❝𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐎𝐒❞ | k. everdeen

chapter 12: gone.

Enobaria gave her a pained look—. Oh, they haven't told you yet. Finnick, Beetee and you were lucky enough to be rescued by the rebels, but the others were not so lucky. Johanna, Peeta and Nola were taken out by the Capitol. So who knows where they are right now, or if they are still alive —seeing the shock on the girl's features, Enobaria gathered her things—. Thank the rebels' magnificent idea. I don't want to hear a word coming from you, unless you come to tell me that Nola is here.

Finnick immediately burst into tears. Katniss looked at him in surprise, and found that he was still with his head down, deeply ashamed of the situation. He used his fingers to cover his eyes to keep more tears from continuing to flow, but to no avail, and Katniss began to understand: he wanted to return to District 4 for something, surely because the Capitol would have captured Annie to use against him. And the brunette felt bad, very bad, but she felt more anger than the pain Finnick could feel.

—Peeta? —Katniss muttered, her eyes filling with tears. But behind her five letters, there was also the concern she felt for Johanna and Nola. It was the Capitol they were talking about, and if the girls had inside information, torture was the least she could expect from them.

—Katniss, I'm going to explain what happened, and I don't want you to ask any questions until I'm done, understood?

And he told her.

They prepared a plan to get them out of the arena as soon as the vassalage was announced. The winning tributes from Districts 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 11, and Nola from 2 knew about it, each to a different extent. Plutarch Heavensbee had for several years been part of a secret group intent on taking down the Capitol. He made sure the wire was among the weapons, Haymitch recounted, and that immediately made Katniss think of Nola's words: the gamemakers would have made sure it was there, because it was lethal in the right hands. Beetee was in charge of opening a hole in the force field. The bread they were receiving in the arena was a code for the time of rescue. The District the bread came from indicated the day: three. The number of rolls indicated the time: always twenty-four. The hovercraft belonged to District 13; in fact, that's where they were headed. Meanwhile, almost all of Panem's Districts were in the throes of full-scale rebellion.

—You didn't tell me —Katniss protested quietly.

—You and Peeta didn't know. We couldn't risk it —Plutarch confessed—. I was even worried you'd mention my indiscretion with the watch during the games. Of course, when I showed it to you, I was trying to give you a clue about the arena, as a mentor. I thought it would be a first step in gaining your trust. It didn't even cross my mind that you could be a tribute again.

—I still don't understand why you didn't tell Peeta and me about the plan.

—Because when the force field went off, you'd be the first ones they'd try to capture, and the less you knew, the better —Haymitch explained.

—The first? Why?

—For the same reason the rest of us agreed to die to keep you alive —Finnick replied in a breath, still somewhat distracted.

—No, Johanna tried to kill me. The arm... —Katniss pointed to her forearm, but instead of the hole there was now only a bandage—. And Nola made it clear that she would do her best to go home.

—Johanna knocked you down to get the tracking device off your arm, to get Brutus away from you —Haymitch replied impatiently. Katniss shook her head, her mouth ajar, softly remembering Nola's order to Johanna: 'do it'—. And, believe it or not, Nola was with you from the beginning. If she was so convinced that she would get out of there alive, it's because she knew we would come in for you sooner or later, and after all, Nola has proven herself to be a warrior on the battlefield. She killed for you.