Pawn of Panem | Finnick Odair [2]

The Muse : 1

Chapter One

I use a technique one of the doctors suggested. I start with the simplest things I know to be true and work toward the more complicated. The list begins to roll in my head....

My name is Sagitarra Scrymgeour. I am seventeen years old. My home is District 5. I was in the Hunger Games. I escaped. I have been injected with the lethal substance -- Vellichor Luthium. The Capitol hates me. My friends were taken prisoner. They are thought to be dead. Most likely they are dead. It is probably best if they are dead....

I killed you, I think. And you. And you.

Because I did. It was my idea, I armed the arrow and aimed it at the chink in the force field surrounding the arena, that brought on this firestorm of retribution. That sent the whole country of Panem into chaos.

In my head I hear President Snow's words, spoken the morning I won the 72nd Games.

"Sagitarra Scrymgeour, the daughter to the Capitol, you have provided a spark that, left unattended, may grow to an inferno that destroys Panem."

It turns out he wasn't exaggerating or simply trying to scare me. He was, perhaps, genuinely attempting to enlist my help. But I had already set something in motion that I had no ability to control. Now I just have to guide it, or so they want me to.

What they want is for me to truly take on the role they designed for me. To be one of the symbols of the revolution.

The Muse.

It isn't enough, what I've done in the past, defying the Capitol in the Games, providing a rallying point. I must now become an actual leader, a face, a voice, an embodiment of the revolution. A person who the districts -- most of which are now openly at war with the Capitol -- can count on to blaze the path to victory.

I won't have to do it alone. Katniss will help me. They have a whole team of people to make us over, dress us, write our speeches, orchestrate our appearances -- as if they doesn't sound horribly familiar -- and all we have to do is play the part.

Sometimes I listen to them and sometimes I just watch the perfect line of Coin's hair and try to decide if it's a wig. Eventually, I leave the room because my head starts to ache or it's time to eat or if I don't get aboveground I might start screaming. I don't bother to say anything. I simply get up and walk out.

Yesterday afternoon, as the door was closing behind me, I heard Coin say, "I told you we should have rescued the boy first." Meaning Peeta.

Katniss and I couldn't agree more.

He would've been an excellent mouthpiece.

And who did they fish out of the arena instead?

Me, who won't cooperate.

Katniss, who refuses to be the Mockingjay as long as Peeta is in custody of the Capitol.

Beetee, an older inventor from 3, who I rarely see because he was pulled into weapons development the minute he could sit upright. Literally, they wheeled his hospital bed into some top secret area and now he only occasionally shows up for meals. He's very smart and very willing to help the cause, but not really firebrand material.

And then there's Finnick Odair, the sex symbol from the fishing district, who kept Peeta alive in the arena when no one else could, one of the only people I trust in this place. They want to transform Finnick into a rebel leader as well, but first they'll have to get him to stay awake for more than five minutes.