The next day, I don't remember much. I just remember how I cried out her name, how I got set on fire after the second round of bombs, and how I don't know whether the girl I cared so much for is dead or not.

I wake up in a hospital. I don't really know where I am. I try to get up but a nurse discourages me and pushes me back.

Then Haymitch, Mrs Everdeen and my mother enter. Haymitch stands at the end of my bed, my mother takes a seat on the one along from mine, and Mrs Everdeen dabs some cream or medicine on my burns.

"Fight was over after the Capitol dropped those bombs to defend the palace," Haymitch explains. "The rebels walked right in."

I try to move but Mrs Everdeen stops me. "Don't Willow, the ointment's working."

"Everybody felt it," Haymitch closes his eyes. "Peacekeepers, palace guards. They had kids in there, too. It was... it was over after that."

I look at Mrs Everdeen, who begins to cry. Then to my mother. "Mother..." I begin slowly.

Their slow sobs is all I need to confirm what I already know is true.

"She's... she's gone," Mrs Everdeen cries to me.

She's gone. I can already think of how Rory's going to react. And Katniss. And Posy. And Vick. But all I can think about is Gale. Yelling for me to kill him as he got dragged away.

☘︎☘︎☘︎

"I remember the first time I brought you here," Effie and I are climbing up to the mansion. I remember too.

"Eyes bright, chins up, smiles on. I'm talking to you, Willow."

Effie's in her pink dress again, and her wig. It seems the first thing she did when the Capitol surrendered was raid their wardrobes.

"And here we are," she says as we walk into a fancy room. "I've brought all your things."

I see the picture of my father, the pearl, and Austin's locket...

"Well I'll leave you to get settled in," Effie shuts the door behind her.

But the next thing I do is open it. I walk around the mansion, seeing grand rooms, a circular table with a hole in the middle, and... and...

Out the window, I spot a green house. One look and I can tell that it's a garden.

I rush outside, longing to enter it, but the two guards that man the door step in front of it. "Sorry ma'am, can't let you pass."

"Let her in," I turn round to see Paylor at the top of the steps I climbed down moments ago. "On my authority. She has a right to anything behind that door."

I nod kindly to her and she nods back before the guards let me in.

I feel the hot and humid temperature before I notice something else. The only plant in the whole garden is a white rose. Nothing else. I look around to see a fountain, big and majestic standing in the middle. But apart from that, there's just green leaves and white roses.

I reach down to touch a petal. I pick it, looking at it more closely, when-

"That's a nice one," I spin around to see President Snow walking round a bush towards me. "The colours are lovely of course, but nothing says perfection like white.

"I hoped you would find your way here," he discloses, sitting down on a bench at his disposal. "So many things we should discuss, but I am sure your visit will be brief so... first I want to tell you how sorry I am about that little girl. Primrose, was it?"

Suddenly, he starts to cough mechanically and pulls out his handkerchief, when he's finished, I swear I see blood on it when he puts it away. After what Finnick said, I'm not surprised, so this gives me a minute to think about what he just said. He sent that hovercraft to kill Prim. So why is he-

"So wasteful, so unnecessary," he looks up and down. "Anybody could see the game was over by that point. In fact, I was just about to send an official surrender when they released those parachutes."

"You released those parachutes," I say mutinously. He did, didn't he? But he's speaking as though the rebels-

"You really don't think I gave the order do you?" Snow chuckles:; an enraging yet confusing sound. "We both know I'm not above killing children, but I'm not wasteful. I take life for very specific reasons. And there was no reason for me to destroy Capitol children and medics with them."

He coughs again. "I must concede, it was a masterful move on Coin's part. The idea that I was bombing our own helpless children to hold back the rebels was enough to turn the last of my guards against me. There was no resistance left inside the Capitol or the mansion. Do you know it aired live? You can see Plutarch's hand there, though it's those kind of qualities you look for in a Head Gamemaker, isn't it?"

Suddenly, I'm not in the rose garden, I'm on the hovercraft with Gale and Beetee. One bomb for the victims. The next for the recuers.

"I don't think Snow used a rulebook when he hijacked Austin."

My brother killed her.

"I'm sure she wasn't gunning for your sister but, these things happen in war," Snow finishes. "Of course, my failure was being so slow to grasp Coin's plan. Let the Capitol and the districts destroy each other and then step in to take power with Thirteen's arsenal barely scratched. And make no mistake, she intends to take my place now."

"If your immediate answer isn't Coin, then you're a threat."

"But I wasn't watching Coin," Snow says smugly. "I was watching you. And you were watching me, Mockingjay. Because we were both convinced that the other was plotting something. But in the end it was her. It has always been her. And I'm afraid that we've both been played for fools."

I frown at him. It can't be true. It can't be. "I don't believe you."

Snow just laughs.

"Oh my dear Miss Hawthorne, I thought we agreed not to lie to each other."

☘︎☘︎☘︎

I'm sitting in the room Effie brought me to when there's a knock on the door. Gale enters without me saying anything and I see the pain in his eyes. He knows what I want to say to him.

"President Coin asked for you."

"You never came to see me," I point out. "In the hospital. You're my brother... I wanted you there."

Until I heard about what you did.

"I wanted to, but..." He begins.

I decide just to say it. "Was it ours? The bomb," my bottom lip trembles. "The dealyed explosion... the trap... to draw more people in... to draw Primrose in... was that you?"

He starts to cry now too. "I don't know. All I know is that I wanted to take care of our family, and the Everdeens. And I'm sorry I couldn't do that. You mean everything to me, Willow. You're my little sister."

I look down. "You can't protect anyone in an arena," I whisper to myself. Then I look pitilessly up at him. "Goodbye, Gale."

He leaves without complaint. And then I remember he said something about Coin. I go towards the room I can hear voices from.

When I enter, I see Austin, Haymitch, Annie, Johanna, Beetee and, to my surprise, Enobaria sitting round the circular table that no doubt has once held Snow and his henchmen and women. Coin is there too, and she turns to greet me as I come in.

"What's this?" I ask.

"The remaining victors. Won't you join us?" Coin explains. Now I see. These seven people all have something in common. They all survived the Quarter Quell that Snow created only to punish me.

I take a seat at the table as Coin gets straight to the point. "I have invited you all here for several reasons, but first, I have an announcement. I have taken the burden and the honour of declaring myself Interim President of Panem."

Everyone digests this. "Interim?" Haymitch asks. "How long is this Interim?"

"We have no way of knowing for certain," Coin shrugs. "But it's clear the people are too emotionally disturbed right now to make a rational decision. We will have an election when the time is right.

"But I have called you here for a much more important vote," Coin announces. I frown. "A symbolic vote. This afternoon, we will execute Snow. Hundreds of him accomplices also await their deaths, like Capitol officials, peacekeepers, torturers... gamemakers. But the danger is that once we begin, the rebels will not stop calling for retribution. Thirst for blood is a difficult urge to satisfy.

"So, I offer an alternative plan," I brace myself about what she's going to offer. "Majority for may approve it, no one may abstain. The proposal is this; in lieu of these barbaric killings, we hold... one last games. A symbolic Hunger Games."

Everyone goes still. Johanna, of course, starts to laugh. "You wanna have another Hunger Games with... Capitol children?"

She starts to chuckle again. "You're joking," Austin says with a straight face. I think he might be- back to- to normal-

"Not in the slightest," Coin answers.

Meanwhile, Haymitch, who's lived at the bottom of a bottle since his games, can't believe what he's hearing. "Was this Plutarch's idea?"

"It was mine," Coin replies impassively. "It balances the need for revenge, with the least need for loss of life. You may cast your votes."

"No!" Austin says immediately. "No, obviously not! This is crazy!"

"I think it's more than fair, Snow even has a granddaughter," Johanna shrugs. "I say yes."

"So do I," Enobaria speaks for the first time in front of me. "Give them a taste of their own medicine."

"This is why we rebelled, remember?!" Austin shouts. "Annie?"

"I vote no, with Austin," Annie nods. "So would Finnick if he were here."

"But he isn't, because Snow's mutts killed him," Johanna reminds her.

"No," Beetee says finally. "We need to stop viewing each other as enemies."

"We're down to Willow and Haymitch," Coin says.

My mind is whirring. Hunger games... Capitol... children... Coin... Snow... dead... what?

"I vote yes... for Prim," I finally say. I don't know what I've just agreed to...

"Haymitch?" It's clear Coin is close to celebrating inside.

Haymitch looks at me. "I'm with the... Mockingjay."

"That carries the vote," Coin keeps her excitement under control. "Excellent. We'll announce the games tonight after the execution."

But only one thought surfaces in my head.

What have we just done?