Rebuilding Myself (third book of the Lost Love series) (HG fanfic)

Chapter Six

By the time we woke up, it was already well into the day. I woke up dizzy and on the floor. My head still hurt from fighting the sleep bomb. I tucked one hand into my pocket and sure enough, the bomb was still there. I slowly got up, and observed the damage. The floor was squeaky clean, and Katniss and Peeta were still asleep. I then searched the rest of the house for Arisa. I couldn't find her.

Effie took Arisa.

She kidnapped her.

Kidnapped.

Again.

Angered, I left the house and banged on Effie's door. It was a good, long five-mile run, but I was willing to go that far for her, my best friend. And I would've gone that far to destroy such a monster any day.

Effie didn't open the door. I started pounding on the door harder and harder until, finally, Effie opened the door. She was panting, which just made it more obvious to me that she was the criminal here.

"Allie, couldn't you have waited for just another minute? I was in the bathroom!"

"Ha! Sure you were!"

"That's sarcasm. Why are you being sarcastic? I was really in the bathroom. Were you spying on me?"

"Oh, so you admit that you weren't in the bathroom! Now we're getting somewhere!"

"What do you mean? What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about your little visit to Katniss's home these past two days."

"Katniss? I haven't visited her in months!"

"Don't lie to me, Effie! I know you have Arisa and Marcus in there!"

"What are you talking about?!"

"That's right! Now let me in!"

I pushed my way into the house, and started frantically searching for the two.

"Marcus! Arisa! I'm going to find you and save you from Effie!"

"Save them from me?" She interrupted.

"Oh, for the love of Pete, could you stop acting dumb? I already caught you red-handed!"

"Caught me in what act? Did you catch me on TV earlier today? Because then, I truly am surprised that they've decided to keep me on the screen for so long."

"Oh my goodness, no! I caught you kidnapping two future district representatives. They were both going to join the government and you kidnapped them. Oh yeah, I've got you now!"

"Government? Kidnapping? Oh no. She's at it."

"She meaning you!"

"No, she meaning a lookalike of me."

"Lookalike? Ha! Next you're going to tell me you have an evil twin sister who survived the attack and swears on getting revenge against the rebels and bring back Snow's way of life in Panem."

She wore a serious expression.

"Oh my god that can't be right! I was being sarcastic!"

She slowly nodded her head and showed me a photo. Two Effies.

"Oh my - "

The world went dark.

*******

When I woke up, I was lying down on a very soft bed. I was on Effie's bed.

"When you came knocking - no, pounding - on my door, I was talking to her. I was yelling at her, trying to get her to shut up about how Snow should still remain our president. And at the same time, she was yelling at me and trying to get me to think the same way as her. She was like 'Paylor is the worst president Panem has ever seen. Snow ruled with an iron fist and that's the kind of president our nation needs, not the stupid softie we have now!' And I was yelling right back at her, defending Paylor. I'm kind of ashamed of Ellie so I never really told anyone about her. She tells everyone about me because she has always wanted to be in the spotlight."

"She looks exactly like you. Why isn't she in the spotlight too?"

"Because. First of all, I had the better personality. Ellie was always a bit of a crab, and it often shined through her exterior as well. And second, when we were twelve, we got attacked by Peacekeepers. The incident got me to try and start hating the Capitol, while it just got Ellie all fired up on how epic Snow is. And she said this even though she's the one who got cut across the face by the peacekeepers. She says she deserves the scar, as a reminder to her concerning who the boss is. She's a strange one. Not even strange describes her, because plenty of strange people rebelled against Snow."

"Like you," I muttered.

She glared at me.

"I heard that."

"Sorry."

"Anyway, she's been fighting for Snow ever since. They wouldn't allow female peacekeepers, and so she became an undercover soldier. She'd often pretend that she was a rebel, and then she went and killed the real rebels. In fact, it was her idea to release the mutts that had killed Finnick."

"It was her?"

"Oh yeah."

"And how do you know?"

"Ellie was always a bit of a braggart. Killing the great Finnick Odair had inflated her ego ten times more than it already was, and she kept telling me about it over and over again. 'I killed the great Finnick Odair and it only took me a few minutes. Your precious rebels are weak, sister. You should join us, the stronger force. You'll be better off here!'"

"She's already making me sick."

"Oh yeah. In fact, I know how many horrible things she has done. She makes Coin sound like a dream come true."

"So what you're proposing is that Ellie probably kidnapped Arisa and Marcus?"

"I know she definitely did that."

"So she's still somewhere in District 12."

"Nope, like I said before, she had access to mutts. She has - had - Snow's support. They had an alliance. That's enough for her to gain access to all his resources. Trains, inventions, mutts - you name it."

"So she could be anywhere in Panem by now?"

"Not quite. You're not seeing the full situation here. She has access to everything. She can get Snow's private jet and for all he cares, she's off doing something and hiding evidence so that she will never be found. Which means that - "

I gasped, finally realizing how serious the situation has become.

"She could be anywhere in the world.

__________________________________________________

So, clearly things are changing...

I've been having a ton of work to do lately, so updates may be slower. However, they will keep coming. I'm still not giving up.

Vote/comment/share/look for Effie's evil twin.

I'm sitting on the floor. Floors are really hard.

----------M :)