𝐒𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐬 ☘︎ 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐇𝐚𝐰𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐞

𝐌𝐎𝐂𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐉𝐀𝐘 ☘︎ 18

"I know where we are!" Cressida shouts whilst we run. "I know a place- up those stairs!"

When we get up, I see WANTED billboards switching between Gale, Austin, Katniss, Cressida, Messala, Pollux, Jackson (my heart thuds), Castor (my heart drops), Finnick (tears come to my eyes) and me.

It appears we've made some ground, because these houses appear to be inhabited. But this also means we have to tread carefully. Very carefully.

We reach a house and Cressida knocks on the door then waits. No answer. Knocks again. No answer. Knocks again-

"Someone's coming!"

The lock turns and I don't even get to see the person that stands behind it before Cressida is ushering us in. "Shut the door! Shut the door!"

The house is just what I would expect for someone of the Capitol. Diamond chandeliers, posh everything...

But when I see our host, I see a woman with sallow cheeks, a slim figure, a robe on with a big hood and a face painted with tiger stripes. I raise my axe at her. "No, no, Willow, it's okay," Cressida warns me. She steps out. "Tigris, do you remember me? I'm with Plutarch underground. We need your help."

She doesn't speak but instead leads us over to a rug, when she pulls it aside, a hatch is revealed.

When she looks up again, a memory is triggered within me. "I know you," I say. "You're a stylist in the games."

She takes down her hood to reveal a semi bald head that also has stripes. "Until Snow decided I wasn't pretty enough anymore."

"I'm here to kill him," I tell her. Whether it's of my running away, lying about a mission or doing on the orders of the squad, killing Snow is my ultimate goal.

She gives me the ghost of a smile before allowing us to climb down the hatch into quite a big room with costumes, chairs, cushions and lamps inside it.

The squad sits down and I looks around them. Gale obviously came off the worse with a mutt, as there's a cut on his arm. Katniss is trying to help but isn't much use. But the most heart breaking one of all is Pollux, who's sobbing in the corner.

"I made it up," I say, a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes. "All of it. There is no special mission from Coin there's only my plan. Everyone that's dead is dead because of me. I- I lied."

"We know," Cressida shrugs. "We all knew."

I look at her incredulously. "The soldiers form Thirteen-"

"They did too," Cressida nods. "Do you really think Jackson believed you had orders from Coin? She trusted Boggs and he clearly wanted you to go on."

"I never meant for this to happen," I say, tears taking their usual tracks on my face. "I failed. I kill- I killed them. I killed Finnick. And I- I'm so sorry Pollux I- I never meant to kill y- your brother-"

"Glimmer. Marvel. Mags. Clove. Wiress. Rue."

Everyone looks to Austin in the corner. "What do all those deaths mean? They mean that our lives were never ours. There was no real life, because we didn't have any choice. Our lives belong to Snow and our deaths do, too," he looks to me. "But if you kill him, Willow, and if you end all of this, those deaths, they do mean something.

"Cinna. Boggs. Castor. Jackson. Finnick," he looks straight at me. "They chose this.

"They chose you."

☘︎☘︎☘︎

"We should keep these clean, otherwise they'll get infected."