fantasy | johanna mason

chapter seven

I make sure Rowan's sleeping when it gets dark, but I myself cannot seem to close my eyes. I sit on the edge of my bed instead, staring into nothing.

"You look like you're either going to punch the wall or start sobbing," a voice says, startling me.

Johanna is leaning against the door frame. She sees that she caught me off guard and smirks. "Hey, scaredy-cat."

"What are you doing up?" I ask, trying to compose myself.

The victor gives an indifferent look. "Same thing you're doing."

"Why do you even care about keeping my sister alive, anyway?" I say, asking the question I've wondered since Johanna agreed to try to keep Rowan alive if she was reaped.

Johanna lets out a breath. "I had two younger brothers, Ezra and James, both victims of the Capitol. They were both young, and so innocent and free-spirited, like the redhead."

Kayla Mason. Ezra Mason. James Mason. All young people murdered by the Capitol just because Johanna loves them.

"It's why I hate the Capitol assholes," Johanna continues. "And I don't want a kid who reminds me so much of my dead brothers to fall prey to them as well."

I feel something wet fall on one of my bare arms, and I become aware of the fact that I am crying in front of Johanna Mason.

Then something unexpected happens. Johanna walks towards me and holds her arms out, inviting me to hug her. I go into her arms willingly, and we just stay like that for at least five minutes.

"Sponsors and being liked in the Capitol will do Rowan good. And she has good skills for the arena. She has good chances," whispers Johanna.

"I know. It's just that she's my sister and I-"

Johanna shushes me. It vaguely reminds me of the morning of the reaping, when I shushed Rowan when she started to murmur about the reaping. That morning was just today, but so much has changed since then.

"C'mon, Elowen, go to sleep. I'm tired and don't feel like babysitting you."

I roll my eyes, then laugh a bit. Johanna's snapped out of being soft and is now being typical Johanna. "You won't have to. I can take care of myself just fine."

"Oh, goody," says Johanna with fake enthusiasm. "Okay, good night."

-

That night, I relive the reaping over and over again, but every time Rowan climbs up to the stage, she is killed a different way. I see my sister impaled with spears and arrows and knives. I see her gunned down by Peacekeepers. The last method I see before waking up is her death by thousands of tiny little bugs eating away at her brain.

"Elowen, wake up," Rowan's voice says. I open my eyes slowly, and Rowan's eyes, with the inner rings of her irises brown and the outer rings blue, come into view. My sister is still alive.

I groan. "Yeah, I'm coming," I say, and Rowan takes that as a cue to leave.

I run my face under freezing cold water to numb it, to relieve myself of any feeling. All the clothes in my closet are luxurious, Capitol clothes that I don't want on my body, but I force myself into a thin knitted sweater and leather pants that are somewhat like the ones I own back in Seven.

When I walk into the train's dining room, Johanna, Aeneas, Rowan and Jude are already seated and eating.

"Oh, Elowen!" Aeneas exclaims when he sees me. "Sorry, we started without you."

I shrug him off. "It's fine."

I take a seat beside Rowan, across from Johanna. "You'll be hot in that," Rowan comments, referring to what I'm wearing.

"I'll change later," I reply, sure that I'll be forced to change when we arrive in the Capitol. Though it's July right now, it doesn't get very warm in Seven, since my home district is in the north of Panem. Rowan's right, though, I will get hot because the Capitol has warm summers. 

Jude looks over at the window, and his grey eyes widen. From his look, I know we're approaching the Capitol.

Aeneas claps his hands together once. "All right, finish up eating, we're off this train in five minutes tops."

I sigh, standing up. "Make them like you. You're a very likeable person, so it shouldn't be that hard," I whisper to Rowan.

As we wait for the doors of the train to open, Johanna moves a dark strand of hair out of my eyes. I give her a grin of appreciation.

The train doors open, and a crowd of Capitol citizens greets us, with their odd hair and skin colours, their peculiar choices of clothing and their silly accents.

Aeneas exits the train first, and Rowan follows along with Jude. Johanna and I exit last. Rowan smiles her contagious, innocent smile and waves at the crowd of citizens. They cheer and clap for her, smiling back. Jude smiles too, but less at the crowd and more because he seems to be in a state of astonishment at seeing the Capitol.

"That was great," I say to Rowan the second we arrive at the Remake Center. "There were cameras at the train station. Lots of people saw you."

Rowan replies, "well, you did tell me to make them like me."

I feel a little sliver of hope that my sister could win, if she gets sponsors. It's better than nothing.