The Hunger Games: Death of the Mockingjay

Chapter 2

It's a relatively short flight to the Capitol and both Rue and Kyler spend all their time gawping out the window. We know when we've arrived by the sound of two excited children babbling about the huge buildings which make up the Capitol. Peeta orders the children back to their seats for landing and I sense the hovercraft banking round to land at the presidential palace. The last time I was here was eight years ago when Ellie had her inauguration as President of Panem, the time before that I was taken prisoner by Odin Wolfe and tossed into the arena to fight out his version of the Hunger Games.
There's a loud thump as the hovercraft touches down and we unbuckle our seat belts while the engines wind down. The main door opens and Peeta leads us out into the bright summer sunshine. I can see now that we've actually landed in the gardens behind the mansion, away from the masses of people who are straining against the railings which surround the grounds. The noise is deafening as the cheering and screaming gets to fever pitch. Two security guards escort us across the lawn to the mansion itself, Peeta, Haymitch and I make an effort to wave to the crowds while Kyler and Rue seem a bit shocked by all the attention.

Rue's been taught about the Hunger Games in school but at the moment she's unaware of her parents involvement while Kyler knows nothing about what went on. Peeta and I decided to leave the explanations until today when we'll show Rue the photos and pictures at the new museum and hopefully she'll understand. No doubt they'll be sections dedicated to all 76 years of the games and then Rue will see how Peeta and I fought and won, for now we'll keep the facts secret from Kyler until he's a little bit older.
We reach the top of the stone steps of the mansion to be met by Plutarch Heavensbee, dressed in a long white silk cloak, black shoes and leaning against a cane.

"Hello Katniss" he says as I embrace him.

"What's with the cane?" asks Peeta with a concerned look on his face.

"Ah it's nothing, I had a slight tumble the other day and injured myself, I'm not getting any younger you know" he replies smiling at us. He greets our kids and we make our way inside to the large banquet room. Many familiar faces come to greet us, some are former victors like Johanna and Annie who the kids already know and others such as Beetee and Enobaria. Kyler runs off to have fun with Jamie, who's Annie and Finnick's son. They know each other well from the many visits we've all made between Districts 4 and 12 over the years. Sometimes we'd head to 4 to spend time with Annie and Jamie and other times they'd come to us. It's good that we've kept in touch over the years.

After about an hour of mingling among the Capitol elite, which I hate doing, we all finally head across to the brand new museum for our private viewing before the it opens to the public. It sits adjacent to the avenue of the tributes with a roped off red carpet which extends from the mansion all the way to the large double doors of the huge shiny silver building. We're ushered forward by Plutarch so I'm at the head of the line walking hand in hand with Kyler with Peeta following on behind with Rue. All the way across we can hear the click, click of the camera shutters as the photographers get their pictures. Fans strain at the barricades to get close to us, some scream our names while others yell the names of our children and I know this frightens Kyler somewhat as I can feel his small hand gripping mine ever more tightly. It seems to take forever to cover the distance to the building but as I grow closer a smile creeps across my face as I see my old friend President Elise Snow standing by the door with two of her aids waiting for us. She smiles and embraces me excitedly.

"Oh my god Katniss you look amazing"

"So do you Ellie, it's been too long" I say as we step apart.

"Yeah I think it's been like 3 years or something?"

Peeta comes forward and gives her a hug "hey Ellie"