Chapter Text
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PROLOGUE
Somewhere in the hills of eastern Panem, a moth awakened from her daylong slumber to see moonlight shining brightly through the branches above. The predatory bird calls of the day had quieted into the soft chirping of crickets, and it was now safe to leave her well-camouflaged branch and resume her nightly search for a mate. (This search had, in fact, begun only two days ago with her exit from the cocoon, but the moth had no memory of that.) She shook out her dusty brown wings and took off into the night. The August air was thick and suffocating, even at this hour, and the still-drowsy moth spent several minutes bumping into tree trunks and snaky vines until she finally found her balance and fluttered her way out of the woods and into the open sky.
Strange, rhythmic vibrations shook her delicate wings as she got farther away from the treeline. The whole world felt slightly unstable. In the distance, the moth saw a faint yellow light and began to move towards it. The steady, purposeful motion calmed her, somehow. She could feel dark shapes moving below her like sapling trees in the wind, emitting small gusts of air at strange intervals, but ignored them in her struggle towards the light. She could see its warm, flickering brightness growing nearer and nearer.
At just that moment, an giant owl swooped in out of nowhere and swallowed the moth whole. And the world changed forever.
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PART 1: THE BIRD
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Chapter One
Coriolanus and Sejanus hurried down the dirt road that led back to base. They could hear cheers emanating from the Hob as Maude Ivory's song ended and Lucy Gray resumed the stage. Yes, there were the faint chords of a song Coriolanus recognized from before, the one about Cupid being just a baby, another one of her many Billy Taupe numbers. He was starting to wonder himself what kind of mess Cupid had gotten him into.
Mayfair would tell, all right. If she hated Lucy Gray enough to send her into the arena, she would lose no opportunity to have the girl hung for being a rebel conspirator, if she could do so without implicating her own boyfriend in the process. And Coriolanus would hang, too. He had no idea where Billy Taupe and the mayor's daughter were now. They had disappeared sometime during the commotion at the shed, and by now they could be back at Mayfair's house blabbing to her daddy. He should have shot her when he had the chance. The peacekeeper rifle was sitting right there; he could have easily grabbed it and taken aim if that damned owl hadn't flown in and knocked over the lantern. It only took a moment for Spruce to shoot the owl dead and for Coriolanus to stomp out the flames that were beginning to catch on the hem of Lucy Gray's dress, but that moment was all it took. Billy Taupe and Mayfair were gone and their lies with them. There was only one thing to do now. They had to reach Commander Hoff before the Mayor did.
"What are we going to tell him?" asked Sejanus, slightly out of breath.
"You don't tell him anything. Let me do the talking. You've caused enough trouble for one night."
"I'm sorry, Coryo. I didn't mean for you to get involved in this. You know you're like a brother to me."
Coriolanus suddenly felt glad to be an only child, if this is what sibling relationships entailed. He was about to give Sejanus a stern, brotherly lecture about using some common sense for once, but they were now in earshot of the base, so the two walked in silence up to the main gate, where the armed guard punched in the numbers to let the young men enter. There were so many weaknesses in this fortress, so many ways the rebels could enter, with help from the inside. Even just a code. Coriolanus thought of the jabberjay remote and wondered what ever became of that bird.
They crossed the yard as quickly as they could without drawing suspicion, then slipped down a freshly mopped hallway. Coriolanus began banging on the metal door marked Officer's Lounge. The senior peacekeepers generally didn't like to mingle with privates during their off-duty hours, so they had their own private rec room. Bug had once been assigned to scrub the floors, and came back with tales of a beer fountain and a TV the size of a wall. (Bug was also prone to exaggeration.)
Commander Hoff opened the door with a scowl. "Private Snow. Private Plinth. What is the meaning of this? You know this wing is forbidden to recruits."
"Yes, sir. I'm afraid this matter is urgent. We just overheard a rebel plot while we were down at the Hob and came back to report it to you immediately." Coriolanus had always been good at speaking to people in authority. They were like butter in his hands. The commander's face softened and he gestured the pair into the rec room (which did in fact have a giant TV. The beer fountain was apparently Bug's own invention.)
Coriolanus went on to tell the commander about the rebels' stolen weaponry and the plan to break out Lil. He did not mention Sejanus, who sat quietly, staring at the commander's glossy shoes.
"Who all is involved in this plot?"
"Fellow named Spruce. Billy Taupe, a former member of the Covey. And his girl Mayfair. Mayfair Lipp."
Sejanus shot him a wild look. True, Mayfair wasn't directly involved with the plot. But she would be if she had known about it. She would follow Billy Taupe anywhere. And this little white lie would keep Lucy Gray safe from suspicion.
"How are they planning to get on base?" the Commander demanded.
"They said..."
Coriolanus was interrupted by a frantic Sejanus. "They said they were going to take out the guards at the front entrance with a sniper rifle. Smash the code lock. Then leave the same way they came in." Noticeably absent was any mention of the fence behind the generator.
"Is this true, Private Snow?"
Sejanus gave him a pleading look. Well, once the accused rebels were all in custody, the fence would be a moot point. And if Sejanus did find a way to break them out, Coriolanus would have nothing to do with it. He planned on spending the next few days far away from the walking disaster that was Sejanus Plinth.
"Yes, Commander. At least that's what they said."
"Good. Thank you, gentlemen. You've done Panem a great service tonight. Have a cold one before you go." Commander Hoff stood up and slid open a hidden door in the wood paneled wall, revealing Bug's infamous beer fountain. Coriolanus laughed. The little bugger wasn't crazy after all. "I've got to go make some phone calls," the commander said, "but Lieutenant Stone here will get you all fixed up."
The two boys heaved a quiet sigh of relief as they put the day's troubles behind them.
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Four phone calls were made that night.
The first was from Commander Hoff to his officer stationed down at the Hob. The peacekeepers on duty quietly diverted Billy Taupe and Mayfair from the stream of audience members leaving the building, and had them cuffed and secured in the back of the van before the band had even finished scraping all the coins from their battered instrument cases. All the way to base, Mayfair kept screaming something about Lucy Gray's new boyfriend, but they were both obviously drunk. "Aw, shut up about them, May," shouted Billy Taupe. "You're my girl now. That girl don't hold a candle to you."
Another group of peacekeepers found Spruce in his own kitchen, with an oven full of owl and a pile of guns covered in snowy white feathers.
The second call was from Commander Hoff to President Ravinstill, who was still seated at dinner, thanks to the time zone difference. Hoff suggested that the president might want to consider appointing a new District 12 mayor, since Mayor Lipp's daughter had been conspiring with the rebels and the mayor himself was now suspect as well.
The third call was from the mayor's wife to Commander Hoff. Hysterical with tears, she revealed that her daughter Mayfair was in fact pregnant with the mayor's first grandchild and therefore should not be punished.
The fourth call was on a secure, private line from President Ravinstill to the laboratory of one Doctor Volumnia Gaul. Gaul was just unloading a copter full of jabberjays when her pager started flashing. "Finish these birds up. We should have had them done three days ago," she barked at a lab worker. "I want them all factory reset and put in long-term storage." And the tired, overworked lab assistant erased all the birds and went home.