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The chime of the bell sounded. It alerted those in the building there was going to be another announcement. Across Panem, the Tributes stopped their activities to listen to the voice that came over the loudspeaker.
In District Twelve, the girls in the female Tribute Center groaned. Everyone was lining up to eat the evening meal. Katniss handed a gray metal tray to her fourteen-year-old sister.
Primrose looked up and then gave Katniss a fearful look.
"It's okay, Prim, just take the tray," Katniss said.
Prim nodded as she followed behind Katniss.
The chiming bell sounded again. Madge, who was in front of Katniss, groaned. Even Delly, who was typically perky, looked agitated as she lined up behind Prim.
"Attention Tributes," the smooth automated female voice said. "At 1200 Hours tomorrow, all new tributes who have turned 18 or are turning 18 this year will report to the reproduction and certification office. Your soulmate marks will be revealed to you. Once your mark is revealed it will be registered into the national database."
Madge mimicked the voice, "Remember, Tributes, our future depends on you!"
Katniss tried to hide her grin.
"Madge," Delly whispered. "They're watching." She discreetly pointed to the cameras in the room.
Delly was right to be worried they were watching them. If a Tribute did not comply, they were punished with extra work. Some Girls were moved to a higher guarded institution.
Madge rolled her eyes. Bitterly she muttered, "Please we're nothing but glorified baby-makers."
"Katniss," Prim whispered.
Katniss turned and gave Prim a reassuring smile. "It's okay Prim-" she turned to her friends and pointedly said, "Let's get our evening ration and sit down."
Delly nodded assuringly at Prim.
Once they went through the line and received their ration of stew, water, and bread, they sat together. Delly began to eat, it was her way of coping with the stress of having her soul mark revealed. Madge pushed her potatoes inside of the broth.
"Do you think it's going to hurt?" Delly asked.
"Of course, it's going to hurt," Madge scoffed. "We're being injected with a serum to force our bodies to show our marks before we're ready."
Madge was right, after the districts lost the war, the Capitol instituted the Hunger Games. They only lasted ten years, because District Thirteen attacked the Capitol, starting a second war. This time the war was brutal. District Thirteen, under the command of General Alma Coin, launched chemical warfare that brought Panem to its knees. The inadvertent result of the chemical's use was a heavy decrease in the population and soul marks began to appear on people's wrists.
The soul marks caused people to be drawn to their match. People were leaving their lifelong partners for the person who had their match.
"Katniss," Prim's voice sounded worried.
"It's okay Prim, we have this time together. Not a lot of people get that."
Prim nodded.
"I don't know where my brother is," Delly said quietly.
"What happens if you don't get paired?" Prim asked.
"You work for the state in a colony," Madge said. "Unit your match is found."
"Like Gale?" Prim said.
"What happened to Gale?" Madge asked.
"I heard his maw tell mom that his match hadn't been found. So he's working in District Two," Prim said.
Madge opened her mouth but shut it when Delly gave her a warning look.
"Gale must hate it," Katniss whispered, recalling her hunting partner.
Gale wanted to get married and have children. He believed in the benevolence of District Thirteen.
"I can't even imagine being so far away from your family, at the whim of the state," Madge said. "I hate that they found a way to capitalize on our soul marks."
District Thirteen's leaders found a serum that activated the marks at the age of 18, so they gathered all of the males and females and injected them, and then shipped them off with their match to different communities around Panem.
"I can recite that darned pamphlet verbatim. "To have the best chances at healthy babies the new government, headed by our beloved President Alma Coin, instituted a harvest of male and female candidates," Madge mimicked.
"At least they don't match us as soon as we turn 14," Prim said.
They did a harvest every four months. In April, in August, and in December they harvested the 14-year-olds. Prim had been harvested in August. Her sister was lucky to have been sent to the same tribute center as Katniss. Most of the time they separated siblings.
"You know on paper it looks wonderful," Madge continued. "The children are provided with three nutritious meals, medical attention, daily exercises, and they are supposed to be taught a career based on their academic aptitude."
"Madge," Delly hissed.
"Delly, our entire lives are being dictated by this," Madge "I get that we have a soul mate and they're the person we're supposed to be with, but forcing us to get married before we're ready is insanity."
"Madge," Katniss said, "The guards are watching you, keep your voice down." Although she agreed with Madge, she wanted the choice to choose who she wanted to be with. Katniss didn't feel like spending her last night in the brig.
Madge stabbed at her lettuce leaf, lowered her head, and shoved food into her mouth.
"I know it's not fair Madge," Delly quietly said. "But think of what the Capitol had done to us. The Hunger Games were horrible."
"Okay fine, the Hunger Games were worse."
Delly sighed.
"But it's in no way shape or form, fair," Madge ground out. "They tell us what we eat, when we eat, when to go to bed," Madge said pointing to the schedule imprinted on her arm. "If that is not enough, they take away our free will and train us in a field, based on a test they gave us when we were fourteen?"
Katniss watched Delly's cheeks become red. She gave her a sister a nod to be ready to run. Delly was normally sweet and calm until she got mad. Then she was like a volcano.
"Madge, you're the spoiled Mayor's daughter. You were raised wearing dresses that cost a man's yearly salary. You say it's wrong because you've never had to work a day in your whole damn life until you got here," Delly huffed.
"Delly, what about the rest of our lives?" Madge argued back.
"For the rest of your life, you'll still get off easy. You'll get to be someone's important wife. You'll be adored! They teach you how to dress, how to plan a successful dinner, how to dress a table for a five-course meal, proper manners, and how to tell if a diamond or emerald is real or fake. Do you know they also judged us based on looks? You're beautiful Madge and the pretty people always get ahead, while girls like me- we are considered," Delly struggled with her next words. "…we're…I'm ugly."
"Delly," Prim said quietly, putting her hand on Delly's hand.
"It's okay Prim," Delly whispered, holding back the tears. She took several calming breaths. "I was looking forward to being something different, instead I'm still a cobbler. No matter where I land, I will still be making Madge's damned shoes."
Madge opened her mouth and then quickly shut it.
Delly stopped eating and pushed herself away from the table.
"I scored high on medicine, and medical knowledge. I'll have the opportunity to be a doctor, one my mother never had," Prim said.
Delly turned to Prim and smiled, "And you'll be an amazing doctor Prim."
"Well it beats becoming a florist, you know with my black thumb," Katniss muttered. "I'd be a shoo-in to become a Peacekeeper."
Katniss was supposed to be a horticulturist. But her failure maintaining plants alive was legendary. Madge then began laughing at Katniss's statement. Madge's laughter was contagious because soon Delly was laughing as well, and so was Prim. Katniss grinned and the tense conversation ended in smiles.
That night as Katniss was in her bed, she thought of what little time left she had with her sister. Madge was snoring. She imagined Delly was asleep as well.
Katniss couldn't sleep. Tomorrow at noon they would all know their fate. The chancellor-the Lieutenant who ran the Tribute Center would call them alphabetically by surnames. They would be leaving by shuttle as the last batch of harvested girls was brought in.
The conversation they had at dinner brought up feelings Katniss knew were dangerous to have. Katniss was secretly in love with a boy she could never have.
The boy she privately nicknamed, dandelion.
Just thinking of him caused her heart to palpate with longing and peace. He was a sweet boy, from District Twelve, but he wasn't her neighbor in the Seam; he was a townie. Peeta Mellark was the youngest son of the baker. There was no rhyme or reason for the friendship that bloomed in school.
Katniss was inexplicably drawn to Peeta. She felt at home with him. It was like getting a warm hug from her paw.
When she turned 11 her paw became ill with a cold that turned into pneumonia. They couldn't afford treatment by the district doctor and the medication was too expensive. Without her father's earnings, things got pretty bad. Peeta shared his lunch with her every single day. He even brought a loaf of bread once a week for her and her family.
It was Peeta's gift of a dandelion to make her smile that gave her the idea to hunt. She asked Gale and his father if she could hunt with them. Mr. Hawthorne was resistant. But after he witnessed the haul that she had, Mr. Hawthorne suggested Gale go with her because it was too dangerous for her to be alone. She guessed his father wanted him to find a way to cheat Katniss out of things she hunted.
Katniss thought Gale was like his father, but she discovered he was nothing like him. Sure Gale was overprotective, but he was honest and a whiz with traps. He just wanted a home of his own and to get out from underneath his father's thumb.
Nonetheless, it was Peeta's kindness that won Katniss's heart over and over again. The Hawthornes knew the hard times her family fell on with the mounting medical bills. Because it wasn't an injury incurred while working at the mines, the mining company wasn't going to pay for her father's medical care.
Both Mr. Hawthorne and her father worked for the mining company. Mr. Hawthorne had started as a miner, like her paw. They were part of the same crew. But Gale's father used his cunning to advance in the company to become the shift boss's supervisor. Mr. Hawthorne never promoted anyone from his old crew.
Katniss conceded the Hawthorne's did contribute to the collection Peeta started for her paws medicine. It was after Peeta brazenly went from door to door asking for help that Hazzelle stopped by with a rabbit stew.
Gale complained that she spent her time with that townie. Gale never liked Peeta.
It was Peeta's generosity, goodness, and selflessness that won her respect and trust. He became her hope. He was the singular thought that helped her get through the past four years. Any time she saw the yellow little weed, Katniss remembered her own dandelion.
"Katniss, are you awake?" Delly asked from the bunk beneath, breaking Katniss's train of thought.
"Yeah."
"I apologized to Madge," she confessed.
"I knew you would."
Delly didn't have a mean bone in her body. She was a sweet girl.
"She just got me so mad," Delly whispered.
Katniss chuckled.
"I know what she said has merit, but not everyone is angry at the profession they were taught. Prim is a perfect example."
"I'm glad my sister will become a doctor." Katniss breathed deeply.
"Thank you," Delly said.
"What for?"
"When we were sorted I thought all was lost. Then I was shocked that you volunteered to use your hunting skills to get more meat for us and that the chancellor allowed you. They even allowed you to teach others and to practice during our time of contemplation."
Katniss was embarrassed by Delly's words. "Dell's…"
"You give me hope that even if I'm told I'm supposed to be a cobbler, I can still be whoever I want to be!" Delly stood up and peered over the bunk rail. "I think I'm going to look into flowers after tomorrow."
"Good for you Dell's."
"Katniss, please don't forget about me?" Delly asked in a small voice.
"I won't. Let's not forget each other."
"Deal. Thank you Katniss," Delly said as she ducked back into her bunk. "I hope my soulmate appreciates me."
Delly's words gave Katniss a lot to think about.
In the eye of her mind, she once more stitched together the way Peeta looked at fourteen. He was her idea of perfection. Her wonderful dandelion.
Wavy ash blond hair, ruddy face, sparkling blue eyes, large hands, and that stocky body 14-year-old boys had right before they shot up.
She recalled one of her favorite moments together. It was bittersweet, and it marked the beginning of the end. It was shortly after she turned 14.
Katniss closed her eyes and she found herself right back to that day:
Peeta had been stunned by the beauty that surrounded him. The way winter was giving way to spring. It was still nippy outside but she wanted to show him her world outside of the district. She turned fourteen the day before and after a tearful celebration, Katniss solely wanted to celebrate with Peeta.
His blue eyes lit up at the sight of the wintry mix of snow and wild tender shoots of grass and flowers growing around the rock that sat high up in the hills.
"No wonder you love green so much. There are so many shades of it," Peeta gushed as his mittened hand grabbed her gloved ones.
Katniss felt the rush of warmth stinging her cool cheeks at the contact. She bit her bottom lip, feeling shy. His eyes were wide and his breath came out hot puffs of air.
Peeta leaned over and gave her a chaste kiss on the cheek. Katniss felt like squealing, and by the way, her ears were burning she was sure she was red all over.
"Thank you for sharing this with me," Peeta said softly.
Katniss nodded, unable to speak.
"Do you want to build a snowman with me?" Peeta's face was bright red. "I know it's childish, but I never get to do things like that anymore."
Two years ago his older brother Graham was ordered to return back to District Twelve with his soulmate, a girl from District Nine named Brioche of all things. They were both uptight and meticulous. Brioche was now pregnant. And Graham didn't want her to do anything, so it was all left to Peeta to do.
"Lets," Katniss agreed.
Turning fourteen meant that she had to let go of her childhood. It was a wake-up call that in a few short months she would be harvested to an unknown Tribute Center.
For that afternoon, they suspended growing up, and for a brief shining afternoon, they frolicked in the snow. Laughing as they rolled the biggest snowball possible to make the base of their snowman.
Their childish giggles carried in the crisp cool air as they ran around the forest dodging snowballs. Katniss howled with glee as Peeta made a snow cat that suspiciously looked like her sister's cat Buttercup.
When they were tired out, full of smiles, they left hand in hand. Their mittens were stuffed in their pockets as they were wet. And his larger hands enveloped her smaller ones. Her heart raced as they walked in comfortable silence.
When they arrived at the border they hugged tightly. There was something unbelievably sad about saying goodbye to him. As if her entire being protested against leaving his side. Of course, this was silly as they would see each other in school tomorrow.
"Promise me that we'll do this again," Peeta whispered. "For my birthday in June?"
"I promise, I'll make you a picnic," Katniss swore.
"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow in school."
"See you," Katniss whispered.
Katniss quietly wiped the tears from her face. They did have that picnic. Not on his birthday but right before they were to be harvested. She recalled their last moments together.
They were in the forest, by the lake. It was hot outside and the next day was the first day of August. They would be harvested. The food lay untouched.
They lay side by side, wanting to be close, even in the lazy heat of the summer.
"I don't like this," Peeta said, turning to look at her.
"But what choice do we have?"
"I don't want them to change me," Peeta whispered. He looked teary-eyed.
"We don't have a choice," she said, the words strangled in her throat.
Peeta sat up. Katniss followed suit.
Peeta took her hands in his. "Don't let them change you, be yourself. If they tell you that you're supposed to be a painter or a school teacher, find a way to be a hunter."
"What if we get in trouble?"
"They won't…they need us…" Peeta said. "I won't let anyone tell me that you can't be my friend. That you and I can never be."
Katniss leaned over intending on pressing her forehead to his but instead her lips crashed with his. Her heart fluttered with joy and she gasped pushing herself away from him. Her hands flew to cover her lips.
His blue eyes were wide and he looked dazed. "Katniss," he whispered.
It was then she knew that no other boy or man could ever replace Peeta's kisses. No other could hold her hand. No other could ever make her feel like she was home.
They kissed once more. It was sloppy and wet but wondrous. And she felt this fire in the pit of her stomach that warmed her from the inside out. She felt as brilliant as the fiery sun.
"Promise me that no matter where they send you that you'll write to your family. Ask them about me, I'll do the same."
"I promise."
Peeta squeezed her hand and then handed her a piece of toasted bread. They tore it apart and fed it to each other. It was a symbol of their union. No matter what happened to them, they were bonded in a way that not even the serum could diminish what they had.
It was then they heard her father calling her.
"My dad," Katniss said in a panic.
Peeta handed her a piece of goat cheese and a wild strawberry. "Try this, it's delicious."
It's how her father found them. He didn't say anything, just sat by them and watched with those fathomless, all-knowing gray eyes.
Later that night, as her father tucked her in, he whispered. "You love that boy, don't you?"
Katniss felt her eyes water up as she nodded, she couldn't help it.
"Oh Katkin," her father said. He pulled her into one of his magical hugs. Hugs she associated with Peeta.
"Papa, what do I do?"
"Don't worry Katkin, love finds a way. It always does. You just hold on to your boy, and don't let anyone change you."
"That's what Peeta said."
"Well, he's a smart young man…" Her father's eyes were lit somehow with a fire that came from within. Katniss didn't understand that fire and it scared her.
Even now as she lay in her bed his fire still scared her. Her father was a strongly principled man. She closed her eyes. Just as she fell asleep, the Tribute Center groaned and rocked. The emergency lighting went on. As she dropped out of her bed the room rocked back and forth.
"What's going on?" Delly said, frightened.
"I'm not sure," Madge said.
All three girls ran toward the door. Katniss could see the guards running toward the younger girls' rooms.
"We've got to get to Prim," Katniss shouted over the blaring sound of the alarm.
"Everdeen, what are you doing," one of the guards that she frequently hunted with yelled.
"What's going on?"
"We're being attacked," she yelled as she leaped over debris.
"We've got to get the little girls to safety," Katniss said.
"Okay," the guard yelled into her communicator cuff. "Everdeen, Undersee, and Cartwright are getting the little ones to safety." She turned to Katniss and gave her a card that opened up the weapons room. "Get your bow and bring them to the cafeteria, that's the safest point in this facility."
"Roger," Katniss said.
She made a turn and motioned for Delly and Madge to follow her. "Let's go."
The corridors were filled with smoke as they made their way to where the bunks for the kids were.
"PRIM!" Katniss screamed into the room.
"KATNISS!" Prim screamed out coming out of hiding. There were at least thirty 14-year-old girls.
"Come on, we'll stop by the fifteen-year-olds next," Katniss said. "Madge, you and Delly take the rear."
"Okay," Delly said, grabbing a tube that had fallen on the floor.
"What are you going to do with that?" Madge asked.
"I'm going to protect those girls with my bare hands if I have to."
"Good idea," a girl named Rue said. She and the others picked up whatever they could find that they could use to defend themselves.
There was fighting going on outside of the walls of the compound, but that only meant that sooner or later their invaders would make their way inside. Guards poured outside as the girls made their way to the cafeteria.
Katniss could hear the distress call of the guards.
When they reached the cafeteria, Katniss, Prim and Delly quickly divided the girls up. They made shelters with the tables using them as shields. There were girls who were injured and Prim was in charge of healing them.
Delly, Katniss, and Madge ran to the kitchen where Katniss kept her bow and arrows. "Find something else we can use as weapons."
"Okay," Delly said, nodding even though her pale blue eyes were wide.
"I don't know if I can do this," Madge blurted. "All this time talking about rebellion and now…I can't kill anyone."
Delly grabbed a sharp knife and a poultry hammer. "That's why you'll be a politician and I'm a cobbler. Grab pans."
"Pan's?" Madge exclaimed.
"Do you know how heavy a cast iron is, and the damage it can inflict?" Delly handed one to Madge.
"Holly Hannah, this is heavy!" Madge exclaimed.
"Exactly," Delly smiled mischievously.
"Okay, you two ready?" Katniss asked and the others nodded.
They ran back to the girls. The building moaned and groaned. It rocked as they heard a large explosion. Some of the girls screamed as the lights went out. Katniss stood front and center with her bow in her hand, her arrow nocked ready to fire.
They heard male voices coming from the corridor outside the door.
Katniss took a deep breath as she trained her sight on the center of the door. When it opened, light poured into the room.
"KATNISS!"
She paused at the voice coming from the man standing before her.
Then she heard her sister scream, "Papa!"
She lowered her bow. "Peeta."
Katniss was enveloped in a fierce grip. "We've got to get the girls out of here," Peeta said.
She blinked. This had to be a dream, except she noticed Gale was there, and so were her father, Peeta's brother, Haymitch, and others. Then everything sped up. She understood they had come to rescue them.
"I love you," Katniss whispered to Peeta.
"I love you too."
"Look I know this is a reunion, but we've got to get the hell out of here," Gale said.
"Girls, it's okay. They're going to take us to a safe place."
The girls nodded trusting Katniss. The older ones gave Gale a once-over as they ran outside. They loaded the girls up inside the hovercrafts.
Katniss was overjoyed to see her mother and Peeta's family as well. Delly's family was there too. All around Katniss, people were talking.
"I knew my father wouldn't come," Madge said.
"He didn't want to leave your mother," a dark-skinned man said.
"And who are you?" Madge asked.
"I'm Thresh," he said. "My friend Rue is in the other hovercraft with her family."
Katniss watched her friend begin to flirt with the tall muscular boy. She turned to Peeta. "How?"
"It was your father, he organized the entire thing," Peeta said.
"He came to me that night before the harvest, and he told me that they were going to get us out but that it would take time. He wanted me to write to him to tell him what our facility looked like and how many soldiers there were. That sort of thing. I realized I was in district two when I saw Gale. Delly's brother told me that's where he was stationed."
"How did he know about where I was staying?"
"Your sister. He pulled some strings via Gale's dad, and they got her in the same facility as you. Your father put it together from Prim's description of the landscape that we both were in district two."
"But I thought we were in District Twelve," Katniss said puzzled.
"That's what they wanted you to believe. You're at the very edge of District Two, on the border of a forest that divides Panem from the country we're flying to," Peeta explained.
Katniss made eyes with Prim, who smiled angelically and winked at her. She couldn't believe her sister was a rebel.
"But District Twelve is so far away?"
"District Twelve is the outlying district. If someone goes missing nobody says anything."
Katniss couldn't believe it. She snuggled up against Peeta and asked, "Where are we going again?"
There's another country north of Panem. They have a government they call a democracy and they're willing to take us in."
"We'll be free," Katniss whispered.
"We'll be free if we can get out of Panem airspace."
Katniss gripped his hands, it felt good to be able to hold his hand again. She closed her eyes feeling safe and secure.
When she woke up they were landing.
Her father nodded at her and winked as the hovercraft bay doors opened. A tall woman with broad shoulders stood by her father.
She smiled when she saw them. "Hello," she greeted.
Katniss stood, sliding her bow and sheath of arrows up her arm. There was a small woman with gray eyes and white hair. She stood wearing furs. There was a small village with snow-covered homes. Katniss couldn't believe what she was looking at. She saw everyone slowly evacuating the hovercrafts. Delly was with her family, they stood by the Hawthrones. Madge was by Thresh and his family.
"Hello, madam president." Her father greeted.
"Please call me Lucy," she said. "I'm so glad that you've made it. We're small but we've got plenty of space to grow. Panem won't come up here."
"How can you guarantee that?" Katniss asked.
"They can't find what they can't see," she said.
"Ingenious, a forcefield that has cloaking capabilities," a man with glasses said.
It was then Katniss saw the silvery mist of refracted light on what looked like a huge dome.
The president turned to Katniss and smiled. "You look just like Maude-Ivory."
Her father grinned.
Seeing him at ease put Katniss at ease. She looked up at Peeta. "We're really free?"
"Yes."
"Finnick, why don't you show our guests where they would be staying," Lucy said to a tall bronzed man.
"Sure thing," Finnick replied. "Folks if you will follow me, we'll get you out of this cold, and get you something warm to eat, and warmer gear."
It was then she felt a pain so intense on her arm as if she was being branded with a hot iron. "Peeta," She cried out, her knees gave way.
"What's wrong with her?" Peeta asked.
"She's getting her soul mark," her father said.
Peeta quickly picked her up and brought her inside. They bundled her up as her body shook and her temperature was raised, as the mark began to sear her skin. "Peeta!" She cried out needing him near.
"I'm here, Katniss."
"I want you no matter what the mark says," she gasped.
"I choose you too, no matter what the mark says," Peeta ground out. His face was flushed with pain as his mark began to appear on his arm.
"Put them together," Lucy urged.
"Why?" Her father said.
"Trust me," Lucy said.
Peeta laid down, next to Katniss. They were side by side, arms wrapped around the other, and immediately the pain began to recede.
"They are bonded, true halves of one whole," Lucy whispered. "The serum wouldn't have worked with them. Like it didn't work with you and Lilly. You two were destined to be with one another."
"I don't understand, Lucy?"
"District Thirteen found a way to chemically trick the body into accepting who they wanted the kids to marry. But there are rare cases where the serum wouldn't work, their bond is too strong."
Looking down on the pair, their marks were each one half of a dandelion. Katniss's father smiled, "Love found a way."