The Mentor

5

I hear shouts and cries as we appear. Finnick and I expertly wave to the crowds, smiling all while staving off questions. It's a struggle to make it to where our car waits.The driver opens the door for us, and I slip inside the leather interior. Finnick follows, brushing off a few hands that linger on his suit a little too long.We pull away from the crowd and the flashes from the cameras. I look out the window at the Capitol, truly lit up tonight for the opening ceremonies."Such a poisonous wonderland?" Finnick says softly, and I look at him in surprise."However much I hate it, I have to admit that it's beautiful, isn't it? The food, the clothes...even the people aren't all horrible," he continues."They're children," I answer. "I pity them. I hate the people pulling the strings. We're all puppets. It has to end."My words surprise even me, but Finnick's eyes go wide."Piper, what has Haymitch told you -"The car stops and I get out before he can finish his question. There are crowds here too, all flooding into the stadium or just hoping for a glimpse of the mentors. Finnick and I part the people around us as we enter the grand arena. Finnick casts me a significant look as he takes my arm.We file along the red velvet seats until Finnick finds our numbers. We're a few rows above the President's Box, giving me the perfect view of the back of President Snow's head as he sits on his throne.Finnick keeps a grip on my hand as the anthem begins and the first chariot comes out. District 1's tributes are spray-painted silver and are wearing tunics decorated with glittering gems. District 2, gold outfits. District 4, Finnick's tributes, wear gowns of sea-blue with pearls in their hair. I search desperately as chariot after chariot comes out."Piper, they'll be fine," Finnick says comfortingly as District 11 comes out. Then I see the heads of coal-black horses, a golden chariot, and two figures blazing like comets.I grip Finnick's hand so tightly he winces, but it's all I can do not to run down to the arena's floor. Peeta and Katniss hold hands tightly, raising them high. Their skin-tight black suits are lit up with presumably fake flame. Peeta's face on the television comforts me. His eyes are still blue. I half-thought they'd be coal-black.They are brilliant and terrifying and all of a sudden I feel a rush of relief. Maybe we can do this.Maybe I can bring them home.Finnick's POVI study Piper's face as a swarm of emotions take it over; fear, elation, shock. I look at the boy on the television across from us. I try to figure out why Piper loves him so much to give up everything for him. He's grinning and waving, his blue eyes soft and impossibly kind. Firelight flickers off of them, but it's not his own. It's the synthetic flames of the Capitol giving him his ferocity. Not the same fire that I saw in Piper the first time she became the phoenix.I turn my attention to the girl. She is small, not entirely plain, but not gorgeous. She catches a tossed rose and blows a kiss to the crowd. They cheer for her, call out her name, just like they did for Piper Lockly.Katniss.But all I can think about is the brilliance Piper brought to the opening ceremonies three years ago and how she surpassed even this wonder. Katniss and Peeta are stunning, incredible, but Piper is something else.I look at her again, her eyes wide and fixed on Peeta's face as the chariots park and President Snow begins talking. She still is something else. Still as real and as alive as the day I first saw her.I must be truly, madly, deeply in love.Piper looks at me as the chariots turn around. "You're staring," she says to me, and I look into her eyes. I know I could stare forever and it would never be enough."Sorry," I say with a grin, and I offer an arm. She takes it and a thousand electric sparks run up my skin, just like they do every time I touch her. Like the night two years ago when I convinced her to leave the interviews with Caesar and we danced under the Capitol's moon.I knew it then. I know it now. I've loved Piper Lockly for a long time. I love her more than my home, more than sanity, more than myself.I know she doesn't feel the same way. Even if she did, there is too much in the way. If only I could tell her, make her understand, but all I'd do is hurt her. It'd be one more thing for her to handle on her own, just like President Snow, like Haymitch, like Peeta. It's amazing she's still sane.I know I'm not. No one sane could still have hope after what I've been through.But still, when I see the fire in her eyes, I can't help feeling like I'm about to burst into tears. A thousand lovers, a million women longing to be by my side, and the only one I've ever wanted is the one I will never have.And it's a goddamn tragedy.(Piper's POV)I soar up to the top floor of the Training Center. Finnick got off at the fourth floor. I'm sure Effie, Peeta, and Katniss are already up there. Who knows where Haymitch is. I hope Effie managed to get him to the ceremony.I step out of the elevator. Everything is dark, a faint light coming through the window.A lamp flickers on, and I jump. Effie looks at me, looking surprisingly mussed. Her hair isn't in a wig, instead wrapped up in a light blue scarf. Her makeup is removed as well, revealing a pale-skinned woman who looks a lot younger than usual."Peeta and Katniss did well today," she said."I know. They were all the rage.""I think they have a real chance," Effie says, and she stands up. Without her heels, she's only an inch or two taller than me. "But we both know you're the one who will attract sponsors. Haymitch does the best he can, but you, Piper, you are still the Capitol's songbird. They still call you the canary. My friends ask me about you every time I go out. They want to know you." Effie looks surprisingly serious. "If you want to get one of them home, you have to be willing to deal with that and whatever comes with it.""I'll do anything," I say, and she nods."One more thing. Your relationship with Finnick Odair, it is just friendship, isn't it?""Yes," I say firmly."Haymitch said as much. Shame. Now that would really get the sponsors coming in."I am so thrown off guard by her statement that I barely register when she says goodnight. I sit on the couch, watching the lights outside flicker on and off, unable to sleep. Around three in the morning, I make it to my bed, undress, and fall on top of the sheets.«