By the North Star | An Odesta Fanfic

Chapter Four

Johanna Mason's unexpected victory had the Capitol in a state of wild delight. At the start of the games, she had been nothing more than a miserable coward, forgotten by everyone, but in a few short days, she had enchanted them all. A couple quick and merciless kills were all that it took to make her the Capitol's new favorite tribute. It was the best way to get the audience's attention; Finnick had seen enough of the Hunger Games to know that. Even her brash confidence and apparent boredom with the whole ordeal did nothing to discourage them. They liked to see a tribute with personality, and her feisty attitude only made them like her more.

Half of the Capitol turned up for her first public appearance. The three-hour showing of scenes from the latest Hunger Games was a yearly tradition and favorite among the Capitol citizens. Finnick was there too – by requirement, of course. He slumped down in his chair, hoping not to catch too much attention, and stared up at the screen like the bloodbath didn't bother him at all.

He wasn't alone in the audience. For once, he was surrounded by others who looked just as unhappy to be watching the games. Beetee, the mentor from District 3, sat stiffly in the chair beside Finnick, but he wasn't looking at the screen. His eyes were fixed on the lights behind the stage, darting from one to the other as they lit up and glowed with colorful patterns. Bay sat on Finnick's other side, his gaze moving between the screen overhead and the other mentors that sat with them. It was hard to ignore them – Haymitch and Chaff had been talking between themselves for most of the show and weren't bothering to keep their voices down.

"Look at them." Haymitch was muttering. "Acting like they knew she was going to win all along. They all wanted her dead just a few days ago."

"You know Alder didn't expect this at all." Chaff gestured to Johanna's mentor seated beside her on the stage. "He looks more surprised than any of them."

Haymitch laughed, a little too loudly. A couple audience members turned around to glare at him in annoyance. They grumbled something about "crazy drunks", but Haymitch didn't seem to care. The same couldn't be said for Chaff. He started up out of his chair and opened his mouth to say a few choice words that Finnick was fairly sure would have gotten him sent out of the theater. He might have said them too, if Bay hadn't reached across Haymitch to pull Chaff back down into his seat.

"Chaff," Bay whispered. "Stay out of it."

He sat back down, rather reluctantly. As he did, another man slipped up beside them and joined the mentors in their aisle. He was short and stocky, with a hardened look about him that distinguished the victors from everyone else in the Capitol. Carder, the mentor from District 8, was younger than most of the others, but you never would have guessed it from the heavy bags under his eyes and the deep lines worn on his face. He looked even worse than usual today, and Finnick wasn't the only one who noticed it.

"Carder?" said Bay. "Are you alright?"

He shrugged.

"Where have you been? You know this viewing is mandatory."

"Yeah?" Carder dropped down into the seat beside Chaff. "Well, what are they going to do, try to kill me again?"

Bay still looked just as concerned as before, if not more so, but he didn't press him any more.

"I don't know why you'd want to miss this." said Haymitch. "This is the most fun I've had all year."

"Best three hours of my life." said Chaff.

Carder shook his head, staring at the screen where Johanna was cutting the throat of one of the Careers. "How is anyone supposed to find this enjoyable?"

"I can think of a few ways." Haymitch said under his breath. He dug around in his pocket for a few seconds before pulling out a flask. Chaff's eyes brightened as he unscrewed the lid and Bay looked over just as Haymitch lifted the bottle to his lips.