Cage me like an animal • F Odair¹ •

XIX

"Like it a lot more than some of the other stuff I gotta do at night."

•∘♛∘•

"We can get you five minutes."

Athena was brought out of her thoughts by the sound of Finnick's voice. A part of her thought that this was probably a good thing, since her thoughts were full of grief and dread and heaviness that spread throughout her entire body, leaving room for nothing else. She thought she would drown in it. Athena, Mags, and Finnick were all walking back to the District Four floor. Her mentors were leading the way there, flanking her and touching her back lightly, and this time she was glad for it. Without their help, she thought she might collapse from the weight of her grief and never be able to pick herself back up again.

"Once we're back in the suite, we can distract Alayne and the stylists long enough to give you five minutes on your own - maybe ten - but that's a big maybe," Finnick was saying. "That'll probably be all the time we can get you, though. You still have to be ready for your crowning tonight."

Finnick sounded apologetic, but Athena had not been expecting any time on her own at all. She was grateful she was getting anything at all.

"Thank you," Athena said weakly as they entered the elevator to the District Four floor, but it did not feel strong enough to express her gratitude. Her mentors seemed to understand perfectly, though, nodding once.

The moment the elevator stopped and the three of them stepped out into the District Four suite, her prep team and her stylists were immediately rushing forward.

"Oh, you've been so long!"

"We've lost so much time!"

"We need to set to work straight away!"

The sound of their high-pitched voices, their Capitol accents, did not help with how overwhelmed she already felt. Athena thought there was no way Mags and Finnick would be able to distract her prep team and her stylists at all, let alone for five full minutes, but Finnick simply took a step forward casually, holding out his hands to stop them.

"Now, now, how about we all settle down?" he said. "Don't you think a victor deserves some time to herself after a very hard earned victory?"

"Well," Tatiana said slowly, "yes, of course, but we don't have unlimited time here, Finnick, you should know this - "

"Well, Mags said it best herself," Finnick said calmly, "a girl that looks like Maris here doesn't need much work."

"Besides," Mags said, enunciating carefully, "if needed... me and Finnick... can look bad enough... distract from Athena."

Mags finished the sentence by ruffling Finnick's hair fondly. The stylists and her prep team burst into laughter. Even Athena almost cracked a smile, despite it all. Finnick was laughing good-naturedly at the comment, but he still locked eyes with Athena and jerked his head in the direction of her chambers. She got the message immediately; she could slip away, undetected, while everyone was too busy laughing at Mags' joke. Athena tiptoed around the group, moving silently. When she slipped into her chambers, nobody seemed to notice that she was gone at all, save for Mags and Finnick.

Athena stumbled over to her bed, collapsing to sit down at the foot of it. She buried her head in her hands, rubbing her pounding temples with her fingers. Her body was shaking uncontrollably, and it got harder and harder to breathe with every breath that she took. The room seemed to be too small to hold her, feeling like the walls were closing in on her. And her body felt too small to contain everything that she had been through, everything that she was forced to carry.