The Book Is Always Better

Beginning | Settling In

“Shouldn’t you be bigger?”

It takes her a moment to register his meaning. She pulls her father’s jacket closed around her as she approaches Haymitch near the entrance to Victors Village. “I’m not actually pregnant, remember?”

“The whole district will figure it out soon enough if you don’t start looking the part.”

Beginning | Settling In

“Shouldn’t you be bigger?”

It takes her a moment to register his meaning. She pulls her father’s jacket closed around her as she approaches Haymitch near the entrance to Victors Village. “I’m not actually pregnant, remember?”

“The whole district will figure it out soon enough if you don’t start looking the part.”

Read chapters 1 & 2 on Ao3

The beginning of Chapter 3

They say no one really feels married in District 12 until after the toasting: They’re right.

~~~

Read chapters 1 & 2 on Ao3

The beginning of Chapter 3

They say no one really feels married in District 12 until after the toasting: They’re right.

~~~

Beginning | Previous

It’s not much of a conversation. Prim assents immediately, throwing herself in her sister’s arms and bursting into tears. Their mother nods, looking relieved and Katniss wonders if there was ever a plan beyond accepting defeat.

~~~

They meet at the justice building two days later with all the fanfare of a slag-heap-stitch-up. There’s no rented gown nor party to greet them outside, just an old reaping dress and the required two witnesses.

She forbade Prim from coming, as if anyone seeing the three together would determine the truth right away, with her sister’s peaked complexion and the miss-matched bride and groom. Instead she brings her mother and he brings his mentor.

Beginning | Previous

It’s not much of a conversation. Prim assents immediately, throwing herself in her sister’s arms and bursting into tears. Their mother nods, looking relieved and Katniss wonders if there was ever a plan beyond accepting defeat.

~~~

They meet at the justice building two days later with all the fanfare of a slag-heap-stitch-up. There’s no rented gown nor party to greet them outside, just an old reaping dress and the required two witnesses.

She forbade Prim from coming, as if anyone seeing the three together would determine the truth right away, with her sister’s peaked complexion and the miss-matched bride and groom. Instead she brings her mother and he brings his mentor.

Prologue | In Trouble | A Proposition

But he doesn’t forget.

She wakes late the next day to find a slip of paper jammed under the front door; The stilted scrawl summons her to meet after sunset. She knew Haymitch was a miserable drunk, but never suspected he’d stoop to blackmail.

Fueled by her rage she storms off to Victor’s Village, pounding on the old mentor’s door until it finally swings open. Bleary eyed and disheveled, he doesn't seem surprised to see her despite her disregard of his note. He grunts and bids her wait by the gate, before disappearing back into his house.

She turns to obey when motion catches her eye; the curtains at the house across the street flutter closed and she scurries down towards the entrance, tucking herself out of sight.

Prologue | In Trouble | A Proposition

But he doesn’t forget.

She wakes late the next day to find a slip of paper jammed under the front door; The stilted scrawl summons her to meet after sunset. She knew Haymitch was a miserable drunk, but never suspected he’d stoop to blackmail.

Fueled by her rage she storms off to Victor’s Village, pounding on the old mentor’s door until it finally swings open. Bleary eyed and disheveled, he doesn't seem surprised to see her despite her disregard of his note. He grunts and bids her wait by the gate, before disappearing back into his house.

She turns to obey when motion catches her eye; the curtains at the house across the street flutter closed and she scurries down towards the entrance, tucking herself out of sight.

Prologue | In Trouble | A Proposition

But he doesn’t forget.

She wakes late the next day to find a slip of paper jammed under the front door; The stilted scrawl summons her to meet after sunset. She knew Haymitch was a miserable drunk, but never suspected he’d stoop to blackmail.

Fueled by her rage she storms off to Victor’s Village, pounding on the old mentor’s door until it finally swings open. Bleary eyed and disheveled, he doesn't seem surprised to see her despite her disregard of his note. He grunts and bids her wait by the gate, before disappearing back into his house.

She turns to obey when motion catches her eye; the curtains at the house across the street flutter closed and she scurries down towards the entrance, tucking herself out of sight.

Prologue | In Trouble

~ 10 months prior ~

“How far along?”

She can no longer ignore the signs: her sister’s endless fatigue, the shirts that pull tight across her chest despite her lack of appetite, the nausea.

“Far enough,” Prim wipes her mouth with the back of her hand.

Katniss’s heart sinks, “how long have you known?”

Her sister lifts her head from the toilet, her eyes weary but defiant, “it doesn’t matter.”

But it does, because regardless of Prim’s decision, she hadn’t trusted her with knowing.

Katniss looks away to find her mother in the doorway, blue eyes full of sympathy and trepidation, all focused on her and the hurt turns to resentment, before the despair washes over her.

It’s all too much, so she grabs her father’s hunting jacket and escapes out the door.