The 73rd Annual Hunger Games

Chapter 22- Disguises and The Chase

I step into the large building, suddenly feeling very insignificant. I was just a smallish girl, in the middle of a very large plot. I had jusst stepped into Cyrus's party, marveling at all of the decorations and capitol citizens. My wig had almost fallen off earlier, and if Finnick wouldn't've taken his shirt off to distract everyone, I would've been discovered.

"Well, this is where we split up!" Cherry says, overly cheerily. She's wearing a very poofy pink dress, that has roses all over it, and the hem graces the floor. She saunters off to find some of her Capitol friends. We decided that we'd be less conspicuous if Cherry left. Finnick and I will navigate the party together, me pretending to be one of his... girlfriends from the Capitol.

I marvel at my surroundings. There are thousands of plates of fancy Capitol food. If I stayed here all year, I still probably wouldn't be able to eat all of it. Hundreds of the richest Capitol citizens flock around the tables, along with paparazzi and interviewers. What would people do if they realized that I'm Caspia Thetis, alive still? Would they cheer? Riot? Would they even care?

"Stop thinking so hard. I can see you tensing up. You might draw attention to us," Finnick whispers in my ear. He's wearing a tight black tuxedo, with a green and blue satin tie. "Now laugh like I said the funniest joke in the world."

I laugh, trying to make it sound real. Finnick also cracks a smile. "Good job." He mouths, Once a mentor, always a mentor.

"Where should we go?" I ask. "And why did I have to come? Why couldn't I just stay at the apartment and hide out?"

"Because Cyrus is going to kill himself if he thinks you sacrificed yourself so he could go home. And they saw you with us a couple hours ago when Cyrus won. Better that you don't disappear from the face of the earth all of the sudden." Finnick whispers like it''s obvious. "Let's make our way to the buffet table."

We start walking, hand in hand to the buffet table. I pick up a cup of hot chocolate, and Finnick picks up a plate of fish. "How do you know that Cyrus will kill himself?" I ask, sipping.

"He joked with me about it on the train." Finnick says. "Well, I took it as a joke."

"Well that's not good," I state the obvious. "How will I tell him about me being... alive?"

"That's for you to decide," Finnick winks. "All I can tell you is that-- why thank you," Finnick lowers his voice to a seductive purr and lowers his eyelids. I start to ask him what the heck he is doing, but I realize that someone has approached us, and Finnick started to act flirtatious so as not to give us away.

"Finnick.... Hi!!" A Capitol woman says, with her high pitched voice. I look up. She has large blue hair, and very pale skin. She's wearing green pants and a green shirt, that look like they're made out of plastic. Her clothes are very tight. "Remember me?"

Finnick gulps. "Uh...." He obviously doesn't remember her.

"Marci Daniels? We met a month ago?" She says. "President Snow introduced us? Then we went on a date and-"

Finnick starts breathing somewhat heavily. His face turns a shade or two paler. I remember his story. Everyone in District 4 knows it. He's President Snow's slave. It's a tale of human trafficking. Finnick says he gets sick even thinking about what he's been put through.

"I think he ate some bad fish," I whisper to Marci. I put my hand on Finnick's back, ever so gently, and lead him to the bathroom. Marci looks at him in sympathy, and saunters off.

Finnick walks into the bathroom, and I wait outside. There's really loud music playing, and Cyrus hasn't even appeared at his own winning party yet.