THE SIREN'S SONG 𓇼 F. ODAIR

26 ~ the pottery incident

A week later, Carolina and Pearl were making their way to Annie's house for her talent showcase. Pearl had begged Carolina for weeks to let her shadow the Capitol stylists. It had always been the girl's dream job, and she wanted to make a good impression, so she showed up at Carolina's front door that morning dressed in her best clothes.

"Do you think this is too much?" Pearl asked. She was wearing a dress she had made herself. It was sea green with puff cap sleeves and pearls sewn around the bodice. She had made it out of old school uniforms. "What if it's too little?"

"I think it looks perfect, Pearl," Carolina said.

When they arrived at Annie's house, stylists were walking around with makeup bags and clothing racks. They all seemed distressed. It was obvious something was wrong by the way Lotus Lockflake was standing in the corner with her arms crossed, yelling at Annie's head stylists.

"This is absolutely absurd!" the escort yelled. "She has to be on air in thirty minutes!"

"What is going on?" Carolina asked when she walked up to them.

"Annie is refusing to come out of her room," Lotus huffed.

"Let me try, okay?" Carolina said, motioning Pearl forward. Pearl smiled awkwardly at Lotus and waved. It was the first time Carolina had seen Pearl unconfident. "This is Pearl Meadows. She is going to be watching the stylist team today."

"Carolina, that is not—"

"Perfect!" Annie's stylist cut off the escort.

Ever since Carolina kicked Affron out of the limousine, the stylists from the Capitol had been overly nice to her. Carolina knew they were afraid of her, but she couldn't be bothered to care.

Carolina walked up the stairs and knocked on Annie's door. When there was no answer, she tried to open the door, but it was locked.

"Annie?" she asked, knocking again. "It's Carolina. Can you let me in?"

After a minute, the door was unlocked, and Annie slowly poked her head out. She hesitated before opening the door completely, allowing Carolina to walk inside. Carolina sat down on Annie's bed and patiently waited for the girl to speak.

"I can't do it," Annie said quietly.

"Well, you don't really have an option, honey," Carolina sighed. "So, what can I do to make it easier?"

Annie shook her head. "I don't know."

"Would it help if I did it with you?" Carolina asked. "You could just talk to me about what you're doing. You could pretend the cameras aren't even there."

"Could you?"

"Of course," she replied. "I'll ask the assistants to get me some pottery equipment while you get dressed, okay?"

When Carolina opened the door, Annie's stylist team pushed their way into the room. Pearl followed them with a bright smile on her face. Carolina went down the stairs and pulled aside one of the assistants to tell them to set up a pottery wheel for her off-camera.

Once everything was set up and Annie's hair and makeup were done, Annie was escorted to her art room, which was the exact same room as the music room in Carolina's house. Carolina was already in there, sitting at a pottery wheel next to the camera.

"Just talk to me," Carolina told Annie. "You are going to do fine, okay?"

Annie nodded.

Lotus walked into the room. "And we're live in three, two—"

"Let's give a warm welcome to the winner of the 70th Hunger Games, Annie Cresta!" Caesar Flickerman's voice came from the camera. "How is District 4?"

Annie stared at the camera blankly. Caesar repeated his words, but she didn't reply. Annie's gaze turned to Carolina, who nodded at her.