fundamental ideas behind Gale"s traps and adapting them into weapons against humans. Bombs mostly. It"s less about the mechanics of the traps than the psychology behind them. b.o.o.by-trapping an area that provides something essential to survival. A water or food supply. Frightening prey so that a large number flee into a greater destruction. Endangering off-spring in order to draw in the actual desired target, the parent. Luring the victim into what appears to be a safe haven-where death awaits it. At some point, Gale and Beetee left the wilderness behind and focused on more human impulses. Like compa.s.sion. A bomb explodes. Time is allowed for people to rush to the aid of the wounded. Then a second, more powerful bomb kills them as well.

"That seems to be crossing some kind of line," I say. "So anything goes?" They both stare at me-Beetee with doubt, Gale with hostility. "I guess there isn"t a rule book for what might be unacceptable to do to another human being."

"Sure there is. Beetee and I have been following the same rule book President Snow used when he hijacked Peeta," says Gale.

Cruel, but to the point. I leave without further comment. I feel if I don"t get outside immediately, I"ll just go ballistic, but I"m still in Special Defense when I"m waylaid by Haymitch. "Come on," he says. "We need you back up at the hospital."

"What for?" I ask.

"They"re going to try something on Peeta," he answers. "Send in the most innocuous person from Twelve they can come up with. Find someone Peeta might share childhood memories with, but nothing too close to you. They"re screening people now."

I know this will be a difficult task, since anyone Peeta shares childhood memories with would most likely be from town, and almost none of those people escaped the flames. But when we reach the hospital room that has been turned into a work s.p.a.ce for Peeta"s recovery team, there she sits chatting with Plutarch. Delly Cartwright. As always, she gives me a smile that suggests I"m her best friend in the world. She gives this smile to everyone. "Katniss!" she calls out.

"Hey, Delly," I say. I"d heard she and her younger brother had survived. Her parents, who ran the shoe shop in town, weren"t as lucky. She looks older, wearing the drab 13 clothes that flatter no one, with her long yellow hair in a practical braid instead of curls. Delly"s a bit thinner than I remember, but she was one of the few kids in District 12 with a couple of pounds to spare. The diet here, the stress, the grief of losing her parents have all, no doubt, contributed. "How are you doing?" I ask.

"Oh, it"s been a lot of changes all at once." Her eyes fill with tears. "But everyone"s really nice here in Thirteen, don"t you think?"

Delly means it. She genuinely likes people. All people, not just a select few she"s spent years making up her mind about.

"They"ve made an effort to make us feel welcome," I say. I think that"s a fair statement without going overboard. "Are you the one they"ve picked to see Peeta?"

"I guess so. Poor Peeta. Poor you you. I"ll never understand the Capitol," she says.

"Better not to, maybe," I tell her.

"Delly"s known Peeta for a long time," says Plutarch.

"Oh, yes!" Delly"s face brightens. "We played together from when we were little. I used to tell people he was my brother."

"What do you think?" Haymitch asks me. "Anything that might trigger memories of you?"

"We were all in the same cla.s.s. But we never overlapped much," I say.

"Katniss was always so amazing, I never dreamed she would notice me," says Delly. "The way she could hunt and go in the Hob and everything. Everyone admired her so."

Haymitch and I both have to take a hard look at her face to double-check if she"s joking. To hear Delly describe it, I had next to no friends because I intimidated people by being so exceptional. Not true. I had next to no friends because I wasn"t friendly. Leave it to Delly to spin me into something wonderful.

"Delly always thinks the best of everyone," I explain. "I don"t think Peeta could have bad memories a.s.sociated with her." Then I remember. "Wait. In the Capitol. When I lied about recognizing the Avox girl. Peeta covered for me and said she looked like Delly."

"I remember," says Haymitch. "But I don"t know. It wasn"t true. Delly wasn"t actually there. I don"t think it can compete with years of childhood memories."

"Especially with such a pleasant companion as Delly," says Plutarch. "Let"s give it a shot."

Plutarch, Haymitch, and I go to the observation room next to where Peeta"s confined. It"s crowded with ten members of his recovery team armed with pens and clipboards. The one-way gla.s.s and audio setup allow us to watch Peeta secretly. He lies on the bed, his arms strapped down. He doesn"t fight the restraints, but his hands fidget continuously. His expression seems more lucid than when he tried to strangle me, but it"s still not one that belongs to him.

When the door quietly opens, his eyes widen in alarm, then become confused. Delly crosses the room tentatively, but as she nears him she naturally breaks into a smile. "Peeta? It"s Delly. From home."

"Delly?" Some of the clouds seem to clear. "Delly. It"s you."

"Yes!" she says with obvious relief. "How do you feel?"

"Awful. Where are we? What"s happened?" asks Peeta.

"Here we go," says Haymitch.

"I told her to steer clear of any mention of Katniss or the Capitol," says Plutarch. "Just see how much of home she could conjure up."

"Well...we"re in District Thirteen. We live here now," says Delly.

"That"s what those people have been saying. But it makes no sense. Why aren"t we home?" asks Peeta.

Delly bites her lip. "There was...an accident. I miss home badly, too. I was only just thinking about those chalk drawings we used to do on the paving stones. Yours were so wonderful. Remember when you made each one a different animal?"

"Yeah. Pigs and cats and things," says Peeta. "You said...about an accident?"

I can see the sheen of sweat on Delly"s forehead as she tries to work around the question. "It was bad. No one...could stay," she says haltingly.

"Hang in there, girl," says Haymitch.

"But I know you"re going to like it here, Peeta. The people have been really nice to us. There"s always food and clean clothes, and school"s much more interesting," says Delly.

"Why hasn"t my family come to see me?" Peeta asks.

"They can"t." Delly"s tearing up again. "A lot of people didn"t get out of Twelve. So we"ll need to make a new life here. I"m sure they could use a good baker. Do you remember when your father used to let us make dough girls and boys?"

"There was a fire," Peeta says suddenly.

"Yes," she whispers.

"Twelve burned down, didn"t it? Because of her," says Peeta angrily. "Because of Katniss!" He begins to pull on the restraints.

"Oh, no, Peeta. It wasn"t her fault," says Delly.

"Did she tell you that?" he hisses at her.

"Get her out of there," says Plutarch. The door opens immediately and Delly begins to back toward it slowly.

"She didn"t have to. I was-" Delly begins.

"Because she"s lying! She"s a liar! You can"t believe anything she says! She"s some kind of mutt the Capitol created to use against the rest of us!" Peeta shouts.

"No, Peeta. She"s not a-" Delly tries again.

"Don"t trust her, Delly," says Peeta in a frantic voice. "I did, and she tried to kill me. She killed my friends. My family. Don"t even go near her! She"s a mutt!"

A hand reaches through the doorway, pulls Delly out, and the door swings shut. But Peeta keeps yelling. "A mutt! She"s a stinking mutt!"

Not only does he hate me and want to kill me, he no longer believes I"m human. It was less painful being strangled.

Around me the recovery team members scribble like crazy, taking down every word. Haymitch and Plutarch grab my arms and propel me out of the room. They lean me up against a wall in the silent hallway. But I know Peeta continues to scream behind the door and the gla.s.s.

Prim was wrong. Peeta is irretrievable. "I can"t stay here anymore," I say numbly. "If you want me to be the Mockingjay, you"ll have to send me away."

"Where do you want to go?" asks Haymitch.

"The Capitol." It"s the only place I can think of where I have a job to do.

"Can"t do it," Plutarch says. "Not until all the districts are secure. Good news is, the fighting"s almost over in all of them but Two. It"s a tough nut to crack, though."

That"s right. First the districts. Next the Capitol. And then I hunt down Snow.

"Fine," I say. "Send me to Two."

14.

District 2 is a large district, as one might expect, composed of a series of villages spread across the mountains. Each was originally a.s.sociated with a mine or quarry, although now, many are devoted to the housing and training of Peacekeepers. None of this would present much of a challenge, since the rebels have 13"s airpower on their side, except for one thing: At the center of the district is a virtually impenetrable mountain that houses the heart of the Capitol"s military.

We"ve nicknamed the mountain the Nut since I relayed Plutarch"s "tough nut to crack" comment to the weary and discouraged rebel leaders here. The Nut was established directly after the Dark Days, when the Capitol had lost 13 and was desperate for a new underground stronghold. They had some of their military resources situated on the outskirts of the Capitol itself-nuclear missiles, aircraft, troops-but a significant chunk of their power was now under an enemy"s control. Of course, there was no way they could hope to replicate 13, which was the work of centuries. However, in the old mines of nearby District 2, they saw opportunity. From the air, the Nut appeared to be just another mountain with a few entrances on its faces. But inside were vast cavernous s.p.a.ces where slabs of stones had been cut, hauled to the surface, and transported down slippery narrow roads to make distant buildings. There was even a train system to facilitate transporting the miners from the Nut to the very center of the main town in District 2. It ran right to the square that Peeta and I visited during the Victory Tour, standing on the wide marble steps of the Justice Building, trying not to look too closely at Cato"s and Clove"s grieving families a.s.sembled below us.

It was not the most ideal terrain, plagued as it was by mudslides, floods, and avalanches. But the advantages outweighed the concerns. As they"d cut deep into the mountain, the miners had left large pillars and walls of stone to support the infrastructure. The Capitol reinforced these and set about making the mountain their new military base. Filling it with computer banks and meeting rooms, barracks and a.r.s.enals. Widening entrances to allow the exit of hovercraft from the hangar, installing missile launchers. But on the whole, leaving the exterior of the mountain largely unchanged. A rough, rocky tangle of trees and wildlife. A natural fortress to protect them from their enemies.

By the other districts" standards, the Capitol babied the inhabitants here. Just by looking at the District 2 rebels, you can tell they were decently fed and cared for in childhood. Some did end up as quarry and mine workers. Others were educated for jobs in the Nut or funneled into the ranks of Peacekeepers. Trained young and hard for combat. The Hunger Games were an opportunity for wealth and a kind of glory not seen elsewhere. Of course, the people of 2 swallowed the Capitol"s propaganda more easily than the rest of us. Embraced their ways. But for all that, at the end of the day, they were still slaves. And if that was lost on the citizens who became Peacekeepers or worked in the Nut, it was not lost on the stonecutters who formed the backbone of the resistance here.

Things stand as they did when I arrived two weeks ago. The outer villages are in rebel hands, the town divided, and the Nut is as untouchable as ever. Its few entrances heavily fortified, its heart safely enfolded in the mountain. While every other district has now wrested control from the Capitol, 2 remains in its pocket.

Each day, I do whatever I can to help. Visit the wounded. Tape short propos with my camera crew. I"m not allowed in actual combat, but they invite me to the meetings on the status of the war, which is a lot more than they did in 13. It"s much better here. Freer, no schedules on my arm, fewer demands on my time. I live aboveground in the rebel villages or surrounding caves. For safety"s sake, I"m relocated often. During the day, I"ve been given clearance to hunt as long as I take a guard along and don"t stray too far. In the thin, cold mountain air, I feel some physical strength returning, my mind clearing away the rest of the fogginess. But with this mental clarity comes an even sharper awareness of what has been done to Peeta.

Snow has stolen him from me, twisted him beyond recognition, and made me a present of him. Boggs, who came to 2 when I did, told me that even with all the plotting, it was a little too easy to rescue Peeta. He believes if 13 hadn"t made the effort, Peeta would"ve been delivered to me anyway. Dropped off in an actively warring district or perhaps 13 itself. Tied up with ribbons and tagged with my name. Programmed to murder me.

It"s only now that he"s been corrupted that I can fully appreciate the real Peeta. Even more than I would"ve if he"d died. The kindness, the steadiness, the warmth that had an unexpected heat behind it. Outside of Prim, my mother, and Gale, how many people in the world love me unconditionally? I think in my case, the answer may now be none. Sometimes when I"m alone, I take the pearl from where it lives in my pocket and try to remember the boy with the bread, the strong arms that warded off nightmares on the train, the kisses in the arena. To make myself put a name to the thing I"ve lost. But what"s the use? It"s gone. He"s gone. Whatever existed between us is gone. All that"s left is my promise to kill Snow. I tell myself this ten times a day.

Back in 13, Peeta"s rehabilitation continues. Even though I don"t ask, Plutarch gives me cheerful updates on the phone like "Good news, Katniss! I think we"ve almost got him convinced you"re not a mutt!" Or "Today he was allowed to feed himself pudding!"

When Haymitch gets on after, he admits Peeta"s no better. The only dubious ray of hope has come from my sister. "Prim came up with the idea of trying to hijack him back," Haymitch tells me. "Bring up the distorted memories of you and then give him a big dose of a calming drug, like morphling. We"ve only tried it on one memory. The tape of the two of you in the cave, when you told him that story about getting Prim the goat."

"Any improvement?" I ask.

"Well, if extreme confusion is an improvement over extreme terror, then yes," says Haymitch. "But I"m not sure it is. He lost the ability to speak for several hours. Went into some sort of stupor. When he came out, the only thing he asked about was the goat."

"Right," I say.

"How"s it out there?" he asks.

"No forward motion," I tell him.

"We"re sending out a team to help with the mountain. Beetee and some of the others," he says. "You know, the brains."

When the brains are selected, I"m not surprised to see Gale"s name on the list. I thought Beetee would bring him, not for his technological expertise, but in the hopes that he could somehow think of a way to ensnare a mountain. Originally, Gale offered to come with me to 2, but I could see I was tearing him away from his work with Beetee. I told him to sit tight and stay where he was most needed. I didn"t tell him his presence would make it even more difficult for me to mourn Peeta.

Gale finds me when they arrive late one afternoon. I"m sitting on a log at the edge of my current village, plucking a goose. A dozen or so of the birds are piled at my feet. Great flocks of them have been migrating through here since I"ve arrived, and the pickings are easy. Without a word, Gale settles beside me and begins to relieve a bird of its feathers. We"re through about half when he says, "Any chance we"ll get to eat these?"

"Yeah. Most go to the camp kitchen, but they expect me to give a couple to whoever I"m staying with tonight," I say. "For keeping me."

"Isn"t the honor of the thing enough?" he says.

"You"d think," I reply. "But word"s gotten out that mockingjays are hazardous to your health."

We pluck in silence for a while longer. Then he says, "I saw Peeta yesterday. Through the gla.s.s."

"What"d you think?" I ask.

"Something selfish," says Gale.

"That you don"t have to be jealous of him anymore?" My fingers give a yank, and a cloud of feathers floats down around us.

"No. Just the opposite." Gale pulls a feather out of my hair. "I thought...I"ll never compete with that. No matter how much pain I"m in." He spins the feather between his thumb and forefinger. "I don"t stand a chance if he doesn"t get better. You"ll never be able to let him go. You"ll always feel wrong about being with me."

"The way I always felt wrong kissing him because of you," I say.

Gale holds my gaze. "If I thought that was true, I could almost live with the rest of it."

"It is true," I admit. "But so is what you said about Peeta."

Gale makes a sound of exasperation. Nonetheless, after we"ve dropped off the birds and volunteered to go back to the woods to gather kindling for the evening fire, I find myself wrapped in his arms. His lips brushing the faded bruises on my neck, working their way to my mouth. Despite what I feel for Peeta, this is when I accept deep down that he"ll never come back to me. Or I"ll never go back to him. I"ll stay in 2 until it falls, go to the Capitol and kill Snow, and then die for my trouble. And he"ll die insane and hating me. So in the fading light I shut my eyes and kiss Gale to make up for all the kisses I"ve withheld, and because it doesn"t matter anymore, and because I"m so desperately lonely I can"t stand it.

Gale"s touch and taste and heat remind me that at least my body"s still alive, and for the moment it"s a welcome feeling. I empty my mind and let the sensations run through my flesh, happy to lose myself. When Gale pulls away slightly, I move forward to close the gap, but I feel his hand under my chin. "Katniss," he says. The instant I open my eyes, the world seems disjointed. This is not our woods or our mountains or our way. My hand automatically goes to the scar on my left temple, which I a.s.sociate with confusion. "Now kiss me." Bewildered, unblinking, I stand there while he leans in and presses his lips to mine briefly. He examines my face closely. "What"s going on in your head?"

"I don"t know," I whisper back.

"Then it"s like kissing someone who"s drunk. It doesn"t count," he says with a weak attempt at a laugh. He scoops up a pile of kindling and drops it in my empty arms, returning me to myself.

"How do you know?" I say, mostly to cover my embarra.s.sment. "Have you kissed someone who"s drunk?" I guess Gale could"ve been kissing girls right and left back in 12. He certainly had enough takers. I never thought about it much before.

He just shakes his head. "No. But it"s not hard to imagine."

"So, you never kissed any other girls?" I ask.

"I didn"t say that. You know, you were only twelve when we met. And a real pain besides. I did have a life outside of hunting with you," he says, loading up with firewood.

Suddenly, I"m genuinely curious. "Who did you kiss? And where?"