Finnick and Annie

Are You In?

I visited the Capitol two weeks after my strange phone call. I hadn’t stopped thinking about it. There was a fancy Capitol party a lot of the victors were invited to attend, so it was a perfect excuse for all of us to meet. Mags, Shay and two other victors had come with me too, but nobody knew any more than I did, so we just had to wait and see.

We arrived at the Capitol the same day of the party. We all went to our rooms and got dressed and ready for the party. Our meeting wouldn’t be until the following morning. IT would be early, since not many of the Capitol citizens woke up before ten.

We all attended the party, there were a lot of victors there, but I didn’t discuss the meeting with anybody, for fear that we would be overheard, and because I knew that there were some victors, mostly the ones from Districts one and two, who didn’t despise the Capitol like the rest of us did.

“Odair,” said Johanna from behind me.

“Hey, Jo,” I greeted.

“Let’s dance,” she said, and she took my hand and dragged me towards the dance floor.

“Alright… how’ve you been?” I asked.

“Fine. How’s Crazy Cresta?” she asked. I frowned.

“She’s not crazy.”

“Of course she’s not.”

“She’s gotten a lot better, for your information. You only think she’s crazy because the times you do get to see her, on camera, she freaks out. The Capitol brings out the worst of her.”

“Alright, calm down, I was just kidding…”

“Well, it’s not funny.”

“Sorry… you really do love her, don’t you?” she asked.

“Of course I do.”

“I always wondered why… you could have anybody, Finnick… and you chose a girl who you have to look after… who you can’t even go out with without fearing an episode.”

“I love, Annie since before her games. I have loved her for years, and what kind of person would I be if I left her during her worse times?”

“You’re really something, Odair.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re so different from what you act like,” she shrugged.

“I wish I didn’t have to act,” I said, “but the Capitol hasn’t really left me a choice.”

“I know, that’s why we’re here though, isn’t it?”

We partied, and then we went to bed. We woke up early the next morning, and we went to Plutarch’s house, before the sun had a chance to rise. We were greeted by him, and led to a large room, with a large table, with a lot of chairs set around it.

Plutarch was a tall, chubby man, who had obviously never missed a meal, which just made me wonder, why he might hate the Capitol so much. I let it go and sat at the table next to Mags and Johanna. There were a lot of victors siting around me… some I knew, and some I had never seen before. I recognized Haymitch from last year’s games, how could I forget him?

I saw a couple dark skinned people who were obviously from district eleven; one of them was missing a hand. There was an old man and woman who sat together, the woman spoke in low whispers, and Mags told me they were from district three.

Plutarch went around the table and introduced us all, and when it was my turn, he said, “This man needs no introduction, and then he moved on to the next victor.”

After he was done, he sat down, and he had four Avoxes bring us all tea and different kinds of breaks and cookies. We ate in silence and we waited for him to start.

“I talked on the phone with most of you, I see a few of you brought friends, but that’s great. The more the merrier. We do have to keep this a secret, however, so please be discrete about what we are about to discuss.

“I called you because I know that every single person in this room, has a reason to hate the Capitol. Whether you have lost your family members,” he said, looking at Johanna, Haymitch and a few others, “or the Capitol has forced you into prostitution.” He looked around the table, at a couple of people, but everybody looked at me. I knew there were others, Mags had told me before, but none of them were as “popular” as me.

“Aren’t you a gamemaker?” I asked, realizing why his face had seemed familiar to me before.

“Head Gamemaker,” he corrected, “I recently got ascended.”

“What happened to Seneca?” I asked.

“President Snow was less than pleased by his performance,” he said.

“He got fired?” I asked. Plutarch chuckled darkly.

“My dear, Finnick, you should be very familiar with the way Snow works. He doesn’t give second chances… he executes.” Oh. “It was easy to get the position… there weren’t many takers.”

“Anyway… those of you that come from the poorest districts, Haymitch, Chaff… you know how things are getting. There have been riots all through Panem, though Snow is trying to hide the truth from the rest of us. People want a revolution, they want a change, and they are just too scared to fight for themselves.”

“Because they have no chance of winning against the Capitol,” said Johanna.

“There is a lot of power in numbers, Johanna, if we give them something to fight for, then they will come together. You have never been to District twelve have you? You have never starved.”

“I have plenty of reasons to want to overthrow the Capitol,” she snapped.

“We all do,” said Plutarch, “so that’s exactly what we’re going to do. We are going to overthrow it.”

“How are we going to do that?” I asked, “And why isn’t Katniss here? Isn’t she the reason everything started in the first place?”

“Katniss is not reliable,” said Haymitch. “She is too unpredictable, and she is a terrible actress. She is more useful to us if she doesn’t know what’s going on.”

“I have a plan, Finnick… but I won’t reveal it, until all of you swear you are in. After you do, there is no going back, if you betray us, we will kill you. Is that clear?” he asked. His calm smile was gone, and it had been replaced by a serious, almost terrifying look.

“Can we hear the plan?” I asked.

“Not yet,” he said. “There are a few things I need to know beforehand… once everything is ready, I will call another meeting, and then you will know. I’ll let you know this much… It’ll happen during the Quarter Quell.”