Puzzle Pieces • Finnick Odair

C H A P T E R 3 9

Everyone spread out in order to keep a wide, safe perimeter.

Beetee and Johanna sat on the beach with the wire, Peeta and Katniss sit on the beach to the right of them, Finnick and Jessica sit by the water on to the left of Beetee and Johanna.

Finnick was stood in the water twirling his trident in the air as Jessica sat in the shallow area, her knives and twin blades safely around her waist as her hand hovered near the handle of one of her blades, ready for an attack, as they danced over the rippling water. She sat there, allowing the water to run over her hands and legs. Finnick would sit with Jessica occasionally and, since he didn't have a rope, he braided Jessica's hair, it seemed to calm and distract him.

Katniss looks over at the people around her. Unknown to the others, she was trying to convince Peeta that they should leave. Peeta says they should sat with the group til midnight, aka til the Careers are dead. Peeta takes off the necklace that Haymitch had given to Jessica to show their alliance before returning it back to Peeta. He gives the necklace to Katniss which contains three pictures: Gale, her sister Prim, and Katniss' mum.

They kiss and Johanna shouts to them, motioning for them to come moodily, "alright lovebirds." She turns to Finnick and Jessica, "c'mon sweetheart," she grins, her tone softening slightly every time she spoke directly to her friend.

The group head towards the lightning tree as the Panem anthem starts to play.

They have a moments silence for the fallen Tributes, especially when Wiress' face came up on the screen.

"Minimal charring. It's an impressive conductor," Beetee geeks, "let's get started." Beetee begins to wrap the wire around the tree. "Typically a lightning strike contains five billion joules of energy. We don't want to be anywhere in the vicinity when it hits."

As he winds the wire around the tree, Jessica stands besides Finnick with one arm around his waist and the other holding one of her twin blades. He has a tight grip around her waist whilst holding his trident in his other hand.

Once Beetee is satisfied, he brings the coil over to Katniss, "you three girls, go together now. Take this. Unspool it carefully. Make sure the entire coil is in the water. You understand? Then head to the tree at the 2:00 sector. We'll meet you there."

"I'm gonna go with them as a guard," Peeta says.

"No, no, no," Beetee declines, "you're staying here to protect me. And the tree."

"No, I need to go with her," Peeta says desperately, starting to sound suspicious.

"There are two Careers out there. I need two guards," Beetee replies.

"Finnick can protect you just fine on his own," Peeta argues.

"Why can't Johanna, Jessica and Finnick stay with you and Peeta and I'll take the coil? Extra protection." Katniss suggests.

"As much as I'd love to stay with Finn and Jo to make sure their both okay, that's not the plan we agreed to," Jessica chimes in.

"You all agreed to keep me alive til midnight, correct?" Beetee walks towards Katniss.

"It's his plan. We all agreed to it," Johanna agrees with Jessica.

"Is there a problem here?" Finnick asks in a serious and accusing, yet almost mocking, tone.

"Excellent question." Beetee refers to Finnick's question.

"No. There's no problem." Katniss says, worry evident in her tone.

AN: suspicious stuff.