Snow

"Morning."

I opened my eyes and stretched out on my bed, letting out a yawn as I did so. "Five more minutes."

Kern's eyes crinkled as he smiled and pulled me close to him. "Happy birthday Snow." He whispered in my ear. "You're finally nineteen. How does it feel?"

"Tiring." I groaned and curled up back into a little ball. Kern grabbed me gently by the waist and pulled me into the nook of his body. His chest pressed up against my back. "Let me go back to sleep."

"Trust me, I'd love that." Kern replied. "But you need to start getting ready for your party."

"Ugh, don't remind me." I rubbed my eyes and groaned. "I have to do another set of interviews before the party and then another set of interviews after. Plus, I'll probably be so intoxicated so who knows what I'll say..." I trailed off mid-joke. Kern's eyes flashed with warning. "I won't actually say anything Kern. You know that. I'm just kidding." I glanced up at the ceiling. "I wouldn't say anything against the Capitol."

"I know you wouldn't." Kern glanced up at the ceiling as well. "Just be careful about how much you drink. The Capitol has done so much for us, and if the rebels get some kind of footage they could edit-"

"Don't worry." I sighed. "I won't say anything stupid, I promise. I know what the Capitol has done for me. They gave me back my life after I threw it all away for some stupid boys," I spat. 

Kern's fingers gently brushed my cheek. "It's going to be okay. I promise. We'll get through it together, and we will win this war."

My throat constricted at that. "Don't make promises you can't keep. Who knows what's going to happen on the battlefield? I'm District 13's prime target, and you're not even supposed to be alive." 

"But I am. And you know we're unstoppable. You know that we, especially together, are undefeatable. You know why."

I recoiled from him. "No. Not now. We're not having this conversation today."

"We need to have this conversation sometime."

I finally hopped out of bed. "It's not true. You have no proof."

"Snow-"

"I said that we're not having this conversation!" I snapped as I put on my jacket. "My prep team is probably waiting for me. We can talk later at the party, about anything else I mean." And with that, I opened and slammed the door, running away from a problem I wasn't ready to face.

Jerome

"If we enter from here," Thorne pointed at a spot on the map, "Then we'll have direct access to where her room supposedly is."

"That's one of the highest security places in the building." Coin argued. "Not logical."

"Neither is storming into the party and searching for her." Thorne shot back. "We camp out in her room and wait for her to show up early in the morning. Then, we take her by surprise and fly her out."

Jason raised his hand, and Snow's dad glared at him. "What do you want?"

"What about the cameras?" Jason asked. "Even if Beetee could bring them down for a few minutes to let us get in, there's no way he'd be able to hold the fort long enough for us to wait for her to show up." 

"That's where our special weapon comes into play." Coin spoke up. "Beetee? If you would explain?"

"Of course." He wheeled over and pulled something out of his pocket. It was small and flat, no bigger than a quarter. "This is just a prototype, but I have the real thing ready. It's a chip that will allow us to take over the Capitol building's surveillance footage for a while. Not for an extremely long period of time, but it will buy us a couple hours if we're lucky, which should be enough. The Capitol attendants will see the same footage replayed over and over, and hopefully they won't notice anything strange until it's too late." He grimaced. "It's not exactly a foolproof plan, but it's all we got."

"We have less than twenty-four hours to plan this." Coin muttered. "It's completely ridiculous." 

"It will work." James assured her, putting his hand on her shoulder. "Tomorrow is the best time. Everyone will be distracted from the festivities. Not to mention, a lot of the guards will be focused on the District tributes." His shaky smile floundered for a moment. "The ones Snow invited, I mean. They'll be wary of them, make sure there isn't any funny business."

"We're looking at a stealth mission." General Mary Pristeen strategized. "Not a big group, and they have to be some of our best. I suggest taking at least two good hand to hand fighters and one sniper, just in case the situation gets really poor." 

"Snow's going to put up a fight." I finally said something. "You're going to want to take something to lure her out." My voice got quiet. "Someone to lure her out."

Thorne rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to make a rude comment, but the girl next to him held up her hand. "Let him talk, just this once."

"But Prim!" Thorne complained. "I had a really good insult!"

Prim laughed, a little tinkling sound, and I couldn't help but notice how different she was from her sister, Katniss. She was our age, but she seemed so much younger. Yet her eyes carried the wisdom of a thousand people. "Jerome, keep going."

"I'm just saying, Snow's not an idiot. Yeah, we can take her by surprise, but I don't think that's good enough. For one, I think she knows better and is more careful now of things like that after the Games. Secondly, she's a good fighter. She might even be armed. She could take out half of your team or make a loud enough ruckus to get an attendant's attention." I shifted uncomfortably and made eye contact with Jason. "And who knows who'll she'll have with her? She might not necessarily go back to her room alone. What about Kern?"

"What's your idea?" James leaned forward. His eyes were wide and focused intently on me. 

"Take me." I suggested. "I'm a good combat fighter, and I'm good bait. Snow will want to come after me, and she won't want to be loud about it, because she wants to kill me herself." My fists clenched. "At the very least, it'll be an added surprise. She wouldn't expect for you to take me, and my presence would be...unsettling."

The superiors around the table considered this for a moment, before James stood. "It does up our chances for success. It would pull her out from the crowd, and if we kept him hidden, it wouldn't cause a scene." 

"I hate to admit it, but it's not a bad idea." Thorne grunted. "Boggs?"

Boggs looked me up and down. "You're not too annoying. I could handle you on my team."

"Please, you just want to be the hero." Vena rolled her eyes. "You too Jason, I see you about to jump out of your chair. Neither of you should go. She'd kill either one of you in a matter of seconds, and you'd lose your bait and a member of your team." 

"Vena, shut up." Thalia snarled. "You don't know anything." 

I widened my eyes at the sharp, erratic behavior of Thalia. Usually, she was sweet and kind to everyone. 

"I'm afraid I agree with both the girls." General Mary Pristeen said. "First of all, Vena should shut up. And I'm sick of her coming to these meetings Alma. Get someone else to play Devil's Advocate." Her gaze shifted toward me. "But Jerome is not coming. I will not stand for it."

"Mary, I know you have your personal reservations against the boy, but I'm afraid if the rest of the counsel-" Coin was cut off.

"Bring Mitch." General Pristeen jabbed her finger in the poor guy's direction. He looked up so sharply he almost fell out of his chair. "He's not a bad fighter either, but he also didn't break my daughter's heart. She'll be less likely to kill him on sight as well, but more likely to go after him than Thalia."

"Hey! No, I'm the one who came up with the idea!" I stood from my chair. "That's not fair."

"Fair? You want to talk about fair?" Mary's eyes were filled with fire. "Fair would be Snow being here instead of you. Fair would be not having to give up my daughter when she was just a baby. Fair would be not possibly losing her to that psychopath Coriolanus Snow." 

"Jerome, I won't go if you don't want me to." Mitch shook his head. "You're my friend. I can't do that to you."

"This is a mission, not a fairytale." James waved his hand dismissively. Despite his quiet voice, his tone was firm. "This is about strategy, not friendship."

"You guys need to pull your heads out of your asses. This isn't about who loves who. This about winning a war." Thorne sighed. "As for me, I vote in favor of Mary's proposal."

"I second that." Boggs nodded. 

"It would be more logical." Beetee took off his glasses and polished him. "I'm sorry Jerome, but it's for the best."

"Mary, we already know where you stand. As for me, I see your reasoning. James?" Coin looked at her nephew.

James looked at me curiously. It was like he was reading my mind with one look. A million emotions flickered in his eyes within a fraction of a second. "General Pristeen is right. I'm sincerely sorry Jerome. It was a good idea, but this is the way it has to be. We want her out alive; we want everyone out alive." 

"Even you." Thorne snorted, with a little glance at me.

I felt like punching someone. 

"Mitch, you can decide not to come if you want." Coin shrugged. "But that will be considered an act of treason, and this is an order. There is no choice in this, no volunteering. You're either a member of this team or a prisoner."

"Jerome." Mitch swallowed slowly. "I-I..."

"Go." My voice nearly broke. "Save her. Bring her back to me."

A/N

I'm sorry I'm such a bad person and not a good uploader. I just keep losing inspiration for this book ughhh.

Plus, I don't know if anyone is reading. Please comment if you are, the comments really help. :)

Hope you liked this chapter!

-lucy