Cage me like an animal • F Odair¹ •

XXIX

"Breakfast," she said.

"Okay," he said. "Will we be in the Capitol soon?"

Athena looked out the window, at the slowly rising sun. "Yeah. By the end of breakfast, probably. There are going to be cameras to take pictures of you, so make sure you're looking pretty. That outfit's fine, but the hair - " she nodded at the mop of messy red hair on his head - "might need a little work."

A hand jumped to his hair, smoothing it down idly and looking sheepish. "Yeah - yeah, I'll work on that. One second."

Trent walked away, disappearing for a few moments, before returning with perfectly combed, neat hair. "Better?"

Athena stared at him thoughtfully for a moment. "Better, but it's - it's almost too - here - " she held up her hands, stretching them out slightly - "may I?"

"Yeah, go for it," Trent said immediately, taking a step towards her.

He was a little taller than her, so Athena had to go up on tiptoe as she reached forward and mussed up his hair a little, so that it looked more windswept. Satisfied, she stepped away, her heels touching the floor again. "There. Now you're good."

Trent smiled sheepishly. "Thanks."

"What are mentors for?" she said idly; maybe if she said that she was a mentor out loud enough times, she would actually feel like one. "Now follow me."

She led the way over to the dining car. Alayne was still seated at the head of the table, and Finnick and Annie had already arrived, sitting across from each other. Athena sat down beside Finnick, and Trent beside Annie. Athena and Finnick both luckily remembered how to act like they hadn't slept together.

Once everyone was settled and eating, Finnick said, "So, we'll be at the Capitol soon. Lots of people are going to be out there waiting for you, and there'll be cameras too. They're going to want a glimpse of you to get people more excited for the opening ceremonies. So you two are going to need to be all charm and smiles the moment we reach the Capitol. You need to be cool and confident, like you were born for this and you know it. Make them like you, but intimidate them a little if you can."

Once both Annie and Trent had nodded, Finnick continued, "From there, you'll be at the mercy of your stylists. They're not very creative with what they do, they never do anything all that different, but the Capitol always eats it up, so no harm, no foul. You might not like some of the things they do to you, but just go with it. Don't resist, don't argue. Let them do what they want them to do."

Annie and Trent exchanged anxious looks, before the former said cautiously, "So... when you say we won't like some of the things they do... what things are you talking about, exactly? I'd like specifics."

"Me too," Trent piped up. "This sounds worrying."

"It doesn't matter," Finnick said, "because you're going to let them do what they want."

"Listen to Finnick," said Athena, before Annie or Trent could argue, a sentence that seemed to surprise both Finnick and Alayne. "What they do to you might be a little new to you, but they do know what they're talking about. And your prep team's nice enough."

That seemed to reassure Annie and Trent enough to stop them from arguing any further. Athena and Finnick exchanged looks.

"Thanks," he signed.

She had to bite back a grin, signing back, "It's what co-mentors are for."

They went under another tunnel, plunging them into darkness so that it might have been night again. This was the tunnel that ran through the mountain and into the Capitol. They were almost there. The thought didn't excite her very much. Still, she pressed through it as she and Finnick continued talking about the Games, listing off advice. Finally, though, they left the tunnel and Athena felt privately relieved. At the same moment, Annie and Trent leapt out of their seats and ran over to the window, apparently unable to resist getting a look at Panem's ruling city. Athena couldn't blame them; despite the undeniably artificial quality of the whole city, it was beautiful. She saw herself and Kai in their awed expression, remembered painfully that he had gone from shining and golden and lively to wasted and dead, and wondered how she would be able to stand to watch the same happen to either of these two tributes.