The Girl Who Sparked the Capitol - Book 2 - Peeta

Chapter 14

Alessia remains at the window long after the woods have swallowed up the last glimpse of her home. This time she doesn't have even the slightest hope of return. Before her first Games, she promised Katniss and Prim she would do everything she could to win, and now she's sworn to herself to do all she can to keep Peeta alive. She will never reverse this journey again.

She'd actually figured out what she wanted her last words to her loved ones to be. How best to close and lock the doors and leave them sad but safely behind. And now the Capitol has stolen that as well. 

"We'll write letters, Alessia," says Peeta from behind her. "It will be better, anyway. Give them a piece of us to hold on to. Haymitch will deliver them for us if ... they need to be delivered."

Alessia nods and goes straight to her room. She sits on the bed, knowing she will never write those letters. They will be like the speech she tried to write to honor Rue and Thresh in District 11. Things seemed clear in her head and even when she talked before the crowd, but the words never came out of the pen right. Besides, they were meant to go with embraces and kisses and a stroke of Prim's hair, a hug to Katniss and Gale, and a squeeze of Madge's hand. They cannot be delivered with a wooden box containing her cold, stiff body.

Too heartsick to cry, all Alessia wants is to curl up on the bed and sleep until they arrive in the Capitol tomorrow morning. But she has a mission. No, it's more than a mission. It's her dying wish. Keep Peeta alive. And as unlikely as it seems that she can achieve it in the face of the Capitol's anger, it's important that she can be at the top of her game. This won't happen if she's mourning for everyone she loves back home. Let them go, Alessia tells herself. Say goodbye and forget them. She does her best, thinking of them one by one, releasing them like birds from the protective cages inside her, locking the doors against their return.

By the time Effie knocks on her door to call her to dinner, she is empty. But the lightness isn't entirely unwelcome. 

The meal's subdued. So subdues, in fact, that there are long periods of silence relieved only by the removal of old dishes and the presentation of new ones. A cold soup of pureed vegetables. Fish cakes with creamy lime paste. Those little birds were filled with orange sauce, wild rice, and watercress. Chocolate custard dotted with cherries.

Peeta and Effie make occasional attempts at conversation that quickly die out. 

"I love your hair, Effie," Peeta says.

"Thank you. I had it specially done to match Alessia's pin. I was thinking we might get you a golden ankle band and maybe find Haymitch a gold bracelet or something so we could all look like a time," says Effie.

Evidently, Effie doesn't know that Alessia's Mockingjay pin is now a symbol used by the rebels. At least in District 8. In the Capitol, the Mockingjay is still a fun reminder of an especially exciting Hunger Games. What else could it be? Real rebels don't put a secret symbol on something as durable as jewelry. They put it on a wafer of bread that can be eaten in a second if necessary.

"I think that's a great idea," says Peeta. "How about it, Haymitch?"

"Yeah, whatever," says Haymitch. He's not drinking but Alessia can tell he'd like to be. Effie had them take her own wine away when she saw the effort he was making, but he's in a miserable state. If he were the tribute, he would have owed Peeta nothing and could be as drunk as he liked. Now it's going to take all he's got to keep Peeta alive in an arena full of old friends, and he'll probably fail.

"Maybe we could get you a wig, too," Alessia says in an attempt at lightness. He just shoots her a look that says to leave him alone, and they all eat their custard in silence.