The Heiress {Finnick Odair}

The Mad Victor

The girl from Two stalked over and used her other knife to lift Annie's head.

"Consider this your punishment."

And the boy from One lifted his sword and brought it down on Jack's head.

No one in the Capitol had ever heard a shriek like the one that left Annie Cresta's mouth. In one move, she yanked the dagger out of her leg and shoved it through the girl from Two's neck. The girl sputtered as blood dribbled out of her mouth.

She threw the dagger and it hit the boy from One straight through the eye.

Adrien didn't know what happened after that. From the moment he watched his brother decapitated, he let out an anguished cry and fell to the ground.

Finnick grabbed his friend as he grabbed one end of the coffee table and threw it against the wall. Amara jumped, and stepped closer to Mags, tears streaming down her face. The older woman pulled her into her arms.

Ezra leapt forward to help contain Adrien, but he was filled with so much anger that he seemed to move through the crowd.

"I'm going to kill him," he growled. "Snow needs to learn what it means to fall."

And that was when the other victors jumped in.

They all hated Snow, and none of them would deny it, but they also knew that Adrien would be killed by the peacekeepers long before he had the opportunity to get his hands on Snow.

In the end, it was Beetee that got the best of him. He pulled out a small weapon that looked like a gun and shot Adrien with it. He immediately started convulsing as surges of electricity surged through his body.

Then, he was out cold.

Finnick looked down at him and then up at Beetee.

"What did you do?"

"Don't worry, he's just knocked out."

"Smart thinking," Seeder said. She leaned down and unhooked the weapon from Adrien.

"How long will he be out?" Gloss asked.

"No more than a few hours," Beetee said.

Mags and Amara were still silently crying as they watched the screen. Jack was dead. He'd been beheaded in front of Annie. They all knew there was no way Annie would ever recover from witnessing that.

Finnick settled down next to the two women, and put his arms around both of them as the three cried over the loss of the little boy.

**

When Adrien woke up, he had no idea why he was in his room.

He could remember trying to leave the apartment to kill Snow, and then nothing. It felt like his brain had been fried, and his head throbbed as a result.

When he poked his head out, the victors were still watching the games.

"What happened?" he groaned. They all looked over at him.

"You were ready to kill Snow," Enobaria told him. "Beetee knocked you out."

"And I hauled you to your room to sleep it off," Gloss added. Adrien had never been more angry at a person in his life, but he was grateful that they all stopped him. He wouldn't be able to help Annie at all if he were dead or declared a traitor.

"What did I miss?" he asked.

"Everyone's hiding," Seeder told him. "She went on a rampage, but the two careers got away."

"We're worried her leg is going to get infected," Amara muttered.

"It will if she doesn't see a doctor soon," Seeder pointed out.

Sure enough, Annie had situated herself in the strongest tree she had managed to find. She was roped in, but she was starting to sweat. It looked like she had a fever.

Adrien focused in on his fiance. She could still get out of this. Annie could win. She could come home to him.

They could tell the arena was shifting. There were a few cracks, like the sounds of trees being ripped from the ground, near Annie.

Finnick was so consumed in what was happening on the screen that he almost didn't notice the notification that popped up on his tablet.

He looked at the message in complete confusion. He had no idea how this was going to help Annie. Everything in his gut was telling him to buy her the salve that she needed, but as he read the message, he sent up a prayer. The Heiress had never been wrong before. He glanced over at Adrien, and pressed the small red button.

Everyone around Panem watched in awe as the first sponsor gift echoed through the arena, and landed beside Annie.

She groaned, and could barely keep her eyes open as she reached over to grab the package.

The world held its breath.

Deep breath.
The Heiress

Inside was a single red rose, one identical to the one Adrien received the year before, and a small device that looked like a harmonica. Amara let out a teary cry. She'd was going to die from an infection, and the Heiress thought a musical instrument and a flower was her best bet.

She wasn't coming home. Without the medicine, she was going to die.

"What did you do?" Adrien asked Finnick, but he just stared at the screen.

And then they all heard it.

A shudder went through the arena. A crack that sounded like the Earth was breaking open. Amara glanced around. Not the Earth. The dam.

The first time Annie saw it, she couldn't understand why there was a dam in the arena, but as she watched it slowly break apart, she understood: they were in the grand finale.

She quickly reached down and untied the rope that was keeping her secure to the tree.

She refused to drown because she was stuck to the tree. She tore the bottom of her shirt off and tied it as tightly around her wound as she could. If the dam was about to break, she didn't need dirty water getting into her leg.

The dam let out a resounding crack as it burst open.

Annie grabbed onto the tree and held on as long as she could, but it was no use.

She'd never seen water get so high. Soon, the only thing she could do was tread water for as long as she could.

They were getting so high that she could see the other tributes.

They angrily looked at one another before they all started to swim closer to one another.

Annie grabbed her dagger and looked at the harmonica one last time.

Deep breath. That was what the note had said. Annie stared at it for another second before she realized. This was most definitely not a harmonica.

Annie grinned. She wasn't sure how the Heiress knew that she would need this, but clearly she did. Annie took a deep breath, put her mouth to the small device, and let herself sink beneath the water.

For a few moments, there was nothing. Then, one tribute was yanked beneath the waves. The other two glanced at one another as his body popped back up, his head still under the water. He was dead.

It didn't take much longer before all of Panem heard a loud voice.

"Ladies and gentlemen! The winner of the 70th annual Hunger Games!"