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38. a deal with a snake
June is caught off guard by the sound of her own footsteps echoing through the halls. They’re firm, fast, and still don’t convey half of the anger that’s rushing through her veins at the moment. She's absolutely furious that she even has to do this.
Coriolanus is fast. But not fast enough.
“Coriolanus!” She finally calls out when she makes it across the corner. “Where are you going? We’re not supposed to leave unless our tribute dies!”
Coriolanus stops in his tracks. He knows he walked too far to lie and tell the girl that he just needed to use the restroom. He passed those long ago. Deep down, he might already have an idea of where this is headed, but that doesn’t mean that he has time for it.
This entire time, ever since the beginning of the mentorship, she has been his most annoying competition. There are some other mentors that don’t have bad odds at getting the Plinth Prize, but out of all of them, June has been getting on his nerves the most.
Every single time he thought he had the upper hand, she somehow managed to be there, too. It started at the train station when they greeted the tributes, stretching to her being at the zoo almost every single time he was there and over to her being the only one to fill out the necessary paperwork alongside him. And then, if it weren’t for the guitar he managed to get his hands on at the last minute, she would’ve almost beaten him at the interview as well.
It’s sickening, her sudden stubbornness. He has known her since they were little, and she was always someone who preferred being in the background more than anything, so why the change of heart? Is it her tribute? No matter what it is, it leaves a bitter taste in his mouth.
He thought he had the upper hand regarding the snakes, but now he knows she knows too. And with her mother working for Dr. Gaul, it wouldn’t surprise him if she knew even more.
He turns around and rolls his shoulder in the most convincing way he can muster, his eyes widening slightly at the tense posture of the girl in front of him. He’s used to her tensing up when she’s anxious, but this? There is not one sliver of anxiety inside of her.
This is anger, and it's directed at him.
“I wanted Dr. Gaul to fix my stitches. I think I tore some earlier,” he lies unashamedly. He’s about to turn away, but her next words make him stop.
“Always with the convenient timing,” June says so coolly, his eyes widening before he squints at her, trying to look confused. “Like with the drones yesterday, you just so happened to send them when Lucy Gray was surrounded.”
It’s obvious he didn’t expect her to bring it up again. After all, June isn’t known for being the most confrontational person in the Capitol. That must be part of the reason why he doesn’t immediately respond and only stares at her, his mouth slightly agape. Like a deer in headlights.
She thinks he looks like a fish. A fish that has been caught. His silence tells her everything she needs to know.
“Listen, I know you weren’t just sending water to her. There were too many bottles at once, so don’t give me any of that right now. I know what I saw,” she says. “Everyone else might have brushed it off, but I know that was intentional.”
“Can we talk about this another time?” Coriolanus finally asks. “There’s really no need to bring this up right now—”
“I know, Coriolanus. About the water,” June goes on. “I know Dill didn’t die because of her illness. Treech saw it, too, and so did Reaper. Lucy Gray tampered with it.”
“And what does that have to do with me? Dill was already on the brink of death when she got reaped!” Coriolanus retorts defensively, shrugging only to wince when he tears a few of his stitches for real. She thinks it was intentional. “What Lucy Gray does in there is up to her. I didn’t tell her to do anything but hide.”
“Did you?” June takes a few steps closer. In any other scenario, she might have asked if he was alright, but she can’t bring herself to care much for his well-being right now. “How else would she get her hands on something poisonous if you didn’t give it to her?”
It’s clear Coriolanus is scrambling for an excuse. “There was rat poison at the zoo,” he points out. “Maybe she found some and—”
She immediately shakes her head. “You’re not supposed to touch that stuff without gloves. My father s— They used the latest, strongest version at the zoo. And even if she was fine, she’d have it in her dress, and she’d inhale it one way or another. And that would kill her.”
Coriolanus’ eyes dart back and forth. He doesn’t have any time, and he knows she knows he gave Lucy Gray the rat poison. But now what? “Are you going to tell Highbottom? Is that what this is about?” he asks, taking a step forward as well.
June has to suppress a laugh. “I should, shouldn’t I? Even if Lucy Gray wins this by some miracle—” She stops herself and looks up at him. Of course. She almost got side-tracked.
“If you tamper with the snakes, I don’t know how, but if you do something to them so they don’t attack Lucy Gray, I will know,” she says. “You know I visited Clemmie. She told me everything.”
Coriolanus swallows. “I figured she did,” he admits. His eyes trail over June, only to land on the bow in her hair.
He knows this is no ordinary bow. Before the interview with Flickerman last week, he saw her tribute putting it on her. He knows it’s the boy’s neck scarf. What a clever move, making the audience think they're the best of friends.
“Then what do you want from me? I’m not going to let Lucy Gray die in there, June,” he says a bit more sharply this time. “I need—” He stops himself. He feels like he can’t think straight.
“Listen, I just need her to win,” he finishes his sentence, lowering his voice a little bit.
June clicks her tongue. “You need the money,” she corrects him, and she almost enjoys the way he flinches at her tone. It’s one she’s not proud of. It’s a harsh one and sounds unnatural coming from her.
June never liked clicking her tongue, speaking sharply, or reprimanding people. She doesn’t like confrontations, but even when they do happen, she tries to speak quietly and softly. If anything, she reminds herself of her mother when her voice loses its usual softness and her tone becomes harsh. It makes her skin crawl.
“I’m not going to tell anyone,” she then goes on to say. “Like I said, not unless I have a good reason to. Unlike you, I couldn’t care less about the money. I don’t need it. I want Treech to win because I want him to go home.”
At this point, Coriolanus is beginning to fear he might be too late if he makes it to Dr. Gaul now. But he needs the Plinth Prize, and he needs Lucy Gray to win in order to get it.
“You know how the snakes work,” he answers. “Give me your bow; I’ll put it into the tank along with something of Lucy Gray’s. Let the snakes decide who will win.”
So that’s his plan? He has something that has her scent on it? But June doesn’t trust it. It’d be too suspicious if they both left right now and their tributes were the only ones unharmed by the snakes. And there’s no way to guarantee that Coriolanus won’t just toss the neck scarf into the trash if he goes alone.
“No,” June says, clearly surprising him. “No, I don’t need that. They’d discover it sooner or later, and I don’t want to know what they’d do to Treech when they do.”
She takes a deep breath. On purpose or not, she can see the blood seeping through his shirt slowly, and she knows the only way to get him patched up is at Dr. Gaul’s lab. But she can’t go with him either; she’s too nervous that the snakes will be dropped into the arena any minute now.
She won’t leave Treech alone. She has to see it when the tank arrives.
“Go and let her stitch you back up,” she then finally says. “But if you tamper with the snakes, know that I will know. And if Lucy Gray wins by some miracle despite what Dr. Gaul said, I’ll tell her, and you can kiss the Plinth Prize goodbye.”
Coriolanus clenches his jaw. Out of all people, he would’ve never expected this kind of thinking and acting coming from one of the meekest people the Capitol has to offer. The only reason he’s able to see her that way is because he never bothered to get to know her better, though. Perhaps he never even knew her at all.
“What do you want from me?” he repeats his question again, his eyes ice cold. “Do you expect me to just let her die in there?”
June doesn’t know how warped his feelings for Lucy Gray are. She feels a tinge of guilt, knowing that she’s essentially asking him to let Lucy Gray die, and likely in such a horrible way at that. It’s scary what these Games are turning her into. Asking him to let someone precious to him die just so someone precious to her can live.
Chances are that she would still feel awful even if she knew that Coriolanus views Lucy Gray as a possession rather than a human being. But perhaps she could excuse it by arguing that she’s sparing Lucy Gray from suffering at Coriolanus’ hands. After what he did to Bobbin, June doesn’t have any trust left in him.
“If you let Treech win, I’ll give you the prize money. Secretly. No one will know,” June says quietly. There’s only a small gap in between them, and she looks up at him with nothing but honesty in her gaze. “I don’t need it. I just want Treech to live. And after that, you’ll never hear another word from me ever again."
Coriolanus is obviously weighing his options. As much as her claim to leave him alone after all of this is over intrigues him, and as much as the thought of getting the prize money intrigues him even more, he doesn’t get it. As long as she’s in the Capitol, there’ll always be someone who knows about his cheating. But would she tell on him one day? There’s no guarantee that she wouldn’t.
But maybe he’d let her live in false security. Yes, that would work. There’s no way he’s passing up on Lucy Gray and the Plinth Prize. There’s no way June doesn’t know how he feels about his tribute. Does she think he’ll let Lucy Gray die just like that?
He has to suppress a laugh. Maybe this is the June he knows after all. So, so horribly naïve.
“Fine. You better keep your word,” he finally agrees, and June sighs in relief. “But I’m still going to see Dr. Gaul. She didn’t stitch me up right last time.”
June feels like a weight has been lifted off her shoulders. She nods. “Thank you,” she whispers. “I — I’m going back in. I can’t miss this.”
Coriolanus watches her leave and turns on his heels as well, picking up his pace. He silently laughs to himself, not knowing he won’t have the last laugh this time.
If Lucy Gray wins, June will make his life a living hell. The second they announce Lucy Gray as the victor, if they do at all, she’ll tell on him no matter what.
Because if Treech dies, there’s nothing else worth living for. It’s a realization that hits her like a ton of bricks, but it’s true. She doesn’t think she’d be able to bear it.
She’ll ruin Coriolanus Snow, even if it’s the last thing she’ll ever do. For the little time she might have left, she can live with that.
His mistake is underestimating how much she cares for Treech. If Coriolanus is the reason she won’t see him again, he’ll have hell to pay. She has the resources to bring him to ruin if she has to.
But she wants him to know that, too. No matter what happens to him afterwards, even if she’ll be too dead to ever find out, she’d like to think that what he did will haunt him.
No money, no Lucy Gray — there’s no way he’ll ever see her again if June snitches on him — all of his efforts to save her would be for nothing. That’s something they’ll have in common.
Maybe he sticks to the agreement. Maybe he doesn’t. But there’s no way she won’t have the last laugh.
Because even if she can’t do it for some reason, there’s someone else who knows about Coriolanus’ cheating. June has enough proof at her fingertips to make him regret ever lying to her if he does.
When June makes it back into the auditorium, she knows she has many eyes on her. Thankfully, there are still a lot of people discussing Dr. Gaul’s announcement, so she can make it back to her seat without anyone questioning her.
To June, it sounded more like a mad king’s speech — or queen’s, monarch’s, whatever — like the woman has lost the last shreds of her sanity as well. No victors at the Games? Then who will watch them next year? She has to be bluffing. Perhaps it’s just a strategy to keep the audience invested.
In June’s case, it’s doing nothing but making her anxious for Treech. Hasn’t the Capitol hurt these children more than enough already? As if the Games aren’t enough.
“Are you alright, June? You left so suddenly,” Persephone asks once the other girl is back in her seat. She leans forward, looking past Festus.
June shakes her head and says, “I’m fine. I think what Dr. Gaul said just caught me off guard, so I needed a moment.” She takes a deep breath and suppresses the urge to shiver.
“You two don’t think she’s serious, do you?” Festus taps around on the communipad, clearly nervous as well. “She can’t be. Why do all of this if there isn’t going to be a winner?”
June wonders if he’s worried because the Plinth Prize might not be awarded at all if that’s the case or if he’s genuinely concerned. For Dr. Gaul’s mental state? For the tributes? For Coral? She doesn’t know.
“It’s Dr. Gaul,” Persephone then says with a shake of her head. She lowers her voice and says, “It wouldn’t surprise me.”
While June hums in silent agreement, Festus scratches at the back of his hand and looks up at the screen. “You’re right,” he then answers. “I can never tell what that woman is thinking.”
Because she’s crazy.
June’s leg bounces beneath her little table, and she forces herself to remain rational. She has told Treech everything she knows about the snakes — everything Clemmie told her, every piece of information Cas managed to gather at the lab — he should be okay. He has the antivenom inside of him; he should be okay.
But she can’t help herself. Even with how little she has been eating, she can’t fight off the anxiety. It’s almost enough to make her vomit, but she’s somehow able to fight it off.
The only news that Lucky gets his hands on in the meantime is that the crowd watching the Games near the arena has become a bit violent. Much to June’s horror, it seems a group of Treech fans started fighting with some Coral fans over who should win the Games and had to be broken up by Peacekeepers. Festus seems a bit excited but manages to contain himself somewhat when he and June are called forward for a brief statement.
June is barely able to think, but the two of them somehow manage to scramble for something to hopefully prevent further incidents like this. After they thank the viewers for their support and donations, they put an emphasis on the fact that even if they’re opponents in the arena, fans of their respective tributes should remain civil at all costs.
By the time she makes it back to her seat, her head is spinning.
She looks back up at the screen, where Reaper is now kneeling next to his makeshift morgue. Little is happening now aside from Teslee and Circ emerging from their hiding spots, albeit a bit more carefully. Perhaps they’re looking for another drone to tamper with, but their motives remain unclear. This time, Treech makes no attempt to go after them, and wherever he is, she’s unsure what might be going through his head.
Is he still thinking about what happened to Dill? Or is he already waiting it out until the duo from Three gets close enough? She wishes she could ask him. But he’s safe for the moment, and that’s all she cares about.
The students in the arena are still murmuring to one another, even when Coriolanus returns a while later. Even Lucky is starting to grow a bit restless, pacing behind the mentors. Much like everyone else, he seems to be on the verge of losing his mind.
June doesn’t know how much time passes, but when she hears an aircraft, she forces herself to look up. She squints, trying to see what’s happening in the arena, but with the wind blowing the sand and dust in the arena everywhere, it’s impossible to see anything at all. But she knows this is it.
The dust begins to settle slowly, and her heart drops at the sight of the tank that’s dropped in the middle of the arena. The aircraft doesn’t hover over the arena a moment longer and leaves just as quickly as it came, leaving the tributes alone with the tank.
And the snakes. Even after hearing so much about it, June has to swallow at the sight of the snake tank. So this is what everything has been about the entire time. She has seen parts of the snakes and the scales, but never the tank itself.
“Whatever this is, it can’t be good!” Lucky says, hurrying over to stand in between the remaining mentors. He spits something, and it lands right on Festus’ neck, making him groan in disgust.
June winces but can’t dwell on it too long. Much like the rest of the mentors, she stands up and observes the events unfolding on the screen.
The unexpected arrival of the tank has caused some movement in the arena, too. Reaper, although he remains in his previous spot, sits up a little bit straighter to take a better look at it, and June gasps when Treech emerges out of nowhere. It startles even Teslee and Circ, who are barely visible at the bottom of the screen, and it’s obvious they must be wondering what this means.
June understands. He’s giving himself a head start because he’s the only one who knows what’s about to happen. He hesitates only for a moment, pausing briefly to squint at the tank. If he could hear her, she would have screamed for him to keep running, but she keeps herself quiet. A weight is lifted off her shoulders when he begins sprinting for the stands even faster than before.
She can sell this as keen intuition if they ask her about it. But right now, all she wants is to see Treech alive.
But the camera zooms in, now showing Wovey as she emerges from the tunnels. Since the beginning of the Games, she hasn’t shown herself much. She looks thinner than before, almost like a walking skeleton, and is visibly exhausted.
"Wovey’s alive!” Hilarius breathes out in relief. But he doesn’t dare touch his communipad to send anything in right now, too curious to see where this is going.
“Wouldn’t it be funny if it was candy?” Lucky’s unfittingly cheerful voice breaks the silence.
Before she goes to find Treech when he wins, she’s going to take that man’s microphone and shove it somewhere. She appreciated his help during the interview, but now she wishes they had hired someone else to host the Games.
June shakes her head. Clemmie is one of the few people who hasn’t dared to move, but she’s visibly shaking.
“Is it over?” Wovey’s timid voice cracks as she speaks and slowly approaches the tank. She sounds like she’s about to cry. “Can we go home now?”
June tears up and bites down on her lower lip. That poor, poor girl is still hoping the Capitol will show mercy on the tributes after everything they’ve done to them.
“Wovey!” Reaper’s voice is loud and clear as he calls out for the little girl. He shakes his head, knowing that this isn’t going to end well for any of them. He shakes his head in warning. “Wovey!”
A shaky “please” coming from Wovey is the last sound the cameras pick up on before the tank shatters, its shards spilling everywhere. Gasps go through the auditorium, and June clasps her hand over her mouth in shock when the snakes begin spilling out of the tank at once, slithering everywhere.
Clemmie jumps at the sight of her snake, letting out a bloodcurdling scream in the process. She clutches her head and cries out, but right as June is about to hurry over, Coriolanus is already behind Clemmie and wraps his arms around her, holding her still. He whispers something into her ear, presumably reminding her that the snakes aren’t really here but in the arena, and she stops thrashing, tears silently running down her face.
The snakes are big, bigger than she imagined, and she wonders if Dr. Gaul waited it out until they were fully grown to toss them into the arena. But she doesn’t have much time to think because the snakes are fast, almost swallowing Wovey. A buzzing sound signals her death, but Hilarius doesn’t move from his seat and stares at the screen, his mouth agape.
“Not candy!” Lucky calls out loudly. “Down goes Wovey!”
Teslee and Circ scatter instantly and make a run for it, but not Reaper. Accepting his fate and not wanting the Capitol to get the satisfaction of watching him run for his life, he takes a deep breath and lets the snakes engulf him fully.
Another buzz echoes in the auditorium, and Clemmie wipes at her eyes, trembling in Coriolanus’ hold.
The camera zooms out, showing the bigger picture, and Cas was right — the snakes are incredibly fast. They can easily outrun a human, and even the debris scattered along the way doesn’t seem to be a challenge for them. She didn’t think it was possible for Treech to run any faster, but he does, climbing up onto the narrow shelf above the scoreboard. Even from afar, it’s visible that he’s gasping for air.
He’s safe. For now. Some of the others aren’t so lucky.
Teslee manages to climb up a pole, holding onto it as tightly as she can, but Circ trips over something in the way and the snakes surrounding him in an instant. He emerges once more, extending a hand towards his district partner, who’s crying in terror. Circ gasps for air a few more times before the snakes swallow him whole.
Another buzzing sound. Another shocked mentor.
The scene is so chaotic that June doesn’t know where to look. The snakes are everywhere, drawn towards the scent of the tributes, and gather beneath the scoreboard and the pole Teslee managed to find refuge on. A few slither off into the tunnels, and when a scream is picked up by the cameras, June jumps.
Mizzen emerges first, and with the adrenaline pumping through his veins, it seems he’s able to run at an impressive speed even with his injured knee. He leaps for the pole across from Teslee, and Persephone lets out a relieved sigh. But then Coral comes into view; a single snake has its fangs in her arm. She’s shrieking in pain, tearing at the snake with her hand to get it off.
And when she does, it’s like a signal to the other snakes in her vicinity. She and Mizzen reach for one another, but when the snakes swarm her, her arm drops to the ground along with the rest of her body quickly.
Another buzzing sound. Festus doesn’t move even as Lucky bids him a nice summer, staring up at the screen in shock. Persephone covers her mouth, watching as Mizzen sobs in fear and clings to the pole for his life. June has to look away.
She finds it hard to hold back her own fear. Surely she’d be dead by now if she was in the arena with them. She doesn’t even want to think about it.
It takes June a moment to realize why some people in the audience are suddenly shushing each other, but then she sees it.
Finally, Lucy Gray has emerged from the vent she hid herself in for almost a day and is humming a melody. It almost sounds like she’s warming up her voice and taking small, careful steps into the arena.
“What is she doing?” Persephone whispers, staring up at the screen in confusion.
“La, la, la, la,
La, la, la, la, la, la,
La, la, la, la, la, la…”
Lucy Gray’s voice is gentle but still melodic as she slowly sways back and forth. A few snakes stop moving towards the other tributes and approach her instead, albeit a bit slower and with no malicious intent. They surround her slowly as she keeps on humming the melody, and when she slowly sinks down on the floor, they immediately move around her, slithering up her legs.
He cheated again. But June is so entranced by what she’s seeing that she doesn’t have it in her to confront Coriolanus right now. Whether he cheated or not is less important. Treech can still win.
Lucy Gray clears her throat, and when she begins to sing, her voice is as clear as it was on the day of the reaping. No sign of exhaustion or dehydration. Is this a farewell song, perhaps? Either way, the auditorium is stunned and silent.
“You’re headed for heaven,
the sweet old hereafter,
and I’ve got one foot in the door.
But before I can fly up,
I’ve loose ends to tie up,
right here in the old therebefore.”
A shiver runs down June’s spine. Even now, she can’t tear her gaze away.
“I'll be along
when I’ve finished my song,
when I’ve shut down the band,
when I’ve played out my hand,
when I’ve paid all my debts,
when I have no regrets,
right here in
the old therebefore,
when nothing
is left anymore.”
Much like at the interview, her voice manages to choke up some people in the audience. The screen displays a wider shot of the arena, and June sighs heavily in relief. The snakes have abandoned all other targets, as if hypnotized by her singing. They flock to her like moths to a flame.
“I'll catch you up
when I’ve emptied my cup,
when I’ve worn out my friends,
when I’ve burned out both ends,
when I’ve cried all my tears,
when I’ve conquered my fears,
right here in the old therebefore,
when nothing is left anymore.”
The camera zooms in on her, and for the first time, June notices that Lucy Gray is trembling. But she seeks the camera out with purpose, as if making eye contact with her audience.
“Why aren’t they attacking her?” Festus mutters in confusion.
Coriolanus, being a terrible liar, shrugs nonchalantly. “Must be the singing,” he answers. June shoots him a glare that he ignores.
"Well, she can't sing forever," Festus mumbles.
Lucy Gray takes a deep breath before she continues to sing.
“I'll bring the news
when I’ve danced off my shoes,
when my body’s closed down,
when my boat’s run aground,
when I’ve tallied the score,
and I’m flat on the floor,
right here in
the old therebefore,
when nothing
is left anymore.”
June sinks back down onto her seat, exhaustion washing over her. There’s something about Lucy Gray’s voice that makes her feel at ease, like everything will be alright.
“When I’m pure like a dove,
when I’ve learned how to love,
right here in
the old therebefore,
when nothing
is left anymore.”
The people in the auditorium hold their breaths as if waiting for more. But this is the end of the song, or so it seems. But it’s certainly not the end of Lucy Gray, because even as she stops singing and hums, they only slither around her slowly. It strangely looks like she’s humming them to sleep, or perhaps that’s exactly what it is.
June quietly joins in the applause that follows in the auditorium. But now the only thing on her mind is that they’re nearing the end.
Only Treech, Mizzen, Teslee, and Lucy Gray left — the final four.
Three more to go, and then Treech can go home.
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the things i do for you.
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so so close!! any last bets on how the games will end? (people that know: shhhh)
i'm so glad this is almost over, and i apologize for dragging this out for so long. i hope you enjoyed june's little confrontation anyway because i sure struggled with writing it lmao
anyway, have a nice day! see you on friday!!<3
memes!