The Perfect Truth: A Finnick Odair Novel

Chapter 9

A/N: no hate on johanna btw, i love her but yk everyone has to pick their battles in the arena and Ryn picks all of the above

Warnings: violence, swearing, angry people, jealous people, filler chapter but juicy stuff next chapter

Word count: 1050

 'There,' I say quietly. We fade back into the shadows of the jungle and watch them from there. They're in bad shape, one dragging the other, the third wandering in loopy deranged circles. They're also a solid brick red colour, as if they've been dipped in one of Peeta's paints.

'Muttations?' Peeta suggests, when the dragged one collapses completely, and the dragger stamps the ground in an almost comical fit of temper, shoving the deranged one away from them.

'Johanna!' Finnick yells, face lighting up in a way that sends a pang of jealousy through me.

'Finnick!' Johanna yells back, and I sigh and make my way down the beach with Peeta in tow. The one being dragged is Beetee, and Wiress is the one making deranged loops.

'She's got Nuts and Volts?' Peeta asks, peering over.

We reach them, and by then Johanna's retelling her story to Finn.

'We thought it was rain. But it was blood. Thick, hot blood. We just staggered around. And then Blight hit the force field.'

Blight, the other District Seven. Finnick sighs and rubs a hand over his eyes. 'I'm sorry, Johanna.'

'Well, he wasn't much. But he left me with these two.' She disdainfully nudges a barely conscious Beetee with her shoe. 'He got a knife in the back at the Cornucopia. And her - '

We all look over at Wiress, who walks in circles, muttering the words 'tick tock' over and over.

'Yeah, yeah,' she snaps. 'Tick tock, tick tock. Nuts is in shock.' This draws Wiress in her direction and she careens into Johanna, who harshly shoves her to the floor.

'Lay off her,' I growl. Johanna narrows her eyes at me.

'Lay off her?' She hisses and steps forward. I feel my muscles bunching like a wolf, ready to pounce, and I feel a snarl pulling my lips back.

'Who do you think got them out of the bleeding jungle for you? You bitch - ' She raises a hand to strike, and I grab her wrist, and uncaring what Haymitch will think, I twist it until she howls and flip her over my shoulder, spinning in the sand and crouching, waiting for her to get up and attack me.

But Finnick tosses her writhing body over his shoulder before she can get any more injured and carries her into the water, repeatedly dunking her while she screams and curses me. I sprawl on the sand and smugly lean back on my elbows, any jealousy over her and Finn soothed.

'What did she mean?' Peeta asks.

'No idea,' I reply. 'Haymitch must have told her something.'

Peeta goes over to Beetee and lifts him up. I lead Wiress into the shallows and wash her, while Peeta does the same with Beetee. We let Wiress stumble in her circles while laying Beetee down on his stomach so I can see the knife wound. Luckily, it isn't too deep, but he's lost a lot of blood. Sitting back on my heels, I frown and stare out into the jungle, wishing I had spent more time at the plant identification station. An idea flickers in my mind, and I tell Peeta that I'll be back and get some of the moss that Mags gave Finn to wipe his forehead. Making it into a thick pad, I place it onto Beetee's cut and secure it by tying vines around his body.

'That's all I can do,' I sigh.

'You're good with the healing stuff,' Peeta says. 'It's in your blood.'

I snort. 'I don't think so. That thing that Kat did while you had the leg wound? I could never have done that. I have my father's blood.' The type that quickens during a hunt, not an epidemic.

By the time we've finished with Beetee, a clean and calmer Johanna and a peeling Finn join us. The former stuffs herself with shellfish while the latter retells our story with a detached voice that makes me wish I had more of my mother's blood so I would know how to comfort him. After, I end up guarding with Johanna, which Finn decides to call the bonding session.

'How'd you lose Mags?' She asks softly.

'In the fog. Finn - ' I see her frown at the nickname. ' - Finn had Peeta. I had Mags but I couldn't carry her. He couldn't take them both. She... she just walked straight into the poison fog.'

'She was his mentor, you know.'

Her tone is shamelessly accusatory, and I feel my temper rising. 'I know she was Finn's mentor,' I snap, putting emphasis on the nickname. I continue. 'She was half of his family, I know. Anything else you want to accuse me of?'

Johanna looks down, and I guess she just assumed that I know him as well as I know the other victors, which is to say that I don't. I sigh.

'So, why are you dragging Nuts and Volts around?'

'I got them for you. Haymitch said if we were to be allies I had to bring them to you. You told him that, right?'

No, I think. But I nod. 'Thanks.'

'Tick tock,' a small voice says behind us, and Johanna rolls her eyes. 'Okay, I'm going to sleep. You and Nuts can guard together.' She practically flounces off and flings herself a little too close to Finnick for my liking. Smugly, I smirk to myself when he rolls away in his sleep.

I guide Wiress in front of me and stroke her arm to get her asleep. Occasionally, she mutters her phrase, and I shield my eyes against the sun. It's noon, and I watch the enormous flash of lightning as the storm begins again. I remember how last night, before the lightning started, the bell tolled twelve times. I frown. Twelve times last night. Like it was midnight. Then lightning. The sun is overhead now. Like it's noon. And lightning.

'Tick tock,' Wiress mutters in her sleep just as the lightning ceases and the blood rain begins to the right of it. Suddenly, her words suddenly make sense. My eyes sweep around the circular Arena. Each hour begins with a new horror, like fog, blood rain, lightning, monkeys, the killer wave... Wiress is right. The Arena is a clock.