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“Go with your father, Lena. Tell him the truth. He will know you are his.”
It was much easier to say than to do.
Lena didn’t think Mama had realized that the people who were supposedly rescuing them would look at them like they were the enemy. They had barely stepped out of the hovercraft before soldiers in black uniforms had surrounded them and ordered them to sit.
She was still shaken from the sudden escape. Persie was, too.
Her little sister was pressed tightly against her chest, crying softly into her shoulder. Lena held her as firmly as she could, one hand rubbing slow circles over her back.
She was supposed to protect that little girl, but she was still a girl herself. How was she going to make it?
She had been trying to protect Persie for as long as she could remember. She had learned how to make her laugh when she was frightened, how to distract her when Aunt Eugenie became angry, how to make sure she ate when nobody else remembered to check.
But what if she wasn’t enough now?
What if she couldn’t keep Persie safe here?
“What’s your name?” one of the soldiers asked.
“Yelena Dove Abernathy,” she answered, for what felt like the millionth time. “Where’s my dad?”
“He was taken in another hovercraft,” the soldier said. His gaze shifted toward the little girl in her arms. “Is your sister okay?”
“Yes.” Lena pulled Persie closer. “She’s just scared.”
“They took Mommy,” Persie cried.
Lena rubbed her back again.
The soldier only nodded before disappearing through a black door.
Once they were finally alone, Lena allowed the tears to fall. She just hoped Mama was all right. And she hoped her father would believe the truth as easily as Mama had promised he would.
⸻
“I definitely need a drink after this.”
Haymitch reached into his jacket and pulled out the small metallic flask he had acquired in the Capitol many years ago. It was meant to carry alcohol discreetly, tucked inside a jacket.
He found most Capitol inventions ridiculous, but that particular one had proved surprisingly useful over the years.
He remembered Effie going absolutely banshee when she’d discovered he’d bought it.
“Wait.” Plutarch snatched the flask from his hand.
Haymitch glared at him.
Finnick stepped in before he could try to take it back.
“Really, Hay,” the young man said. “If there’s a time for quitting, it’s now.”
Haymitch considered punching his pretty face.
“And why on earth is that?” he snapped, rubbing his face.
The girl had certainly had a heavy hand. His cheek still stung faintly where Katniss had slapped him.
“Take a seat, please, Haymitch,” Plutarch said in that condescending tone Haymitch had come to loathe.
He reluctantly sat.
“Look, there’s something you need to know,” Plutarch began.
His gaze flickered toward Finnick, but the young Victor looked just as confused as Haymitch felt.
“When we tried to go and rescue Miss Trinket…”
“Where’s Effie?” Haymitch shot to his feet.
“That’s what I’m trying to explain,” Plutarch said. “The hovercraft arrived at her apartment, but the Peacekeepers arrived as well. There wasn’t much time. She gave herself in…”
“What?” Haymitch stared at him.
“Why would she do that? There’s no way she would give herself in! Did your minions even really try to get her out? I mean…”
“She did it for them!”
Plutarch’s voice finally rose enough to cut through his rambling. He turned a screen toward Haymitch.
“There were two girls in the apartment. They say they’re your daughters, Haymitch.”
Oh.
Shit.
Haymitch stared at the screen.
There were two girls. The older one had dark, wavy hair, almost the same shade as his own and gray eyes. His eyes. The same strange gray that he and his mother had shared.
She could have walked straight out of the Seam.
Just like him.
Just like Katniss.
Then there was the little one. She couldn’t have been older than six. Blond hair with the faintest shade of red beneath it and a pair of remarkable blue eyes.
Effie’s eyes.
Of course they were his.
They were theirs.
His and Effie’s.
Holy shit.
How had this happened?
Why hadn’t she told him?
He knew why, of course he knew.
She must have hidden the truth from everyone. If anyone had known about those girls, they would have been dead before either of them could remember their own names.
“Right. The girls.”
His voice came out remarkably neutral.
“Of course. I just forgot, you know, since I spent most of the Games drunk.”
“Right,” Plutarch said, rubbing his face. “Sure. Sure. Stick to that story when you talk to Coin.”
“It’s not like there’s room for doubt,” Finnick said.
Haymitch barely heard him.
Finnick was staring at the screen, too.
“The older one looks just like you,” he said quietly. “And the little one is a miniature Effie.”
A smile appeared on his face.
Haymitch stared at the screen for a moment.
Shit.
Just when he thought he had his hands full with Katniss. Now there were two more children.
He only hoped Effie and the boy were okay. He was sure she would take care of their boy as best she could.
Now he needed to take care of their girls, while he made sure he got their mother and the boy back.
……….
The trip to District 13 went by much faster than Haymitch expected. When they landed, Finnick went with Beetee and Katniss to the medical wing for a checkup. Haymitch and Plutarch stayed behind, waiting for the other hovercraft.
Eventually, the gate lowered. The second hovercraft landed and soon enough, both girls appeared at the top of the ramp.
Their eyes found him.
“Daddy!”
“Dad!”
They ran toward him. The older one threw her arms around his middle while the little one clung to his legs.
“Girls.”
Haymitch lifted the little one into his arms and reached for the older girl’s cheek with his free hand.
“You… you are so big.”
Idiot.
Why would you say that?
They had just left their mother behind. They were terrified and surrounded by strangers.
Who knew what they had seen. How was he supposed to do this?
“Why don’t we get inside?” Plutarch suggested. “It’s rather cold for the girls.”
“Right.”
Haymitch pulled both girls as close to him as he could. They smelled like Effie. That same sweet, floral scent she’d carried for more than twenty years.
Plutarch collected the small bags they had brought with them and guided them toward a large elevator, nothing like the glass elevators in the Tribute Center, he didn’t know if that was good.
“I’m Captain Boggs,” a man said, immediately beginning to speak with Plutarch.
“Dad, I…”
The older girl tried. Haymitch only pulled her closer. “Not now, sweetheart.”
He smiled at her, hoping it was enough.
“I’ll take you to your rooms, Mr. Abernathy,” Boggs said. “President Coin will reschedule your meeting. We didn’t know the girls were arriving, and you were expected to join Mr. Heavensbee. But we understand that the girls need you right now.”
“Thanks.”
When the elevator opened, Boggs gave them directions.
Haymitch took the girls’ bags from Plutarch and headed down the corridor.
A small sign above one of the doors read:
ABERNATHY
He pressed his thumb against the scanner.
The door opened. Inside, he set the bags on a desk. When he turned around, both girls were sitting on the couch, staring at him.
Haymitch immediately made a silent shushing gesture.
He checked the room.
Every corner.
Every vent.
Every piece of furniture.
He looked for bugs, hidden microphones, anything that could be listening.
Paranoid, Effie would have called him. But old habits died hard and he didn’t know these people yet.
Once he was satisfied that the room was clean, he returned to the girls.
“I… I’m Haymitch.”
He sat on the coffee table in front of them. For the first time, he allowed himself to really look.
Now that they were face-to-face, the resemblance was even easier to see.
“We know, silly,” the little girl said. “You’re our daddy!”
Haymitch chuckled. He wanted to cry at the same time. She was too much like her mother.
“I’m Persephone Alba Abernathy,” the little girl announced. “But Mommy and Sissy call me Persie for short.”
“Persie Alba?”
“Yeah. Persie for an ancient goddess, and Alba for the color white.”
“I see.”
He smiled at her.
His little girl.
“I’m Yelena Dove Abernathy,” the older girl said. She looked nervous now that the excitement had begun to fade. “I’m fourteen.”
“Dove?”
Haymitch stared at her. He had never imagined Effie would take such a risk.
Naming their daughter after Leonore Dove.
Then he remembered, a conversation from many years ago. At least fifteen years ago.
“And if you had children, what name would you give them?” Effie had asked, leaning against his chest.
“I’ll never have kids, princess. But if I had… if there was a girl, she would be called Dove, I think. She would have liked that. Or maybe something color-related.”
“Actually, Dove is a common name here in the Capitol,” Effie had said.
“Right. I forgot. It’s only your family that likes long, silly names.”
He had kissed her lips.
“Yeah,” the girl said, smiling at him. “But Mama calls me Lena Dove.”
“Of course she does.” He smiled at her, trying desperately to hold back his tears.
“Oh! I’m this many!”
Persie held up all five fingers directly in front of his face.
Haymitch laughed softly.
“Oh, I almost forgot,” Lena said.
She reached into her coat. “Mom told me to give you this.”
She pulled out a white envelope and handed it to him.
Haymitch recognized Effie’s fancy handwriting immediately.
⸻
Haymitch, dear,
I know this isn’t the best way for you to find out, but believe me, they’re your daughters. You may already know why I didn’t tell you. If everyone knew who they were, there would have been a perpetual target on their heads. We would have lost them in the arena, or an accident would have happened to us.
They would not allow them to live, and I can’t imagine a world without them. I know you shouldn’t lose anyone else to the Capitol. You’ve lost so much. You wouldn’t allow them to take that away from you, even if you would never know about them.
They are yours to love and care for. Not the Capitol’s. Not District 12’s. They are your family.
Take care of them until I can come back. And if I can’t, make sure they know I love them more than anything in this world.
P.S. Make them and the children get along. They already love Peeta and Katniss. I know that if I don’t come back, if you have them, everything will be fine.
I love you.
I love the kids.
Please take care of them. All of them.
With love,
Effie
⸻
This was definitely Effie’s letter. Her handwriting was impossible to mistake. She had even drawn the little birds she always drew in her letters to him.
Haymitch lowered the paper.
“You’ll keep us safe, right, Daddy?” Persie asked.
By then, he was sitting on the floor.
The little girl climbed onto his lap.
“You’ll get Mommy back, right?” Lena asked, sitting in front of him and taking his hand.
“Mama says you’re her hero. You always make things better.”
“I’ll get your mother back,” Haymitch promised.
“And Peeta too,” Persie added. “Do you think he’s with Mommy?”
“I’m sure your mommy will take good care of Peeta.”
Lena suddenly wrapped her arms around his neck, catching him completely by surprise.
“So we can call you Daddy now?”
The little girl looked up at him with huge blue eyes filled with hope.
Haymitch swallowed.
“Of course you can.”
He pulled them both closer. “I’m here now.”
They stayed like that for a while. When they finally pulled away, both girls had tears running down their cheeks.
Haymitch wiped them away with his thumbs.
“Do you think they’ll hurt Mama a lot?” Persie asked.
He frowned. “Why would you ask that?”
“We heard,” Lena said quietly. “They beat her. We know how a beating sounds. They were hurting her.”
Haymitch took a deep breath and rubbed his face.
“Your mother will come back to us. And if she isn’t okay when she returns, we’ll help her get better.”
The girls gave him small smiles.
“Now, you…”
“We’re fine,” Lena assured him immediately.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
She hesitated. “We weren’t actually there when it happened, but… we know what it sounds like when someone is getting hurt.”
Haymitch studied her.
Effie would never hurt a child.
Never.
The girls seemed to realize what he was thinking because they immediately began reassuring him.
“Mom never hurt us,” Lena said. “She would never do that.”
“It was Aunt Eugenie,” Persie added.
“She’s your mother’s older sister, right?”
They nodded.
“She almost didn’t hurt Persie at all,” Lena continued. “I made sure of that. Persie is a good Trinket anyway. It wasn’t that difficult to do.”
Haymitch’s eyes remained on the older girl. In the sunlight, and beneath the stark white lights of the room, he could see hints of red in her otherwise brown hair.
That was Effie. But the long, dark curls and gray eyes were unmistakably his.
She had his face mixed with Effie’s perfect, pale skin and immaculate Capitol manners.
“She said I was a false Trinket,” Lena said, looking away.
Haymitch’s jaw tightened.
“I’m too loud. Too rebellious. Too nosy.”
“I’m sure you’re none of those things, sunshine.” He reached up and touched her cheek again.
He was trying to memorize everything.
Every detail.
Every little feature.
Because he couldn’t stop thinking about all the time he’d lost.
Fourteen years.
Fourteen years of birthdays.
First words.
First steps.
First days of school.
Fourteen years he would never get back.
But they were here.
They were alive.
And that was only because Effie had managed to hide them so well.
He was about to ask if they were hungry, maybe they could find something for them to eat, when someone knocked on the door.
Plutarch stepped inside with the soldier from earlier.
“Haymitch. Girls.”
Both girls immediately moved closer to him.
“It’s okay,” the soldier said. “We won’t hurt you, little ones. We’re here to explain how things will work, okay?”
The girls relaxed slightly, but neither left Haymitch’s side.
“Look, Haymitch,” Plutarch said, “unfortunately, the girls being here doesn’t change the original plan. You still have to go through detox.”
Haymitch sighed.
“I thought you’d say something like that.”
“Since the girls are here too, we’ll try a faster treatment,” Plutarch continued. “While you’re busy down there, they can stay here. We’ll watch over them. They’ll be safe, I assure you.”
Haymitch took another deep breath.
He wasn’t sure whether it was the meters of earth above them or everything that had happened in the last few hours that kept stealing his breath.
“It’s not like I have a big say in this, right?”
Plutarch chuckled.
Haymitch didn’t need an answer.
“Well, girls…”
He knelt so he was closer to them.
“I’m afraid I have to go for—”
“No!”
They both lunged for him.
Haymitch caught them instinctively.
He felt just as frightened as they did.
He couldn’t believe he’d finally gotten them, only to have to leave them again.
“Please, Daddy, don’t go!” Persie pleaded. “We’ll be good. Promise!”
“Oh, little princess.”
He hugged her tightly.
“Yes, Dad. We’ll behave, honest,” Lena said quickly. “Don’t leave us alone. We can be good. Honest.”
He wrapped his other arm around her.
“It’s okay, sunshine. It’ll only be for a little while.”
“But I like you,” Persie whispered.
Haymitch’s heart twisted.
“I like you being with us. I like the nicknames. Mommy says you like giving those.”
“Only to my important people, little princess.”
“We need to go, Mr. Abernathy,” the soldier said.
“I know.”
Haymitch pressed his forehead against Lena’s.
His voice dropped to a whisper.
“Take care of each other. I’ll come to you as soon as I can. Don’t trust them. We don’t know them yet. Don’t tell them the truth. Tell them we already knew each other. Since always.”
Lena nodded.
“You can only trust Finnick and Katniss. Go with them. Take care of them, okay? They both need you, especially Katniss. She misses Peeta, and your mommy just as much. Promise me you three will look for each other.”
“We promise,” they whispered.
Haymitch reached into his pocket.
Finnick had returned the golden bracelet to him aboard the hovercraft.
He slipped it off his wrist and held it out to Lena.
“Here. Put this on.”
She took it carefully.
“They’ll trust you with it. And that way, you’ll have a little bit of me to remember.”
He squeezed her hand.
“Be strong, okay?”
“Okay.”
He kissed both their foreheads.
Then he looked at Plutarch.
“Take them to Finnick.”
“I will,” Plutarch assured him. “They’ll be safe, Haymitch.”
Haymitch gave the girls one last look.
“Take care of my mockingjay, too.”
Then the soldier led him away.
⸻
“Mr. Plutarch, you’re a friend of our mommy, right?” Persie asked as they walked down the corridor toward the elevator.
“That’s right, Miss Trinket.”
“It’s Miss Abernathy,” Persie corrected. “We don’t have to hide anymore. Right, Lena?”
“That’s right, Sissy.”
“But you can call me Persie,” the little girl added.
Once she started talking, it was difficult to make her stop.
She was just like Mama. Always something to say. Always ready to fill an uncomfortable silence with something cheerful.
“You can call me Lena Dove,” the older girl added. “I go by both.”
“Well, thanks for the vote of confidence,” Plutarch said. “You can call me Plutarch.”
“Uncle Cinna also talked about you,” Lena said. “He said you’re good.”
“I do my best.”
“He’s dead, right?”
The question came so suddenly that Plutarch paused.
“I’m afraid so, dear.”
“And Aunt Portia?” Persie asked.
“We don’t know, Persie.”
“Uncle Flavius and Aunt Octavia?”
“I’m afraid we don’t know about them either, Lena Dove.”
They reached the hospital wing.
“Mrs. Everdeen,” Plutarch called as a woman in a white uniform passed them.
“Oh, Mr. Heavensbee.”
The woman approached.
“Hello!”
Persie waved enthusiastically.
“These charming young ladies are Persie and Lena Dove Abernathy.”
The woman stopped.
She looked as though she’d just seen a ghost.
“A… Abernathy?”
The girls nodded.
“They’re Haymitch’s?”
“Yes,” Lena answered.
“But how…?”
The woman’s eyes moved to her face.
“Lena Dove?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Dove… like Leonore Dove…”
The woman whispered the name before pulling Lena into a hug.
Lena allowed it.
“Oh, dear child,” she murmured. “I don’t know how your mother did it, but she did an excellent job making sure you were safe.”
Then she recognized her, from mom’s tells, this must be Katniss’ mom.
“She did,” Lena said quietly. “She did the best she could for Katniss, too.”
“I know.”
The woman’s voice softened.
“And I thank her for that.”
“Asterid,” Plutarch said, drawing her attention back to him. “Haymitch specifically asked for them to be under the care of Finnick and Katniss. I don’t know how they’re handling everything. Perhaps they could stay here during the day, and you could take them to their rooms at night?”
“Of course.”
Asterid smiled at the girls.
“Don’t worry. I’ll watch them while Katniss and Finnick are here. I’m sure Prim will like the company.”
“I’m Persie!”
Persie pointed at herself.
“You’re Katniss’ mommy?”
“Yes.”
Asterid smiled.
They continued toward the quieter rooms at the back of the hospital.
“Is she okay?” Lena asked.
“She has some burns, but she’ll be fine. We have good supplies here.”
“What about Finnick?”
“He’s well, physically speaking. But the trauma of the Games is still very recent.”
Asterid glanced toward the medical rooms.
“It seems they managed to make Katniss sleep. I’ll take you to Finnick first, okay? We need to let her rest a little.”
“Okay.”
They stopped outside a door.
“This is his room. Are you two all right by yourselves for a while? I need to go speak with the doctor taking care of Katniss.”
The girls nodded.
Asterid left.
For a moment, neither of them spoke.
Then Lena reached for Persie’s hand.
Together, they knocked.
A voice from inside called,
“Come in.”
The girls pushed the door open.