Mockingjay's Redemption (Book Two in the Mockingjay's Daughter Series)

Okay, guys! Here it is: The sequel to Mockingjay's Daughter! Hope you like it!         

Chapter One

The bird falls to the ground, an arrow sticking out of its eye. I walk across the forest floor, silently and steadily, reaching the bird in a matter of seconds. I pull out the arrow and toss the dead bird into my game bag. This has become my daily routine, ever since the Games four years ago. It’s my way of coping. Of blocking out the evils that still haunt me every time I close my eyes. The images are still fresh in my mind. All of my memories of the Games are. The sound of the cannon. The image of the Grant, dead at my hands. The feeling when I killed the last tribute.

         I shut off my thoughts. No more thinking about that. I tie the top of my game bag in a knot and set off to check the snares for game. I’ve been trying to get Skylar in the woods, but he’s hopeless. He got my father’s heavy tread. I took him hunting once, when I got back from the Victory Tour. He scared everything away. He hasn’t been out since. Part of me wants to start training him, just in case he’s picked for the Games. But he’s so sweet and too kind to hunt. He doesn’t have that toughness of our mother. He takes after Father too much. He’d rather stay inside and bake.

         Over the past four years, I have changed. I’ve become more guarded. More jaded than I used to be. Mother says it makes her sad. Gale says that I remind him of my mother. I don’t know what to think about that. It makes me feel like I have to be a carbon-copy of the great Katniss. The one who led Panem into the second Rebellion. I feel like I have to achieve everything she did and more… Stop! Focus on the task at hand.

         I try to shut off my thoughts. I think of happy things until I finish checking the snares. I lift my game bag over my shoulder and make my way back to District Twelve.

         When I reach home and empty my game bag, I hike through the square to walk Skylar home from school. When I reach the school, Skylar is surrounded by friends. They all laugh and talk. Skylar has something that I don’t have: friends.

         “Skylar!” I yell.

         He turns around and waves at me. He walks over and a few of his friends follow. I recognize Xeno and Klaus, two of my younger brother’s best friends.

         Xeno leans over to Skylar and whispers, “Man, your sister’s hot. It just makes her better that she won the Hunger Games.”

         Sky punches him in the arm before I can open my mouth.

         “Quit hitting on my sister,” Skylar tells his friend. “My house in an hour?”

         Both boys nod and saunter off. I give Sky a look and start walking towards home. This has also become one of my daily rituals: I walk Sky home from school everyday. It’s our time to talk without our parents overhearing our conversation.

         “I am pretty hot,” I say.

         Skylar shoves me in the shoulder. I laugh.

******

         As we sit as a family on the couch, I braid my hair. When I finish, Haymitch reaches behind me and pulls my braid. I shoot him a glare and he snickers at me. Sky gives him a high five. My brother gets a glare from me, too. We talk about our day. The highs and lows. What we did. We’re a happy family, for the most part. Sure we have our issues… and most of those issues can be traced to the Hunger Games. The nightmares, panic attacks, flashbacks- they’re all from the Games and what happened to us during that time in the arena. Skylar’s the lucky one. He’s the one who hasn’t had to go down that dark path. And that’s why I have to protect him. To make sure he doesn’t have to suffer through the same pain as my parents and me. I will make sure that Skylar isn’t selected as a tribute next week at the reaping. I will make sure my sweet little brother isn’t another piece in the Hunger Games.