𝐒𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐬 ☘︎ 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐇𝐚𝐰𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐞

𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐄 ☘︎ 17

I sit on the beach, watching Finnick try and teach Austin to swim. I jump when Johanna appears behind me, but when it's just to give me a shell full of water, I relax. "Thank you."

She sits beside me, taking her axe out. I frown, not being able to shake the question on my mind. "Who's Annie?" I finally ask, looking at Johanna. I just couldn't ask Finnick.

"Annie Cresta, the girl Mags volunteered for," she explains. "She won like four years- five years ago."

That explains it. I was out hunting so much after my father's death, so I didn't get to watch much of the games. Technically, I should've been executed for this. But I don't mention it.

"Is she the one that went a little... crazy?" I ask. I remember my family talking about a tribute like this.

Johanna nods, turning away from me. "Love's weird."

I answer this non verbally. True.

"I have a plan," Beetee distracts us. Johanna gets up and calls Finnick and Austin back, and we all sit and stand round Beetee.

"Where do the careers feel safest, the jungle?" He asks.

"The jungle's a nightmare," Johanna puts in.

"So probably here on the beach," Austin contributes.

Beetee presses on. "So why are they not here?"

"Because we are. We claimed it," shrugs Johanna.

"And if we left, they would come?" Beetee asks.

"Or stay hidden in the tree line," Finnick, I think, knows where this is going. I certainly don't.

"Which, in just over four hours, will be soaked with water from the ten o'clock wave," Beetee lays out his plan. "And what happens at midnight?"

I answer instantly. "Lightning strikes that tree."

"Here's what I suggest," Beetee looks around the circle. "We leave the beach at dusk, we head to the lightning tree, that should draw them back to the beach. Prior to midnight, we then run this wire from the tree to the water. Anyone in the water, or on the damp sand, will be electrocuted."

We all look around in shock as Johanna asks. "How do we know the wire's not gonna burn up?"

"Because I invented it," Beetee says, shocking us all. "I assure you, it won't burn up."

We all digest this as Johanna speaks again after a quick look with Finnick. "Well, it's better than hunting them down."

"Yeah, why not?" I shrug. "If it fails, no harm done anyway, right?"

"Okay, I say we try it."

"So what can we do to help?"

"Keep me alive for the next six hours," he says it like a joke, but I know Beetee is everything but. "That would be extremely useful."

☘︎☘︎☘︎

Beetee and Johanna sit, planning as Finnick goes in the water again, but Austin and I stay out, sitting on the beach at the other side.

"I think we need to go," I say to Austin.

He looks at me. "This plan's gonna work."

"I think so, too," I say in panic. "And once the careers are dead, we both know what happens next. I don't wanna be the one that throws first."

"Well, what if they don't either?" He asks me. "What if all of us refuse to shoot first?"

"We might still end up dead."