❝𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐎𝐒❞ | k. everdeen

chapter 18: back on track.

—Did everyone hear that?

Plutarch Heavensbee was the one to break the tense silence that reigned outside the room, much to the chagrin of the rest of those present, especially those who knew Nola as she had been before. The words had rolled so easily off her tongue and sounded so clearly that it was hard to feel that everyone had been mistaken in hearing her confession. From the inside, Prim tried to disguise the surprise she had felt, glancing at her briefly and continuing her feigned priestly task. She raised her eyebrows slightly as she looked away from the girl and peered slyly through the glass, where the rest were milling about, still silent.

—Yes, I think so —Haymitch said reluctantly. Plutarch's excited tone was too noticeable not to inevitably connect it with something unpleasant.

—Why because of Katniss, Nola? —asked Prim inside the room, aware that outside they would want an answer. And why lie, she herself was also curious why someone like Nola Bernacci had decided to risk everything for her sister.

Nola looked up from her bandages for the first time in what seemed like ages, and Prim shuddered a little: her eyes, taking on a darker hue than usual, reflected a deep emptiness. Fear grew in Prim's gut, thinking that now would be when the real Nola would awaken, troubled in a deep sleep in which the young nurse would be her executioner, sticking her with a huge syringe that would put her to sleep forever.

But no.

The older girl simply shrugged—. Katniss Everdeen is the only person who can finish Snow. I've known that since the first moment I saw her.

Prim turned around again, this time with some dissimulation, feeling the pressure coming from outside the room, sensing the need for answers from the team. So she cleared her throat—. Do you remember the first time you saw Katniss?

Nola shook her head—. Not really. There are scenes mixed up in my head. I know we were at the Hunger Games. There was water, poison, mockingjays. She shoots with a bow, doesn't she? —Prim nodded fervently, a lightness in her heart at how easily Nola seemed to remember things—. Yes, it's a bow. It's the weapon she always uses to kill me.

Katniss, watching from outside through the glass, felt her gut churn. Was that the strategy Snow had against her? To use her false presence in other people's nightmares to hurt them? She felt the bile rise in her throat, so she swallowed several times to control her instincts so she could stay listening to more confessions. But then, why had Nola claimed so confidently that she had done it all for her, if she also claimed that Katniss Everdeen wanted to kill her?

—Does Katniss hurt you?

—Sometimes she does, sometimes she doesn't —Nola explained—. She always uses the same pattern, so sometimes I've managed to figure it out and defend myself before she can finish me off. Other times I realized it wasn't reality, and she would evaporate and disappear. Other times I was too weak to stand up to her, so I'd let her put an arrow in me right here to end it all —her voice was a trickle at the end, and Katniss's stomach sank—. But I managed to fool them —Nola chuckled against all odds—. I understood early on, when I still had some fight left in me, that what they used against you was the most important thing. Once they used Peeta against me, and they used me to torture him. But then we would listen to each other's voice and understand that we didn't mean to hurt each other, that they were just using us. It was harder to understand when you don't hear the voice of the person attacking you. Many other times there was a blonde girl in my dreams —Nola clicked her tongue impatiently—. It's impossible for me to remember who she is.

—Cashmere —Katniss muttered to herself, and Haymitch and Gale turned to look at her. Plutarch was too engrossed by the confessions he was getting to pay any attention to her.