It was my turn to showcase my special abilities to the sponsors but I already had them wrapped around my fingers. I walked into the room and picked up a trident. I gave them a quick wink before I launched the Trident into the wall. I was supposed to throw it at a target but I had something different rolled up my sleeve.
I took a small knife from the weaponry table and slashed it across my cheek. Face wounds bled a lot so I was able to get enough blood to write on the wall with it. I wrote "watch out" on the wall then pulled the Trident out and threw it to the ground. After that I took my tank top off leaving me in a sports bra and flicked the sponsors off on the way out. It was a warning, and it wasn't about me.
Once I walked out of the training room I had a silly grin on my face as I began putting my shirt back on but I was stopped in the middle of sliding it over my torso by a group of peacekeepers who began pushing me towards a large vehicle parked outside the building.
So it seems Snow got my message.
When I arrived at president Snow's mansion I didn't see plutarch's vehicle. Snow must have picked this time knowing Plutarch wouldn't be able to make it. Well I admit that my plan had holes and snow figured them out.
"He's waiting in his office." One of the peacekeepers said and I walked in peacefully.
Once I got to Snow's office I knocked once then walked in. I didn't have enough respect for him to care if I was supposed to wait after knocking on someones door.
I sat down in a chair facing him across his desk and looked at him coldly before beginning. "You knew I wanted to speak with Plutarch so you scheduled me for a time when he wasn't available. Why is that?"
"Because I know you're up to something." He replied.
"What am I up to?" I asked.
"You tell me." He said leaning forward. Did he honestly think I would give him a hint.
"I'm plotting your murder." I said dramatically.
"That's impossible." He said smugly.
"I don't know, you've seen me kill a lot of people before. What makes you think I won't kill you too?"
"I have power here. If you killed me everyone would turn against you." He said with a smirk.
He wanted me to say not everyone would turn against me but I knew better than to incriminate myself so I stood quickly. "I have nothing to lose."
"Are you sure?" He asked looking deep into my hatred filled eyes.
I reached for the switchblade I had in my boot and pulled it out flicking it open and stabbing it into the table centimeters away from the tip of my middle finger.
"This was a waste of my time." I snarled as I pulled the blade out of the table and placed it back in my boot then walked out.
"I will spare you." He called out to me just before I walked through the doors.
"What's the cost?" I asked.
"The revolution is beginning. I need your support. Everyone is wrapped around your finger tips and you can use it in our favor." He explained
"And if I don't agree to this are you going to try and kill me in the games again?" He already tried and failed that and he's not even in control of the games so it didn't matter if I agreed or not.
"Yes."
"You already failed at that and I was fifteen I'd like to see you try now that I'm Twenty-four." I said with a laugh as I walked out.
And that was it. I didn't make a deal with the devil but I knew something about snow that most people didn't. When he makes a deal with someone it's one sided. You have no say at all and you never get what you're supposed to get out of it. I was in it whether I liked it or not.
+++
I returned to the apartment and changed into a sweater and leggings. I never truly had recovered from my games because the PTSD gave me a false sense of always being cold so even if it was hot outside I was probably wearing a sweater. I only did this when I was feeling unsafe though. That was because that was when the PTSD was the worst.
Finnick was walking around with larina on his tail talking to him about posture and his face and his body and frankly the frequent ab touching was a bit excessive. She had insisted on giving him special training for the interviews and had left me to the wolves essentially. Finnick did what she wanted to humor her but we kept making eye contact and his facial expression had told me that he hated everything that had been happening for the last few hours.
"Larina if you don't stop caressing my boyfriend's body I'm going to come over there and caress your body with my fists." I shouted at her without looking at her because I could see exactly what she was doing through the reflection of the television.
"It's personal." I heard finnick say.
Larina backed away and hurried to her room flushing with embarrassment and anger causing me to laugh.
"You couldn't have said that five hours ago?" He said angrily as he jumped over the back of the couch Landing next to me.
"I could have." I replied with a smirk.
"I hate you." He said as he began tickling me as punishment for not helping him escape earlier.
"You love me." I said back as I began tickling him back.
"I do." He said continuing to tickle me until I fell off the couch.
This went on for a few more minutes before Finnick and I exhausted our ability to laugh without it hurting our sides.
We got food sent to the room from the kitchens and ate before we went to bed for the night. We stayed in my room tonight and turned on the rankings from the individual training. We didn't need to worry about anyone's rankings but Katniss and peeta and their rankings were unusually high as was my ranking. Maybe they did something rebellious too.
